Author: Yilun Yang 7d
Publisher: Slate and Shell (Richmond, VA)
ISBN: 1-932001-15-8
Year: 2004
My rating: A
I have owned this book for several years now, but have only recently come around to giving it a thorough reading. This has definitely helped me as I have shaken off the rust of a three-year hiatus.
Perhaps, the title of this book promises more than it is able to deliver within its span of 185 pages, and by "fundamental" Mr Yang possibly means something like "foundations of good play" rather than "all the proverbs/verbal directives you need to know". However, this said, I consider the book to contain many essential concepts, which are explained very clearly by the text and illustrated aptly by the examples. More importantly, there is something different about the angle from which the author explains that sets this book apart from the Japanese literature, with which I am more familiar.
The book consists in five chapters:
1: Key Points in the Opening
2: Relationships and Combinations
3: Effective Use of Joseki
4: Invasion and Reduction
5: Invasion and Separation of Some Typical Formations
The first chapter deals with the characteristics of the 4-4, 3-3, 4-3, 5-4 and 5-3 points. This seems as basic as possible, but I think Mr Yang does a very good job of showing how each of these typical first corner plays shows particular directional characteristics, both with explanation and with examples. This lays the foundation for understanding the Second Chapter, which is all about how formations relate to one another.
The first chapter then explains how to play an acceptable fuseki by following a ranking system, in which different kinds of moves are ordered from First Class down to Fourth Class. It is not giving too much away to say that corner plays are first class, shimari and kakari to 3-4, 5-3 or 5-4 plus plays from facing positions (i.e., star points or shimari) are second class, while
shimari and kakari to the 4-4 and 3-3 are third class, and some kinds of extensions are fourth class. Other kinds of move fit into this scheme in different ways, but you might like to read the book to find out.
He also shows how to identity the two main exceptions to the class ranking system - in other words, to recognise the main kinds of urgent plays that need priority attention when they arise.
However, as I found out to my cost during my "rehabilitation", merely attempting to follow the class system is not by itself sufficient to play a strong opening. And this is where Chapter Two really opened my eyes. The constructed (I assume) games at the start of the chapter, in which Black follows the order and yet ends up with lost positions, could almost have been played by me! Mr Yang gives here perhaps the most crucial principle of all, which is "Please remember that you must value the stones you have played...You should not play a local variation that damages or sacrifices nearby stones without adequate compensation. You must keep the whole board in mind, and look to expand the efficiency of your stones already on the board". And this gave me one of those Zen-like "satori" moments, when time stopped and I saw things differently for the first time. It is not that a move is big because it is an extension or an approach or whatever; but rather that such moves are big because of their relationships with other stones already played.
I went back to Chapter One, and began seeing even the very first moves in a new light: a 4-3 point is asymmetric, and the easiest way to develop it is to play a short distance in the other direction. Similarly, the reason why you extend from an enclosure is because that is the most "fertile" way to develop it - the shape formed offers the greatest potential for making more points. I began to understand what stronger players mean when they talk about "consistency". Before reading FPOG, I had struggled to grasp that, and had been trapped in a paradigm where I followed one set order of play or another (at the simplest, corners - sides - centre) without really knowing how to bring these directives together harmoniously.
I greatly enjoyed working through Chapter Two, as it expounded upon how to develop efficiently, using the concepts of "high-low", "short-long" and "fast-solid". It seems to me that there is a lot in this chapter that could shed light on some other topics currently being discussed on L19, such as Why Humans Fail Against AI. Perhaps we players of middling strength tend to rely too much on reading of forced local variations and generalist proverbs, without really having deeply in our souls the feeling for how the stones work together efficiently as a whole. Some kind of entré for developing this feeling is what I have gained from FPOG.
Chapter Three is about effective use of joseki. This further develops the notion of making the stones work together, and shows numerous examples in which certain unusual joseki moves or even non-joseki moves can be chosen to create an effective global strategy.
Chapter Four divides invasions into different categories: "attacking", "territory-destroying" and "disruptive" and explains how to identify the appropriate conditions for launching such invasions, and introduces various principles, numbered and highlighted in boxes, for conducting these. It does the same for reduction techniques.
The final chapter is a catalogue of ten very common frameworks and gives many different variations for attacking and defending these frameworks. It strikes a good balance between detail and easy-to-grasp summary, and I feel much more confident now of being able to choose suitable tactics for these positions when they arise in my games.
Each chapter contains problem sets for you to practise the themes presented, along with easily understood solutions. In general, the problems are easy but not trivial: you really do have to think about the whole board situation in order to avoid making certain tempting, but mistaken, moves.
There is a lot that this book does not touch on in any detail, such as endgame plays or tesuji or fighting techniques, but what it does deliver is quite distinctive from other intermediate-level strategy books. It is one of those books that can be revisited over and over again, and from which you can derive new insights each time, and it is a book which contains scenarios that can be readily referred to in real games.
SAMPLE PROBLEM Black has approached White's lower right corner with a one-space high approach. How should White proceed?
I highly recommend this book to all single-digit kyu players and low dans. It offers a perspective not found in such books as Attack and Defence or Strategic Concepts of Go, and provides a bridge towards more advanced material such as Fujisawa's Reducing Territorial Frameworks.
But he prefers the 3-3 above all. How come? Like the tar baby, he don't say nuthin'.
Even if you only reach a plateau. 
Everybody is different.
