Moments in Go History

Go Seigen Almost Becomes Meijin
March 22, 2004
By William Cobb

After the death of Shusai, the last honorary Meijin, the Nihon Kiin decided to connect the Meijin title with a tournament. So the thirteen top players played a round robin battle, starting in January 1961, that lasted almost two years. In the games, White was given a five point komi and also was declared the winner in the event of a tie. Go Seigen was clearly the dominant player in Japan in those days, but during the tournament he was badly injured when he was hit by a motorcycle. He resumed playing after a brief hospital stay, but suffered bad headaches (which eventually prevented him from playing in serious competition). 

In this first Meijin tournament, the contest came down to a race between Fujisawa Hosai, Go Seigen, and Sakata Eio. Fujisawa lost his last game (against Hashimoto Shoji), leaving him with a 9-3 record, and in despair he went off to do some serious drinking. Meanwhile, Go and Sakata were playing the final game of the tournament. It ended up a tie, and Go was declared the winner since he was playing White. This gave Go, who had lost to Fujisawa earlier, a 9-3 record, also, but since a "tie" victory was judged inferior to a "real" victory, Fujisawa was designated Meijin without a play-off. It took several hours to find Fujisawa to give him the news; he lost the Meijin title the next year to Sakata. Although Go had won the predecessor tournament to the Meijin, the Japan's Strongest Player title in 1958 and 1961, this was as close as he ever came again to winning a title. 

Sources: Go Review August 1971, gobase.org, and Sensei's Library

CORRECTION: "The first Meijin was not Fujisawa Hosai, as you wrote in your article ("Go Seigen Almost Becomes Meijin," EJ 3/22/03), but the other Fujisawa, Shuko," writes Lucretiu Calota 5 dan and Romanian Champion. "Shuko was known for his capacity to win the first instance of a title, like Kisei among others." Thanks to Lucretiu and the other sharp-eyed readers who caught this slip; we apologize for the confusion and will make it up next week with a special feature on "The Two Fujisawas."

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