The Life of Honinbo Shuei

This is Part 1 of a trilogy, "The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei", by an author (John Fairbairn) long known in the western go world as a writer and translator, especially for books on go history.

Shuei was a famous go (weiqi/baduk) player in Japan at the end of the 19th century. He is still esteemed as the best model for even modern professionals to follow. But his life was full of hardship and controversy. He overcame this not only to dominate the go world but to do so in his forties. He is a classic example of "great talents mature late".

Part 1 (The Life) provides a full-length (text-only) biography, recounting all this. It reveals not just unknown sides to his character, but the truth about "facts" famous in the go world, such as Shusaku's "invincible" run of Castle Games. It also explains why Shuei disappeared from the go scene for years at a time. It is the first-ever detailed and thoroughly researched biography of a go player in English.

Part 2 (forthcoming), spread over several volumes, will provide detailed commentaries on about eighty of Shuei's games.

Part 3 (forthcoming) is devoted to commentaries by Shuei himself on games by other players.

Both these parts focus on a discussion of Shuei's famous but elusive style, and also expand on episodes recounted in Part 1.