After the first impression to have yet another ordinary commented game collection with standard statements like "This position is good!", "This position is bad!", "This move is biggest!" one is asking oneself for the book's intention. Just tiny anecdotes about the author and interesting appendices about go history in Korea can't be it. So what? 20 games are analysed with a short commentary on 10 pages each. Mistakes. The author remembers and describes his mistakes. The games start with his early ones, so there are even a lot of mistakes. How could a top professional player ever play so badly? Wait. He is describing his own humiliation. So what is he telling us after all? Mistakes by the professional - how encouraging! They are also humans then. But why has that particular player been so successful in international go? Because of his strategic and shape insight. Not much commentary is given, but the selection concentrates on major strategic decisions. Well, on some of these; others are omitted. Thereby the reader learns about the strategic flow of a game. Instead of being lost in endless details one is led directly to the core of global events. Almost directly, see above. Ignore some useless comments and enjoy the strategy!
Date: 2000/04/19