Go Proverbs

Table of contents Introduction Proverbs categorized Proverbs for all situations Life-and-death proverbs Tactics proverbs Strategy proverbs Meta Proverbs Modern proverbs Other proverbs (that may apply to Go) Collections and references Traditional collections of go proverbs Go proverbs in their original Asian languages Military proverb collections Fun External links to more Go proverbs Books Other links

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.

Proverbs categorized

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

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

Tactics proverbs

• Respond to attachment with hane
• Wedge if possible
• 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

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

Meta Proverbs

• Don't follow proverbs blindly
• Proverbs do not apply to White
• If It Has a Name Know It
• Don't try to weasel a win out of a proverb.
• 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.

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

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

Collections and references

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)

Go proverbs in their original Asian languages

• Chinese Go proverbs
• Korean Go proverbs

Military proverb collections

• Military proverbs
• Secret Art of War

Fun

• Humourless go proverbs
• Humour Almost Proverbs
• Song Titles as Go Proverbs
• Song Lyrics as Go Proverbs
• www.5z.com/tucsongo/randomproverbs/: computer generated go proverbs
• 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

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!)

Books

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

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