Good go books by amateurs

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John Fairbairn
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by John Fairbairn »

Ca. 3% of the moves are tesuji.
That is an absurd way to look at it, and I'm not just talking about spurious numbers. And the odd thing is that you've explained why yourself:
What one first needs is plain ordinary moves.
A plain, ordinary door can be a useful thing. But it's actually quite complex. It needs plain, ordinary door jambs. It needs a plain, ordinary lintel. It needs plain, ordinary hinges, or a plain, ordinary sliding unit. It needs a plain, ordinary plain, ordinary handle and a plain, ordinary keyhole with a plain, ordinary lock. And, above all, it needs a fancy, extraordinary key. And often, the fancier and the more extraordinary the better.

A tesuji is a move that fits in with the flow of the stones (碁の筋にかなった手). It is the 'key' that fits the 'door' made by the other stones. If you don't have a door, you are just a man wandering around aimlessly looking for a door to put your key in. If you have a door but no key, your door's not really going to serve the purpose you had in mind for it.

The key does not have to be too fancy - just fancy enough to foil most attempts to get through the door. In a go game, if someone flashes a really fancy tesuji 'key', there's likely to be mention of it in a commentary. But it doesn't mean there are no tesujis among the unmentioned moves.

In a hanetsugi, the last connecting move is often a fancy tesuji move that may or may not be mentioned, depending on the level of player the commentary is intended for.

On the basis of these 'unmentionables' I'd say the appeareance of tesujis in a real game is rather higher than 3%. But even if we stick with 3%, we have to include all the door stones properly placed in order to make the key work. Let's pluck another spurious figure out of the air. Let's say a four-move hanetsugi represents the basic minimum for a 'door' situation. Clearly, most situations involve more stones, but let's be modest and say around six on average. I've run out of fingers and toes, but I think that means about 20% of all moves, at a minimum, count as part of tesuji situations. If we strip out fuseki moves and trivial endgame moves or connections and the like, they form an even bigger part of the game. Maybe even the majority of the game, at pro level.

That's why tesujis are important. Go is a team game. All the stones have to work together. You are the manager that makes the whole team play well. If you're just there 3% of the time, you end up in the Fourth Division.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

Door and key or whatever metaphor you choose - there are many problems in which every move is similar and there is no apparent distinction of a subset of moves as key.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by John Fairbairn »

- there are many problems in which every move is similar and there is no apparent distinction of a subset of moves as key.
That's why you study tesuji books. Study means much more than just doing discrete problems. Woods and trees, and all that.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

No, that is not why to study tesuji problems but that is why to do tactical reading. When there are no tesujis, tesuji knowledge does not apply. Tactical reading during tesuji / techniques problems is too partial by far to enable good tactical reading (or to enable suitably trained subconscious thinking) in problems that are much more difficult because of prevailing ordinary moves.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by Charles Matthews »

RobertJasiek wrote:No, that is not why to study tesuji problems but that is why to do tactical reading. When there are no tesujis, tesuji knowledge does not apply. Tactical reading during tesuji / techniques problems is too partial by far to enable good tactical reading (or to enable suitably trained subconscious thinking) in problems that are much more difficult because of prevailing ordinary moves.
I would say that your "tesuji knowledge" as a substitute for my "technique of the game" (a) can be identified as a straw man argument, and (b) is here being employed in an off-topic discussion of why pro thinking beats amateur thinking over the board, which I would have thought was common ground. Anyway, if I want to argue with intransigent people, I can do so on Wikipedia.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by Javaness2 »

Perhaps we have identified a missing book here: "How to Correctly Study Go".
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

Charles Matthews wrote:"tesuji knowledge" as a substitute for my "technique of the game"
This is not what I say.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by John Fairbairn »

Perhaps we have identified a missing book here: "How to Correctly Study Go".
If we look at other fields, we will soon come to the conclusion that there is more than one way to skin a cat. And also to another conclusion: that, in every field. there are people who insist there is only one way to skin a cat.

I'm of the multi-skinning school. I have my own preferred way of doing things, of course, but I find it useful to share it with others, in the hope that it will spur them to look for different ways to do things, usually more in line with their own other interests.

In that spirit, I will give another example that will illustrate my door-and-key example above.

This is an old chestnut, so you may well know it. But, if you don't, the task is to memorise the following sequence maybe not instantly but very, very quickly (5 seconds?). I think this can be seen as facing a long sequence of moves in a go variation, with many branching points. You don't have to memorise that permanently, but you do have to memorise it pro tem in order to play it out confidently.

TUWXIJNOKLLMEFTUWXIJNOKLLMEFLMIJTUTULMEFSTTUABRSHIOPWXIJWXOPNODEEFRSWXHIABTUYZOPUVABRSEF
TUWXIJNOKLLMEFTUWXIJNOKLLMEFLMIJTUTULMEFSTABRSHIOPWXIJWXOPNODERSWXHIABTUYZOPUVABRSEF

if you are in the habit of looking for patterns and associations, you will notice that every letter is followed by the letter that follows it in the alphabet. If you then strip out those following letters, you get the following list: TWINKLETWINKLELITTLESTARHOWIWONDERWHATYOUARE

You can now recreate and recite the original line instantly. And you can also recite the rest of the long "variation" with equal facility: WAYABOVETHESKYSOHIGHLIKEADIAMONDINTHESKY...

It is my contention that the same pattern-searching approach can be used in studying local go positions. Once these patterns are spotted, working out what to do next is much facilitated. There are Japanese books that point the way forward in studying this way. One series that may be be possible to obtain was a collection of All Abouts: All About the Hane, All About the Slide [suberi], All About Watari, and various others. Another approach is Yoda Norimoto's "Sujiba Riron" *Sujiba theory - much harder but maybe more in tune with pro thinking). There are quite a few others. They don't seem all that popular but my guess would be that that is because they demand hard work of the reader. Many readers just want to be spoon-fed with lists or algorithms or proverbs. Many (like me) don't want that but don't want the hard work either. Catch 22.

That, in part, is because patterns, associations, intuition building etc only take you so far. You still have to evaluate the lines you discern and you have to get the timing right, etc, etc. Go is tough.

Still, I think I could write the book "How to Correctly Study Go" in under 5 seconds, but it wouldn't be at all popular. It would just have three words: Work, work, work. There could also be a de luxe edition: Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work.. with a Go Wisdom appendix.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by jlt »

RobertJasiek wrote:No, that is not why to study tesuji problems but that is why to do tactical reading. When there are no tesujis, tesuji knowledge does not apply. Tactical reading during tesuji / techniques problems is too partial by far to enable good tactical reading (or to enable suitably trained subconscious thinking) in problems that are much more difficult because of prevailing ordinary moves.
This is a bit abstract. Do you have an example of a life and death problem from a real game for which tesujis or known patterns are useless?
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

Before I find time to show some not too easy examples, consider the most basic connections / jumps / extensions. For each, one must know the connection ststus, and knowledge of tesuji or techniques is often immaterial, especially for esrly endgame moves. Position relative to the edge or nearby stones can be relevant. Therefore, pure shape memorisation may not be enough but tactical reading is mandatory. Often done within 1 second, but the point is that absence of tesuji and techniques is the norm rather than the exception.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by John Fairbairn »

pure shape memorisation may not be enough but tactical reading is mandatory. Often done within 1 second, but the point is that absence of tesuji and techniques is the norm rather than the exception.
I think it is only you who is talking about "pure shape memorisation." Other people talk about patterns, not shapes, and about pattern recognition or understanding. And memorisation is distinct from building up intuition.

Most people here will know thousands of people. When they see them, they recognise their faces. They have never actively memorised them, and have certainly never used a list of faces (unless they are in the KGB or the like). We just learn to recognise them. We do this reliably most of the time, even if we struggle to put a name to a face. But if asked to describe, in their absence, a person we know, most of us - men especially - struggle immensely. You often can't remember what colour eyes or hair some people have, what shape their face is, and so on. But walk round the corner and bump into them, you know at once: "Oh, hello, Robert!"

Tesujis can be handled like that. Indeed, for most of us (I'd say 98.3562%), they are handled like that. But because we haven't met as many of them as we have people - by a long shot - we are not quite as good at it in go. But we still use tesuji knowledge in far more than 3% of our moves.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

Patterns or shapes - all related and I hardly care whether you are entering semantics of these words. If patterns is a superordinate of shapes - fine.

Ca. 3% - is what I got by counting, but admittedly only for a few games, for which I classified moves as dominated by being ordinary, requiring reading or being tesuji. Of course, there are those books in which quite a few called-by-me ordinary moves the author labelled as tesuji. Do your own count and be suprised how many moves are ordinary endgame moves...!

(Sure, I have played that one game in which, during one phase, each move was a tesuji. The exception confirming the rule. And of course it was me whose local life and death problem in a won game had three successive empty triangles as the only correct solution establishing life.)
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

The problems in my books are invented by me, modified from shapes occurring in games or a hybrid of both. I do not recall for every problem which creation style I used but almost all problems could occur in games.

Tactical Reading, problem 40, page 181:
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W White to move
$$. . . . . . . . . . .
$$. . . . . O O O O . .
$$. . O O O X . X X O .
$$. . O X O X . X . O .
$$. O . X X X X X . O .
$$. O . . . . . . . O .
$$. . . X X . X X . O .
$$. O . . O O O O O . .
$$. . O . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
If White can only achieve a partial success, it is also necessary to verify that Black cannot prevent it, White cannot kill all and White cannot achieve a better partial success. If White can achieve nothing, verify it.
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by jlt »

I'd agree there is no tesuji in this problem, however I think the solving process involves several known patterns.

When looking at this position I'd make the following observations:

1) Black would like to play like in the diagram below because a and b (resp. c and d) are miai, and e makes an eye in gote.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$. . . . . . . . . . .
$$. . . . . O O O O . .
$$. . O O O X e X X O .
$$. . O X O X . X . O .
$$. O . X X X X X . O .
$$. O a b . 2 . c d O .
$$. . . X X . X X . O .
$$. O . . O O O O O . .
$$. . O . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
2) Exception to the above: in the diagram below (or with :w1: and :w3: reversed) White removes an eye but Black can continue with e.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$. . . . . . . . . . .
$$. . . . . O O O O . .
$$. . O O O X e X X O .
$$. . O X O X . X . O .
$$. O . X X X X X . O .
$$. O a b . 2 . 3 . O .
$$. . . X X 1 X X . O .
$$. O . . O O O O O . .
$$. . O . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
3) So if White can do something, it must start like this:
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$. . . . . . . . . . .
$$. . . . . O O O O . .
$$. . O O O X . X X O .
$$. . O X O X . X . O .
$$. O . X X X X X . O .
$$. O . . . 1 . . . O .
$$. . . X X . X X . O .
$$. O . . O O O O O . .
$$. . O . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
4) The following shape is a seki.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$. . . . . . . . . . .
$$. . . . . O O O O . .
$$. . O O O X O X X O .
$$. . O X O X . X . O .
$$. O . X X X X X . O .
$$. O X . O O O . X O .
$$. . . X X X X X . O .
$$. O . . O O O O O . .
$$. . O . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
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Re: Good go books by amateurs

Post by RobertJasiek »

Once you imagine the seki pattern as a final shape, the sequence creating it must still be constructed, which is easy enough. You make the claim "So if White can do something, it must start like this", which will be discussed later. For John's advice to start with a final shape, there is another one to consider:
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$. . . . . . . . . . .
$$. . . . . O O O O . .
$$. . O O O X X X X O .
$$. . O X O X . X . O .
$$. O . X X X X X . O .
$$. O . . . O . . . O .
$$. . . X X O X X . O .
$$. O . . O O O O O . .
$$. . O . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
When studying related variations, one quickly notices that Black lives (your (2)) or the seki occurs (your (3)). Hence, not every final shape is good guidance.

I await others' analyses (unless having consulted the book).
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