Review of "The Direction of Play"
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 12:15 am
I wanted to read this book since I heard about it because I am notoriously bad at the opening. I had heard that it was a hard read, but that it would make you stronger. I was not disappointed.
The premise is basic: each stone has power and needs to be considered. Be it your fifth move or your 50th move, they should each relate to the other stones on the board. However, the problems it presents are difficult, because it uses real go games and go is a difficult game.
The flow of this book is fantastic. It teaches with the same flow as a real game. Starting with a discussion on the standard corner moves (3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 3-5, and 4-5) and then moving into how the corner moves relate to the rest of the board. It talks about following up on previous moves in the opeing and eventually discusses how fighting and the direction of play relate to each other (middle game). That is where the book ends (quite abruptly, I might add).
Kajiwara Takeo is be very informative, but also entertaining. The subject matter could be written about heavily and dryly, but some sections were hilarious. At one point he talked about how it is typically bad to play into your opponents strategy and did it so plainly that I was laughing. How obvious this was and how stupid some of my moves had been in the past also helped to make this funnier. (Be ready to laugh at yourself, because you're probably making a lot of mistakes)
The goal of reading this book should not be to get every point and memorize it all. The concepts in this book are advanced, probably too much for most kyu players to fully grasp. But it can still be broken down into basic principles and those, when applied to a real game, are, well, game-changing. I've heard that one should simply have this book "in the back of your mind" and that is enough to make a difference - I agree.
I would recommend this book to any single-digit kyu player. I could tell my opening got much stronger after reading this, so if you aren't sure how to stay ahead of your opponent in the opening I would read this book.
It could also be good for players in the 15-10k range, but might be a bit too advanced. I lent it to a 16 kyu from my local go club and he is struggling with it, but still likes it. If you are in this range, I would consider it, but maybe look into other books first.
The premise is basic: each stone has power and needs to be considered. Be it your fifth move or your 50th move, they should each relate to the other stones on the board. However, the problems it presents are difficult, because it uses real go games and go is a difficult game.
The flow of this book is fantastic. It teaches with the same flow as a real game. Starting with a discussion on the standard corner moves (3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 3-5, and 4-5) and then moving into how the corner moves relate to the rest of the board. It talks about following up on previous moves in the opeing and eventually discusses how fighting and the direction of play relate to each other (middle game). That is where the book ends (quite abruptly, I might add).
Kajiwara Takeo is be very informative, but also entertaining. The subject matter could be written about heavily and dryly, but some sections were hilarious. At one point he talked about how it is typically bad to play into your opponents strategy and did it so plainly that I was laughing. How obvious this was and how stupid some of my moves had been in the past also helped to make this funnier. (Be ready to laugh at yourself, because you're probably making a lot of mistakes)
The goal of reading this book should not be to get every point and memorize it all. The concepts in this book are advanced, probably too much for most kyu players to fully grasp. But it can still be broken down into basic principles and those, when applied to a real game, are, well, game-changing. I've heard that one should simply have this book "in the back of your mind" and that is enough to make a difference - I agree.
I would recommend this book to any single-digit kyu player. I could tell my opening got much stronger after reading this, so if you aren't sure how to stay ahead of your opponent in the opening I would read this book.
It could also be good for players in the 15-10k range, but might be a bit too advanced. I lent it to a 16 kyu from my local go club and he is struggling with it, but still likes it. If you are in this range, I would consider it, but maybe look into other books first.