"Game analysis is the process of estimating fairly accurately the relative territorial prospects of each player at key stages throughout the game, including a correct interpretation of the weak and strong positions," says Cho Chikun, pretty much summing up the theme of this book.

The book's first section covers how to count definite territory, moyos, and thickness, followed by six practice problems. Here the reader develops a good sense of how to accurately judge territorial prospects, "based on the minimum area that cannot be further reduced". These are visually outlined with x's throughout the book, a great aid to learning these skills. The second section applies them.

Chapter 3 contains ten diverse illustrations of how an accurate whole board judgment leads to a correct winning strategy, followed by eight multiple-choice problems that clearly exemplify the direct role of territorial estimation in forming strategy. The final chapter contains two of Cho's games illustrating his analysis. The first I found to be a particularly good example.

This book doesn't have the smooth and polished feel of Cho's "The 3-3 Point: Modern Opening Theory." More a collection of study material, I had to put the book down frequently and come back to it, but half the problem may have been false expectations. Except for one paragraph on pp. 113-114 suggesting comparing territories directly to quickly assess who is ahead, (this territory is about double that, those two are about the same, so I am ahead), one will search in vain for any mention of 'high-speed' analysis, the main reason I got the book.

This method is actually given better coverage in the first chapter 'Territory and Power' of Davies' and Akira's Elementary Go Series book: 'Attack and Defense'. If one comes to the book expecting it to be an extension of that discussion, (even better, reading that section first before beginning the book), he or she will probably get settled in much more quickly.

That said, estimating territory is so fundamental to sound analysis that this book will significantly increase the strength of almost any player who doesn't already incorporate estimations in their analysis.

Most of the examples are at the amateur dan level, so stronger players -- 1 kyu or above -- will get the most out of it. Players less than 4 kyu may benefit more from 'Attack and Defense'.

The purpose of this book is to help you quickly analyze which player is ahead in a game. It tries to teach you how to count territory, estimate how much territory thickness is worth, and estimate how much territory a moyo is worth. It has two sections of problems, many examples, and analysis of two games.

This is certainly an important topic; lots of amateurs don't bother trying to estimate who is ahead and certainly don't change their play based on who is ahead, and even those of us who try aren't very good at it. You won't be all that good at it after reading this book, but then again there isn't a go book out there that will leave you an expert on its subject after reading the book. I don't think that this is a great book, but it's worth reading.