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© 2009 Slate & Shell

How Not to Play Go

Yuan Zhou

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This book will have a revolutionary impact on any kyu player who reads it. Zhou clarifies the common kyu level misunderstandings of how to play which hold kyu players back from reaching dan level. He explains that the skills needed to reach shodan are not things like a thorough knowledge of josekis or an ability to read out long sequences, but rather the elimination of some common confusions about how the game should be approached. The principles involved are not difficult to understand and Zhou clarifies them by giving detailed analyses of how they are being ignored in three different games between kyu level players.

The print edition of this book is available from Slate & Shell (www.slateandshell.com), and this book has also been translated into Spanish under the title “Como No Jugar al Go”.

Contents

How Not to Play Go

About the Author

Introduction

Chapter One: Common Misunderstandings of How to Play Go

The chapters in gray are included only in the full book.

Chapter Two: An 8 Kyu Game

Chapter Three: A 4 Kyu Game

Chapter Four: A 1 Kyu vs. 2 Kyu Game

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About SmartGo Books

About the Author

Yuan Zhou is one of the strongest go players in the US. He has won many titles since coming to the US in 1989 from his native China, where he was in training to become a professional player. He has represented the US in several international tournaments, most recently the 4th Korea Prime Minister Cup in 2009 in which he placed fifth. Zhou is also a popular teacher and lecturer. You can contact him through his web site at www.zhouyuan.com.

Introduction

One of the attractions of being a kyu level player is that it is so easy for you to become stronger—a task that is much more difficult for dan players. I can tell kyu players with confidence that if you will just quit engaging in the common bad practices that I am going to show you, you will not only quickly become a stronger player, you will also find the game much more interesting and enjoyable.

Many kyu players assume that in order to reach dan level they must do rather difficult things, such as learn complicated josekis (the variations of the magic sword and the large avalanche, for example) as well as learn complex techniques that require an ability to read out long sequences, even twenty or thirty moves. Nothing could be further from the truth. What makes a player a kyu-level player is a basic misunderstanding of how to play the game. I am talking about basic, elementary principles of play, not complicated and difficult things that require much effort and even talent to acquire. These common misunderstandings are easily understood and can be eliminated from your playing with a modest amount of effort.

Perhaps the most difficult initial challenge is for you to be convinced that the ways of playing that seem natural and correct to you as a kyu player are often disastrously mistaken, completely misguided, and are in fact precisely what is preventing you from reaching dan level. This may be particularly difficult for players who have been stuck at a specific kyu level for a long time. Their bad habits are deeply ingrained and it will require paying close attention to overcome them. Please go over the common mistakes I point out in this book until you can see them in your own play and cease to play that way.

Many examples of bad play illustrate more than one kind of misunderstanding, so the mistakes I include overlap to some extent. Our concern here is not about labels, but about ceasing to make bad plays, especially ones that can be rather easily seen to be bad. My hope is that by being shown a number of common problems that can be found in normal kyu-level play, you can eliminate them from your own play and cease to be a kyu-level player.

Yuan Zhou, Fall 2009

Chapter One: Common Misunderstandings of How to Play Go

The common misunderstandings focused on here will become much more clear when we look at the games, but an initial overview of what I will be pointing out will be useful.

An extremely pervasive problem that kyu players have is following your opponent. That is, when your opponent makes a move you automatically respond in the same local area. This implies that your opponent knows which area of the board is the most important to play in at this moment. However, when you remember that your opponent is also a kyu player, you should realize that there is a very good possibility that he is mistaken. Except in an obviously urgent situation, that is, one in which your opponent will do great damage immediately if you do not respond (this is usually a matter of life and death) you should always take a moment before you respond to look around the board to see if there is not a bigger play elsewhere. This is important at every stage of the game—the opening, the middle game, and the endgame.

Following your opponent is an aspect of the general problem of not paying attention to the whole board when you play. Kyu level games usually include a lot of local interactions that involve both players ignoring much bigger possibilities elsewhere. This problem also shows up as making slow plays, which are plays that accomplish much less than could be accomplished by playing elsewhere. Slow plays often occur because of automatically connecting against a peep or an atari without considering whether it is the best/biggest thing you can do or playing atari just because you can or automatically protecting against a cut.

Another common misunderstanding is not taking sente seriously enough. Sente in go is extremely important; it is power and freedom—these are things you should want to have, just like in life. You should always find it painful to take gote and hence you should always check to see if it is really necessary to do so.

A somewhat different common problem is assuming that your opponent’s areas are bigger than your own. This is sometimes referred to as the red eye problem, that is, being jealous of your opponent’s potential. This problem emerges when you fail to compare your opponent’s areas to your own. Precise counting is not the issue here; the problem is not even making rough estimates of the relative size of your and your opponent’s areas. Kyu players often invade too early, creating unnecessary difficulties simply because they see their opponent is mapping out a large area. The appropriate initial question is not whether your opponent is getting a big area, but whether your opponent is getting more than you are, and that requires looking at the whole board, not just one local area. Invasions are appropriate only when your opponent has developed more potential than you have and there are no open areas left where you can make a balancing expansion of your own potential.

It is very important to remember that every play involves the whole board, the entire game, and hence it is crucial that each individual play be based on your judgment of the situation over the whole board. Your first inclination when it is your time to play should not be “How do I defend against that move?” but “Can I find someplace else to play that will be more valuable in the long run?” The real excitement and enjoyment of go develops when you see the game as one activity that involves the whole board. Just as in life, although you can only act locally, you first need to think globally. Acting without paying attention to the global situation frequently leads to problems, and when it doesn’t, it is just an accident that you cannot take any pride in.

Another bad practice that kyu players easily fall into is wishful thinking. A crude version of this is hoping that your opponent won’t see something that is obvious to you, such as that if he doesn’t defend his group you can capture it. The illusion here is imagining that you will in effect be able to make several moves in a row. You should never assume that players at your own level will not notice things that are clear to you. Basing your moves on unrealistically optimistic assumptions about how your opponent will play is another road to disaster.

The other side of wishful thinking is not thinking. Rushing to respond, especially when you’re excited about attacking your opponent is not the way to find good plays. Go is a large game. You should take a moment to think about the most profitable way to do what you are trying to do. If attacking, think about the most profitable way to attack. If defending, do the same. And of course, first make sure that attacking or defending in the local area where your opponent just played is the best opportunity the game situation offers you. Most of the time it only requires a quick look around to make a rough judgment about what the biggest area is.

We will see that these common misunderstandings occur at every level of kyu playing.

Chapter Two: An 8 Kyu Game

Moves 1–6

Black begins this game between two 8-kyu players by setting up a sanrensei. His opponent does the same, which is unusual but is a way you can play. It is Black’s next move that is the first sign of a problem.

Move 7

Regarding Black 7, it is obvious that the top and bottom are much bigger open areas. It is odd to choose to play in a more constricted area so we wonder what Black’s reason is for doing so. When I asked Black why he played there, he replied, “Because White’s area is too big.” Now, if you are just looking at the left side of the board, this is true. If that side is all there is, White is too big. However, Black is not looking at the whole board. He is suffering from the “red eye” disease.

In this situation, Black should play on the outside at A or B, expanding his own potential while reducing White’s. This is always the best way. If Black looks at the whole board he can see that his area is just as big as White’s and he has sente to gain more. With the whole board in mind, it is not difficult to see that Black 7 is a bad move. This does not require difficult calculations or complicated reading. Simply correcting this misunderstanding will have a surprising impact on Black’s level of play.

Move 8

Since Black has invaded White’s area, White naturally wants to attack Black to gain profits. This is the right idea. However, White plays without thinking. The inclination to play quickly, to respond immediately, encourages a lack of thinking. Go rewards patience.

White can attack Black 7 from three directions: from the side at White 8, from the corner, or from the center. Which direction will give White the best chance for gaining profit?

Diagram 1

The corner is the easiest place to make territory and Diagram 1 shows the best way to do that. White gets a big corner, while Black lacks a base for his now heavy stones and is hampered by . Finding this way of playing does not require any complicated reading or calculations, only the application of a simple principle: Always choose the most profitable way.

Move 9

Black 9 is the right direction, the corner is open and the best place for Black to seek safety since the side area is restricted by White. However, Black should go all the way into the corner, playing on the 3–3 point (A) to take the entire corner and settle easily. He should not try to stay connected to Black 7. It is more profitable to give that stone up.

Moves 10–12

White protects the corner with 10, while Black aims to make his group alive and pushes ahead with 11. These moves make sense. White then extends to 12. That’s the right direction—expanding White’s area and reducing Black’s potential while supporting White’s two stones in the corner. These moves may not be the best, but the general ideas are correct. (We are focusing on the big, common mistakes here, not the details of particular move choices.)

Move 13

Black 13 again illustrates Black’s basic misunderstanding. He again is thinking that White’s area is too big. Since he doesn’t look at the whole board he doesn’t notice that his own areas are also big and can easily be expanded. The “red eye” disease makes your opponent’s areas always look bigger than your own. Compare the adage that your neighbor’s grass is always greener. The natural response for White should be to cut off Black at A and start attacking this isolated stone.

Move 14

White’s explanation of why he plays at 14 instead is that he is worried that if Black plays at A, B, and C, his two stones will die. This is obviously an example of wishful thinking, this time imagining your opponent gets several moves in a row. This sort of inappropriate fear is another problem: worrying about things that are very unlikely to happen.

Moves 15–17

So Black gets to run out with 15 and 17, which is good for Black. This will no doubt encourage him to continue playing the way he has in this game—and hence remain an 8 kyu. After 17, it makes sense for White to continue building a wall facing the open center with A. Now that he is in this situation, that would be a good way to continue. However …

Move 18

… White jumps in at 18. His explanation, of course, is that Black’s area here is too big, ignoring the whole board where White has a big position facing a large open space toward the bottom. Both players have been obsessed with the local area at the top as though that is the most important area in which to play. This focusing on a small area means there is going to be fighting where and when there shouldn’t be.

Moves 19–24

Black tries to cut 18 () off, but does so in a way that gives White an outside position. This early in the game getting the outside is usually better.

End of sample chapter. In the book, this game is commented to the end.

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© 2009 Slate & Shell

This edition includes both the English, Spanish, and French text.