The game of the century (Go)

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Honinbo Shusai (left) plays against Go Seigen in the game of the century.

The game of the century refers to a famous game of go between Honinbo Shusai (white) and Go Seigen (black) that was played to celebrate the 60th birthday of Honinbo Shusai. The game began on October 16, 1933 and finished on January 29, 1934. Each player was given twenty-four hours of thinking time. Shusai was arguably the strongest player of his day, and was head of the famous Honinbo go school, most prestigious of the schools originally founded at the behest of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu at the start of the 17th century. Go Seigen was famed as prodigy, first among a generation of young new brilliant players, and would go on to become one of the most celebrated players of the 20th century. This led newspapers to dub the match the game of the century.

As the older player, Shusai had the right to adjourn the game at any time he saw fit. As there was as yet no practice of sealing the last move (putting in an envelope, hidden from the public and the opponent) Go Seigen was said to have had played the entire Honinbo go school. Players were allowed to analyze the game during adjournments, and Honinbo Shusai took thirteen adjournments, often at critical parts of the game. This clouded the game with controversy.

A particularly brilliant move played by Honinbo Shusai was said to have been discovered by one of his pupils, Nobuaki Maeda, who later denied this. Before the move, Shusai had been behind for most of the game. Shusai would eventually win by 2 points, though it must be mentioned that this was a game without komi (points to compensate white for the fact that black moves first), which put Shusai at a disadvantage from the start.