[NEW] The 2014 Ten-Game Match between Gu Li & Lee Sedol

[logan]

Compiled & written by Rob van Zeijst
Co-edited by Michael Redmond 9P

Modern Master Games Vol. 2: The 2014 Ten-Game Match between Gu Li & Lee Sedol, Part One: Games One to Five - available October 15, 2014 - US$25; €20.00; ¥2,700

Modern Master Games Vol. 2: The 2014 Ten-Game Match between Gu Li & Lee Sedol, Part Two: Games Six to Eight - available in late November/early December - US$25; €20.00; ¥2,700

These two volumes feature the historic match between Gu Li and Lee Sedol, two players who have dominated go in the first decade of the 21st century. For years, these two have been rivals, competing for the top spots in numerous international tournaments. Both are famous for their severe attacks and their fighting skills. Gu has a thick style accompanied by an exquisite feeling for the opening from which he often emerges with an advantage. In contrast Lee plays a fast, profit-oriented game, leaving behind thin positions. This means that his groups often come under attack. Most players would collapse under Gufs relentless attacks, but this brings Leefs game to life and he creatively finds the best possible way to settle these groups or to somehow escape with them. This contrast in style and especially Leefs daring strategies in the middle game are what make the games in this book especially fascinating and give birth to innovative moves and spectacular fights. The games are analyzed in great detail so the reader can understand the thinking behind each move. The reader can also find the most recent innovation and analysis of the mini-Chinese opening. In addition, an important new strategic concept, erisk managementf, is introduced and studied for the first time in any publication.

Just a few weeks after the conclusion of the historic jubango between Gu Li 9P and Lee Sedol 9P, Kiseido is releasing its latest book, which 2014.10.05_ModernMasterGames-Jubangoprovides an in-depth analysis of the first five games of the historic ‘Death Match’ between two of the strongest go players of the modern era. Having been rivals for many years, with an almost even score of games won against each other in international tournaments, the ten-game match between Korea’s Lee Sedol 9p and China’s Gu Li 9p would definitively decide the ‘best player’ amongst these titans. “Modern Master Games Volume 2: The 2014 Ten-Game Match Between Gu Li and Lee Sedol Part 1: Games One to Five” is compiled and written by Rob van Zeijst, and co-edited by Michael Redmond 9P. Both players are famous for their severe attacks and their fighting skills. Gu has a thick style accompanied by an exquisite feeling for the opening, while Lee plays a fast, profit-oriented game, leaving behind thin positions. This contrast between styles is what made for the innovative and exciting games this year that would decide who will be crowned as the ‘strongest player of the 21st century’. Available ($ 25.00/ € 20.00) on October 15.

[Knotwilg]

Wow, Kiseido has a comic spin-off of the jubango, starring Leef & Goof!

I still hope Gogameguru can complete their book, although they will have a hard time topping the online commentaries already provided.

[gogameguru]

I still hope Gogameguru can complete their book, although they will have a hard time topping the online commentaries already provided.

We've been doing a lot of work on our book and have added substantial new commentary about the opening of each game, modern opening theory, positional judgement at key points in the game, answering readers' questions from the online versions of commentaries etc. We're definitely still publishing it and I'll post some sample pages to show you what we're doing on our website soon.

We've tried to use each game as a model for teaching important concepts rather than just 'saying what happened'. I'm really excited about the commentary we've been writing about the opening (in particular) and can't wait to show it to you guys. It's taken a lot of back and forth with me mostly asking Younggil, "but why?" and pressing the matter on things which apparently aren't worth mentioning for a pro. However, what we've eventually come up with is (in my opinion) quite fascinating, because it's answered questions about many of the new moves we see in the opening these days; what they mean and why other moves have gone out of fashion (or aren't anymore played for good reasons). I feel like my skill in the opening has increased significantly in the process of making this book and this is content that I haven't seen before in other English language Go books.

From our perspective, this match is the most important Go event that's happened in our lifetimes, so we're trying to create a book that's really special, which people will value and still want to read in a few decades - like Invincible. We want to create something that's worthy of the players and the match itself. Based on feedback from readers at Go Game Guru, I also think this is the kind of book most players want from us for this match. We considered releasing some sort of 'Volume 1' book months ago, but we decided to take care and do things properly. We've been very open that we're working on a book since the match started, but we don't want to rush to be first at the expense of quality.

As I've mentioned before, our book will also be the first ever to be produced using new software which we're developing in house. It lets you create a printed book almost entirely in SGF format and eventually we plan to open source the code and open the facility to make Go books up to everyone. So imagine a webpage you can go to where you upload your SGF files, select a few options and it lays out a book for you in various possible formats - handling typesetting automatically - for download or printing.

In this case I'm definitely biased about the books, but if you were only going to buy one book about this match I'd recommend waiting for ours. It will be ready pretty soon anyway.

In the meantime, the index of all the commentaries, videos, articles about this match and info about our book is here: https://gogameguru.com/tag/mlily-gu-vs-lee-jubango/

[1/7,000,000,000]

Please do not split it in multiple volumes. One volume for all games even if it is 500 pages.

[Joaz Banbeck]

Please do not split it in multiple volumes. One volume for all games even if it is 500 pages.

I vote for multiple volumes. Smaller books are more likely to be opened without breaking the spine

If you have to do 500 pages, please use a comb binding.

[Uberdude]

@gogameguru: Will the book have any commentary based on the player's own comments on their thoughts and variations during the game? It would be great to see that particularly variations they considered. E.g. what did Gu Li expect when he played that fateful tenuki of move 130 in game 7. Following on from viewtopic.php?p=173978#p173978, it'd be fascinating if we could catch a glimpse of how deeply they read to see if this "pros read 100 moves deep" is really true.

[Uberdude]

An extract from move 198 on the recently published commentary on game 8 on GGG.

When Black cut at Black 197, pushing on the 1st line at White 198 was a brilliant move.
This was the only move to prevent Black from making two eyes in the corner, and this kind of technique is incredibly rare.
It looks like Lee had already found this move when he played at A (White 188), or even earlier when he attached at B (White 174), and that's amazing.

So Lee Sedol reading ahead 24 moves to find a tesuji is amazing and something other pros missed. This supports my belief the "100 moves deep reading is normal" claim is dodgy. Did he read the entire game as it played out all the way to this move 100 moves previously when he captured that lower right group around move 98? I don't believe it. Did he look at aji in that lower right back then? Of course. Was the wedge of 107, described as an incredible and surprising move, also a surprise to Lee Sedol or did he anticipate it? (I guess he did, but if he didn't there's no way you can claim he read out the 198 tesuji as all that sequence depended on the weaknesses created by 107, and of course the rather more normal moves around there later like 129/130).

[ez4u]

@gogameguru, et. al. - I am really looking forward to your book. However, I don't think it's appropriate to hijack a thread about a Kiseido product in order to discuss it. Please take this elsewhere.

[daal]

@gogameguru, et. al. - I am really looking forward to your book. However, I don't think it's appropriate to hijack a thread about a Kiseido product in order to discuss it. Please take this elsewhere.

Probably true, but contrasting the books is also not irrelevant. The first thing that struck me when reading the announcement by Kiseido was "They want me to buy one book for the price of two?!" Maybe they were motivated to divide the content into two volumes by the desire to get their book out first, but who knows? Knowing that another book is on the way is relevant to my purchasing decision.

By the way, for those interested in the type of commentary Rob van Zeijst offers, there is some indication in his online published commentary of game 1 here: http://www.kiseido.com/printss/guliten1.html)

[CnP]

@gogameguru, et. al. - I am really looking forward to your book. However, I don't think it's appropriate to hijack a thread about a Kiseido product in order to discuss it. Please take this elsewhere.

Probably true, but contrasting the books is also not irrelevant. The first thing that struck me when reading the announcement by Kiseido was "They want me to buy one book for the price of two?!" Maybe they were motivated to divide the content into two volumes by the desire to get their book out first, but who knows? Knowing that another book is on the way is relevant to my purchasing decision.

By the way, for those interested in the type of commentary Rob van Zeijst offers, there is some indication in his online published commentary of game 1 here: http://www.kiseido.com/printss/guliten1.html)

Thanks for the link daal. I've now read through Rob's commentary and have previously worked through the one Younggil An did for that game. If the whole of Rob's book is like this the question it raises for me is why get this book when Go Game Guru have already made detailed commentaries of all the games freely available in a dynamic format on their website.

[gogameguru]

@gogameguru, et. al. - I am really looking forward to your book. However, I don't think it's appropriate to hijack a thread about a Kiseido product in order to discuss it. Please take this elsewhere.

OK, well I'll answer those questions elsewhere if anyone still wants to continue the discussion? We can create another thread on L19, or just leave the comment on our website instead, if that's easier.

[ez4u]

Start a new thread here please. That's what this is for. Assume that many of your potential customers are too lazy or aren't sufficiently aware of your site.

[RobertJasiek]

Is http://www.kiseido.com/printss/guliten1.html an extract of a book offered by, or also by, Gogameguru or are we speaking of two different works (one available from Kiseido, another to be published from Gogameguru, but both about this ten game match)?

[CnP]

are we speaking of two different works (one available from Kiseido, another to be published from Gogameguru, but both about this ten game match)?

yes, this is the case

[Uberdude]

Made a new thread: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10958