Professional go in JapanAlthough go was always esteemed by
the upper classes in China and Korea, it was in Japan that it
achieved its highest level of play and became widely popular with
the masses. The game reached the zenith of its theoretical
development at the end of the Edo period (1603-1868), but the
prosperity it had achieved was swept away in the 1860s amid the
confusion resulting from the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The
system of government patronage it received was abolished in 1868,
and the heads of the four go houses and their pupils found
themselves adrift in a new world where ancient traditions were cast
aside.
Around 1880, interest in go was revived, this time under private
auspices. Newspapers started publishing game records, and The
Yomiuri Shimbun, nowadays a leading sponsor of go in Japan, was one
of the first when it started publishing game records in 1885. By
1910, there were more than a dozen newspapers with go columns, and
it became feasible to make a living as a go player again. In July
1924, the Japan Go Association was founded, and professional go in
its current form began. Today, there are nearly 500 active
professional players in Japan.
Professional go players can make substantial earnings through
game fees and prize money from the many tournaments they compete in.
In addition, they can also earn money by officiating at tournaments,
making TV appearances, teaching amateurs, and receiving royalties on
books and videos.
How does one become a professional go player? In Japan, the usual
way is to become an apprentice at the Japan Go Association or the
Western Japan Go Association. The associations usually accept only
youngsters from age 5 to 18 who show exceptional talent. Every
Saturday and Sunday, these young students compete with each other in
a rating tournament. To qualify as professionals, they must work
their way up to the upper echelons of the tournament. Out of 48
aspirants, only five are admitted to professional rank each year.
Once apprentices have become professional, they start out at the
rank of 1-dan. To rise above this rank, they play against other
professionals in a rating tournament. The system for gaining
promotion is complicated, but, in essence, if a player wins a
certain percentage of an increasing number of games, he or she will
be promoted to the next rank. The highest rank attainable is 9-dan.
More about capturingThis week I am going to review the game
I presented in last week's column to help you understand what to do
when you find one or more of your stones threatened with capture.
When White threatens to capture
the marked stone with 12 in Diagram 1 (Figure 2 in last week's
column), you might wonder why Black didn't try to escape with Black
1 in Diagram 2. If he does, he will fail. White pursues him with 2
and the two black stones are still threatened with capture. If Black
persists in escaping with 3, threatening to capture the marked white
stone, White takes the last liberty of this three stone group with 4
and captures three stones before Black can capture the marked white
one.
After Black 15 in Diagram 3 (Figure 3 in last week's column), it
seems as if the two white stones in atari could escape by extending
to "a." Why doesn't White try?
White can't escape unless Black
blunders. When White extends to 1 in Diagram 4, he increases his
liberties to three, but Black pursues him with 2. White is at the
end of his rope: He has no way to increase his liberties after Black
4. If White plays 5, Black ataris with 6 and captures with 8.
However, Black must not block
from below with 2 in Diagram 5. White will turn at 3, and now the
two marked black stones have only two liberties, while the white
group on the right has three. White captures the two marked stones
with 5 and 7.
As a general rule, when your stones have no hope of escaping, it
is often best to leave them as they are and play elsewhere.
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