Tempo

Although experienced amateur players possess an intuitive grasp of tempo, very few have the explicit knowledge needed to properly explain this complex subject. So unfortunately such players can unwittingly give beginners very bad advice. For example, sente is often defined as "a move that demands a reply". By this definition a beginner would understand that white 1 in the diagram to the right is sente. After all it most certainly forces black 2! However, after black 2, because of the subtraction of a liberty, the cut at A has now become critical, thus necessitating the defensive move, white 3. Thus White has lost the initiative, the very opposite of what is meant by the term sente. It is the whole sequence that is important, not just the initial exchange. But this is not the only mistaken concept unwittingly expressed. The beginner often is given the impression that a move is either sente or otherwise it is gote and that the former is good and the latter, although often unavoidable, is bad. If you are a beginner or if you think that there is nothing wrong with the previous statement, then an in-depth study of tempo could be very rewarding. However, this is not the job of this particular document.

A good start to understanding tempo can be gained from reading the excellent book, "The Endgame" by James Davies and Tomoko Ogawa. As the title implies it deals with tempo at the very end of a game when, so to speak, the dust has settled. This is of major interest to GCS adherents because they should often obtain strong structural positions whilst their non-GCS opponents acquire positions full of exploitable weaknesses. In particular, there should be a long string of advantageous sente plays available - but only if correctly executed.

In contrast to the endgame, the theory of tempo for the beginning and middle-game has yet to be concisely stated in print. So obtaining a good understanding of tempo for these phases of the game is more than a little difficult. However, followers of GCS, until the onset of the endgame, are protected from their potential lack of knowledge because, if obeyed, the GCS directives automatically control the flow of the game. The single most important principle is that by setting up strong structures early on, this inevitably leads to opportunities to play advantageous sente sequences later.