Forum for Go Strategy
Don't Attack, Don't Defend [#660]
Bob McGuigan: I think Sonoda really means don't just attack, don't just defend. His recommended move in the following diagram
![[Diagram]](diagrams/17/40c0d78da006c78f60f1298969fe65fe.png)
is actually both an attacking move and a defensive move. It is a three space pincer (attack) on 
on the right side and also an extension (defense) from the lower right starpoint stone. It is somewhat loose in both senses, but still it is simultaneously an attacking and defensive move. It is a dual purpose move.
Sonoda's "don't enclose" also might mean don't just enclose. Territory-enclosing moves are often fine if they also attack the opponent, following the classical advice "make territory while attacking".
Tamsin: Incidentally, in the example Bob gives above, the recommended attack occurs at the halfway point between the target and the back-up (the star point stone). Sonoda gives this use of the halfway point as a principle, but in passing. I suppose the reason is that playing too close to the target would provide defensive resources (attachments and so on), but playing too close to the back-up would waste its power, and so the halfway point would be the ideal compromise.
Tamsin: My impression is that Sonoda means `don`t flail` at the opponent (like a boxer trying to win by throwing punches wildly). He shows you how to prepare attacks by removing your own weaknesses with forcing moves and by using motare. If you just attack, then any defects in your shape will provide defensive resources to the opponent. Further, Sonoda tells you to attack from the `wider side`, and to avoid running an enemy group into your own moyo. Indeed, don`t just attack: instead, you have to think about the most controlled and accurate attack that you can come up with. I think this is covered in Attack and Defence, but maybe Sonoda`s explanation is a little more lucid and a little more richly backed-up with both memorable principles and examples.
Karl Knechtel: Perhaps a better restatement is "free your mind from limiting concepts such as 'attack' and 'defend'"? :)
Tamsin: I don`t want to be argumentative, but Sonoda does encourage and teach you how to attack and to defend. There are big differences between flailing and a properly constructed attack, and between passive defence and taking proper counter-measures. I don`t think there is anything `zen` or otherwise philosophical about this book; it`s a go manual, and a very practical one at that, written in easy-to-understand, `concrete`, Japanese.
There`s probably merit in what you say Karl, but at least for me such views are too difficult to apply to go. I am a weak player, and it seems sensible to stick with concrete ways of thinking until I get much, much stronger.
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