© 2008 by Sunday Go Publications

So You Want to Play Go?

Level 2: 19 kyu to 10 kyu

Jonathan Hop

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

Go is an ancient board game, invented in China almost 4,000 years ago and is now sweeping it’s way across the world! The So You Want to Play Go? series is a step by step course that begins with the bare basics for beginners in the first level, to more advanced topics in level 4. Great for total beginners or even experienced veterans, the So You Want to Play Go? series is aimed at teaching the principles and fundamentals of the game in a fun and interesting way, so that Go is enjoyable for everyone.

This ePub reader does not support full scripting, so diagrams may not be interactive.

Copyright Page

So You Want to Play Go?
Level 2: 19 kyu to 10 kyu

Copyright © 2008 by Sunday Go Publications
All rights reserved.

Other publications:
“So You Want to Play Go?” Level 1, 3, and 4
“So You Want to Play Go?” Go Puzzles Level 1, 2, and 3
“Power Builder Series: Tsumego Collection”

Visit www.sundaygolessons.com to take a look at current and future publications.

Converted for SmartGo Books by John Mifsud.

Contents

So You Want to Play Go?
Level 1: Beginner to 20 kyu

Copyright Page

Introduction

Foreword

About the Author

Crash Course Guide to Japanese Pronunciation

Crash Course Guide to Chinese Pronunciation

Learning About Weiqi

Chapter 1: The Empty Board: Opening Fundamentals

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

Chapter 2: Life and Death

Chapter 3: Basic Technique and Tesuji

Chapter 4: Basics of the Middle game

Chapter 5: Opening Fundamentals Part 2: Pincers and Special Openings

Chapter 6: Common Mistakes

Chapter 7: A Nine Stone Game

Chapter 8: Joseki

Chapter 9: A Professional Game

Wrap Up

Dedication

Tsumego Problems

Glossary of Terms

Buy This Book

About SmartGo Books

Foreword

Welcome to level 2 of the “So you want to play Go?” series, intended for 19 to 10 kyu players. If you have read level 1 of the series then you know what to expect, but for those of you who are just getting acquainted I wanted to say a few words. First off the title is a bit of a misnomer. While the name of the game is known as “Go” in the West, because of our relationship to Japan, the game was actually invented in China 4,000 years ago, and the Chinese call it “Weiqi” (pronounced Way-Chee). I think that it is important we remember this heritage, so I will be referring to the game as “Weiqi” for the remainder of the book.

The ranks of 19 to 10 kyu are really enjoyable because it is the time in your Weiqi playing career that you begin to learn more about the basics of strategy and get to experiment with them freely in your games. That is not to say, that you do not get that same thrill when you are a stronger player, but being a beginner means that the world is open to you. It is like watching a really great movie for the first time. Sure, when you watch it later with friends or see it replayed on TV it’s entertaining, but not quite the same experience as when you had first seen it. It is the same with Weiqi. When you first learn how to apply invasion principles or a new tesuji you’ve been meaning to play, you get a true feeling of satisfaction.

From now on we will be going over a lot of the fundamentals of Weiqi to get you to 10 kyu level. Once you have reached this stage and enter the ranks of the single digit kyus, you will from that point on refine what you have previously learned. Weiqi is not about learning a new 100 move joseki or memorizing 1,000 professional games (although this couldn’t hurt of course), it is about applying the basics of the game in just the right manner for the board position. Adopt this attitude and watch the game change.

About the Author

Hello! My name is Jonathan Hop and I am a graduate student at the University of Michigan studying Japanese. I am also an AGA 3 dan. Since this book is aimed at 19–10 kyu players I thought I’d share some fond memories of when I was at this strength. I had started Weiqi in 2003 around January, I believe, but did not really get into it until the summer of that year. I played like a maniac, getting in up to six or seven games a day. I bugged stronger players to review my games and I watched the mythical four and five dans whenever I got the chance. As you can imagine, I plowed through the arena of double digit kyus quite fast. However playing online was rather empty since there was no interaction. By the end of summer, I remembered that U of M had a Weiqi club that met at Borders. I had been there before but did not have time during the school year to go, and I mistakenly assumed they did not meet over the summer. One fateful day in September, I thought to myself, “What the heck, maybe I’ll stop in”.

The University of Michigan Weiqi club used to meet at the coffee shop in the local Borders. It was a nice locale with a good atmosphere for playing Weiqi, and it was only a ten minute walk for me. I was a little shy at first as I sheepishly meandered over to a board where people were playing and watched. Eventually one of the other newcomers asked me for a game. I accepted, but then found out that I was now facing someone who was quite a bit stronger than me, a 6 kyu! We played evenly, and somehow, I miraculously won against someone five to six stones stronger than me. My opponent and I shook hands, and the night of playing had ended. I felt fantastic!

The thing was, my Weiqi was lopsided at the time. Not having read anything on strategy or theory, I only knew the bare basics of the opening of the game and the end. I was mostly on my own to figure out how to play, so I developed a middle game that was far more advanced than the other sections. This means, that as far as knowing which groups were weak, and which were strong, as well as the stone for stone reading, I was maybe 6–7 kyu. However as far as opening, theory, and endgame, I was maybe 15 kyu. My rank had settled somewhere in the middle, but usually my opponent had to survive the middle of the game to win. I had no fear of cutting, I had no fear of creating a weak group in enemy territory, and I had no fear of getting into intense fights where either myself or my opponent would be decimated. Perhaps there are some of you reading who can relate to this?

This was the most entertaining time in my Weiqi playing career because the world was wide open. I was free to play whatever move struck my fancy at any given time. Yes, sometimes I would get horribly destroyed and all of my stones would get captured, but I also had some brilliant successes. I could envision myself entering the sacred lands of the single digit kyus in no time. Of course I needed a reality check, but why not savor it for as long as possible?

By the way, the next time I played that 6 kyu he crushed me. I would be taking handicap from him for a while. Talk about your reality checks.

Chapter 1: The Empty Board: Opening Fundamentals

An ancient Weiqi board that Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu both used.

Now that you we are no longer total beginners, we should take the opportunity to move onto the grand 19x19 board. There’s nothing like the shiny glow of a brand new board, and even older, more used sets have their own character. However we may not necessarily know how we should begin the game; after all, as long as we do not violate the basic rules, we can play on any empty spot.

If you read the first part of this series then you should remember our “Corners-Sides-Center” mantra, which is a rule of thumb on how to determine which parts of the board are important. If not, I’ll go over it again real quick.

Here we have three living groups (remember that a group with two eyes is alive). Note how many moves it takes to make a living group. As you probably already have figured out, the A group is alive with the least amount of moves, whereas the center group needs almost double the amount of stones. From a territorial perspective, the A group also makes two points with fewer stones than the other groups, meaning the corner is the most efficient for territory.

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I’ll show you how this works in an actual game. Here, Black and White have both taken turns putting stones in the empty corners of the board, because whoever can put a stone down first in the corner gains the advantage. You should always fight to get empty corners.

Alright, well, I understand the general idea, but what other things do I need to know in order to play well? Where exactly should I put my stones?

Basic principles will go a long way in helping you answer this question. If we learn Weiqi theory then we can narrow down the amount of moves we think about and instead hone in on the moves that do what we want. We can think of Weiqi theory as a series of rules of thumb, a guidepost to our games. “Oh fantastic! With enough theory I could play the perfect move every single time…” you say to yourself, wringing your hands and imagining all of your future victories. Well theory is only as good as the moves you put down on the board. That is to say, if you do not have a good knowledge of basic shapes and firm reading, then all the theory in the world won’t help you to win games. As most of you already know, over the years I have met a variety of people who play Weiqi, and they oftentimes fall into distinguishable categories. I’ve given many of these categories names. For instance, there is a type of Weiqi player I have named “the Theorist”. Theorists are not quite as easy to spot as some other types of Weiqi player. Usually they are rather clean cut and enjoy drinking their coffee or tea straight. Theorists are absolutely in love with playing moves they think have deep, profound strategy. When they look at their stone formations you can see their eyes drift off into space as they are lost in some unknown universe. Usually they play very solidly and are adept at finding global, strategic moves. However at the same time this type of player misses the trees for the forest and is left flabbergasted when they stare down at the board and realize nothing went the way they had planned.

Theory is only as good as the moves you put down. If you do not read out a position, if you are not as sure as you can be of how a part of the board will be played out, then all of the most beautiful, profound moves in the world are meaningless if you cannot back them up when local fights break out. The Mona Lisa is a beautiful painting, no doubt, but rather worthless if it’s set on fire and reduced to ashes.

Does that mean we shouldn’t pay attention to Weiqi theory and instead just try to learn local shapes and fighting? Of course not! But when you play do not forsake one for the other, but instead try to understand how each move relates to the board as a whole. We therefore have to think about, you got it, efficiency.

What is efficiency in Weiqi? This is a gigantic question, but we can take it a little bit at a time. The basis of the idea of efficiency is the simple fact that once you put a stone down, it stays where it is for the rest of the game. That means if you play a bad move, it will sit there and continue to be bad. Your opponent could of course make a mistake and turn your bad move into a good move, but we never want to be in the mindset that our opponent will make a mistake. So, since our decisions are set in stone we need to identify what jobs our stones do, and then make sure they do them well. One of the ways we can do this is to know a little bit more about stone placement, in terms of high and low stones. This means that we normally do not want to play a stone too low because we will collect few points for the stone. We also don’t want to play the stone too high, because then it might not actually surround any territory.

Wait a second, low, high? We’re playing on a flat surface!

Nothing gets past you does it? When I say low and high, I don’t mean altitude, I mean how many spaces from the edge you are playing.

In the picture above, we say that Black is low because he is three spaces away from the edge (count the first space on the edge as one and work your way towards the center of the board).

Here, we say that Black is high because he is on the fourth line. Low stones are on the third line and below, and high stones are on the fourth line or above.

So what does this have to do with efficiency?

Well remember we want a good point/stone ratio for every stone we play. If we make too few points with our moves then we are not making the most of our plays. In order to do this we normally try to play on at least the third line especially at the beginning of the game. Of course if you need to play on the first or second line to live then by all means, but anything less than third line in the beginning of the game is not necessarily efficient. If we play too high, then the stone might not be able to stop intruders from slipping underneath and grabbing away precious territory. If we play too low, then we are cheating ourselves out of points we could be making or lose out on opportunities to attack once the middle game starts.

Wave Theory of Weiqi

The physicists reading this will appreciate this theory (although it has nothing to do with science really). With the idea of high and low stones in mind, when we start off a game we want to make sure that we have a good mix of high and low stones. Why is that? Well think of it this way. Low stones are like a town guard. If an enemy spy or saboteur is spotted snooping around town, the guards can easily catch him and kick him out, or even better, capture the interloper. However the town guard can only act within the town itself. Outside of the city walls they have no influence. High stones are like watch sentries. They sit at night on the city walls ready with their bows and arrows in case enemy invaders come to disturb the peace of the city. Their job is not necessarily to catch enemy spies or saboteurs inside the city (although if one happens their way then of course they’ll spring into action). Their job is to make sure that the outside of the city is safe. Both the town guard and the sentries (just like low and high stones) work well when they are in equal proportion, but the system breaks down when there is more of one than the other.

In short: In general, low moves are for defense, high moves are for attacking or creating potential. We want to have a balance of stones, where our formations resemble waves. In the opening we tend to play third and fourth line moves, but if you need a first or second line move to live, then by all means, play it!

High stones are used to attack and create influence.

In order for you to really appreciate how high stones function when they are at their best, let’s look at an extremely common opening played out on a 19x19 board.

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The Black formation at the right is called the “Sanrensei” formation, meaning “Three linked stars”. What is important about this grouping of Black stones, is that they are all high. Black wants to use the influence of these stones to attack and create a large territorial framework. This is called a “Moyo” in Japanese. There are two types of moyo: regular moyo, and moyo of doom. So far Black has a regular moyo, but…

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Let’s say White likes territory and invades the corners. Black grins and creates a wall on the outside. Now Black has a moyo of doom forming on the right side of the board. White can only stare in awe as he faces the awesome amount of points Black is threatening to make. He will have to steel himself and enter the lair of the dragon. I have put some ✕s down to help you see the border, in case you are still having trouble with that.

“Wait a moment, can you explain to me more about what a moyo actually is?”

A moyo is a territorial framework, a zone of control over a large section of the board. You could call Black’s construction on the right side a moyo. The key thing to remember about a moyo is that they are frameworks where you could make territory, but they are not 100% points. The strategy behind building a moyo is to make it so big that your opponent will have to invade. When they invade, you attack, and solidify your holdings. This means you will not get everything, per se, but if you play your cards right you should get a good return on your investment. You’ll come to understand this idea as you get better.

It may seem like a lot of moves, so try playing it all out on your board. You don’t have to understand each and every move perfectly, so do not put that kind of pressure on yourself. What I wanted you to learn by showing you this game is that Black has lots of high stones, meaning Black has a lot of influence. I think you can appreciate exactly how Black’s influence is functioning by looking at just how large Black’s moyo of doom is. Black’s zone of control on the right side of the board is absolutely huge. It should feel like you are at the foot of Mount Everest and gazing with awe at the peaks and cliffs above you. If Black gets any bigger, he will occupy the majority of the intersections on the board, and White will lose. However if White tries to invade too deeply, he will be brutally attacked. Also remember, that since Black has so many high stones, he has not taken a lot of territory just yet. He will later have to convert his influence into points, but we’ll get into that later on.

The drawback with fourth line moves is that it is easy to slip underneath them and ferret away all of the territory we otherwise thought we had. I think an example is in order.

Let’s take this shape for example. It is White’s turn. The marked Black stone is about to get a nasty surprise. It looks like Black controls most of the bottom. It is White’s turn however…

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When White slides at 1 there is nothing Black can do to halt the invading stone and now the territory underneath has disappeared. It would have been better…

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…if Black did not allow this situation to happen in the first place. He should have added a third line defensive move to protect the territory of his stones while he had the chance. Now White cannot slip under.

Low stones are for territory and defense

“How could defense be any good in this game?” some of you may be asking, especially the “Psycho” type players of the audience. Defense is central to Weiqi, as it allows you to hang on to territory and keep yourself from being attacked. Low stones perform this function well. One way you can do this, is by “closing the door”, meaning playing a defensive move that keeps your opponent from taking territory away from you. Here’s a good example:

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Here is a rather commonly played opening, one that you’ll probably see in stronger player’s games. Look at the lower left very carefully. All of Black’s stones are on the second and third line. “Hey! You said second line moves were not efficient in the opening! How could you lie to me?!” I would never betray you, honest and truly. I assure you, despite the fact that Black 7 is indeed on the second line, he had a good reason for doing so. What I wanted to point out though, is not the second line move, but the defensive move of Black 9. “What’s so defensive about it? It just takes territory…” Exactly, and territory is eyes. Black 9 keeps Black from getting attacked because it makes sure Black has enough territory to live. How? Well let’s change the game around a little bit and see just what happens…

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Let’s say that Black makes a Moyo on the right with 9. This move is of course useful, but what about Black’s encampment in the lower left? White could attack Black with 10 quite easily, and now the two Black stones at the bottom are not making much territory. Without territory, these stones are going to suffer. (Do you remember the magic numbers for how much space one needs to make two eyes?) Black can’t expect to make many points on the bottom, and his ability to live is in question.

Think of it this way. Try to imagine back when people lived off the land and had to farm and raise livestock to live. Now picture yourself as the lord of this kingdom, a domain under your guidance. You have to make decisions about taking in new lands as well as figuring out when to defend the ones you already own. Of course you want new lands to cultivate and farm, but if you don’t defend what you already have, then it’s possible you will lose it all. Make more sense now?

Because third line moves are good for defending your stones, they are pretty useful when we want to defend fourth line moves. Fourth line moves are susceptible to being undercut, so if you have a third line stone in place, this won’t happen. I know, it’s clearer if you see a real board. Here we go.

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Let’s take this line of play for example. White approaches at 2 and Black defends with 3, a high move to help make building the left side interesting. White slides into the corner to split it with Black, and then forms a base for his stones with 6. Now Black plays the curious move of 7, a low defensive move. What is Black trying to prevent?

7: elsewhere

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If Black does not add a defensive move White could threaten to slide under his stones and take away his eye space with 8. Black will live, do not worry, but he is not going to be making a lot of points, and that’s how we win the game.

As you probably have already figured out, low moves are not efficient for creating a lot of potential. The reason is your opponent can bully your low stones and keep them down, preventing them from expanding into the center.

Let’s say, for instance, we have the board position as is shown above. It is Black’s turn. Take a good look at the board. Black controls the right side of the board and formed a little group on the left side to keep White from taking that entire part of the board. White is king of the top of the board, and seemingly, the bottom of the board. White has two stones extending from his 3–3 stone, however, this stone is low. How can Black erase White’s potential territory in the lower left?

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Black presses White down at 1 (this type of move is called a shoulder hit if you remember). White has to crawl while Black keeps smothering his stones, keeping them to the second and third line, then turns on the top left stone by attacking with 7. White’s possible territory in the lower left has been kept under control by Black and was not allowed to expand into the center. Keep this in mind when you play low moves.

To be absolutely honest, as beginners you will not lose games because of this reason for a long time. An 18 kyu is more likely to win a game because their opponent did not see atari rather than their stones were not balanced, but that does not mean we should not focus on this type of thing in our games. When you are better you will thank me.

Common Corner Opening Moves

Let’s go a bit deeper into what we need to think about during the opening. You’ll notice that there are nine points on the board that stand out from every other intersection. These are called the star points, remember? When you start play in the corner, we usually pick a point on or around the star point. Let’s look at the various ways you can start in the corner, and what kind of strategy each move has.

Wait, does it matter which point I pick? I’m starting in the corner.

Every stone matters, period. You never want to play a stone that doesn’t do its job. (It’s just like letting your opponent play two stones at once.) You also want to make sure that whatever job your stone does, your future moves will also work in the same fashion and combine into one cohesive strategy. Think of it this way. If you’re trying to climb up a flight of stairs you go up the stairs, never once moving back. Why would you go down two or three steps when you’ve already gone up five? Weiqi is much the same way. If you play a move with one strategy in mind, and play another move with a completely different strategy, you are moving up the flight of stairs five steps and back down three. You want to make sure all your stones work nicely together, so never think that you should just plop a move down. Well I digress, let’s look at the different corner moves.

This is the 3–4 point, also known by its stage name as the komoku. The first thing that should strike you about this move is the fact that it is on the third line and therefore low. You guessed it! This is a territory oriented opening move. Black’s idea here is that he wants to make a lot of territory in the corner. What is really great about this move is that with one more stone, you can take the entire corner securely. I know, that’s exciting news isn’t it?

This is a corner enclosure from the 3–4 point, also known as Shimari to its friends and relatives. This enclosure covers up the corner in just two moves. There are other types of corner enclosures, as you can see below.

This is the 4–4 point, but it would rather you called it Hoshi for short. Now this is a fourth line move and therefore seeks to have influence and move up in the world. Its weakness is beneath it at A, where White could invade and make a living group, so keep that in mind when you play this move.

This is the 3–3 point (known as san-san). It is a rather low stone and usually it minds its own business. The 3–3 point is excellent for taking the corner without having to play an additional move, like the shimari we looked at previously which requires two moves. The downside? Well your opponent could play at A and then you would be rather flat. Can’t have it all.

The next winner on the Price is Right is the 5–4 point, known as Takamoku (taka means high). This move is high (I’ll let you fill in the rest), but it can be undercut should your opponent play at say A or B.

Last but not least, the opening move with the craziest name, mokuhazushi, also known to its admirers as the 5–3 point.

Now, to help you appreciate the development of these corner moves I am going to show you some basic Joseki (Ding Shi in Chinese and Jungseok in Korean). A Joseki is a set sequence of play that gives an equal result to both Black and White. By equal, I mean locally equal. I really want to stress two things before we move on. First off, Joseki have drastically changed over the years. Some of the Joseki’s from the 1600’s that were played by Weiqi masters are completely obsolete now, and a lot of the Josekis that we see today could be thrown out just as easily. That’s the beauty of Weiqi, nothing is really set in stone.

The second thing I would like to stress is that Joseki must be learned and appreciated, not simply memorized. There is a saying in Japanese: “Study joseki, then forget them.” There is a type of Weiqi player that loves Joseki, and I have named this type of person the “Joseki scholar”. Joseki scholars live in an ivory tower amidst mountains of Joseki books. They spend most of their Weiqi study time memorizing hundreds of sequences and variations to archaic joseki they probably will never play in a lifetime. These people are easily identifiable because they love to chastise other people’s moves for “not being joseki”. They also tend to be highly confused, and when asked to explain their moves they begin to rattle on and on before eventually wandering away in a haze of bewilderment.

The joseki scholar is quite powerful in punishing mistakes (if they have them already memorized) and usually is quite good at theory. Their problem is when they encounter a move that is not joseki (or is not a joseki they’ve already studied, and believe me there are LOTS of joseki) their position collapses in on itself and they lose games they should win. The joseki scholar falls into the trap of thinking that memorization is power. It is not. Power, in Weiqi, is being able to devise a good plan that fits your current situation, not simply laying down moves that do not take the rest of the board into account. If a joseki fits and it is a good sequence that will improve your position, then be my guest. However keep in mind that it will always be your own creativity and your own ability to find moves that eventually opens the path to real strength.

Anyways, let’s get back to our discussion on joseki. Here are some examples of joseki starting from each of the different opening corner moves. There are of course thousands of other josekis, but the ones I will show you best demonstrate the type of development one could expect for each starting move. Let’s start with the 3–4 point and work our way through:

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Try this one out on your board. White plays the high move of 2, and Black takes territory with 3. Then the fighting begins, and what we’re left with is Black territory vs. White’s influence.

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Now we’ll look at a star point joseki. White can invade at 2 to carve out the territory from the inside. Black takes away one of White’s liberties with 3, and then a pushing battle starts. Black hane’s at the head of two stones with 5 (remember?) and forces White to crawl on the second line. Then White makes territory with 10 and 12, with Black needing a defensive move at 13. All in all, White gains territory and Black gains outside influence. Well Black played the first move high, so this is only natural.

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Here Black starts off on the 3–3 point. White pushes him down like the big bully he is at 1. When Black plays 4, White jumps ahead with 5, and the same occurs at the top side. This joseki is the opposite of the one we just reviewed, with Black being pressed low and taking all the territory.

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The 5–3 point is rather interesting. If White plays at 1 to prevent Black from creating a corner enclosure, Black can play at 2 to press White down. White will have to sit in the bleachers while Black faces the crowd in the center.

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What about the 5–4 point, the takamoku? When White invades at 2, Black can create outside influence with 3. White could play at 4 to take territory, and then the fighting continues until Black has a brand spanking new center wall.

If you notice, all of these josekis are based on the principles of close quarters combat that I introduced in the first book of this series. If you are really clear on the basics then it will be easier to find logical moves to fit the situation. You may play a move in a game, and later find out that it actually was a joseki!

Uncommon Opening Moves

If I have not already mentioned this, I am a big fan of the “Hikaru no Go” series, especially the New Years Special entitled “Hokuto Hai e no Michi” (Road to the North Star Cup). It is the continuation of the main storyline of Hikaru no Go, and features pretty much everything that made the series great: the tense music, the competitive atmosphere, and the matches between players. There were also a few surprises in store. I remember when I first watched the movie, one of the main characters, Yashiro, played unconventional opening moves. For example, one game in the show began like this:

How’s that for a beginning? Starting off smack dab in the center is called “Tengen” in Japanese, and is quite exciting to play as an opening move, but it does have a drawback. Unlike starting off in the corner, we are not sure if this stone will be effective in helping us make territory. Sure, this stone would be very useful as a ladder breaker and if a fight breaks out Black would control the center, but White will work quite hard to make sure that does not happen. Has Black won the game? No. Has Black lost the game? Far from it. If you are feeling adventurous try this out in your next game and see if you can make the center stone functional.

We got to see more unconventional moves from the same character as the movie progressed. The next move, unlike Tengen, is probably not as startling but is probably seen even less in actual play.

The 5–5 point (Go no Go in Japanese) does not really take hold of the corner but instead intently looks towards the sides. White can easily go into the corner, but Black looks to take control of the sides or start an attack. By the way, the game they played in the show went like this:

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I believe the word you are looking for is “Unorthodox”. White at 2 at Tengen is interesting, not only for the reasons I mentioned before, but since White goes second, Black can plant stones down on two corners before White can get there, so this move could be considered risky. However, if Black’s strategy is not for the corners, then you could say White 2 would be useful for the coming fight.

The 6–4 point is another move that we do not see very often but is quite popular with a lot of players on KGS, especially the person who plays under the screen name of “High55”. This move seeks to make things fairly complicated, and it is hard for Black to find a second move to take control of the corner. However, as far as fighting, the stone might be useful.

I wanted to do two things by showing you uncommon opening moves. First, people will use them against you and I do not want them to take you by surprise. Just play as you normally would and try to play the most efficient moves possible. Secondly, a lot of these moves are not commonly played because it is hard to use them effectively, and “normal” moves are usually easier to handle. I suggest you try these moves out for yourself, it’s fun!

Approaching the corners

Alright, so we know we should start in the corners and we understand what our corner opening moves mean. “So now what?” you might be asking yourself. There are a lot of different things to do once you plant your flag down in the corner. You could strengthen your corner or approach your opponent’s corner to take the fight to them. Corner approaches are called “kakari” in Japanese, and they have multiple functions. Before we get into that, do you remember our good friend the shimari, otherwise known as the corner enclosure?

To jog your memory, here is our buddy the shimari once more. Usually shimaris are played after Black starts off with the 3–4 point, but starting off with the 5–3 point and then forming the shimari is possible. With two moves Black has taken a lot of prime real estate in the corner. If White does not want Black to get this shape, what should White do?

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There’s a saying in Weiqi: “Your opponent’s good move is your good move.” That is to say, playing on a spot where your opponent wants to go can often be a good move. White 1 prevents Black from making a corner enclosure. White 1 is a “kakari” or an approach move. White could approach a number of different ways, as shown below:

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Here’s a good example. Both players start off in the corners, and then Black approaches at 5 to prevent White from making a corner enclosure in the upper left. Black will probably be pincered, but we’ll get into that in a later chapter.

Besides preventing your opponent from making an efficient move for themselves, you also approach to threaten to outnumber your opponent. Let me explain a basic strategy of the game and all will be clear. When you play a move, you are not only thinking of what your move does now, but what it will do for you later. You also want to think about whether or not your move will draw a reaction from your opponent. You have to think: “If I play here, what will my opponent play in response? Does he even have to answer my move? If he does not answer my move, what can I do to make good on my threat?” There is no rule that says that your opponent must play in the same area as you, they are free to play wherever they feel like. In keeping with this idea…

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Let’s say White plays an approach move at 1. This move is low because White wants to threaten to nab the territory underneath the high Black stone. Remember, territory is life. Now, Black could play elsewhere. What should White do should Black ignore him?

2: elsewhere

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White could play the “double kakari”, or double approach move, to start a two on one battle with Black. Now the Black stone is outnumbered.

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If White gets yet another turn, then White could close the Black stone in with 1. With just a few stones, White has destroyed much of the usefulness of the Black stone.

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If Black does not like being outnumbered, he should strengthen his stone by taking territory with Black 2 (or play higher if he felt like it). However, White could continue to be annoying and slide under Black’s high stone at 3 to grab territory. Black takes the 3–3 point, the cornerstone of the corner, for himself, and White makes eye space with 5 so that his group is alive.

Moving on up: Sides

Let’s return to our discussion on “Corners-Sides-Center” by moving on to the sides. After you develop the corners, you move onto the sides, but how? Again, efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. We want our stones to be happy and develop large swathes of the board into points. To make this clear, let’s look at an actual game.

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The first four moves should be clear to you, and the fifth, Black’s shimari, takes the upper right corner solidly for Black. Now, there are a couple things for White to consider. Number one, he needs a second move to take the upper left corner. Black could play there and the chance would be lost. Secondly, Black’s stones on the right side could form a large moyo and Black’s potential territory on the right could be quite big. White either needs to take territory in the upper left, create a moyo of his own, or prevent Black from making a moyo on the right. What would you do as White? Before you answer this question, let’s be a bit more specific about HOW to efficiently extend from our corner enclosures as well as determine what part of the board is the widest, and therefore, the most attractive for development.

As far as side extensions, five is the magic number. Here, Black’s side stone is five spaces away from his corner fortress. A large extension from the corner is known as a “wing”. Here, Black has one wing.

The reason why 5 spaces is efficient is because if you extend less than that you are cheating yourself, and if you go too far then it might make it easier for your opponent to invade later. For instance, if Black extends only two spaces from his shimari with the ✕ marked stone, then he is not making full use of his stones.

He could extend further without fear that his opponent would be able to effectively invade. If you play too far, then it becomes easier for your opponent to come in when he decides he doesn’t want you to turn the side into your territory. Keep in mind this is a rule of thumb, not something ironclad. Every game position is different!

Here Black has what is called a “double wing formation”. Black is creating a box like moyo, which is very efficient when you notice that Black is covering a lot of space with only four moves. We do not like to let our opponent get a double wing.

We also want to extend five spaces from our star point stones, as in the example above. Keep in mind, however, that the corner Black stone has a weakness at A, so Black might not end up with what he bargained for should White invade and take all the points, unlike the shimari where the corner is solidly ours.

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We need to keep an eye out for grabbing the big extensions before our opponent when the big extension is valuable for both players. Take the example above, for instance. Black and White both have corner enclosures, and the move at 1 is quite big for either person. If Black gets to play 1, he gains the advantage over White, and vice versa. When we have two corner enclosures facing each other like this we must rush to grab the point.

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Now, back to our game. Where can White play?

One way to approach this problem is to think in terms of what would be good for our opponent. What happens if Black gets to play the ✕ marked stone? Well, this is an efficient five space extension from not just the shimari in the upper right but also the star point stone in the lower right, so this stone links up all of the Black stones on the right to form a really large moyo. With this in mind, what should White do?

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White could play the “splitting move” at 1, and then Black will not have the chance to create an efficient structure for himself on the right. This follows the idea that a good move for your opponent could be a good move for yourself. “Well that is neat and all, but why low?” you might be asking yourself. Please note that all of Black’s stones are on the right side of the board, so Black has the advantage there, 3 to 1 in this case. When White plants his flag down on the right, he is outnumbered and needs to think about defense. In this case, White has the ability to make territory (and therefore eyes) at A or B should the need arise. If White plays high…

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If White plays high at 1, he is going to find himself in hot water when Black attacks the underbelly of his stone with 2. White 1 is not making territory, so it is not making eye space. Without eye space, this stone will get weak, and White will get attacked while Black makes points. The splitting move is not the only way to play, however.

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White could form a moyo on the right side of his own. Black will take 2 and now the game will be a competition of whose moyo will result in more territory. Note that White 1 is five spaces from the upper left stone in the corner.

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White really has a lot of choices doesn’t he? White could also take the corner securely with 1. This is possible when White has a territorial style and likes to just grab points. Black 2 is quite efficient and the perfect point, yes, but if White is capable of keeping Black’s moyo in check, or even better, destroying it, then White will be able to win the game. “Okay that makes sense, but I’m still stuck at what to do here. How do I tell which part of the board is biggest?” Good question.

We need to think about the next stage in development. Now that Black has played 2, he has one wing on the right side. If Black gets a double wing formation, then he will clearly have the advantage. What should White do?

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White 1 prevents Black from making a double wing at the top (at A would also be effective). This is also the point in between White’s shimari at the top left and Black’s shimari at the top right. After White 1, Black will take the bottom part of the board and make a double wing from his lower right star point stone. He could also approach White’s stone in the lower left. Some of you might groan and say “Now Black just gets a double wing formation elsewhere”, but a double wing formation with the shimari as the crux will yield a lot more territory than it does with a star point stone. The star point stone has a weakness in that White can play the 3–3 point and just take all the territory on the inside. That means that preventing Black from taking the top is worth more than preventing Black from taking the bottom.

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Let’s say that White approaches the lower right corner to form a group and to keep Black from staking out the bottom. Black will reinforce his moyo with 2, and then after White stabilizes his group with 3, Black will take the big point of 4, and now his stones are developing a huge box, while White is flatter.

“I tried this but my opponent’s moyo was always so big and I just couldn’t catch up on points!”

If you can handle Black’s formation as White, then this way of play is feasible for you. Even if you think Black is too big, try it out in one of your next games and see if you can make it work. Experimenting with playing a style that you are not comfortable with can be very enlightening.

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If in the end you don’t like having to play against Black’s moyo, just play the splitting move of 1 and go on with your life. Personally I like this one the best.

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Let’s say we have an opening like this (I know, we’re still looking at games with shimaris, but you need to walk before you can run). It is White’s turn, where should he go? What should he be thinking about? Unlike the last board, White has two star point stones, so he does not have to think about making a shimari, then extending. White is thinking about expanding his two star point stones to form potential. Black’s shimari in the lower right is facing towards the left. Where are the big points? How can we tell?

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White has three choices, to play at the bottom at 1 or A, or to play on the left side at B. The reason the bottom is important is because the bottom is the longest side. If you start counting the number of spaces in between stones, you’ll find the bottom part of the board is eleven spaces long (count it yourself). Plus, if Black got to play there he would have an efficient extension from his corner enclosure in the lower right. White B is possible, as the left side is also eleven spaces long and White B links up all of White’s stones into a moyo. The right side is out because the distance between Black’s two stones there is only ten spaces long. “What about the top? I know the right side is small because it is only ten spaces long, but the top is eleven spaces right? Isn’t that just as good as the other spots?” Well, remember, Black has a shimari in the lower right, as opposed to the star point stone in the upper right. We want to block the development of the shimari because it leads to more absolute territory.

Let’s look at some more examples so you know what type of thinking you should do at the beginning of the game. Remember, we are always looking at the crucial spots so that we can take them before our opponent does. Try to keep everything we just learned in mind.

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Alright, I’ll start things off with four moves. Take a look at the board and try to pinpoint where the big points are and what they mean in terms of strategy, then pick one you think would be good for Black and explain to yourself why. I’ll give you some time to think.

Black has plenty of options for his next move as you can see! The first option at A should be quite simple to understand, it simply takes territory (if you prefer a higher move than A, feel free). B and C are both five point extensions from the stone in the lower right corner and form a moyo on the right side of the board, so they are both good options. What about D and E? Well the distance from the lower left White stone and the lower right stone is eleven, just like the top. The right side is a little wider, by one space, but if we don’t feel like putting our stones all on one side of the board, we can just approach. F is not the most common move, but if you’ll notice, both the White stones on the left are high, meaning the left side has potential for White. Black could move in with a splitting move like F and settle a group there, meaning White will have to look elsewhere for large territory.

Now I know I’ve thrown a lot of theories at you and oftentimes your games don’t play out like the ones I’ve showed you. That’s fine! Always play your own moves. What I mean by that is play moves that you understand and are comfortable with. Use the theories as a guidepost for picking your next move, but be ready to play something outside of the box should the situation warrant it. Do not become close minded and forbid yourself from playing moves someone else tells you are wrong. Theory is not a straightjacket, it is just a way for you to have some criterion for evaluating whether or not your own ideas were functional. Relax and have fun.

Summary of Chapter 1

So what have we learned?

Weiqi theory helps us decide which moves we need to consider for any given situation.

High moves are for creating influence and attacking. Low moves are for territory and defense.

Joseki are set sequences of play that yield an equal result for Black and White.

Five space extensions are efficient, and extensions from corner positions are called “wings”. Don’t let your opponent get a double wing.

Count the spaces in between stones to narrow down the largest sides.

There are plenty of uncommon moves. Don’t be nervous, just play normally.

If you do not know what to do, you could spell out “Hi” with your stones. I did for my first game.

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