Bonobo, I like also your conjecture about what 'flow of the stones' might mean. I hope that professionals will express what they mean, when using this phrase, at least as clearly as Polama and you.

I suspect "flow like water" is Taoist in origin, referring to "the watercourse way."

This "way" is wonderfully described in the Book of Changes, where from we have excerpted a short commentary of Richard Wilhelm on the hexagram no. 19 - Lin / Approach:*



Basically, I think of it as meaning go with the flow, you don't need to be unnatural, or resist excessively (think tiring yourself out by swimming upstream) to succeed at go. For example, if your opponent wants a moyo, fine. Take the generous cash gift he gives you, then gently reducing from outside should be enough. A dangerous invasion after taking the cash might be seen as not flowing - and could yield in a quick loss if it dies.

* rather than writing this myself, I took it from http://www.taoisminfo.com/watercourseway.html

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- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

How this thread involved in a discussion about the 'flow' of go fascinates me.

Right now, I am thinking a lot about flexibility in my moves. The sequence of moves flowing like water is the process of making the stones that your opponet placed on the board mis-placed. It's like the sequence from Attack and Defense that Daal posted progresses. A black stone invades what appears to be a three-space extension. After a few forcing exchanges, it looks more like the black stone is pincered against a wall.

To play with a certain flow, you have to posess the ability to keep aji in a position and settle it only when it makes your opponents earlier moves seem strange.

Discussion threads can themselves, "flow like water" until some angry beaver comes along and dams it up and splits it into multiple streams.