Understanding How to Play Go

BGJ 123 Summer 2001

Reviewer: Matthew Macfadyen

ISBN 1-9706193-0-8

Go books appear at such a rate nowadays that the habits of the 1970’s, when most of the keener players read all the books as a matter of course, are hard to maintain. But a recent browse through Gerry’s stock produced some interesting ones.

Understanding How to Play Go by Yuan Zhou, Slate & Shell press

The vast bulk of Go books are written for players between about 5 kyu and shodan. This collection of game commentaries seems to me to be one of the best efforts around to reach the players around 10 kyu for whom ‘obvious’ things are not quite so obvious.

The games are all played by the author and the commentaries spend a lot of time explaining tactical details. I expect that there are a number of the type of western players who want to know exactly what is happening and why who will enjoy this book a lot.

It would be interesting to hear from any BGJ readers of around 10 kyu whether this applies to them.