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 Post subject: Commented games of Lee Seedol, Volume 2.
Post #1 Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:28 am 
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Given that the ten-game match between Lee Sedol and Gu Li started today, I thought it would be a good opportunity to review one of Lee's books.

Lee Seedol had around 6 months off professional Go during 2009. In that time, he wrote 3 books. The first two have been translated into English - volume 1 is called "One Step Closer to the Summit" and Volume 2 is called "Dream to be the Best". My review focusses on Volume 2, but the my general thoughts apply to Volume 1 as well.

I ordered both my copies through Go Game Guru, and they turned up very prompty. Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated to that site in any way, although I did get drunk with David Ormerod last year. He was dressed as a koala, I was dressed as Crusader.

Both books follow a similar format - 3 games have an in-depth review. There are a few human interest snippets interspesed through the commentaries, written by Lee Serna, Seedol's sister.

There are not many moves on a diagram - sometimes in complex poistions just two or three of the moves played are shown. There can be many explanation diagrams for each position, particualarly for the more complex middle game positions. For example, in the thrid Lee Seedol apparently made a mistake at move 97. 2moves are shown on the game diagram. on the relevant page. There are then 17 diagrams showing what should have happened and the reading behind it. some of these branches go quite

The first game in Volume 2 is against Lee Changho in the 7th LG Internantional tournament in 2003. It's a brilliant game:
http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/2735
Black got off to a good start, and although white thought back strongly, black kept the lead.

Interestingly, Seedol gives a safer line at move 169 which also give a black win (this time by 1.5 points). However, Seedol stated that he had read the kos in the line chosen, and was sure this gave him a win.

The second game was against Chang Hao in the wold go Oza in 2005. Here is the game:
http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/5478
Seedol got off to bad start in this game,and was looking for opportnutities to turn the game around.To me, this is the least satisfactory game of the three. Unlike the other two, Seedol didn't win through brilliance but through his opponent's mistakes. However,it's probably resaonably typical of a har-fought game.

The third game is also against Lee Changho, this time in the Toyota Denso cup in 2006. Here's the game:
http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/12398
Like the first game, this is another very enjoyable, aggressive game. White had winning chances unitl later into the middle game. To find out what they were. you will either need to be very strong or to buy the book!

I enjoyed both books enormously. Not many go books are actually written by top pros whose name graces the cover. These books appear to an exception to this. Lee Serna has certainly written parts, but I suspect much of the Go input is indeed from Lee Seedol.

The books give genuine insight into the thoughts of one the top players of our day, which is something for which I'm grateful.

I think a wide range of players would enjoy the books. The Go involved has quite deep reading laid out - the depth of the reading is well beyond my level, but I enjoyed folliowing along for the ride. So I suspect DDKs, SDKs and dan players will (in general) enjoy the book.

It took me an enourmously long time to read both books. I played through the games a few times wihtout commentary until I could play the moves without a game record. Only then did I read the commentaries. This is, in my opinion, the best approach in general for playing over pro games. I recommend othe players take a similar approach.


This post by drmwc was liked by 2 people: joellercoaster, wineandgolover
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 Post subject: Re: Commented games of Lee Seedol, Volume 2.
Post #2 Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:51 am 
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I generally have little interest in books. Your review makes these tempting. Thanks for taking the time.

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 Post subject: Re: Commented games of Lee Seedol, Volume 2.
Post #3 Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:18 pm 
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I also got both volumes for Christmas (yes, it was an all-Go Christmas). Unfortunately, lots of pressure at my job lately and a lack of a stable "Go studying place" holds me back from advancing to the second game...

Though I've only had enough time to get through the first game of the first book, variations are so deep I sometimes lose track on the "real" moves. At certain stages of the game, I'd prefer to have more games and less variations, without reaching the opposite (Shusaku's Invincible with 80 games and too few variations for my taste).

AS dmrwc pointed out, it's very interesting to read the commentaries made by the player itself and its variations. I find it very pleasant to try understanding Lee Sedol's way of thinking and playing.

All in all, a great book with very deep variations and interesting commentaries, specially for, at least, high SDK and dan players. Personally, I wouldn' recommed it to DDK unless they consider Lee Sedol as an idol, just like myself :lol:

Disclaimer: Though I have a link at my site which will send you to GGG through an affiliate network. Other than that, I don't have any other relationship with GGG.

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