While Volume 1
describes accurate assessment of territory in peaceful positions, this
book explains correct judgement of every dynamic aspect in dynamic
positions: options, major reductions, invasions, aji, potential,
influence, thickness and
fights. The fundamentals of development directions, numbers of neutral
stones, and statuses of groups and regions are not neglected. This
includes life and death statuses of envisaged invading groups.
Positional
Judgement 2 / Dynamics
is built on these three columns: 1) good play in the middle game, 2)
its evaluation and 3) 100 life and death problems. Although each
foundation could have filled its own book, the
combination raises
the level of insight further. Since correct status assessment is a
requirement for every positional judgement, the problems improve the
reader's tactical reading skill. Good play and its evaluation rely on
imagined move sequences whose quality depends on one's understanding of
the dynamic strategic concepts and the judgement of the dynamic changes
during a sequence and its resulting follow-up position. The comparison
of different sequences and positions is the key to deciding on the best
next move.
Besides an introduction of the presumed terms and a
very detailed index, there are four short chapters about development
directions, neutral stones, options and local potential, and six long
chapters about statuses, invasions, aji, reductions, influence and
thickness, and fights. 184 of the many examples discuss
positions
and sequences from professional games. The text and diagrams of
examples and the answer diagrams are as detailed as
necessary, up to
dozens of variations.
Theory
The
theory is presented as 86 principles, 3 methods, a few essential
definitions and explanatory text. Although each of the principles is
important, they vary from simple fundamental statements ("Invasions
require verifying the life status of the invading group by reading.")
via special purpose commands (such as those specifying which stones are
the influence stones) to detailed, advanced advice (for example,
listing the major cases of reductions in terms of
sente and gote, and relating them to the judged positions).
Markup in the carefully selected, very instructive diagrams and
explanations in the text relate the examples to the principles and
methods so that the reader learns by seeing the theory applied. While
there is only one example for the simplest theory (sente
invasion), the more difficult and detailed theory is illustrated with
more examples (up to 27 for the topic 'use of thickness').
This
degree of paying attention to details and the general power of the
carefully designed principles make the book an excellent tool for
studying the middle game. This is so even if the reader ignores the
extra level of theory about positional judgement which is, of
course, the major theme. For every dynamic strategic
concept, its use for assessing positions is explained well. How must
sequences be constructed? Which positions are evaluated? What do the
evaluations tell us if territory, influence, aji and other aspects must
be related to each other? The book answers all such questions.
Has the English
literature ever explained 'local potential' instead of hiding it in
ambiguous translations? - Why is it important to study neutral stones?
Aren't dame uninteresting? Every superfluous neutral stone played
during the opening or middle game is like a pass. Instead, we must play
valuable stones. The book reveals that even this minor topic is
essential because every wasted move loses one rank. Fundamentals,
Watson, fundamentals!
Positional Judgement 2 /
Dynamics studies
the statuses of connection, life and death, stability and regions,
whose territory or moyo nature is characterised by the possibility of a
successful invasion. Besides ordinary invasions,
other discussed
types include those being tests or exploiting aji. A special
evaluation applies to invading groups changing their life status. The
book explains the types of reductions of ordinary regions, big moyos,
spheres of dominating influence, influence and local potential, and
assigns the appropriate techniques.
Influence and thickness are
another major topic. The 'influence stone difference', which compares
the players' numbers of influence stones, is applied
to josekis and the middle game. When this tool is insufficient, we can
use the elegant definitions of the three types of strong groups,
concepts for transforming thickness and principles for its best use.
Finally, the book teaches the dynamic positional
judgement of one-sided fights, exchanges as well as unpredictable,
complex fights.
Problems
Almost
all of the problems are new, although they have been derived by
modifying actual game positions. 89 of the problems study the life and
death of 10 of the professional example positions in depth. Although
this results in groups of problems with similar shapes, every problem
is demanding. The aforementioned compilation of problems achieves two
additional purposes: 1) the reader learns the necessary volume of
tactical reading in intermediate to advanced real game positions; 2)
the book dissolves the mystery by revealing how deeply professional
players should read before starting a successful deep invasion.
There
are 1 to 44 answer diagrams per problem - just as much as necessary to
clarify the answer for everybody. The problems are for players from 5
kyu (easiest problems) to 6 dan (the most difficult problems). The
answer variations contain many spectacular tesujis. The book
leaves no doubt: a reader wishing to become a strong player must also
practise reading seriously.
What the Book Is Not
The book hardly teaches counting territory because this is explained in
Volume 1. The
book is not for players weaker than 5 kyu because the easiest failure
variations are often omitted. Circa 1/4 of those diagrams showing
game continuations have
more moves than pleasant so that, whenever details
matter, additional other diagrams ease understanding
of the
theory.
Usually
the book ignores the earlier order of moves and concentrates on
predicting the future game development. The task is to
judge the
current position and follow-up positions - not the earlier positions.
Traditional go theory suggests an alternative approach to positional
judgement by also studying the earlier positions and considering the
current position as fair if there are no flaws in the
efficiency of a player's groups. Except for the related topics of
development directions, neutral stones and options, the book does not
fully represent the aspect of traditional theory concerned with earlier
moves. There is, however, a chance
that a Volume 3
might do so.
Conclusion
Positional Judgement 2 /
Dynamics
fills a gap in the (English) literature. This ground-breaking treatise
teaches much that cannot be found elsewhere, including a few new
inventions. Since the author has
learnt much while exploring and writing the contents, in his opinion,
this is the first English theory book also specifically written for dan
players. Nevertheless, eager kyu players benefit much because the
greater part of the theory allows its easy understanding.
* = These are the endconsumer prices in EUR according to UStG
§19 (small business exempted from VAT).
