In my never-ending quest for advancement to dan-level play, I stumbled upon this text. The title was a very attractive one, one that implied that, as a kyu player, I have only scratched the surface of this game's complexity. And indeed, this book makes that clear. I look at joseki and I am beginning to see that a joseki is really a fluid sequence meant to change with the "mood" of the game.

Shoichi Takagi has carefully chosen about twenty games to demonstrate the art of kikashi (making a defensive move with the best return) and sabaki(making good shape with the most efficiency in a difficult situation). As a 1-2 kyu player, I am not sure I would have considered the possible sequences and variations mapped out by Mr. Takagi. Now, on my second reading, I am beginning to make some sense of it.

Master Takagi breaks up the book into three sections; Basic Concepts, Putting the Concepts to Work, and Masterstrokes. Each section has examples that clearly demonstrate the concepts with alternate sequences that a kyu level player might make(at least, ones I probably would have made). When I learn the alternatives, I think to myself that I don't know if I will ever remember them in times of stress.

But I also can't help thinking about the alternative that I would not have thought about before. The book is well organized with good diagrams. Brian Chandler's translation is clear and to the point. Summary portions of this text have good descriptions and definitions.

I think the weaker kyu player will not learn as much as the weaker dan players. But both will gain insight into the complexity of the game. I plan on rereading this book at least once a year to understand a little better that which was completely incomprehensible the year before.

This is a book on forcing moves, teaching you how to distinguish between forcing moves that you shouldn't play (because they remove possibilities that might be useful later) versus ones which you should play. It starts with a brief section on Basic Concepts, and then has longer sections on Putting the Concepts to Work and Masterstrokes. The latter two sections are organized into various Theme Diagrams; each Theme Diagram can be treated as a problem to work, if you feel like it.

I haven't studied this book, so I can't say much about it. I have heard other people say that they found it useful. It has an annoying printing error: the odd-numbered pages are on the left instead of the right. This means that you may want to cover up the right-hand page with a piece of paper when looking at the Theme Diagrams, since otherwise you might acciedentally see the answer. This is the last book that Ishi Press has published; it may well be the last book that Ishi Press will ever publish.