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50 Years aGO - May 1973

Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister

Edit on 9 May 2023:  added links to game records.

Although the newly formed Gilbert W. Rosenthal Memorial Baltimore Go Club would not hold the first Maryland Open tournament until 1974, we shamelessly plug its return this month for its 47th edition on May 27 to 28 in Baltimore - see http://www.baltimoregoclub.org for details.


Ishida Yoshio Hon

Ishida Hon'inbo (pictured) began his defense of his Hon'inbo title against Rin Meijin. This pairing seemed equivalent to a World Championship, in a Kisei-less world, the two top titleholders at a time when Japan was dominant. Ishida took the first game on May 8 to 9...and the second on May 21 to 22...and the third on May 29 to 30. (Game records: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3)


Meanwhile, Ishida also was leading the Meijin league with a 5-0 record as of May 15. Fujisawa Shūkō was stalking him at 4-0.


Also on May 15, the omnipresent Ishida played the emerging top player in China, Chen Zude, as part of the Japan China Go Exchange. Overall, Chen had a quite respectable record of 3-6 with games against Fujisawa Shūkō, Katō, Hashimoto Utarō, Go Seigen and Sakata Eio. (Game record: Chen Zude vs. Ishida Yoshio)


John Van Frankenhuysen
Finally, Go Review presented an extensive interview with John Van Frankenhuysen, a Dutch 2d visiting Japan this month. He traced the growth of go in the Netherlands to the 1959 European Go Congress. Still by 1967, organizational interest had waned (seems an interesting parallel to AGA). A cluster of strong players and alliances with student sports associations began a rebirth. He described German and Yugoslav players as very aggressive, and the French as playing a good style but perhaps too orthodox. His experience running the most recent European Go Congress had led him to believe that the event should be shortened to one week (something that has not happened). Mr. Van Frankenhuysen was very excited that Iwamoto’s Go for Beginners would soon be released in a Dutch edition.


Photos courtesy of Kido and Go Review, game records courtesy of SmartGoOne


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