The fourth and final volume of Dictionary of Basic Tesuji by Fujisawa Shuko is now available in Go Books on iPad, iPhone, and Macintosh. The project started mid 2016, and the first three volumes were published October 2016, February 2017, and July 2017. William Cobb of Slate & Shell did all the hard work of converting the books to digital format.

The four volumes contain 714 problems and 3070 diagrams. But the real story is the 3743 inline diagrams: instead of deciphering text that describes alternate move sequences, just tap to see a diagram with the move sequence. This makes the digital version much easier to learn from.

Tesuji are moves that make the most effective use of stones; knowledge of tesuji will improve your fighting skills. This series brings together the full range of tesuji, categorized by the purpose for which they are used: invading, reducing liberties, securing eye shape, taking sente, linking up, taking away the base, and much more.

While many of the problems are hard, single-digit kyu players (and stronger) should benefit from this series. For weaker players, I’d recommend first working through the Graded Go Problems for Beginners or Black to Play! series, then read e.g. Tesuji by James Davies or Five Hundred and One Tesuji Problems by Richard Bozulich.

Go Books has been growing: now at 105 books, every Go player can find the right books to improve. The backend has changed completely to enable the Mac version (and Android in the future), and books updated with fixed typos or new languages are now automatically synced to your devices.

The improved syncing has also led to some bugs with books not showing up or not opening properly. I’m sorry about that; in most cases, choosing “Register Your Purchases” in the iOS app will fix it. Plesase let me know if you still experience issues. Unfortunately, travel plans keep me from releasing a fixed version until late July. (I’ve made that mistake before.)

Whether you’re heading to the Go Congress or the beach, this is a good time to prepare for upcoming battles.

• Solve problems: Practice solving problems so you’re ready when they appear on the board. Choices range from “Graded Go Problems for Beginners” to “Gateway to All Marvels: The Xuanxuan Qijing of 1347”.
• Focus on one pro: By playing through many games of a particular pro, you’ll soak in their style. There’s “Invincible: The Games of Shusaku”, “The Games of Fujisawa Shuko”, and “The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei”. If you don’t think you’re ready for that level of pro game analysis, start with Yuan Zhou’s “Understanding Pro Games” and his “Master Play” series.
• Study openings: “The Chinese Opening” and “Patterns of the Sanrensei” will prepare you for specific openings, while joseki books (combined with joseki pattern matching in SmartGo Kifu) will arm you with more choices to achieve a good result in the opening.
• Improve your technique: You know your weak spots. Getting lost in the middle game? Study “Attack and Defense”. Losing points in the endgame? Study “The Endgame” and “Lee Chang-ho’s Endgame Techniques”. Getting killed when you invade? Study “Reductions“ and “Invasions”. It always pays off to study the fundamentals.

Enjoy your summer!

The endgame may not seem like the most exciting phase of the game, but in close games your endgame skill will often determine the outcome. A few points here and two points there and a sente or two and you’re back in the game.

This version of SmartGo Books adds three more endgame books, for a total of five. The question is not whether you need to improve your endgame — there’s always room for improvement. But which books are right for you?

(A) 200 Endgame Problems by Shirae Haruhiko (Slate & Shell): An easy read that will train your eye to see potential endgame gains. The problems often build on each other to provide a great learning experience; pretty much everybody 15 kyu and stronger would benefit from this book. Whether you’re brushing up on your endgame tactics or want to get a feel for endgame tesuji without dry theory, this will help.

(B) The Endgame by Tomoko Ogawa and James Davies (Kiseido): A full treatment of the endgame, from counting, sente, gote, endgame tesuji, to the macro-endgame. 106 problems. The best overall introduction to the endgame.

(C) Lee Chango-ho’s Endgame Techniques, Volume 1 by Lee Chang-ho (Yutopian): Starts with elementary counting of endgame moves, then takes a systematic look at many common real-game patterns, including large endgame moves. Really helpful in assessing lots of common situations, as shown in this pattern index.

(D) Lee Chango-ho’s Endgame Techniques, Volume 2: The second volume looks at endgame tesuji, with 50 elementary problems, 45 intermediate problems, 36 multiple choice problems, and 36 advanced problems. A great collection of endgame problems by the master of endgame, with dan-level advanced problems.

(E) Get Strong at the Endgame by Richard Bozulich (Kiseido): Mostly a problem book, with endgame tesuji as well many great full-board problems on small boards. 291 problems.

(Books (B) and (E) are available in print; book (A) is out of print; books (C) and (D) are exclusive to SmartGo Books.)

And a bonus: working on endgame problems will also help your overall reading skills.