Dia. 1
110-118
I think that white takes the lead with 10. It is hard to say for sure but white just seems to get too much territory around the top right. After 17 the situation in the lower left is very interesting. Black can kill white by capturing 12 but white figures that another mover around M14 will enclose enough territory to win easily without the corner. Also white has gotten to play 14 which gives him good prospects for enclosing territory on the bottom. Black may have thought that he had to capture or pressure the white corner in the lower left but I think 17 has to be somewhere along the top or maybe even on the right. Something has to be done about the white moyo. The downside of not playing 17 is that if white plays there he is unconditionally alive and black will have no attacking moves. This dilema shows how hard the game is for black now.
Dia. 2
119-138
This is a good example of how to tenuki to take sente. Black makes an extension to 19 and would like white to answer so he can take some profit in sente and turn to attacking the top. White has other plans and peeps at 20 to make aji (you can see this if you imagine a white move at S7 later, it impacts a lot of reads) and then jumps to 22 along the top. After 24 and 26 I really don't like Black's position. If white gets a whole quarter of the board the balance of territory completely collapses. Yet it seems an invasion isn't practical either. The capture at 36 is well timed too and when black jumps to 37 an interesting ko shape develops. Either side can start the ko by throwing in, white at White manages to keep black off balance throughout this sequence and ignores 37 to swing back and block at 38. I think that even if black takes the corner by playing at A3 white still gets plenty of territory in the upper right.
Dia. 3
139-156
Black exchanges 39 for 40 before solidifying his shape with 41. Knowing that he is behind Shusaku plays a very daring sequence and through 47 cuts white in two! Now white has to worry about making sure this group survive and with 49, 51 and 53 manages to capture some white stones. While this is a great tactical sequence I doubt it is enough to redress the territorial imbalance but in addition to capturing three stones the potential white territory on the bottom has been destroyed. Perhaps if black can take the lower left corner the game will be winnable for him. When white descends at 54 black starts the ko fight. It is a little unpleasant to start this ko since white gets to capture the ko first. This is a big advantage in a ko fight since your opponent has to make the first threat. Black has a lot of threats in the upper right, he can threaten to live in the corner with his sole black stone but white is not without resources either.
Dia. 4
157-171
62 at A2, 65 at 59,
68 at A2, 71 at 59
Ahhh... ko fights! This is a big one so we'll try to take it slowly. First black makes use of his threats in the upper right and retakes the ko at 59. White makes a great ko threat at 60. Remember how I said black would have to break up the lower side and kill the corner to have a chance? This offers the corner for the side and black cannot take that offer if he is to even dream of winning. Black blocks at 61 and white retakes the ko, black keeps on using his threats up top with 63.
Black now takes the ko with 65 but white has another large threat at 66. Black is still mining the top right for ko threats and after the 69-70 exchange is able to, once again, retake the ko. This is a pretty straightforward ko fight. The size of the ko is very large and each side is playing their biggest threats. Certainly if you were able to read out the available ko threats in this situation you would be a very strong player.
Dia. 5
172-191
79 at B3, 82 at 74
85 at B3, 88 at 74
The ko fight continues and the most interesting part is how white uses his ko threats along the bottom to counter black's wealth of ko threats in the top right. These threats aren't as big as the black ones in the upper right but there are enough to preserve his lead. Finally black runs out of threats in the corner and has to continue at 89. This is small enough that white captures at 90 ending the ko. After 91 black captures four white stones and makes around 14 points of profit but this is not enough. The white position in the top right corner is overwhelming and after black's ko threats up here there is not even a shred of aji left for him. I think black is more or less looking for a spot to resign but Shusaku still has some fighting spirit left in him.
Dia. 6
192-208
After the top plays out black makes another desperate stab at winning. After connecting at 97 he rescues his cutting stones with 99 and looks to attack the large white group in the center left. White has read out all the variations and counterattacks at 2. After the 3-4-5 exchange white plays at 6. Now white the white capture of either the group connected to 97 or the three stones at 5 is miai, guaranteeing life for the large white group. After white captures at 108 black resigns.
One question I've had with these games is "Exactly how strong are these players?" At the time of this game Shusaku was still known by his childhood name, Torajiro, and is only ten years old at. His opponent was 3 dan and I'm unsure of how classical strength was measured. There were no pro leagues but most strong players had patrons that bankrolled their study. I would think that a 3 dan in 1839 Japan would be a significant achievement. On the other hand the level of Go/Weiqi/Baduk has risen greatly in the last 100 years. This is also one of only two games of his that were recorded before he was called a Shodan. I think these players are probably around the strength of a modern amateur shodan player. The games are very good with many sharp lines but I don't feel this is totally out of my depth either. Also, I've looked at some of the other games and Shusaku gets a lot stronger in the next couple years of his life. Anyway I hope you appreciate the game.
I apologize if my commentary has any mistakes. To my knowledge no dan player has even looked at the site yet so there may be some corrections coming my way! I look forward to it too. I am trying to build a community of go players, particularly in the US and Europe. If you haven't yet, go register with IgoLocal.com and start finding players in your area. One day I dream of a Go Academy in the US and when young children here rival the best that Korea, China, and Japan have to offer.
Speaking of Go in Europe I want to give a special thanks to the Club de Go Nam Ban in Madrid, Spain for their hospitality and their strength. Seriously, this was one of the best Go clubs I've ever been to, if you get over there check them out.
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