Today, we will explore the shortest game of Go (Baduk / Weiqi), all by professional Go players. The average length of a Go game is about 210 moves, with resignation around the 180s. Even though Go games are highly unpredictable, these three short Go games even surprise both amateurs and professionals alike. If you are new to Go and want to know if Go is hard to learn, check out our article here.
Shortest Game of Go by Count
The shortest game of professional Go took place on May 8, 2003. It took place in the Japan Go Association between Cho U (8p) and Takemiya Masaki (9p). There, they played the shortest full game recorded in history, which only took 121 moves. Thus, check out the gameplay below.
Shortest Game of Go by Resignation
The shortest game of Go that ended in resignation was played by Ono Nobuyuki (6p) and Kudo Norio (9p), on November 21, 1996. The match took place during the 53rd Japanese Honinbo preliminary. Surprisingly, the match only lasted 20 moves! The deciding factor was an early fight on the top left corner. Lastly, you can explore the kifu below.
Shortest Game of Go by Time
This is quite an interesting story. This Go match was between Ushinohama Satsuo (9p) and Yamabe Toshiro (9p) on October 23, 1980. For this match, each player had six hours time limit. You might be wondering, how is it possible to lose a match, by time, with six hours allocated?
Ushinohama Satsuo had traveled from Osaka to Tokyo in the morning of the match. The long journey took quite a toll on him. So, at dinner break, he went for some quick shuteye instead of going to dinner. He decided to use dinner time to take a nap in one of the bedrooms in the Nihon Ki-in! Unfortunately, no one could find him in time as the clock winds down. As a result, Ushinohama Satsuo lost on time in the Tengen Challengers’ Final.
Final Thoughts
We hope you’ve enjoyed finding out about the three shortest games of Go. Let us know in the comments below, what is your shortest match?
