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Book Review: Jump Level Up 1

Jump Level Up 1 Cover

Jump Level Up 1

Description: Jump Level Up 1 is the first volume of the intermediate counterpart 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, Jump Level Up 1
Series, Jump Level Up
Author, Lee Jae-Hwan
Translators, Lee Seong-Geun & Daniela Trinks
Supervisor, Yoo Chang-Hyuk (9P)
Publisher,†Baduktopia
Published, “May 25th, 2012”
Language, English
ISBN, 978-89-90965-71-4
Length, 167 Pages

Table of Content

  • Glossary
  • Hola Amigo Siddhartha!
  • When Behind in Liberties
  • When Behind in Liberties 1
  • When Behind in Liberties 2
  • When Behind in Liberties 3
  • When Behind in Liberties 4
  • Making a False Eye
  • Six Die, Eight Live, Four Die, Six Live
  • Sample Opening 1
  • Diving Moves & Blockade
  • Star Point Joseki 6
  • Sample Opening 2
  • Next Move
  • Find the Key Stones
  • Connections
  • Baduk Education in Mexico
  • Cutting: Can You Wedge?
  • How to Reduce Liberties
  • False Eye Life & Death
  • Belly Attachment and Crane’s Next
  • Don’t Save Second-Line Stones
  • Star Point Joseki 7
  • Sample Opening 3
  • Disturb Extensions; Pincer While Extending
  • Endgame: Making Use of Jachung and Clamps
  • How to Answer
  • Level Tests

Before I Read This Book…

My Abilities

  • My reading skills and knowledge would probably equate to a solid 5 kyu at this point.

My Perspective

  • After finishing the Level Up Series, I was really looking forward to what the intermediate level would have to offer.

Synopsis

What did I enjoy about the book?

  • I like the fact that there is a section on how to blockade stones. Novel practice problems.
  • Reviews old joseki patterns and continues to teach new ones.
  • Started introducing endgame technique in regards to simple but effective tesuji that players often overlook.
  • Gives proper attention to the concepts of connections between stones.

What did I gain from reading this book?

  • Improved fundamentals in endgame techniques.
  • More familiarity with haengma (e.g., stone movement) regarding diving, blockading, and connections.
  • Reinforcement on my semeai (e.g., capturing races) skills.
  • Reinforcement of my understanding of tesuji such as jachung (e.g., shortage of liberties) and clamps.

What is the format of the book?

  • The book is primarily structured as follows: (1) A one page explanation of the topic that you are about to practice. Example: When behind in liberties. They not only show the sequence for the proper technique, but also include common mistakes and brief explanations as to why they are mistakes. (2) A set of very easy to understand and follow practice problems to ensure you understand what you are learning.

What aspect can be improved on?

  • When learning about endgame techniques, there were a couple of problems where I had to figure it out for myself when solving it. In other words, there was no prior explanation that focused on that specific techniques (e.g., snapback). To be clear though, this occurred like in 1% of the problems, so it’s not a big issue at all; but it’s something I thought I would note.

Is this book easy to read?

  • Yes. It doesn’t get much more simple or straightforward than this.

Bottom Line

  1. Continues to live to the high expectations I have for this series.

  2. An incredible way for players to immerse themselves and gain the ability to actually apply the concepts they are learning to their own games.

  3. Worth every penny!

My Review

When I first heard that there was an intermediate level of the Level Up Series, you can only imagine how ecstatic I was. And though part of me thought that it would suddenly be a lot more advanced, I am really pleased with how the transition is actually hardly noticeable.

As usual with this series, I really love how I am just forced to practice concepts to the point where I am quite sick of it. The reason for this is that when you first learn a concept, it takes a bit of efforts in order to apply the concept. However, with their study method, I am now incredibly more comfortable at spotting out things such as jachung (e.g., shortage of liberties).

And another thing I’ll note with about the Jump Level Up series, they still take no chances in letting fundamental skills such as falsifying eyes get even the slightest bit rusty. Though it might seem like you are repeating something “so simple,” I really appreciate that they do this since I still found myself answering some of the problems incorrectly (which clearly goes to show that my foundational skills are not quite flawless yet).

  • 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…

  • Jump Level Up 1
  • Jump Level Up 2
  • Jump Level Up 3
  • Jump Level Up 4
  • Jump Level Up 5
  • Jump Level Up Answer Book
  • Level Up Series

Last Updated on September 5th, 2013