Go Proverbs

 
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Introduction

Go proverbs summarize wisdom in easy-to-remember phrases. The proverbs apply often and are regularly used in game comments. Still, one must always evaluate whether or not they apply in a particular situation. Often there's more than one proverb which applies. Sometimes they are even contradictory. Therefore, one proverb says Don't follow proverbs blindly. ^[1] Common sense must still be used.

Not all of the proverbs listed here summarize traditional go wisdom. Some are of recent vintage, devised by amateurs. These are italicized.

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Proverbs categorized

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Proverbs for all situations

• The enemy's key point is yours
• Play on the point of symmetry
• Sente gains nothing
• Beware of going back to patch up
• When in doubt, Tenuki

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Life-and-death proverbs

• There is death in the hane
• Hane, Cut, Placement
• Learn the eyestealing tesuji
• Capture three to get an eye
• Six die but eight live (on the second line)
• Four die but six live
• Four is five and five is eight and six is twelve
• The carpenters square becomes ko
• The L group is dead
• The door group is dead
• Strange things happen at the one two point
• Eyes win semeais
• Check escape routes first
• Only enclosed groups can be killed

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Tactics proverbs

• Respond to attachment with hane
• Hane at the Head of Two Stones
• Crosscut then extend
• Capture the cutting stones
• Beginners play atari
• The empty triangle is bad
• The one-point jump is never bad
• Don't try to cut the one-point jump
• From one, two. From two, three
• Strike at the waist of the keima
• Cutting right through a knight's move is very big
• Do not peep at cutting points
• Even a moron connects against a peep
• If you have one stone on the third line in atari, add a second stone and sacrifice both
• Use contact moves for defence
• Never ignore a shoulder hit
• The bamboo joint may be short of liberties
• Nets are better than ladders
• Answer the capping play with a knight's move
• Approach from the wider side
• Block on the wider side
• Play at the centre of three stones
• Answer keima with kosumi
• Five liberties for tactical stability
• Capture stones caught in a ladder at the earliest opportunity
• Two hanes gain a liberty
• The strong player plays straight, the weak plays diagonal
• There is no connection in the carpenter's triangle
• Play double sente early

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Strategy proverbs

• Urgent points before big points
• Play away from thickness
• Don't use thickness to make territory
• Make territory while attacking
• A ponnuki is worth thirty points
• Make a fist before striking
• Do not defend territories open on two sides (Don't try to enclose when you have an open skirt)
• Attach to the stronger stone in a pincer
• Make a feint to the east while attacking in the west
• A rich man should not pick quarrels
• Play kikashi before living
• Reduction Is Worth As Much As An Invasion
• Invade a moyo one move before it becomes territory
• Don't attach when attacking or Don't touch weak stones
• Make weak walk along with weak, Korean proverb
• Five groups might live but the sixth will die
• Big dragons never die
• Grab the shape points in kikashi
• Give your opponent what he wants
• Avoid ippoji
• Sacrifice plums for peaches and Don't trade a dollar for a penny
• Don't throw an egg at a wall
• There are no ko threats in the opening
• Strengthening your own weak group makes your opponent's weaker
• Don't go fishing while your house is on fire
• Never upset your star-point stones
• Greed for the win takes the win away
• High move (4th line) for influence, low move (3rd line) for territory
• If you have lost four corners, resign
• Don't push from behind.
• Don't push along the second line.
• Riding the tiger it is difficult to get off or be aware of amarigatachi

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Meta Proverbs

• Don't follow proverbs blindly
• Proverbs do not apply to White
• If It Has a Name Know It
• Use Go to meet friends ("Yi Qi Hui You")
• Learning Joseki loses two stones strength
• Black should resign if one player has four corners
• If you don't know ladders, don't play go
• You can play Go but don't let Go play you
• If you don't like Ko don't Play Go
• Lose Your First 50 Games as Quickly as Possible
• The Threat Is Stronger Than Its Execution
• Only after the 10th punch will you see the fist - and only after the 20th will you block it.

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Modern proverbs

the following are proverbs contrived by amateurs or SL deshis

• Kill two birds with one stone
• You need half the points + 1
• Never wrestle with a pig - you'll both get dirty, and the pig will love it.
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

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Other proverbs (that may apply to Go)

the following list has proverbs not devised for Go but may apply to it

• Rice eaten in haste chokes.
• If you want to catch a tiger, you have to go into a tiger's cave.
• Though the heavens fall, there will be a hole to escape through.
• Butcher the donkey after it finished his job on the mill.
• Distant water won't help to put out a fire close at hand.
• When you want to test the depths of a stream, don't use both feet.
• You can't win a fight without attacking
• It's all in the mind
• Fear stops the anxious
• If you aim for something, you are turning away from it.
• Spirit strengthens the hand of the just.
• The fearful suffer a thousand deaths, the brave only one.
• European proverbs applied to Go
• How about some Latin Go Proverbs

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Collections and references

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Traditional collections of go proverbs

• The 10 Golden Rules of Go - famous Go proverbs called "Wei Qi Shi Jue" written during the Tang Dynasty (1,300 years ago)

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Go proverbs in their original Asian languages

• Chinese Go proverbs
• Korean Go proverbs

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Military proverb collections

• Military proverbs
• Secret Art of War

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Fun

• Humourless go proverbs
• Humour Almost Proverbs
• Song Titles as Go Proverbs
• Song Lyrics as Go Proverbs
• http://www.5z.com/tucsongo/randomproverbs/: computer generated go proverbs
• http://www.dragongoserver.net/forum/read.php?forum=5&thread=15972: DGS thread "New and Original Proverbs"
• "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same": -- Rudyard Kipling's Poem ''If''
• great quotes
• fun go facts
• Aphorisms

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External links to more Go proverbs

• Go proverbs -- at dashn.com
• Go proverbs -- from badukworld.net (with Korean) (very good, funny enough, most of the proverbs link back to diagrams here on Senseis!)

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Books

• proverbs - the book
• Go Proverbs by David Mitchell
• Go Proverbs Illustrated
• New Go Proverbs Illustrated by Milton Bradley

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Other links

• Basic instinct - proverbs for basic situations involving only a few stones; which move do you think of first?
• General opening principles
• Great Quotes for a wide variety of thoughts and views
• DieterVerhofstadt/ListOfTrustworthyProverbs
• Old mottos
• Joseki Heuristics

http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoProverbs