Life In 19x19

Buying link for softcover book
Buying link for hardcover book
Buying link for pdf book

'Rational Endgame' is the fourth iteration of an endgame theory book I first envisioned in 2014. One version of the book I even finished in 2014, but I then scrapped it because I wasn’t happy enough with the outcome. After that, the book remained in the back of my mind for a long time.

After taking many different approaches, I finally decided upon one that I thought should serve well both experienced and beginning players alike. The book explains modern endgame theory in a very concise way, and I made a special effort in not just making the text easy to read, but also to make the book look as good as possible. While a lot of the content may be familiar to more advanced readers, I cannot think of any single source that summarises endgame theory as well as this book. Additionally, the whole-board problems included should provide a challenge even to the strongest readers.

At the end of the book there is also an ’endgame move bestiary’ that lists most of the common endgame moves in order by value.

The link above is for the softcover version of the book, but a hardcover book is also available. The printing company’s work is impressive enough that the hardcover book should be a welcome addition to any bookshelf!

I hope that my book will be well received by the western go community!
Antti Törmänen

Ten wrote:'Rational Endgame'

Ordered:) It is great to see more books about the very under-represented but essential endgame topic.

is the fourth iteration of an endgame theory book I first envisioned in 2014. One version of the book I even finished in 2014, but I then scrapped it because I wasn’t happy enough with the outcome. After that, the book remained in the back of my mind for a long time.

After taking many different approaches, I finally decided

Writing about the endgame is difficult, isn't it:)

modern endgame theory

Thank you for also using this phrase! It is so much nicer than 'miai counting'.

I cannot think of any single source that summarises endgame theory as well as this book.

As the author, you should be optimistic but why do you think so in comparison to the two or three other books that summarise modern endgame theory? Judging from the page number and your description "concise", have you emphasised on concentrating on only the most basic aspects of the theory, or what else makes your book especially suitable as a summary of that theory?

Great! What was your first book?

His first book is Invisible: The Games of AlphaGo.

RobertJasiek wrote:

Ten wrote:'Rational Endgame'

Ordered:) It is great to see more books about the very under-represented but essential endgame topic.

Thank you!

RobertJasiek wrote:

is the fourth iteration of an endgame theory book I first envisioned in 2014. One version of the book I even finished in 2014, but I then scrapped it because I wasn’t happy enough with the outcome. After that, the book remained in the back of my mind for a long time.

After taking many different approaches, I finally decided

Writing about the endgame is difficult, isn't it:)

And the difficult part is not coming up with text – I had a great surplus of it – but trimming it down as much as possible so that only the relevant core parts remain.

RobertJasiek wrote:

I cannot think of any single source that summarises endgame theory as well as this book.

As the author, you should be optimistic but why do you think so in comparison to the two or three other books that summarise modern endgame theory? Judging from the page number and your description "concise", have you emphasised on concentrating on only the most basic aspects of the theory, or what else makes your book especially suitable as a summary of that theory?

Conciseness is the key aspect I had in mind, yes. Endgame seems to have a bad impression in many go players' minds, probably because of the many technicalities and terms included in the theory. I did away with as much technical and terminological baggage as I could, and for example even the word gote does not feature in the book. I wanted for the final product to be something that allows me to say, 'If you don't like endgame and want to become strong, then at least read that.'

I'm looking forward to getting my copy at the 'Not the London Open' May 25th-27th where Antti will be signing copies as well as giving lectures and reviews.

http://gocentre.londongo.club/events/ntlo-2/

RobertJasiek wrote:His first book is Invisible: The Games of AlphaGo.

Thanks! Always found that to be a cracking title. Never realized it was Antti's.

I have spilled much digital ink trying to clarify the confusion caused by ambiguous endgame terminology and even coining some terms myself. Dispensing with confusing terms like gote and sente is a bold stroke by Antti. May his doing so eliminate some stumbling blocks for players learning about the endgame.

Edit: Correction: It is reverse sente, not sente itself, that does not appear in the book.

Gote and sente are no longer confusing thanks to our value conditions but maybe Antti writes "not sente"? Will see...

Ordering through Hebsacker Verlag sadly adds shipping costs of at least EUR 16 when you are not residing in Germany. I hope I can buy the book through other channels in the future.

There is now also a pdf version of the book on sale for a price of 11.90 euro! https://gum.co/wynlf

Marcel Grünauer wrote:

Ten wrote:There is now also a pdf version of the book on sale for a price of 11.90 euro! https://gum.co/wynlf

That was an insta-buy.

Thank you for writing this book; I hope it to be an expansion of your articles on gooften.net.

Thank you! As you have probably already seen, yes, the book is more or less 'more of gooften.net endgame content'. There should be familiar bits there, and then a lot more that I wrote after I stopped actively writing blog posts.

I wrote:

Bill Spight wrote:Dispensing with confusing terms like gote and sente is a bold stroke by Antti. May his doing so eliminate some stumbling blocks for players learning about the endgame.

Correction: It is reverse sente, not sente itself, that does not appear in the book. I am curious, however. Aside from scores, simple gote seem to be the most basic type of endgame position. Antti, how do you define sente? Not very easy, IMO. Especially with no concept of gote. The traditional seat-of-the-pants notion of sente allows double sente, which has caused much confusion.

Anyone care to comment on how they like the book? Good buy?

I've gone through half of it and I think it's outstanding. I was slightly worried by the assertion that it was not very mathematical, but in fact it's quite rigorous. The first set of problems, at least, was not trivial at all. Also, despite the short apparent length, it really does cover the material well.

I would also mention two qualities that I value highly and that not all go books share: the layout and typesetting are beautiful, and the English is completely fluent and not stilted at all.