Golden Opportunities, Rin Kaiho

The weak wait for opportunities to arrive.  The strong search for and grasp opportunities.  The wise create their opportunities – and read this book.

This is a rare book.  Rin Kaiho, despite his eminence as one of the greatest masters of the 20th century, has lent his name to relatively few works.  The treatment is also highly unusual.  Game positions are explained through compelling analogies with historical events in a way that will repay re-reading the book many times.  New insights will be found each time.

The author prepares the ground thorougly with an introductory chapter on techniques before launching into the Battle of Leuctra.  On the way, we meet Napoleon, Davy Crockett, Joseph Pulitzer, William III, the Japanese Sherlock Holmes, and many others.  The translator has provided extensive notes on the historical and literary allusions, and has striven to present the book almost entirely free of go jargon. 

The result is a book that will appeal to – and improve – go players of any strength.

Comments & Reviews

This book is very interesting. Never have I read a book that contains such interesting anecdotes and has it linked to the game positions that it shows on the next page. One of my favorite examples includes the purchase of Louisiana Purchase that Thomas Jefferson purchased for $90 million, quite the steal. How it related to the go position on the next page…well, you’ll have to find out :).

PROS::
-Clear and simple analysis of various games, not just professional ones.
-Probably the best book for sharpening your instinct and finding the "golden opportunities" in the game.
-The analogies makes this book very unique and interesting to read.

CONS::
-Not really organized. Sometimes you will see endgame tesujis. The next page you may see meltdown finesse with a brush on joseki.
-Not really flexible for players of all strength. Dan players would not get even close as much as a mid-kyu player would.

If I were to label this book under a specific go category, I’d probably go with tesujis + life and death, though there are occasional brushes with joseki, fuseki, and endgame plays. I was quite satisfied with this book, definitely an enjoyable read.

My recommended level for readers: 4k ~ 10k.

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