from cover

Many go books promise to explain the fundamentals; here is one that really keeps its promise. Kageyama's subjects are connectivity, good and bad shape, the way stones should 'move', the difference between territory and spheres of influence, how to use thickness and walls, how to train yourself to read, where to start looking in a life-and-death problem-matters so fundamental that other writers miss them completely. He also points out the right ways to study-how to study joseki, for example. 'What changed me from an amateur into a professional was getting a really firm grip on the fundamentals,' writes Kageyama. The essence of seven years of amateur and twenty-two years of professional playing experience are distilled into these pages, and they are filled with advice that all go players will find practical.

Toshiro Kageyama was born in 1926 in Shizuoka Prefectue in Japan. A go player since his youth, he won teh All-Japan Amateur Honinbo Tournament in 1948 and turned professional the following year. His promotion record is:

Shoden 1949; 2 dan 1950; 3 dan 1951; 4 dan 1953; 5 dan 1955; 6 dan 1961; 7 dan 1977

In 1953 he took first place in the second division of the Oteai, (the professional ranking tournament), and in 1965 and 1966 he was runner-up in the Kodansha Tournament (a competition among 5- to 7-dan professionals). In 1967 he won the Takamatsu-no-miya Prize.

He is known for his steady style of play and accuracy at calculation. He is still active in the amateur go world, where he has maniy ocntacts, and is the authokr of several go books.

Also available in English is Kage's Secret Chronilces of Handicap Go.

Contents

Chapter 1 Ladders and Nets
Chapter 2 Cutting and Connecting
Chapter 3 The Stones Go Walking
Chapter 4 The Struggle to Get Ahead
Chapter 5 Territory and Spheres of influence
Interlude Lecturing on NHK-TV
Chapter 6 Life and Death
Chapter 7 How to Study Joseki
Chapter 8 Good Shape and Bad
Chapter 9 Proper and Improper Moves
Chapter 10 Tesuji: the Snap-Back; Shortage of Liberties; the Spiral Ladder; the Placement; the Attachment; Under the Stones
Chapter 11 Endgame Pointers
Appendix Game Commentary: Beating the Meijin

This is a truly amazing book for the intermediate player. Kageyama's style is wonderfully conversational and imminently funny. Of course, that would be worthless if the book weren't full of fascinating strategic and tactical insights. From the go books I've read, most are either short on depth or overly abstruse. While Lessons does occasionally descend into too-deep analysis of sequences, it generally strikes a good balance between clarifying difficult concepts and considering the concrete implications of those ideas on the board. I can't recommend it highly enough. ( )

Well-written, approachable, and insightful, Kageyama's "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" could be considered one of the few must-reads for a Western player interested in this wonderful game. Unlike most professionals, who became professionals after being "discovered" in early childhood and studying the game (and only the game) for years, Kageyama was an amateur and came to the professional ranks late. He has insights into the problems amateurs face which other professionals simply don't share. ( )

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