New books: Go Book of Peach Blossom Spring & Games of Wonder

[Drew]

I'm glad I asked!

[logan]

In clarification of what John and Ruoshi said, one of the major differences was also in joseki innovations. Since the Chinese stuck with 4-4 stones they developed a much more advanced analysis of 4-4 joseki and the shapes emerging from them (such as how they affect side positions). You can see this not only in their games, but in content of their publications from those periods. When I'm viewing Chinese and Japanese games I approach them from different directions and for different insights.

Many of the Chinese joseki analysed in their publications rarely appear in modern games. It's not that they're no longer joseki, but that they seem to have either been forgotten or there are not enough interested, adventurous, go professionals who are also versed with the numerous variations.

[Ruoshi Sun]

As of today, I have fixed all the typos that I am aware of. (Please see http://senseis.xmp.net/?topic=3003) In Huang Longshi's biography, the current version now reads, "It is said that he is 13 dan in fighting." Go Seigen did not say directly that Huang was 13 dan. In his preface to Chen Zude's Ancient Chinese Go Games with Detailed Commentary Series, he wrote in one paragraph that Meijin Dosaku was regarded as 13 dan, and in the subsequent paragraph, that the daguoshous of the Qing dynasty were comparable to the level of Meijin. Therefore, I suspect that people may have made the following inference:

• Huang ~ Daguoshou of Qing dynasty ~ Meijin ~ Dosaku ~ 13 dan

and misattributed the quote to Go Seigen.

I apologize for the errors and any inconvenience.

[tekesta]

I purchased Games of Wonder a few weeks ago and I must say it is a most enjoyable tome! I like especially the format of game records without commentary. Of course commentary is helpful for those seeking to know reasoning behind moves, but for beginners like me simply seeking to gain experience in Go, game records sans commentary are better, I think.