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Essential Joseki
By Rui Naiwei
Yutopian Publishing Co.; $17.50
Reviewed by Patrick G. Bridges

There are many joseki-related books available, from introductory volumes to encyclopedic reference dictionaries to whole-board joseki discusssions. "Essential Joseki" by Rui Naiwei doesn't fit easily into one of these categories, but is instead a middle ground book. As a result, though it doesn't fill any one of these roles as well as the more specialized books, I find myself using it more than the specialized joseki volumes I own.

Like most joseki books, Essential Joseki is arranged into categories by the initial corner move (3-4/4-4/etc.), and then by the type of approach and response that follow. One of the real strengths of this book is how recent it is; older books like the Ishida dictionary spend lots of pages on things like the taisha and large avalanche joseki but don't even include modern lines (e.g., outer attachment after 4-4/knight's approach/extension/slide). This book on the other hand includes relativey little on the taisha and large avalanche, but does include these more modern lines.

Ultimately, I think Essential Joskei is an excellent joseki book. It's not great for sitting and reading through (unlike Great Joseki Debates), but I use it frequently after a game if I got a corner result that I didn't like. It's compactness and broadness of coverage of modern joseki make it very useful in that regard. For broader study, I'd suggest supplementing it with both a reference (Kogo's online Joseki Dictionary or Ishida) and a way to see how its played in real games (I use uligo along with a large collection of pro games).

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