Tsumego Dictionaries

Don't know what book to read next? Have a killer reading list for improving joseki knowledge? This is this place.
Post Reply
User avatar
nagano
Lives in gote
Posts: 448
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:44 pm
Rank: Tygem 4d
GD Posts: 24
Has thanked: 127 times
Been thanked: 34 times

Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by nagano »

Are there any good, large Japanese tsumego and tesuji dictionaries currently in print? I can't seem to find any.
"Those who calculate greatly will win; those who calculate only a little will lose, but what of those who don't make any calculations at all!? This is why everything must be calculated, in order to foresee victory and defeat."-The Art of War
User avatar
kokomi
Lives in gote
Posts: 412
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 7:23 am
Rank: 7k
GD Posts: 0
Location: Xi'an
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 23 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by kokomi »

cho's tsumego & shuko's tesuji
长考出臭棋.
User avatar
SoDesuNe
Gosei
Posts: 1810
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:57 am
Rank: KGS 1-dan
GD Posts: 0
Has thanked: 490 times
Been thanked: 365 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by SoDesuNe »

"1001 Life-and-Death Problems" has 1001 Life-and-Death problems - biggest English problem book I know.
"Get Strong at Tesuji" has 534 Tesuji problems.
"501 Tesuji Problems" has 501 (advanced) Tesujis.
Cho Chikun's Encyclopedia of Life-and-Death has in total roughly 2500 problems, divided into three books (elementary, intermediate, adavanced).
The Graded Go Problems For Beginners series has in total 1377 problems (incl. life-and-death, middlegame, Ko, capturing races, opening etc.), divided into four books (elementary, beginner, intermediate, advanced).

These are the ones, I know (and own).
gowan
Gosei
Posts: 1628
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 4:40 am
Rank: senior player
GD Posts: 1000
Has thanked: 546 times
Been thanked: 450 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by gowan »

The best tesuji "dictionary" is the one by Segoe and Go Seigen (three volumes): http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%89%8B%E7%AD ... pd_sim_b_1

The books by Fujisawa aren't really a dictionary per se. The Segoe- Go books are arranged by tesuji type (e.g. hanekomi, warikomi, etc.) while the Fujisawa books are arranged by how the tesuji is used, i.e. the goal of playing the tesuji. So you have tesuji for attacking, defending, connecting your stones, separating, etc.

THe best book form dictionary for life-and-death is the one by Cho Chikun, but both editions are out of print.

There is an "encyclopedia" of life-and-death by Cho Chikun but it is only available online at tsumego.tasuki.org
User avatar
tchan001
Gosei
Posts: 1582
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:44 pm
GD Posts: 1292
Location: Hong Kong
Has thanked: 54 times
Been thanked: 534 times
Contact:

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by tchan001 »

In my opinion, the most comprehensive tesuji dictionary is the "Great Tesuji Encyclopedia 手筋大事典"
ISBN 4-8182-0355-6 but it is out of print and very expensive.

The best tsumego dictionary is probably "Tsumego Dictionary by Segoe Kensaku" which is long out of print and difficult to find.

If you are looking for a life and death dictionary on the basic patterns to learn for sides and corner, etc. then the Cho Chikun ones are probably the best. The Chinese edition of which is still in print. But for a dictionary of interesting tsumego, I'd have to recommend Segoe Kensaku's which has about 1000 tsumego of all sorts.

If you are looking to collect a set of good Japanese tsumego books, the list at my blog is probably one of the most comprehensive list you will find around. But quite a few of the books on the list might not be so easy to find.
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.
User avatar
oren
Oza
Posts: 2777
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:54 pm
GD Posts: 0
KGS: oren
Tygem: oren740, orenl
IGS: oren
Wbaduk: oren
Location: Seattle, WA
Has thanked: 251 times
Been thanked: 549 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by oren »

nagano wrote:Are there any good, large Japanese tsumego and tesuji dictionaries currently in print? I can't seem to find any.


Nihon Kiin has published life and death (Cho Chikun) as well as tesuji (Fujisawa Shuko) dictionaries.  They're not usually too hard to find.

http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/publishing/booklist17.html

It looks like they no longer list the older ones, so you may have to find them used or wait until they publish new versions.
User avatar
prokofiev
Lives with ko
Posts: 223
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:03 pm
Rank: decent sdk
GD Posts: 138
Has thanked: 67 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by prokofiev »

The Cho Chikun and the Shuko dictionaries are available in Chinese from Yutopian:
https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?category=PTBDS
User avatar
nagano
Lives in gote
Posts: 448
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:44 pm
Rank: Tygem 4d
GD Posts: 24
Has thanked: 127 times
Been thanked: 34 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by nagano »

Thanks you guys have all been very helpful. Question: is there a difference in the contents of the PDF of Cho Chikun's Life and Death and the print version?
"Those who calculate greatly will win; those who calculate only a little will lose, but what of those who don't make any calculations at all!? This is why everything must be calculated, in order to foresee victory and defeat."-The Art of War
User avatar
oren
Oza
Posts: 2777
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:54 pm
GD Posts: 0
KGS: oren
Tygem: oren740, orenl
IGS: oren
Wbaduk: oren
Location: Seattle, WA
Has thanked: 251 times
Been thanked: 549 times

Re: Tsumego Dictionaries

Post by oren »

The PDFs are a copy of tsumego from a computer program. The dictionary is different.
Post Reply