Yili Zhigui

Yili Zhigui (弈理指歸) and Yili Zhigui Xubian (弈理指歸續編, literally Sequel to Yili Zhigui) were written by Shi Xiangxia (施襄夏, 1710-1771).

Yili Zhigui was first published in pure text, without diagrams. Shi Xiangxia later wrote the sequel Yili Zhigui Xubian for his student Li Ningshi in a much more approachable style. Besides the 257 variations of 12 basic positions, Shi also wrote 3 technical poems on general go theory and constructed 6 two-stone handicap games. The "Guiding Formulas for Important Positions" (凡遇要處總訣) is one of the most important literary works in go history, not only for its technical value but also for its literary beauty. The sequel was published posthumously in 1778.

Translations

The sequel was translated into English by Ruoshi Sun in 2016 under the title Go Fundamentals. Games from the Google DeepMind Challenge Match between Lee Sedol and AlphaGo are used to illustrate the principles in "Guiding Formulas for Important Positions." The book is available on Patreon (PDF) and Amazon (paperback).

Cover Image

The cover image shows a popular opening move in modern days. Considered to be a recent invention, it was actually conceived and explored by Shi Xiangxia over 200 years ago.

Table of Contents

• Foreword by Sun Ruoshi
• Preface by Deng Yuanhui
• Preface by Shi Xiangxia
• Preface by Li Ningshi
• Guiding Formulas for Important Positions
• Overview of Four-Stone Games
• Attacking the Lone Stone (Total 5 Variations)
• Big Iron Net (Total 15 Variations)
• Small Iron Net (Total 6 Variations)
• Empty Corner (Total 30 Variations)
• Self-Constructed Two-Stone Games (Total 6 Games)
• Worriless Corner (Total 4 Variations)
• Overview of Corner Attack
• Corner Invasion (Total 11 Variations)
• Corner Seal (Total 8 Variations)
• Lower Invasion (Total 18 Variations)
• Cross-Cut Corner (Total 39 Variations)
• Upper Cross-Cut Corner (Total 36 Variations)
• Lower Cross-Cut Corner (Total 39 Variations)
• Great Cross-Cut Corner (Total 46 Variations)

Errata/Suggestions

See Also

• Chinese ancient books
• Chinese Go books
• Go books
• Shi Dingan
• AlphaGo