Korean Problem Academy

    Keywords: Life & Death, Problem

Korean Problem Academy: a copyrighted collection of 750 problems from the Korean baduk schools designed to train young kids to become dan level players. The problems are divided into 4 sets:

  1. 25 kyu - 15 kyu, 200 problems
  2. 15 kyu - 5 kyu, 200 problems
  3. 5 kyu - 1 kyu, 150 problems
  4. 1 kyu - 4 dan 200 problems.

The problems seems to come in sets that focus on a single concept: createing false eyes, death in the hane, descent to kill, creating big eyes, etc.

  • The first set of problems (25 kyu - 15 kyu) focus on the concept of a live group via making two eyes and killing groups by creating dead shapes with them.
  • The focus of the second set (15 kyu - 5 kyu) is on seki, throw-ins, bent-four-in-a-corner, and shortage of liberties. There are also more problems for creating/preventing dead shapes from forming inside of an eye.
  • The third set (5 kyu - 1 dan) focuses on ...
  • The fourth set (1 kyu - 4 dan) drill ....

The problems are accessible [ext] online at GoBase (free [ext] registration and login required).

ISBN numbers:

Volume 1
Code 1: 9 788988 847091
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-09-1
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Volume 2
Code 1: 9 788988 847107
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-10-5
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Volume 3
Code 1: 9 788988 847114
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-11-3
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Volume 4
Code 1: 9 788988 847121
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-12-1
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Erratum for the solutions on GoBase

The collection is copyright Pierre Audouard (audouard.pierre@wanadoo.fr), who provided solutions to all 750 problems.

See /Discussion.

Velirun: At long last, someone provided me with a bit more information about these volumes, and my bookhandler has managed to locate them. They are each around 190 pages, and will be available from [ext] my bookshop shortly.

yuubyou: Any idea how many problems are in each of the books? I'd hope a 192-page book would contain more than the 200 problems from GoBase.

Velirun: A fine question - I'm not sure as of yet. I would assume many more than those 200, but I will get something a bit more precise and report on it.

Ectospheno: Here are the sections in each book along with the number of problems in each section. I would have included section titles but I can't read Korean and the various Korean pages here weren't much help.

Book 1 - 8 sections. 712 problems.

         1st section - 176 problems.
         2nd section - 128 problems.
         3rd section - 300 problems.
         4th section - 44 problems.
         5th section - 8 problems.
         6th section - 24 problems.
         7th section - 8 problems.
         8th section - 24 problems.

Book 2 - 7 sections. 732 problems.

         1st section - 80 problems.
         2nd section - 116 problems.
         3rd section - 8 problems.
         4th section - 232 problems.
         5th section - 176 problems.
         6th section - 56 problems.
         7th section - 64 problems.

Book 3 - 6 sections. 724 problems.

         1st section - 84 problems.
         2nd section - 76 problems.
         3rd section - 16 problems.
         4th section - 8 problems.
         5th section - 508 problems.
         6th section - 32 problems.

Book 4 - 31 sections. 744 problems.

         Each section - 24 problems.

The portions of these books on gobase were inspired by the problems in the front of each book without regard to section number. For example, the 200 level 4 problems on gobase are just sections 1 through 8 with the first 8 problems of section 9.

However, quite a few of the problems deviate from what is in the book. Some are exact but many are minor or major deviations from the book. Most are obviously inspired by the book problem.

There are a few pages in the first three books that contain solutions. I didn't count those problems as there aren't many of them.

I can also see now why sites don't include pictures of the cover. The third and fourth books have a nice picture of a white and black stone holding flags glaring at each other. However, the first and second books have a rabbit, panda, and dog gathered around a goban. Looks a bit silly. My daughter called it the Bugs Bunny book when she first saw it.


This is a copy of the living page "Korean Problem Academy" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2005 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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