Go opening

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A Go opening refers to the initial moves of

a game of Go. On the traditional 19×19
board the opening phase of the game
usually lasts between 15 and 40 plies.
There is some specialised terminology for
go openings. The precise meanings of
Japanese language terms is often
misunderstood.
A go whole-board opening refers to an
opening sequence of plays, almost always
laid out the standard 19×19 go board.
Because of the symmetry of the board
(eight-fold), there are certain conventions
about displaying opening moves
traditional in Japan. These do not
necessarily apply in China or Korea, but
naturally in speaking of an 'opening' one
never needs to distinguish openings
related by symmetry.

The Japanese term for the opening phase

of the game is joban, but this is not used in
English. Instead it is very common to use
fuseki, a Japanese term that has a literal
meaning of 'scattering of stones'. This
really refers, therefore, to the way the initial
plays are distributed around the sides and
corners. If the game begins just in one
corner, which is rare for high-level play but
more common with novices, this is not
really fuseki. Also, fuseki may be
commonly used as a description for the
pattern adopted by Black, the first player,
for example for Black 1-3-5. This ignores
White 2 and White 4, and so is really a
name for a side formation (for example
Chinese opening) or perhaps a diagonal
formation (for example tasukiboshi, where
Black 1 and Black 3 are at 4-4 points in the
north-east and south-west corners). The
Korean-language term equivalent to fuseki
is poseok.

There are also go corner openings. There

are many thousands of these standard
variations known, related to developments
in just one 10×10 corner of the board. In
English, they are almost always called
joseki, but one should be aware that joseki
is not a synonym of corner opening, but of
standard sequence. That is because the
literal meaning in Japanese is of set (i.e.
fixed or settled) stones. There are joseki in
Go that do not relate to the corner
openings. The Korean term equivalent to
joseki is jeongseok, often transliterated
jungsuk.

In Japanese the 10-10 point on the board

(i.e. the center) is called tengen. An
opening play at tengen is a kind of
experimental opening, and has at times in
history been controversial. It may lead to
what is called mirror go, in Japanese
manego, in which Black imitates White by
playing diagonally opposite with respect to
the centre stone. There is another style,
also called mirror go, where from the
beginning of the game White imitates
Black in a diagonally-opposite way. The
first kind was interesting, for strong
players, before the introduction of
komidashi, i.e. compensation points for
second play. The second kind became
interesting only after the introduction of
komidashi. Go opening strategy is the
strategy applied in Go opening.

There are some conventional divisions

that are applied. Firstly there is the
distinction that may be drawn between go
opening theory, the codified variations that
resemble chess openings in the way that
they occur repeated in games, and go
opening principles. Since there is great
freedom of choice, the fundamental
opening principles are more useful for all
players before they reach dan player level.

Basic principles
Examples of principles that are generally
useful are comments such as 'corner-side-
centre', which says that the corner areas of
the board are more valuable than the sides
(points near an edge but away from the
corners). Occupying points in the centre
may be good for early fighting, but these
points are weaker from the aspect of
developing one's territory.

Developments over the last

century
The opening strategy in Go can be said to
have undergone some major changes in
the twentieth century. Not only have new
joseki been developed, but some
important shifts in thinking have occurred.
For example:

from 1900 to 1930 the strategy was

traditional, the so-called Shusaku style
in 1933 and for a few years afterwards,
a very different and experimental style
called shinfuseki dominated
professional go, at least for the younger
players
from around 1936 there was a
compromise of styles, sugou fuseki,
which mixed some of the more
successful ideas from shinfuseki with
older techniques for a more balanced
approach, forming the basis of modern
professional play
the introduction of komidashi of 4.5
points in most top tournaments of the
1950s led to a tighter, territorial style for
Black, for example in Sakata Eio, with
greater use of the 3-3 point for White
also.
the Chinese opening dominated thinking
from the early 1970s, and many further
 ideas were tried, for example the mini-
chinese formation which is a side
opening, rather than a corner opening or
whole-board opening
the entry of South Korean professionals
into international competitions in the
early 1990s saw the use of 'prepared
variations' of whole-board openings, in a
way not seen before.

Contemporary ideas
Contemporary Go opening strategy is
more complicated than the old corner
opening/whole-board opening distinction
suggests. The 4-4 point is used by
professionals in about 70% of corners.
Corner openings for the 4-4 point are still
being developed, but it is more accurate to
say that almost all contemporary opening
theory is implicated in the patterns around
the 4-4 point.

Fuseki
The Japanese term fuseki is sometimes
taken as synonymous with 'whole-board
strategy'. More accurately, it means the
'scattering' or thin distribution of stones
that occurs in the early part of the game.
In the game of Go, opening theory is the
strategy of where, why, in what order, and
in what shapes the first several moves are
played in Go opening.[1] The middle game
typically begins once the basic
foundational areas called frameworks[2]
are established and "fighting" begins.[3]

The opening is conceptually and

traditionally divided for study into the
sequences that are whole board openings
[4] and those that are corner openings.[5]
Each type constitutes a series of plays
which have been studied for their balance
(with the other) as well as for
countermoves.

For a standard board,[6] the most basic

single concept for the opening is that plays
in the corners are more efficient for making
territory than plays on the sides or in the
center.

Only a relatively small proportion of

openings have a recognised name. These
include the Three stars opening
(sanrensei), Two stars opening (nirensei),
"Pinwheel" or Shusaku opening and
Chinese opening (Chinese fuseki). To be
more precise, these are names for the
moyo (framework) formations which Black
makes on one side of the board. Since
White has a choice of perhaps two dozen
legitimate variations on the other side,
these are in fact large complexes of
openings.

The Chinese opening has an intricate

history. According to several historical
accounts (both Chinese and Japanese), it
was actually first developed by Japanese
players, but later was heavily researched
and developed by Chinese players. It was
very popular from about 1970 onwards,
and has by Go standards a thoroughly-
researched theory.

Jōseki
Joseki are "sequences" of moves which
have been
 played and documented in high-level
play, and
studied and deemed as consisting of
optimal (balanced) moves for both
sides.

Joseki is a Japanese word (定石) (Korean

jeongseok), where jo (定) means "fixed" or
"set", and seki (石) means stone(s). It thus
literally means "set stones", as in "set
pattern". Variations are shown to lead to
different positional advantages and
disadvantages for the two players in
certain overall game situations. If Black
and White both play the joseki correctly,
they should achieve a balanced result
within that particular corner; neither
should have a large advantage, unless the
opponent makes a mistake.[7]

"Balance" typically refers to an equitable

trade-off between securing territory in the
corner versus making good thickness
toward the sides and center. The
assessment also takes into account who
started and ended the corner sequence: if
Black has played one more stone than
White in the corner, for example, Black's
result should be objectively better than
White's, to reflect the extra investment of a
play.
In application these concepts are in fact
very dynamic, and often joseki are deviated
from depending on the needs of the
situation, and the opportunities available.
While learning joseki is a tool to defend
against a local loss, players can seek to
take advantage by deviating from the
joseki, or "pausing" it.

Usually joseki as a term (in literature in

English) is applied to a set sequence
happening in one corner in the opening
stage. These sequences are not the only
set sequences in the game, however.
There are also joseki seen in the middle
game: these include standard follow-ups
to earlier joseki. Other examples are
common techniques for invading or
reducing frameworks. Learning to apply
these so-called "middle game joseki" is
one of the steps to becoming strong.[8]

The current body made up of joseki is not

fixed, but consists of patterns that have
gained acceptance in professional games.
That is, they form a consensus judgement
that might change in the future, or with
certain caveats.

Hence the basic definition may be

misleading for new players in that joseki
can be misconstrued as foolproof and
unalterable, and are otherwise optimal for
all situations. Some joseki are in fact
useful only for study within an artificially
confined corner, and in real play are only
considered good form when used in
proper combination with other plays on the
board (i.e. other joseki and fuseki moves).

Knowing a particular joseki simply means

that one knows a sequence of moves,
resulting in a balance or fair trade-off
between their positions. This is in practice
much easier than appraising how joseki
relate to the rest of the board —hence
knowledge of joseki is regarded as shallow,
when compared with the ability to
integrate a strategy into a complex game
landscape.

There is a go proverb that states that

"learning joseki loses two stones in
strength," meaning that rote learning of
sequences is not advantageous. Rather
learning from joseki should be a player's
goal. Hence the study of joseki is regarded
as a double-edged sword and useful only if
learned not by rote but rather by
understanding the principles behind each
move.

Every joseki should be used as a specific

tool that leaves the board in a particular
shape. Just as using an improper tool in
machinery can be devastating, choosing
the wrong joseki can easily be worse than
improvising one's own moves.

In his book A Way of Play for the 21st

Century, Go Seigen compared choosing
the proper joseki to choosing the proper
medicine —pick the right one, and you feel
better. Pick the wrong one and you die.(par.)
Rui Naiwei similarly remarked that playing
joseki is easy [but] choosing the right one
[in a game] is hard.(par.)

A joseki may fall out of use for various

reasons, some of which may often seem
minor to the amateur player, and
professionals may consider one variation
suboptimal for a very specific reason.

There is no definitive guide to what is

joseki; the situation with joseki dictionaries
is similar to that of natural language
dictionaries, in that some entries are
obsolete and the listing is not likely to be
complete. Studying joseki is only an
important part of developing one's
strength as a player at some levels; the
study of life and death and middle-game
fighting are considered to be more
important.
Concepts
Opening theory is less dominant in terms
of study for those wanting to reach a good
amateur level, than in chess or shogi. It is,
however, an important component of Go
knowledge, though there is no single,
codified source for it.[9]

The standard sequences for the joseki in

many cases come to a definite end, after
which both players should move
elsewhere. In some cases a sharp local
struggle breaks out, which neither player
should neglect. For those cases, the result
of the opening may develop out of a 10×10
corner area into the rest of the board.
Analysis without taking into account what
other stones are in place then becomes
somewhat meaningless. The longest
'book' corner openings are about 50-ply.[10]

Most corner openings do not have special

or picturesque names. A few that do are
known by Japanese names: the taisha, the
nadare (avalanche), the Magic sword of
Muramasa . These are among the most
complex, and are contraindicated for
novices.

History
Go openings have been studied in depth
for many centuries, and center upon
concepts of finding balance with the
opponent. Because black moves first,
opening moves for black are based on the
concept of exploiting that first-move
advantage (along with sente) to gain
influence (or strength) and thus establish
areas of territory. There is no complete
theory of go, simply because the number
of possible variations makes any literal
study impossible. Hence even the opening
is subject to changes of fashion, and also
some notable periods of innovation.

Certain professional players are known for

their use of specific or innovative types of
openings, and their ability to combine their
use of those openings with other strengths
in competitive play.

The 10-10 point

Go Seigen played his third move (Black 5)
on tengen, in a 1933 game against
Honinbo Shusai, the top player of the time.
Go lost the controversial 4-month game,
which was played over 14 sessions in a
ryokan in Tokyo from 16 October 1933 to
19 January 1934.[11][12]

References
1. The opening is normally around 20 ply
long.
2. Framework in English translates to
moyo in Japanese.
3. This occurs when moves directly
attack an opponent's weak groups,
with the serious possibility of killing it.
4. The Japanese term fuseki is also
current in English.
5. Joseki in Japanese, meaning 'set
pattern', is current in English usage.
. I.e. a 19x19 line goban; essentially no
theory for smaller boards gets into
print.
7. On the other hand, the evaluation of
the result as fair has to take into
account both who started in the
corner, and who ended the sequence.
The first player in a corner expects
some advantage; the last player loses
the initiative.
. See Sakata Eio, The Midde Game of
Go: Chubansen for examples. "Middle
game joseki" may not correspond to
any definite concept translated from
the Japanese technical vocabulary,
however, since they may simply be
classified as known "techniques".
 9. There are 'joseki dictionaries' and
'fuseki dictionaries'. The largest joseki
dictionaries contain around 50000
variations; the usual estimate is that a
professional player would know about
10% of that number of corner opening
lines. Fuseki dictionaries have never
been produced in any comparable
degree of comprehensiveness; the
Large Fuseki Dictionary (布石大事典)
of the Nihon Ki-in has around 1000
representative openings.
10. There are some localised variations of
this length in the kado variation of the
nikkentakabasami, and in the taisha,
where in fact a ko fight may arise.
 11. http://senseis.xmp.net/?
GameOfTheCentury
12. "Archived copy" . Archived from the
original on 2010-02-19. Retrieved
2019-12-07.

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