Learn To Play Go, Volume II: The Way of the Moving Horse [Paperback]

Janice Kim (Author), Jeong Soo-Hyun (Author), a lee (Illustrator)

Book Description

The Way of the Moving Horse is the second volume of the award-winning Learn to Play Go series. Covers fundamentals of good play, including opening theory, enclosures and approaches, bases and extensions, invasion and reduction, attack and defense, capturing races, ko, life and death, contact fighting, and endgame. Shows the Korean school's strength vs. speed model to choose between six basic moves. Includes self-test and Internet Go section.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Learn to Play Go is] by far the clearest English-language introduction yet published. --Games Magazine

About the Author

Janice Kim was born in Illinois in 1969. She became the first female student at the Korean Go Academy in 1983 and entered the professional dan ranks in Korea in 1987, the first Westerner ever to do so. She won the Fuji Women's Championship in 1984, took second place in the World Youth Championship in 1985, and third place in the EBS Cup in 1994. In 1998 she represented the US in the Bohae Cup. She was promoted to 3 dan in 2003. After graduating from New York University, Ms. Kim authored the five books of the Learn to Play Go series and founded the online Go company Samarkand. In 2008, in an effort to explore similarities in strategy games, she played in the World Poker Tour's Women's Championship in Las Vegas and placed fourth. She currently resides in the San Francisco bay area with her husband and two children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Good Move Press; 3rd edition (July 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964479621
• ISBN-13: 978-0964479623
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,079 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Sure Step at a Time, August 17, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learn To Play Go, Volume II: The Way of the Moving Horse (Paperback)

This is the second volume in the Go teaching series authored by Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-hyun. It takes the basic principles laid out in "A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game" and begins to tie them together into coherent game play. This is no trivial task, as anyone who has struggled through the first few months of Go playing will tell you.

Learning is a habit that a good go player has to have. This short, easy to read volume lays the rest of the framework needed to start the process. The authors start with an introduction to the real task of the game, claiming and achieving territory. This is a more theoretical approach than the 'you need two eyes' approach of volume one, and, for the first time, the player is lead to looking at the whole board and the fine art of moving in a game where nothing moves.

This little bit of theory out of the way, the book turns to the core skills of Go playing - attack, defense, capturing, Ko fighting, hand-to-hand combat, the endgame, and the intricacies of life and death. All of the discussions are good. I give a special tip of the hat for the attention the authors pay to the playing of Ko's. It is one of the marks of beginning players that they avoid these repeating capture attacks like poison. Here the authors give enough attention to this strategy to get anyone past their doubts.

While this volume goes deeper than volume one, it is by no means heavily written or over analytical. Plenty of illustrations and examples, but the chapter tests are gone. There is a final exam though. Almost painlessly, the beginner is eased into having a good basic concept of what Go is about.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent second book of go, February 19, 2003

By 

J. KERIAN "joe" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learn To Play Go, Volume II: The Way of the Moving Horse (Paperback)

This was the second book I purchased for learning go (the first was Charles Matthew's 'Teach Yourself Go'). For the beginner, Go can be somewhat frustrating to get into. There is a plethora of books that will teach you the basic rules, but these can also be learned from a variety of web sites.

After these, the average beginner knows the rules, but not how to actually play. An opponant will play a stone right next to one of theirs, and they don't know how to respond... do I play above it? or on the other side? do I ignore it and play another hoshi (star point)?

This book teaches the reader about making jumps (how to expand on territory you're claiming or keep from being captured), base extensions (in order to stake out territory), and the basics of ko fights and contact fighting (what happens when stones are played right next to each other). If you've done a bit of playing and problem solving online, I would recommend picking up the next book in this series at the same time. As soon as you finish this book, you'll begin to see more patterns in games and understand that there is more you should be seeing behind the moves. As a result, you will probably want to study the game more, and the next book is really still a mid-level book.

My only complaint about the book would have to be just that. The niche it fills, for the reader who has learned the rules but isn't ready for serious study of go patterns yet, isn't filled unless you have both the second and third book in this series. These probably should have been published as one larger book. That notwithstanding, it's an excellent second (and third) book of Go.

As a side note, while the fourth book in this series is quite interesting, it is not as much of a prerequisite for studying other books, such as the Elementary Go Series, as book II and III.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best english Go book out there!, April 21, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn To Play Go, Volume II: The Way of the Moving Horse (Paperback)

Janice Kim's easy to follow Go "Learn to Play Go" series is by far the best for any beginner interested in learning how to play. Much easier to read and follow than any other english Go book avaliable.

I started out playing Go on-line, but not having any success in learning anything past the basic rules, I quickly started looking for Go literature that would help me further understand the game. I found several supposedly "beginner" books intended for the complete beginner, but they were difficult to read and follow.

Janice Kim's series, after the first few pages, had me absolutely hooked! Her explanations are clear and she does a good job of providing background information about Go's history and contemporary Go players.

The best way to improve your game and your appreciation of the ancient oriental game for those who don't have a chance to play with more experienced players- and even then, this series is an excellent supplement.

A must have for any interested go player! ^_^