toad@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA (Todd Kaufmann) (08/27/85)
Sabaki Go Company
P.O.Box 23
Carlisle, PA 17013
Send for a catalog. They have a variety of boards and stones, books, posters,
and a magazine and newsletter. I think they sell all of the Ishi press books.
Iwamoto's _Go_for_beginners_ has a list in the back of go clubs all over the
world. Check for one near you.
Recommendation for books: I've read a couple, and I'm now up to 10 kyu or so
after approximately 150 games or so over the past couple of years. (This
coming year I plan to play at least one game a day). So that's where I'm
coming from. These are the books I've read:
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go, by Kageyama (witty & fun to read.
A first book for beginners,
maybe.)
In the Beginning (Elementary Go series, vol1) by Ishigure Ikuro, 9-dan
The opening moves in a Go game.
Make territory, and if you can do so
while attacking, all the better.
Tesuji (Elem.Go series, vol3) by James Davies
``Tesuji are the tactics of short-range combat in the game of go. ...
[Teaches you] to read and spot the right play in all sorts of tactical
situations.'' with over 300 examples&problems of all sorts.
Learn weak spots; how to kill your opponent's groups and how to keep
yours alive.
By learning many tesuji (techniques), you can find where to play much
quicker; ie, this is knowledge that will help prune your search tree.
The Breakthrough to Shodan by Naoki Miyamoto 9-dan (trans. by Jas. Davies)
from the back cover:
``In this unique treatment of low-handicap go a 9-dan professional
sets out to change your whole approach to the game. Step by step he
shows you how to take the initiative, how to attack, how to handle
the corners, and how to keep the game simple, all the while
relentlessly hammering away at the negative mentality that keeps
players from advancing. Absorb what he has to say, and the
opponents you once feared may soon have to fear you.''
Analysis of opening moves, and consideration of their variations.
A lot of joseki-knowledge (as opposed to joseki themselves).
Here's something interesting from the foreward of The Breakthrough to Shodan:
(by J.Davies):
...[Miyamoto about other go books published in Japan] `They have different
covers,' he said, `but they're all the same inside.' He spoke in particular
about handicap go. `Much of what you read about it is incorrect,' he said,
`a lot of misconceptions passed on from one go writer to the next.'
It is a fact that while most Japanese go books list strong professional
players as their authors, few of them are actually written by those players.
A professional's job is to give lessons and play in tournaments, not to
write books. The task of organizing material, drawing diagrams, writing
text, fitting things together on the page, proofreading, etc. is done by
amateurs working for the outfits that publish the books. In some cases
the professional supervises the writing and supplies the ideas and sequences
that go into it, but in many cases he only lends his name to the finished
product, taking little or no responsibility for its contents. Miyamoto's
comments about such books came as no surprise to us.
I think Breakthrough to Shodan has taught me a lot; I'm halfway done with it,
and I've reached the point where I can appreciate it--I've still got a way
before reaching Shodan. ``You reach shodan after 1000 games'' or however the
proverb goes.
Another thing I learned from this book is that there is a `New move prize'
for interesting new moves...
So how about some reviews on some other go books?
Which do I need to read next?
Todd Kaufmann
toad@cmu-cs-spice.arpa