The Penguin Sensei (Go Proverbs explained) #1

Hello Steemians !

This is a post about Go proverbs, you may know that there is a lot of them and I wanted to talk about some of them. I don’t know a lot of proverbs but still about 10 I would say. I’ll make two or three posts about them. Be careful because there is going to be a lot of Go terms in this post and even if I’ll try to explain them, you may want to check my post about Go terms first.

I think the Go is a really amazing game and maybe this will be the inspiration you need to try out the game and fall in love for it as I did. Anyway, let’s waste no more time and start right away with the first one !

 

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Don’t go fishing when your house is on fire

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I think this is my favorite because it speaks for itself. In fact, this advise tells you that when you want to do something like attack a group ar take a big move for territory, you should first care about your house. And that’s especially true if it’s on fire, that means if you have a weak group where its life is threatened, you should take care of it before doing anything else.

Indeed, it’s great to make points for example but if you pay those points with a huge attack against one of your group, you’re going to be in bad shape. That’s because when you attack a group, you nearly always make profit in influence or points by doing so.
 

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Always Hane at the head of two (or three) stones

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If you’re not familiar with Go terms, here is what a Hane is :

This move may seems small but in fact, it’s a huge move. At first, I was quite dubious about this proverb but the more I progress in the game the more I understand it. Actually, there are multiple reasons why this move is so good.

The main reason I think is that you gain tempo on your opponent, pressing his stone and denying him an easy access to the center. Secondly, it reduces the amount of liberties of the enemy group and when it’s only two stones, it makes a big impact. Lastly, it’s quite funny but so true, it prevents your opponent from doing a Hane a the head of your two or three stones.
 

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Attack from far away and defend with contact moves

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This one is so true that when I started applying this principle / proverb, I gained a few ranks. I think it’s the hardest to explain in those four because you have to had played quite a few games to truly understand it. It applies when you’re attacking an enemy group or when you’re defending a group.

Actually, when you made contact move, you place weak stones that you will sacrifice in order to escape with your group or use them to cut enemy group and by capturing one, escape.
On the other hand, when you attack, you want all your stones to be solid and safe and so, you avoid contact moves.
 

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Answer a Hane to a Tsuke

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Once again, if you don’t know what those terms mean, a Tsuke is a contact move and for the Hane, just refer to the first proverb.

Anyway, when your opponent makes a Tsuke, the stone he placed is already weak because it only has 3 liberties instead of four. So, by making a Hane, you reduce even more its liberties. Indeed, it’s often a good play and it’s also the base of many Joseki
 

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Don’t forget that those proverbs are generally true and should be applied but don’t forget to use your brain and think a little before using them brainlessly.
I hope you liked this post and here is my profile page on OGS, add me as a friend and we'll do a game !

See you tomorrow !