Literature required to simply appreciate Modern Pro Games

[SmoothOper]

So I have studied the ancients, I have studied the classics, the beginners, the shin, the problems etc. Now I want to follow the popular moves in the games, is there anything that will get me there? BTW, No I don't think I have to be a pro to appreciate the moves.

[emeraldemon]

I don't know what you mean by "follow the popular moves". I enjoy playing through pro games without any particular background knowledge. There are often moves I don't understand, and I'm sure there are moves I think I understand, but I'm wrong. I don't think any study short of "get to 5d" will make that go away. But I can still play through, get a feeling for the flow and pace, and see some cool tesuji, epic battles, etc.

[SmoothOper]

I don't know what you mean by "follow the popular moves". I enjoy playing through pro games without any particular background knowledge. There are often moves I don't understand, and I'm sure there are moves I think I understand, but I'm wrong. I don't think any study short of "get to 5d" will make that go away. But I can still play through, get a feeling for the flow and pace, and see some cool tesuji, epic battles, etc.

I guess without studying 1000's of pro games, what might be the more popular styles of play in the last couple of years.

[snorri]

There are a number of places. Alexander Dinerstein 1p likes to give lectures on KGS Plus on new moves and has written a book on it. For free, you can go to www.gogameguru.com and see reviews of modern games by An Younggil 8p. These are very good and accessible to kyu players. Guo Juan 5p's site, internetgoschool.com, has frequently has reviews of recent tournament games. She collects ideas and commentary from active Chinese pros. It's quite fun to see what is in development.

[pwaldron]

There are often moves I don't understand, and I'm sure there are moves I think I understand, but I'm wrong. I don't think any study short of "get to 5d" will make that go away.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things don't look any clearer at the 5d level either.

[hyperpape]

There's no way around studying a lot of pro games--1000 games is one game per day for 3 years (and you might not have to study them all in depth). The other thing I'd recommend is judicious use of GoGoD.

[Phoenix]

When I started out I memorized some of Shusaku's games. I didn't understand anything of course, but I started to dump loads of pretty shapes and playing more solidly all over the board.

I remember the ear-reddening game with Gennan Inseki. The popular opinion among Go pros was "OMFG move 127 is the best move evar!" So naturally, I stared at this move, probably for hours, and still didn't understand it.

Then I got stronger and went back to it. A few times, stronger and then back. I had a better feeling that this move might be good, but that was that. I found another partial pro comment about it that suddenly made it make a bit more sense than before. I mean, all I got before was "It looks to these things and radiates power all over the board". Great. So does tengen, so why not that move?

What I'm trying to say is that trying to understand these kinds of myoshu without pro-level strength and understanding, even if they're explained, is simply not feasible. Even if it was, the idea is that you have to get to the point of setting up the move to begin with. The essence of Go, and its beauty, can only be understood, if partially, with strength.

This is why I personally study the game. I envy truly strong players who see and speak of beauty I simply can't grasp. And I believe once I begin to play games I can be proud of, then I will see deeper into the world that is Go.

Hane Naoki once said in an interview that he doesn't worry so much about results. Instead, he sees Go as an art. As an artist, he simply wants to leave behind the best games he can.

[gowan]

So I have studied the ancients, I have studied the classics, the beginners, the shin, the problems etc. Now I want to follow the popular moves in the games, is there anything that will get me there? BTW, No I don't think I have to be a pro to appreciate the moves.

To understand professional play fully you really do have to be close to professional strength. To appreciate brilliant moves made by great professional players you can get a sense of them from good pro commentaries, but you have to understand the commentaries . Part of what makes a brilliant move brilliant is that it is an exceptionally effective move that would not be seen by ordinary players (pros). So, to begin to appreciate it you have to be able to see that it is effective and also have an idea of what ordinary, less effective, moves would be in the situation. It is a bit like appreciating great poetry in a language you don't speak or read well.

For myself, great games are life-long companions. As I live my go life I revisit great games like the classics of Dosaku, Jowa, Shuwa, Shusaku, Shuho, Shuei, etc., and more modern games like the insha game and the game of the century. I'll never understand these games completely but I always appreciate something new each time I study them, as I would in looking at great paintings. There is a historical side of things, too, that adds flavor to the games. To begin this study I would recommend the book Appreciating Famous Games by Ohira, published by Ishi Press originally and later available from Kiseido. It is written for kyu level players but of course anyone can benefit from the great games. Unfortunately it is out of print but you might be able to find a used copy.

[gowan]

So I have studied the ancients, I have studied the classics, the beginners, the shin, the problems etc. Now I want to follow the popular moves in the games, is there anything that will get me there? BTW, No I don't think I have to be a pro to appreciate the moves.

To understand professional play fully you really do have to be close to professional strength. To appreciate brilliant moves made by great professional players you can get a sense of them from good pro commentaries, but you have to understand the commentaries . Part of what makes a brilliant move brilliant is that it is an exceptionally effective move that would not be seen by ordinary players (pros). So, to begin to appreciate it you have to be able to see that it is effective and also have an idea of what ordinary, less effective, moves would be in the situation. It is a bit like appreciating great poetry in a language you don't speak or read well.

For myself, great games are life-long companions. As I live my go life I revisit great games like the classics of Dosaku, Jowa, Shuwa, Shusaku, Shuho, Shuei, etc., and more modern games like the insha game and the game of the century. I'll never understand these games completely but I always appreciate something new each time I study them, as I would in looking at great paintings. There is a historical side of things, too, that adds flavor to the games. To begin this study I would recommend the book Appreciating Famous Games by Ohira, published by Ishi Press originally and later available from Kiseido. It is written for kyu level players but of course anyone can benefit from the great games. Unfortunately it is out of print but you might be able to find a used copy.

One thing I've noticed about current professional play that makes it particularly hard for us weak amateurs to understand is playing tenuki in joseki and other situations. This seems to happen more often these days than it did 50 or 100 years ago. It makes it hard to understand for us because there are many complicated and delicate positional judgments to be made which, almost by definition, we are unable to appreciate fully. Obviously, when a pro leaves a joseki unfinished the moves he/she made elsewhere were equally valuable compared with finishing the joseki. But, as the position becomes more and more complicated it also becomes harder and harder to judge when and how the joseki should be resumed. Anyhow, we amateurs soon get out of our depth in these situations and knowing the overall reason for playing this way doesn't help to understand the detailed decision-making.

[Bill Spight]

One thing I've noticed about current professional play that makes it particularly hard for us weak amateurs to understand is playing tenuki in joseki and other situations. This seems to happen more often these days than it did 50 or 100 years ago. It makes it hard to understand for us because there are many complicated and delicate positional judgments to be made which, almost by definition, we are unable to appreciate fully. Obviously, when a pro leaves a joseki unfinished the moves he/she made elsewhere were equally valuable compared with finishing the joseki. But, as the position becomes more and more complicated it also becomes harder and harder to judge when and how the joseki should be resumed. Anyhow, we amateurs soon get out of our depth in these situations and knowing the overall reason for playing this way doesn't help to understand the detailed decision-making.

These complicated and delicate judgements tax the pros, as well. After all, as you point out, these joseki were continued by pros in the 20th century. Early in the game, these differences in play are slight and not capable of precise calculation.

[SmoothOper]

snorri, gave me a pretty good insight into the reason that the orthodox fuseki is popular these days, because of the kobayashi attack, which isn't played , because of the double keima threat by white. I guess the thing that I am looking for is the summary of why you see certain fuseki played more recently. I feel like with that bit of information I can appreciate even more of the beauty of some games, based on what I would get from studying the classics and beginners books.

[emeraldemon]

Something like this maybe?

A Dictionary Of Modern Fuseki, The Korean Style