The Book to Increase Your Fighting Strength at Go

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http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/imgdata/4416703066.jpg http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/imgdata/441670321X.jpg

囲碁の力を強くする本 (The Book to Increase Your Fighting Strength at Go) -- A modern classic written by Segoe Kensaku (瀬越憲作); it is still in print after almost 40 years.

The volumes contain 318 problems of varying degrees of difficulty. (Players below 5 kyu might find the majority of them too difficult.) The problems are tesuji problems, but also require reading to some depth.

Dave: The blurb on amazon.co.jp says 162 problems in volume 1 and 156 in volume 2.

Bill: That's 48 more than the original. Maybe they added a lot of C level problems, of which there were few.

Lynx: This book is great. It forces you to extend your reading to envision what will happen later. It does so in an enviroment that makes it natural. Everything is straightforward and quite doable if you keep your eye on the prize and focus.

Basically, this book is the work to get you to a superior reading level. This book is perfect as an addition to James Davies Tesuji, which, while a great work, only teaches you the basics. This work teaches you the basics and improves them greatly.

The work is comprised of two volumes(ASIN: 4416703066 and 441670321X). It is available from [ext] Amazon Japan and [ext] Kinokuniya.


Is this the right translation of the title? See /Translation.


DG - Bill,

(1) are problems in these 2 books graded the same way as those in Segoe Kensaku & Go Seigen Tesuji Dictionary: (roughly) C:10-5 kyu, B:5 -1 kyu, A: 1 dan and up?

Bill: Yes, except that Segoe says that the C problems are simply below 5 kyu.

You mean in his The Book to Increase Your Fighting Strength at Go) he says that C problems are below 5 kyu. I read somewhere that in his Tesuji Dictionary C's are 10-5 kyu ; is it wrong, are they (in TD) graded the same way, Cs are up to 5 kyu?

(2) Any other book (that I didn't hear of) you can recommend, that can be used w/o the knowledge of Japanese language? Thanks a lot!

Bill: Well, it helps to know a little kanji. See Basic Japanese for Reading Go Books. I'd say that any book of problems is fine. The Maeda tsumego books are very good.

I have Maeda's books. I was thinking more of 'half board' tactical/fighting problems, maybe similar to books mentioned above. Kind of 'classic', as you describe these 2 books.

When I started reading Japanese go books I could not read very well and relied mainly on the diagrams, ignoring the text for the most part. Later on I discovered that I had misunderstood a few diagrams, but usually I had understood the go as well as I could have if I had been able to read the text.

I know some bacic kanjis (black, white, etc) , IMO it is enough for problems books. (Why do I need description for solving a problem, nobody will describe it in a real game:)

BTW, is it possible to buy Segoe Tsume-Go Dictionary anywhere? What is your opinion of that book?Also, I am interested in Famous Tsumego Dictionary by Hashimoto Shoji & Masterpiece Tsumego Dictionary by Sekiyama Riichi and Sekiyama Toshio. Or, any other Tsume-Go or Tesuji dictionary. Thanks.

Bill: I think that the Segoe is out of print. The Sekiyama I have, but I think that it is quite difficult. The Hashimoto is, I think, 風と刻—橋本宇太郎詰碁名作選 , by Hashimoto Utaro, in 3 volumes. [ext] Amazon, Japan has the 2d and 3d volumes available in a week or two.

Thanks Bill. Is your email address same as one on your website? I would like to send you an email, or if you don't mind you can send it to me at trotinet2 at gmail dot com I need some info re books.

RichardHunter The "famous tsumego dictionary" is by Hashimoto Shoji not Utaro. It is a collection of some problems from Gengen Gokyo and Igo Hatsuyoron. I have it. I also have Sekiyama's dictionary, but have barely looked at it. I would rate it as suitable for a 6 dan. I don't know the Segoe tsumego dictionary. Do you mean the SegoeTesujiDictionary that was recently reprinted?

hi richard. no, i meant 'tsumego jiten' by segoe kensaku.it's listed on BGA page '[ext] http://www.goban.demon.co.uk/go/booksmags/japanese/books.txt' Tsumego Jiten (TsumeGo dictionary) Written & published by Segoe Kensaku, Showa 29 Reprinted Showa 42. now, i'm curious about Hashimoto Utaro Tsume-Go Dictionary, that bill mentioned. can you give me more info? thanks.

Bill: Currently Amazon, Japan lists only eight books by Hashimoto Shoji, none about tsumego. So his tsumego dictionary seems to be out of print.

DG: Bill and/or Richard - would you be so kind and put info about those TsumeGo Dictionaries by Hashimoto Utaro and Hashimoto Shoji somewhere on sensei pages? With ISBNs etc? Thanks a lot!

RichardHunter: Actually, I found the Segoe Tsumego Dictionary hiding at the back of my bookshelf. I haven't looked at it much. There's a good section on ishi no shita.

Lynx: What is he saying in all the problems? Are the blurbs important, tactical information? Or just general comments? Any way to get a translation?

Bill: See Reading Problem 1 for an example of what the blurbs say. Another example (not an exact translation): At first glance the corner looks like Black territory, with no play inside. But if you think about it, White has a way to live.


This is a copy of the living page "The Book to Increase Your Fighting Strength at Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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