The Basics Of Fuseki/ Discussion

Thad The purpose of the page is to present heuristics for playing fuseki. The list of problems is open ended so feel free to add your own.

ilan: In almost all my games, the basic Fuseki plan for me or my opponents seems to be: "Survive this as best as possible and wait for the middle game and hope that there my opponent will make a terrible blunder before I do." From observing many other kyu level games, it seems to be the plan of most players at this level.

Charles Try to keep things simple. (Obvious?). Don't play any substandard plays. (Obvious?). Avoid making a lone weak group. Play tenuki rather than play bad moves (subject to the previous point, though).Don't play joseki that don't fit the overall position. Anyone who can do all that is quite strong.

Thad All of these seem to be platitudes.

Charles Well, they're not. Look round any club and you'll see them disregarded all the time.

keep simple: Whether a move is simple or not should ( as a general rule affect your choice of moves. You should chose the best move consistent with your style of play (or sometimes even one that is inconsistent with your style of play ). Of course if you know your opponent well enough, and know that he reads better, then you should try to keep things simple. OTOH if you know your opponent reads weaker, you should try to make things more complicated. If you lead big you should try to keep things simple, if you are losing big you should try to make things complicated. In any event, this is advice which is not specific to fuseki or even to Go. no substandard play: Again not specific to fuseki or even Go. Also, it is not useful to beginners unless you explain how to determine substandard plays. tenuki: Again not specific to fuseki or Go ( though the term tenuki is ). Again useless to a beginner unless you explain how to determine a bad move. joseki: As useless to a beginner as the advice make the sones work together. Beginners don't know how stones work together, or how to judge whether joseki fit the overall position.

Ian: Thadeus I don't agree with your observations on Charles points above. When backed up by explanations they are all very worthwhile observations that help a beginner understand how to play the game. I am speaking from personal experience on that :) .

Andy Pierce: I'm not even vaguely as strong as Charles, but I think one weak group is ok, so long as it is doing something important like keeping one of your opponent's groups weak too. It's when I make two weak groups that I really get hammered, generally by a splitting attack.

Charles A lone weak group means your opponent has no weak group. In the middle game you do this to invade deeply; but that's not an opening plan. (I got this from a book by Cho Hun-Hyeon.)

IanDavis: Yes, I suppose you can apply this more broadly and say Do not create weakness. That seems a little banal though. I think it's a common failing (certainly for me) to invade when what we're actually doing is to unnescarily create a weak group. In the opening the punishments for creating a weakness such as this are likely to be more severe. Probably counting should be mentioned as it is important to the opening, perhaps consistency is also good as a concept for beginners.

Thad: Good point, but I really don't know how I explain how to count during fuseki. If I did many would just ridicule it as too soon to count. Perhaps a strong player can create a page describing how to judge a position in the opening.

Gronk: One thing is missing, at least for kyu players, and that is be patient. I see a lot of kyus trying to win too quickly. They do this by trying to start fights early, playing very unreasonably in the process. A patient opponent that plays more solidly (but not submissively!) whips these impatient players later in the game when the weak groups created earlier become a big liability.

dnerra: Thad, making someone's line of reasoning unreadable by inserting a whole paragraph of counter-argument after every sentence is a bit bad style I think. FWIW, I agree very much with Charles, and think it is useful advice for anyone from 10k to 1d. Maybe even for you if you try to understand what's behind every advice.

As one example, let's take "keep it simple": This is really very sound advice for the opening. If you have to read out whether your stones are connected, then there is a good chance that the opponent gains many sente moves in this area, and you would have been better off playing a simpler move that is solidly connected and leaves no aji.

Charles Let's look at this, then.

keep simple: Whether a move is simple or not should ( as a general rule affect your choice of moves. You should chose the best move consistent with your style of play (or sometimes even one that is inconsistent with your style of play ). Of course if you know your opponent well enough, and know that he reads better, then you should try to keep things simple. OTOH if you know your opponent reads weaker, you should try to make things more complicated. If you lead big you should try to keep things simple, if you are losing big you should try to make things complicated.

So, I'm saying:

• if you want to improve at the opening, have a simple style of play;

• if you want to improve at go, at all, stop trying (in even games) to work out if your opponent is weak, and just play honest, good moves;

• don't play complicated things in the opening just because you think it will make your opponent err;

• if you are already behind in the opening by enough to need a swindle, I'm sure I can't help you and perhaps no one can.