The Master of Go

After he became the Master, the world believed that he could not lose, and he had to believe it himself. Therein was the tragedy.

It may be said that the Master was plagued in his last match by modern rationalism, to which fussy rules were everything, from which all the grace and elegance of Go as art had disappeared, which quite dispensed with respect for elders and attached no importance to mutual respect as human beings. From the way of Go the beauty of Japan and the Orient had fled. Everything had become science and regulation. The road to advancement in rank, which controlled the life of a player, had become a meticulous point system. One conducted the battle only to win, and there was no margin for remembering the dignity and the fragrance of Go as an art. The modern way was to insist upon doing battle under conditions of abstract justice...

Stop. I don't like it. I don't like having people die.

From the way of Go the beauty of Japan and the Orient had fled. Everything had become science and regulation.

That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music. Everything is lost when suddenly a false note is struck, or one party in a duet suddenly launches forth on an eccentric flight of his own. A masterpiece of a game can be ruined by insensitivity to the feelings of an adversary.

We were watching a battle, but it took clean forms.

En el mundo de los juegos de competencia, los espectadores no pueden evitar erigir héroes más allá de los reales poderes que tengan sus elegidos.