Xuanxuan Qijing

    Keywords: Problem, Culture & History, Books & Publications

Chinese:

  • jiantizi: 玄玄棋经;
  • fantizi: 玄玄棋經 (Xuánxuán Qíjīng)

Japanese: 玄玄碁経; (Gengen Gokyō)
Korean: 현현기경

  • RR?: Hyeon hyeon gi gyeong
  • M-R: Hyŏn hyŏn ki kyŏng

Xuánxuán Qíjīng (玄玄棋經) (Gateway to All Marvels) is a classic Chinese problem collection, known in Japanese as Gengen Gokyo.

Published 1347 [20], authors Yan Defu and Yan Tianzhang.

Per Kobayashi Chizu everyone should do the Gengen Gokyo (Xuánxuán Qíjīng), the easiest of the classical collections. Even weaker players should do Gengen Gokyo; they can try for a bit and then look at the solution. It's good to see new motifs. Also, Gengen Gokyo is a lot about "feeling". It's important to get a feeling for vital points. (as [ext] noted at GoDiscussions)

Contents

 Preface
 Introduction
 Chapter 1 – 13 Articles About Go
 Chapter 2 – Playing Techniques in Detail
 Chapter 3 – Joseki and Actual Games
   Part 1: Joseki
   Part 2: Actual Games Records
 Chapter 4 – The Zhenlong Go Problems
   Section 1: Corners
   Section 2: Sides
   Section 3: Center

Sample Problem (problem 118)

[Diagram]

典琴沽洒 Black to play


Links to online versions of Xuánxuán Qíjīng

Malcolm Both of these are great! One can print out one page at a time, and take it with you when commuting, for city-dwelling wage slaves like myself.

The sgf file is a very useful resource. However it mostly only gives the main line of the solution. This leaves a lot of work for the reader in some cases. [1] For instance, in problem number 78 the sgf gives a variation where Black makes unconditional life. It seems to me there also is a line in which White makes a (very risky) ko. White may prefer this solution in some cases. More details here.

[1] tderz: only gives the main line of the solution. This leaves a lot of work for the reader in some cases. Malcom, this is standard in TsumeGo! You see a tip of an iceberg (the solution) and the 89% below is very important. Malcolm: Is it standard? I have a japanese book of Dan-level tsumego, and each problem gets three solution diagrams (solution, variation, mistake). Some of the harder ones get more. I think it's nice to have lots of detail in solutions - it really can help.


Links to print versions of Xuánxuán Qíjīng

http://www.books88.com/Books_Pic/200511/7801308689.jpg Available at Yellow Mountain Imports [ext] http://www.ymimports.com/Items/tc-7801308689?


See Xuanxuan Qijing Problems.


Floris?: Does anyone know where you can purchase a copy? I'd really like to own this book.

Niklaus: You can find the problems online, for example [ext] here, but I guess you're after a real dead tree book. I tried finding it at [ext] http://dangdang.com, the biggest chinese online bookstore, but couldn't find it there. A google search turned up an ISBN number (7-80511-757-8), a publisher (shanghai wenhua 上海文化), and a price (28 元, which would be about 4 Euro) but I didn't find a way to order anything from that site, and it's doubtful they would ship to Europe anyway...

John F. You are entering murky waters as there are many versions. You can buy a copy of the original Japanese edition of 1642 for 500,000 yen, but it only has 166 problems. Modern Japanese editions mostly follow this. The best modern version, because it had 347 problems (but omitted other things), was a Korean one, but it is long out of print and the publisher has folded. (Actually they called themselves after this book!)

I'm not 100% up on Chinese editions, but the ones I have are far from complete collections. However, the benefit of these, as of the modern Japanese editions, is that the pros have corrected the faulty solutions (there aren't too many of them, but if you don't know which they are, you are forever wondering about _all_ the problems. (The Korean edition, which is the basis of the online problems, is uncorrected).

So you have to decide whether you are a collector or you just want the problems. If the latter, bear in mind that most of the problems turn up elsewhere, though usually without the names.

On this latter point, in case anyone misapprehends, I started putting the named problems on the MSO site, and now on the GoGoD CD. But the explanations of the names are not in the original - they come from me. I have always planned to put the rest of the problems and explanations on CD updates, because I've done all the hard work as regards the text. But I find making the diagrams too boring, and with many other things to do I haven't got round to it.

kokiri: Here are some links to the amazon.co.jp site- [ext] http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/250-6986847-3089811 to a search for the book, and [ext] http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4381071417/qid=1075113174/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_8_3/250-6986847-3089811 for one example.

If the links don't work, you can cut and paste 玄玄 碁経 into amazon.co.jp.

I've never tried ordering through amazon but there must be someone on SL who has.

Description of how to use amazon.co.jp is toward the bottom of GoBooks/Discussion

I own a couple of the other books (the Igo Hatsuyoron and the Gokyo Shumyo) in the same series as the book in the second link. They're nicely turned out books about half A4 or so, with an introduction by Hashimoto Utaro (IIRC), a scan of the introduction to a historic edition and a modern translation of it. They are in the format of questions on one page and the answers overleaf with 4 questions per page and a couple of diagrams for each answer.

In my opinion though, the books are more value to me for their historical interest than as practical manuals. Maybe I'm not strong enough (a lot of the problems are really hard) but I think that the layout gives the book less of an exam feel that I get with some other Tsumego books. I'm rambling a bit, but my point is really that I don't study these books the way I do some tsumego books - I'm more likely to open one up and spend a while contemplating a few problems and their solutions when I want to relax than try to drill them at all. That said, Utaro writes in one of the intros something along the lines of these problems being the ones that he and other pros have grown up with, studying again and again as children and upwards so maybe I'm just not strong enough to really gain from them. in short, if you're looking for a serious study manual, Floris, I'd see what some of the 3 dans think first.

Floris?: Don't worry, i've already been studying the online version with uligo. Except I'd rather study from a book then from my computer.

Velirun: The uligo version is all well and good, but sadly, it does not have many variations. For a work like this, the more variation the better.

Floris - if you know someone who can read Japanese, you can order from either Amazon.co.jp at the link supplied above. Alternately, you could use [ext] http://www.fujisan.com, but I don't think you can order without using the Japanese interface, sadly. I just ordered my copies of gengen gokyo and gokyo shumyo there, totalled $55 after shipping. Hope this helps!

Velirun: Or even better, you can get a four-volume Korean set for $25 US - [ext] http://www.yclwaller.com. If only I'd found this a month ago...

maruseru: The Schaak en Gowinkel het Paard carries it.

Feylias: The 347 SGF for these problems are also included in the shareware software "Go Grinder."


/discussion


emeraldemon: I have a question about problem 9 of the pdf.


[20] Defu & Tianzhang & Fairbairn , Yan & Yan & Fairbairn. Xuan Xuan Qijing (The Classic of the Mystery of the Mysterious). Translated from original chinese to GoGoD CD Database., 1349 & 2005.


This is a copy of the living page "Xuanxuan Qijing" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2008 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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