Endgame

Table of contents Introduction Suggested Sensei's Library Reading Endgame Terms and Concepts About Sente and Gote Calculation Methods Endgame Principles Endgame Techniques Other Problems and Exercises Organized Series Isolated Endgame Problems Video Courses Books English Non-English Notes References

Introduction

The endgame is the final stage of the game when the life & death status of all big groups has been determined and the remaining moves are boundary plays, aiming at expansion of own territory and reduction of the territory of the opponent.

Important aspects of the endgame include Sente and Gote relationships, calculating or estimating the count and size of plays, and getting the last play at different levels of the size of plays.

Per Ogawa Tomoko and James Davies,

By the endgame the board has been more or less divided up into separate territories, and most of the fighting tends to affect only two of them, occurring at a mutual boundary. The opening and middle game are much like a single large battle between two armies; the endgame is like a number of smaller battles going on in different places simultaneously.^[3]

Suggested Sensei's Library Reading

1. Basic Endgame Theory - basic advice on how to play the endgame and theoretical foundations on how to evaluate move size and urgency
2. More about the Principles of Yose
3. Practical Approach to Yose
4. Endgame Tesuji
5. Endgame Problems

Those who want mathematical theory and application can visit the Combinatorial Game Theory path.

Endgame Terms and Concepts

About Sente and Gote

• Gote
• Reverse sente
• Sente
• Sente gains nothing
• Sente-gote
• Sente-sente (outdated concept)
• Sente vs. gote - which to play

Calculation Methods

• Count
• Deiri value (or Swing value)
• Gain
• Go infinitesimals
• Go numbers
• Method of multiples
• Miai value
• Playing infinitesimals
• Profit value

Endgame Principles

• Chilling
• Mutual damage
• Tedomari

Endgame Techniques

• Endgame tesuji
• Hane-descend
• Hanetsugi
  • To connect or not to connect after the hanetsugi
• Monkey jump
• Protect both sides in the corner

Other

• Ambiguous position, Ambiguous move — moves between sente & gote
• Endgame coupling
• Locally speaking
• Miai
• Modern endgame theory
• Neutral points
• Semedori
• Small endgame play
• Teire
• Yose

Problems and Exercises

Organized Series

• Beginners Endgame Exercises - beginner level
• Counting Problems - determining the correct size
• Endgame Problems - dozens of endgame problems about diverse themes

Isolated Endgame Problems

• Endgame from real games - 2002 Meijin
• Endgame Problem 40
• GTL Review 1558 - beginner level, taken from a GTL review
• Parkjr yose move
• Yose Errors in Magic of Go
• Yose Jiten/Errata

Video Courses

• How NOT to Lose 30 Points in the Endgame — a course on basic endgame on Go Magic

Books

English

• 200 Endgame Problems - Winning Tactics by Shirae Haruhiko
• Basic Endgame Problems 1 Gote by Robert Jasiek
• Basic Endgame Problems 2 Sente by Robert Jasiek
• Endgame 1 - Fundamentals by Robert Jasiek
• Endgame 2 - Values by Robert Jasiek
• Endgame 3 - Accurate Local Evaluation by Robert Jasiek
• Endgame 4 - Global Move Order by Robert Jasiek
• Endgame 5 - Mathematics by Robert Jasiek
• Endgame Problems 1 by Robert Jasiek
• Get Strong at the Endgame by Richard Bozulich
• Guanzi Pu by Guo Bailing, trans. Cho Hye-yeon
• Lee Chang-ho’s Endgame Techniques Vol. 1-2 by Lee Changho
• Mathematical Go Endgames by Elwyn Berlekamp and David Wolfe
• Micro Endgame of Go by hanayeol
• Monkey Jump Workshop by Richard Hunter
• Rational endgame by Antti Törmänen
• The Endgame by Ogawa Tomoko and James Davies
• The Monkey Jump by Richard Hunter

Non-English

• Yose - Absolute Counting by O Meien

Notes

[1] The Chinese term 收官 (shou1 guan1) is a verb describing the process of playing the endgame.

[2] The Japanese term yose properly describes the 'drawing together' of territory or territories. The term for endgame is shuban.

References

[3] Ogawa, T. & Davies J. (1976/2000). Elementary Go Series Vol. 6. The Endgame. Tokyo, Japan: The Ishi Press; Santa Monica, CA: Kiseido Publishing.