36 Stratagems of Go

    Keywords: Online Go

三十六计

Ma Xiaochun's book

These are supposed to be interpretations in go terms of 36 traditional Chinese characterisations of the Secret Art of War. http://www.geocities.com/area51/shire/5882/strategy.gif


tderz Actually SunZi's Secret Art of War, [ext] 2 and the the 36 stratagems are not the same. They relate to each other as much as the western [ext] Clausewitz's Vom Kriege to [ext] Aristoteles Rhetoric
http://www.filosofie-oostwest.nl/fwim/aristoteles.jpg SunZi can employ the more general stratagems which can be also employed/derived in/from general life.

"Whereas other Chinese military texts such as Sun Zi's Art of War focus on military organization, leadership, and battlefield tactics, the Thirty-Six Strategies, this unique collection of ancient Chinese proverbs, are more suitably applied in the fields of politics, diplomacy, and espionage." [2]

Niklaus: Acutally, Secret Art of War and SunZi's Art of War[1] are not the same.

Harro von Senger (s. below) coins the term stratagem (not the misused and less general strategy; a stratagem is a clever, sometimes unconventional solution to a problem, hence can also be tactics) states that Western population misses the general awareness of cunnings (? = Deutsch: List) because it has not categorized them (as rigorous as the Chinese), but therefore has rhetorics . I read the book, found it very interesting, however, of course disaprove the generalizations (it sells better?).

They are mostly about deception of some sort, and therefore this approach to the game is 'darker' than the accepted Japanese interpretation of Go as artistic in nature.

The Ma Xiaochun book makes a reasonable case that these ideas are inherent in high-level play, though some of the stratagems may be applied in a less artificial way than others.

HolIgor: Recently, browsing in the bookshop I noticed Secret Art of War with application to business. The cover featured an ancient Chinese sage and a modern executive facing each other across a go board. The stones on the board looked neat, shiny, glossy, appealing. The position on the board was ridiculous.


TDerz

  • external links:

[ext] http://afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=36ji
[ext] http://www.chinastrategies.com/
[ext] http://spinoza.lautre.net/spi17/36_all.htm (French)
[2] [ext] http://www.gchjs.com/bftl/36j.htm (Chinese)


Strategeme, Lebens- und �berlebenslisten aus drei Jahrtausenden, 2 Bde., Bd.2, Strategeme 19-36 by Harro von Senger, ISBN: 3502156549 translated into many, many languages ... [ext] http://www.36strategeme.ch/buecher_cover.htm
http://www.36strategeme.ch/images/36_de.04_pt.jpg

http://www.blauhaus.de/amazon/340647568X.03..jpg

The Book of Stratagems: Tactics for Triumph and Survival (in many translations, orig. language: German) by Harro Von Senger, Myron B. Gubitz (Paperback ) ISBN: 0140169547

The Wiles of War: 36 Military Strategies from Ancient China by Hai-Ch0en? Sun (Translator), Sun Haichen List Price: $12.95 ISBN: 7119013998


[1] Art of War in not such a good translation of the term bing fa 兵法, as fa 法 does not have anything to do with art, more with (the correct) method, rules, the law. Sun Zi sees War as a necessary evil which nevertheless is of utmost importance to the state and has to be dealt with with in a professional manner.


This is a copy of the living page "36 Stratagems of Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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