ABC's of Attack and Defense

    Keywords: MiddleGame, Strategy, Books & Publications

by Michael Redmond

See the [ext] publisher's blurb

Sample pages [ext] http://www.slateandshell.com/pdf/ssmr001.pdf.

See [ext] reviews by Tamsin Jones and David Carlton.

The ABC's of Attack are:

  1. Separate your opponent: If your opponent's stones become connected and form terrority, further attacks often have little effect.
  2. Seal your opponent in: If a group of stones without eyes gets isolated, most likely it will run towards the center. If you can block the escape paths and seal in your opponent's stones before they get out, the attack will have succeeded.

The ABC's of Defense are:

  1. Connect your stones: Your stones become stronger when they are connected. What's more you can create territory by connecting on the third or fourth line.
  2. Move out into the center: If your connections to the sides are cut off then a struggle to get into the center will ensue. Whichever side can get even one step ahead of the other will have an advantage.

Velobici: Throughout the first chapters of Michael Redmond's ABC's of Attack and Defense, he uses the initial moves of 4-stone handicap games to illustrate his basic prinicples of attack and defense. His examples are well chosen to bring out these principles in actual play which center around single and double approaches to corner handicap stone. The last chapters focus on 3-stone handicap games and emphasize the concept of miai.

The book is rich in diagrams that flow naturally from on to the other. Each diagram demostrates an application of one or more of the ABC's...the principle being used is explicitly stated and reiterated.

Each time an alternative line of play is introduced, a diagram showing the lead up to the alternative is reproduced...reducing the amount of page-flipping and firmly setting the stage for introducing the variation.

A single reading of the first half of the book resulted in a significant improvement in the severity of my play.

Grauniad: The book should really be called The AB's of Attack and Defense. :-) But I agree that it's a good book.

Tamsin: Interestingly, principles 3 and 4 are the reverse sides of 1 and 2, respectively. This should appeal to those with a philosophical cast of mind (yin and yang and so on).

Michael Redmond provides very well chosen examples to show you how to apply these fundamentals. In one example in the opening chapter, for instance, he shows you how to choose most effectively between three plausible moves (namely, ikken tobi, iron pillar, and diagonal play), bearing in mind the ABCs listed above.

This book contains other very valuable material, especially towards the back, in which you will find simple but effective ways to counter those awkward plays on the 5-3 and 5-4 points.


This is a copy of the living page "ABC's of Attack and Defense" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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