(c) 2008 by Yilun Yang

Workshop Lectures, Volume 6

Yilun Yang

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Yilun Yang 7P is one of the most popular go teachers in the US. He has many Internet students, holds frequent workshops around the country, and has published many books about the game and his special approach to playing it, emphasizing following precepts rather than memorizing patterns and sequences.

Yang was born in China in 1951 and had an active career as a professional go player and teacher there before coming to the US in 1986. He lives near Los Angeles, California. You can contact him at yly_go@yahoo.com.

Yang’s workshops typically involve several lectures and thorough analyses of the games participants play each day. In the lectures he guides players through the special approach to thinking about and playing the game that he has worked out during many years of teaching. He believes that play should be guided by applying easily understood principles rather than by memorizing common patterns and special sequences.

Yang argues that there are too many variables in go to make memorizing set patterns very efficient, but there are a relatively small number of easy to understand precepts that can effectively guide players' reading and play in every situation that arises. The four lectures in this book present some of these guidelines. They give the reader a small taste of the exciting approach to the game that Yang has developed and that he spells out in detail in the lectures and game analyses at his workshops.

William Cobb, November 2008

Copyright Page

(c) Yilun Yang

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited.

Slate & Shell
1425 Westshire Lane
Richmond, VA 23238
www.slateandshell.com

Special thanks are due to William Gundberg, Evans Palmour, and Larry Russ for help with proof reading.

Edited by William Cobb

Cover design by Laurie M. Crammond

Conversion to SmartGo Books by William Cobb

ISBN of print edition:
1–932001–42–5

Table of Contents

Workshop Lectures, Volume 6

Introduction

Copyright Page

Entering the Middle Game

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

Attacking Severely

Dealing with a Moyo

Playing With and Against the Sanrensei

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Entering the Middle Game

In this lecture I want to talk about the transition from the opening to the middle game. Many players seem to be unsure of what to do in this part of the game.

First we must have a quick review of how to play in the opening. I discuss this topic in detail in the first chapter of Fundamental Principles of Go, published by Slate & Shell and also available as a SmartGo e-book.

Game 1-A

＞＜

The First Class of big moves is to play in an empty corner. Let’s assume Black 1 through White 4.

Game 1-B

＞＜

Next, the Second Class A move is to approach or enclose any corner with a stone on the 3–4, 3–5, or 4–5 point stone. So Black 5 in this case.

Second Class B moves are to finish a joseki or make a pincer. There is no opportunity for that yet in this case.

Game 1-C

＞＜

Second Class C moves are an extension on the biggest open side. Of the four sides here the biggest is the bottom. The left side and the top are one line wider, but the bottom area is one line higher, so it is bigger.

After White 6, the left side is bigger because of 6, which makes it more developable for White, so Black 7.

Game 1-D

＞＜

Next, the top is bigger than the right side. White could play at A, or even at B to reduce Black, but the top is not particularly developable for Black so a five space extension makes sense, building a position. White 8 is on the third line because this is a territory-type game.

Game 1-E

＞＜

Black 9 is not at A, an ideal five space extension from the top corner stone, because the bottom corner is stronger—you should help the weaker stone.

Game 1-F

＞＜

The next class of moves is important, that is, dual purpose extensions. For example, White 10 is very important. White 10 reduces Black and helps . If Black plays at White 10, Black would gain excellent moyo potential and would become weaker.

Game 1-G

＞＜

The next class of moves is to approach or enclose a corner with a 3–3 point stone. Black 11 is chosen because Black wants to retain sente. If Black A and White B, Black would have to take gote with C. White 12 is a joseki move.

Game 1-H

＞＜

Now it’s time to approach or enclose corners with 4–4 point stones. Black gets both of these with 13 and 15. White 14 is a joseki move.

This is the end of early opening play. Now it is more difficult to find the biggest moves. That’s what this lecture will focus on: How to find the biggest moves after the early opening.

The Most Open Area

First, we need to make a quick judgment as to where the most open area is.

The open area around A is about nine points, and the area around B is the same. Around C there are about twelve or so open points. The area around D is larger than any of these, but the area around E is the largest because the corner is more open than in the lower left.

Any Weak Stones?

You must also consider whether you or your opponent has any weak or potentially weak stones. This is even more important than determining the largest open area. In this case, White does not have any weak stones, but is weak because of the strong white stones nearby and the stones are potentially weak. If White plays at A, you can see that all three black stones on the left side would become vulnerable.

Game 1-I

＞＜

So in this case, the biggest move for White is 16, making the corner solid and creating a serious weakness in Black.

Game 1-J

＞＜

Now the area on the bottom left is bigger than the upper right because there is only one invasion point. When there were two openings for invasion, the bottom left could be treated as two areas. Now there is only one, so invading around A is the biggest. However, since Black has weak stones on the left side, making a solid position with Black 17 is best because it prepares for an invasion around A.

Game 1-K

＞＜

White can protect most of the lower left, so the upper right is the biggest area now. The best move is in the middle, between the corner and the side. Since the area is not wide open it makes sense for White to use a forcing move at 18.

Should Black now protect the corner or the side?

In the full book, this game is continued to move 48, followed by two more games, then chapters on Attacking Severely, Dealing with a Moyo, and Playing With and Against the Sanrensei.

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(c) 2008 by Yilun Yang

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