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The Road Map to Shodan, Volume 2

The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game

by Rob van Zeijst & Richard Bozulich

Kiseido Publishing Company
Chigasaki, Japan

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

In the opening, reading is next to impossible. The go player must rely on his intuition. Professionals and high-dan amateur players have a large number of principles which they instinctively know that guide their intuition in the opening and middle game.

In this book, 20 basic principles are presented. Each principle is accompanied by numerous examples and each section is followed by problems in which the application of these principles is required to solve them. The intuition of the novice player who studies the principles, examples, and problems presented in this book will quickly rise to the level of shodan (1-dan).

Copyright Page

The Road Map to Shodan, Volume 2
The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game

by Rob van Zeijst & Richard Bozulich

Copyright © 2014 by Rob van Zeijst and Richard Bozulich

All rights reserved according to international law. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use without the written permission from Kiseido Publishing Company.

Published by
Kiseido Publishing Company
Kagawa 4–48–32
Chigasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken
Japan 253–0082

ISBN of the printed version: 978–4–906574–83–4

Converted for SmartGo Books by John Mifsud.

Contents

The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game
The Road Map to Shodan, Volume 2

Copyright Page

Preface

A Brief Glossary of Go Terms and Concepts

Extensions and Efficiency

Principle 1A. From a single stone, extend two spaces

Principle 1B. From a two-stone wall, extend three spaces

Principle 1C. From a three-stone wall, extend four spaces

Principle 2. Extend up to five spaces from a corner enclosure

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

Principle 3. Extend at least five spaces from a large-scale wall

Problems 1 to 8

Confinement, Linkage, and Separation

Principle 4A. Confine your opponent’s stones

Principle 4B. Don’t allow your stones to be confined

Principle 5. Split your opponent’s stones into weak groups

Problems 9 to 14

Weak Stones and Weak Positions

Principle 6A. Defend your weak stones

Principle 6B. Attack your opponent’s weak stones

Principle 7A. Rob your opponent’s stones of their base

Principle 7B. Make a base for your stones

Principle 8. Reinforce widely spaced stones

Problems 15 to 22

Handling Moyos

Principle 9A. Play on the junction of opposing moyos

Principle 9B. Expand your moyo while reducing your opponent’s

Escaping

Principle 10. Escape lightly into the center with heavy stones

Problems 23 to 28

Handling Thickness

Principle 11. Don’t approach thickness

Principle 12. Don’t use thickness to make territory

Principle 13. Use thickness to attack

Principle 14. Drive your opponent’s stones toward your thickness

Problems 29 to 32

The Third and Fourth Lines in the Opening

Principle 15. Maintain a balance between the third and fourth lines

Principle 16. When expanding a moyo, play on the fourth line

Defending Against a 3–3 Point Invasion

Principle 17. Against a 3–3 point invasion, block on the side that makes the biggest moyo or territory

Principle 18. Defend the territory you have invested in

Problems 33 to 38

Turning a Moyo into Territory

Principle 19. Play urgent moves before building or attacking a moyo

Problems 39 to 40

How to Make Sabaki

Principle 20. Settle stones stranded inside your opponent’s sphere of influence by attaching

Problems 41 to 45

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Preface

Go is played on a very large board consisting of 361 playing points. During the opening phase (the fuseki), there will be perhaps 50 to 100 candidates for a plausible move, and for each of these candidate moves the opponent’s many possible responses must also be considered, as well as your responses to each of these responses, and so on. Clearly, an exhaustive search is impractical, so the expert go player needs some principles to guide him in finding the best move.

As the game winds down or the problem of whether a group lives or dies in the corner arises, the number of moves to consider greatly diminishes and it becomes possible to use the brute-force method of trial and error to find the best move. This kind of analysis is what go players refer to as ‘reading’. However, in the opening, reading is next to impossible. The go player must rely on his intuition. Professionals and high-dan amateur players have a large number of principles which they instinctively know that guide their intuition in the opening and middle game.

In this book, 20 basic principles are presented. Each principle is accompanied by numerous examples and each section is followed by problems in which the application of these principles is required to solve them. The intuition of the novice player who studies the principles, examples, and problems presented in this book will quickly rise to the level of shodan (1-dan).

Richard Bozulich
Rob van Zeijst

A Brief Glossary of Go Terms and Concepts

Aji — Aji in Japanese means ‘taste’ in the sense that ‘food tastes good.’ However, what this word really implies when used in a go context is ‘aftertaste’. It refers to the possibilities that remain in a position after a local skirmish has been played.

Atari — When all the intersections except one directly adjacent to a stone or a group of stones are occupied by the opponent, the stone or group is said to be in ‘atari’.

Gote — A move that your opponent can ignore. A gote move is usually defensive, so it will pose little or no threat to your opponent. Compare sente.

Hane — A hane is a diagonal move that bends (literally ‘springs’) around an opposing stone.

Miai — Points in a position that are of equal value. If one player occupies one of them, the other player takes the other.

Moyo — A large framework of potential territory.

Sabaki — The technique of securing or settling an endangered group.

Sente — A move that your opponent cannot ignore, otherwise he will suffer an unacceptable loss. Compare gote.

Some English Terms

Heavy — A group of stones is said to be heavy if it lacks eye shape and is vulnerable to an attack, while being too big or important to sacrifice. By attacking a heavy group, a player can gain profit while his opponent struggles to escape or make two eyes. Omoi in Japanese.

Light — Stones are called light when they can be sacrificed after having served some purpose. Karui in Japanese.

Proper move — The correct move, although it may sometimes appear to be slow. It leaves no weaknesses or bad aji behind. Honte in Japanese.

Thick — A thick group or position is one that has eyes or has few or no defects, that is, cutting points. Thick positions are useful in that they can be used for attacking. Conversely, thick positions are not vulnerable to an attack. Atsui in Japanese.

Thin — Stones which are weak or widely separated are called thin. Unlike thick stones, stones that are thin are easily attacked. Usui in Japanese.

Extensions and Efficiency

Go is a game in which two players vie to control territory and the player who places his stones more efficiently will gain the advantage. Examples of efficiency can best be illustrated by extensions.

For extensions to work efficiently they must not be too narrow or too wide. If they are too narrow, they are not mapping out enough territory and the stones will become overconcentrated. If they are too wide, the territory they are mapping out risks being erased by an invasion.

The following three principles can serve as a guide when making extensions along the third line.

Principle 1A: From a single stone, extend two spaces.

Principle 1B: From a two-stone wall, extend three spaces.

Principle 1C: From a three-stone wall, extend four spaces.

Dia. 1

From the single marked stone, extending two spaces to White 1 in Dia. 1 is an ideal extension. This is an application of Principle 1A.

Dia. 2

In Dia. 2, Black has made a two-stone wall with the marked stones, so, following Principle 1B, Black extends three spaces to 1.

Dia. 3

If Black has made a three-stone wall with the marked stones in Dia. 3, he can extend four spaces to 1.

This is the theory, but these principles should not be taken as iron-clad rules. In the course of a game, a certain amount of flexibility is necessary and a player should always look at the overall position. Sometimes it is prudent to play tightly, at other times it might be necessary to play loosely.

Here are some examples.

Dia. 4

In Dia. 4, Black has approached the white stone in the corner with the marked stone. How should White respond?

Dia. 5

White should attach with 1 in Dia. 5, forcing Black to make a two-stone wall with 2. White defends the top with 3. Because the marked white stone is in place, the farthest that Black can extend from his two-stone wall is two spaces to 4, so his stones are a bit overconcentrated.

Dia. 6

If White answers the marked stone by simply jumping to 1 (or ‘a’) in Dia. 6, Black will slide to 2. After White defends with 3, Black will extend to 4, making an ideal shape for his stones.

Dia. 7

In Dia. 7, it is Black’s turn to play. Because of White’s thick position in the upper left, it is rather urgent that he somehow settle his marked stone by extending along the side to neutralize White’s thickness. Where should Black play?

Dia. 8

Black 1 in Dia. 8 is the correct move, even though White can exchange 2 for Black 3, forcing Black’s stones to become overconcentrated.

Dia. 9

It might seem better for Black to slide to 1 in Dia. 9 first, then, after White defends with 2, extend to 3. However, White might not cooperate. Instead —

Dia. 10

When Black slides to 1 in Dia. 10, White would play a pincer with 2, which is also an extension from his thick wall above. Black secures the corner territory with 3, but White follows up with the joseki to 10. White has built a moyo (a large framework of potential territory) on the left that projects influence throughout the board. Black’s stones, on the other hand, are confined to the upper and lower left corners. White has come out of this skirmish with a superior position.

What about the stone at 7?

Dia. 11

As the position now stands, the marked stone (7 in Dia. 10) can’t escape. If Black tries to run away with 1 in Dia. 11 and the following moves, White will drive those stones toward the top of the board and capture them in a ladder. Play out the sequence for yourself to confirm this. However, if Black were to play a move around ‘a’ or anywhere in the path of this ladder, White would have to actually capture this stone. (He could do so by playing at ‘b’, changing the direction of the ladder while reinforcing his left side.) Because of the potential (aji) of the stone at 7 in Dia. 10 to escape, Black could gain a tempo elsewhere.

Principle 2: Extend up to five spaces from a corner enclosure.

Dia. 12

In the opening in Dia. 12, Black and White have each made two corner enclosures. The enclosures on the right project strong influence up and down the right side, while the enclosures on the left project influence toward the right.

Dia. 13

Because the black and white enclosures on the right side in Dia. 13 are facing each other, Black 9, the central point between them, is the biggest move on the board. Whichever side plays on this point first will get the initiative on the right side.

White 10, extending five spaces from the enclosure in the upper left corner is the next biggest point, as is Black 11. It would be of equivalent value if White played 10 at 11, preventing Black from making an ideal extension from his enclosure.

With regard to the enclosures on the left, they project little influence up and down the left side. Therefore, the point ‘a’ has the least value.

In general, the farthest that a player should extend from an enclosure is five spaces, but there are exceptions. For example —

Dia. 14

Black answers the approach move of White 1 in Dia. 14 by extending six spaces to 2. This move may seem to be a bit wide, but it can also be thought of as a pincer against the stone at 1. As such, it is an extremely efficient move — it kills two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Dia. 15

A black extension of only five spaces to Black 2 in Dia. 15 is not really a pincer, since White can comfortably extend two spaces to 3.

Dia. 16

Extending from a corner enclosure is important, even if it is more narrow than the ideal extension. For example, after the joseki to White 12 in Dia. 16 has been played, the farthest that Black can extend from his enclosure is three spaces to 13. Even though it is less than the ideal five spaces, it accomplishes two things: it reinforces Black’s enclosure and it threatens to invade at ‘a’.

If White makes an enclosure with 14 —

Dia. 17

Black might invade with 15 in Dia. 17. Afer White attaches with 16, the descent of Black 17 threatens to link up at either 19 or ‘a’. White 18 stops the link-up at ‘a’, but Black 19 links up to the stones in the corner, reinforcing and expanding Black’s territory there while taking White’s base.

Dia. 18

Instead of 10 in Dia. 16, White might play the diagonal connection of 10 in Dia. 18. This move enables White to extend one more space to 12, so Black can make only a two-space extension to 13. However, this move threatens an invasion at ‘a’, so White might be inclined to reinforce his position by jumping to 14.

Instead of 14 —

Dia. 19

White might make an enclosure with the marked stone in Dia. 19. Black could then invade with 1, threatening to link up to his stones in the corner. White prevents this with 2. Next, one possibility is for Black to play 3 and 5, followed by the sequence to 11. This is a joseki. White finishes off the joseki with 12, but the stone at 5 is not completely captured. Black could run away at ‘a’, leading to a complicated fight.

Dia. 20

In the amateur game in Dia. 20, Black neglected to extend to ‘a’ and White eventually ended in sente, so he was able to extend to 1. This is a big move because it accomplishes many things. It expands White’s territory on the right and stops Black from expanding to ‘a’ from his enclosure. It also indirectly reinforces White’s weak point at ‘b’. Finally, it has a good follow-up move at ‘c’, which would threaten Black’s enclosure and expand his position on the right side into the center.