Fighting Ko

By Jin Jiang

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Details
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Contents
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Details show/hide

Title	Fighting Ko
Author	Jin Jiang
Translator	Dr. Sydney W. K. Yuan
Publisher	Yutopian Enterprises
Codes	y04, PAY04
Date	Jul-95
ISBN	0-9641847-3-7
Pages	145
Dimensions	6 13/16. x 4 3/16. - 174mm x 107mm
Publisher's URL	https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?product=PAY04

This handbook catalogues the wide variety of ko situations that one is likely to encounter over the board, as well as several that may not appear in the course of a lifetime of playing! But the reader will appreciate the concise and thorough treatment of the subject.

Some players shy away from playing ko because they fear that they will get lost in the complications, but in the final analysis, this fear stems from a lack of understanding of the fundamental concepts involved. Fighting Ko provides all the information, advice and encouragement the reader may need to overcome such limitations.

Ko positions in opening, middlegame and endgame settings are shown, as well as those that arise in standard joseki and invasion sequences. Strategy and whole board analysis as they apply to ko fights are also covered. The special properties of the 1-2 and 2-2 points in the corner, often utilized in making ko, are given elaborate treatment as well.

In addition, several examples from professional games are presented. The final chapter tests the reader's comprehension of the material covered, offering twenty problems similar to ones that may occur in real game's circumstances.

Mastering the subject matter presented in this book will add potent weapons to any player's game.

Contents show/hide

Preface			...7
Chapter One			...9
The Correct Attitude Regarding Ko			...9
		Model 1 - Shun Cowardice	...9
		Model 2 - Using Ko to Settle One's Shape	...11
		Model 3 - Using Ko to Obtain Territory	...12
		Model 4 - Using Ko in One's Strategy	...16
		Model 5 - Do Not Blindly Initiate Ko Fights	...17
Chapter Two			...20
Deciding Whether to Initiate a Ko Fight			...20
	1)	Corner Joseki	...20
		Model 1 - The Contact Play	...20
		Model 2 - Entering the 3-3 Point	...22
		Model 3 - The Two Space Jump	...24
		Model 4 - The Three Space Pincer	...25
		Model 5 - Taisha	...26
	2)	Deft Handling [Shinogi]	...27
		Model 6 - Escaping	...27
		Model 7 - Settling Shape	...29
		Model 8 - Settling Weak Stones	...31
	3)	Invasion	...32
		Model 9 - Invading at the 3-3 Point	...32
		Model 10 - Invading a 3 Point Extension	...33
	4)	Sealing	...35
		Model 11 - Sealing Off	...35
		Model 12 - Capping	...36
Chapter Three			...40
Ko Types and Their Relationship to Liberties			...40
	1)	Direct Ko	...40
	2)	Approach Move Ko (or Wayward Ko)	...41
	3)	Double Ko	...43
Examples of Double Ko with one side being killed			...43
Examples of Double Ko with a seemingly dead group being revived			...45
An example of Double Ko making seki			...47
	4)	Two-Step Ko	...47
	5)	Ten Thousand Year Ko	...54
No Ten Thousand Year When When There are External Liberties			...57
	6)	Miscellaneous Ko: Repeating Ko Threats, Triple Ko and Unresolvable Ko Threats	...58
Unresolvable Ko Threats			...59
More Examples of Repeating Ko Situations			...60
Capturing Races			...63
Eyes and Counting Liberties			...66
Sufficient Liberties Kill an Eye			...68
Chapter Four			...70
Various Ko Shapes in Real Game Situations			...70
	1)	Common Ko Shapes in the Corner	...70
		Model 1	...70
		Model 2	...71
		Model 3	...71
		Model 4	...72
		Model 5	...73
		Model 6	...73
		Model 7	...74
		Model 8	...75
		Model 9	...76
		Model 10	...76
		Model 11	...78
		Model 12	...79
Life and Death in the Corner			...80
	Examples Involving the 2-2 Point		...80
		Example 1	...80
		Example 2	...81
		Example 3	...82
		Example 4	...82
		Example 5	...82
	Examples Involving the 2-2 Point		...83
		Example 1	...83
		Example 2	...84
		Example 3	...84
		Example 4	...85
		Example 5	...86
		Example 6	...86
		Example 7	...87
		Example 8	...88
		Example 9	...89
	2)	Common Ko Shapes on the Side of the Board	...89
		Example 1	...89
		Example 2	...90
		Example 3	...91
		Example 4	...92
		Example 5	...92
		Example 6	...93
		Example 7	...94
		Example 8	...95
		Example 9	...96
		Example 10	...97
		Example 11	...98
Chapter Five			...100
Examples in Professional Games			...100
	Model 1. Entering the Tiger's Cave to Capture the Cub		...100
	Model 2. Falling in Love with Ko		...102
	Model 3. Fly Like a Dragon and Jump Like a Tiger		...104
	Model 4. A Ko Attack		...107
	Model 5. A Well Thought Out Plan		...111
	Model 6. Global Tactics		...113
Chapter Six			...117
Twenty Six Problems Dealing With Ko			...117
Solutions to Ko Problems			...122
Glossary and Index			...141

Reviews show/hide

Review by Clayton Wilkie (AGA) show/hide 19/03/2001

Review Author

Clayton Wilkie (AGA)

Reviewer Strength

This is a handy pocket sized book that relies mainly on teaching by example. It amounts to a thorough survey of how ko situations can arise, how they fit into the overall logic of the game, and what the effects of avoiding them would be. Most of the book is suitable for middle to high kyu players, but the final chapter and concluding problems move up to the dan range.

Fighting Ko contains a few pages dealing with capturing races, including the best explanation I have seen of a basic principle governing them. Unfortunately, it is presented with no special emphasis, right along with the less satisfying rules of thumb you have probably seen elsewhere. Further, this section should logically lead to a discussion of capturing races involving ko, but the only related topic, on approach move kos and the like, precedes the capturing races.

What the book does not provide are hints on how to find ko threats, and how to play so that when a ko arises, you do not find yourself devoid of ko threats. There are only a few examples of effective ko threats in the book. Study of this book should help a wide range of players to recognize ko possibilities in their games, but it will not help you fight them.

Review by David Carlton show/hide

Review Author	David Carlton	Reviewer Strength	1 kyu
Author's Email	carlton@bactrian.org	website	http://www.bactrian.org/~carlton/

This is a short (145 small pages) book on ko fights. It starts with an introductory chapter ("The Correct Attitude Regarding Ko"), a chapter on deciding when to start a fight, a listing of the kinds of kos that can occur (along with a few words on capturing races), a chapter containing about 40 typical examples of kos that occur, a chapter on examples from professional games, and twenty problems.

I don't recommended this book very much. The first two chapters don't seem to me to be meaty enough to be really useful, and the listing of the kinds of kos is information that is easy to find elsewhere (and be warned: what other books (e.g. Davies' Tesuji)) call two-step kos and two-stage kos this book calls two-move approach kos and two-step kos respectively). The chapter containing 40 typical examples is good; if you're the kind of person who really digs reading life and death books, then you'll probably like that chapter. (I expect that some of the information in there is duplicated in life and death books, but I could be wrong.) I don't have much of an opinion on the last two chapters; I didn't work through the problems myself.

Of course, this is the only book that deals only with ko available in English, so if you're really curious about ko, this is where to go. But it doesn't contain that much information that you can't find in other books, so I wouldn't recommend it to most people.