I believe that superbuy is based in China, at least that is where the warehouses are, the support and customer service staff etc. Yes, they are being sent to Australia (Hobart, Tasmania). It seems like they will post pretty much anywhere in the world. I think having items sent direct from Taobao or tmall is possible, and from what I have heard the postage prices are more reasonable. But I was a bit nervous about any problems and my ability to deal with them directly. Perhaps if I make a smaller order I will be brave and order direct.EdLee wrote:Hi zac, is superbuy based in Australia, and is Australia the destination of the shipment of these books ?
Chinese Problem Books
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zac
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zac
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Re: Chinese Problem Books
Books all arrived today;
Took 5 days to arrive, including a weekend i.e. 3 business days from China to Australia. A few initial impression, will take photo's, and post more complete review later.
Packaging was OK, but not great. Some books suffered some slight damage to corners etc. They were all inside individual sealed plastic bags, some of the books were already shrinkwrapped (from the publisher), some had cardboard around them to protect them, but not all of them. I'm not too upset about the minor damage- I carry go books around in my jacket pockets, in my bag along with my board when going to the club- and I tend to go through problem books multiple times, so some minor damage before I get to damage them is OK by me.
Initial impressions of the individual books;
The 800 rapid drill problem book has very thin paper, so you can see the next page through. Doesn't really seem to be a big problem. Difficulty appears to start around the level of graded go problems for beginners 2, or the beginning of 1001 L&D. The book is quite small- smaller than e.g. GGPfB, which is nice.
1000 Weiqi problems has been written about a lot- the book is larger physically than I expected. Problems seem to range quite a bit in difficulty, as Ed Lee said- from around mid SDK through to possibly dan level, with no way of telling them apart. Still, seems like a decent source of problems.
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=524 ... .N.62fe8ee
These three pocket books are a very nice size- will fit in to my jeans pocket. I've only really looked at the first book, labelled "Primary". Difficulty seems to range quite a bit, but seems to be rather on the difficult side. I would say many problems are tougher than the 5 move problems from 1001 L&D, some are about around about that level. So I'm not sure what "Primary" refers to, but I would say the other volumes are probably dan level or close to it. I will work through some of the problems and see how I go. A problem to note is that sometimes the problem and the solution appear on pages facing eachother. I think I'll use a playing card as a bookmark, and use that to cover the other page. But it's not ideal.
https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=556963705377
The 25 book Zhang Jie set is nice enough. Almost entirely problems, most you can guess what the aim is without any knowledge of Mandarin. There seems to be books on Opening, Joseki, L&D, Tesuji and Endgame. Each has a book graded beginner to 10k, 10k to 5k, 5k to 1k, 1k to 1D, 1D to 3D. Around 800 problems in each book. Hard to say how accurate those ratings are, but them seem like a close enough description (can't say for the higher level ones, I will post some example problems at some point).
The opening and joseki books are tougher to understand without knowing Mandarin- there are even a few problems I can't quite understand the meaning of when looking at the answers- not because they are difficult, I'm just not sure what they are asking for.
The beginners to 10k start very, very basic- e.g. the endgame book has you counting points of territory within basic corner shapes, the tesuji book has you connecting against a peep, or connecting a bamboo joint that your opponent tries to push through. The life and death, tesuji and endgame books all seem good.
Seems to be some fairly novel problems- like making good shape, connection/cutting problems, questions that ask whether a result is good/bad shape etc. that don't seem to get much treatment in english go books.
The joseki book looks interesting, as it has many problems on correcting/punishing mistakes. The opening book might be hard to use, as it has explanations for many of the correct/incorrect diagrams. But I need to look further in to it, to see if I can learn something just through trying to understand why a certain variation is best. Or use google translate to try and make sense of the explanation.
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=563 ... .N.1dc67be
This 12 book Zhang Jie set is very nice. I think it is divided in to 5k, 1k and 1D. Around 200-300 problems per book. There are several topics, I'm not sure what some of them are. There are L&D and tesuji books, then what appears to be capturing races, and connection/cutting problems. I will have to speak to one of my Chinese friends to get a clearer idea.
The rating seem a little bit soft. I've worked through about 100 of the 5k L&D problems today. Seems to me to be around the level of GGPfB vol 2, or maybe the beginning of 1001 L&D.
Largely seems like artificial problems, I can't really say if the problems are grouped by theme, none that I noticed anyway. It is divided in to sections though, and some problems with solutions with explanations are given at the beginning of each section, so maybe that gives some clues that I'm not picking up.
I've had a quick look at the other books in the series, and they all seem very good. The tesuji book reminds me quite a bit of the Lee Changho Tesuji books. The book with connection problems in it is nice, as I haven't seem much of that type of problem in English problem books. I had a quick look at the second life and death book- seems that it's around the level of the second Lee Changho life and death book- one of the problems was a direct copy of a problem from that book. Not sure of any other simularities, I just noticed that because I solved that problem yesterday.
Overall I'm quite happy that I took a chance on ordering books that I knew almost nothing about. I could have done without ordering the whole 25 book set- the beginner to 10k are essentially useless to me (will lend them to beginners at the club), and the joseki and opening books will likely have limited usefulness. The 12 book set I'm really happy with and my initial impression is that I would recommend them to others looking for L&D/Tesuji problems. The pocket books are OK- maybe a little bit hard for me now, but it will be nice to be able to carry around.
I was taking my inspiration from that "It's not hard to make 8D" post, which advocates buying lots of problem books, and solving them continously. I know it's a revolutionary idea that solving lots of problems will make you stronger! Having a large number of varied problems helps me to keep motivated and interested. I like having a large number of easy problems to quickly drill through, too. In the past I've found that if I repeat easy problems too often I can just memorise the answers. Before now I also had limited access to a large number/variety of tesuji problems around my level, or easy ones to review. These books have certainly fixed that.
Took 5 days to arrive, including a weekend i.e. 3 business days from China to Australia. A few initial impression, will take photo's, and post more complete review later.
Packaging was OK, but not great. Some books suffered some slight damage to corners etc. They were all inside individual sealed plastic bags, some of the books were already shrinkwrapped (from the publisher), some had cardboard around them to protect them, but not all of them. I'm not too upset about the minor damage- I carry go books around in my jacket pockets, in my bag along with my board when going to the club- and I tend to go through problem books multiple times, so some minor damage before I get to damage them is OK by me.
Initial impressions of the individual books;
The 800 rapid drill problem book has very thin paper, so you can see the next page through. Doesn't really seem to be a big problem. Difficulty appears to start around the level of graded go problems for beginners 2, or the beginning of 1001 L&D. The book is quite small- smaller than e.g. GGPfB, which is nice.
1000 Weiqi problems has been written about a lot- the book is larger physically than I expected. Problems seem to range quite a bit in difficulty, as Ed Lee said- from around mid SDK through to possibly dan level, with no way of telling them apart. Still, seems like a decent source of problems.
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=524 ... .N.62fe8ee
These three pocket books are a very nice size- will fit in to my jeans pocket. I've only really looked at the first book, labelled "Primary". Difficulty seems to range quite a bit, but seems to be rather on the difficult side. I would say many problems are tougher than the 5 move problems from 1001 L&D, some are about around about that level. So I'm not sure what "Primary" refers to, but I would say the other volumes are probably dan level or close to it. I will work through some of the problems and see how I go. A problem to note is that sometimes the problem and the solution appear on pages facing eachother. I think I'll use a playing card as a bookmark, and use that to cover the other page. But it's not ideal.
https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=556963705377
The 25 book Zhang Jie set is nice enough. Almost entirely problems, most you can guess what the aim is without any knowledge of Mandarin. There seems to be books on Opening, Joseki, L&D, Tesuji and Endgame. Each has a book graded beginner to 10k, 10k to 5k, 5k to 1k, 1k to 1D, 1D to 3D. Around 800 problems in each book. Hard to say how accurate those ratings are, but them seem like a close enough description (can't say for the higher level ones, I will post some example problems at some point).
The opening and joseki books are tougher to understand without knowing Mandarin- there are even a few problems I can't quite understand the meaning of when looking at the answers- not because they are difficult, I'm just not sure what they are asking for.
The beginners to 10k start very, very basic- e.g. the endgame book has you counting points of territory within basic corner shapes, the tesuji book has you connecting against a peep, or connecting a bamboo joint that your opponent tries to push through. The life and death, tesuji and endgame books all seem good.
Seems to be some fairly novel problems- like making good shape, connection/cutting problems, questions that ask whether a result is good/bad shape etc. that don't seem to get much treatment in english go books.
The joseki book looks interesting, as it has many problems on correcting/punishing mistakes. The opening book might be hard to use, as it has explanations for many of the correct/incorrect diagrams. But I need to look further in to it, to see if I can learn something just through trying to understand why a certain variation is best. Or use google translate to try and make sense of the explanation.
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=563 ... .N.1dc67be
This 12 book Zhang Jie set is very nice. I think it is divided in to 5k, 1k and 1D. Around 200-300 problems per book. There are several topics, I'm not sure what some of them are. There are L&D and tesuji books, then what appears to be capturing races, and connection/cutting problems. I will have to speak to one of my Chinese friends to get a clearer idea.
The rating seem a little bit soft. I've worked through about 100 of the 5k L&D problems today. Seems to me to be around the level of GGPfB vol 2, or maybe the beginning of 1001 L&D.
Largely seems like artificial problems, I can't really say if the problems are grouped by theme, none that I noticed anyway. It is divided in to sections though, and some problems with solutions with explanations are given at the beginning of each section, so maybe that gives some clues that I'm not picking up.
I've had a quick look at the other books in the series, and they all seem very good. The tesuji book reminds me quite a bit of the Lee Changho Tesuji books. The book with connection problems in it is nice, as I haven't seem much of that type of problem in English problem books. I had a quick look at the second life and death book- seems that it's around the level of the second Lee Changho life and death book- one of the problems was a direct copy of a problem from that book. Not sure of any other simularities, I just noticed that because I solved that problem yesterday.
Overall I'm quite happy that I took a chance on ordering books that I knew almost nothing about. I could have done without ordering the whole 25 book set- the beginner to 10k are essentially useless to me (will lend them to beginners at the club), and the joseki and opening books will likely have limited usefulness. The 12 book set I'm really happy with and my initial impression is that I would recommend them to others looking for L&D/Tesuji problems. The pocket books are OK- maybe a little bit hard for me now, but it will be nice to be able to carry around.
I was taking my inspiration from that "It's not hard to make 8D" post, which advocates buying lots of problem books, and solving them continously. I know it's a revolutionary idea that solving lots of problems will make you stronger! Having a large number of varied problems helps me to keep motivated and interested. I like having a large number of easy problems to quickly drill through, too. In the past I've found that if I repeat easy problems too often I can just memorise the answers. Before now I also had limited access to a large number/variety of tesuji problems around my level, or easy ones to review. These books have certainly fixed that.
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dfan
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Re: Chinese Problem Books
Thank you for the detailed review! When/if you have time, some pictures of sample pages would be welcome.
I already have the 800 and 1000 books and like them a lot (what I've done of them).
I actually jumped the gun and already ordered the 12 book set; based on your description, it seems like that wasn't a mistake.
I also ordered the Intermediate and Advanced trilogies from the Quick Success Weiqi (Speed Baduk equivalent) books that tchan001 linked to. I have like Train Like a Pro (which appears to be the equivalent of the next set after Advanced) but would like to have a running start when I reach it.
I already have the 800 and 1000 books and like them a lot (what I've done of them).
I actually jumped the gun and already ordered the 12 book set; based on your description, it seems like that wasn't a mistake.
I also ordered the Intermediate and Advanced trilogies from the Quick Success Weiqi (Speed Baduk equivalent) books that tchan001 linked to. I have like Train Like a Pro (which appears to be the equivalent of the next set after Advanced) but would like to have a running start when I reach it.
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zac
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Re: Chinese Problem Books
I'll hopefully have some time tomorrow to post photos and some sample problems. I don't think you will be disappointed. The first books should be quite easy for you, the first 100 L&D problems I could solve under a minute, some almost on sight- I'm in the mid-SDK range. I like easy but not trivial problems, so it's great for me.dfan wrote:Thank you for the detailed review! When/if you have time, some pictures of sample pages would be welcome.
I already have the 800 and 1000 books and like them a lot (what I've done of them).
I actually jumped the gun and already ordered the 12 book set; based on your description, it seems like that wasn't a mistake.
I also ordered the Intermediate and Advanced trilogies from the Quick Success Weiqi (Speed Baduk equivalent) books that tchan001 linked to. I have like Train Like a Pro (which appears to be the equivalent of the next set after Advanced) but would like to have a running start when I reach it.
Let me know what you think about the speed baduk clones, I'm eyeing them off too. Not that I don't already have plenty of problem books!
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dfan
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Re: Chinese Problem Books
I like simple problems like you (I think it's more important to consistently see "easy" tactics correctly and quickly in a game than to solve brain-busters) so I'm expecting to like those books, especially since there are harder problems later too.
On that note, I see that you're (still?) expecting the Jump Level Up books too, which I think you will really like (drilling sets of similar problems, gentle difficulty curve). If I am right about that, it's probable that you will also enjoy the Essential Life and Death series (also from Baduktopia). There's some overlap, but Jump Level Up has a lot of tesuji and semeai problems while Essential Life and Death is purely about the life and death of single groups surrounded by strong enemy stones. I can solve almost of volume 1 on sight (which I don't mind taking an occasional half hour to do!) and volume 4 is supposedly dan level, to give an idea of the difficulty range.
On that note, I see that you're (still?) expecting the Jump Level Up books too, which I think you will really like (drilling sets of similar problems, gentle difficulty curve). If I am right about that, it's probable that you will also enjoy the Essential Life and Death series (also from Baduktopia). There's some overlap, but Jump Level Up has a lot of tesuji and semeai problems while Essential Life and Death is purely about the life and death of single groups surrounded by strong enemy stones. I can solve almost of volume 1 on sight (which I don't mind taking an occasional half hour to do!) and volume 4 is supposedly dan level, to give an idea of the difficulty range.
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zac
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Re: Chinese Problem Books
I've already received Jump Level Up. Enjoying them a lot so far- like you say, lots of easy problems to drill through. I think this is the best way to be able to spot these things in games. Practicing brute reading strength (depth/breadth) also has it's place. But for me, I like to be able to quickly and correctly spot a vital point in order to start my reading, or to even realise that there might be a good move in any given situations.dfan wrote:I like simple problems like you (I think it's more important to consistently see "easy" tactics correctly and quickly in a game than to solve brain-busters) so I'm expecting to like those books, especially since there are harder problems later too.
On that note, I see that you're (still?) expecting the Jump Level Up books too, which I think you will really like (drilling sets of similar problems, gentle difficulty curve). If I am right about that, it's probable that you will also enjoy the Essential Life and Death series (also from Baduktopia). There's some overlap, but Jump Level Up has a lot of tesuji and semeai problems while Essential Life and Death is purely about the life and death of single groups surrounded by strong enemy stones. I can solve almost of volume 1 on sight (which I don't mind taking an occasional half hour to do!) and volume 4 is supposedly dan level, to give an idea of the difficulty range.
I'm thinking about picking up the essential life and death series, as well as their joseki compass book. Initially I wasn't that keen on the joseki sections, but I like this format of learning joseki- show punishment/correction of mistakes, so that you can understand the meaning of each move.
Please see here; viewtopic.php?f=17&t=15712&p=230934#p230934 for the start of my review on the 12 book series. I've only gone over the tesuji books so far, but I will post further problems over the coming days when I have time.