The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go
The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go is a book by Ma Xiaochun, published by Yutopian. As the title suggests, it applies the 36 stratagems to go.
Comments by other readers
Dieter: First of all, I agree with the translator's preface that this is truly an original approach to the game. The stratagems themselves make the book a joy to read. The drawback obviously is that the immediate application to Go situations at times is far-fetched. The author nicely works around those difficulties though, and what remains is, in my opinion, a marvelous book. The 36 stratagems are not a set of guidelines that will prove helpful in many different situations. Rather this book has some messages:
- Every plan includes an oversight by the opponent?
- Sacrifices can be amazingly large, if only you know what you're doing and your plan is backed up by profound reading.
- Less surprisingly: let your strategy be based on positional judgment.
Even if there is no direct impact on one's skill after reading this book, it is one of those books which remain interesting even at the x-th reading.