Game collections?

[Perception]

What books do you recommend that have a collection of games? Preferably with commentary and in English. I'm not very strong only around 7k or 8k on kgs but I enjoy going through pro games with commentary. Without commentary I feel like I get nothing out of it.

I already have Invincible so I was thinking about getting either Tournament Go 1992 or the 1971 Honinbo Tournament. How many games are in each?

Also if you have any suggestions of other commented collections, that would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[dfan]

Tournament Go 1992 has about 50 games, commented like Go World. There's another thread on it in this forum already.

The 1971 Honinbo Tournament has about a dozen games. I don't remember a lot about it.

John Fairbairn's books on Go Seigen, Kamakura and Final Summit, are outstanding, and have lots of really interesting Go history in them, but only have 10 games apiece.

Appreciating Famous Games has about ten games from before 1900. I think the commentaries are specifically aimed at kyu level. I'm not sure if it's still in print, it's an old Ishi Press book.

If you are willing to set your sights a little lower, Yuan Zhou (7d AGA)'s books on his own games (Understanding How to Play Go, Understanding Dan Level Play) are extremely instructive. I learned more from these games than from pro games.

[Dante31]

You won't find many game collections with English commentary. dfan got all the ones I ever heard of. Appreciating Famous Games is out of print since 2009.

There there are free audio English game reviews on http://internetgoschool.com/lectures.vhtml?tab=3 if it doesn't have to be in book form.

[GoCat]

Others:

Tournament Go 1992 has dozens of commented games.
Invincible: The Games of Shusaku is classic, of course.

Both available from Kiseido.

And, of course, you can always buy the GoWorld and/or Go Review disks. Hundreds of commented games, though not in book form.

(Edit: Oops, I missed that dfan listed the first one.)

[aconley]

I would highly recommend the Fairbarin books (Kamakura, etc.). They are Go Seigin games, so I freely confess a lot of it is well over my head, but I find I enjoy the commentaries more than any others I've read.

[tchan001]

John Fairbairn's new book 9-Dan Showdown is now available fresh off the press.
http://www.slateandshell.com/SSJF005.html

[oren]

I really liked 1971 Honinbo. It is 14 games, but some of the earlier ones are done quickly.

Go Consultants is just one game reviewed but very detailed.

I have Kamakura and Final Summit. I'm currently going through Kamakura. It's another great one.

Invincible is a famous collection of Shusaku games.

This is Go the Natural Way is a few games by Takemiya Masaki that may be worth looking into as well.

[Perception]

Thanks everyone. I'll take a look at Kamakura, Final Summit, and 9 Dan Showdown now and maybe add them to my list of books that I want to get.

The only reason I like having the game record and commentary in book format is because I like to sit in front of my board and actually place the stones on the board. It's part of the reason I prefer face to face games to online games too.

edit: How much Japanese/Chinese/Korean would I need to know to understand the commentary in a Japanese/Chinese/Korean book? Since there is considerably more material in those languages than English would it be worth it to learn one of those languages if I just want to use it to study Go?

[gowan]

Thanks everyone. I'll take a look at Kamakura, Final Summit, and 9 Dan Showdown now and maybe add them to my list of books that I want to get.

The only reason I like having the game record and commentary in book format is because I like to sit in front of my board and actually place the stones on the board. It's part of the reason I prefer face to face games to online games too.

edit: How much Japanese/Chinese/Korean would I need to know to understand the commentary in a Japanese/Chinese/Korean book? Since there is considerably more material in those languages than English would it be worth it to learn one of those languages if I just want to use it to study Go?

I think you need to know a fairly large amount of Chinese, Japanese or Korean to read game commentary in those languages at any serious level of detail. If you spent a fairly intensive year on conversational learning, to get grammar basics, and learned how to use a dictionary you could probably read very slowly. On the plus side, most game commentary uses a rather limited vocabulary so it will be easier to read than, say, a daily newspaper.

I would encourage you to try game collections in those languages even if you can't read them. It doesn't take much to learn words like black, white, wins, loses, and point values, and the like. You can get a lot out of just playing through the moves, watching patterns evolve, and observing the flow of the game. Sensei's Library has pages on Japanese for reading go books. Here's where to start: http://senseis.xmp.net/?BasicJapaneseForReadingGoBooks

[rubin427]

John Fairbairn's new book 9-Dan Showdown is now available fresh off the press.
http://www.slateandshell.com/SSJF005.html

!!!

I had it in my head that I'd be picking up a copy at the US Go Congress...
but now I'll have to see if I have the will power to wait until then.

[xed_over]

I like the Korean Go Association's yearbook, translated in Japanese (with minimal English translation too)
韓国囲碁年鑑〈2006〉... I have this one.

[Peter Hansmeier]

edit: How much Japanese/Chinese/Korean would I need to know to understand the commentary in a Japanese/Chinese/Korean book? Since there is considerably more material in those languages than English would it be worth it to learn one of those languages if I just want to use it to study Go?

Reading Chinese is hard. Good writers use idioms and literary allusions. Without years of study, reading Chinese game commentary will feel more like studying Chinese than studying Go. However, you could understand the explanations in problem books after one semester of study and a printout of [sl=ChineseGoTerms]ChineseGoTerms[/sl].

That being said, learning Chinese gives you access to enough game commentary to last you at least one lifetime.

[mohsart]

There is also the Master Play series http://mohsart.se/lang-en/29__master-play (that I have not read, so I cannot say if they are any good)
Only a couple of games per book...

/Mats

[ethanb]

The Master Go series by Yuan is pretty good - it's based on Q and A sessions with weaker players about a given pro's style, apparently. If you have the money, they're definitely worth buying. If you're weighing one of those versus 9-Dan Showdown though, I'd take the Fairbairn book hands-down.

I got my copy the other day. It's MASSIVE. By the way, these books have more than 10 games each - I saw somebody say that earlier. They have all of the games played in his official series matches with the player in question. He played three different 10-game matches and also a four-game match with Fujisawa, so this is the "bible" for anybody who is interested in Fujisawa Kuranosuke [since it's hard to find other commentaries on him apart from his Mirror Go games] and it has a real wealth of commentary on the games.

[Dusk Eagle]

I'll throw in a second vote for The 1971 Honinbo Tournament. That book has great commentary which really helped me.