Today is possibly the first for a Google Doodle. Google Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan , Ukraine, Greece, Germany, the United Kingdom and Columbia is today celebrating the life and legacy of Honinbo Shusaku who was a gamer.
Honinbo Shusaku is regarded as the greatest ever professional Go Player. The “Go Game” is played by an estimated 24 million people worldwide. The game is most popular in China, Japan and Korea. The “Go Game” is a board game for two players which originated in China more than 2,500 years ago.
The game is rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules.
How to play the go game
Two players alternately place black and white playing pieces, called “stones”, on the vacant intersections called “points” on a grid of 19×19 lines.
The object of the game is to use one’s stones to surround a larger total area of the board than the opponent.
Once placed on the board, stones may not be moved, but stones can be removed from the board if captured; this is done by surrounding an opposing stone or group of stones by occupying all orthogonally-adjacent points.
Players continue in this fashion until neither player wishes to make another move; the game has no set ending conditions. When a game concludes, the territory is counted along with captured stones and komi to determine the winner.
Games may also be won by resignation.
About Honinbo Shusaku
Honinbo Shusaku was born in Hiroshima Japan on the 6th of June 1829 and died on the 10th of August 1862 at the age of 33. Honinbo Shusaku was nicknamed “Invincible” after he earned a perfect score for 19 straight wins in the annual gp castle games.
Honinbo Shusaku name is connected to the Shusaku fuseki, a certain method of opening the game on black, which was developed to perfection (but not invented) by him, and was the basis of the popular opening style up to the 1930s. Honinbo Shusaku is also remembered by the Shusaku number, an equivalent of the Erdős number for Go players.
Honinbo Shusaku Google Doodle
Today’s Google Doodle show a “Go” board and the stones were placed to spell out Google. In the center of the doodle there is a man sitting presumably the great Honinbo Shusaku himself. The Doodle showcase the famous Shusaku fuseki “Go” opening move which Honinbo Shusaku was known for.
