As is my custom i read the last 30 minutes every night before the meds take over and sleep overwhelms me usually between 12:30 pm and 1 pm- usally histrolical books on this war or that war i usually read a book about the other side’s point of view or why they lost what ever war its about sometime abour common folk in thise wars not the generals and commanders –
Well, to point my friend from out west, which I have mentioned a few times here, sent me a book to read,d which came just in time as I finished my last one about three women spies in Italy during WW2 and how they changed the fate of the war in a very small but significant way – great book, enjoyed immensely. Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go by Toshiro Kageyama: is the book my friend sent for me to start and while only into the first ages – i came across a interesting revealing fact about the game of go – its not about wiining the important game – its about not losing the game to the other side-- simple enough till i thouht about it for a while and read some further thoughts on the matter that the game is usally won or lost in the on a 19x19 board in the first 25 moves – that you can only make two or three mistakes of power placement of you key stones in those first 25 moves maybe four mistakes. If your opponent is sloppy – or like me, I guess–and then the game is just downhill from there, the thing is, there is no right prethought setup of stones that can be followed like in chess – it all depends on what your opponent does with each of their stones in those forst 25 moves of the board-- yet they in the book don’t show any examples of those power moves to emulate – cause i would supposed the variation is too large to cover ------ hummmmm makes me think a little harder on my next new game about just that concept
Try to have an idea of the goal that is “get the bigger part of the cake” then follow your intuition for those 25 moves as you read about it. Where would it be the biggest to play!
That is an entertaining book whatever level one is, as he deploys a quirky wit while making useful points. It is a book that many people come back to at various stages in their Go development, though it usually starts being useful somewhere roughly around 15 kyu. So you may not get a lot of practical use out of it at the moment, but it is fun anyway.
As to games being lost in the first 25 moves, that sounds on the one hand a bit like the author’s bold way of making claims, and on the other something (Edit: whatever he really meant by that claim) that would only apply at professional levels. It is a thing I like about Go that you can blunder yourself into a poor position and then doggedly struggle back into the game. (Though if it is genuinely hopeless one should probably resign at a suitable moment.)
well said and yes to all your comments
It’s a very strange and misleading claim because it’s quite clearly not true even on the professional level. By far most games are decided in the middle game, on every level of play as far as I know. It’s rare for pros to make even the smallest mistake in the first 25 moves let alone lose the game.
You might want to read the book. In one chapter Kajiwara talks about move 3 loosing the game because of the wrong orientation. Kajiwara was famous for his strict ideas about Go.