Amadan na Briona

The fourth volume in Kim and Hyun's Learn to Play Go series, aimed at lower kyu rank players, was much more helpful than volume three. There are many diagrams of realistic play situations, no longer the simple and obvious ones of previous volumes, but still simple enough for a lower-ranking player like me to grasp. We are not yet into the esoterica of advanced go, or dan-level problems. Most of the problems were challenging for me, but not over my head.

Battle Strategies is a basic tutorial in invasion and reduction, attacking, and making life. Most of the scenarios are middle-game sorts of situations. There is a lot of discussion of ko fighting and capturing races, including an introduction to the more mathematical aspects of go (counting liberties can become more complicated than appears at first glance).

I found this to be a valuable book. I am still not sure how far this series has gotten me; theoretically (according to Many Faces of Go) I am now 14 kyu, but sometimes I still make dumb beginner mistakes. I am starting to see the big picture, a teeny tiny bit, and recognizing patterns and playing blindly less often, but I know a real player will still slaughter me.

I wish this book had covered openings more, which is where I am still playing a bit wildly, and also a little more help with the big picture instead of focusing exclusively on small-scale battles. (This book is really more about tactics than strategy, in my opinion.)

Definitely a worthy investment for a beginning player, but there are certainly some topics for which you'll need to look elsewhere.