A deep study of the complexity of the mechanisms of the Game of Go and its relations with the oriental culture
The
aim of this blog is to share the results of years of studies,
research and work in the field of the Game of Go; after playing this
game for three years and a half, nearly every day, perpetually amazed
by its simplicity, its deepness and its strong relation to
mathematics, I spent a lot of time reading books on the game and
establishing its link with the oriental culture. As most of those
books are not available anymore - not published, as they are old
books only kept by a few passionate players - and as my thoughts and
my work in this field seems to be, if not fully original, at least
worth considering, I am working on making it available for the huge
part of the Go community that does not read Japanese, Chinese or
Korean.
I
assume in this blog that the reader knows what Go is and knows at
least the rules of the game; I will not describe them, they can be
easily found (see "Rules of the Game of Go" on the page bar). However, to make the reading
more easy, I give here a glossary of the common Go terms used in my
articles and I recall the main characters of the Go story.
Glossary
Aji:
Potential for threats.
Atari: A
group is in atari if it has only one liberty left and could be
captured with one more move.
Baduk: The
Game of Go. (Korean name)
Chuban: Middle
of the game.
Dan: Ranking
system for the strong players.
Dosaku: Famous
Japanese player (1645 – 1702)
Fuseki: Beginning
of the game.
Goban: Board
with 19x19 intersections.
Go
Seigen: Famous player born in 1914.
Gote: A
move is gote is it does not force the opponent to answer.
Hayashi: Japanese
Go school.
Honinbo: In
the past, a Go school; nowadays, it is an honorary title.
Hoshi: Intersections
marked with a black circle on the goban.
Igo: The
Game of Go. (Japanese name)
Inoue: Japanese
Go school.
Insei: Japanese
Go student, aiming to become a professional.
Joseki: Ideal
sequence for both players.
Keima: Horse
jump.
Kisei: Go
Saint. Honorary title.
Ko: Situation
were a stone can be infinitely taken back.
Komi: Points
given to the player which does not begin to compensate his second
position.
Komoku: Intersection
3-4 on the goban. Very common during early game.
Kosumi: Two
stones forming a diagonal shape.
Kyu: ranking
from 30 kyu (a player who knows only the rules) to 1 kyu. The ranks
above are the dan ranks, from 1 dan to 7 dan (9 dan for
professionals) for the strong players.
Meijin: Master.
Initially an honorary title, now the name of a tournament.
Moyo: Large
area of influence that could be converted into territory.
NikkenTobi: two
steps jump.
Sensei: Professor.
Sente: The
opposite of "gote"; force the opponent to answer.
Shodan: First
dan.
Shusaku: Very
famous Japanese player, born in 1829.
Tengen: The
Sky. Centre of the Goban.
Tewari: A
way of evaluating a position by playing the moves that led to it in a
different order.
Tobi: One
step jump.
Tsumego: Life
or death problem on a goban.
WeiQi: The
Game of Go. (Chinese name)
Yasui: Japanese
Go school.
Yose: Last
part of the game (after fuseki and chuban).
