Life In 19x19

This is a review of a series of three books by Takao Shinji, former Meijin-Honinbo and current challenger for the Kisei.

囲碁　高尾紳路の布石入門　初級から初段まで　Igo: Takao Shinji`s Introduction to Fuseki, from Beginner to Shodan
Seibido 2009 ISBN978-4-415-30550-9
囲碁　高尾紳路の布石から中盤入門　初級から初段まで　Igo: Takao Shinji`s Introduction to the Transition from Fuseki to Middlegame, from Beginner to Shodan
Seibido 2010 ISBN978-4-415-30830-2
囲碁　高尾紳路の中盤　初級から初段まで　Igo: Takao Shinji`s Introduction to the Middlegame, from Beginner to Shodan
Seibido 2011 ISBN978-4-415-30831-9

Each volume costs 950 Yen plus sales tax.

For the past six months, I have been effortfully trying to improve my go, which had been stagnant for several years. Fortunately, I had been studying Japanese in the meantime, and found that I now could improve my Japanese while improving my go by reading the many books on the game that are available here.

There are many kinds of books to choose from, but there do seem to be certain strata of scope and price. Generally, many books of the sub-1000 Yen band tend to be obviously ghostwritten and contain a mixture of valuable and trivial information. After that, between 1000 and 3000 Yen, you can find many books on more specialised subjects containing more original material and a greater feeling of input from the purported author (e.g., Takemiya's books do read similarly to his TV persona, although that could just be the result of clever ghostwriting). Beyond 3000 Yen, you are getting into the territory of long or special books, frequently presented in attractive cases and with upmarket binding.

So, these books on the Fuseki to the Middlegame belong in the cheap category. There are many hallmarks of the lower price band: repetitive and standardised language, a lack of professional real-game examples (there are many taken from "a game between two amateur shodans", and one which looks remarkably similar to a title match game played Takao himself), and only short explanatory essays.

You would think, then, that there would not be that much to learn from these books. On the contrary, in terms of having a clearer understanding, more knowledge and feeling stronger, AND getting a better win rate, I have found this series to be excellent.

Each volume begins with an essay outlining the key principles that apply to the game stage it covers. Then there are are series of problems, where you choose the correct move from two plausible alternatives. Finally, there is a "spot the mistake" section, where you look at a sequence and try to find the error.

I have read many general textbooks, and for a long time I have had difficulties determing which principles were most important, and how to recognise the exceptions. Takao keeps things simple, and shows you by clear example what happens when you betray one of his principles. He also teaches you what the exceptions are. For example, you can consider "tennozan" (the dividing point between two large moyo) an urgent point. In other words, you can break off the usual corner-enclosures-sides pattern to take tennozan. (Note here, the Sensei's Library page seems very woolly regarding this term. Takao always uses it in a focussed way, to indicate focal plays between moyo.)

One especially enlightening section for me was the first chapter of the third volume, which illustrates how much you lose by chasing junk stones. It's the kind of mistake that loses every bit as much as failing to notice an atari on a large group, but in which the loss is not immediately obvious. To see that a strategical error can be as devastating a blunder as a tactical one is a revelation. Be honest with yourself: how many times have you underestimated the damage you were incurring when breaking a strategic guideline? It's like getting into a bad debt through lots of small purchases on a credit card - the losses are not completely visible until it's too late.

The problems are exceptionally well organised. Takao seems to know exactly what situations amateur players struggle with most in the run-up to dan level, and so these scenes are drilled thoroughly and in a variety of contexts. By going through the problems, you are acquiring the necessary knowledge to go with the principles you are taught in the opening section.

Finally, the spot-the-mistake sections are an original and thought-provoking idea. I have found it very helpful to get the different perspective offered by this approach. These exercises make you think twice about some very plausible-looking sequences.

Each volume is the same size as a Galaxy Tablet computer, is well printed and presented in a soft glossy paper cover. diagrams are large and enhanced with shaded areas and simple graphics. Although written in Japanese, it should be easy to learn a lot from it with the help of a simple gloss or dictionary. The explanatory text is much less important, I think, than the diagrams and cartouches containing the key ideas. If you can read the main headings and work through the diagrams, you will have a good grasp of what the author is saying. If you send me a PM, I could give you a gloss (it's just that I would like you to buy the books, rather than attempt to get by from reading a translation of the headings).

SUMMARY: This ain't literature, but it is a very easy to understand outline of how to recognise each stage of the game (up to the middlegame) and what you should be trying to do in each stage. The excellence of this book is in the selection and sequencing of the problems: the feeling is like being patiently schooled by Takao-sensei, step-by-step. It is accessible to those with a minimal grasp of Japanese.

MY RATING: A+ I love these books - I cannot believe how well arranged they are!

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Spot the Bad Move!
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . X . O . O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . 9 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . W 2 1 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . O . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . B . . . . . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Moves 10 and 11 are represented by the circled stones. (I wish you could get more numbers into a diagram!)

In this position, Black is clearly very happy - he has taken a lot of points on the right and he has also gained sente to play a big move in the lower left, blunting White's thickness. White's play looks reasonable enough, though. So where did she go wrong?





This "spot-the-mistake" exercise teaches us not to play obvious-looking moves thoughtlessly. It's possible to sleepwalk into disaster, when you could have marched on to triumph.

Tami wrote:I have read many general textbooks, and for a long time I have had difficulties determing which principles were most important, and how to recognise the exceptions.

There are different degrees of quality of principles: they can be a) always true or b) true in standard cases but not in exceptional cases. (Many proverbs are much worse than (b).) Therefore your remark over-generalises; it can apply only to (b). Below I discuss (b) type principles.

Principles can agree or disagree. If they agree, then probably the question of greater importance or exceptions does not become relevant. Good principles specify their assumptions and often this suffices to avoid running into exceptions because the assumptions would avoid application to the exceptional cases. So below I furthermore assume that some considered principles disagree with each other.

One way of deciding greater importance of some principle over another is to identify the more specific principle. 1) rough guideline ("It is a good idea to connect your stones."), which obviously can have exceptions, 2) detailed principle ("If your stones can neither live locally nor run out, then making life by means of connection can be considered."). Here the more detailed principle overrides the rougher principle.

What to do if disagreeing principles have the same degree of detail? Then, rather than trying to decide only due to them, further decision criteria or principles need to be consulted! "Make your group alive!" and "Be the first to play elsewhere!" is a conflict example. How to recognise an exception? By existence of a conflict! Search for and then apply other principles, which can be fulfilled. E.g., "Choose the move yielding the best positional judgement!": Imagine the best make your group alive move and then a positional judgement A, imagine the best play elswhere move and the a positional judgement B, compare A and B. If positional judgement is too difficult, then search for yet other principles or other decision tools mighty enough to overcome the earlier conflict.

What you say sounds sensible enough, Robert, and I think it is kind of what Takao does in his book.

To start with, it is aimed at weaker players such as myself, rather than high-dan players like you, and so it may seem simplistic or over-generalised to you in places. I believe in go, as in any discipline, principles and concrete knowledge go hand-in-hand. Takao basically gives you what he considers the most important principles for fuseki, fuseki to middlegame transition, and the middlegame itself and teaches you them through reference to superbly chosen examples; he also points out specific exceptions and explains how he would decide difficult cases, where one principle might seem to contradict another.

Of course, it`s impossible to tell the reader everything - for a start not everything about go is known or understood! Of course, Takao is a very successful player with the highest pedigree of training, and so he has good authority; but even if you reject any argument from authority, and disagree with his reasoning, you can simply try his advice and see how it works out. Who knows, one day somebody or some machine may find a whole set of exceptions that make a mockery of Takao's principles and examples, but until that happens I feel quite confident in writing a positive review of his books, which I liked, enjoyed and have become stronger on account of.

I sense you are would like me and others to read your books. To be frank, I would like to read them, and maybe I shall buy them and study them. It certainly doesn't seem to do me any harm to have different perspectives and varied explanations. In the meantime, though, I would like to recommend Takao's books.

Tami wrote:I would like to recommend Takao's books.

In no way have I objected to your review or your appreciation of his books. My earlier reply concerns a more general point of discussion, which is rather unrelated to Takao's books but which happens to interest me as I am fond of using and explaining principles:)

Takao basically gives you what he considers the most important principles for fuseki, fuseki to middlegame transition, and the middlegame itself

Do you think it would reveal too much of the book contents (for those reading Japanese) if you listed some representative of his principles or, if there are only rather few, all of them?

Of course, it`s impossible to tell the reader everything - for a start not everything about go is known or understood!

I would not sign this for specialising topics, see e.g. Capturing Races 1, which covers pretty much everything declared to be topic of that volume at all and covers it correctly in general. Such a degree of accuracy may not be possible in general yet for the topics of Takao's books, I'd guess.

if you reject any argument from authority

I do not care whether an argument (or go theory advice) comes from authority or an unknown source - I do care whether the argument itself is correct, mighty or useful.

I don't mind posting some of Takao`s guidelines. I am reluctant to translate and post them all, because it might encourage someone to attempt to use my gloss as a kind of "lite" version of the books.

In Volume 3, Takao gives the following as the key issues for the middlegame:

1) カナメ石とカス石 Key Stones and Junk Stones
2) 強い石と弱い石　Strong Stones and Weak Stones
3) 強い場所と弱い場所　Strong Areas and Weak Areas

That's it. Obviously, there is a lot more to playing the middlegame than that, but these are the three areas of judgement that Takao argues are most important for conducting the middlegame. His examples show how a misjudgement about whether stones are key stones or junk stones can ruin your game, how you can profit by attacking or strengthening weak stones, and how you can decide about starting or avoiding fights depending on whether you are weak or strong in the area.

It's the examples that make the book, in my opinion. I suppose strictly speaking, one might not call the above points "principles" as such, but rather poles to which a player might point their compass in order to find their way.

In the earlier volumes, there are actual principles - such as 根拠確保が大切　"It is important to preserve your base" and 根拠ある石は強い "Stones with a base are strong" or 強い石に近寄るな "Don't play near strong stones", and these are all things that you can find in other books, and on websites like Sensei's Library.

To put it in short, Takao is not presenting a revolutionary new way to play go, but simply teaching you what he (or possibly his ghostwriter) considers most important, and supporting that with a lot of examples taken from typical amateur scenarios.

What more can I say except that it is one thing reading something online, and another thing having it explained and demonstrated in a well crafted book? I play the guitar - it takes about 30 seconds to grasp the principle of "alternate picking", but it takes practice to master it. It's kind of the same thing: one won't be much wiser for reading a summary of Takao's points and principles, but would get a great deal from reading the explanations and working through the problems.

Anyway, as I said before, this probably isn't a set of books for you Robert. Less experienced players, however, might enjoy it and profit by it - I know that I have.

Tami wrote:Key Stones and Junk Stones [...]　Strong Stones and Weak Stones [...] Strong Areas and Weak Areas [...] one might not call the above points "principles" as such

In my terminology, they are strategic concepts applied to strategic objects.

They are important and I like teach in a similar fashion but I think that there are quite some more concepts useful for SDKs.

one won't be much wiser for reading a summary of Takao's points and principles, but would get a great deal from reading the explanations and working through the problems.

When I read related books (Strategic Concepts, Attack and Defense), I became stronger from the concepts and principles - hardly from the examples.

this probably isn't a set of books for you Robert.

It could have been useful for me at about 5k level and suppose that players of roughly that strength would find those books useful unless they have already read the other mentioned books.