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Book Review: Graded Go Problems for Beginners, Vol. 4

Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5 Ponnuki

Basic Information

  • Title: Graded Go Problems for Beginners, Volume 4
  • Author: Kano Yoshinori
  • Translator: Richard Bozulich
  • Publisher:Kiseido
  • Publication Date: April 1990
  • Page Length: 197 pages
  • Number of Problems: 390

Synopsis

  • This is where the go problems begin to get more complicated and advanced.
  • Continues the general format from the previous volumes, but has a higher expectation of its readers.
  • Appropriate for 10 kyu and stronger.
  • Recommended for serious players and above.

Detailed Review

Readability - 8 / 10

In this volume, we are officially in SDK (single digit kyu) land and the problems are definitely not easy to figure out. The problems are about as dense and difficult to understand as you might find in other tsumego books. Although this may seem like a negative aspect, this is actually great exposure for people who have been following this series since it builds you up to what you will find out there with other tsumego books.

For overall readability explanation, see the readability section in the review on the entire series.

Content Quality - 9 / 10

Similar to Volume 3, this volume is heavily focused on life and death and middle game tactics. Definitely not one for the faint of heart.

For the first time, there is no rank recommendation on the cover; but if you can do all the problems in these book, you are most likely going to be 5 kyu or above.

For overall content quality explanation, see the content quality section in the review on the entire series.

Final Thoughts

Although I am a 6 kyu, I know that this volume is still quite difficult for me to solve correctly in a reasonable amount of time. I still make numerous errors and need the solutions in order to help guide me down the right path. As a result, you can know for sure that this book does a fantastic job filling in a gap for players in the SDK range.

Table of Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Glossary
  3. Problems
    1. Advanced Problems: Level One
    2. Advanced Problems: Level Two
    3. Advanced Problems: Level Three - Life and Death Problems
    4. Advanced Problems: Level Four - Life and Death Problems
  4. Answers
  5. National Go Association
  1. GoGameGuru - $20.99 (S&H not included)
  2. Kiseido - $21.00 (S&H not included)

Last updated December 24th, 2012 - 6 kyu