Winning Go

Book excerpt: Master the game of Go with this expert guide. Go is a two player-board game that first originated in ancient China but is also very popular in Japan and Korea. There is significant strategy and philosophy involved in the game, and the number of possible games is vast--even when compared to chess. This is the first comprehensive strategy guidebook in English to cover the entire game of Go by illustrating the nuances and finer points of Go strategy. Its 203 problems and their commented answers demonstrate to players of all level of skill not only successful moves, but also the incorrect moves and why they are wrong. This enables players to identify strengths and weaknesses in their games. From opening play to the endgame, Winning Go is an essential tool in helping serious players master the sophisticated sequence and flow of advanced Go play. Useful Go strategies include: The opening (fuseki) The middle (chuban) The endgame (yose) Clever moves (tesuji) Life and death (shikatsu) Winning corner skirmishes (joseki) Accurate counting Players will learn about not only creating good shapes, but also how to avoid or take advantage of bad ones, along with the right and wrong order of moves. This makes Winning Go the ideal choice for a first problem book because it enables both players and teachers to improve upon their Go game. From opening play to endgame, Winning go is an essential tool in helping serious Go players master the sophisticated sequence and flow of advanced Go play.