Korean Go classic life and death training

Author: Li Ang, Li Yue (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Since the 1990s, Korean Go has risen to prominence. On the international tournament stage, it has dominated with overwhelming superiority, leaving Chinese and Japanese masters humbled and Go enthusiasts in China and Japan indignant. The reasons behind this phenomenon are debated by Chinese and Japanese media, with no definitive conclusion. In my opinion, Korea's success in Go within just a decade has not been accidental. The fundamental reasons, apart from the rationality of its professional Go team development, management system, and absolutely fair competitive tournament system, lie in its training mechanisms for nurturing young players. Emphasis on fundamental Go skills, particularly local life-and-death training, has undoubtedly been a key factor in the rapid development of Korean youth into top players.
After a period of careful observation, I found that their life-and-death training shares similarities with ours, manifested in the following aspects:
1. No specific problem types are distinguished, nor are any hints given about solving methods. Whether a position is alive or dead, whether it's a ko or a clean kill, players must observe and judge independently.
2. The problems feature a rich variety of shapes, including corners, sides, and central positions, resembling isolated segments of actual game situations.
3. The difficulty levels are mixed, with no sequential order, completely breaking away from the fixed mindset of solving problems from easy to hard.
4. These three characteristics align more closely with practical requirements. Moreover, the design of the problems ensures continuity with actual play, which is the essence that requires players to continuously learn and reflect.
Therefore, out of my limited knowledge, I have collected classic life-and-death problems used for training at famous Korean Go dojos, compiled and solved them into this book, and presented the solutions with diagrams illustrating the reasoning. This aims to guide readers toward the correct approach and benefit a broad audience of enthusiasts. Undoubtedly, this is an excellent training material for those aspiring to improve their Go skills.