Graded Go Problems for Beginners Volume Two Elementary Problems 25 Kyu to 15 Kyu

Graded Go Problems for Beginners

by Kano Yoshinori

Graded Go Problems for Beginners are ideal books for players who have just learned the rules of go, bridging the gap between a beginner's book and some of the more 'advanced' elementary book. The almost 1500 problems these four volumes contain thoroughly drill the reader in the fundamentals of the game. After finishing the study of these four books, The novice go player will have mastered the basics of the game. Volume Two is a continuation of the first volume of Graded Go Problems for Beginners and is aimed at the 20-kyu to 25-kyu level player. The problems presented here will require a bit of thought, but none of them is so difficult that a player who understands the rules and has studied the first volume won’t be able to solve in less than a minute. The aim of this series is to present as many examples of go technique as possible. The reader should attempt to refute the correct answers until he knows beyond a doubt that the correct answer works. By pondering each problem in this way, the reader will develop an instinct for finding the winning move in his games.

Genres: Go, Games, Nonfiction, Reference

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

From Sensei's Library:

Kano Yoshinori (加納 嘉徳 Kanō Yoshinori, April 14, 1928-1999) was a Nihon Ki-in 9-dan professional Go player.

Kano was born April 14, 1928 in Kyoto, Japan. At the age of nine, he become a student of Suzuki Hideko 5-dan in Tokyo. In 1943 he attained the rank of professional 1 dan, and was promoted to 9 dan in 1968. He has won the 1948 Young Professional Cup?, the 1955 top section of the Oteai, and the 1961 Prime Minister's Cup. He played in the 14th, 20th, 25th, and 26th Honinbo leagues.

As an author, known as an endgame expert, and for the Graded Go Problems For Beginners series. He is the author of an endgame dictionary.

His pupils were O Rissei and Yun Ki-hyeon.

Reviews

[Malcolm Bastien · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problems in Volume two are so much more difficult than in volume 1! While in Vol 1 I got maybe 98% of the problems, it felt like I got only 30%-40% of these ones right on the first try.

While reviewing the solutions to problems I found myself also playing out many more of the problems to see why the right answer was the correct one because I wasn't able to as easily judge the shapes on the board. The book really highlighted how I need to visualize the board a few moves ahead too. There were many problems that I couldn't get, but seemed obvious once the solution was revealed.

This is a book I'm probably going to come back to in six months to a year. Only once I have "mastered" these problems will I consider reading the third volume.

This volume also included more problems involving bases & extensions, and the end game. Much more rounded off than volume 1 and it had a lot fewer duplicate problems as well.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rewarding for true beginner and solid foundation for more advanced players.

This collection of 300+ problems is really well thought out and is useful for players of different levels. First let me address the fact that it is said to target players from 25k to 20k. I think that the vast majority of the problems here would be really challenging for players in this range. However, if those players spend the required amount of time working out each problem and then going over the answers and understanding the common themes, they are going to improve fast.

When I started to read the book, I thought it was going to take me less than 10 second per problem to figure out the right answer (I am 6 kyu). While this is true for a good portion of the problems, I did find many that required more careful reading, and even some where I went wrong. After going through the whole book it actually helped me to understand which areas I need more work on. For example, I could read the capturing races in a couple of seconds, but in the opening problems I had a harder time figuring out the correct answers. It is pretty clear i need to study fuseki and joseki as a result of this.

If that was all I got out of this book it would have already been worth reading it, but I also got more. It solidified in my mind many of the techniques that I already knew. Now I can see more clearly in which situations I need to apply specific tesujis, or at least consider them in my reading. This is a high quality collection of problems, and I think any kyu player would benefit in some way from going over it.

[it me · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ignore the rank range. 20-25k is doesn't mean you shouldn't do these problems if you are higher than that.

First off, some of these, especially the later ones, still give me pause for thought at 7k.
Then there is some advice I've been given by a lot of strong players: Do easy problems. They come up most often in real games. Ideally you haven't mastered them until you see the answers almost imediately. This is what you should aim for with tsumego like this.

Definitely recommended for all DDKs. I will be buying the next volume in the series. I got the paperback version but I recommend downloading the SmartGo Books app. It offers all the Kiseido titles at about half the price of the physical copies, and you can play moves inside the diagrams (though don't use this to work out the answers, that won't benefit your reading).

[Thomas Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read this book about thirty years ago. One of my big three. People in the Go community tell me that the ranking level is deflated; that is this book is actually for stronger go players; maybe 10-15 kyu. It’s been awhile since I picked up the book but I’ve found a local Go club in Phoenixville and well need to up my game a bit.

For those new to the game I recommend the series. Volume One is fairly simple and you will quickly catch on to the essentials of the game. Volume Two will significantly raise your game.

In addition to this I would recommend two other books. Kageyama’s ‘Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go’ and ‘501 Opening Problems by Bozulich. ‘501 Opening Problems will help you quickly establish a good opening; especially when you’re staring at on open board and have no idea where to place that first stone. It is said that if you read through Kageyama’s ‘Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go’ you will increase by one rank in tournament games.

Of course, the big help after a quick look through of these three books would be to actually get out there and play as many games as you can. Kageyama has good advice about how to approach those first games. They say that once you reach 10 kyu there is a thousand games to get to one dan.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game I recommend the documentary AlphaGo which details how the tournament in which the first computer beat a Go Professional. Lee Sedol in March of 2016. The game was watched by 200 million people worldwide.

On one level it feels a bit like cheating to include this as one of my 52 books to be read this year. First, I had read it before. (I won’t be including it again should I reread it - at least this year). Reading the problems in this book - is a different form of reading. Just as when one approaches a Go board with several - one must learn to read the board in order to pick your next move.

Every player on approaching their move must make a decision. It actually takes on a form of Triage. There are those moves which won’t save stones that are already dead. There are those moves which don’t add or detract from the game. And then there is the essential move which will save an area that won’t be saved if you don’t play it. In Japan the Game is called Go (which is the number 5 in Japanese). In Korea the game is Badduk. In China it is called Wei Chi. I don’t know the etymology for the Chinese or Korean terms. Ostensibly the rationale for the Japanese term is that a group of stones which has at least five liberties will be difficult to kill. The point of this little rift is that as Western Players should think about giving their own name to the game; and my vote would be for the word “Triage”. People who practice ‘Triage’ could learn something from this game. It would also add something to the community which is trying to comprehend the mysteries of this great game.

[Deniz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has increasingly challenging exercises. It is divided into 4 levels, each of which is subdivided into (often repeated) sections such as Ko, Capturing Races, Living Groups and Dead Groups. Every exercise is a bit of a puzzle (with a clear answer key) and features configurations that just might arise in a game. I didn't feel like any of them was contrived.

Even though the (correct) subtitle is "25-kyu to 20-kyu", I think many double-digit kyu folks could benefit from working through this book.

[Zacharycbruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've "read" this many, many times. It was the first book I picked up to look through again coming back from a two year break from the game. I've always found a lot of value in solving many, many problems, and it's enjoyable, too. These are quite easy, but it's good to get back in to the swing of things. Probably would be my number 1 recommendation for anyone looking to get in to the game, after having read an introductory book.

[Valentyn Danylchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most problems in this volume were easy for me, but some filled important gaps. I like the brief, to-the-point explanations. The electronic version from Smart Books works really well for me. I think it helped me improve.

[Axel Koper]

worked through around ~8 kyu OGS. not super hard, but good to work on fundamental skills. most could be solved within 20-30 seconds. but some took me a few minutes.

[Nea Tiger]

Go

[Bryce Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much harder than Volume 1! Plus, it had a few terms I'd never seen before and weren't in the glossary (like "moyo"). A lot of the problems one can still brute force with logic, but there are definitely a few that were more "feel," in some sense...cases where you'd kill a group 7-8 moves later. Going through these has started to give me a sense of shape though, which is interesting. Maybe one day I'll actually play another game of go...

I also think that if I read this again I will keep a list of which ones I got right and wrong for future reference.

[Jason]

Going back to the library for now, it's just too advanced for me. Need to get some games under my belt, methinks.

[Alex Delogu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does exaclty what it says.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slowly coming back to me how to play this game. Good review of the basics.

[Peter Riboprotein · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problems are fast to go through, and they help train you to recognize a handful of common sequences. As an AGA 11kyu, most of the problems too a little too easy for me.

[Steve]

GO