Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Prior to the discovery of new copies of the Igo Hatsuyoron, one might have thought that Xuanxuan Qijing Problem 213, nicknamed by the French master as "the emperor of life and death problems", as the most difficult problem ever.After the discovery of new copies of the Igo Hatsuyoron in the 1980's, it is widely believed that this is the most difficult problem ever. Composed by Dosetsu himself, it is in the words (dead link)of Fujisawa Shuko, who solved it with the assistance of some of his students, "a lifetime masterpiece, with elegant shapes, a striking novelty of the theme, a precise balance of the fights, etc."/Shuko's Solution ("classic" 1982 solution until move 70, somewhat outdated)/Three Amateurs Solution (newer solution, also partly validated by professional Chinese research)In 2022, a new solution aided by KataGo shows that Black plays at 'a' to win by 0.5 points. See the PDF for details. Previously, KataGo was used in 2019 to show how white could potentially win.In 2024, Kuwamoto Shinpei re-checked the original and found an important comment: "White has one prisoner", which must be captured at the marked stone in the diagram.See also: The Most Difficult Go Problem Ever, Go World Number 29, Autumn 1982, pages 43 and 47-49. There is a new website dedicated to Dosetsu's masterpiece: http://igohatsuyoron120.de/. It contains the whole contents of the current two volume hardcover edition "Igo Hatsuyōron 120 – Beneath the surface of the most difficult problem ever" that has more than 1,100 pages. "Igo Hatsuyōron 120 – An Elephant in Slices". Smartgo Books 2015. This SmartGo Book comes with a new approach to the "most difficult problem ever created". “How do you eat an elephant?” is the usual management consultant’s reply when being asked how to manage a huge project. This book presents this difficult problem in 120 slices. Each aspect of Igo Hatsuyōron 120 is explained using relatively simple individual problems, so you can understand the entire puzzle. Enjoy a journey through time — look over the shoulder of Dosetsu and get a picture of how he composed his masterpiece. ''The Most Difficult Go Problem Ever'', Brett und Stein Verlag 2011. This book presents the most profound analysis of the famous problem of the Igo Hatsuyoron. It summarizes the early research and reveals the latest findings, apparently invalidating the known solutions. It has about 300 solution diagrams, and a further 50 explanatory diagrams. It is based on a subset of the diagrams from the DGoZ web-site mentioned below. The Deutsche Go Zeitung has a far more detailed discussion of The really most difficult Go problem ever (link broken 2021-11-24), which has well over 2,000 diagrams, over about 500 A4 pages, as well as SGF sources, which include most established variations (the contents is also available at http://2011.igohatsuyoron120.de). All versions use the same diagrams. The main version is in German, with a good parallel (human-mediated) English translation. The Japanese, and Chinese, versions were obtained using BabelFish? to do the translation automatically, and are therefore somewhat flawed. This
Add Comment