Korean Problem Academy

Korean Problem Academy: a copyrighted collection of 750 problems from the Korean baduk schools designed to train young kids to become dan level players. The problems are divided into 4 sets:

1. 25 kyu - 15 kyu, 200 problems
2. 15 kyu - 5 kyu, 200 problems
3. 5 kyu - 1 kyu, 150 problems
4. 1 kyu - 4 dan 200 problems.

The problems seems to come in sets that focus on a single concept: creating false eyes, death in the hane, descent to kill, creating big eyes, etc.

• The first set of problems (25 kyu - 15 kyu) focus on the concept of a live group via making two eyes and killing groups by creating dead shapes with them.
  
• The focus of the second set (15 kyu - 5 kyu) is on seki, throw-ins, bent-four-in-a-corner, and shortage of liberties. There are also more problems for creating/preventing dead shapes from forming inside of an eye.
• The third set (5 kyu - 1 dan) focuses on ...
• The fourth set (1 kyu - 4 dan) drill ....

The problems, with solutions by Pierre Audouard, are accessible online at GoBase ( registration and login required).

As of (22 Oct 2009) it seems the problems cannot be accessed from GoBase (except for the first 10 out of each collection).

ISBN numbers:

Volume 1
Code 1: 9 788988 847091
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-09-1
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Volume 2
Code 1: 9 788988 847107
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-10-5
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Volume 3
Code 1: 9 788988 847114
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-11-3
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Volume 4
Code 1: 9 788988 847121
Code 2: 04690
ISBN : 89-88847-12-1
ISBN : 89-88847-08-3

Erratum for the solutions on GoBase

The collection is copyright Pierre Audouard (audouard.pierre@wanadoo.fr), who provided solutions to all 750 problems.

See /Discussion.

Velirun: At long last, someone provided me with a bit more information about these volumes, and my bookhandler has managed to locate them. They are each around 190 pages, and will be available from my bookshop shortly.

jfc: the my bookshop link above is broken.

yuubyou: Any idea how many problems are in each of the books? I'd hope a 192-page book would contain more than the 200 problems from GoBase.

Velirun: A fine question - I'm not sure as of yet. I would assume many more than those 200, but I will get something a bit more precise and report on it.

Ectospheno: Here are the sections in each book along with the number of problems in each section. I would have included section titles but I can't read Korean and the various Korean pages here weren't much help.

Book 1 - 8 sections. 712 problems.

        1st section - 176 problems.
        2nd section - 128 problems.
        3rd section - 300 problems.
        4th section - 44 problems.
        5th section - 8 problems.
        6th section - 24 problems.
        7th section - 8 problems.
        8th section - 24 problems.

Book 2 - 7 sections. 732 problems.

        1st section - 80 problems.
        2nd section - 116 problems.
        3rd section - 8 problems.
        4th section - 232 problems.
        5th section - 176 problems.
        6th section - 56 problems.
        7th section - 64 problems.

Book 3 - 6 sections. 724 problems.

        1st section - 84 problems.
        2nd section - 76 problems.
        3rd section - 16 problems.
        4th section - 8 problems.
        5th section - 508 problems.
        6th section - 32 problems.

Book 4 - 31 sections. 744 problems.

        Each section - 24 problems.

The portions of these books on gobase were inspired by the problems in the front of each book without regard to section number. For example, the 200 level 4 problems on gobase are just sections 1 through 8 with the first 8 problems of section 9.

However, quite a few of the problems deviate from what is in the book. Some are exact but many are minor or major deviations from the book. Most are obviously inspired by the book problem.

There are a few pages in the first three books that contain solutions. I didn't count those problems as there aren't many of them.

I can also see now why sites don't include pictures of the cover. The third and fourth books have a nice picture of a white and black stone holding flags glaring at each other. However, the first and second books have a rabbit, panda, and dog gathered around a goban. Looks a bit silly. My daughter called it the Bugs Bunny book when she first saw it.

Moose317? Actually I think for one edition all four have cartoon covers. See: http://yangjibook.com/b_1d.html

see: http://membres.lycos.fr/namurgoclub/download.php?type=autre for the problems in Word format

jfc: Is it true the the original korean books have the problem diagrams but no solutions? Where I can I order them from?

Calvin: Yes, it's true, they have no solutions except for a few select pages where new concepts are introduced. The publisher is http://www.yangjibook.com with a storefront at http://shop.yangjibook.com. Volume 1 from the set I have is the same as this book: http://shop.yangjibook.com/goods_detail.php?goodsIdx=40.

Velobici: misread a post at GoDiscussions.com. Thank you for helping me to correct my error.

Japanese translation of Korean Baduk Association material

The following can be found on amazon.co.jp : (I'm becoming convinced that they are different from the Korean Problem Academy set above. Without having both its difficult to tell.)

Go Introduction 1 - 386 problems (KBA drill 1)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652214

Go Introduction 2 - 293 problems (KBA drill 2)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652221

Go Introduction 3 - 285 problems (KBA drill 3)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652238

Go Beginner 1 - 279 problems (KBA drill 4)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652245

Go Beginner 2 - 343 problems (KBA drill 5)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652252

Go Beginner 3 - 235 problems (KBA drill 6)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652269

Go Beginner 4 - 236 problems (KBA drill 7)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652276

Go Intermediate 1 - 272 problems (KBA drill 8)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652283

Go Intermediate 2 - 342 problems (KBA drill 9)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652290

Go Intermediate 3 - 360 problems (KBA drill 10)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652306

Go Intermediate 4 - 186 problems (KBA drill 11)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652313

Go Advanced 1 - 192 problems (KBA drill 12)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652320

Go Advanced 2 - 258 problems (KBA drill 13)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652337

Go Advanced 3 - 270 problems (KBA drill 14)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652344

Go Advanced 4 - 210 problems (KBA drill 15)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652351

Go Low dan 1 - 226 problems (KBA drill 16)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652368

Go Low dan 2 - 242 problems (KBA drill 17)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652375

Go Low dan 3 - 165 problems (KBA drill 18)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652382

Go Low dan 4 - 165 problems (KBA drill 19)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652399

Go High dan 1 - 182 problems (KBA drill 20)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652405

Go High dan 2 - 256 problems (KBA drill 21)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652412

Go High dan 3 - 191 problems (KBA drill 22)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652429

Go High dan 4 - 156 problems (KBA drill 23)

ISBN-13: 978-4873652498

Velobici: What is the difference between this book and that book both are titled

• "囲碁入門編 1―どんどん解いて強くなる 386題 (1) (韓国棋院囲碁ドリル 決定版 1) (単行本)"
• "囲碁入門編 1―どんどん解いて強くなる 386題 (1) (韓国棋院囲碁ドリル 決定版 1) (単行本)"

Ellyster There are the exactly same book (I have the blue one in fact), but the red one comes with a "Go board set" (is written on the cover).

PeterHB: I don't know. I can't read Japanese. Neither will probably be of much interest for us to buy, as I think the first ones must be absolute beginner books, i.e. aimed at introducing children to Go. The blue one costs ￥ 1,260, the red one costs ￥ 1,575. unkx80's guess probably right. Hard cover, laminated pages or something to make it child friendly perhaps.

unkx80: Not that I can read Japanese either. However, I noticed that the release date of both books are the same, but the price and dimensions slightly differ. So I suspect the contents are the same, except that the red one is hard-cover. Just my guess.