Fuseki

Rating:
Summary: Separating the Firmaments
Review: When a new player first comes to the Go board what fascinates it the rich complexity of the tactical battles. Almost anything seems possible as players use tricks and carefully laid traps to resolve questions of life and death. Although Chess and Go will always be very different games, hand-to-hand fighting is where they are closest. For many players this will remain the arena they prefer to play in, and there is no question that a superb Go player must be a formidable tactician.

The beginnings of strategy in Go arise in the joseki; the opening pattern of play in the corners of the board where each player strives to get at least their fair share of the available territory and influence. I have seen an estimate somewhere that there are some 20,000 such patterns and the number continues to grow as players experiment. Practically speaking, a player who can play in a hundred or so would be well on the way to mastering the game.

Fuseki is about how the four corners (and the rest of the board as well) relate to each other. One can think of this as the first 5 to 10 moves. During this time the fuseki chosen will be the major determining factor in which joseki are played and how the other big points on the board are taken. Fuseki is how a player announces the overall approach he or she will take in the conflicts between territory and influence.

One learns Go in this same order, up the pyramid from tactics to the finer points of strategy. To a degree, this is the only way. Until you can keep a group alive or mount a successful attack, no amount of opening game savvy will make you a winner. Traditionally, students are discouraged from much study of joseki and fuseki until they are nearing the shodan rank. Personally, I think this is too late. Not understanding something of the elements of opening strategy severely limits what one can do in the game. So while deep study may not always be beneficial, a good basic grasp reaps many rewards.

This book, part of a series from the Nihon Ki-in (the Japanese Go Association) is one of the best books on fuseki and how strategy drives the overall game. Thirteen chapters organize the 29 most important opening patterns, spending a good amount of time showing how various joseki can be used to take best advantage of the positions. The language is simple and crystal clear, which is a great achievement in a subject area most players consider esoteric.

I'm not going to pretend that this material is exciting reading, but this presentation is quite painless, and well suited for occasional reading or research. As such it's value will survive long past the best puzzle book. The book is well organized for these purposes and includes a good glossary as well as subject, player and game indexes. All of this makes the book an excellent value.

Rating:
Summary: Separating the Firmaments
Review: When a new player first comes to the Go board what fascinates it the rich complexity of the tactical battles. Almost anything seems possible as players use tricks and carefully laid traps to resolve questions of life and death. Although Chess and Go will always be very different games, hand-to-hand fighting is where they are closest. For many players this will remain the arena they prefer to play in, and there is no question that a superb Go player must be a formidable tactician.

The beginnings of strategy in Go arise in the joseki; the opening pattern of play in the corners of the board where each player strives to get at least their fair share of the available territory and influence. I have seen an estimate somewhere that there are some 20,000 such patterns and the number continues to grow as players experiment. Practically speaking, a player who can play in a hundred or so would be well on the way to mastering the game.

Fuseki is about how the four corners (and the rest of the board as well) relate to each other. One can think of this as the first 5 to 10 moves. During this time the fuseki chosen will be the major determining factor in which joseki are played and how the other big points on the board are taken. Fuseki is how a player announces the overall approach he or she will take in the conflicts between territory and influence.

One learns Go in this same order, up the pyramid from tactics to the finer points of strategy. To a degree, this is the only way. Until you can keep a group alive or mount a successful attack, no amount of opening game savvy will make you a winner. Traditionally, students are discouraged from much study of joseki and fuseki until they are nearing the shodan rank. Personally, I think this is too late. Not understanding something of the elements of opening strategy severely limits what one can do in the game. So while deep study may not always be beneficial, a good basic grasp reaps many rewards.

This book, part of a series from the Nihon Ki-in (the Japanese Go Association) is one of the best books on fuseki and how strategy drives the overall game. Thirteen chapters organize the 29 most important opening patterns, spending a good amount of time showing how various joseki can be used to take best advantage of the positions. The language is simple and crystal clear, which is a great achievement in a subject area most players consider esoteric.

I'm not going to pretend that this material is exciting reading, but this presentation is quite painless, and well suited for occasional reading or research. As such it's value will survive long past the best puzzle book. The book is well organized for these purposes and includes a good glossary as well as subject, player and game indexes. All of this makes the book an excellent value.