Direction of Play

The phrase 'Direction of play' was initially coined in the book The Direction of Play by Kajiwara

From the Preface

I imagine the phrase "direction of play" will be new to many readers, so what does it mean?

Well, in go each stone, whether it stands alone or with others, is invested with a power of its own. Naturally, that power acts in a certain direction depending on how all the stones on the board interact. Accurately pinpointing this direction and finding the right move to match it means having a "sense of direction", and intuitive skill that is vital for real strength in the middle game.

Fuseki, joseki and tesuji are generally amenable to a more or less logical approach, but it is important to look beyond this to the inherent power that makes a stone so effective. This book is an attempt to analyse that power and the direction in which it acts. If you read it carefully I think I can safely say that you will become a much stronger go player.

Summer, 1970 Takeo Kajiwara

See the discussion for this page.

Splitting Go thinking into 'direction of play' and 'shape' is one of those what/how distinctions like strategy/tactics. The typical situation in Go is of looking at various empty spaces on the board, and trying to decide which area is most important. That overall decision is based on choosing direction of play, then selecting a particular point. Of course, many things come into the decision such as attack and defence, aji and so on.

The Kajiwara point of view emphasises maximum harmony in direction of play with the influence or aji of your existing stones.

Related topics

• Haengma
• Dynamic Nature of Shape
• What actions the stones are doing
• Elementary moves
• The Positional Game/A General Opening Theory Article
• Pyramid Structure for evaluating best plays
• Winning, Neutral, and Losing moves

Proverbs related to the direction of play

• Approach from the wider side
• Build box shaped territories
• Make a feint to the east while attacking in the west (leaning attack)
• Play away from thickness