Yuan Zhou

[VincentL80]

As a 1K/1D KGS, I really enjoyed Yuan Zhou books. I'm not sure those books (master's styles) are written to make people get stronger but they are interesting and fun because you can get a grasp of how pro are thinking and discover very different effective styles of play. You can even try to guess their next move based on their style and the information provided by Yuan Zhou. At my level I can only guess a few moves of Takemiya or Lee and Go Seigen is beyond my scope of understanding. I was often amazed about their next move and the explanations given, the accuracy of their judgment, reading ability, etc.

I must admit I never study pro games so that might be the reason I really enjoyed those book.

[Javaness2]

I think that his first 2 books were his best

[logan]

At some point I realized he didn't quite understand the professionals' styles he was describing, but it was enough to inspire the interest of kyu level players.

[happysocks]

Have several of his books but so far have only got round to reading Understanding How to Play Go: An AGA 7 Dan Explains Some of His Games. This was my first book of annotated games and made a happy start as the matches were very interesting and could follow what was happening in them fairly well with the comments which seemed to perpetually focus on the global picture resulting overall. I think this, from slate and Shell, gives some helpful insight "Zhou went over the games with his opponents, as well as with a professional player, and discusses what both players are trying to do at each step of the game."

Thanks for the heads up on How Not to Play Go, that is one of the few books of his I don't have.

By the way, would be cool to see more reviews of Single Digit Kyu Game Commentaries, have been looking forward to reading this book more than any other I can recall in recent memory but just haven't seem to be able to get to it. May have to dispose old YMI set to a travel kit.