Train like a pro

Table of contents Reviews Table of Contents Selection from problems for day one.

Table of diagrams Black to play White to play Black to play. Find the best answer 5 moves, W: Zhou He-yang Black to move. Find best moves and end result for both sides

A two volume series written by Sung-Rae Kim, translated into English by Les Waller, and published by OroMedia in June 2005. An answer book for both volumes is a separate pamphlet.

Each 190 page volume consists of material for 30 days of study. Each day's study consists of 19 problems: four close combat problems, four 19x19 whole board opening problems, four life and death problems, four joseki problems, two problems from professionals actual game practice, and one 13x13 whole board endgame problem. Beginning with day 12 in volume two, two 19x19 whole board close combat problems replace the four partial board close combat problems. In the opening problems, one is required to choose among three possible moves shown on in the problem.

"This book is made for students who try to be Baduk(Go) professional players in Korea. The degree of difficulty is high." -from the introduction

/Errata

Reviews

Ivo Schuurink's review

MrOoijer: These books are really aimed at dan level players. I talked to Mr Kim last autumn and he said that one should spend 3-4 hours per "day" in the book to study the problems before you look at the answers. That would mean for the two books at least 180 hours of study time. The first few "days" are easy but the rest is really for dan level players.

ilan: The first problem is essentially Problem 13, Section 3, page 183 of the book Semeai Tesuji. There it is rated 3 Dan for a 1 minute solution and 1 Dan for a 3 minute solution.

Note that these are Japanese ratings, so according to Rank World Wide Comparison they are mid kyu level problems for KGS people.

DrStraw: I have to say that these are some of the most challenging problems I have seen in a long time. I particularly like the way that the solutions are in a separate book and so you are not tempted to peek. As an AGA 5d I have not solved all of them and am not confident in my answers to all the others. I have not yet looked at the solution book and do not plan on doing so until I have solved them all.

Malcolm: I think this book is great study material for dan players. I won it as a prize in the Paris 2006 tournament, been studying it since. I've been through the first volume, am halfway through the second, while rereading the first. I find the second volume harder going than the first. Advice: once you've worked through a book, start again! I agree that "one day" of the book can easily merit four hours study.

Cloud?: I think this book is great, but I don't agree that this book is aimed at mid-kyu KGS players. I am 2d KGS and I find the problems quite challenging. Also I think it's best to try to stick to the 30 mins per day suggestion. No use sitting in front of something for an hour that you can't solve, as it's most likely not possible to do that during a real game.

Anon: Unlike the rest of you guys, I feel like these problems are mostly easy, at least for the first 20 pages. It will probably get harder, but the first two days of problems only took about 20 minutes combined.

Table of Contents

to be added

Selection from problems for day one.

Page 1 - About 4 Close combat problems

I estimate them to be about the same level of difficulty as the 'B' and 'C' level problems in Segoe Tesuji dictionary.^[1]

Black to play  

Page 2 - About 4 Opening problems

Choose the best of three opening moves. Mostly direction of play stuff.

White to play  

Page 3 - About 4 Life and death problems

Black to play.  

Page 4 - About 4 Jeongseok (joseki) problems

The layout here is to find the most common continuation of a joseki. ^[2]

Find the best answer  

Page 5 - About 2 Pro's actual game practice problems

These problems show some position from the middle game of an actual pro game, with the last move marked. Your job is to figure out the next 1-5 moves, depending on the problem.

5 moves, W: Zhou He-yang  

Page 6 - 1 Endgame problem

The late endgame of a 13x13 game is shown. You are asked to write down the best endgame moves, the total points of territory for both sides, and find the winner.

Black to move. Find best moves and end result for both sides  

[1] Calvin: Opinions may vary, of course. Most of the tactics in these books are beyond my ability, so don't trust my judgement.

[2] Calvin: These are not whole-board "choose the best joseki" problems. It's more about joseki recognition, so this is the only section I find disappointing.