punishing joseki

[Bill Spight]

Cap races and contact fights are my biggest problem, I can't get enough comprehensive stuff on them. Like this in the second last diagram http://senseis.xmp.net/?4464Enclosure my mind can't process enough of the necessary things to survive. I know that whatever the position I need to stay connected and extend my liberties but the different possibilities are too overwhelming. It's like my mind can't handle it the same as others. These two things, contact fights and cap races are the whole reason I want to know josekis, so I have even a small idea of how to handle them.

You might want to check out Bruce Wilcox's material on contact fights.

[CXUD]

I have a good feeling about this, I'm gonna check out his stuff.

[CXUD]

I just purchased his program.

[Chew Terr]

Also, something else that might be interesting is Cho Hunhyeon's go lecture books (http://senseis.xmp.net/?ChoHunHyeonsLec ... Techniques). They investigate some good shapes/move types. Then there are a lot of case studies about specific common situations, with a ton of possible moves considered. A lot of these are josekis, so it's a nice lesson on why joseki moves can be good, and when they're not. Since this is more basic theory than joseki memorization, this sort of study may help carry over to a lot more game situations.

Sorry if it sounds like we're ragging on you a lot. People love to hate memorizing joseki and specifics.

[CXUD]

I'm glad to get any help I can get.

I realize this sounds strange but I can't buy paper books, I've adopted an ahimsa policy, which is nearly impossible to follow, but I add each thing piece by piece and books have been added (along with meat and root vegetables ect.) if there's an online version I'll try to buy it that way though.

[gowan]

I'm glad to get any help I can get.

I realize this sounds strange but I can't buy paper books, I've adopted an ahimsa policy, which is nearly impossible to follow, but I add each thing piece by piece and books have been added (along with meat and root vegetables ect.) if there's an online version I'll try to buy it that way though.

It's admirable to try not to do harm. Does your policy allow you to use library books? If so you might be able to get some go books on interlibrary loan.

[shapenaji]

Punishing joseki mistakes is one of those things that I WOULDN'T get a book for.

The problem is, if you're categorizing your joseki and then memorizing responses, you'll get none of the excellent educational value from trying out your responses.

Many joseki "refutations" simply show one side to lose a ko threat, or have a slightly disadvantageous position, there are remarkably few joseki that you would see at the SDK level that will confer a major advantage/disadvantage.

It's better to think of a joseki as a framework, where they attack/defend in the joseki shows where the strengths and weaknesses are. Once you know this, if they deviate, you should ask yourself the question "What did the joseki move accomplish? What did this move neglect?"

Now, that doesn't mean "He neglected to protect his group so now I can kill"

It probably means "He neglected to protect his group, so now I have a target for attack"

Learning how to respond to both his deviation and address the weakness is a skill, you just need to practice it.

[jts]

In the future if you lose a game where your opponent deviated from joseki, you can post it here in the forums for a review. Probably one of the things your reviewers will mention is whether you can take advantage of the deviation.

[Xyiana]

There is "Tricks in joseki" pocket size book with 80 joseki problems. i think they are good examples and at your level you can get something for thinking about.

[Bantari]

I'm glad to get any help I can get.

I realize this sounds strange but I can't buy paper books, I've adopted an ahimsa policy, which is nearly impossible to follow, but I add each thing piece by piece and books have been added (along with meat and root vegetables ect.) if there's an online version I'll try to buy it that way though.

I find that very interesting, on a philosophical level.
Always wondered what does more harm: cutting trees to produce books or all the industry necessary to give us the same books in electronic format together with the wonderful devices on which we view them. And how can a choice one way or another be argued?

[CXUD]

Oh it really is nearly impossible to follow. Anything produces harm, even windmill generated power kills birds. I just handle it through step by step measures. Industry such as plastics metals and power generation is brutal on all kinds of eco systems

I'm glad to get any help I can get.

I realize this sounds strange but I can't buy paper books, I've adopted an ahimsa policy, which is nearly impossible to follow, but I add each thing piece by piece and books have been added (along with meat and root vegetables ect.) if there's an online version I'll try to buy it that way though.

It's admirable to try not to do harm. Does your policy allow you to use library books? If so you might be able to get some go books on interlibrary loan.

Yes it does, I had forgotten about that entirely. Chew mentioned I could get books shipped in from other libraries, hadn't even occurred to me.

Punishing joseki mistakes is one of those things that I WOULDN'T get a book for.

The problem is, if you're categorizing your joseki and then memorizing responses, you'll get none of the excellent educational value from trying out your responses.

Many joseki "refutations" simply show one side to lose a ko threat, or have a slightly disadvantageous position, there are remarkably few joseki that you would see at the SDK level that will confer a major advantage/disadvantage.

It's better to think of a joseki as a framework, where they attack/defend in the joseki shows where the strengths and weaknesses are. Once you know this, if they deviate, you should ask yourself the question "What did the joseki move accomplish? What did this move neglect?"

Now, that doesn't mean "He neglected to protect his group so now I can kill"

It probably means "He neglected to protect his group, so now I have a target for attack"

Learning how to respond to both his deviation and address the weakness is a learned skill, you just need to practice it.

I think my view of it is less subtle because I get invaded so badly and it looks like total destruction.

In the future if you lose a game where your opponent deviated from joseki, you can post it here in the forums for a review. Probably one of the things your reviewers will mention is whether you can take advantage of the deviation.

Yeah I'll probably do that, I just like the idea of having all the forms and concepts in my head (in other words I don't like to get beaten badly ).

There is "Tricks in joseki" pocket size book with 80 joseki problems. i think they are good examples and at your level you can get something for thinking about.

Cool, I'll add that to the library list.

[xed_over]

There is a book on the topic:

http://senseis.xmp.net/?PunishingAndCor ... kiMistakes

There is "Tricks in joseki" pocket size book with 80 joseki problems. i think they are good examples and at your level you can get something for thinking about.

personally, I didn't find either of these two books very useful. they may be better aimed at dan level players

[malweth]

personally, I didn't find either of these two books very useful. they may be better aimed at dan level players

I think that's the problem with all of this advice.

CXUD - at 20k, if you know 10 basic joseki you're ahead of the game. Don't worry about joseki until you're at least SDK. Punishing joseki is easily a dan level topic.


For a 20k there are much better ways of study. Play a lot. Play through a lot of pro games (which will get you used to game flow, fuseki, and joseki). Practice very basic tsumego (1 move answers). Read basic books (I'm not sure what's available for beginner ebooks - if available the Elementary Go Series is good, Otake's book on fuseki is good too).

[snorri]

There is a book on the topic:

http://senseis.xmp.net/?PunishingAndCor ... kiMistakes

Yes, a lot of Mingjiu's teaching focuses on this area, including his lectures. As of today, he has 13 audio lectures on internetgoschool.com under the category "the correct way of using basic josekis." See http://internetgoschool.com/lectures.vhtml?tab=5#16.

He takes lots of examples from amateur games, usually low to mid dans because they have mistakes but not everything is a mistake so there some sensible context.

I think this is better than a joseki book for learning practical punishments for joseki mistakes, because the "bad lines" in joseki books often aren't the same mistakes that modern amateurs on, say, KGS make. But Mingjiu sees a lot of the latter from his students.

[CXUD]

personally, I didn't find either of these two books very useful. they may be better aimed at dan level players

I think that's the problem with all of this advice.

CXUD - at 20k, if you know 10 basic joseki you're ahead of the game. Don't worry about joseki until you're at least SDK. Punishing joseki is easily a dan level topic.


For a 20k there are much better ways of study. Play a lot. Play through a lot of pro games (which will get you used to game flow, fuseki, and joseki). Practice very basic tsumego (1 move answers). Read basic books (I'm not sure what's available for beginner ebooks - if available the Elementary Go Series is good, Otake's book on fuseki is good too).

Sorry, I just updated my kgs ranking. I'm not convinced thats my actual level though, I think it's a little weaker than that.