Title: 打ち込みの基本 (The Basics of Invasion)
Author: 羽根直樹／著 (Hane Naoki)
ISBN: 4839948461 / 9784839948467
Publication date: 2013-08-27
Publisher: マイナビ (MYNAVI)
Pages: 226

This is the most recent volume in a series by Hane Naoki on the fundamentals of go. There are six books so far; the other five are

序盤の打ち方　(How to play the Opening) -- 2012
ISBN: 4839944911 / 9784839944919

攻めの基本　(The Basics of Attack) -- 2012
ISBN: 4839945233 / 9784839945237

守りの基本　(The Basics of Defense) -- 2013
ISBN: 4839945950 / 9784839945954

死活とヨセ　(Life-Death and Yose) -- 2013
ISBN: 4839946353 / 9784839946357

手筋と攻め合い　(Tesuji and Semeai) -- 2013
ISBN: 4839946817 / 9784839946814

As the title says, this one covers the basic techniques of invasion, and explains what a good outcome looks like. Most of the examples are invasions of side or corner positions, as opposed to jumping into the middle of a large central moyo.

The motto on the cover of each volume reads "Understand! Win!! Completely eliminate beginners' confusion." At least for the two volumes I own, on Defense and Invasion, I think the ideal reader would range from someone breaking the 10-kyu barrier down to about some low pre-shodan level. So "beginners' confusion" should probably be understood as "confusions you have had since you were a beginner", rather than a suggestion that the books are aimed at novices -- they are not. (At least, not the two on Defense and on Invasion.)

In the present volume, there is a 13 page preface, "What is invasion?" followed by four chapters:

1 Invading for attack
2 Invading to devastate (arasu)
3 Methods of invasion
4 Practice problems

The preface patiently explains that there are two kinds of invasions, with different goals and techniques: There is invading to attack, for instance playing on the third line to split a third-line enemy position into two pieces, at least one of which is then weak and under seige. This can lead to a capture, or at least a profitable chase.

Alternatively, there is invading to devastate territory, for instance by playing on the third line of a fourth-line enemy position, with the intention of either living inside or escaping to the center. The invader does not usually intend to separate the enemy into very weak pieces.

An attack invasion, when feasible, is usually an urgent move, not to be postponed; but a devastation invasion has to compete for priority with other big plays. Hane goes on to explain, with examples, that conducting an invasion of the wrong kind, or "recklessly" invading merely because it looks possible, can backfire by leaving the invader under attack or weakening his own neighboring positions.

Chapter 1 presents detailed introductory examples involving both four and five space extensions on either the third or fourth line, where an attack invasion is appropriate, illustrating the outcome of both the right and wrong sort of attempt. He also illustrates what to do if the position is too strong to invade but is still vulnerable to outside pressure, as well as what bad things might happen if you invade anyhow.

Chapter 2 does something similar for side invasions of moyos and other fourth-line positions in a few standard fusekis. In these examples the correct goal is to live inside or escape, and not to attack the surrounding stones.

While the first two chapters illustrate technique rather than teach invasion josekis, chapter 3 studies a few standard sequences that the reader can expect to use in his or her own games. Some of these involve three space extensions, where both stones are on the third or fourth lines or one each, where the applicable goal might depend in part on the surrounding position. The others are examples of corner invasions, at the 3-3 point under several different star-point shimaris, at the 3-3 point in contact with a 3-4 stone, as well as a submarine invasion on the second line.

The first three chapters are presented at a level of detail that seems aimed at about 10-kyu players, though stronger players will not find them uninstructive. But the fourth chapter is at a different pace -- in about one hundred pages it presents twenty-seven whole-board problems where the object is to identify where an invasion might be feasible, which kind it should be and exactly how it should proceed initially. In a few of these the reader is advised not to invade at all but to press from the outside instead, or even just play on some other part of the board. The positions are varied, ranging from mid-fuseki to well into the middle game; and the explanations are less detailed than in the first three chapters. This last chapter should particularly appeal to stronger readers, though 10-kyu readers should still find it instructive.

As a two kyu player, I've never really felt comfortable about conducting invasions, apart from some well known corner or three-space extension sequences; and collections such as Takemiya's "Corner Enclosure Josekis" do not really address what has bothered me. But I think this book does, and I give it high marks.

Hane writes with great empathy for the less experienced player. In the foreword he says that while it is natural for a weaker player to be wary of invading, this wariness must be overcome in order to avoid being bullied by stronger players' overplays.

In one example from the preface he considers a four-space extension between two isolated white stones on the third line, squeezed closely between two solid settled black groups. Should this configuration arise, the situation is so urgent that "without hesitation", Black must "immediately" play a splitting move on the third line. White might respond with an outside contact move, hoping to engineer a connection. If so, Black must "resolutely" hane around the new stone, from the wider side, to block White's attempt.

But White might then respond with a cross-cut. If so, Hane says, the most important rule for dealing with a cross-cut is "Don't panic!" He explains that White is trying to fight in Black's overwhelming sphere of influence, and presents several possible tactical sequences in which Black prevails; and he reassures the reader that with some practice, in such a position this will always be the outcome. Part of the reassurance lies in explaining via examples, that even if Black has to sacrifice a stone, if at least one of the two original white stones is kept isolated, that amounts to a good result.

--FredK

Thanks for the in depth review.

These books are also available on Kindle now which makes them much easier to get, so I was thinking about trying one some time.

How much Japanese is required to understand these books?

That seems really interesting. And I don't need much of an excuse to order more books from Japan anyway!

In response to SKYDYR, you could probably get a lot out of the problems on Chapter 4 just by knowing the kanji for "right answer", and some similar ones that appear in problem books; but you'd have to figure out what's right about the right answer and what's wrong about the wrong answer -- maybe not so hard depending on your experience. But in the preface and first three chapters you'd definitely want to read sentences, since Hane discusses the diagrams in some depth.