Yang Yilun's Ingenious Life and Death Puzzles [Paperback]

James Dee (Author), Yang Yilun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Volume I, released in the 1990's. Trade paperback. 224 pp. With Translator's Preface, Author's Introduction, The Elementary Section (pp 1-133), The Junior Section (pp 135-223), and Glossary.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Yutopian Enterprises; 1 edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889554065
• ISBN-13: 978-1889554068
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great puzzles worth the effort to resolve, June 14, 2000

By 

"ontologist" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yang Yilun's Ingenious Life and Death Puzzles (Paperback)

I've been playing go intermittently for 15 years and am a 3 kyu player. Study and near constant play are the only way to improve at this game. (Indeed, it is said that you need to play a thousand games to breakthrough to Shodan.) Every once in the while I am possessed by the urge to improve and get stronger - and so embark on a go book buying splurge. Personally, putting the effort into solving these puzzles will make you an overall more effective player. Solving life and death problems is important practise to develop board reading and fighting skills. Volume 1 of this book includes 110 puzzles divided into two sections (Elementary and Junior). Each puzzle is given a brief title and a cryptic clue to direct your thinking. The puzzles are printed on an even page and the solutions revealed on the following page. These puzzles are ingenious because they detail situations that you are likely to encounter when playing against a competitor. (Most puzzles are not as natural, usually depicting unusual situations that you simply never encounter.) Technically, I found most of the puzzles in this set to be very tough and time consuming in arriving at a solution. The elementary puzzles seem to be targetted for 5 to 8 kyu players, while the Junior section appears to be aimed at 3 kyu to Shodan ranked players (you will need to be able to read 5 to 10 moves to solve most of these puzzles). The solution page usually includes two or three possibilities - the correct approach and one or two failures, with a short paragraph of commentary on each possible play. I think solving these puzzles is a good investment of time and effort - and I recommend the puzzles for experienced go players only.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Several Steps Past Tesuji, February 13, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Yang Yilun's Ingenious Life and Death Puzzles (Paperback)

This is the first of two volumes of teaching puzzles put together by Yang Yilun, a well-known Chinese 7 dan player. Yang has shown a dedicated interest in the game, both as a player as well as a coach and teacher. After a very strong career in the Shanghai area Yang is now teaching in the United States, with many fortunate students.

The puzzles in the books are arranged into 4 categories - Elementary and Junior in the first volume, and Senior and Advanced in the second. Do not be mislead by the title 'Elementary.' These are all a cut above the typical tesuji style problem, which often asks only for the best move or trick to use next. These puzzles all expect the reader to have an instinct for tesuji already developed, and expect some ability to 'read' the problem and think ahead. Most require that one can lay out a series of moves to exploit a weakness. Each ensuing section demands stronger skills. Volume 1, which is sold here, is aimed at amateurs from 10kyu to 5kyu or better. But even a shodan will find the Advanced puzzles a challenge.

This is as it should be. I have been embarrassed by some of the simple problems and lucky with a few of the more difficult, but, overall, these books give a player a very good way to both assess where he or she is as a player and work on the very skills that will carry them to the next level. The important thing is that one shouldn't treat these as if these as if they were mere brainteasers. Don't worry if you 'get it' on the first try or not. Work the puzzle through either mentally or by play, and aim at grasping the principles involved. Expect to come back time and time again until you feel comfortable that you can recognize a parallel situation and evaluation the options involved.

I like the simple, easy to read format of the books quite a bit. With my eyesight it is a delight to find a book on Go that I do not have to squint about. Many players will find this book and it's sequel just the thing to help them make sure that they play 1000 different games on the way to shodan, instead of the same one, over and over. This should be on any players must have list.