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Fuseki Revolution

How AI Has Changed Go

by
Shibano Toramaru 9-dan

Kiseido Publishing Company
Chigasaki, Japan

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

Go-playing AI programs have changed the very nature of professional go. In the half-decade since the emergence of AlphaGo in 2016, the conventional wisdom of go has been transformed. Opening patterns previously favored by professionals of all levels have lost popularity and some have disappeared altogether. Large moyos have lost out to the thoroughgoing preference of AI for actual territory and its skill at reducing moyos. Josekis have been transformed, with ‘standard’ moves disappearing and their place being taken by new techniques invented by AI. Even some moves that were previously considered taboo, as being crude or ineffective, have been reassessed by AI and have earned places in the standard repertory.

In this book, Toramaru Shibano, one of the top players of his generation, gives his own take on the fuseki revolution. He focusses on changes in the contemporary way of thinking about go strategy, organizing his analysis under the following three main headings.

Chapter One: The reasons why popular openings declined

Chapter Two: Changes in conventional wisdom and new sets of values

Chapter Three: Revolutionary new josekis invented by AI

Shibano maintains an independent attitude about go theory and is not afraid to let us know where and why he sometimes disagrees with AI.

In an appendix, Shibano gives his own recommendations on the tactics to use with openings like the sanrensei that still feature strongly in amateur go.

Copyright Page

Fuseki Revolution
How AI Has Changed Go

by Shibano Toramaru 9-dan

Copyright © 2021 Toramaru Shibano
English Translation Copyright © 2021 by John Power and Kiseido Publishing Company

All rights reserved according to international law. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use without the written permission from Kiseido Publishing Company.

Published by
Kiseido Publishing Company
Kagawa 4–48–32
Chigasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken
Japan 253–0082

ISBN of the printed version: 978–4–906574–89–6

Converted for SmartGo Books by John Mifsud.

Contents

Fuseki Revolution
How AI Has Changed Go

Copyright Page

Author’s Preface

Translator’s Preface

Publisher’s Note

Glossary of Go Terms

Chapter One
The reasons why popular openings declined

Theme 1. Sanrensei

The chapters in gray are included only in the full book.

Theme 2. The Chinese Opening

Theme 3. Mini-Chinese Opening

Theme 4. The star point and the small-knight enclosure

Theme 5. The Kobayashi Style

Theme 6. The New Kobayashi Style

Theme 7. The small-knight enclosure and the 3–4 stone

Chapter Two
Changes in conventional wisdom and new sets of values

Theme 8. The small-knight enclosure with the star point

Theme 9. Taking up position on the side star point after an approach move

Theme 10. Sliding after playing an approach to the star point

Theme 11. The double approach move, part 1

Theme 12. The double approach move, part 2

Theme 13. The one-space answer

Theme 14. Playing on the 3–3 point in an empty corner

Theme 15. Lifting the diagonal-attachment taboo: 1

Theme 16. Lifting the diagonal-attachment taboo: 2

Theme 17. Distant approach moves

Theme 18. The one-space high approach move

Chapter Three
Revolutionary new josekis invented by AI

Theme 19. Why did the hane at the head of two stones disappear?

Theme 20. Why has the pincer lost popularity?

Theme 21. Major reform in a basic joseki

Theme 22. The immediate shoulder hit

Theme 23. The dramatic evolution of double-approach-move josekis

Theme 24. A joseki that suddenly disappeared

Theme 25. Reevaluation of the attach-and-extend joseki

Theme 26. A new technique: the direct attachment

Theme 27. Is the splitting move slack?

Theme 28. The two-space extension: settling oneself with one move

Theme 29. The newest visceral approach to go: emphasize speed!

Theme 30. The 5–3 and 5–4 points

Appendix
How to handle the Sanrensei and other moyo contests

Recommended tactics to use with the sanrensei: 1

Recommended tactics to use with the sanrensei: 2

Recommended tactics to use with the sanrensei: 3

White’s newest countermeasures against the sanrensei

In the high Chinese Opening, overwhelm the opponent with your moyo

Expand rapidly in moyo contests

The Toramaru-style recommended opening!

Afterword

About the Author

Buy This Book

Go Books from Kiseido

About SmartGo Books

Author’s Preface

I wonder what my readers have thought recently when watching TV go programs or Net commentaries on games.

‘You don’t see the Chinese Opening any more.’

‘Even the cosmic-style player Takemiya Masaki doesn’t play the sanrensei any more.’

That’s right. The opening has been completely transformed in the last four or five years. The starting point was the appearance of a go-playing program, Alpha Go, in 2016. Later, new programs that were far above the level of human players appeared one after the other, and in the blink of an eye they changed the conventional wisdom about the opening.

From the above perspective, this book attempts to explain why popular opening patterns that everyone played have stopped being played.

In this connection, I also discuss recent ideas about the opening and about josekis. Some of the new methods revealed by AI make you exclaim in delight, but there are variations that are so high-level you can’t assess them.

Even so, as far as my ability allowed, I have attempted to make clear explanations. I will be happy if this book can become your new conventional wisdom.

Toramaru Shibano
June 2021

Translator’s preface

Just a couple of notes about usage:

Some Japanese terms have been used for convenience (fitting ‘three star-point stones in a row’ into a sentence is often awkward) or for exactitude (‘tenuki’ means more than just ‘switching elsewhere’).

Following Shibano’s usage, the term AI stands for AI go-playing programs; it is often personified.

In the body of the book, names are given in Japanese order.

John Power
August 2021

Publisher’s note

This book contains the first half of a series called ‘Fuseki Revolution: Solving the puzzle of the decline of old patterns’ that appeared in Go Weekly from January 2019 to July 2020. The second part of the book, that is, the Appendix, consists of selections from ‘Shibano Toramaru 7-dan’s guide to star fusekis’, published in three parts in the Monthly Go World supplementary booklets, beginning in June 2019.

Glossary

This is a short glossary, covering some terms that feature often in this book.

direct 3–3: invading on the 3–3 point at an early stage of the game, that is, instead of playing an approach move (see Appendix section 4 to Dia. 5).

double approach move: a second approach move (ryo-gakari) (see Themes 11 and 12).

hanekomi: a hane in-between two enemy stones (see Dia. 8, Theme 25).

Heisei era: 1989–2019

overconcentrated shape: kori-gatachi

kikashi: forcing move

sabaki: settling a group by making light and flexible shape (see Dia. 6)

splitting move: wariuchi. Playing around the centre in a wide space between two enemy positions. It makes miai of two-space extensions in either direction. (See Theme 27, Dias. 1 & 6.)

territorial moyo: ji-moyo (a moyo that is close to turning into territory)

tenuki: switching elsewhere in a position in which you would normally play another move

tewari: removing superfluous stones to analyse the efficiency of the core shape (see Dias. 3 and 4, Theme 3)

wariuchi: see splitting move

yoritsuki: taking profit by harassing a weak group

Chapter One
The reasons why popular openings declined

In Chapter One, I look at some openings that were popular from the last decades of the 20th century into the 21st century but that have now declined (or are beginning to decline) in popularity and I give the reasons for this.

It’s certain that the advent of AI is one of the root causes, but the primary reason is a major transformation in values from the past, namely: The corner profit is highly regarded, and the sides and centre moyos are not evaluated highly.

If you keep this point in mind as you read this chapter, you should be able to understand why openings that were formerly very popular, starting with the sanrensei (three star-point stones in a row) and including the Chinese Opening and the mini-Chinese Opening, have gone out of fashion.

Theme 1. Sanrensei

Why have openings that were formerly popular gone out of fashion? Let’s start by looking at the sanrensei, a pattern that even now boasts a stubborn popularity among amateur players.

Theme 1

Why is this pattern no longer played by professionals?

To start by stating the conclusion, the evaluation that it’s hard to win with this pattern has become established among professionals.

I am now going to discuss various aspects of this pattern, but, in a word, the reason is that it’s hard to convert a moyo into territory. The fact that since the appearance of AI the evaluation of moyos has become lower also probably has an influence here.

How does the sanrensei progress?

Dia. 1

The sequence here is a representative joseki, so I will use it as the basis for discussion. However, instead of 7 —

Dia. 2

The descent of White 1 is an alternative that has been around for a long time. If Black 2, White would descend at ‘a’.

However, AI played the new moves of White 3 and 5, which were recognized as being quite effective. The presence of White 1 means that Black’s position on the right is open at the side. If Black answers White at the top, White’s plan is to take sente and to play first in the bottom right.

Well, let’s go back to Dia. 1.

Dia. 3

If Black answers White 1 by playing another pincer at 2, I think that jumping to White 3 is an effective move.

If Black 4, White presses at 5. Assuming 6 to 12 follow, White goes into the right side with 13. This move won’t meet with a severe attack, which you could say is a major plus for White.

Dia. 4

Attaching at 1 is about the best Black has, so White can easily settle his group with 2 to 8. White has laid waste to the right-side moyo, which was Black’s major asset, and White’s bottom group as a whole will not come under severe attack. White has manoeuvred skilfully.

Dia. 5

Answering the marked black pincer by making another 3–3 invasion is also, of course, a good strategy. After the continuation to 6, White 7 is a reducing move that feels good.

Dia. 6

If Black attacks from behind with the cap of 1, White is ready with the sabaki move of 2. Up to 8, White makes flexible shape and pokes his head out into the centre. He is satisfied with this development.

Dia. 7

The defensive move of 1 is very welcome for White. He forces with the moves to 8, then switches to the left side with 10. He has scored a major success. White has given Black about 40 points of secure territory on the right side, but White has secure territories, each of ten points, on the top and bottom right. If you consider the value of White’s left-side sanrensei, then he already has a sure win. An additional plus for White is that his centre stones contribute to forming a moyo on the left.

For the reasons I have given, the sanrensei has lost favour with professionals. As research into the opening, including the advent of AI, has progressed, professionals have come to believe that a moyo that is too big is hard to convert into territory. However, when all is said and done, this is something that has happened at the professional level. I think that, among amateur players, the side that goes on to the offensive often has an advantage, so using the sanrensei to stake out a moyo may well be an effective strategy. If you have confidence that the sequences in Dias. 4 and 6 are playable for Black, go ahead and play the sanrensei.

I would like to give just one piece of advice to amateur devotees of the sanrensei. Instead of Black 2 in Dia. 3 —

Dia. 8

Answering the marked stone with the diagonal move of Black 1 is quite effective. If White 2, Black intercepts with 3. When White crawls at 4, he dodges to 5, inviting White 6 and 8, and connects at 9. After White 10 and 12, the idea is to tenuki and switch to a large point like 13.

About the Author

Shibano Toramaru

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture on 9 November 1999. With his older brother, he studied go at Hong Seisen’s dojo (Hong is a 4-dan at the Kansai Ki-in). He became 1-dan at the Tokyo headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in in April 2015 (actually qualified for 1-dan in summer 2014). He was promoted to 2-dan in the same year and 3-dan in 2016.

In 2017, he won the 26th Ryusei title, earning an automatic promotion to 7-dan. At 17 years 8 months, he was the youngest player ever to hold this title and the youngest-ever 7-dan. He also set a record as the quickest player (two years 11 months into his career) to win a title open to all professionals. In 2017, he also won the 42nd King of the New Stars title. In September, he became the youngest player (17 years nine months) to win a seat in the Honinbo League, then in November set the same record for the Meijin League. On 29 April 2018, he won the 4th Japan-China Ryusei match, beating Ke Jie 9-dan, then the world’s number one.

In May 2019, Shibano beat Iyama Yuta in the final of the 2018 Grand Champions Tournament. On 1 August, he tied for first place in the 44th Meijin League and beat Kono Rin in a play-off on 8 August. By becoming the Meijin challenger, he earned promotion to 8-dan (at four years 11 months, the quickest to reach this rank). In the title match, he beat Cho U Meijin 4–1 (the match was decided on October 8); he was the first teenager (19 years 11 months) to win a top-seven title. Back in 1965, Sakata Meijin, referring to Rin Kaiho’s challenging him, commented that ‘a Meijin in his 20s is inconceivable’. What would he have thought of Shibano? His automatic 9-dan promotion set the same two records as before: youngest 9-dan ever and the quickest to that rank (five years one month). In November, aged exactly 20, he became the youngest player to win the Oza title (the 67th) when he beat Iyama 3–1 and also the youngest player to hold two top-seven titles.

In 2020, he also won the 58th Judan title, beating Murakawa Daisuke 3–1, and became, at 20 years seven months, the youngest-ever 10-dan. (The third game was originally scheduled for 16 April, but was put off until June 17 because of the corona virus.) He also became the youngest player to hold three top-seven titles at the same time. He then challenged Iyama Yuta for the 75th Honinbo title, but lost 1–4. Later in the year, he lost the Meijin title to Iyama, again by 1–4, but defended the Oza against Kyo Kagen 3–1. In 2021, he lost the Judan title to Kyo Kagen 2–3. He challenged Iyama for the Honinbo title again, but lost 3–4.

Shibano has won six official titles: Meijin, Oza twice, Judan, Ryusei, and King of the New Stars. His official record, as of 31 August 2021, is 281 wins, 115 losses (winning rate 70.9%).

His older brother is Ryunosuke 2-dan, who was born on 2 December 1997. The two collaborated on a book about AI. Ryunosuke also wrote a biography of his younger brother when he became Meijin. Showing that youth records run in the family, Ryunosuke became the youngest-ever amateur Honinbo in 2015. He became a pro in 2017.