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100 Challenging
Problems
Yutopian: www.yutopian.com
Reviewed
by Philip Waldron 6d
Common
wisdom holds that one of the best ways to get stronger at go is to study
problems. Opinion differs on whether to study easier or more difficult problems,
but those players looking for a mental workout may want to acquire a copy of
"100 Challenging Go Problems for 100 Days of Study." Problems are divided into
eight chapters, each devoted to a different topic such as sabaki, reading, the
endgame and perception.
The most
important word in the title of this book is "Challenging"; these problems are
tough. Each one appeared in the Japanese go magazine Kido, and the original
readers were invited to mail in their solutions for grading. The English
translation gives the fraction of the original respondents who provided a
correct solution. In most cases, only about one player in five successfully
solved the positions, although success rates as low as 2% can be found. One
problem was taken from a professional title game, and it is some comfort that
the pro also got it wrong during
play!
While individually each
problem is very good, I found that with only a dozen problems per chapter there
is little chance to build up momentum on any gi ven topic. No sooner do we begin
the sabaki puzzles, for example, than the reading challenges appear. The
problems in this book are also unusual enough that studying them really is for
its own sake. Unlike studying basic life-and-death, for example, readers will
not find the positions appearing later in their own
games.
Ultimately "100 Challenging
Go Problems for 100 Days of Study" is exactly as advertised. There are one
hundred problems, and they are challenging. While this doesn't stand out as a
much-have title, it is worth going through, and I would recommend it as a
general interest book for strong-kyu and dan players.
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