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 Post subject: Mimura`s Fuseki Bible (part two of review)
Post #1 Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:33 pm 
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CONTINUATION OF REVIEW (the original exceeded 60000 characters)

In Chapter Three, we are reminded that avoiding being blockaded (sealed in) is of the utmost importance in the fuseki, and that sometimes professionals will leave even an open corner untaken in order to avoid or inflict a blockade. However, there are situations where, after reading carefully and taking everything into account, you might not mind being blockaded, but to make such decisions requires a near-professional level of skill.

Mimura starts by showing amateur games, where one side takes a big loss by allowing themself to be sealed in. However, to indicate that being blockaded is not always insufferable, he also shows an interesting example where Black gets into trouble through getting his priorities wrong.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c When blockading is not the crucial issue
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . O . . O . X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . a . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . O , . . . O . , . O X . X , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]


In the real game, Black came out with a, to avoid being blockaded. However, he is already alive, and so it was more important to play at b. Of course, Mimura shows how the game proceeded from a and how it could have continued from b, but I`m unable to give too many examples in the context of a book review. After all, I`d like to encourage you to buy and read Mimura`s book, rather than try to get its benefits "on the cheap".

The fourth chapter is a discussion of the principle 弱い石から動く (move from weak stones). As in previous chapters, Mimura starts with easy positions and introduces progressively more difficult positions. As before, we are shown how to take into account many different factors, and not simply to follow the principle thoughtlessly.

The closing chapter is actually very interesting, because it covers a number of realistic situations that can occur, and where you can obtain or lose a significant advantage based on knowing whether or not an exchange is completed for the time being. Whether you should add another play can sometimes depend on your personal tastes as much as objective factors. For instance, in the following diagram, it is not necessary for Black to play at a, but the fighting can sometimes become difficult. Therefore, if you are not confident of your fighting skills, Mimura suggests completing the shape as indicated.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c Is it settled? (Three examples on one diagram)
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . 6 . . 2 . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]


In the top left and bottom left it is Black`s turn to move. Mimura discusses these joseki, and shows you why it is usually correct for Black to play 3-3 in one case, but in the other why tenuki is also thinkable. Again, for sake of brevity, I have greatly condensed the content of the book.

In contrast to many MyCom books, Mimura does not present problems. Instead, he teaches through theme diagrams, in which he lays out a situation and asks you to think about it. This is not unlike the kind of training Jonathan Rowson recommends in his book Chess for Zebras, where you look at a professional game and try to work out how it proceeded, before comparing your ideas with what actually happened. This is an enjoyable learning experience, and perhaps helps you to develop your analytical skills more effectively than just choosing from A, B and C. However, it`s up to you to put in the effort. It won`t be so effective simply to "read and nod".

All in all, I recommend this book very highly. It is very thorough, and I like the way it teaches the reader to consider all aspects of the position in hand. A slight negative is the lack of coverage for fuseki involving 5-4- and 5-3-based joseki, but as the main value is in the instruction in thinking technique rather than amount of data presented (and there is a lot of that too) this is not so disappointing. I gained a greater appreciation of how very difficult it is to play go well. You need to read Japanese to understand what is being explained, because it is not obvious from the diagrams. If Ishida`s Absolutely Vital Points of Fuseki introduces useful principles for playing the mid- to late-fuseki, then this book offers a valuable alternative perspective, teaching you not only to use principles, but also to read and assess. After the training in positional analysis, I would say that the most important worthwhile part is Mimura`s explanations of how a "attacking fuseki" should be played. These will probably change for the better your ideas of how to use and play against large-scale strategies.

SUMMARY

Mimura Tomoyasu: Mimura`s Fuseki Bible (三村流布石の虎の巻), MyCom, 2012.
ISBN978-4-8399-4319-6
237 pp, A5 size paperback.
Thick paper, good binding, attractive matte dustjacket.
Rating: A+

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 Post subject: Re: Mimura`s Fuseki Bible (part two of review)
Post #2 Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:42 am 
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Quote:
弱い石から動く (move from weak stones)


Tami: I haven't got the book so I can't be sure, but usually kara has a temporal meaning rather than a spatial one in cases like this, i.e. it is an ellipsis for "starting from". I suspect, therefore, that Mimura may mean attend to your weak groups first rather than move out to the centre or somewhere from your weak groups. Maybe you can glance at the book again and say whether this is possible.


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 Post subject: Re: Mimura`s Fuseki Bible (part two of review)
Post #3 Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:30 am 
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Hi John, thanks for this. I have been puzzling over the "から" for quite a while, as it happens, because this principle of "move [from] weak stones" is oft-quoted. Taking it to mean "starting from" makes sense.

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 Post subject: Re: Mimura`s Fuseki Bible (part two of review)
Post #4 Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:33 am 
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Thanks Tami. I really enjoy reading your reviews.

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 Post subject: Re: Mimura`s Fuseki Bible (part two of review)
Post #5 Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 8:18 am 
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Tami wrote:
Hi John, thanks for this. I have been puzzling over the "から" for quite a while, as it happens, because this principle of "move [from] weak stones" is oft-quoted. Taking it to mean "starting from" makes sense.

Perhaps is would be more adequate to use the second main translation I found for "動く" = "to operate" ?

I think that "to move" in the sense of "to place a stone" is often associated with "打つ".

"から" would then mark the object of operation.

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