Tesuji practice books?

[Dante31]

What are good tesuji practice books for a kgs 4k? I was thinking of getting 'Lee Chang Ho's Selected Tesuji Go Problems - Volumes 1-6' as it has 735 problems in its 6 volumes, but I am not quite sure what level it is intended for, and I am hoping to get some more recommendations for good tesuji practice books.

[Redundant]

I just bought 501 Tesuji problems. I've only done a little bit, but the problems seem to range from doable for me to quite difficult. It seems like a book that I'll grow into. I highly recommend it. I'm a big fan of the organization, in that there is none. The book isn't like Davies' Tesuji, which has sections for each kind of Tesuji. 501 Tesuji mixes them all together.

[CarlJung]

I just ordered:
Get strong at tesuji.
200 tesuji problems.

[Bartleby]

The Weiqi Skills Test: Tesuji found near the bottom of this page: http://senseis.xmp.net/?StepByStepWeiqiClassroom is a nice book.

It contains 600 tesuji problems, with two answer diagrams for each problem (one success and one failure diagram). Because of the number of problems, the format is a little smaller than the Lee Chang Ho Tesuji series. However, it has the advantage of having almost as many problems as 5 volumes of the LCH Tesuji series in a single volume, and it is quite readable.

It starts out a bit harder than first volumes in the LCH Tesuji series (maybe 7-8 kyu level) and probably ends a little easier that the final volumes in the LCH Tesuji series. (Maybe 1-2 dan? I'm not sure about this, though. The problems at the very end might be a little tougher than that, but I'm not qualified to judge.) So the range is very good for a lower SDK player.

I really like this book, maybe because it has hundreds of problems in a difficulty range that is challenging but at least potentially doable at my level.

A few example problems from the easier sections of the book:

Problem #27:

(;
GM[1]FF[4]VW[]AP[Many Faces of Go version 12.005]
SZ[13]
HA[0]
ST[2]
DT[2010-06-11]
KM[6.5]
RU[Japanese]
AB[hk][jk][fk][jj][ki][li][lh][lg]
AW[ji][kj][lj][kl][ii][kh][kg][kf][kd]
PL[B])

Problem #66:

(;
GM[1]FF[4]VW[]AP[Many Faces of Go version 12.005]
SZ[13]
HA[0]
ST[0]
DT[2010-06-11]
KM[6.5]
RU[Japanese]
AB[li][lg][ji][jh][jg][ij][ik][hk][if][hf][gg][fg][dg]
AW[kl][kj][jj][jf][kf][ig][ih][ii][gi][ei][fl]
PL[B])

Problem #132:

(;
GM[1]FF[4]VW[]AP[Many Faces of Go version 12.005]
SZ[13]
HA[0]
ST[0]
DT[2010-06-11]
KM[6.5]
RU[Japanese]
AB[ik][jk][kk][lk][mj][hj][hi][ii][ih][ig][jg][kg][lg]
AW[kl][jl][il][gl][hk][ij][jj][ji][jh][lh][mi][lj]
PL[B])

[SoDesuNe]

Just for fun : )

1.

(;
GM[1]FF[4]VW[]AP[]
SZ[13]
HA[0]
ST[0]
DT[2010-06-11]
KM[6.5]
RU[Japanese]
AB[hk][jk][fk][jj][ki][li][lh][lg]
AW[ji][kj][lj][kl][ii][kh][kg][kf][kd]
PL[B];B[kk];W[lk];B[ll];W[ml];B[lm];W[km];B[mj];W[mm]
;B[ll];W[lm];B[mi])

2.

(;
GM[1]FF[4]VW[]AP[]
SZ[13]
HA[0]
ST[0]
DT[2010-06-11]
KM[6.5]
RU[Japanese]
AB[li][lg][ji][jh][jg][ij][ik][hk][if][hf][gg][fg][dg]
AW[kl][kj][jj][jf][kf][ig][ih][ii][gi][ei][fl]
PL[B];B[hi];W[hh];B[gh];W[hj];B[hg];W[hi];B[fi];W[gj]
;B[fk];W[fj];B[ej];W[fh];B[gk];W[fi];B[di];W[eh];B[dh];W[eg]
;B[ef])

3.

(;
GM[1]FF[4]VW[]AP[]
SZ[13]
HA[0]
ST[0]
DT[2010-06-11]
KM[6.5]
RU[Japanese]
AB[ik][jk][kk][lk][mj][hj][hi][ii][ih][ig][jg][kg][lg]
AW[kl][jl][il][gl][hk][ij][jj][ji][jh][lh][mi][lj]
PL[B];B[kj]
(;W[li];B[kh])
(;W[ki];B[kh])
(;W[kh];B[li];W[ll];B[ki])
(;W[mk];B[kh]))

I think, I like this book.

[Bartleby]

You got them all right, SoDesuNe, that's pretty good. I couldn't get the middle one although I thought about it for quite a while.

To return to the original topic, I have a few more suggestions:

These two books (http://senseis.xmp.net/?TheBookToIncrea ... rengthAtGo) are really good. Only about 160 tesui problems each, but they are all hard-core reading problems where you have to read quite a ways out to find the solution. They are still available on Amazon.jp as far as I know (I got mine there). Probably not the best way to learn tesuji ideas, but maybe one of the best ways to increase tesuji reading power. I made it through about 80 problems on my last attempt through these books three or four months ago, then put them aside until I was stronger because the problems were a little too hard. But I think these books are probably very good for a 4 kyu aiming for shodan, and if I were in a hurry to make shodan I would try to force myself to get through both books.

Five out of twelve of the Weiqi Small Book Collection (http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiSmallBookCollection) are on specific tesuji topics. These books each have about 240 problems each (only solutions, no failure diagrams), allegedly ranging from 20 kyu to 1 dan, but in reality the problems are a bit harder than that (maybe they are talking about Chinese ratings), and probably around 150 problems in each book are suitable for 4 kyu KGS and above. There are a few typos in these books, but the problem selection seems good and you can literally put these books in your jeans pocket and take them anywhere.

Lastly, for sheer value I don't think you can beat this software (http://cgi.ebay.com/Go-Board-Game-Go-Pr ... 41503f1a30). There are some life and death problems too, but the majority of the problems (maybe 70-75%) are tesuji problems. Probably more than half of the problems would be pretty easy for a 4 kyu (but there is something to being said for doing a lot of easy problems quickly), but that still leaves several thousand problems to practice on. The interface is reasonably attractive and seems to work well. I don't normally like doing problems on the computer, but I use this program to warm up with easy problems (maybe around 100 problems in 10 to 15 minutes) before turning to harder problems, and this seems to work well.

[Peter Hansmeier]

501 Tesuji Problems is a great book. Get that first!

[Dante31]

Thanks for your input everyone. I really appreciate all the help.

@Bartleby Where did you buy 'The Weiqi Skills Test: Tesuji'? I would get it if there is a place that will ship it to Canada.

501 Tesuji problems is a great book, anyone who doesn't have it should get it. (I forgot to mentioned that I have Davies' Tesuji and 501 Tesuji problems)

@CarlJung Tell me what you think of 'Get strong at tesuji' when you get it. Get stronger at tesuji seems to be more popular with low dan players than with its intended audience of under 1k.

[CarlJung]

@CarlJung Tell me what you think of 'Get strong at tesuji' when you get it. Get stronger at tesuji seems to be more popular with low dan players than with its intended audience of under 1k.

Thanks for the warning. I'll make sure to start with 200 tesuji problems

[SoDesuNe]

"Get Strong at Tesuji" is an easy SDK problem book. The only difficulty that might arise, is when you aren't familiar with this kind of problems, but one gets used to it.

"501 Tesuji Problems" is more of a high SDK / Dan-level problem book.

[Dante31]

"Get Strong at Tesuji" is an easy SDK problem book. The only difficulty that might arise, is when you aren't familiar with this kind of problems, but one gets used to it.

"501 Tesuji Problems" is more of a high SDK / Dan-level problem book.

That doesn't sound right. Kiseido puts '501 Tesuji Problems' in: 'After learning the rules' section, and all the 'Get Stronger at' books are under: 'problem books to make you an expert player'.

More specifically, the section that 501 Tesuji problems is under (mastering the basics) states: "The problems are not hard; they range from very easy to moderately difficult. A dan player should be able to solve them within a minute, sometimes on sight, but it may take a bit longer for kyu-level players."

The description for 'Get Stronger at' is odd since it states: "170 problems ranging in difficulty from elementary to advanced, so they can be used by players from 25-kyu to dan level." I have a hard time imagining a problem book of 170 problems that is for 25k to dan level. Unless of course it only has a handful of problems for each level, but that is just a horrible idea.

I personally don't have 'Get Stronger at Tesuji' but when I was asking dan players what problem books they were using 'Get Stronger at' kept popping up. I got '501 Tesuji Problems' first since I thought it was the next step and then G.S.A.T.

Do you have both books SoDesuNe? It will be funny if '501 Tesuji Problems' is indeed harder.

[daniel_the_smith]

I have both books. 501 tesuji problems is significantly harder.

[Dante31]

I have both books. 501 tesuji problems is significantly harder.

lol, looks like kiseido fails at putting things into correct categories and making non-misleading descriptions. So much for 'After learning the rules'' vs. 'Problem books to make you an expert player'.

[SoDesuNe]

I have both, too, and yeah, it quite seems they mixed up the descriptions. They have wrong statements in it, too. "Get Strong at Tesuji" has 534 problems in total, ranging from 25 Kyu to 10 Kyu, 10 Kyu to 5 Kyu, 5 Kyu to 1 Kyu and a few Dan-level problems at the end of the book, but the majority is doable for SDKs.

Generally spoken, the "Get Strong at"-series is a powerbuilder for the early ranks, while the "Mastering the Basics"-series hammers home everything you learned to make spotting and using second nature.



post scriptum: If Nexik likes it, you might find my review of "Get Strong at Tesuji" on his Blog (Haengma), soon. Otherwise, I'm going to post it here.

[karaklis]

I have both books. 501 tesuji problems is significantly harder.

Exactly that.