Middle game reading

[Andd]

So I started reading Attack and Defense for the second time in about 2 years. Looking at it now it seems like a completely new book, the examples are all still surprising and informative. I think this will definitely help improve my judgement in the middle game.

[Icarium]

I think fighting games are more popular now in part because the time limits are shorter. I attended a lecture by Yilun Yang where he touched on this. He said that if you have several hours of playing time, maybe this classic Japanese way of making shape everywhere and counting a lot is correct, but that with shorter time limits he wasn't so sure. Then he showed a position and how a Korean might play it. "Here, touch a weak stone" and then proceeded to develop it into a position that was easy for both players to mess up. I forget exactly what he said, but it was something like, "if both players had hours on the clock, this probably wouldn't be ideal, because there might be an answer. But with less time, the opponent may not be able to find the answer."

This reminds me of a quote by my favorite chess player, probably the greatest attacking world champion of all time -

"You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one" -- Mikhail Tal

Of course, his style only worked because his calculation skills were unparalled. Lesser players could not play that way and hope to win. The same probably applies in Go.

I have read articles by Japanese pros stating that memorizing pro games will help your hand know where to play even if your mind doesn't. I think he was referring to "normal" moves in that regard. While we can't read nearly so deeply as they do, knowing such things can only be good for your game, I suspect.

[ethanb]

But the idea is overlearning the normal shapes by replaying them many times. I see it like reading simple books that usually contain regular phrases when learning a foreign language. If you start learning english with james joyce, you will make your life unnecessarily difficult. Not that it wouldn't help you, but it is not likely to be more efficient than overlearning simple patterns. Of course it's a personal choice.

If you start learning English with James Joyce, you'll definitely learn something... not sure if it's English though! (particularly thinking of Finnegan's Wake here)