Go Words and Concepts

This page contains some ideas presented to the kids who came to the Eastern USA Go summer camp in 2005.

If you are interested in a Go Summer-camp experience check out the http://usgo.org/gocamp/index.html website.

WORD OF THE DAY =>

SYZYGY

A syzygy is the opposition or conjunction of "heavenly bodies" such as stars and planets. Think of 3 bodies lining up in a row such as the sun, the moon and the earth during an eclipse. The alignment of two planets with the sun is pretty common. Total solar eclipses on earth are rarer. They are beautiful and interesting events.

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

San Ren Sai

The san ren sai opening in Go is also known as the 3 star point opening. This opening is used to emphasize influence. It also creates a moyo or area of influence. Three stars in a row could by considered to be a syzygy. The opening above could be considered and "all star" opening. ;-)

WORD OF THE DAY =>

FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION

FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION is the act of calling something worthless or of no value. Back in the eighteenth century, Eton College had a grammar book which listed a set of words from Latin which all meant “of little or no value”. In order, those were flocci, nauci, nihili, and pili. As a learned joke, somebody put all four of these together and then stuck – fication on the end to make a noun for the act of deciding that something is totally and absolutely valueless (a verb, floccinaucinihilipilificate, to judge a thing to be valueless, could also be constructed, but hardly anybody ever does). The first recorded use is the aforementioned quote by William Shenstone in a letter in 1741.

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

the value of your move

One question to ask of yourself is: "What is the value of a stone on the board?" If your find that your answer is that the moves have no value then you might be guilty of FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION. You can create a story to go with your moves – "this move expands my area" or "this move attacks and defends at the same time". Even a stone that later becomes doomed to capture can be used to create value for you, so don't floccinaucinihilipilificate.

WORD OF THE DAY =>

tweedledum and tweedledee

When two things are just the same we say that they are as alike as "two peas in a pod" or as alike as "tweedledum and tweeedledee".

T & T were so alike it was surprising that they would fight.

the Nursery Rhyme and a drawing from Through the looking glass

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Agreed to have a battle;

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,

As black as a tar-barrel;

Which frightened both the heroes so,

They quite forgot their quarrel.

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

miai

In Go, miai are two moves that are essential equivalent. Thus neither move is urgent since if your opponent takes one you can take the other. The game above shows two moves a and b either of which allow white to live.

When do you play "b"? – not until black plays "a".

(Although you might also want to play it if you want to start a "ko fight" later.)

WORD OF THE DAY =>

mirror movement

Mirror movement is an exercise used in dance and theater. Two people stand face to face and mirror each others movements. This takes awareness of both your own body and your partner's movements. It is interesting in part because there is no talking and no clear leader. Each must follow the other but each must also take the initiative. How do you determine when to lead and when to follow? This is a critical question in Go as well as in life.

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

contact fight

A contact fight is when two (or more) groups are touching. The touching groups may be in danger of capture or may be attempting to gain influence the same area. If an unstable group is involved in a contact fight this it is urgent to play in the area of the contact fight. If the groups become stable then the contact fight is less urgent. In Go, urgent moves take precedence over big moves. A stable group may be alive or dead or easy to connect to a live group. When you make contact to your opponent's stone(s) you are most likely to make them defend and become stronger in that area. This means that you are likely to be unable to attack those stones in the future. As a result use contact moves to defend your stones and when attacking do it from a distance.

WORD OF THE DAY =>

dog's tail

If you call a dog's tail a leg how many legs does a dog have?

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

counting liberties

In a race to capture, it is critical to know the number of liberties for your group and for your opponents gooup. But it is not only the number of liberties - the number of moves needed to capture may be larger than the number of liberties. Black has 5 liberties and white has only 4 but who wins the capturing race?

WORD OF THE DAY =>

sockdollager

A sockdollager is a heavy blow that changes the course of a fight or knocks the opponent on their behind. It can also be a surprising event that catches someone unaware. It is an uncommon word; perhaps it has been mostly used by story-tellers that want to sound "folksy".

"I hit him one polt - it was what I call a sockdolloger - that made him dance like a ducked cat."

from The Hawks of Hawk-hollow by R.M Bird, 1837.

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

tesuji

A surprising and effective move is sometimes called a tesuji. The eye-stealing tsugi

is used to make eye space into a false eye or a large space into a single eye. In this case, black has surrounded six points of territory but when white plays inside the black stones are now a dead shape rather than a life one. Sometimes a move like this from your opponent seems like a sockdollager!!! Make sure you know what makes a group a live shape or a dead shape.

WORD OF THE DAY =>

transformation

In mathematics, a transformation is a new way to look at something – you don't change what you are looking at but you change the way that you look at it. One of the most famous, Fourier's Transformation, allows the user to switch from looking at an electrical signal in the time domain to looking at it in the frequency domain. This allows the user to multiply two signals rather than Convolve them (convolutions are difficult and convoluted).

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = =>

strategy

Your strategy is the overall plan you have. You may try to strive for territory or influence or for a balance between them. When you don't understand your opponent's strategy their moves may appear to be random or confusing. Your view of the game can transform when you become aware of their strategy.

WORD OF THE DAY =>

Catch-22

A Catch-22 is a double-bind: heads I win – tails you lose.

This phrase comes from the novel Catch-22 by the American writer Joseph Heller, published in 1961. The catch here is that the only way to get out of flying on military bombing raids is to be declared insane, but to apply for exemption from such dangerous missions is obviously a very sensible thing to do and therefore a clear proof of one's sanity. "Orr would be too crazy to fly more missions", the book explains at one point, "and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to".

GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => damezumari

Damezumari is a situation where a group has a "shortage of liberties". The place where you want to play would reduce your liberties thus putting your own group into Atari. In the damazumari situation to the right, it is black's turn. . The "L" shaped group of 4 white stones and the two black groups next to it each have two liberties. So to attack white, black only needs to take away a liberty. But taking away a white liberty leaves black with only one liberty (breathing space). So an attack by Black is futile.

WORD OF THE DAY =>