Kifubara

Famous Pro Go Games

The historical canon — from Shusaku's Castle Games through the Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo match. Every game playable move-by-move on the same board the analysis worker reads.

314 games · 19 named games · three eras

pre-1900

Classical Era

Edo-era Japan, before the title-match system. The Castle Games (Oshirogo) played annually before the Shogun, the great Honinbo house lineage, and the long training jubangos that shaped a thousand-year tradition.

Dosaku — the Saint of Go, representative games

Hon'inbo Dosaku (1645–1702) is universally considered the founder of modern Go theory — he reshaped joseki, the middle game, and the way professionals thought about every move.

Jowa vs Akaboshi — training games before the Bloody Vomit

The years of practice games between Hon'inbo Jowa and Akaboshi Intetsu that led up to the famous 1835 climax.

1835-08-13 · Matsudaira Family Go Tournament

The Bloody Vomit Game

Akaboshi Intetsu

Honinbo Jowa

Result · W+R

Hon'inbo Jowa's ruthless three "ghost moves" crushed the young challenger Akaboshi Intetsu in a stakes-laden contest tied up with the politics of the Meijin succession. Akaboshi reportedly collapsed during the game coughing blood and died not long after. Edo-era Go at its darkest — and its most brilliant.

Shusaku vs Ota Yuzo — Iwasaki-Sanchi training jubango, 1842

At age thirteen, Shusaku played a long series against the famously aggressive Ota Yuzo. The games established Shusaku as the prodigy who would later redefine professional Go.

1846-09-11 · Ear-reddening game

The Ear-Reddening Move

Yasuda Shusaku

Inoue Genan Inseki

Result · B+2

The single most famous game in Go history. At seventeen, Hon'inbo Shusaku played move 127 against the much older Inoue Genan Inseki — a quiet, multi-purpose move on the right side that completely reversed a losing position. A doctor watching said Inseki's ears reddened in shock, the unmistakable sign of a master who knows he has lost. Black won by two points.

Shusaku vs Shuwa — heir and master, 1846–1860

The mentor (Meijin Shuwa) and his designated heir met many times across a decade and a half — the closest thing the Edo Go world had to a top-rivalry series.

Shusaku Castle Games — the 19-game streak

Hon'inbo Shusaku never lost a single Castle Game (Oshirogo) across thirteen years. The most dominant streak in Edo-era Go, played annually before the Shogun.

Shuei vs Mura se Shuho — jubango, 1884–1885

Hon'inbo Shuei, often ranked equal-best with Shusaku, played his signature ten-game match against the powerful Mura se Shuho.

1900-2014

Modern Era

Go Seigen and the Showa giants, the founding world titles, Korea's rise through Cho Hun-hyun and Lee Chang-ho, and the dynastic Japanese title runs of Cho Chikun and Takemiya Masaki.

Go Seigen vs Shusai — surrounding games of the Yomiuri match

Context games from the same Yomiuri-sponsored series that produced the Game of the Century. Helpful for studying how Go Seigen and Shusai approached each other.

1933-10-16 · "Game with the Meijin" sponsored by Yomiuri Shinbun to commemorate 20,000th issue

The Game of the Century

Go Seigen

Honinbo Shusai

Result · W+2

A nineteen-year-old Go Seigen, half outsider and half phenomenon, challenged Meijin Hon'inbo Shusai in a game sponsored by the Yomiuri Shinbun. Shusai used the right of adjournment fourteen times — and his student Maeda is said to have discovered the decisive move 160 between sessions. The controversy that followed reshaped how professional Go would be played for the next century.

1938-06-26 · The Meijin's Retirement Game

The Master's Retirement Game

Kitani Minoru

Honinbo Shusai

Result · B+5

Hon'inbo Shusai's final professional game, lost to the young Kitani Minoru, ended the centuries-old Hon'inbo house and marked the symbolic transition from Edo-era to modern professional Go. Kawabata Yasunari covered the game for the Mainichi and later turned it into his novel *The Master of Go*.

1939-09-28 · Kamakura 10-game match

Kamakura Jubango — Game 1

Kitani Minoru

Go Seigen

Result · W+2

The opening game of the most famous ten-game match of the twentieth century. Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru, the two giants of Showa-era Go, met in Kamakura in 1939 to settle who was the stronger — a question the title system of the day couldn't answer. Over two years and ten games, Go Seigen forced Kitani down a handicap level.

Go Seigen vs Kitani — Kamakura jubango, 1939–1941

Ten games over two years, the most famous match series of the Showa era. Go Seigen forced Kitani down a handicap level — the prevailing way to settle who was strongest before the title system replaced jubango.

3rd Hon'inbo Final — the Atomic Bomb match, 1945–1946

The full title match of which the Atomic Bomb Game was the second game. The series stretched into 1946 with a playoff after the original venue was destroyed.

1945-08-04 · 3rd Honinbo Final

The Atomic Bomb Game

Iwamoto Kaoru

Hashimoto Utaro

Result · W+5

On the morning of August 6, 1945, Hashimoto Utaro and Iwamoto Kaoru were playing the second game of the 3rd Hon'inbo title match at a venue in the suburbs of Hiroshima. At 8:15 the bomb exploded a few kilometers away. The blast blew out the windows and upended their lunch — and they resumed and finished the game. Iwamoto won by five.

Go Seigen vs Fujisawa — first 9-dan jubango, 1951

Go Seigen's first jubango as a 9-dan, against the only other 9-dan in Japan at the time. Go won 7–2–1.

Go Seigen vs Sakata — jubango, 1953–1954

Go Seigen vs Sakata Eio, eight games before Go's 6–2 lead ended the series. The peak of Go Seigen's long dominance over Japanese professional Go.

Sakata Eio's Hon'inbo reign — 1961–1967

Seven straight years as Hon'inbo. Sakata's reign defined the 1960s in Japanese professional Go, ending only when Rin Kaiho dethroned him in 1968.

Takemiya Masaki — 31st Hon'inbo, 1976

Takemiya's emerging "Cosmic Style" (uchu-ryu) beat Ishida Yoshio, the "Computer." Moyo vs territory became the defining stylistic dichotomy of 1970s and 80s Japanese Go.

Cho Chikun — first Kisei title, 1984

Cho Chikun's first Kisei — the start of the career that would make him the most-titled player in Japanese professional history.

Cho Chikun vs Kobayashi Koichi — 10th Meijin Final, 1985

The defining rivalry of 1980s Japanese Go: two students of Kitani at the absolute peak of their powers.

Cho Chikun vs Kobayashi Koichi — 10th Kisei Final, 1986

Takemiya wins 1st Fujitsu Cup, 1988

Go's first global title — and Takemiya took it, cementing Cosmic Style as a world-stage force.

1st Ing Cup — Cho Hun-hyun's path to the final

Takemiya defends 2nd Fujitsu Cup, 1989

1st Ing Cup Final — Cho Hun-hyun's 1989 miracle

Korea's first world title. Cho Hun-hyun was the only Korean in the entire field; he won 3–2 from 1–2 down.

1989-09-02 · 1st Ing Cup Final

1st Ing Cup Final — Game 4

Cho Hunhyun

Nie Weiping

Result · B+1

Down 1–2 in the inaugural Ing Cup, Cho Hun-hyun — the lone Korean among Asia's elite — beat Nie Weiping by a single point to keep Korea's hopes alive. The match was watched by an entire nation. The win and the G5 clincher that followed kicked off the Korean Go boom of the 1990s.

1989-09-05 · 1st Ing Cup Final

1st Ing Cup Final — Game 5

Cho Hunhyun

Nie Weiping

Result · B+R

Cho Hun-hyun closed out the world's first major professional Go championship with a resignation win over Nie Weiping, completing the comeback from 1–2 down. Korea had its first world title, and the era of Korean dominance had begun.

2003-04-23 · 2003 KAT Systems Cup

Lee Sedol's Broken Ladder

Lee Sedol

Hong Chang-sik

Result · B+R

A young Lee Sedol — already feared for his fighting — won this 2003 game with one of the most daring sequences in modern Go: an audacious ladder driven clear across the board, the fearless, deep-reading play that became his trademark on the way to the top of the Go world. Black won by resignation.

Lee Chang-ho — first world title at 16, BC Card Cup 1992

Cho Hun-hyun's protege Lee Chang-ho beat his teacher to become the youngest world champion in Go history. Start of the fifteen-year "Stone Buddha" era.

Rui Naiwei wins the 43rd Kuksu, 2000

The first woman in history to win an open-gender major professional Go title.

Lee Chang-ho — 4th Ing Cup semifinal vs Yu Bin, 2000

Lee Chang-ho vs Chang Hao — 4th Ing Cup Final, 2000–2001

Lee Sedol — 15th Fujitsu Cup, 2002

Lee Sedol's first world title — at nineteen — defeating his teacher Lee Chang-ho in the semifinal.

Park Junghwan wins the 24th Fujitsu Cup, 2011

2014-present

AI Era

AlphaGo against Fan Hui, then Lee Sedol, then Ke Jie. The 60-game online Master streak. AlphaGo Zero. The way AI-trained openings reshaped what professional Go even looks like.

Iyama Yuta — 34th Meijin, youngest ever, 2009

Iyama's first major title, the start of the run that would make him the first ever holder of all seven Japanese majors simultaneously.

Lee Sedol vs Gu Li — Mlily Match of the Century jubango, 2014

A modern revival of the historical jubango (ten-game match) format between Asia's top two players. First to six wins; Lee Sedol clinched 6–2 after eight games.

Ke Jie wins the 2nd Bailing Cup, 2014

Ke Jie's first world title, at seventeen.

AlphaGo vs Fan Hui — first defeat of a pro, October 2015

AlphaGo's first match against a professional player. The 5–0 result was kept under embargo until the Nature paper landed in January 2016.

Ke Jie vs Shi Yue — 20th Samsung Cup Final, 2015

Ke Jie vs Lee Sedol — 2nd Mlily Cup Final, 2015–2016

Ke Jie's emphatic statement that he was now the world's top human player — immediately before the Wuzhen summit with AlphaGo would change everything.

Ke Jie vs Lee Sedol — 2016 CCTV Lunar New Year Cup

Lee Sedol vs Ke Jie — 18th Nongshim Cup Game 14, 2016

2016-03-05 Ke Jie Lee Sedol Game 14 B+R

Iyama Yuta — 54th Judan, septuple-crown clincher, 2016

The win that made Iyama Yuta the first player ever to hold all seven Japanese major titles at once.

2016-03-09 · Google DeepMind Challenge Match

Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo — Game 1

Lee Sedol

AlphaGo

Result · W+R

The first game of the 2016 Google DeepMind Challenge Match. AlphaGo, a research project from a London AI lab, beat Lee Sedol — the most decorated player of his generation — by resignation in front of a global audience of more than two hundred million. The result that nobody had expected for another decade.

2016-03-10 · Human vs Computer $1m 5-game Match

Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo — Game 2

AlphaGo

Lee Sedol

Result · B+R

AlphaGo's move 37, the now-legendary shoulder hit on the fifth line, looked to commentators like an obvious mistake and to AlphaGo like a move every human professional would play less than one in ten thousand times. It worked. The game ended in resignation, and the move became the single most famous moment in computer Go.

2016-03-12 · Human vs Computer $1m 5-game Match

Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo — Game 3

Lee Sedol

AlphaGo

Result · W+R

AlphaGo took an unbeatable 3–0 lead, clinching the match. Lee Sedol resigned. Whatever doubts remained after the first two games — about the score, about the preparation, about the format — were now resolved.

2016-03-13 · Human vs Computer $1m 5-game Match

Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo — Game 4 ("Hand of God")

AlphaGo

Lee Sedol

Result · W+R

Move 78. The single victory any human has ever taken from an AlphaGo-class engine. Lee Sedol's wedge in the center, played in a position the audience and the engine both judged lost, broke AlphaGo's evaluation and spiralled it into compounding errors. White by resignation. A win that may never be repeated.

2016-03-15 · Google DeepMind Challenge Match

Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo — Game 5

Lee Sedol

AlphaGo

Result · W+R

The final game of the match, played for the 4–1 score. AlphaGo took white and won by resignation. Lee Sedol later cited the match among his reasons for retiring from professional Go in 2019.

Ke Jie vs Lee Sedol — 21st Samsung Cup semifinal, 2016

AlphaGo Master — 60-0 online streak, December 2016 / January 2017

Sixty straight wins on Tygem and FoxGo under the handles "Master" and "Magist" against the cream of Asian professional Go. The world found out the player was AlphaGo only after the run ended.

2017-05-23 · The Future of Go Summit

Ke Jie vs AlphaGo Master — Game 1

Ke Jie

AlphaGo

Result · W+0.25

A year after the Lee Sedol match, AlphaGo Master — the successor program — met the world's top-ranked human player in Wuzhen. Ke Jie's opening was wildly experimental, an AlphaGo-style 3-3 invasion at move 6. The game ended with AlphaGo winning by a quarter point. Few games in Go history have ever been this close at this level.

2017-05-25 · The Future of Go Summit

Ke Jie vs AlphaGo Master — Game 2

AlphaGo

Ke Jie

Result · B+R

AlphaGo won by resignation. Ke Jie cried at the press conference. "I saw a god of Go," he said.

Ke Jie vs AlphaGo — the consultation and Pair Go games, Wuzhen 2017

Alongside the three serious games against Ke Jie, the Future of Go Summit featured a five-on-one consultation game and a Pair Go session with human-AI teams — unique events that no one will ever stage again.

2017-05-27 · The Future of Go Summit

Ke Jie vs AlphaGo Master — Game 3

AlphaGo

Ke Jie

Result · B+R

AlphaGo closed out the match 3–0. After Wuzhen, DeepMind announced AlphaGo would retire from competitive play. The most decorated AI in Go history left undefeated against a top human in a serious match.

AlphaGo Zero — training-day matches from the Nature paper

Self-play games released alongside the AlphaGo Zero paper, showing how the engine's style evolved as it learned from nothing but the rules of Go.

2019-11-02 · 30 Years of Ing Cup Special Game

Cho Hun-hyun vs Nie Weiping — 30 Years Special

Cho Hunhyun

Nie Weiping

Result · W+11

Three decades after the 1989 final that launched the Korean Go boom, Cho Hun-hyun and Nie Weiping met again over the board. A commemorative game, but played seriously — a moment of reflection on how far the game had travelled.

Shin Jinseo — modern title runs, 2020–2024

Shin Jinseo, in the AI-shaped Korean Go world, has come the closest of anyone to playing a perfect game. These are the world-title finals that shaped his decade.

Shin Jinseo — Nongshim Cup streaks, 2024 & 2026

Multi-game personal win streaks that restored Korean Go to the top of the team-event world.

2026-05-24 · 2026 AlphaGo 10th Anniversary Special Match

Lee Chang-ho vs Cho Hun-hyun — AlphaGo 10th Anniversary

Lee Changho & KataGo A

Cho Hunhyun & KataGo B

Result · B+R

Ten years after Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo, the two architects of Korean Go's rise played a special exhibition game with each player advised by a KataGo bot — a meditation on what a decade of AI has done to the game.