Review of Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go by Toshiro Kageyama (2011)

I bought that book a long time ago, perhaps in the late 1970s?

Go is such a great game. I retired yesterday (but I will still be a ‘gentleman computer scientist’, write books and do open source code).

I made a list of 21 things I want to do in retirement and playing online Go is on that list. https://online-go.com is a good resource, and there are others also.

I love this book, partly because of the entertainingly condescending tone:

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I know that there are many who spend morning to evening every day in go clubs, playing tens of games a day, but make no progress. No matter how ardent their will to learn was at the beginning, let this condition continue for two or three months, not to mention one or two years, and hope is abandoned. The player comes to recognize himself as ‘a permanent 6 kyu’ and everyone else does too.

This condition is unbearable, yet how many go players find themselves in it? Almost all? If so, it would be a crime just to let them go on as they are, and that is why I am writing this book - to explain in detail what is needed to break through the barriers

I considered myself one of the worst players who loved the game of go. That's because I had no ability whatsoever to visualize in my head how the next few steps would go. Without this, you really can't play. It's way worse than in chess because in Go this is more obvious to the visually-handicapped player that this ability is needed to really play the game. I played chess in my youth and didn't really understand that most others (most definitely the good) players would visualize everything in their head wheras I would say in my head "I do this and then this.. hmm, maybe something else", basically more than 3 steps weren't really possible for me. So this is a longwinded explanation but what I'm saying is that these types of games require a different type of thinking (that is visually) than almost everything we usually do (even most math) and many people can't really do it (well; and I couldn't do it at all). That's why it is basically always a niche game.

If you can learn to think visually, you notice the intricacies of the game much more. So why did I love it, even though I couldn't do it? Because I saw some puzzles (tsumegos) where the result was often like: Wow, that's awesome. I never had this epiphany with chess puzzles.

And how did I learn to visualize it (at least a bit^^)? I had to silence my inclination to always "talk" through what I want to do. But that's just one aspect, it's different for everyone I think. Also, I've come to the conclusion that the more you are in a dream state the better you can visualize things. Even so far that when you're tired you might play better. Anyway, it's a most fascinating game with its simplicity but also its complexity and its entanglement of tactics and strategy but also of weird moves that change the whole game. Most fascinating and I will always love it even though I was for the longest time the weakest player who loved it :)

I have a copy of this book, though I never got past the few pages. When I tried to read it I got through the first chapter, which says the first thing one should do is play many games, and I put the book down to do just that.

It also makes a great point that while amateurs play the game for fun, professionals will labor at it. I thought that was a fantastic point

For context, I occasionally play against the AI on an iPad app called SmartGo, probably 24-36 kyu rank.

I play go and I really don't understand most players, who seem to be desperate to improve at it. Go is an abstract game, played for fun. Go skill has limited to no applications outside of being good at Go. I don't think improving makes the game any more fun. If you're playing with a friend irl, if one of you gets too good ye will no longer be able to have fun games together. If you're playing online, then as you improve you will simply face opponents at the same improved level for eternity so nothing will change from your perspective. So, improving doesnt make the game more fun and can potentially make it less fun.

Online go servers like KGS and OGS seem to be hyper focused around their ranking systems and almost every player is desperate to grind more rank. Ive always found this baffling but I have a theory. Maybe if you can put a number on someones skill at something, these people feel good if the number goes up cus they feel reassured they are improving at something in a measurable way? (Even if that thing is utterly trivial)

Perhaps certain people need some kind of metric to feel good about themselves? Could also apply to the trend of acquiring excessive amounts of money or luxury goods.

(Go the game, not golang)

This reminds me of another reason why calling the go language just “go” was an act of supreme assholery

I'm an OK go player and I love this book. It is one of the few materials which had direct and immediate effect on my game quality. 10/10.

Another entertaining non-leetcode book on go is The Treasure Chest Enigma (a go miscellany) by Noriyuki Nakayama. The core of the book is a collection of essays originally published in the Igo Club magazine in 1975 and 1976. Great read!

The In Sente YouTube channel has a good series of videos that cover each of the chapters from this book: https://youtu.be/6YvKJN2qso4

I want to add a recommendation for this book to any novice player (though not to an absolute beginner). It really improved my game, and gave me a new perspective on how to play.

It took me 10 min to see that he is talking about the game and not the language. There is even a "Endgame Pointers" chapter in this book :).