Go! more than a game

358 Pages·2003·12.23 MB·English

by  Peter Shotwell

Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
www.tuttlepublishing.com
Copyright © 2003 Peter Shotwell All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shotwell, Peter, 1941-
Go! : more than a game / by Peter Shotwell ; with three game commentaries by
Huiren
Yang and Sangit Chatterjee.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4629-0006-0
1. Go (Game) I. Yang, Huiren. II. Chatterjee, Sangit. III. Title.
GV1459.32.S46 2003
794’.4—dc21
2002041614

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Design by Stephanie Doyle
Printed in the United States of America
Art on the cover and title page: Raiko’s Retainers Playing Go.
Oban triptych by Kuniyoshi, published by Ishikaway Wasuka, c. 1861.
From the collection of Kiseido Publishing.
Tuttle Publishing® is a registered trademark of Tuttle Publishing, a division of
Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
How to Use This Book
Introduction
PART ONE : GO BASICS
1. “Go Is to Life As Life Is to Go”—The Capturing Game
2. Go Is a Game Between Living Groups
3. A Preview and A Review: Live and Dead Shapes
4. Go Is a Game of Territory (and Potential Territory)
5. Handicap Go—The Great Equalizer
PART TWO : BEGINNING PLAY
6. The Harmony and Balance of a Mental Martial Art
7. Two Professional 9 x 9 Games
PART THREE : INTERMEDIATE PLAY
8. The Stones Talk to Each Other
9. The First 13 x 13 Game
10. Making Good Shape
11. The Second 13 x 13 Game
PART FOUR : ADVANCED PLAY
12. Direction of Play
13. Go on the Big Board—A 19 x 19 Game
14. Some Fusekis and Josekis
15. A Second Look at Some of the Games
PART FIVE : FURTHER EXPLORATIONS IN GO
16. The History of Go
17. Go and Western Science
18. Go, Business, and the Thirty-Six Strategies of the Dark School of
Daoism
19. Update—Recent Developments
Computer Go Turns into Supercomputer Go
Surreal Numbers and Combinatorial Game Theory
Go Combinatorics: The Maximum Number of Possible Go Positions,
Games and their Lengths
Asian Go
Two Giant Tibetan Go Boards
A Re-dating and Re-Interpretation of the Pre-Han Confucian Go
Passages
Where to Go from Here: Go Resources and Equipment
Go Equipment
Notes
Glossary and Pronunciation of Japanese Terms in this Book
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Without the generous and patient editing help of four people, this book would
have been a much poorer effort: my editor at Tuttle Publishing, Jennifer
Lantagne; Designer, Stephanie Doyle; the 1995 World Women’s Champion,
Feng Yun, 9 dan; and Richard Bozulich of Kiseido Publishing Company. Mr.
Bozulich was also kind enough to furnish the artwork in the book.
I am also extremely grateful for reviews of the first manuscript by Barbara
Calhoun, past president of the American Go Association; Edwinna Williams,
who was around when I first learned the game; and Christine Mathieu, an old
China hand and author of Mother Lake.
Next, I would like to thank None Redmond, mother of Michael Redmond, 9 dan;
Evelyn Lee; Keith Nabozny; Michael and Dianna Watson; Omri Glasner; Shawn
Svacha; Vincent Solimine; Dave Boyer and Andrew Wood for their extremely
helpful comments and suggestions from the point of view of beginners.
Special thanks are also due to two other former presidents of the American Go
Association, Terry Benson and Roy Laird, for help in setting me out as a Go
writer and for many favors in gathering material and information over the years.
Also, without the timely help of Anders Kierulff, inventor of Smart Go, the work
of transferring game files into a publishing format might have proved
impossible.
Thanks are also due to Jim Fitzgerald, agent extraordinaire.
Finally, I am grateful to my wife, Susan Long, and her parents, George and Pearl
Schweitzer, without whose support the seemingly never-ending process of
production would have been much more difficult.
For the 2010 update, I would like to thank my editor, Bud Sperry, for all his
patience, and the experts who generously helped to shape it—Monte Carlo
computer pioneers Olivier Teytaud, Remi Coloum, David Fotland, Martin
Meuller and “Yamoto;” Go combinatorial game theorists Elwyn Berlekamp and
Bill Spight; combinatorics wizard John Tromp, Asian Go authority Richard
Bozulich and his friend John Power, and one of the world’s leading Go
historians, John Fairbairn.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is a unique introduction to the world of Go. Not only does it use the
new, easy method of the Capturing Game in a very special way but it also goes
further into the technique, history, and mystique of the game than any other
beginners’ book. For these reasons, the methods of getting maximum benefit
from it are also different.
Go! More Than a Game is not a short book of instructions and lists that is merely
a preliminary to buying your next Go book. Instead, by using a game-oriented
approach, it is meant to be a companion for the entire beginning of your Go
career. Naturally and gradually, the size of the board is increased from the 9 line
x 9 line “small” board to the full-size 19 x 19 board as you grow in your
perception and skill. By the end of the book, you will have become well
acquainted with the basics that underlie Go playing.
Understanding the two major rules of Go takes only a few minutes. The more
you learn, however, the more you will discover the richness and profundity of
the many patterns and concepts important to the game. Please keep in mind,
though, that memorization is not needed. In fact, trying to memorize patterns and
concepts as a beginner is counterproductive in Go. Instead, look at the book until
you reach a point where you can’t follow it and then just play a few games! This
can be done with friends, with computer programs, or on the Internet.
Information about these opportunities can be found in the back of the book.
After you have tried playing a little, go back to the book, advance a little further,
and then play some more. Or even better, play all the time and look at the book
only when you get a chance. In a very short amount of time, with Go’s unique
handicap system, you will be able to play exciting games with anyone in the
world on even terms.
Another unique feature of this book is a series of essays that explore the
highlights of the game’s incredible 2500–4000-year-old history. You will learn
why it has fascinated so many millions of people with so many beliefs for so
many different reasons. The result will be that, besides being able to play, you
will be able to talk intelligently about the game with anyone else in the world.
In other words, don’t study Go with this book; use it as a friend as you begin to
explore the wondrous diversity of this most ancient and modern pastime!