Go Reviews

Bruce Wilcox's Go Dojo: Contact Fights
Bruce Wilcox
Reviewed by David Dinhofer
March 15, 2004

I first met Bruce Wilcox about 14 years ago when I was researching the go-playing program, Nemesis, which Bruce wrote single-handedly and which I think was the first of its kind.

Bruce has now assembled some of his thoughts on CD under the title, "Bruce Wilcox's Go Dojo, Contact Fights." I loaded the CD into my computer in no time without complication and it runs entirely on its own without the dreadful registry alterations that plague most Windows applications. A no-frills program that reviews the basics of contact fights from beginner to dan level play, there is no distracting music or little pop-ups. Because of this, I suggest you don't use it when you are tired. It gets right to the point with the simple logic that is Bruce's teaching strong point. He has broken the concepts into sections for Beginners, Novices, Intermediate and Advanced players without strict guidelines for each. They are essentially, low, middle and high kyu levels and low dan level instruction. Each "chapter" ends in one or more tests that explain the details and helped me understand the logic behind Bruce's presentation when I was not able to grasp it directly from the text. When I first got going, I found it hard to do the basic "contact test" until I tried to look at it through the eyes of  a beginner (it is so easy to forget our "childish" mistakes as beginners and the open mind we used to have to any move). He goes through his rules of engagement in a straight forward and orderly fashion that is easy to remember.

To help understand the contents and the context, Bruce, has put whole game sections at the end of the later chapters (after the test). He uses a .sgf format and has incorporated an .sgf reader in the CD. It can be used to review other .sgf game files. The game files he uses are annotated with his own witty commentary. With a night of free time and no one around to interrupt me, I was able to go through the text and tests in about four hours. I could have done it faster if I had skipped the beginner section. In retrospect, that would have been a mistake. If you are tempted to do so, think twice about it. It only took me about a half hour to do the entire beginner section. As an AGA 1 kyu player, I found that the information and 
format were important in making me think in "straight lines". All too often, we forget the basics of our move theory in the middle of a game. I plan to review this CD at least two or three more times before my next expedition into the tournament circuit.

Of course, there is always a little bad with the good. The bad is that it is definitely a no-frills program. You can adjust the font but not much else. It is in book presentation with text on the right page and pictures on the left page. It is a little pricey at $25 but when I asked Bruce about this, he explained that this "book" has over 1400 pages. 

All in all, I think this is a must-buy for all kyu players. As a kyu player myself, I hesitate to recommend it to dan players, but from what I saw in the example 3-dan game, it might even behoove dan level players who want to make sure they have a good understanding of these basic concepts. I hope Bruce will expand his Go Dojo concept to include some of his other important go teachings in the future.
Order online at http://webpages.charter.net/suewilcox/GoDojo.htm