38 Basic Joseki: Elementary Go Series, Vol.2, Kiyoshi Kosugi and James Davies

In the game of Go, the opening moves focus on the corners of the board. Over thousands of years of Go playing, this aspect of the game has been intensively studied and a large number of opening formulas, or josekis, have been discovered and refined. Every Go player needs to have a working knowledge of the basic ones.

38 Basic Joseki cuts incisively through the labyrinth of joseki to give the reader a solid grounding in the subject. Working steadily out from the 3-3 point to the 4-5 point, this book surveys the principal variations of the thirty-eight most common corner patterns, pointing out the key ideas in each and showing the reader how to choose and use josekis in relation to other stones on the board.

Tha authors, an 8-dan Japanese professional go player and a strong American amateur, write so as to systematically build the reader’s understanding and help him develop a flexible approach. In the pages of this book, the road to joseki is open to all.

Comments & Reviews

Study joseki for the right reasons. - Written by xela

This book has come in for a lot of criticism (not just here), but when I was a beginner I found it very useful, and I still reread it from time to time. Yes, the number of joseki from the book that actually happened in my games was approximately zero… but I learned a lot about good shape, how to identify weak and strong stones, choosing a direction of play, and much much more. Don’t think of it as a book of patterns to be memorised; instead, use it as a set of 38 lessons on go strategy, and you will see that it is a treasure chest.

You can reach 1d without this book - Written by Tartuffe

This is the weakest book of the otherwise-essential Elementary Go Series. Players weaker than 10k are better off studying the basic principles of the fuseki. As you gain experience fighting, using/reducing thickness, finding vital points and large points, etc. you will begin to understand why certain corner sequences are considered even exchanges.

The book is still useful in a few ways: 1) Ideas to try for openings 2) How to handle double kakari situations 3) An introduction to things that may happen to a tsuke on a 4-4 stone

Underrated! - Written by Sates

This book may be the weakest of the EGS but there’s really no reason to slate it so badly… Four stars for being a good introduction to joseki!

A better book than it gets credit for - Written by Andrew Grant

38 Basic Joseki is often regarded as the weak link in the Elementary Go Series, but the problem is that any introductory joseki book is bound to be perfunctory in its coverage. To criticise this book because it’s not as complete as the Ishida joseki dictionary is to miss the point.

The 38 patterns selected here are among the most commonly played in actual games, and the text does a good job of explaining why the moves are played where they are. There are omissions (the Magic Sword joseki, for one) but one person’s selection is no-one else’s, and if everything was included the book would be too overwhelming to be of use to mid-kyu players. As it is, it’s a good introduction to a subject that is always going to be hard going.

not a good use of time - Written by funkyj

I think any players interested in joseki would be better served by reviewing professional games.

Any corner sequence that appears in a 9-dan pro game can be considered playable for amateur kyu players.

Getting one of the many excellent computer programs (e.g. SmartGo) for studying joseki and fuseki would be a much better use of money and time.

But my opponents never seem to play them - Written by Ash

It could well be that this book is just too advanced for a 20kyu man. It gives a good grounding in many of the opening josekis but my opponents ( nor I ! ) ever seem to ‘play by the book’. One presumes that if you deviate from the ‘best ’ move, then one should be able to take advantage of the ’ error’ but this book does not really indicate the principles behind the variations.

Just an intro and not very deep - Written by ChiyoDad

38 Basic Joseki is a good introduction to joseki but it will probably leave you with many unanswered questions as your opponents branch-out with moves that are not part of the core joseki. It’s okay but not comprehensive enough.

The alternative to consider is Yoshio Ishida’s Dictionary of Basic Joseki (3 volumes at US$20 each). This is a considerable investment compared to the US$15 for 38 Basic Joseki. Note however that the dictionary set is far more comprehensive and Ishida makes a notable effort to explain the importance of the moves in a joseki, what points are critical, and how the joseki might be undermined, and why it might be sub-optimal under some circumstances.

ChiyoDad’s Interpretation of the Rating Scale 5 = Core library item 4 = Good study supplement 3 = Fair study supplement 2 = Interesting 1 = Buy it if you just collect Go books

Good for beginners - Written by VincentV

38 Basic Joseki covers pretty much all of the usual Joseki beginners should know. The explanations are really good and you will quickly notice how your go improves if you study the joseki properly.

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