Was going to start with Davis, but reading reviews of Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go just now made me wonder if it might not make a better start and perhaps be more accessible at my level. Any thoughts? Also have GSA Tesuji and was thinking it might be helpful to read along with which ever of the other two I start with.

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"

I just chose Tesuji by Davis because it was in the same series as Attack and Defence; it's a good enough book, in my opinion. I don't need another middle game book until after I am done with Attack and Defence (I will never be done), and the only thing to compliment Tesuji is a Tesuji problem book.

Hi happysocks, Davies' Elementary series are for about 5k or better. If you enjoy them, great. You can also look into Graded Go Problems for Beginners, volumes 1 and 2.

This was kind of my impression from reading reviews so was hoping maybe Sakata's book might be a little easier to work through with my lack a of reading ability. Currently working on my 3rd reading of GGPfB 2 (which has some tesuji) and am also reading 1001 Life and Death Problems. Both these books feel just about perfect at my level. Might be wise to just finish working through these then I'll be more prepared to tackle Tesuji. Thanks for the comments guys.

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"

I read and benefitted from Tesuji when I was a ddk. My sense is that it's more basic and focused than Tesuji and Anti-Suji of go.

It may be that the end of Davies' book is harder: Life And Death follows that pattern, but I recall a lot of it being helpful.

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Occupy Babel!

Appreciate your thoughts on how they compare. With so little time for go, guess it fuels the desire to take up this snails pace pursuit of the game as wisely as sluggishly possible.

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"

I found Davies' Tesuji useful when I was weaker than 5k, maybe 15k.

Have you read the Second Book of Go?
http://www.kiseido.com/Begin2.htm

It is not a dedicated Tesuji book but it does cover some common tesuji and it is really good for DDK players. More importantly, it covers simple, mechanical reading and liberty counting techniques that form the theory on which all tesuji are based.

Honestly, I'd recommend re-reading it every five stones (20, 15, 10, 5) simply because these first principles are so easy to neglect! ("Hmm... about five liberties and thats... er... more or less four... I'll just play it out and see if I win...")

Nearly bought The Second book of Go awhile back but didn't because someone said it's just bits from Elementary Go Series which I'd already ordered.
But maybe these bit sized bits will make good prep for the series itself, the Hunter section on counting liberties and capture races sounds interesting as well.

Likely to be a good book to have around for friends or family keen on learning about the game too (was at a friends earlier tonight playing chess and happened to mention go and he expressed mild interest in maybe playing sometime - boy if could get a chess friend into go that would be a major boon to my game!...).

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"

As someone who has read both of them, go for the Davies book. The level is better, as is the information density.

I'm not nearly that strength, but I got something out of Davies's Tesuji, so I wouldn't say it's strictly for strong SKDs.

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Poka King of the south east.

Two comments:

1. I have been recommending Tesuji and L&D by Davis ever since they were first published.

2. No book by Sakata is easy reading. But they are all good book for SDK's are better.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I disagree, especially with respect to Tesuji and L&D books. When I first red them I was somewhere between 18k and 15k, and I felt they were very appropriate for my level.I think once you reach around 7k-5k or so, these two books are much less valuable. The other books in this series might be slightly more advanced, I think. But the material is still very accessible for players below 5k, Maybe 10k-3k or so, mostly.

All in all, I highly recommend the most of the series, especially Tesuji and L&D to any DDKs or even to beginners. A&D is also a must, but the OP already has it.

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- Bantari
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WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

Encouraged by your comments started reading Tesuji, and, get a sense that am overdue for this book. Maybe my reading ability will have improved some once the more difficult problems in the latter chapters present themselves. In any case am excited to finally begin a study of it and tesuji in general. Thanks all for taking the time to share your thoughts on the subject.

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Thanks for that link. Do you happen to know Steve Fawthrop's age (range) when he successfully used his method described on that page ?

Of course I do !!!! I wrote that in 1999, but did not put it up there until much later. I used it long, long before that, when I was in my 20s and still a kyu player. I was studying Tesjui and L&D at the time.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Interesting. This kind of touches on something I've wondered about for awhile which is how high dans sometimes seem to intrinsically be able to create or steer game positions into a needed shape or tesuji.



Though it seems a lot of work it does sound like a pretty strong method. And at least for me would not have to worry about flipping books every which way as with my terrible memory by the time ones finished can start back at page one and it's nearly like reading a new book (thankfully intuition about the positions and shapes presented will have been enlightened a bit).

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"