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© 2012 by Jonathan Hop

So You Want to Play Go?

Level 4: 1 dan to 4 dan

Jonathan Hop

Reviewed by Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

Go is an ancient board game, invented in China almost 4,000 years ago and now sweeping its 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.

Copyright Page

So You Want to Play Go?
Level 4: 1 dan to 4 dan

Jonathan Hop

© 2012 by Jonathan Hop
All rights reserved.

Other publications:
“So You Want to Play Go?” Level 1, 2, and 3

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 4: 1 dan to 4 dan

Copyright Page

Alexandre Dinerchtein

Introduction

Foreword

About the Author

Rising Through the Ranks

Learning About Weiqi

Chapter 1: Joseki

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

Chapter 2: Positional Judgment

Brief Interlude

Chapter 3: Game Review

Chapter 4: Professional Games

Wrap Up

Afterword

Joseki Glossary

Glossary of Terms

About SmartGo Books

Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p

Alexandre Dinerchtein is a Russian 3 dan professional with the Korean Baduk Association and well known in the world of Western Weiqi. He teaches Weiqi online and runs an online Insei league. It’s a great way to play strong players, and league members can take part in lectures given by professionals. If you’re interested, please visit http://breakfast.go4go.net.

Introduction

A few words on improving your game

Have you ever played the same game of Weiqi twice? Probably not, in fact the number of unique games you can play is mind boggling. Let’s go a step further. How many similar games of Weiqi have you played? You may have had games where the openings were similar or perhaps you used a standard opening formation like the Mini Chinese or Kobayashi, but how far into the game did you play before the game became unique? What about if instead of focusing on individual moves, we were to instead categorize our games based on concepts. Two games may not have the exact same move order but what happened in the early or late middle game could be similar. Try to categorize your games in this way, then, and you’ll find that while two games may be similar in some respects, the similarities you find are conceptual and oftentimes broad, too broad in fact. Sure there was a game where you were attacked and had to make a group live, but the actual moves you played out were so different that the fact that the two games are tied conceptually has little meaning. One move out of place and the game changes entirely. That matters more than the broader concept.

What I’m getting at is that a lot of the ways we learn Weiqi are to try and bring order to chaos. We break the game into josekis and corner positions, into principles and concepts. We try to learn direction and pinpoint definite mistakes. We are like pioneers in a thick jungle hacking away at the brush with a machete, hoping to find the lost temple of Weiqi knowledge. As dan players, should we continue headlong with the same strategy, trying to refine the “principles” further until we have them completely under our belt? Do we keep looking at board position after board position to demonstrate each principle until they’re seared into our minds?

I think there is another way. When we cut up the game into smaller parts we lose something in the process. We study and study and dance around the heart of the game because behind all of our research, the joseki, the pro games, the openings, there is some form of underlying chaos which is difficult to master. As a dan player, you already know a lot about the game and no one needs to tell you to “Play away from thickness” or “Hane at the head of two stones.” I could create board positions which demonstrate these principles that we’ve heard time and again and most dan players would take one look and just know. But, despite the fact that we know so many different principles, why do we make mistakes? Do we have momentary lapses? Are there more fundamentals we haven’t reviewed, strategies we’ve yet to conquer?

Let’s say our opponent plays a move we do not expect and have never seen before. When we search inside ourselves for the next move we try our best to come up with something. In this case, some people read out a sequence move for move, others rely on joseki knowledge, and some try to feel their way through, using broader concepts to point them in the right direction. I think the first person has the right idea. The joseki type tries to memorize the game, which is really impossible given the sheer amount of variation after a certain point, and a lot of the creative force you need to come up with moves in unfamiliar situations isn’t developed with this mindset. Sure a lot of joseki types supplement their knowledge by learning about good and bad joseki choices, but when the game goes off into the depths of the middle game there is no more set plan.

The third type is actually worse off than the second because he has no details. Sure, his direction will be great and he’ll put a stone in the right general area of the board, but his moves are built on sand. While the direction of attack is good or the sense of weak and strong groups is stellar, their moves oftentimes have big holes that undermine the spirit of the move itself. Sure, you may look like you’re sealing your opponent in, but if you don’t take time to be sure that’s what’s actually happening, a savvy opponent will break through your shape and your blockade, and all of the tactical meaning behind it goes up in smoke.

What I am getting at is that we never profit from a strict mindset in what we believe the fundamentals of the game are. Your creativity and individuality are the engine of your Weiqi strength. You must always know the basis for your reasoning, and that’s what we’ll explore in this level. I know, this sounds hypocritical. The first 3 books of this series are all about broader concepts of Weiqi. Believe me that point isn’t lost on me, but to actually understand why the “fundamentals” are the way they are requires reading power, skill, and just plain experience. Learning the basic principles is great, it puts us into the right mindset and learning about them can only make us stronger. But now that you are a dan level player you can go further, you can learn why Weiqi masters play the way they do.

Behind every concept in Weiqi is a mountain of reading. Reading is twofold. You first have to devise the sequence of moves and then you have to develop the ability to judge which ones are useless and which ones are worthy of consideration. So the first useful skill is to be good at fighting. When your opponent cuts what do you do? How can you sacrifice worthless stones for maximum benefit? Where are your opponent’s shape weaknesses and under what conditions can you use them? Which shapes live, which shapes die, and where are the sente moves? Why is group A weak and group B strong even though their shapes aren’t definite? Luckily, skill at reading is something you can develop with hard work and lots of tsumego. Reading is a personal thing, a skill each person develops in their own unique way, so my job isn’t so much to magically make you better at reading, that’s on your end.

The second challenge is judgment, picking through the variations and building a good set of criterion to make tactical decisions. You send out your scouts to get a lay of the land, then in your war room you plot a course. In Weiqi, your ability to judge is everything. You must know the balance of territory, the value of thickness, the future usefulness of certain stones and who comes out better after each sequence. Sure it’s part feeling but your ability to refine your strategy through a more systematic approach to judging a position will root out a lot of bad possibilities.

My goal in this book is to expand your mind. I never want you to feel complacent in your knowledge of Weiqi. I want you to gain appreciation for the fact that the most elegant move is the move that works. Each situation is unique and each position represents a fresh challenge. Rise to this challenge by focusing your mind on functionality above all else. Any rule of thumb, principle, or standard shape is a tool for you to find the most functional move.

Foreword

Welcome to level 4 of the So you want to play Go? series, intended for 1 to 4 dan players. If you have read any of the previous levels 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.

I can’t tell you how much I looked forward to writing this installment of the So You Want to Play Go? series. The reason is that talking to dan level players is a lot of fun because you already know so much and we do not have to discuss the basics. This means we can talk about all the complicated strategies and concepts because we have the building blocks to see the details. The other reason I looked forward to writing this is because I know a lot of people like me who started off as an adult oftentimes get stuck in these ranks. Sure, moving up dan ranks may seem like a lot of work, but to be honest you are still going to be learning the basics of the game, except this time mastering them.

Now, what I am going to say may shock a few of you and may even turn some of you away, but I really mean this when I say it. Your ability to read will dictate your playing strength, and whether or not you believe that to be true, it has always dictated your playing strength. Some of you may be under the impression that “reading” only entails the life and death of enclosed corner groups and that someone who “reads” is a player who lacks a refined sense of tactics or aesthetics and just doesn’t have the instinct for beautiful, solid Weiqi. The “reader” type of player must rely on barbaric cutting and fighting to win their games. Without some broader sense of the game their progress must be limited. That is untrue, completely and utterly. How do I know? Look at the way children play the game.

Little kids can teach us a lot, especially when it comes to Weiqi. Most seasoned players know that kids learn the game at an astounding rate, and that eight or nine year old 5 dan (or stronger!) players are not unheard of. If you look at their games, you’ll notice one thing: most of them are big fighters and their knowledge of shapes is extraordinary. For one, their little minds are open to anything. As an adult we have our experiences, and to be honest, a lot of what we are as people and what we know about the world is less malleable. Adults do have advantages, like abstract thinking and application of general knowledge, but most adult players cannot match the speed at which children read out moves. Why?

Besides the fact their minds are working quite fast, they know the shapes. When you know a shape, it’s easier to read through it because the grunt work has already been done. You know what works and what doesn’t work. When you play little 5 dan players, they oftentimes know when a cut does or does not work, whether or not they can break through a blockade, and are certain of the outcome of a semeai in only a few seconds. It’s not because they read through every single variation in their heads beforehand. Their minds are quick, but if you notice how fast children play it’s difficult to believe that they systematically went through every move in their head like some computer. Fact of the matter is, they know the shape, they know what move does what, and they just play it without question. Sure they make larger strategic mistakes all the time, like not quite getting the biggest point on the board or making bad forcing moves, but in the end, if they know which groups are alive and which groups are dead with certainty they can make better tactical decisions.

Now that you are a dan player Weiqi has to be a lot less about guessing. That’s the main lesson I got from playing with strong children. Sure there are plenty of things you do not know, and that is what makes the game interesting and exciting. There comes a point in time, though, where you just cannot make basic mistakes. Your opponent will punish you and you will have an extraordinarily difficult time getting back the game because your opponent is not necessarily going to allow the match to shift back in your favor. How can you accomplish this? Better knowledge of shapes and better reading. Reading gives you the necessary information about the decisions you need to make. Reading answers questions like “Who is better in this fight?”, “Can my opponent invade here?”, “Should I take influence or territory on this part of the board?”, “How can I use my opponent’s bad aji?” and many other vital questions.

Does that mean you should ignore the larger strategic concepts and throw out your joseki books? No! But, if you build your Weiqi on the basis of good shape knowledge (which includes joseki!) and reading, then you can apply what you already know about attacking, defending, sabaki, etc. to better use. Instead of just starting an attack only to have it turn on you ten moves later, you will instead make the right preparatory moves first. Instead of dying every time you try to make sabaki, your groups will settle with ease. Break out the tsumego!

About the Author

My name is Jonathan Hop and I am a member of the American Go Association. I majored in Asian Studies at the University of Michigan and received my Masters in Japanese Studies. I have been playing Weiqi since about 2004 when I was 19 and have been pretty much addicted to the game since then. I went up ranks fairly quickly, but once I got to 2 dan I was really stuck, despite the fact that a lot of my stronger friends had no idea why I was not 5–6 dan yet. Eventually I made my way to Korea and became a member of the Yu Changhyuk Baduk Dojang where I studied Weiqi.

Yu Changhyuk 9p is a famous professional Korean Weiqi player, for those of you who do not know, and he opened up his very own dojang (most people know the equivalent Japanese word “Dojo,” and it means a place of study). I found out about it through a friend of an acquaintance, and despite my inability with the Korean language, I was able to become a member. The Dojang is for young Korean children who study very hard to become professional. The name for them in Korean is “Yongusaeng”, although more people may be familiar with the term “Insei” which is Japanese. These children study for hours on end trying to improve their skills so that one day they can pass the professional examination. Some of the children study from ten in the morning until ten or eleven at night; constantly playing or replaying game records under the watchful eyes of their teachers.

I was working at an English Language Institute called “YBM ECC” in Suji, South Korea as an English teacher and the first thing on my list of things to do was to find a teacher. I did have a professional instructor before, Guo Juan 5p, but since she was fairly expensive and I was a student at the time. I could only study with her for a few months. Now that I had a job and was in the land of Weiqi nothing was going to stop me. There were some Weiqi parlors in my vicinity, but it took some digging to find an actual Weiqi school. After a while I finally found the dojang and just walked right in through the front door.

One of the teachers there spoke a little English and I spoke a little Korean, so somehow we managed to communicate and I was able to enroll, despite the fact that my level was significantly lower than that of the average student. I had a Korean co-worker call them to confirm, and I was back at the dojang that same Saturday. The first day I met my teacher, Yi Jae Il. He was concerned about whether or not I would learn much because he spoke absolutely no English. When I mean none, I mean he could only count to seven if he concentrated. The first thing we did was play a handicap game where he gave me four stones, and proceeded to grind me into dust. While I did show off a few good moves, the difference in strength overwhelmed me and I just couldn’t do it. He was nice and soon afterwards pitted me against the children in the class. Keep in mind, the dojang was filled with children. I was one of only three adult students, and the other two only came in on days when they had free time. I was going up against little tanks, and while the bottom class were kids around my strength, their playing style was one unlike I had ever seen.

I have to thank all of my opponents because with each loss I was shown my weaknesses. Sure I was frustrated at first, but I learned to stop having such high standards and to recognize that my Weiqi had some gigantic holes in it. The children out-read me at every turn, and forced me to execute strategies I had never thought to apply. In order to survive in this world I had to master the shapes and reading, as well as master myself. I learned an even greater thing from the kids, though. The most wonderful characteristic of children is that they quickly forget. Sure when they lost a game they had a long face and maybe even pouted a little. But all it took to get them out of their funk was a silly joke or some ice cream and they were back on track, as if the game never happened. It was a lesson I took to heart.

Rising Through the Ranks

There’s no single piece of advice I can give you to raise your dan level, in fact, I don’t feel I’ve really put my finger on just what a 4 dan knows that a 1 dan doesn’t. It seems like a strange thing to say but the difference is largely in reading and mental attitude. Sure I know some people spend long hours studying joseki or read through books, but largely what you learned as a kyu in terms of larger strategy doesn’t change as a low dan player. You still play urgent moves before big moves, you still do not play too close to thickness, and you still expand your moyo at the expense of your opponent’s. Nothing in that respect changes. What separates players then is knowledge of shapes (notice how I said shapes and not necessarily joseki), reading ability in both depth and correctness, and consistency in applying the strategies we learned as kyu players. 2 dans will make weak groups next to their moyo just as well as a 2 kyu does, but it occurs with less frequency and in different situations. 3 dans will leave a weak group undefended to take a big point which is commonly seen in 3 kyu games, but the 3 dan’s ability to sabaki with said group is much higher simply due to better knowledge of shape.

That’s why I wanted to simulate through this book the way I learned to become a higher level dan player. I learned by playing and then having my games reviewed. My teacher never talked about deep strategy, for instance we almost never discussed sequences longer than say 10 moves (and even that was a rarity) and we never quibbled about small details. The focus was almost always on shape and adherence to principles I had heard time and time again but was not necessarily able to follow through with in a game because I did not know the exact spot to place a stone or I was taken in by other thoughts. To stand up to my opponents I had to attack and defend properly, to make strong shapes, to understand how to effectively use aji, and to never go against certain rules that I had known for a long time but still broke. I came to believe that in fact a lot of Weiqi is in fact worked out, that there are indeed things that work and do not work, and that by picking up the pieces with each game you can always move forward.

Chapter 1: Joseki

If you’ve been a faithful reader up until this level you’ll notice the last time I discussed joseki was in level 2. Even then, I didn’t go in depth with you because I didn’t want you to get into the mindset that memorizing joseki would make you strong. Since you are dan level I trust your reading ability and your understanding of the principles of the game are up to snuff so that I can show you joseki without you falling into the mental trap of “memorization is strength”. I always have thought of joseki as a fable. You remember those right? As a kid we listened to Aesop’s fables and waited for the moral of the story at the end where we learned an important life lesson. I think studying joseki is the same way. I don’t remember most of Aesop’s fables but the act of listening to them and the moral at the end were what stuck with me. The same is with joseki. Sure I want you to know them, because knowing them will help you a lot in your games. But knowing why each joseki is the way it is, when you should apply each joseki, and most importantly, being able to judge the result is what will build your strength. Think of joseki as a barometer of your playing strength. If you can utilize certain joseki correctly, as in apply them to the board in an effective way and know the details, it means you understand the principle behind the joseki. That having been said, some joseki you do need to just plain know. They not only teach you important shapes and important lessons about Weiqi strategy, but if you mess them up you just plain die. Well, let’s roll up our sleeves and get started.

The joseki we will be covering in this section are:

We’ll tackle this shape first, which is not entirely a new joseki. It is at least three years old and an innovation for the two space low pincer. The new idea is White 12. Both players take their own side of the board and Black is left with the aji in the corner. Okay, let’s roll up our sleeves and dive into the details. Why are the moves where they are? What is the meaning behind Black’s two space low pincer?

Let’s say White approaches at 1. Black pincers with 2 and then White has the option of jumping into the corner. You already know this shape backwards and forwards. The key thing to remember here is that after Black makes thickness here…

At a later point in the game, White can reduce Black by playing the shoulder hit at 1. After this middle game joseki, Black’s group is very over-concentrated.

If we play the two space low pincer instead, we get an extra line’s worth of points and our stones are not so clumped together should our opponent decide to reduce us. This is not to say that the one space pincer is unplayable, it just depends on what you’re okay with. You run the risk of being over-concentrated. As White, you don’t have to jump in the corner and you could instead switch directions and counter attack Black.

So let’s say White tries to counter attack and plays the high double approach at 3. Black attaches at 4, then White immediately invades the corner. Black cuts White off and we have this shape. You can leave Black 8 out if you really want, however you’ll have to deal with the aji of White escaping.

In this case, Black cut White instead of allowing him room on the bottom of the board. White 11 is a nice move, it creates a nice shape towards the outside, but Black has 12 at his disposal to connect all of is stones.

If White tries to make territory he’ll give Black the outside like so. This is to be expected, however, Black’s shape is quite strong as the cutting point is not a huge concern because Black 16 removes a liberty from the white stone. This is not a bad result.

We’ll take a look at the hane of White 1 now. Black will defend with 2 and White 3 is an interesting move. With this sequence, White gives up the corner in a big way. White 7 is pushing from behind but it is necessary because if Black gets that move then his center will be too thick. White 13 finishes off the sequence. This gives a decent result for White, although personally, I hate to give up so much territory, especially when the stones I’ve left behind have so little useful aji.

And the variations just keep on coming! In this case, Black connects directly at 9. White takes the outside influence with 12 and 14 which make good shape, while Black takes a respectable chunk of territory with 13. There is some minor aji with the corner stone, but nothing Black cannot handle.

Here is a slight variation on this idea. Let’s say Black plays the two space low pincer at 3 instead of one above. Now White has to fight his way out into the center and Black comes out with 13. This is respectable for both sides.

In case you were wondering, yes, you can extend at Black 2. White receives a very big corner this way, but Black’s thickness is most certainly not bad. The White stone on the bottom left is sort of hanging out, not doing a whole heck of a lot, so this result is even for both players.

Please be careful here though, because a joseki tragedy could await you. Black 6 is not good shape because Black is very low on liberties when White hanes at 7. After White hanes again at 11, Black is really in a bit of a bind. Black cannot cut, and he has to protect his two stones, so he’ll either save them and be in bad shape, or lose them and get a horrible result.

Heading back to the original sequence, we have some decisions to make as to how to further proceed. That will largely depend on the rest of the board, but then again, when is that not the case? By the way, there may be some who feel they could get away with playing elsewhere instead of taking with 19. It’s not an optional move, and I’ll leave you to ponder that for a bit. How can White turn the tables on Black should he neglect this important move?

Let’s suppose Black plays 1 to strengthen his stone. This is not the greatest move in the world, but Black felt that he was in good shape and could develop both sides. White has an excellent counter with 2, a sacrifice strategy. White 8 is sente, which let’s White cut at 10. If White has the ladder, then compared to the original shape, White’s influence in the center is far greater.

After Black takes, White should do something about the Black stone on the side, but just closing it in would be slow since White already has so many stones invested on that side. Reducing Black’s thickness from the bottom is also valuable. White 1 is a good probe to let Black make the first move. If Black emphasizes the right side, he could play a move like 2, which let’s White play 3. If Black moves out with 4, which would be advisable, White reduces with 5 and keeps that side in check. White could later live in the corner in gote, so this result for Black is not at all attractive.

If Black pulls back then that gives White the chance to make the right side worth more. When White plays 3, Black has to take the bottom lest White get both big points, and now White can play 5 to make the right side of the board expansive.

If Black wants to emphasize territory he can play the combination of Black 4 and 6 which I’m sure you’re already familiar with. This way, the right side of the board is not worth as much although White will most certainly get sente.

In the full book, this first chapter continues with more joseki analysis, followed by chapters on positional judgment, game reviews, and professional games.