Go Proverbs
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Go proverbs summarize wisdom in easy-to-remember phrases. The proverbs apply surprisingly often and are regularly used in game comments.
But be warned: Although proverbs often can help, one must always evaluate whether or not they apply in a particular situation. Often there's more than one proverb which applies. Sometimes they are even contradictory. Therefore, one proverb says Don't follow proverbs blindly. [1] Common sense must still be used.
Also, not all of the proverbs listed here summarize go wisdom. Some are of recent vintage, devised by amateurs, and not tested by time.
Also enjoyable are great quotes and fun go facts.
dnerra suggests a paraphrasing of a proverb. [2]
Proverbs for all situations
- Your opponent's good move is your good move
- The opponent's vital point is my vital point
- Play on the point of symmetry
- Play double sente early
- Sente gains nothing
- Beware of going back to patch up
- Don't follow proverbs blindly
- When in doubt, Tenuki
- Don't go fishing while your house is on fire
Life-and-death proverbs
- There is death in the hane
- Hane, Cut, Placement
- Learn the eyestealing tesuji
- Six die but eight live (on the second line)
- Four die but six live (on the third line or in the corner on the second line)
- Four is five and five is eight and six is twelve
- The carpenters square becomes ko
- The L group is dead
- The door group is dead
- Strange things happen at the one two point
- Eyes win semeais
- Check escape routes first
- Capture three to get an eye
- Only enclosed groups can be killed
Tactics proverbs
- Respond to attachment with hane
- Wedge if possible
- Hane at the Head of Two Stones
- Crosscut then extend
- Capture the cutting stones
- Beginners play atari
- The empty triangle is bad
- The one-point jump (ikken tobi) is never bad
- Don't try to cut the one-point jump
- From one, two. From two, three
- Strike at the waist of the keima
- Cutting right through a knight's move is very big
- Do not peep at cutting points
- Even a moron connects against a peep
- If you have one stone on the third line in atari, add a second stone and sacrifice both
- Use contact moves for defence
- Never ignore a shoulder hit
- The bamboo joint may be short of liberties
- Nets are better than ladders
- Answer the capping play with a knight's move
- Approach from the wider side
- Block on the wider side
- Play at the centre of three stones
- Answer keima with kosumi
- Five liberties for tactical stability
- Capture stones caught in a ladder at the earliest opportunity
- Two hanes gain a liberty
- The strong player plays straight, the weak plays diagonal
- There is no connection in the carpenter's triangle
Strategy proverbs
- Urgent points before big points
- Don't throw an egg at a wall
- Play away from thickness
- Don't use thickness to make territory
- Make territory while attacking
- A ponnuki is worth thirty points
- Make a fist before striking
- Do not defend territories open on two sides (Don't try to enclose when you have an open skirt)
- Attach to the stronger stone in a pincer
- Make a feint to the east while attacking in the west
- Sacrifice plums for peaches
- A rich man should not pick quarrels
- Play kikashi before living
- Keshi is worth as much as an invasion
- Invade a moyo one move before it becomes territory
- Don't attach when attacking
- Make weak walk along with weak, Korean proverb
- Five groups might live but the sixth will die
- Big dragons never die
- Grab the shape points in kikashi
- Give your opponent what he wants
- Avoid ippoji
- Don't trade a dollar for a penny
- There are no ko threats in the opening
- Strengthening your own weak group makes your opponent's weaker
- Only after the 10th punch will you see the fist - and only after the 20th will you block it.
- Don't touch weak stones
- Never upset your star-point stones
- Greed for the win takes the win away
- High move (4th line) for influence, low move (3rd line) for territory
- If you have lost four corners, resign
- Don't push from behind.
- Don't push along the second line.
- Riding the tiger it is difficult to get off =? be aware of amarigatachi
Military proverbs
- see Military proverbs
- see Secret Art of War
Meta Proverbs
- Don't follow proverbs blindly
- Proverbs do not apply to White
- If It Has a Name Know It
- Don't try to weasel a win out of a proverb.
- Proverbs only apply to Kyu players
- Use Go to meet friends ("Yi Qi Hui You")
- Learning Joseki loses two stones strength
- Black should resign if one player has four corners
- If you don't know ladders, don't play go
- You can play Go but don't let Go play you
- If you don't like Ko don't Play Go
- Lose Your First 50 Games as Quickly as Possible
- "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same": -- Rudyard Kipling's Poem ''If''
Modern proverbs
(for those that don't believe that all wisdom comes from the past)
- You need half the points + 1
- Five Liberties for Tactical Stability
- When in doubt, tenuki
- Never make hollow ko threats
- Trying to achieve light and airy gamestyle ends up blown away?
- If you have 30 minutes, use them?
Other proverbs (that may apply to Go)
- Song Titles as Go Proverbs
- Song Lyrics as Go Proverbs
- The Threat Is Stronger Than Its Execution
- Rice eaten in haste chokes.
- If you want to catch a tiger, you have to go into a tiger's cave.
- Though the heavens fall, there will be a hole to escape through.
- Butcher the donkey after it finished his job on the mill.
- Distant water won't help to put out a fire close at hand.
- When you want to test the depths of a stream, don't use both feet.
- You can't win a fight without attacking
- It's all in the mind
- Fear stops the anxious
- Kill two birds with one stone
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
- Never wrestle with a pig - you'll both get dirty, and the pig will love it.
- If you aim for something, you are turning away from it.
- Spirit strengthens the hand of the just.
- The fearful suffer a thousand deaths, the brave only one.
Fun
- Humourless go proverbs
- Humour Almost Proverbs
-
http://www.5z.com/tucsongo/randomproverbs/: computer generated go proverbs
-
http://www.dragongoserver.net/forum/read.php?forum=5&thread=15972: DGS thread "New and Original Proverbs"
Links to more Go proverbs
- The 10 Golden Rules of Go - famous Go proverbs called "Wei Qi Shi Jue" written during the Tang Dynasty (1,300 years ago)
-
Go proverbs -- at dashn.com
-
Go proverbs -- from badukworld.net (with Korean) (very good, funny enough, most of the proverbs link back to diagrams here on Senseis!)
- Flemish proverbs applied to Go
- Old mottos
- Joseki Heuristics
- How about some Latin Go Proverbs
Go proverbs in their original Asian languages:
Books
- proverbs - the book
- Go Proverbs by David Mitchell
- Go Proverbs Illustrated
- New Go Proverbs Illustrated by Milton Bradley
Other links
- Basic instinct - proverbs for basic situations involving only a few stones; which move do you think of first?
- General opening principles
- Great Quotes for a wide variety of thoughts and views
- Dieter's list of trustworthy proverbs
[1] aLegendWai: You may treat the following as a humor or a lesson of logic. Correct me if wrong.
- Proverb A says we should do XXX.
- Proverb B says we should do YYY.
- Proverb C says we should do ZZZ.
Now one person feels the proverb is not trustworthy. So it creates Proverb D:
- Proverb D says, "Don't follow proverbs blindly."
Person A: Yes, Proverb D is right. I should not follow proverbs blindly. So I am not going to follow any proverb at all.
Proverb D tells people not to trust proverbs (without hesitation), but it is a proverb itself. ^-^
[2]
Paraphrasing dnerra on ThereIsNoTerritoryInTheCenter:
A proverb is a proverb, and a truth is a truth. I've always more or less automatically tried to translate a proverb into something more meaningful. Examples:
- "There is no territory in the center." means "Most amateurs overestimate the territorial value of center moves."
- "If there are less than 15 stones in danger, play tenuki." means: "Well, if a group of you is in danger, and it is a burden to defend it, and it is less than 10 stones, than you should at least consider for a moment whether it might be better to surrender it, maybe trying to get influence while the opponent is busy capturing it."
- "Ikken tobi is never wrong." means: "If you have a weak stone, and you have to run away, the default move you consider is an ikken tobi. But of course look for special circumstance which might favor other moves."
aLegendWai: I am doing the same when I understand the proverb. Instead of trying hard to remember the proverb (and its behind meaning. I simply rewrite the proverb. The following examples are my ways to understand them.
Forget this proverb! Remember this instead: A connection against a peep is one of the common responses. But it is not the absolute answer. Other reponses can often be seen. (Note: You connect because you can't protect from being cut, or you can't afford being cut.)
Forget this proverb! Remember this instead: Any move can be a ko threat if the opponent has to respond in order to prevent from loss/damage etc. There are ko threats in the opening, but their value cannot be accurately assessed.
- see also Aphorisms
- see also sayings /sayings