AngYueGoSchoolStudyGuide/TheoryAndPrinciples

Theory And Principles

( Back to guide or next Reading Skills )

This aspect of the game is what determines your perception of the game, this is what opens your mind and places you in a position in which you will be able to play a deeper game. It builds your capacity to reflect on a position; it teaches you the language of go, but alone doesn’t allow you to play at a high level directly. The main sources of theory & principles include:

• Introductory books
• Theme books: attack and defense, using and playing against influence, choosing the moves in the opening, strategy in handicap go, etc.
• Deep analysis of games
• Online or offline lectures on specific subjects.

Where to find those resources?

• For the books we recommend that you read David Carlton’s Go Bibliography: http://www.gobooks.info/bib-difficulty.html and Sensei’s Library.
• For deep analysis of games, we recommend our own Detailed Reviews. Beginners can find many general principles on The Go Teaching Ladder: http://gtl.xmp.net/, even though the quality and the accuracy of the information is not guaranteed. Also, in China, there are many books with very deep analysis of pro games, pro games being used to explain the fundamentals of the game, but such thorough books don’t appear to exist in English
• For the lectures, once again we recommend our own Private Lessons, in which you can ask for a lecture on a specific subject, our Group Lessons and our Go Questions. We also recommend the KGS Plus Lectures.
• The wiki website Sensei’s Library can also be very useful.