Firsts for go patterns

The first time tengen was recorded as first move in an even game was when Minamisato Yohee essayed it successfully against Honinbo Dosaku in Japan around 1660. Its first use in a komi game (4.5 points) was by Yamabe Toshiro 5-dan in a February 1950 East-West Japan match against Hashimoto Utaro 8-dan. White won. The first example in China under modern rules was by Guo Tisheng against Gu Shuiru in May 1937. Again White won. Surprisingly, the earliest example we have seen in Korea is by Mok Chin-seok against An Yeong-kil in the 2001 KBS Cup.

The year 1927 deserves some sort of recognition as both an annus mirabilis and annus horribilis, since it saw the introduction of both the Avalanche joseki and the Magic Sword joseki.

The so-called Shusaku fuseki was first played by Honinbo Shusaku in July 1843, but several players tried it before him. The earliest example is between Honinbo Hakugen and Hayashi Monri (Black) in 1744. Yasui Senchi, Honinbo Josaku and Genan Inseki were among players who used it before Shusaku.

The Chinese fuseki was first tried, as White, by Mukai Kazuo against Hashimoto Utaro in 1933 - and he won - but not quite at the beginning. The first player to try it with his first three moves was Guo Tisheng as White against Chen Yi in June 1951. The first public example as Black was also in China - Chen Zude tried it against Miyamoto Naoki in the November 1963 Japan-China Goodwill Exchange. These were all the Low version. The High version did not come in until April 1970 when Takemiya Masaki won with it against Kamimura Kunio in the Honinbo.

The first mimic game in pro play was in 1929 when Go Seigen tried it against Kitani Minoru in a Jiji Shinpo sponsored game. Kitani was very upset, but won by 3 points. The mimicry lasted for 62 moves. The first player to adopt it as a constant tactic was Fujisawa Kuranosuke.

The first chosei (eternal life) in official pro games was between Rin Kaiho and Komatsu Hideki in the 49th Honinbo league. Both were given half a point after 333 moves.

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