(Part 2) Best products from r/baduk

I got a lot out of the following books:

Opening Theory Made Easy As its title suggests, this is limited to the opening but is still a great way to improve your game and easy for beginners to comprehend. I think I first read through this when I was around 17-18k and got a lot out of it. It's not about josekis but moreso principles to keep in mind in the beginning with a lot of great examples and explanations.

Second Book of Go This book was essentially tailor-made for people like you looking to proceed from elementary materials. The only problem is it seems to be out of print. I picked it up for about $20 2 years ago but I can't find it for under $100 on either Amazon or GoGameGuru.

Learn to Play Go Volume II This is part of a 5 book set that is pretty hit-or-miss for me. Volume I is good but probably covers the same materials as Go For Beginners. Volume II is a nice overview of the major extensions from stones (one point jump, knight's move, etc.) with a 20-25 assessment section at the end. Learn to Play Go Volume III isn't very good but I thought Volumes IV and V in the series were worth buying.

Go by Example This is the only book on my list written by a non-pro (well actually I don't think Richard Bozulich ever played professionally but the guy is responsible for the English translation of every go book ever and has written a fair share on his own so I'm guessing he's a decently strong player) and I think he's around an 8k or something, or at least was last time I checked. He plays online and has some specific insights for people playing online (such as not following the pace of your opponent) and reviews games he found on KGS. It has a bunch of examples and analysis and takes a different approach than the other older books I listed.

Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go You'll probably get more out of this once you're at around 16k or so but it's widely considered the best book on go. Plus Kageyama is a pretty entertaining (and very opinionated) writer. Covers all aspects of the game.

If you ever get the urge to refinish it, the beeswax can be removed fairly easily, and a good wood burner can be bought pretty cheap.

If it were me, I'd spend $20 or so on a small U-Gouge and use it to cut out the lines you scored originally. Because that gouge is 1.5mm, you should also be able to straighten up any slightly-crooked lines by choosing a good starting point for your cut. Since it's a log, I would use a small paintbrush to brush hot water onto each line a minute or so before you start your cut to soften it a bit. With the gouge I mentioned you shouldn't have to re-sharpen, but you'd need to strop it frequently during the process.

After cutting the lines, use the chisel tip (or a round tip 1mm or smaller) of the wood burner to re-trace the lines to get that nice, dark look to them. The kit also comes with a big, blunt, round tip that is perfect for re-making the dots once you've finished with the lines.

That would hold up better and wouldn't fade in the sun. Of course, that all assumes the wood itself is still in good condition, which it might not be.

Anyway, it's a pretty easy and cheap weekend project you could do to restore that awesome board to have a nice look and playable quality. Wish I had some stumps around here....

I recently ordered the this set from Amazon.

When I took it out of the box the 19x19 surface had many splits and cracks as shown in the photos. The 13x13 side also had some splits, but not as many.

Luckily thanks to Amazon's return policy I was able to get a full refund and send it back, but I just wanted to alert the community that some of these new boards have this issue.

I contacted YMI and they stated they hadn't changed suppliers, but wouldn't offer any more information or reasoning why this could have happened to a brand new product.

I know that this can happen over time to a bamboo board given certain environmental conditions (humidity levels, temperature fluctuations, etc.), but was not expecting this issue on a brand new board.

I've gone ahead and ordered the board and stones separately (having to pay slightly more than I did for the set) in case I need to return the board again, as the stones and bowls were in fine condition.

My theory is that while sitting in an Amazon warehouse (probably for a very long time) the set was exposed to intense temperature fluctuations which caused the issue, as I really hope YMI wouldn't ship something out knowing it was in this condition.

I'll update when my new board arrives, hopefully without any splits. If that one has issues, I'll return it and get the non-etched version, and if that board also has issues...I don't know. I already own their 1.6" Shin Kaya set and love it, so maybe that's the universes way of saying I don't need a second board :-)

EDIT: Fixed typo.

EDIT 2: New board arrived and is in perfect condition! New post about it here.

Do you mean this? It certainly does work! Although this isn't called the Kobayashi. I feel what makes the Kobayashi is that it requires your opponent to make a 2-space approach to prevent the pincer. In the "4-4 Kobayashi", a pincer is fine for both - one side gets influence, and the other the corner in sente.

It matters a lot which direction the 3-4 is facing! The direction it faces is essentially the 'bigger' side and approaching or enclosing is very valuable. However, this is not the reason for the Kobayashi and Chinese fusekis, whose goals are to make territory on the bottom (yes, even the Chinese's main goal is to make territory on the bottom by forcing your opponent to jump into a pincered position! - this is why most players play on the bottom as soon as the Chinese fuseki is in place).

For the Kobayashi and Chinese fusekis, if the 3-4 is facing the wrong direction, then the stones are too far apart. For example, look at the Chinese openings. Instead of playing on the middle line, it's one line closer to the 3-4 corner. This is to make the distance better for attacking any stone who enters between it. This is the common low-Chinese fuseki joseki. This is the same joseki, but if the stone was one further away from the 3-4. See how far White gets to extend? It looks like a normal corner joseki, but Black has already invested a lot of stones in the area - Black deserves a better result! If the Kobayashi was on the wrong 3-4, you'd have a similar result (but in this position, you'd play the last move one line closer to your 3-4 and end up with the mini-chinese fuseki).

Edit: If you're interested, The Direction of Play is a good book that really emphasizes the direction the stones are facing in the opening and has lots of good examples.

I love this book. It's a great play-by-play of the game with the recorded hopes and fears of the players during the actual game.
"They'll probably play here ... ooh, I didn't expect that."

It's well written with a good narrative that highlights the drama of the game, and includes little biographical and historical asides that bring the game out of the abstract and into a specific place and time, with a peek into the players' personalities and relationships.

It reminds me of John McPhee's excellent Levels of the Game (a similar group-biography organized around a play-by-play of a tennis match).

What size Yunzi stones should I buy? Having trouble finding Size 3 Single-Convex on Amazon / YMImports website, although I did find these Size 33 Double-Convex.

I might just wait for YMImports to update their stock, it looks like the Yunzi stones sell out fast on their website - I saw a set of Yunzi disappear overnight now they just have Melamine.

The Yunzi won't be too much more expensive on YMImports website, the shipping is around $20 but if I order $100 or more the order qualifies as free shipping (the total was $6.29 short of free shipping with the Melamine stones and Shin Kayu goban).

I'm still not set on single vs. double convex. Single seems nice for learning / teaching, since I could place upside down stones from the game to show examples. While double is easier to pickup for captures.

If I could only recommend one book to a beginner, it would be Bruce Wilcox's EZ-GO..

Don't let the godawful cover art fool you, this book is excellent. It teaches you the most important fundamental ways of thinking immediately, rather than simply teaching you how playing the game works (after several chapters about the history of go and what the equipment is like) and leaving you to puzzle out high-level strategy on your own, like most of the books I've read so far do.

You can check out a free preview of it here, and if you like it, I highly recommend buying it. It's served me well, and it will you too.

You might like to check out Alexander Morozevich, a Russian super-GM who has enthusiastically taken to go and written about it. https://chess24.com/en/read/news/morozevich-on-go-computers-and-cheating.

Also GM Tiger Hillarp plays go and sometimes writes about it on his blog. He and Morozevich played a combined chess and go match at the EGC in Russia.

Tangentially related, one of England's top women go players (1 kyu) is also a strong chess player (WIM) and co-authored a well-received book Chess for Life about keeping up your skills as you get older.

This is how I prep my Kuroki stones:


Clamshell:
Pour the stones into a large plastic bowl, add a mild dishwashing detergent and hot water. Stir the stones with your fingers thoroughly for a minute or so, then rinse until the water is clear. Drain, and spread the stones out on a towel to dry.


Slate:
Again, wash as above, but stir more vigorously, gripping slightly to rub the stones against each other. Rinse and dry as above. Once dry, transfer in batches of ~30 to a 1 quart ziplock bag, add several drops of oil (my personal preference is for Camelia oil https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TPFVHC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ), and work the stones around until coated. Wipe the excess oil off with a cotton cloth, then spread out on paper towels let dry overnight. Check the stones in the morning - they should be an even matte black and not at all oily to the touch.


Cheers, and congrats on the new stones.

It's this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DZSR5RT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_mo8nCbJC24VVC

Stones are cheap plastic but they come in a nice case. The board is really thick and heavy. Happy with it

I have this set. You'll be pleased with it.

I would suggest that you also buy this or equivalent with it.

Some batches of yunzi stones have surface lead - mine did when I tested them. This is not limited to YMI, and the production of yunzi requires some lead for strength. This test makes sure that the stones are not flaking and letting that lead out into your environment.

I'd also suggest washing your hands after playing with yunzi stones.

Edit:

Here's an AGA E-Journal Article from 2014 about lead in yunzi (specifically in YMI yunzi stones), and here is the post on Life in 19x19 that they cite as the source.

I highly recommend the book Appreciating Famous Games by Shuzo Ohira. It has exactly what you're looking for and also includes player history and game analysis. Next to Invincible it's my favorite Go book that I own.

Sounds like you're making rapid progress! One really good book is Attack and Defense.

Are you worries about carrying the stones separately? I have GoGameGuru's folding board, which is also Japanese (smaller) sized:

https://shop.gogameguru.com/intrepid-go-game-set/

Lines are straight, board sounds excellent. ProTip: Rubber "feet" on the bottom help the sound & protect the hinge from scratching the surface:

http://www.amazon.com/Shepherd-Hardware-9967-Surface-Adhesive/dp/B007ZUENG0/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1451527185&sr=1-2&keywords=rubber+feet

I found this three-pack which is lovingly made in Baltimore, MD.

These look like the 13x13 and 9x9 that my club has.

This is my favorite series of Go Problem books.

I'd start with the first book in the wonderful series Graded Go Problems for Beginners. Do not worry about joseki right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J7GMIS0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_qQqhDbZ7X55D7