Description: Prepare to be taken on a journey from when the first Honinbo tournament was established in 1941 through the incredible rivalries that arose and flourised along with new tournaments over the next decade. You will not only have the opportunity to learn about a critical time in the history of go, but you will also get to peer into the minds and thoughts of famous players (like Sakata Eio and Fujisawa Hosai) many of us have come to recognize as legends.

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So I think I have to revise my one post a day rule to exclude book reviews because at the rate I’m releasing book reviews, I’m never going to get a chance to write for the sake of writing. Haha. With that said, let’s unload some things off my brain.

I recently re-watched the episode in Hikaru No Go (Episode 66 - “Fateful Encounter”) where they do the prelude to the whole series. For those who might not remember, the episode features a child who recently is crowned Child Meijin and wants to challenge Akira to prove he is the strongest. Right before the game, he pridefully challenges Akira with the following statement:

Child Meijin: When I win, tell everyone, “I lost to Hideki Isobe.”

Though most might shy away from the idea of boasting to everyone that they lost, Akira’s reaction reminded me of something I had forgotten long ago.

Akira (with the utmost excited face): I will! I sure will!

How long ago has it been since I last sought out a match where I would be proud to say, “Look! I lost, but it was a great game!” When was the last time I felt a desire to lose?

Nowadays, I just slink away like a dog with his tail between his legs hoping secretly hoping to quickly nab a win afterwards to cover up my shame. What a pitiful state I’ve fallen into… Haha. No matter though, today is a new day! I will return back to the battlefield of Tygem and restart my training against dan players! Ikuzo!

Description: Essential Life & Death 2 is part of the Essential Life & Death Series that is used as workbooks in private go schools in Korea. Though it might be seen as an addendum to the Level Up Series, it certainly can be used as a standalone product for anyone looking to study life and death.

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Description: Ishida and Davies lay down some basic principles, ideas, and tactics for attack and defense. There are a lot of examples from professional play, along with opportunities for you to practice what you learn.

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Overview

As many of you probably noticed, I have been pretty consumed with studying go and releasing book reviews as fast as I can. My progress with the Level Up series has been great! I’ve been averaging about 1.5 days for each volume. Not as fast as I wish I was, but not bad in the scheme of things. It’s been really great to see what kids in Korea have been learning and realizing how unstable my fundamentals were in comparison. I’m hoping that I will be finished with the Level Up series by next week so that I can find out what’s in store for me in the Jump Level Up series.

Also, many thanks to Malcolm for setting me on the path to finally working out the kinks in the email subscriptions. As some of you might have noticed, email newsletters are going to be looking a lot different! The design is far from finished, but I wanted to at least release the initial version of the email layout so that you wouldn’t have to deal with the horrendous layout that Jetpack was sending at one point. Hope it makes for a better reading experience!

**Update: It seems that Jetpack was still turned on this morning so the email newsletter might have been sent twice. Sorry to anyone on the subscriber list! I am working to iron out all the kinks with the new email subscription plugin.

Games

• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 3 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Finished Modern Master Games, Vol. 1.
• Finished Elementary Go Series, Vol 5 - Attack and Defense.
• Finished Level Up 2.
• Started and finished Level Up 3, 4 and 5.
• Started working on Level Up Review 1.
• Started working on Mastering the Basics, Vol. 8 - Fight Like a Pro.
• Started working on Elementary Go Series, Vol 6 - The Endgame.
• Worked on Whole Board Thinking of Joseki, Vol. 1.
• Worked on Essential Life & Death 3.

I’m going to break my general rule of not posting twice in a day because the AGA newsletter has informed me of an awesome blog that I couldn’t wait to share with you!

Osaka Go Camp Blog

Here’s the basic rundown: A group of western go players are attending a 3-week go gamp in Osaka!!!!!!! They get to do all sorts of cool things like visit the Kansai Kiin and play with professional players!!! Ahhh!!!! Soooo cool!!!!!!

Of course I’m insanely jealous, but for those like me who probably won’t be able to travel to Japan anytime soon for a go retreat, this blog is a great way to get a taste of it for now. =)

Description: Level Up 3 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.

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Life and Death

Description: In this volume of the Elementary Go Series, Davies teaches common shapes that players will encounter in their games along with practice problems to train the reader’s life and death skills.

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Level Up 2

Description: Level Up 2 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.

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