Robert Jasiek
2016-04-23 11:23:29 UTC
Review: An Encyclopedia of Go Principles
GENERAL SPECIFICATION
* Title: An Encyclopedia of Go Principles
* Authors: Richard Bozulich
* Publisher: Kiseido
* Edition: 2015
* Language: English
* Price: EUR 25
* Contents: principles
* ISBN: 978-4-906574-79-7
* Printing: almost good
* Layout: almost good
* Editing: almost good
* Pages: 273
* Size: 148mm x 210mm
* Diagrams per Page on Average: 3
* Method of Teaching: principles, examples
* Read when EGF: 10k - 3k
* Subjective Rank Improvement: o
* Subjective Topic Coverage: o
* Subjective Aims' Achievement: -
**************************************************************************
Introduction
The book contains 112 principles counting from 1 to 100; in a few
cases, a few principles are grouped and distinguished by a letter.
Each of the principles also serves as a subheading for its, if any,
usually very short explanation (infrequently better than the principle
itself) and circa 2 examples. Besides, there is a tiny number of
additional principles mentioned in the text but without study.
Much of the text accompanying the examples I consider boring or
superfluous but this might be caused due to my perspective as a player
too strong for the book. As is typical for Bozulich's books, most
examples have simplified positions; the reader does not see the
richness of possible positions. A few handicap examples contribute to
this impression. Only a few unspecified professional positions offer
more positional variation. The critic sees the author's laziness while
the optimist perceives possibly eased learning of the basics.
The layout is slightly inefficient but, compared to the layout rip-off
of The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game, the author
has greatly improved matters. For example, showing up to three 19x19
positions on a page works well to reduce the sizes of large white
spaces. The small average number of moves per diagram eases reading
but there sometimes are too few moves so that one must not be
impressed by the book's number of pages. On the other hand, I must
have done something right in my books when now Bozulich adopts a
number - subnumber style for the numbering of diagrams (he uses the
same major number for the diagrams illustrating its principle) and
distinguishes diagram references in the text by italics. In my
opinion, this layout style eases reading.
The principles are grouped in chapters about: opening; extensions;
moyos; thickness; defending and attacking weak groups; shape; shortage
of liberties; pressing, pushing and crawling; attack; sabaki; ko;
ladders; tactics; miscellaneous. The latter includes more principles
about ko. In conclusion, the structure of the book indicates some
laziness. There appear to have been last minute additions and
subnumbering for the sake of finishing the book quickly and getting
exactly 100 as the largest number of a principle.
The book suggests the idea that go theory can be represented as
principles. Such a view is somewhat simplistic because go theory also
consists of terms, concepts, methods, values and other aspects.
Nevertheless, a book that claims to be an "encyclopedia" of "all the
strategic and tactical principles of go" (backcover text) might be my
dream book in which I would want to read every day forever. In the
later 1990s, I suggested that go book authors should make more use of
principles. It took years before the author of this book started to
use principles prominently; finally, he provides a book concentrating
on principles. In this review, I shall find out whether my dream has
been fulfilled.
Limits of the Correctness of the Contents
When Bozulich takes his time and studies variations, his study is
correct. The more the contents approaches his regular topics and
contents in his earlier books, the more convincing his variations and
study become. He has a firm knowledge of the related parts of go
theory.
However, in quite a few other examples, laziness or gaps of knowledge
shine through. Readers of the intended readership would hardly notice
such because it is beyond their own understanding. Bozulich's major
recurring mistake is to show something very convincingly for one
player because that player's moves are correct while part of the
opponent's moves are wrong. With much more careful study and invested
time for writing, the author should have discovered most such cases by
himself. Seemingly convincing applications of a principle can be a
fake when the opponent's better replies would inhibit the easy
demonstration. How can an author avoid the problem? He must study more
examples to find more suitable ones or his discussion of the used
examples must involve a much greater number of side aspects and
decisions.
Besides, the author makes a relatively small number of other mistakes
in go theory caused by his gap of knowledge of professional go theory
and his insufficient study of available go theory by amateur experts
or other go book authors. For example, he makes a mistake in
positional judgement (although elsewhere in the book his other
positional judgement is right) or a mistake in rules application on
the strategic level.
These shortcomings and the missing generality of part of the
principles mentioned further below restrict the strongest reader level
to 3 kyu and the rank improvement to 'o'; otherwise, the sheer number
of useful principles would have resulted in a '+'. The flaws in the
contents, however, mean that the reader's learning potential is
limited and he needs to unlearn too much when later becoming stronger
than 3 kyu.
The Principles
The Principles in the book are short. While this eases their learning,
it also means that very many principles are weaker or much weaker than
other existing principles elsewhere in the literature or oral
knowledge of strong players.
Principles can be classified roughly by their estimated fraction of
correct versus incorrect application to practically occurring
positions. Here, let me introduce these classes according to the
roughly estimated fraction of correctness:
10% = special case guideline, useful together with other special cases
50% = joke (correct and incorrect application are equally frequent)
55% = proverb (only slightly better than a joke; outdated principle)
60% = weak principle
75% = intermediate principle
90% = strong principle
99% = very strong principle
100% = truth
W = weaker than another existing, more often correct principle
S = principle for a special shape only
Now I roughly assess the principles of the book by their numbers:
001 55% W
002 75% W
003 55% W
004 55% W "Establish a position inside your opponent's sphere of
influence."
005 50% WS
006A 75% WS
006B 75% WS
006C 75% WS
007 75% WS
008 75% WS
009 75% W
010 60% W
011 90% WS
012 55% W
013 75% W
014 75% W
015 10% WS
016A 10% WS
016B 10% WS
017 10% WS
018 10% WS
019 60% W
020 60% W
021 99% W "Be willing to transfer a moyo from one part of the board
to another."
022 75% WS
023 75% W
024A 60% W
024B 10% W
024C 60% W
025 50% WS
026 50% WS
027 75% W
027A 75% W
027B 60% W "Attack your opponent's weak stones."
028A 60% W
028B 60% W
028C 50% W
029 90% WS
030 99% WS
031 75% WS
032 75% W
033 50% WS
034 50% WS
035 50% WS
036 55% WS
037 55% WS
038 60% WS
039 75% W
040 50% W
041 50% W
042 10% W
043 10% WS
044 10% WS
045 50% WS
046 60% W
047 10% W
048 60% W
049 10% WS
050 50% W
051 50% WS
052 90% "Abandon junk stones." [Until the endgame.]
053 75% W "Don't make territory in an area where one of your flanks
is open."
054 55% W
055 90%
056 60% W
057 90%
058 10% S
059 55% WS
060 55% WS
061 75% W
062 10% WS
063 50% WS
064 60% WS
065 50% W
066 10% WS
067 10% WS
068 55% W
069 10% WS
070 55% W
071 55% W
072 10% WS
073 10% WS
074 10% WS "The comb formation is alive."
075 10% WS
076 10% WS
077 10% WS
078 10% WS
079 10% WS
080 50% WS
081 55% WS
082 90% W
083 60% W
084 55% W
085A 75% WS
085B 75% WS
085C 75% WS
085D 75% WS
086 10% WS
087 50% W "If you lose four corners, resign."
088 55% W
089 60% W
090 55% W
091 90% WS
092 55% W
093 99% W
094 90% W
095 90% WS
096 75% W
097 75% W
098 90% W
099 10% WS
100 10% WS
Summary: There are these numbers of principles:
-------------------------------------------------
109 W
3 without W
-------------------------------------------------
57 S
55 without S
-------------------------------------------------
27 10%
16 50%
17 55%
15 60%
24 75%
10 90%
3 99%
0 100%
-------------------------------------------------
60 10% ~ 55% special case, joke or proverb
52 60% ~ 99% real principles
-------------------------------------------------
Some of the 10% WS "principles", such as the life status of a
particular shape at a particular place of the board, are 100% truths
but, as special shape cases, do not deserve the principle tag.
It is ok for a book for kyu players to teach first guidelines, such as
"Don't approach thickness.", when they are just starting to learn what
is thickness at all. For a book, however, claiming to teach
principles, be an encyclopedia of principles and not to teach
proverbs, 52 real principles of 112 so called principles is too
little. Besides, the average quality of the real principles is too
low.
Learning the principles of the book as a player 3 kyu or weaker means
having to unlearn most of them in order to improve as a 2 kyu or
stronger. It is no coincidence that a principle of the book is
occasionally not applied in a different part of the book.
The author should have recognised the "jokes" and omitted them. The
10% and 55% "principles" contain useful hints but most should have
been called "shape knowledge" or "proverbs". 60% and 75% principles
can be useful as a start but the book should have clarified clearly
that such principles serve as guidelines for suitable contexts and
must not be confused with the power of very strong principles or
truths.
The claim that the book had "all the strategic and tactical principles
of go" appears at four different places and so is made intentionally.
The claim is false! I have written down several hundred real
principles in the 60% ~ 100% range, know many more and would not make
a false claim to have written down, or know, ALL the principles of go
theory. An Encyclopedia of Go Principles has only 52 real principles,
that is, a small fraction of all. "Encyclopedia" in the title is an
exaggeration.
Conclusion
While the book is useful to some extent, it is very far from what it
claims to be. Inappropriate parts of the contents should be replaced
by more careful study. The book, which might be called "The Best of
Richard Bozulich's Go Theory", can be seen as a summary of Bozulich's
earlier work but it is not the general overview on go theory that the
excessive use of "principles" suggests. Readers should be aware that,
later, they need to unlearn much contents and replace it by more
generally applicable, much more often correct go theory. Take the
principles of the book as hints not to be applied without critical
thinking.
GENERAL SPECIFICATION
* Title: An Encyclopedia of Go Principles
* Authors: Richard Bozulich
* Publisher: Kiseido
* Edition: 2015
* Language: English
* Price: EUR 25
* Contents: principles
* ISBN: 978-4-906574-79-7
* Printing: almost good
* Layout: almost good
* Editing: almost good
* Pages: 273
* Size: 148mm x 210mm
* Diagrams per Page on Average: 3
* Method of Teaching: principles, examples
* Read when EGF: 10k - 3k
* Subjective Rank Improvement: o
* Subjective Topic Coverage: o
* Subjective Aims' Achievement: -
**************************************************************************
Introduction
The book contains 112 principles counting from 1 to 100; in a few
cases, a few principles are grouped and distinguished by a letter.
Each of the principles also serves as a subheading for its, if any,
usually very short explanation (infrequently better than the principle
itself) and circa 2 examples. Besides, there is a tiny number of
additional principles mentioned in the text but without study.
Much of the text accompanying the examples I consider boring or
superfluous but this might be caused due to my perspective as a player
too strong for the book. As is typical for Bozulich's books, most
examples have simplified positions; the reader does not see the
richness of possible positions. A few handicap examples contribute to
this impression. Only a few unspecified professional positions offer
more positional variation. The critic sees the author's laziness while
the optimist perceives possibly eased learning of the basics.
The layout is slightly inefficient but, compared to the layout rip-off
of The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game, the author
has greatly improved matters. For example, showing up to three 19x19
positions on a page works well to reduce the sizes of large white
spaces. The small average number of moves per diagram eases reading
but there sometimes are too few moves so that one must not be
impressed by the book's number of pages. On the other hand, I must
have done something right in my books when now Bozulich adopts a
number - subnumber style for the numbering of diagrams (he uses the
same major number for the diagrams illustrating its principle) and
distinguishes diagram references in the text by italics. In my
opinion, this layout style eases reading.
The principles are grouped in chapters about: opening; extensions;
moyos; thickness; defending and attacking weak groups; shape; shortage
of liberties; pressing, pushing and crawling; attack; sabaki; ko;
ladders; tactics; miscellaneous. The latter includes more principles
about ko. In conclusion, the structure of the book indicates some
laziness. There appear to have been last minute additions and
subnumbering for the sake of finishing the book quickly and getting
exactly 100 as the largest number of a principle.
The book suggests the idea that go theory can be represented as
principles. Such a view is somewhat simplistic because go theory also
consists of terms, concepts, methods, values and other aspects.
Nevertheless, a book that claims to be an "encyclopedia" of "all the
strategic and tactical principles of go" (backcover text) might be my
dream book in which I would want to read every day forever. In the
later 1990s, I suggested that go book authors should make more use of
principles. It took years before the author of this book started to
use principles prominently; finally, he provides a book concentrating
on principles. In this review, I shall find out whether my dream has
been fulfilled.
Limits of the Correctness of the Contents
When Bozulich takes his time and studies variations, his study is
correct. The more the contents approaches his regular topics and
contents in his earlier books, the more convincing his variations and
study become. He has a firm knowledge of the related parts of go
theory.
However, in quite a few other examples, laziness or gaps of knowledge
shine through. Readers of the intended readership would hardly notice
such because it is beyond their own understanding. Bozulich's major
recurring mistake is to show something very convincingly for one
player because that player's moves are correct while part of the
opponent's moves are wrong. With much more careful study and invested
time for writing, the author should have discovered most such cases by
himself. Seemingly convincing applications of a principle can be a
fake when the opponent's better replies would inhibit the easy
demonstration. How can an author avoid the problem? He must study more
examples to find more suitable ones or his discussion of the used
examples must involve a much greater number of side aspects and
decisions.
Besides, the author makes a relatively small number of other mistakes
in go theory caused by his gap of knowledge of professional go theory
and his insufficient study of available go theory by amateur experts
or other go book authors. For example, he makes a mistake in
positional judgement (although elsewhere in the book his other
positional judgement is right) or a mistake in rules application on
the strategic level.
These shortcomings and the missing generality of part of the
principles mentioned further below restrict the strongest reader level
to 3 kyu and the rank improvement to 'o'; otherwise, the sheer number
of useful principles would have resulted in a '+'. The flaws in the
contents, however, mean that the reader's learning potential is
limited and he needs to unlearn too much when later becoming stronger
than 3 kyu.
The Principles
The Principles in the book are short. While this eases their learning,
it also means that very many principles are weaker or much weaker than
other existing principles elsewhere in the literature or oral
knowledge of strong players.
Principles can be classified roughly by their estimated fraction of
correct versus incorrect application to practically occurring
positions. Here, let me introduce these classes according to the
roughly estimated fraction of correctness:
10% = special case guideline, useful together with other special cases
50% = joke (correct and incorrect application are equally frequent)
55% = proverb (only slightly better than a joke; outdated principle)
60% = weak principle
75% = intermediate principle
90% = strong principle
99% = very strong principle
100% = truth
W = weaker than another existing, more often correct principle
S = principle for a special shape only
Now I roughly assess the principles of the book by their numbers:
001 55% W
002 75% W
003 55% W
004 55% W "Establish a position inside your opponent's sphere of
influence."
005 50% WS
006A 75% WS
006B 75% WS
006C 75% WS
007 75% WS
008 75% WS
009 75% W
010 60% W
011 90% WS
012 55% W
013 75% W
014 75% W
015 10% WS
016A 10% WS
016B 10% WS
017 10% WS
018 10% WS
019 60% W
020 60% W
021 99% W "Be willing to transfer a moyo from one part of the board
to another."
022 75% WS
023 75% W
024A 60% W
024B 10% W
024C 60% W
025 50% WS
026 50% WS
027 75% W
027A 75% W
027B 60% W "Attack your opponent's weak stones."
028A 60% W
028B 60% W
028C 50% W
029 90% WS
030 99% WS
031 75% WS
032 75% W
033 50% WS
034 50% WS
035 50% WS
036 55% WS
037 55% WS
038 60% WS
039 75% W
040 50% W
041 50% W
042 10% W
043 10% WS
044 10% WS
045 50% WS
046 60% W
047 10% W
048 60% W
049 10% WS
050 50% W
051 50% WS
052 90% "Abandon junk stones." [Until the endgame.]
053 75% W "Don't make territory in an area where one of your flanks
is open."
054 55% W
055 90%
056 60% W
057 90%
058 10% S
059 55% WS
060 55% WS
061 75% W
062 10% WS
063 50% WS
064 60% WS
065 50% W
066 10% WS
067 10% WS
068 55% W
069 10% WS
070 55% W
071 55% W
072 10% WS
073 10% WS
074 10% WS "The comb formation is alive."
075 10% WS
076 10% WS
077 10% WS
078 10% WS
079 10% WS
080 50% WS
081 55% WS
082 90% W
083 60% W
084 55% W
085A 75% WS
085B 75% WS
085C 75% WS
085D 75% WS
086 10% WS
087 50% W "If you lose four corners, resign."
088 55% W
089 60% W
090 55% W
091 90% WS
092 55% W
093 99% W
094 90% W
095 90% WS
096 75% W
097 75% W
098 90% W
099 10% WS
100 10% WS
Summary: There are these numbers of principles:
-------------------------------------------------
109 W
3 without W
-------------------------------------------------
57 S
55 without S
-------------------------------------------------
27 10%
16 50%
17 55%
15 60%
24 75%
10 90%
3 99%
0 100%
-------------------------------------------------
60 10% ~ 55% special case, joke or proverb
52 60% ~ 99% real principles
-------------------------------------------------
Some of the 10% WS "principles", such as the life status of a
particular shape at a particular place of the board, are 100% truths
but, as special shape cases, do not deserve the principle tag.
It is ok for a book for kyu players to teach first guidelines, such as
"Don't approach thickness.", when they are just starting to learn what
is thickness at all. For a book, however, claiming to teach
principles, be an encyclopedia of principles and not to teach
proverbs, 52 real principles of 112 so called principles is too
little. Besides, the average quality of the real principles is too
low.
Learning the principles of the book as a player 3 kyu or weaker means
having to unlearn most of them in order to improve as a 2 kyu or
stronger. It is no coincidence that a principle of the book is
occasionally not applied in a different part of the book.
The author should have recognised the "jokes" and omitted them. The
10% and 55% "principles" contain useful hints but most should have
been called "shape knowledge" or "proverbs". 60% and 75% principles
can be useful as a start but the book should have clarified clearly
that such principles serve as guidelines for suitable contexts and
must not be confused with the power of very strong principles or
truths.
The claim that the book had "all the strategic and tactical principles
of go" appears at four different places and so is made intentionally.
The claim is false! I have written down several hundred real
principles in the 60% ~ 100% range, know many more and would not make
a false claim to have written down, or know, ALL the principles of go
theory. An Encyclopedia of Go Principles has only 52 real principles,
that is, a small fraction of all. "Encyclopedia" in the title is an
exaggeration.
Conclusion
While the book is useful to some extent, it is very far from what it
claims to be. Inappropriate parts of the contents should be replaced
by more careful study. The book, which might be called "The Best of
Richard Bozulich's Go Theory", can be seen as a summary of Bozulich's
earlier work but it is not the general overview on go theory that the
excessive use of "principles" suggests. Readers should be aware that,
later, they need to unlearn much contents and replace it by more
generally applicable, much more often correct go theory. Take the
principles of the book as hints not to be applied without critical
thinking.