Handicap Go - the book

Handicap Go by Nagahara Yoshiaki and Richard Bozulich is volume 7 of the Elementary Go Series, originally published by Ishi Press in 1982 and remaining copies of the first print run were sold by Kiseido as K16. As of 2013, it has been reprinted and is available again as K16.

Each chapter lists the guidelines which form the section headings. For example the first three sections of 24 in chapter one are "Black must attack", "The star-points are defective in securing territory", and "Black must play for influence".

The first chapter is written primarily from the point of Black, but many of the principles can be turned around. For example the section "Force White to live in a narrow space" has the obvious implication for White.

There are eight handicap games analysed: one seven-stone game, two four-stone games, and five three-stone games.

This book is not written primarily for beginners, though many may benefit from reading it after reading another book or two. The principles of handicap Go are useful for all Go games because every player will find themselves ahead or behind at times. In my opinion (Hu), this book is well written and very useful.

Reviews

David Carlton's review

Table of Contents

• The Principles of Handicap Go
• How to Play Handicap Go as White
• Securing Territory
• Invasions
• Example Games
• Problems
• Glossary

Sample Problems

to be added