Fuseki Revolution

Fuseki Revolution: How AI Has Changed Go is a 2021 go book by Shibano Toramaru and translated by John Power. It was published by Kiseido and is available on SmartGo Books.

From the back cover: Go-playing AI programs have changed the very nature of professional go. Since the emergence of AlphaGo in 2016, the conventional wisdom of go has been transformed. Opening patterns previously favored by professionals of all levels have lost popularity and some have disappeared altogether. Large moyos have lost out to the thoroughgoing preference of AI for actual territory and its skill at reducing moyos. Josekis have been transformed, with ‘standard’ moves disappearing and their place being taken by new techniques invented by AI. Even some moves that were previously considered taboo, as being crude or ineffective, have been reassessed by AI and have earned places in the standard repertory. In this book, Toramaru Shibano, one of the top players of his generation, gives his own take on the fuseki revolution. He focuses on changes in the contemporary way of thinking about go strategy, organizing his analysis under the following three main headings.

Chapter One: The reasons why popular openings declined

Chapter Two: Changes in conventional wisdom and new sets of values

Chapter Three: Revolutionary new josekis invented by AI

Shibano maintains an independent attitude about go theory and is not afraid to let us know where and why he sometimes disagrees with AI. In an appendix, Shibano gives his own recommendations on the tactics to use with openings like the sanrensei that still feature strongly in amateur go.

In the Publisher's note it is stated that the book consists of articles published in Go Weekly from January 2019 to July 2020. The appendix consists of selevtions that have been published in Monthly Go World? beginning June 2019.

Table of Contents

• Chapter One: The reasons why popular openings declined
  • Theme 1. Sanrensei
  • Theme 2. The Chinese Opening
  • Theme 3. Mini-Chinese Opening
  • Theme 4. The star point and the small knight enclosure
  • Theme 5. The Kobayashi Style
  • Theme 6. The New Kobayashi Style
  • Theme 7. The small-knight enclosure and the 3-4 stone
• Chapter Two: Changes in conventional wisdom and new sets of values
  • Theme 8. The small-knight enclsoure with the star point
  • Theme 9. Taking up position on the side star point after an approach move
  • Theme 10. Sliding after playing an approach to the star point
  • Theme 11. The double approach move, part 1
  • Theme 12. The double approach move, part 2
  • Theme 13. The one-space answer
  • Theme 14. Playing on the 3-3 point in an empty corner
  • Theme 15. Lifting the diagonal-attachment taboo: 1
  • Theme 16. Lifting the diagonal-attachment taboo: 2
  • Theme 17. Distant approach moves
  • Theme 18. The one-space high approach move
• Chapter Three: Revolutionary new josekis invented by AI
  • Theme 19. Why did the hane at the head of two stones disappear?
  • Theme 20. Why has the pincer lost popularity?
  • Theme 21. Major reform in a basic joseki
  • Theme 22. The immediate shoulder hit
  • Theme 23. The dramatic evolution of double-approach-move josekis
  • Theme 24. A joseki that suddenly disappeared
  • Theme 25. Reevaluation of the attach-and-extend joseki
  • Theme 26. A new technique: the direct attachment
  • Theme 27. Is the splitting move slack?
  • Theme 28. The two-space extension: settling oneself with one move
  • Theme 29. The newest visceral approach to go: emphasize speed!
  • Theme 30. The 5-3 and 5-4 points
• Appendix: How to handle the Sanrensei and other moyo contests

References within Sensei's Library

• 3-4 point low approach diagonal In the "Discussion" section are multiple references to and quotes from the book.

Reviews

Hanmanchu: Wow reading this book was fun! Normally I take forever reading and finishing go books. But this was an easy read, looking at the diagrams, without putting actual stones on a go board, was enough for me to understand. The author is a very young and strong japanese pro. In the first chapter, he explains why some once very popular openings (Chinese, mini-chines, sanrensei) declined in popularity. The reasons are a changed assessment of corner profit, sides, and center moyos, along with new moves invented by AI.

See also:

• Discussion thread on L19 with review by John Fairbairn