Books for Mid-kyu Players

There are many books available which are suitable for 10-20 kyu players, so here we are giving you some recommendations as to the ones we think are important for you.

Prices are list prices as of December 2015.

Sitting at the harder end of the list of beginners book list are two that will still be useful for 15-20 kyu players: Go Proverbs and Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol 2.

Elementary Go Series, Volume 3, Tesuji	This is our top pick for your journey from 20k-10k and beyond. Tesuji is the word for a smart local move or pattern for infighting. The book aims to give a fairly complete survey of common formations and techniques and includes problems in each section. These tesuji are in fact core knowledge for everyone and even simply knowing names for them is very helpful. Some sections will be found too advanced on a first reading (including strangely the introduction). You should relax about this, absorb the parts that make sense and come back to other sections when a little stronger. Of the other titles in the series the next to read are : Life and Death, Attack and Defence. 200 pages	£16
Opening Theory Made Easy	This book covers more than the opening with a chapter on each of 20 strategic principles each with well worked examples to make the point clear. 170 pages	£16
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go	Many people have described this as the best Go book ever written but you should probably wait till having reached about 15kyu. The book is only partly about technique; really the author aims to hammer home certain correct ways of thinking about the game. These ideas won’t easily come just by practicing and ‘Lessons’ will give you a head start. Then read the book again when a single-digit kyu and make sure that all these principles are embedded. 272 pages	£16
Mastering the Basics: 501 Opening Problems	These problems concern not so much the immediate opening as the strategic decisions soon after. It is suitable for a wide range of players (15k-2k) since hints are given for each problem on the particular strategic concept involved; players stronger than say 10 kyu should cover up the hints. The hints are actually common proverbs which are useful to remember. The book gives a practical and gentle introduction to strategy for players who have so far concentrated on local fighting. 256 pages	£14