Try rereading go books as well. Good ones seem different upon rereading as you gain strength.

_________________
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

when I was your level, I bought lots of books that were really aimed at stronger players. I ending up not really reading them. They didn't help me.

Would I recommend other beginners buying those books? Probably not.
Would I buy them again if I were still at that beginner level? Probably

I like books

The best way to get stronger is to play games, not reading books (with some exceptions).

This. A thousand times, this.

I dont't agree, when i was 20kyu kgs I got tesuji by james davies and read it through in like 2 weeks.
I tried to read all sequences even if I really could not.

After I did this I was 16 kyu kgs.

So it does not really matter if you get experience in books or on a board. But you are going to need reading experience. And some experience of the "flow" of the game.

Enjoy
Otenki

Books I own:

Korean Style of Baduk I
Opening Theory made easy
The second book of go
Endgame
Attack and Defence
The Direction of play
Get Strong at Tesuji (Shipping)
Get Strong at invading (Shipping)

I've read all of these books at least once through (Except for Korean Style of Baduk), and reread them equally as much. Of course, I'm going to continue to do that, but does anyone have suggestions for what an 8-9k could buy in addition to these? I'd like to start a book collection.

Also, would anyone suggest Yilun Yang's fundamentals of go?

Yes, it's a very good book.

I must recommend Kageyama Toshiro's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go - I love that book and I truly believe it has made me a stronger player. I don't think any SDK collection would be complete without it.

Our university club is buying two books with school funds to begin building a club collection. The two books we are getting are: The Second Book of Go and Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go. We wanted to start with these because they are widely recommended and both cover the entire game of go. You already have the former, so I recommend the latter.


A 2k member of the West Michigan Go Club has been going through that book for a second time recently. He says it is very good, and he must believe that if he is taking the time to read it again.

Those two books have some commonalities. I haven't personally read Yilun Yang's book - although I've looked at the section on joseki. It has some similarities to Kageyama's book, but emphasizes the whole board thinking aspect of joseki to a greater degree, while Kageyama emphasizes the importance of not memorizing joseki. Both discussed both, of course. It is just a matter of how many pages they devoted to each idea.

Perhaps you should read both? The fundamentals of go are truly important. I don't see how it could hurt to have it hammered home by both of these books.

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

I have two books from the heart of Go Discovery series and I'm wondering what you guys would rate them on Content + skill level. I'm thinking I should get the rest of them eventually.

My impression was that they tend towards strong SDK to maybe mid-dan level. Which ones are they?

The art of creating a thick and strong game + Vital points and skillfull finesse for sabaki.

Little theory contents; it is mainly showing games. Therefore, I have not been motivated to buy one of the books and have not looked closely enough to suggest a skill level more precise than "probably for SDK". If you want to learn go theory, read other books.

Hi.

One friend borught me two books of tsumego of "Step by Step Weiqi Classroom" from China.
I am checking the first that it is "From Beginner to Amateur Shodan", it can be good for 5ºkyu until 1ºdan. It is a pite that I don't know more chinese than "play black/white, tesuji, miai... words to know only what to do

The three books that I feel have helped me the most in progressing from 15k to 7k are:

Tesuji by James Davies
Attack and Defense by Ishida Akira
Opening Theory Made Easy by Otake Hideo

These can help anyone get stronger. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10643

Now, if someone would just put out a collection of Dosaku's games in PDF format, I would smile from ear to ear. I like Doteki's games, but I have only 12 games in my possession.

Theory books are beneficial for getting stronger after a few lost games and replaying of game records of historical and, to a greater extent, modern pros (since a good number of diagrams in Go theory books are taken from pro games). Otherwise, the contents will not be easy to assimilate.

It's not always about quantity but quality. That book did help me to get in crisis with myself and that was so valuable. A book which can point you how badly you play, especially when you get stuck at some level (for me at 10k) is a precious tool. With it you don't learn that much more things, instead you go to think on what you learned and check it.

Tesuji (the book) did help me a lot to go from like 8k to 5k.

Reading books won't harm your go strength really, it's a matter of efficiency and it's usually more effective to play as to read.

Efficiency is not all, the fun has a place too so if you have fun reading, do it!

Reading power in go is often acquired by doing go problems, which are coming from books.
So reading books can even be very effective later, with some discipline.

Today's concern is the new theory covered by irruption of the AI which could make a lot of books a bit obsolete but which still remains to be written.

This was my first and only thought, and it bears repeating until everyone reads him. I'm especially finding him helpful because a lot of his examples of bad play look like my games I have to do better!

The way he doesn't just go "this move is best" but also explains WHY in a way that's actually comprehensible is amazing. Plus he actually understands what it's like to play against people stronger than you, he knows how to make you see what you're doing wrong in a way that isn't just "this is wrong" for impenetrable reasons.

Go people love to speak in code to seem smart, but not him. I finally understand what thickness actually is, for instance, and why you don't use it to make territory. All sorts of things like this are becoming clear, more and more with each page.

The yellow book? More like the golden book.

I don't know if I would have gotten the same benefit if I'd read it as a 30k just starting out. I probably would have just thought it was great, not outright amazing. It's very very VERY good for mid-teens DDK though. And strong fundamentals can benefit anyone imo.

_________________
Joseki (n): 1. Japanese term meaning "when Jo lives in seki."

This is my first post, so if this the wrong place to ask, then let me know.

I am just getting back into Go after a long hiatus. The highest I've gotten on any server was 2k on OGS. I almost never counted or cared about endgame, and I think that lead to a large gap in my play, since I would either win by a large margin or overplay and lose by a large margin. I would love to read an effective book on counting, endgame calculations, and how to go from a late middle game position to the end. Basically, anything on winning relatively close games.

As a side note, I have an account on IGS that is pretty low ranked, and the ranking system makes it difficult to rank up quickly. So I am going to try to win games against much weaker opponents by a specific number of points (5.5 or 10.5). This will hopefully provide a lot of practice, but it will also make me feel like less of a sandbagger.

Any advice or recommendations welcome.

_________________
Now men awoke and listened to Felagund as he harped and sang, and each thought that he was in some fair dream, until he saw that his fellows were awake also beside him; but they did not speak or stir while Felagund still played

For studying professional games, are there games of any players in the past 20 years and in the past 5 years that are also easy to follow? Where I came from is the significant changes over these years, and especially during the post-AI era, and I am wondering if most recent games are also if not more helpful.

Another idea: avoid big fights, even if you go into the endgame being behind. Then play your best endgame. Reserve all your overtime time periods for the endgame (but use your main time not to run into disaster)

Caveat: I've tried this idea myself and it didn't do a lot for me. Analyzing my games with KataGo, they are still very much decided in the middle game, where swings of 10+ points frequently happen. But, like Bill says: above all study what you like.