Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes-- Review

Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes by Mingjiu Jiang and Adam Miller, sold on the slate and shell website (http://www.slateandshell.com/SSMJ001.html) is a book that I purchased many shipments ago, when I played a 1 dan for the first time, was crushed, and he told me I should study Joseki. I already had Richard Bozulich and Furuyama Kazunari's Get Strong at Joseki series (which can be purchased at www.kiseido.com in their english go books section), but it had been previously inscrutable for me. I ordered P+CJM to help mix up the study attempt. Of the two, I felt that P+CJM was too difficult, so I started with the basic templates presented in Get Strong at Joseki. Yesterday, I finally picked the book back up and cracked its (albeit very thin and difficult to crack) spine to do some problems.

As I moved through the pages of "Joseki" so far deviated from any logical template or acceptable balance, I became largely disappointed. Many diagrams were so different from proper Joseki form that they were more like simplistic Tesuji problems with occasional pearls of Joseki concepts thrown in. I also found that most of the points covered for each sequence were ones that I had realized while building the initial diagram. Even more than either of these reasons, I was disappointed because I found that the book failed to truly make good on its initial promise. It points out how most Joseki books only offer solutions to problematic deviations that aren't ever played, but merely dreamed up by pros, and P+CJM's introduction suggests that it will present variations that help you understand how to punish and correct deviations. I found, however, that compared to the other Joseki texts I've used, P+CJM falls painfully short of doing this.

That said, the book does do several things that I like. Its method for explaining which outcomes can be considered good or bad by providing comparisons to Joseki sequences with similar ending states is very convenient. The book also provided some interesting situations, easily used as food for thought, and as I mentioned before, the occasional pearl of wisdom (although I really only encountered 4 enlightening lines per 27 pages or so.)

All in all, because the book is inappropriate for those inexperienced in Joseki, but it's too easy for those who have spent a little time with Joseki, the experience from the pseudo-tesuji plays could be better gotten by tesuji books, and finally, because I think understanding the basic situation of a joseki will help you achieve a good result more than examining a few stray examples, I think I have to condemn this book as an unnecessary addition to most libraries. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest, I rate this one with about a 2. If you've got the money and want the practice provided by seeing these Joseki horrors compared very, very briefly with a correct Joseki, then I'm sure this book could help deepen your experience base, but I don't think it offers anything more than simply watching free games on kgs played by players from the 3 kyu to 3 dan range. Perhaps someone has had a different experience with this book?

Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes: 2 out of 5

Another Day, Another Game- Reflections on Game Mentality

"Only the body is shed; the mind remains forever in the maze of nineteen lines."

This afternoon I settled down to play on kgs after a couple days of teaching go to some friends and playing through Shusaku games. The irresistible urge to express myself on the board had summoned me, once more. I found my match in a 4 kyu, after being turned down again and again because I don't have a steady rating yet (I dislike playing on the computer because I start to get distracted and careless.) The game was going well for quite some time, but I encountered some trouble towards the late middle game. In the end, I lost by 3.5 points, and now that I'm sitting here, reflecting on the game, I find myself mulling over the same old question: do I compromise too easily?

Today's match was ultimately lost because due to a careless calculation in an attempt to compromise, my plans in the center went a little awry, and I just couldn't let go. As the action settled into its final formation, I played a lukewarm move at best, and handed sente over to the opponent. From that point on there was free movement of probably 18 points, which served to turn the tide. In the end, I failed to commit to an endgame fight, already feeling down as I was, and then the game was over. All said and done, my endgame cost around 30 points of exchange. Maybe more.

Between the three problems that got me in trouble, one was cowardice, the other was faulty reading, and the final was the decision to make an easy compromise. Well, clearly cowardice and faulty reading are things that we work on for a long time. But the decision to compromise is a game to game thing. Willingness to compromise, I think, says something gentle about your mentality. However, as we all know, a gentle or watery mentality is not too welcome in a good game of go.

As go players, we have to understand that through any good exchange, both players get something. This is an unalterable fact, and trying to take everything for oneself won't get you anywhere in the go world. Still, it seems to me that we also have to be really smart about our compromises, and perhaps even more than a willingness to compromise, demonstrate a willingness to hang tough and take the risk in an attempt to prove our own visions of the board. The attitudes of "Let's see what you've got," or, "show me what you have in mind- I can take it" are wonderful attitudes that produce an exciting and healthy game, in my opinion.

What I'm wondering is if it's possible to create some guidelines on when to compromise and let the opponent take valuable stones in order to wall off an important area, create a new attack, or change your focus.

Guideline # 1: Obviously if your position is going to be cut apart, or strangled, you have to loose some stones, and hanging tough is not an option. I'm not sure if this one is really a compromise situation, but I figured I'd get it out of the way.

Guideline # 2: If you're letting the opponent take stones that give them life, or a much easier time, be certain that what you're getting in exchange is decently greater than the worth of a continued attack on your opponent's stones.

Guideline # 3: If the compromise gives you an additional move or two at an important time, then it's a good compromise to consider. Sente can easily be worth more than the safety of an already powerful or troublesome enemy group, and the value of sente can easily outweigh the worth of a couple stones.

Guideline # 4: (and this is something that gets me) If you're securing an area, make sure that you can finish securing the area at the end of your last forcing move. If your opponent can invade before you can finish, then the compromise was a bad idea- chances are hanging tough or following a different sequence was the only option.

Guideline # 5: If you're on equal or superior grounds, and don't have an urgent move (you've got a bit of a lead, perhaps) if after the compromise your opponents structure is stronger than your own, the compromise is probably a bad idea, and you should look on for a tesuji or another line of play.

I think that's all that I've figured out for now. If you're wondering about the kinds of situations what I'm talking about would occur in, think more about wrap up moves that aren't too threatening, or lukewarm ones in situations where you're ahead, as well as times when your opponent makes a strong cut into your territory, rather than about the use of sacrifice stones-- although some of these guidelines may apply there, also.

I'd be very interested in what everyone thinks of this. While I appreciate my opponent's skill, I hate the feeling that I let them off the hook through the kindness of my own heart.

Keep eating wisdom,

-Zack

More Books?!

I was playing through a Shusaku game this morning (specifically the game that occurs between Shusaku 4-dan and Kadono Tadazaemon 6-dan, starting on pg. 66 of John Power's Invincible: The Games of Shusaku,) when I fell to wondering about a variation of one of the taisha's main lines- namely the one with the narabi as the fourth move. I ended up looking at all of the references I could find on the internet, and was finally side-tracked until I found myself at the Kiseido check-out page, ordering all three books in Ishida's joseki dictionary set, as well as Go Seigen and Segoe Kensaku's tesuji dictionary. I was a little shy with the tesuji dictionary set, however, and only purchased the first in the set. I attribute this to both the price of each volume, as well as the fear that It will be way over my head. Tesuji feel like a bit of a weakness of mine, despite what reading abilities I have struggled to acquire up to this point.

As I get deeper and deeper into studying specifics, it gets harder and harder to care about rank, or even about wins and losses in go. My focus is shifting powerfully towards simply playing a wonderful game. For me, coming to understand Joseki provides a feeling of experience that allows a clarity of play. I'm really looking forward to the books coming in, especially since I've torn through Richard Bozulich's Get Strong at Joseki series. A lot of the late problems are still quite difficult, but I've exhausted the majority of the reference value that lies within their pages.

Ishida's set of Joseki dictionaries is something I've been wanting since I finished my first joseki book. When I first took steps into the deep waters of joseki play, I remember how drastically my understanding of play was disrupted. It feels to me that many aspects of joseki play that once were incomprehensible are now the basis upon which I build my understanding of the game, and feel second nature. I'm genuinely curious about what I'll be able to learn from these books.

Getting used to writing in a blog seems to be more of a challenge than I thought, so I'll have to keep working at tone. I think pretty soon I want to do some slightly more extensive book reviews, and I'd also like to try and make this blog a bit of a reference/ forum for the people who are forming up the Oklahoma go network.

As always, keep eating wisdom.

-Zack Kaplan

P.S. Are there any books that anyone's looking forward to buying right now?

Thoughts About Studying Pro Games and Kifu by Not-So-Pro-Level Players

Ever since I encountered my first pro kifu in Richard Bozulich's The Basics of Go Strategy (a wonderful book that I suggest for anyone under shodan, at the very least for reinforcement of the basics) I've wondered about the appropriate time to start studying records of pro-level games. When I was a much weaker player, the moves seemed all but incomprehensible, and even when I could paste a number of meanings to many of the moves, I couldn't help but feel I was just lying to myself about my level of understanding. To be frank, I think the games made me feel a little insecure about the vast scope of possibile moves that could be used to wreak havoc on all of my structures.

As I've gotten stronger, however, I'm sure that playing through kifu of pro games is beneficial at all levels. What's important is how you examine the games and what you're looking for. As a weaker player (perhaps from the range of 14 kyu up all the way to 25 or 30, depending on the ranking system you go by)it's probably best to just apreciate the games, notice general patterns, and if you want something to examine thoroughly, try to examine why pro players defend when they defend and run when they run, rather than looking at how they attack, or how their complicated tesuji work.

I've seen some great developments come from weaker players going through pro kifu. Enough of it seems to sink in through relative osmosis that finding the right move, or a good move in a tough or vague spot during a game becomes easier. It seems to me that even if players often don't know the best way to follow these moves up, and they are merely making them on principal, it's still tougher on your opponent, and starts to lead weaker players in a good direction as far as move experimentation.

If I were to give advice on studying pro games, I'd probably say that once you're past 14 kyu, it's important to be more actively involved, analytically speaking. Playing through pro games without a lot of attention and specific analysis seems like it might breed some half-baked understandings of in-game aims, or perhaps move aplication. And by the time you are a 7 kyu, shouldn't one be trying to cut down on plays without clear aims (albeit, occasionally misguided ones)? Playing moves you see pro's play, without understanding the implications can be fine if you're looking to experiment with them in-game, and see what can happen, but not paying attention seems careless to me, if not dangerous.

I believe that it's important to understand the followup if your opponent doesn't see the threat- otherwise a significant cap is placed upon the level of sophistication and enjoyment available in a game. A player should always be looking to make effective threats-- it seems to me that this is what puts one in touch with the gears that roll beneath the surface of the board.

At my current level, examining pro play is proving to be extremely valuable. My current mindset is to look through all the games I play for similar themes- allowing of course for excursions into other areas of interest should they come up. I try to stay away from playing the "guess the next move" game, because while it absolutely keeps the mind engaged with the play through, I think it muddles the impact of observing good play, and goes against the general goal of studying high pro-level kifu, which is not to compare your thought processes to those of the best players of the game, but to try and understand them. Of course, it's always great fun to gauge your improvement by sucessfully guessing the next moves in a game ^.~

I believe specific study of pro games has helped my understanding of the opening, influence, attack situations, and tesuji in general. More than anything, I probably owe my current understanding of tenuki and preparation to pro play. Commentary is always good, but when studying games with a subject decided on before-hand, I don't believe that it's necessary.


So in short. . .
I've come to the conclusion that studying pro play, like studying joseki and life and death, is something that is not only good, but important on all levels. What are your thoughts on the matter?

But What About Kifu of Less-skilled Games???
Now then, we all know about pro kifu, but there are also books that contain amateur kifu played at the 1 dan to 4 kyu level-- occasionally stronger. If you search around online, you can find game examples at almost any level. And this one seems to be a bit more of a controversial subject. There are a large number of people that say, "if I'm going to study examples of play, I want to study the best, so that I don't pick up bad habits." There are two problems I can see with this way of thinking, however.

First, many of the intricacies that make pro play so good, and are absent from lower level play are the same ones that go right over the heads of the people playing through them. Merely having exposure to these intricacies- while certainly very interesting and very beautiful, is perhaps not at all beneficial without a very precise understanding of them to follow. The second issue is that there are rarely horrible mistakes or variations from the direction of play in top pro kifu. But amateur games are filled with such examples. Studying bad moves can be a powerful tool to find and understand good moves.

That said, there is something to not studying games with lots of mistakes. It's my personal belief that amateur games (aside from very high level and sophisticated amateur play) should not be studied without commentary from a stronger player until the player studying them is significantly strong, and firm in their understanding of the basics.

But I guess these are just some thoughts on the matter and observations from my own study habits, and the ones of those around me. What does everybody think about the appropriate timing for studying pro kifu and amateur kifu?

Gathering Strength and 5 Suggestions for 6 Kyu Players Aimed at Breaking the 5 Kyu Barrier

In go, you start off blind. You have no sense of sight, touch, taste, or smell. All that there is are the stones and the board. One of the things that makes Go a truly unique game is that pretty close to the majority of a go player's career will be spent just learning how to see the board. From those that I've played against and talked to, I get the impression that until a player is about 6 kyu, their ability to see the board is simply limited.

It seems to me that 6 kyu is the final threshold of a sunday player. Up until this point, players learn basic shape, some measure of sabaki and joseki, and they start to learn whole board fighting. After 6 kyu, play strategy changes in the same way it does from 15 kyu to 10 kyu. If you're playing using the same tight shapes, and playing each game grabbing territory and then trying to wipe out the opponent's holdings with attacks that often go in too deep, then 6 kyu is as far as you can come. Because that's as far as you can get with a basic understanding of strategy, and it's as far as you'll get clinging to inflexible ideas of territory. To step beyond 6 kyu, the stakes of the game rise significantly.

For the 6 kyu player, or perhaps even the strategically advanced 7 and 8 kyu players, I would personally suggest abandoning themselves a little more to their games. Playing a strong game focused on gaining territory through whole board attacks, rather than simplistic territory grabbing may not yeild steady results at first, but will absolutely lead to a much more flexible understanding of the game, and eventually more wins. It's always more comfortable to grab territory and then bet the game on an unreasonable invasion into your opponent's territory late in the game, saying something like "if I don't jump in, then there's no way I can win." After all, because the situation gives your opponent so many chances to mess up, this can be a comfortable, if monotonous, way to play. However, from what I've seen, players find that this play style doesn't typically work out too well against stronger players.

No matter what your play style, if you'd like to try something new, then I may have a few suggestions. In a game where players are simply grabbing territory and depending on the strength of their well tested structures, there's typically some exciting fight at one time or another, but the options available on the game board are usually few, and a little boring, to boot. Territory grabbing is too simple. When playing dan level players, a comment that I've quite often heard, and have made myself, is that all of their plays seem to have so much weight!

Concept number one: "especially in the opening, if you grab territory without also threatening something (like punishing an opponent's group, etc.), then your move wasn't good enough, or fast enough." Personally, i think that this is a really strong way of playing. You make your territories by threatening to kill structures. With a method like this, if your opponent moves fast to squander your profit, you kill their group, or punish it in a way that provides enough thickness to make up for the difference. Naturally, some of you may think to the common concept that in the opening, once the corners are played, the next option is an approach or a corner enclosure. Certainly, a corner enclosure doesn't match this concept on face value, but the strength built up by a corner enclosure promises a strong attack on groups that enter the side because the corner group itself has become strong, and therefore exudes influence. Even if you're a large moyo style player, this concept is absolutely applicable. Speed, strength and influence come first; territory comes as a result of these two. This is the concept of strong and flexible moves, and it's what makes a player's moves so loaded with consideration.

Concept number two: "use the threat of the kill, but don't depend on it." I think this one is pretty self explanatory. It's never good to be stretched too thin, and it's dangerous to be put in a position like this. Even more, the influence and strength you can build by threatening to kill a group, can often be worth more than killing the group in terms of general play. Don't get too caught up. always remember to be flexible in your aims. If you push it too far, all will be for not.

Concept number three: "always consider what is par for the situation." This especially applies for odd moves and attack and defense in general, and it's a trick I learned from studying joseki. In many joseki problems, an answer will be considered incorrect because compared to another outcome, one stone may be placed better, or one more point might be captured in sente. The answer in itself isn't necessarily bad- it's just not as good as the go world knows it could be. Whenever you're in a tough situation, try to consider what's par for the situation- either by examining sequences that could lead to a result you're familiar with that originates from another move, or by considering first your weaknesses, second your opponents, and based on the number or magnitude, deciding on a fair and strong outcome. If your opponent played an odd move, considering what's par for the situation can lead you down the road of figuring out how to get a better outcome than could usually be expected. Through this thought, I believe that players will get steadily better by always trying to find the best move, and constantly wondering, "well, what's par for this situation? Now how can I get the advantage?"

Concept number four: "If you can claim territory by forcing your opponent to defend territory worth the same as or less than the territory that you gain by making the threat, then do so." By the same token, when approaching an opponent's stone at the very start of the game, pushing from the outside so that their defensive moves go towards each other, while seeming to give them one side, really becomes an even result if you play with your eyes on the whole board.

Concept number five: "don't forcefully try to save stones that don't have a purpose anymore." This concept can be a little difficult to understand. Primarily it refers to attacking-groups. Once a group is alive, if your attacking stones are in an awkward position (not yet alive themselves, or floating,) attempting to save them can give the opponent a target of attack to gain influence throughout the board and gain a winning situation. Threaten to save them, but also be prepared to make their capture a small, cramped victory for your opponent, should they choose to engulf them.

These are only a few simple things that I'm sure seem obvious to you all, however I believe that if you consider them in earnest, and put honest thought to them during your games, you will get stronger. As always, make sure not to bee too insecure about territory, and keep your fighting spirit burning!

Hopefully this was helpful to some people, and I hope that you'll let me know what you think of it.

Keep eating wisdom,

-Zack

A Little Introduction

Allow me to introduce myself a bit. I've been playing go avidly for about a year and a half now, and have finally reached what could be called the entrance hall to shodan.
I'm starting this blog because my love of go only gets stronger as time passes, and I want to share the lessons that I've learned with others. Even more than that, I want to hear the thoughts of other players on the game, study, and play in general.
I'm currently the founder and president of a go club at the University of Oklahoma (OU). I started the club one year ago, and since then have taught go (on some level or another) to at least 50 people.

My most recent focus in my personal studies has been:
study of pro games
study of the 4-4 (star point) opening move
odd plays in the opening
more precise counting in the middle-game and endgame

At the time, I'm struggling with understanding how to play a very flexible fighting game, how protecting territories from invasion can devalue them, and how to imaginatively and forcefully produce a winning situation by attacking weak groups.

Welcome to my blog! I hope that you enjoy it, learn something, and continue to enjoy your personal travels through the many mental landscapes of the go board.