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Book Review: Level Up 10

Level Up 10 Cover

Level Up 10

Description: Level Up 10 is part of the Level Up! Series that serves as a workbook in private go schools in Korea. Though designed for children, the content and practice provided is invaluable for adults and children alike.

Book Details

Title, Level Up 10
Series, Level Up! Series
Author, Lee Jae-Hwan
Translators, Lee Seong-Geun & Daniela Trinks
Supervisor, Yoo Chang-Hyuk (9P)
Publisher, Baduktopia
Published, “June 29th, 2009”
Language, English
ISBN, 978-89-90965-90-5
Length, 168 Pages

Table of Content

  1. Glossary
  2. International Baduk Tournaments (1)
  3. How to Increase Your Own Liberties
  4. Opening Sample 1
  5. How to Reduce the Opponent’s Liberties
  6. Opening Sample 2
  7. Key Stones
  8. Finding, Capturing and Saving the Key Stones
  9. Making and Beware of the 4-Point-Eye Shapes
  10. Life & Death: Using Sacrifices and False-Eye
  11. Star Point Joseki (Pattern) 5
  12. Opening Sample 3
  13. Next Move
  14. Opening Sample 4
  15. Punishing Overplay Blocks
  16. Jachung by One-Point Jump on the First Line
  17. Jachung by Diagonal or Stretching Move
  18. Making a False Eye by Using Jachung
  19. One Eye Versus No Eye
  20. Haengma (Review)
  21. Capturing Methods
  22. International Baduk Tournaments (2)
  23. Opening Sample 5
  24. Dealing with Trick Moves
  25. Opening Sample 6
  26. 3-4 Joseki (Pattern) 1
  27. Opening Sample 7
  28. The Crane’s Next and First Line Sacrifice
  29. Life & Death and Capturing Race
  30. Opening Sample 8
  31. Endgame and Pae (Ko) - Life & Death
  32. How to Answer
  33. Level Tests 1-3

Synopsis

  1. Does a great job continuing to expose the reader to new joseki and capturing techniques.
  2. Continues to reinforce and review fundamental concepts from previous volumes.
  3. Continues to live up to the quality of problems and content you come to expect of the series.

Before I Read This Book…

My Abilities

  • A mid to high SDK (single digit kyu) kyu who has read his fair share of go books and has a pretty strong foundation in the basics and teaching go.

My Perspective

  • I started making more errors in Level Up 9, but it definitely taught me some things about my instinctual reading abilities. So I’m looking forward to what the final installment has in store for me!.

My Review

What did I enjoy about the book?

  • I like how they correct basic misconceptions (that are rampant even in SDK games I’ve watched) like trying to block on the second line by hane early in the game.
  • I really like they show possible mistakes in joseki and teaches the reader how to handle them.
  • Introduces the reader to different techniques in winning capturing races.
  • Already starts to get the player to start being wary of trick plays, albeit not vey complicated ones.

What did I gain from reading this book?

  • A better understanding of the reason behind certain moves in joseki.
  • Firmer grasp of fundamental principles behind haengma (i.e. movement of the stones).
  • Greater comfort with capturing races and some of the techniques behind winning them.
  • Polished my reading abilities.

What style of teaching does the book use?

  • Curriculum Style

    *   Content is organized into lessons, topics, or themes in order to facilitate learning.

  • Primary Learning Mechanism:

    *   Practice problems

  • Other Learning Mechanisms:

    *   Cute and entertaining comics to teach and/or reinforce lessons.
*   Simple explantations that are accompanied by equally simple diagrams.
*   Samples of openings from professional games to further acclimate the reader to full games on a 19x19 board.

What aspect can be improved on?

  • Page 95 Problem 6 has no solution aka impossible to solve.
  • On a rare occassion, the directions don’t quite match up to the problem (e.g., P.163 #4).

Is this book easy to read?

  • Yes. Other than the occasional article, the explanations are very easy short and easy to understand.
  • Though the series is designed for kids, both kids and adults alike will be able to learn everything they need to know about playing go in a fun and entertaining way.
  • People who enjoy learning things in an easy to understand format and lots of opportunities to reinforce what they are learning.

Where Can I Buy It?

  • Yellow Mountain Imports - $13.00 USD (shipping and handling not included)
  • Baduktopia - E-mail them at info@baduktopia.com for more information.

Other Books in This Series…

Last Updated on July 29th, 2013