All About Life and Death, Vol.1, Cho Chikun

The most complete work on tsume-go ever published in English.

Life and death is a critical subject area for Go players. Cho leads the reader through all of the important patterns that occur in play. Because of the vast range of material included, beginners will profit from the book, while experts will still find a challenge.

For beginners through dan-level players!

Use it as a text to study life and death in detail.
Use it as a problem book to sharpen your reading skill.
Use it as an encyclopedic reference.

Volume 1 covers basic corner shapes and the comb pattern. Volume 2 analyses the carpenter’s square, shapes on the sides, and corner shapes arising from josekis and attacks on corner enclosures.

Comments & Reviews

Buy the japanese version - Written by codyk

This book is so well-organized that the japanese version is useful, even only knowing the 10 or so kanji from http://senseis.xmp.net/?BasicJapaneseForReadingGoBooks

The jpn isbn is 4-8182-0409-9 for the single book with the contents that were split into two volumes for the english publication.

Works out to 30something usd after shipping (from eg amazon.co.jp), which is much better the the exorbitant OOP english version.

Great Life & Death Book - Written by Amlodhi

This is one of my favorite Go series, it is unfortunate that it is out of print, but I can easily point to this book as having helped my game in a tangible way.

The only complete reference in English - Written by gowan

Alas it’s out of print and, since there is rumored to be some issue concerning permission to translate, who knows when it might be reissued. If you are desperate and can handle a little Japanese, the two volumes in English come from the first volume of the "Kihon Shikatsu Jiten" published by the Nihon Ki-in. A key point about this book is that it is not a collection of life-and-death problems. Rather it’s a systematic study of the most common corner and side shapes. You could use it as reading exercises, but the positions would often be very difficult studied that way. By the way, I wouldn’t say this is a beginner-level book. It is far too detailed and comprehensive. Beginners, and also intermediates, would be better studying James Davies’s book "Life and Death" in the Elementary Go Series, and that one is in print.

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