New Book: Mastering Mini Go: A Complete Guide to the 9×9 Go Board

Announcements
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Mastering Mini Go: A Complete Guide to the 9×9 Go Board

MasteringMiniGo
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Hi all,

I’m thrilled to announce the release of my book exploring the 9×9 Go board! After years of playing on the 9×9 site ladder and contributing to various 9×9 projects, I’ve poured everything I’ve learned into this guide. Inside you’ll find:

  • Fundamentals and tactics: from estimating and counting the score to the basic strategy for each color, plus essential tesujis and exercises
  • Opening theory: deep coverage of tengen, hoshi, and takamoku openings, plus territorial approaches (mokuhazushi, komoku, sansan), with analysis of 30+ named openings
  • Midgame and endgame: reading, attacking, invading, furikawari, life and death, corner shapes, and endgame flexibility
  • Professional game commentaries: Annotated games by Murakawa Daisuke, Iyama Yuta, Yamada Kimio, and Cho Chikun

The book contains 266 pages and over 400 diagrams and is written with both newer players and experienced players in mind. Each opening includes difficulty ratings (beginner-friendly, intermediate, or advanced) to help you prioritize your study.

9×9 Go is fascinating. It’s the smallest board size that captures the full essence of Go (invasions, sacrifices, ko fights, everything) yet is complex enough for even professionals to find difficult. It’s been described as a “tsumego factory,” and that’s no exaggeration!

This book draws on analysis from KataGo, decades of theory development, and my own experience. Whether you’re looking to improve your 9×9 play, use it as a teaching tool, or just enjoy quick, intense games, I hope this book helps you appreciate the unique beauty of 9×9.

Available now from Smart Go! Available formats include EPUB and syncing a web purchase within the SmartGo One app!

Download

Here are the purchase and sample options for the book:

Click here for the Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Basic Principles

  • Counting the Score

  • The First Move

  • Black’s Basic Strategy

  • White’s Basic Strategy

  • Finding Territorial Balance

  • The Group Number Limitation

Chapter 2: 9×9 Tactics

  • Attachment

  • Belly Attachment

  • Nose Tesuji

  • Cut Across

  • Clamp

  • Shortage of Liberties

  • Wedge

  • Two-Step Hane

  • Footsweep

  • Squeeze

  • Eye-Making Tesuji

  • Exercises

Introduction to 9×9 Openings

Chapter 3: Tengen Openings

  • Sword

  • Orthodox

  • Windmill

  • Hand Fan

  • Curveball

  • Soccer Juggling

  • Jump Attack

  • Cross Line

  • Almost Equilateral 1

  • Headbutt

  • Almost Equilateral 2

  • Pendulum

  • Almost Equilateral 3

  • Side Attachment

  • Other Tengen Openings

Chapter 4: Hoshi Openings

  • Black Boomerang

  • Bean Throwing

  • Big Flower

  • Flower

  • Lunar Eclipse

  • Blackjack

  • Swing

  • Horse Head

  • Airship

  • Submarine

  • Other Hoshi Openings

Chapter 5: Takamoku Openings

  • New Orthodox

  • Andromeda

  • Slider

  • Secret Agent 033

  • White Slice

  • Kodachi

  • Jump Attachment!

  • Zazen

  • Boots

  • Other Takamoku Openings

Chapter 6: Territorial Openings

  • Mokuhazushi Main Line

  • Sea Fairy

  • Avoiding Transpositions

  • Other Mokuhazushi Openings

  • Komoku

  • Sansan

Chapter 7: Midgame

  • Reading

  • Attacking

  • Cutting

  • Invading

  • Handling Invasions

  • Trading Spaces

Chapter 8: Endgame

  • Life and Death

  • Common Corner Shapes

  • Prioritizing Endgame Threats

  • Calculating Move Values

  • Endgame Flexibility and Reading

Chapter 9: Game Commentaries

  • Murakawa Daisuke v. Iyama Yuta (2013)

  • Yamada Kimio v. Cho Chikun (1994)

Appendix A: Glossary

Appendix B: Resources and Further Study

Acknowledgements

No hardcopy has been produced yet. If that situation changes, I’ll be sure to announce it here as well. And if you have any questions about the book or 9×9 Go in general, feel free to reach out!

52 Likes
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Congrats on the book!

Once it changes from available soon to purchasable on the App Store where I am I’ll get it :slight_smile:

2 Likes
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Congratulations on the book! I hope it goes very well, since I’d like to improve on the subject very much (I am bad at tsumego and hopefully playing at smaller boards might help me get better at tsumego, without doing tsumego) and the sample and contents look very interesting indeed. :slight_smile:

I can/do not study e-books however, but if there is ever the ability to buy a hardcopy, I will certainly buy it.

5 Likes
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Awesome :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:
Congratulations :tada::heart:

2 Likes
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Congrats on the book! I’m always happy to see 9x9 getting attention.

4 Likes
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Awesome! And congrats, of course!
I immediately purchased it after receiving Anders Kierulf’s Go Books News :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes
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Seconded.

4 Likes
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“Thirded” – of course! – I’m old and I also prefer paper for reading text, but I also prefer digital for playing through variations :slightly_smiling_face:

So … physical book soon pls … have you spoken with Gunnar Dickfeld of “Board N’Stones” already? (How, for heaven’s sake, can I get a Non-Breaking Space here? Never mind, I think I found it :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:)

Off-Topic: A Little Typesetting In The OGF 😄

Just insert   where you’d want your nbsp to be :slightly_smiling_face:

5 Likes
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Me too :grin:

I have no objections to ebooks, and the DRM-free epub is great! (It would be better if you could tweak something to make diagrams work in dark mode…but I guess you are limited by the publisher’s formatting.)

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Congratulations Mark Tomlinson/mark5000! :bouquet:

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Fourth, buy printed copy (please quality print) as soon it’s there

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Just bought it in the Go Books app. Congratulations

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For those of us that reside in the UK and use Android phones/tablets and Linux laptops how can we obtain a copy?

5 Likes
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Can’t wait to read the book.

Thanks @mark5000 for everything you did for 9x9 Go.

4 Likes
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aha drm free, so you can do your own printing on demand!?

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These apps seem to work best with interactive Go Books EPUB files:

Static Go Books EPUB files should work in any ebook reader.

Everyone should be able to buy a copy using the link first provided above. Those experiencing issues with the purchase or with receiving a download link can visit Go Books support.

5 Likes
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The sample doesn’t work on my ebook reader (remarkable 2), the boards are completely black with just the white stones showing. Is there no way to get a pdf of it instead?

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The static version should work on most any EPUB reader. Have you tried that? You can also see below for a full list of tested EPUB readers:

4 Likes
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Yes, I tried the static version. My ebook reader does not allow me to install apps unfortunately. My wife has an android eink reader, I’ll try it on that one. Still wish they would offer pdfs as well, there’s never an issue with those.

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no pdf …?

1 Like