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The Game of Go: The National Game of Japan

Chapter 40: XXV
By Arthur Smith
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About This Book

The work provides a practical, English-language introduction to the Japanese board game go, combining a concise history of the game's origins, clear explanations of rules and terminology, and systematic instruction in openings and joseki, including handicap play. It includes annotated example games and problems drawn from Japanese masters, pronunciation guides for technical terms, and commentary aimed at helping beginners progress to intermediate skill. Illustrations and selected translations of Japanese analyses support practical study.

[Contents]

XXV

Handicap

Plate 21 (D)

White Black
1. C 6. 2. G 3.
3. J 3. 4. C 4.
5. E 6. Instead of entering the corner, White attacks from both sides. 6. G 5. Black tries to get out toward the center; this move also prevents White from playing at E 3.
7. J 5. 8. G 7.
9. F 8. 10. H 2.

Black has a good game.

We now come to the “Joseki” where no handicaps are given. In such cases, of course, Black has the first move. The first stone is generally played on an intersection adjacent to the point on which the handicap stone is placed when given. There are, therefore, eight intersections on which the first stone might be played. In the lower left-hand corner, for instance, these would be C 3, C 4, C 5, D 3, D 5, E 3, E 4, E 5. By common consent C 3 has been rejected as disadvantageous for the first player, because the territory obtained thereby is too small. E 5 has been rejected because it allows the adversary to play behind it and take the corner. D 4, or the handicap point, is also not used. The other six points may be divided into duplicate sets of three each, and, therefore, there are only three well-recognized methods of playing the first stone. These are: in the lower left-hand corner, C 4 or D 3, the most usual and conservative, which is called “Komoku,” or the “little ‘Me’ ”; E 4 or D 5 which is [144]bolder, called “Takamoku,” or the “high ‘Me’ ”; and E 3 or C 5 which is not so much used as either of the others, called “Moku hadzushi,” or the “detached ‘Me.’ ” We shall give about an equal number of examples of each of these methods of opening the game, commencing, as is customary in the Japanese works, with “Takamoku.”