“As go players we all study the game in our own way, be it leisurely or with near-scientific precision. We attempt to distill the moves and find their essence in recurring, understandable patterns. But every once in a while we are struck by a move we have never seen before. A move that is so out of the ordinary that we cannot help but marvel at it. A move to remember.”
Weird and Wonderful, Volume 1: Extraordinary Moves by Professional Go Players is a collection of such moves from professional games. Chapters include such things as miraculous tesujis that resurrect dead groups, ladders that don’t work but are played out anyway for strategic purposes, and dragons that bite their own tail. And there’s more: impossible-looking invasions, endless loops to escape defeat, and rare sequences that look so bizarre they make you laugh. “If you want to study professional play and marvel at the creativity of human go,” the authors – Kim Ouweleen and Peter Brouwer – promise, “you will enjoy this book.”
More than a year in the making, “Weird and Wonderful” is the first in what’s planned to be a 3-volume set; the second will cover unusual joseki and trick plays, and the third will highlight spectacular go problems. While the book can delight all go fans, Ouweleen and Brouwer say it’s perhaps best appreciated by those ranking roughly 10kyu and stronger.
“Weird and Wonderful”can be purchased in print directly from Kiseido and the European distributor Schaak en Gowinkel het Paard, and can be purchased as an e-book from SmartGo.
– Edited by Hailey Renner
