Guide to Go Books

SmartGo Books now contains over 100 books, and choosing your next Go book to read is not easy. Which book will get you to the next level? Which technique should you learn more about? Which book will you enjoy?

This is an attempt to provide some guidance. I personally review and proofread every book that gets added to SmartGo Books. They’re all good, but some are better than others, and I definitely have my favorites. This is work in progress; please let me know at books@gobooks.com if it steers you wrong, or if you have suggestions on how to improve this guide.

You’ll also find some Tips and Tricks on using SmartGo Books.

Enjoy!

Anders Kierulf (AGA 3 dan)
—
Smart Go, Inc.

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Contents

Guide to Go Books

Tips and Tricks

How Strong Are You?

Introductory Books

Problem Books for Beginners

Double-Digit Kyu Players

Tactics

Strategy

Single-Digit Kyu Players

Dan Players

Opening, Middle Game, Endgame

Joseki

Fuseki

Middle Game

Endgame

Professional Game Analysis

Particular Authors

Yilun Yang

Yuan Zhou

Tips and Tricks

First, a few tips on using SmartGo Books that may not be immediately obvious.

– Book list: Tap anywhere to bring up the controls, then tap in the top left corner to go back to the list of books.

– Next/previous page: Swipe left/right, or tap on the right/left side of the page.

– Skim through pages: Tap on the page number at the bottom, then drag the slider.

– Table of contents: Tap on the page number at the bottom, then tap on the table of contents icon on the left. Tap that icon again to return to your previous position.

– Back to previous position: After tapping on a blue link to go to a different page, tap the blue link in the bottom left to get back to your original position.

– Hint for problems: Tap on the problem status indicator in the top right of a problem to get a hint.

– Long tap for menu: Long tap on diagram, caption, replay bar, or problem status status indicator to get a menu with Copy, Pass, Hint, and Add Note.

– Play moves in diagrams: You can try out your own move sequences in diagrams. Tap outside the diagram to restore the starting position.

– Add notes: Tap and hold on a paragraph, then choose Add Note. You can navigate between notes by tapping on the page number on the bottom and switching to notes using the icon on the right.

– Copy as SGF: You can copy a diagram as SGF using long tap on the replay bar or status indicator and choosing Copy. In another app (e.g. SmartGo Kifu), you can then paste that position.

– Register your books: Choose “Register Your Purchases” to associate your books with your email. You can then read your books on the Macintosh now and possibly other platforms in the future.

How Strong Are You?

If you’ve played for a while and have an idea of how strong you are, you can go directly to one of the following sections:

Double-Digit Kyu Players (19–10 kyu)

Single-Digit Kyu Players (9–1 kyu)

Dan Players (1–6 dan)

If you don’t know how strong you are, but have played a number of games and have some idea of life and death, you’re probably a double-digit kyu player. Otherwise, proceed with the introductory books.

Introductory Books

Rules and Concepts

If you don’t know Go yet or just learned the rules of the game, you have several introductory texts to choose from.

Go – A Complete Introduction to the Game is a compact introduction that also includes some essays about the world of Go.

The Learn to Play Go series by Janice Kim 3 dan takes you step by step through the fundamentals, and if you like her style, the five-volume series takes you much farther into Go.

The So You Want to Play Go? series by Jonathan Hop is more off-beat and fun, but will give you an excellent introduction to the game. His four-volume series goes all the way from beginner to dan-level.

Either choice of introductory book will teach you well. Please read the sample chapter for each book and see which teaching style appeals to you.

(Don’t be fooled by the book called In the Beginning. It’s a great book about the opening, but it’s not for beginners.)

Problem Books for Beginners

Once you know the rules and basic concepts of capturing stones and life and death, it really helps to practice solving simple problems.

The Graded Go Problems series (four volumes) is a great set of problems.

A second series is Black to Play! – Train the Basics of Go, which is available in German, French, Spanish, and English.

The SmartGo Player and SmartGo Kifu apps also contain a tutorial with over 100 simple problems. And if you like problems, SmartGo Kifu contains over 2,000 problems at all degrees of difficulty.

Double-Digit Kyu Players

As you progress in Go, you’ll find that Go has many different areas to learn about. In general, you’ll need to make progress both in tactics (reading out local situations) as well as strategy (figuring out what’s going on and what to aim for).

Tactics

Tesuji are locally sharp moves. Tesuji by James Davies (Elementary Go Series, vol. 3) will give you a wide variety of tesuji, with problems to train your reading ability. You won’t be able to solve all of them, but as you progress, you’ll learn to recognize more of these situations on the board.

For more on tesuji, read Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go, a classic out-of-print book by Sakata Eio that I’m excited we were able to bring back to life.

Life and death problems are another area to practice your reading. Life and Death (Elementary Go Series, vol. 4) takes you systematically through all the common life and death shapes.

Get Strong at Life and Death provides the basic life and death techniques as well as 230 problems to practice.

Cho Hun-hyeon’s Lectures on Go Techniques (vol. 1 and 2) look at a number of local problems and evaluate different answers. It gives you a good grasp of the correct local moves, but with more of a full-board context.

Basic Techniques of Go includes chapters on tesuji and endgame, but is especially helpful if you play a lot of handicap games, as it includes chapters on nine-, six-, and four-stone handicap games.

200 Endgame Problems provides great practice for improving your endgame.

Strategy

It helps to tactically win the local battles, but you also need to keep track of the whole board and focus on what’s important.

Volumes 3 and 4 of Learn to Play Go will teach you a lot about correct strategy at this level.

Double Digit Kyu Games by Neil Moffatt goes through six games played by double digit kyu players move by move, illuminating the mistakes commonly made at this level.

How Not to Play Go by Yuan Zhou looks at common strategic mistakes by kyu players. It’s a small book that can have a big impact in how you approach the game. (Includes French and Spanish text.)

Attack and Defense (Elementary Go Series, vol. 5) is one of my favorite Go books. Whatever level I’m at, I learn more every time I read it. So you should expect some sections to be too hard at first, just plan on reading them again.

As you approach single-digit kyu, you’ll likely benefit from books by Yilun Yang and Yuan Zhou. And you can get full enjoyment from historical details in books featuring professional game analysis (e.g. Modern Master Games: The Dawn of Tournament Go or The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei) as you start to appreciate pro games.

Single-Digit Kyu Players

When you’ve become a single-digit kyu player, you have a lot of different knowledge about Go, with strengths and weaknesses. You want books that go deeper in certain areas, as well as books that help you make sense of the knowledge you have.

For example, look at the following diagram: Which pincer should Black play in the top right area in this situation? High or low? Soft or tight?

Example 2 from Choosing the Right Pincer (The Workshop Lectures, vol. 2)

Questions like these are addressed in Mr. Yang’s Fundamental Principles of Go and The Workshop Lectures. He may be able to give you a better framework for thinking about the game and help you tie a lot of your knowledge together.

The Basics of Go Strategy (available in English, German, and Spanish) discusses strategic concepts like aji, kikashi, sabaki, heavy and light, junk stones and key stones, concepts you need to understand to get stronger.

Another teacher who may be able to get you to the next level is Yuan Zhou. His Single Digit Kuy Game Commentaries point out mistakes that you’re likely to recognize in your own games.

As a single-digit kyu, you’ll be getting more out of professional game analysis, and SmartGo Books includes a wide selection of books for that.

Check out the continuations of the introductory series: Learn to Play Go, vol. V: The Palace of Memory and So You Want to Play Go? Level 3: 9 kyu to 1 kyu.

If you have difficulty with a specific phase of the game, look into books on joseki, fuseki, middle game, and endgame.

You’ll also want to continue working on your reading ability and practice with problem collections.

Five Hundred and One Tesuji Problems exposes you to a variety of tesuji, helping you spot them in your own games.

Rescue and Capture is a small book with 80 interesting capture problems.

Life and Death: Intermediate Level Problems contains 110 well-chosen problems by “the god of life and death go problems”. The range of difficulty is from about 7 kyu to 2 dan.

Think your play is too heavy? Check out Vital Points and Skillful Finesse for Sabaki.

Want to learn how and why to play more solidly? Get a dose of The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game.

Dan Players

You’ll likely benefit from the books featuring professional game analysis.

Igo Hatsuyôron 120: Black to play and win

This full-board problem was composed 300 years ago – time to learn what’s really going on. As a dan player, you will enjoy this fascinating analysis of the most difficult problem ever.

The two volumes of Shuko: The Only Move (Opening and Middle Game) each feature 80 board positions that are evaluated in detail, in a study/review format. The focus is to evaluate alternatives for the next play at a critical juncture in games from a wide variety of players.

Gateway to All Marvels brings together every variant and solution of the almost 500 problems in the classic Gengen Gokyo.

The game analysis in Breakthrough Attacking Power Yamashita-Style and Catching Scent of Victory is aimed at dan players.

Opening, Middle Game, Endgame

Joseki

Notice that I have not mentioned joseki anywhere earlier? In my opinion, a minimal knowledge of common joseki combined with better reading will get you through until you approach dan level. But if you like to study joseki, SmartGo Books has you covered. (And SmartGo Kifu matches joseki patterns in 81,000 pro games and tells you what the experts played.)

38 Basic Joseki (Elementary Go Series, vol. 2) will get you a good foundation to build on.

Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes discusses common joseki mistakes, why they are bad, and how to take advantage of them.

Tricks in Joseki teaches you how to apply joseki flexibly and to avoid pitfalls. The techniques are introduced in depth through eighty exercises.

Fuseki

The opening phase of the game is wide open and can often be confusing. In my opinion, Mr. Yang’s books really help make sense of it.

In the Beginning (Elementary Go Series, vol. 1) lays a good foundation for opening concepts.

Michael Redmond is the only 9-dan professional Go player who is also a native English speaker, and the clarity expressed in his Patterns of the Sanrensei shows that. Whether you play the sanrensei yourself or have it played against you, this book is worth studying.

Five Hundred and One Opening Problems gives you a lot of practice in opening positions.

Middle Game

Read Attack and Defense again. Study middle game fighting in professional games.

Making Good Shape includes 245 problems to improve your shape, which will really help in your middle game fighting.

Learning when and how to fight a ko is crucial for getting stronger. All About Ko delivers exactly what the title promises.

Endgame

The endgame tends to be the neglected side of Go. However, it also tends to be where the outcome is decided, and frequently accounts for about half the stones played.

The Endgame (Elementary Go Series, vol. 6) gives you the basic tactics, strategies, and counting techniques needed in the endgame.

200 Endgame Problems provides great practice for improving your endgame.

Get Strong at the Endgame is essentially a problem book, giving you local endgame tesuji as well as full-board problems.

Lee Changho’s Endgame Techniques – Volume 1 starts with elementary counting, then looks systematically at many common patterns, including large endgame moves. Volume 2 provides problems from single-digit kyu to dan level.

Particular Authors

Yilun Yang

From the foreword of Fundamental Principles of Go by Yilun Yang 7 dan:

“Most go teachers analyze positions to death, occasionally laying out sequences that show how the analysis would change if a stone were shifted, but the functional dynamics of such changes in position are never really addressed. Mr. Yang teaches the fundamental meaning of stones so that you can take a position you have never seen before and understand what it is you should be trying to accomplish there and the best way to go about doing it. Mr. Yang has an uncanny ability to make complex situations seem simple by showing the basic principles involved.
To those readers who have never had a lesson with Mr. Yang: Be prepared. Your approach to the game of go is about to be transformed.”

Fundamental Principles of Go is a book I can highly recommend to players of all levels.

Each volume of The Workshop Lectures discusses several topics, each illustrated with numerous examples. Some examples: “When to Tenuki in the Opening”, “Choosing the Proper Pincer”, “Using Forcing Moves”, or “When to Play Fast or Slow”.

Yuan Zhou

Yuan Zhou is a popular Go teacher and has a knack for analyzing and explaining what’s going on in a game. His How Not to Play Go was mentioned above.

Single Digit Kyu Game Commentaries looks at common kyu-level mistakes in both tactics and strategy.

Zhou has a particular talent for helping weaker players understand what is going on in pro games and guiding them to become stronger players by studying pro games. Understanding Pro Games and Deep Thought are great examples.

The Master Play series analyzes the style of different professional players, including Go Seigen, Lee Changho, Takemiya Masaki, Kitani Minoru, and Cho Chikun.

Professional Game Analysis

When you start playing, professional games will not make much sense. As you get stronger, you’ll understand more of the moves, and playing through pro games will give you a better feel for the game as well as show you a wide variety of moves and techniques. As mentioned further up, Yuan Zhou has a particular talent for helping weaker players understand what is going on in pro games, and his Understanding Pro Games and Deep Thought are good books to start with.

Many books analyzing professional games also provide background information on the players and the history of the times. My favorites:

Invincible: The Games of Shusaku by John Power is the all-time masterpiece on one of the greatest Go players who ever lived. If SmartGo Books could contain just one book, this would be it.

The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei by John Fairbairn contains a detailed biography of Honinbo Shuei and explores the development of his elusive style through 79 commented games. A tour de force.

The Games of Fujisawa Shuko by John Power presents all 40 games that Fujisawa played in the Kisei title matches. Shuko won this title against Hashimoto Utaro at 52, an age at which most pros are washed up as title contenders. He went on to defend this title against the young stars of the day who were dominating all the other titles: Kato Masao, Ishida Yoshio, Rin Kaiho, and Otake Hideo, until he was dethroned by Cho Chikun.

Modern Master Games: The Dawn of Tournament Go by Rob van Zeijst and Richard Bozulich presents a collection of eleven masterpieces by some of the great players of the post-war era. This volume contains the atomic-bomb game between Iwamoto and Hashimoto, Takagawa’s dominance of the Honinbo title, the rise of Sakata and Fujisawa Shuko, Fujisawa Hosai and his imitation Go strategy, and more.

The Go Consultants by John Fairbairn and T Mark Hall discusses just one game, a consultation game that Suzuki Tamejiro and Segoe Kensaku played against Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen. Due to the way the game was set up, we have an incredible record of what the players were planning and hoping for, what they thought their opponents were doing, and what they decided not to do as well as why they made the choices they did.

Patterns of the Sanrensei mentioned above also contains 20 of Michael Redmond’s games, analyzed in detail.