Category: Reviews

Equipment Review: Leather Goban

Leather Goban

Description: If one ever had the notion that wood boards were too cumbersome to carry around or a pain to store away, AmbyR00 has made a beautiful leather goban that is sure to please any go enthusiast looking for a lightweight go board that is really sturdy! And to top it off, it’s environmentally friendly because it is made from excess leather from shoe and bag factories, compressed into sheets!

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Book Review: Positional Judgement 1 - Territory

Positional Judgement 1 Cover

Positional Judgement 1: Territory

Description: Ever wonder how players manage to estimate territory? And with terrifying accuracy? Well look no farther, with the first volume of Jasiek’s Positional Judgment, you can get an inside look at the inner workings of how players make these accurate estimations. It’s filled with numerous examples for you to practice, but be wary, this is definitely not for the light hearted! On the other hand, rest assured that you will be significantly stronger at positional judgment than most players out there if you can master the material in here.

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Category: Reviews

Book Review: The Fighting Styles of Kato Masao and Seo Bong Soo

Master Play: The Fighting Styles of Kato Masao & Seo Bong Soo

Description: In this X volume of the Master Play series, Yuan Zhou does a magnificent job taking amateur players through what is actually considered “fighting style” in the professional world of go. Due to the chaotic nature that go can take in crazy cross-cuts and blown out battles, it is no surprise that many kyu players might consider themselves “fighters,” but once you read this book, it might open to your eyes as to what fighting really means.

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Equipment Review: Folding Go Board

Folding Go Board

Description: When it comes to go on the go (yes that just happened), this folding go board from GoGameGuru really does seem to hit the sweet spot between portability, quality, and price. It utilizes a hinge mechanism to keep the go board in one piece and even has a Chinese chess board on the reverse side! Recommended stone size are 21 or 22. It fits other stones, but it’s a bit snug. Highly recommended!

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Equipment Review: The Go Bento Box

Go Game Set Bento Box

Description: The “Go Game Set Bento Box” this is perhaps the first product I’ve seen that aims to provide players with a portable set of go stones that are not cheap plastic stones. Not only do they pack away very well and are easy to carry, but the stones are also a respectable size and material that should delight any go player who wants a portable set of stones!

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Book Review: Basic Techniques of Go

Basic Techniques of Go

Description: This book can be considered a broad coverage of the following: opening principles, lots of handicap go advice, brief survey of tesujis, and a brief survey of endgame. The material is quite dense and contrary to what many descriptions say about this book, I vehemently disagree with the recommending this book for beginners. It is suited for intermediate to advanced players. Beginners steer clear of this book!

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Book Review: Scent of Victory

Catching Scent of Victory

Description: In the second volume of The Heart of Go Series, O Rissei 9P discusses twenty of his own games and various strategies that he devised during them. Though it is intended to serve as a guide for developing your intuition in the game, it is a very advanced book that is beyond the scope of what kyu players will be able to comprehend. It should be seen as a collection of game commentary from O Rissei 9P with advanced analysis and content.

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Book Review: Perceiving the Direction of Play

Perceiving the Direction of Play

Description: In the first volume of The Heart of Go Series, Kobayashi Satoru 9P focuses on an important concept many players are unfamiliar with: the direction of play. As a critical component in any game, Satoru familiarizes the reader with direction of play though positions of his own games to illustrate direction of play in regards to fuseki, joseki, and fighting. This is an advanced book that should be read after one already has a basic understanding of direction of play.

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