Sakata Eio is regarded as one of the strongest go players of the 20th century. Sakata Eio was born February 15, 1920 in Tokyo, Japan. After winning most of the major titles in the 1950s, in 1961 he finally took the Honinbo title from Takagawa Kaku who had held it for a record nine consecutive terms. In 1963, Sakata captured the Meijin title, making him the first player simultaneously to hold the two titles Meijin-Honinbo. Sakata's peak came in 1964, when he won 30 games and lost only two and held seven major titles: Meijin, Honinbo, Nihon Ki-in Championship, Asahi Pro Best Ten, Oza, Nihon Kiin Number One, and NHK Cup. Sakata is now 86 and lives in Tokyo. He is retired but still active. This book, "The Middle Game of Go" or "Chubansen", first published in 1971, was Sakata's third book published in English, the first being "Modern Joseki and Fuseki, Vol. 1" and the second being "Modern Joseki and Fuseki, Vol. 2, The Opening Theory of Go". These volumes are now regarded as a classics in Go literature. They are also the first books published by The Ishi Press.
This book, along with the two other volumes in his series by Sakata Eio, made The Ishi Press the world's leading English language publisher on the game of go.