Publisher's description:

"Making a placement - plunging into the center of your opponent's area to destroy eye space, shape or to reduce territory - is full of excitement. In some cases, it will decide who wins a game.On the other hand, the side against which the placement was played will panic and start to get scared. What exactly is my opponent aiming for? A surprising intrusion like this can easily make you lose your cool.This book takes a broad look at the power of placement techniques, and their countermeasures, from joseki to the endgame. Considering thepractical and psychological effects of placements, the destructive power of these moves can only be attributed to magic rather than physicalpower.328 pages."

Another book in my recent order is Magic of Placements. From the description, I thought this would be a useful book; placements are a key to life and death problems. The introduction is thin, then the problems begin. First comes life and death. There are a handful of problems that are easy; they're rated with diamonds, from one to four, and the first few are one or two, but very quickly all the problems are three or four diamonds. I essentially gave up after a while, having no clue as to the correct answers.

The second section is endgame placements; there are more low-level problems, but while I can figure out the first few, most of them are beyond me. I haven't gone to the third section, placements for fighting, but this book is way above my head. I'd say it's probably for dan players or above. While many books say they contain material for both kyus and dans, this one should really say that it's dan-only.

One other comment on the layout: the book is 328 pages, but there's one problem to a page, with three diagrams overleaf showing the solution and variations. The book could be a lot shorter, with, say, two problems per page and six diagrams overleaf. This is just to say that one shouldn't think that the page count means there are a lot of problems; there are only 150 problems.

To sum up, this is a book to come back to if I ever get a few stones stronger. Dans will find it useful, but others should be aware that it's a tough book.

My Rating:

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