Life In 19x19

I speak english only, a little japanese but not enough to read a book at all.

I am around dan level KGS.

I have been studying the book "So you want to play go? 1-4 Dan" by Jon Hop, "Lessons in the Fundamentals of go" by Toshiro Kageyama, and "Breakthrough to shodan" by Naoki Miyamoto.

What I have been struck by is the idea of "proper" moves and about how its always the simple moves that seem the most amazing. I have also been realizing the difference in most pro games is the ability to calculate whether they need to save a group, even if it is worth 40-50 points, compared to finding a move that threatens to capture a group just a big elsewhere.

This calculation and reading ability combined with proper moves and joseki patterns seems to be a big difference from my current games, and I really find that material interesting.

In a go book im looking for something that will be mildly entertaining or easy to follow such as Lessons in the fundamentals or so you want to play go?, but also have information that can help me improve (same as those books).

Im not sure what topic the book im looking for would be about, I will take all suggestions, but possibly capturing races or middle game judgement could be topics of interest.

Thanks

I would recommend The Direction of Play. The book is about proper moves in the opening of the game and heading into the middle game. I found it to be just as entertaining as Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go and the concepts should be advanced enough that a low dan player will not feel it is trivial.

You're a lot stronger than me so take this with a pinch of salt.


What you may find interesting is Lee Sedol's Commented Game Series (the first one is published, the second just about it be). They're decently big books for go books but only cover 3 games in very serious depth. It's fascinating to read and see a pro go through the variations that they were thinking of whilst playing. I've no idea if it's a good improvement book at your level but it is very interesting reading.

Link: http://shop.gogameguru.com/commented-ga ... e-sedol-1/

moyoaji wrote:I would recommend The Direction of Play. The book is about proper moves in the opening of the game and heading into the middle game. I found it to be just as entertaining as Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go and the concepts should be advanced enough that a low dan player will not feel it is trivial.

Im sure I can learn something from this book, but the direction of play seems to be for weaker players, I could be wrong.

Might need to check it out though.

If you're looking for a challenge, I'd recommend Shuko: The Only Move, vols. 1 & 2. Volume 2 focusses on the middle game, and each volume is independent, so you might want to start with it.

There's some discussion of these books in another thread: http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewto ... =17&t=7346

Both are still in print, and if you have an iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch then also via SmartGo Books: http://www.smartgo.com/en/booksbylevel.htm#dan

Ah yea I really like shuko so maybe I should get them...

Volatile wrote:Im sure I can learn something from this book, but the direction of play seems to be for weaker players, I could be wrong.

Might need to check it out though.

It is true that this book is often recommended to SDK players, but the concepts in the book are a bit too high level for most SDKs to do more than get a handle on the basic principles. I feel I got stronger from reading the book, but just now I reviewed the problems near the end (I'd forgotten the answers by this point) and got most of them wrong. The concepts were too much for me to really grasp in just one reading as a 9 kyu. I've heard that dans are able to read the book and actually understand it, while the best most SDKs can do is read and think they understand it.

I'll give you a sample from one of the seven problems toward the end of the book so you can see how you feel about it.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Problem 1 - Black to play
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$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . X X X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . O O X X . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

As for the book's lighter side. I thought this statement was quite humorous while also giving decent (some would think obvious) advice:

It might be said that going along with the enemy's intentions is a possible form of strategy, which is one way of looking at it, but it doesn't ring true. - Kajiwara Takeo, The Direction of Play, p. 116

Regardless, I will say I have heard two main criticisms of the book: 1. Some of the suggested moves are outdated (it was written in 1979) and 2. It is not really a go theory book because the concepts covered are too general (pros often differ on their opinion for the current direction of play). This didn't really matter to me because I'd be thrilled if my playing ability was near the level of a 1970s pro and I'm fine with being given broad principles for go openings.

Volatile wrote:I am around dan level KGS. [...]
how its always the simple moves that seem the most amazing.

Books teaching the simple moves, such as all thick shape types, are far below your level. I guess you would not buy a book mainly because of its entertainment. So what you, as an "around dan" player, need is books enabling you to see and understand simplicity amidst complication: read Fighting Fundamentals.

http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/Fighting_Fundamentals.html

Fighting does not consist of only simple moves, but the book provides an access to greatly simplifying your strategic thinking in otherwise possibly too complicated fights.

is the ability to calculate whether they need to save a group, even if it is worth 40-50 points, compared to finding a move that threatens to capture a group just a big elsewhere.

This is possible by imagining move sequence A, making a positional judgement of the resulting position, imagining move sequence B, making a positional judgement of the resulting position, and comparing the judgements for A and B. Therefore, you must learn positional judgement as well as possible. For territory read Positional Judgement 1 - Territory

http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/PositionalJudgement.html

For influence, start with assessing the influence stone difference (#black - #white influence stones) and the mobility difference:

http://senseis.xmp.net/?Mobility

For other aspects of positional judgement, read everything about strategic concepts, such as aji.

This calculation and reading ability combined with proper moves and joseki patterns seems to be a big difference from my current games, and I really find that material interesting.

For this, more aspects of positional judgement and strategic concepts, you can read volumes 2 and 3 of my Joseki series:

http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/Joseki.html

However, "proper moves" is not explained in great detail in them. At your level, I think you need to browse pro games to see proper moves applied. Maybe there is a Japanese book on this topic and for dans?

In a go book im looking for something that will be mildly entertaining or easy to follow such as Lessons in the fundamentals or so you want to play go?, but also have information that can help me improve (same as those books).

For your level, such English books are sparse, if not to say non-existent.

possibly capturing races

Capturing Races 1 - Two Basic Groups

http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/Capturing_Races.html

Otherwise, read research papers by Thomas Wolf. There is more literature on the topic, but, unless you want to buy everything, it is not essential. Except for the capturing race tesuji chapter in Counting Liberties and Winning Capturing Races. Of course, you can also read any number of classic problem books.

or middle game judgement

Start with the books and webpages above. Especially Fighting Fundamentals, Positional Judgement 1 and the concept of influence stone difference. Parts of Joseki 2 (such as the analysis chapter) are also useful for that topic. Besides, for practical strategic decisions, studying pro games helps, and I think, for your level, helps much more than Asian language next move problem books.

Volatile wrote:In a go book im looking for something that will be mildly entertaining or easy to follow such as Lessons in the fundamentals or so you want to play go?, but also have information that can help me improve (same as those books).

I also highly recommend Lee Sedol's Commented Games. Entertaining and lots of depth into how a pro thinks about moves.

If you liked the Lee Sedol Commented Games Vol 1, you should consider preordering Vol 2 as it'll include free worldwide shipping for just $3 more than what it will cost after preorders.
http://gogameguru.com/commented-games-b ... -volume-2/