Honinbo Retsugen (本因坊烈元, 1750–1808) was a Japanese professional go

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

, and tenth head of the

Hon'inbō Honinbo (or Hon'inbō, 本因坊) is a title used by the head of the Honinbo house or the winner of the Honinbo tournament. Honinbo house The Honinbo house was a school of Go players officially founded in 1612 and discontinued in 1940. The foun ...

house.

Biography

The period of the second half of the eighteenth century, as far as the game of go in Japan is concerned, is lacking in distinguishing features. It is short on both technical innovation and outstanding individuals. Some authors, for example John Fairbairn, have suggested that in this era the levels in China and in Japan were quite close, though since Japan was strictly closed this can only be argued on comparison of existing game records in very different styles. Retsugen was on the receiving end of the brilliance of the one player of the era who still has a high reputation, Yasui Senchi. Senchi was a pioneer of the kind of centrally-oriented play later revived and refined as ''

shinfuseki or ''new opening strategy'' was the change of attitude to go opening theory A Go opening is the initial stage of a game of Go (game), Go. On the traditional Go (board game), 19×19 board the opening phase of the game usually lasts between 15 a ...

'' in the 1930s.

References

1750 births 1808 deaths Japanese Go players {{Japan-Go-bio-stub