Takemiya Masaki (9Pro Dan): This is Go the Natural Way !

British Go Journal (Winter 1990)

Long time ago, between 1983 and 1991 the Japanese Go Professional Takemiya Masaki (9p D) wrote for the British Go Journal (BGJ) about different topics, as the table shows (see bottom). The articles originally had been published in Kido Magazine which was for many years the Nihon Ki-in’s dan-level go magazine till 2000.

From 1988 on Takemiya presented in the BGJ different problems of Fuseki-s (openings) within the series “This is Go the Natural Way !” – naturally related to SanRenSei.

Three interesting problems Takemiya presented in part 7, being published in edition No. 81 of the British Go Journal (Winter 1990), as you can read in the PDF (free download here).

.
If you like to read the whole series, best you buy the book with same title which was published in 2008. “This is Go the Natural Way!“are the watchwords that the author takes as his philosophy of play in this unique volume, but the book could also be viewed as The Best Games of Takemiya Masaki.

yellow mountain imports sold this book originally published by Hinoki Press in the past at a reduced prize of 17.99 US dollars (original prize: 20.00 US$). There it is no more available. It might be a challenge to get one original print nowadays (ISBN 13 978-0-9788874-9-0).

When Takemiya published the material that has been translated by Bob Terry, he was Honinbo and at the top of his form. Few professional go players were serious rivals for him. And the ones who were are today considered as great players in the same way as he is, such as Cho Chikun, Kato Masao or Sakata Eio. All of these players and many more make appearances in this volume.

The twelve games covered (the list gives the White player first) are:

1. Takemiya Masaki – Hashimoto Utaro, 1972-08-08, All Japan No. 1 Tournament
2. Kato Masao – Takemiya Masaki, 1974-05-18/19, Honinbo League
3. Takemiya Masaki – Rin Kaiho, 1974-03-28, Pro Best Ten Final
4. Takemiya Masaki – Abe Yoshiteru, 1977-10-06, Oteai
5. Ishida Yoshio – Takemiya Masaki, 1970-12-20/21, Nihon Ki-in Championship
6. Hashimoto Shoji – Takemiya Masaki, 1969-05-22, Pro Best Ten
7. Ishida Yoshio – Takemiya Masaki, 1974-03-03, Nihon Ki-in Championship
8. Yamabe Toshiro – Takemiya Masaki, 1970-06-04, Nihon Ki-in Championship
9. Ishida Yoshio – Takemiya Masaki, 1974-03-30/31, Honinbo Title Match, Game 2
10. Takemiya Masaki – Rin Kaiho, 1974-01-23/24, Honinbo
11. Takemiya Masaki – Honda Kunahisa, 1974-01-14, Meijin League
12. Takemiya Masaki – Cho Chikun, 1981-05-26, Honinbo Title Match, Game 1

This is not merely a collection of brilliant games. Far from it. In fact, several of the games analyzed in this book ended in losses for the author. But that is not the key factor that Takemiya takes pains to explain. The laws were not in his strategy, but in the execution, and at critical points more experienced players edged him out for wins. Such as when Ishida Yoshio defeated Takemiya (4-3) in the 1974 Honinbo Title Match. One of Takemiya’s greatest games appeared in that match, but he ended up losing it and the match. He won the title two years later, but he would rather dwell on that earlier loss than recount the triumph that followed. The reader should examine that game published here.

   book author: Takemiya Masaki (9p Dan)
original publisher: Hinoki Press
year of publishing: 2008 (176 pages)
ISBN: 13 978-0-9788874-9-0
reseller: Yellow Mountain Imports
prize:  $17.99 ($20.00)

Takemiya’s article published in the BGJ (source: British Go Journal Archive)