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stones before the game starts. Nakeno-san asks me if I would like a handicap.
Unsure of myself, I answer, “Sure,” and Naneno-senei covers the nine spots
with black stones, making the board look pretty full already. (I haven’t played
with a handicap before.)He places his first white stone and then it’s my turn.
Nakeno-sensei has been playing Go all his life. He has studied dozens of books on
Go, puzzled over and implemented various strategies, learned the strengths and
weaknesses of different ‘moku’ (formations), played in tournaments. On the other
hand, I don’t know anything except the one rule, and I sometimes forget that.
During ‘fuseki’, the opening game before anyone is attacked, I am just plopping
my black stones down without a plan, while I’m sure Nakeno-sensei knows what
he is doing and is already visualizing the end of the game. ‘Chuban’ or middle
game begins when I challenge one of his moku. He escapes, taking my stone in a
couple of moves. As more stones are placed and the board begins to fill, we each
capture and remove some of the other’s stones; patterns begin to emerge; and the
game moves into ‘shuban’ or end game. A point comes when it is clear that no
more moves can be made and ‘yose’ or tidying up begins:stone by stone, corners
are filled and the borders between our two empires are finalized. Next ‘shukyoku’
begins:Nakeno-sensei takes the black stones he has captured and places them
inside my territory (ji), considerably reducing the number of open intersections it
contains. I take the white stones I have captured and fill in some of his open
intersections (jiyu). Then we count the open intersections inside his territory and
inside mine. To my amazement, I have a few more than Nakeno-sensei. I win!
“You have a very unconventional way of playing,” says Nakeno-sensei.
“Shall we play again?”
We do. We play two more games. In the second game, I have a three stone
handicap only:Nakeno-sensei easily beats me. Before we play our final game,
and despite my loss, Nakeno-senei suggests I try without any handicap. This last
game takes longer than its predecessors and Go seems to have become much more
difficult. As I am now trying to think ahead, mountains rise out of the once flat
prairie. Still, I don’t know enough to get myself into much trouble. When all is
done, ‘shukyoku’ reveals I have won.
by Morley Evans