SmartGo Books has been updated with a new feature, improved performance, and six additional books. (SmartGo Books is a free app for iPad and iPhone, with 26 books about Go available through in-app purchase.)

Inline diagrams: Books have limited space, and information that ideally should be provided as additional diagrams is often embedded in the text: "If Black plays 3 at 4, then White can answer 6, and Black B and White 8 follow." Deciphering this takes your focus away from learning about Go. In the newest version of SmartGo Books, text like that is shown in brown and can be tapped to see a diagram showing that move sequence. You can see an example at: http://www.smartgo.com/books.htm#inline

Not all books have been upgraded to include inline diagrams yet; check out Modern Master Games and Understanding Pro Games to see this feature in action. Other books will be upgraded over time. (There is no automatic recognition of such text; inline diagrams have to be added by hand.)

The improved performance was especially important for "The Games of Fujisawa Shuko" by John Power (Kiseido). It contains game commentaries (mostly from Go World) for all 40 of Shuko's Kisei Title Games. Shuko won the first Kisei title against Hashimoto Utaro at 52. He went on to defend this title against challenges from most of the young stars of the day (Kato Masao, Ishida Yoshio, Rin Kaiho, and Otake Hideo) before being dethroned by Cho Chikun.

"Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go: Playing in Good Form and Making Correct Shape" by Sakata Eio (Yutopian) is now available in SmartGo Books. This great book about tesuji has long been out of print and hard to find.

Two problem books ("Go Problems for Beginners, Volume 1" and "501 Opening Problems") have also been added, and volumes 4 and 5 complete Janice Kim's "Learn to Play Go" series. The problem books are more like books so far than e.g. the problems in SmartGo Kifu; they will become more interactive in future versions.

Enjoy! And Happy Holidays to everybody.

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Anders Kierulf
@smartgo

Thanks alot for adding 'Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go' and 'The Games of Fujisawa Shuko'!

Really enjoying 'Tesuji & Anti-suji' so far.

Do you anticipate allowing free movement on diagrams so that we can explore our own variations?

Definitely. That's high on the list of features to add.

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Anders Kierulf
@smartgo

Your SmartGo books make me want to buy an ipad...

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I came to go through Kawabata and was introduced to a whole new world.

Yes, thank you for making this app, I have many of the books already but are buying them again, both to support a great app and the fact that it is more convenient to have a lot of books available wherever I go.

Love the inline diagrams! It is a nifty feature.

Just a quick question: at which level, would you recommend Suji & Anti-suji from Sakata Eio to be read?

Actorios, I'm reading it (thanks Anders for this awesome app!) and it does not feel "hard", but there's a lot of knowledge to get from it, from what I can see.

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

I just read it recently, and I think it can be read at almost any level.

Thanks to both of you, Oren and RBerenguel.
I'll jump into it, then.

Cheers,

Enjoy it!

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net