Order of play
The order in which one player chooses to make plays in one tactical situation (for example, a life and death problem); or deals with a number of different local positions (for example, choosing between endgame plays, or ko threats).
This topic may be discussed from a number of general points of view, such as sente and gote relationships, timing, aji and aji keshi, and so on. There are also many subtle points special to particular areas. In books on joseki it is frequently pointed out that small differences in the order of joseki plays have important consequences.
To become reasonably strong at go one should try to be sensitive to these points.
Questions about order of play can be treated as part of a more complex discussion (involving timing and omission of plays).
See also:
Bill: An amateur was showing a game of his to Lin Haifeng (Rin Kaiho) and said as an excuse for a mistaken line of play, "Well, I only got the order of play wrong."
Lin replied, "Go is the order of play."
ProtoDeuteric- Was Rin Kaiho showing Lin Haifeng a game of his, or was Rin Kaiho a name that Lin Haifeng changed to or from?
Hikaru79 - Rin Kaiho is the Japanese pronounciation of Lin Haifeng (In other words, they are the same person.) The amateur was showing a game he'd played TO Rin Kaiho.
Rakshasa: This page makes it seem like the order of play is just important for local situations. It fails to point out that the order of play is important in all aspects of go, from local to whole board strategy.
Charles Well, you have to read past the semicolon in the first sentence ...
Rakshasa: That does not say anything about the order of play being relevant in f.ex playing a kakari then playing on the side (not on the side you approach from) of the board vs. playing on the side then kakari.
Charles Yes, the usual meaning of order of play does mean a little more than choice of play. You are giving examples that one could call order of development? - perhaps a different topic.
Rakshasa: I was under the impression that those were also plays. At what point does it go from being a play to being a development?
Bill: Rakshasa, you have a point. Which is, I believe, similar to Lin's in his comment. However, the prototypical usage of the phrase, order of play, is in tactical situations, where it highlights the fact that playing on a vital point may not be enough, that you may have to play the vital points in the right order. The applicable phrase on a large scale, as in the fuseki, is direction of play.