The Best of Select: Games 9/SPCD9.bin/dosgames/go/glosry.go

Text File | 1991-06-12 | 9.6 KB | 254 lines

                                                                     22OCT89

                   GLOSSARY OF JAPANESE GO TERMINOLOGY


According to writer and humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard -
        "One of the biggest barriers to learning a new subject is its
nomenclature, meaning the set of terms used to describe the things it
deals with.  A subject must have accurate labels which have exact
meanings before it can be understood and communicated."
        "THE ONLY REASON A PERSON GIVES UP A STUDY OR BECOMES CONFUSED
OR UNABLE TO LEARN IS BECAUSE HE OR SHE HAS GONE PAST A WORD THAT WAS
NOT UNDERSTOOD."

The following glossary is compiled from various books on the game, most
of which are available from the Ishi Press.


AJI     Literally "taste". The weaknesses existing in a group or situation which
        may subsequently be exploited. Aji may be "good aji" or "bad aji"
        i.e. good taste or bad taste.

ATARI   A warning that one or more stones are in danger of capture on the
        next move. The corresponding English term is "check" and has
        essentially the same meaning as in chess. Imminent threat of capture.
        It is beginner's practice to announce atari although the situation
        should be obvious to the second player.

BAMBOO JOINT  A formation of four stones occupying the corners of a 2 x 3
        rectangle.  : :

BREATHING SPACE  A liberty.

CARPENTER'S SQUARE  A formation of stones resembling this tool.

CRANE'S NEST  A well-known symmetrical formation resembling a bird's nest.

CHUBAN  The middle game. Also called OYOSE.

DAI-DAI-GEIMA  A giants knight's move, e.g., C-3 to G-4.

DAME    No man's land. A vacant point between two rival groups having no
        territorial value. A vacant point.

DAN     Master title. In the Japanese Go ranking system Dan levels are the
        expert levels starting with 1-Dan and go up to 9-Dan similar to the
        "black belt" rankings of Karate and other martial arts.

EYE     A vacant point securely surrounded by the stones of one color. A cluster
        of two or more points that will yield an eye.

FALSE EYE  An apparent eye, part of whose structure is vulnerable to attack.

FUSEKI  Opening strategy taking the entire board into consideration. The
        opening plays in a game in which usually the corners and sides are
        occupied.

GO-BAN  The board used for playing Go. Traditionally it is 2-1/2 to 3
        inches thick and has 4 short removable legs. The playing field
        is a grid of 19 by 19 lines (361 intersections).

GOTE    A defensive or aggressive move which is not sufficiently potent
        to demand a direct response. The opposite of sente (q.v.).

GO TSUBO  The conventional wood bowl for containing stones.

HAMATE  A tactic, actually unsound but sufficiently misleading to be
        difficult of analysis; a devious play.

HANE    A diagonal extension in which both stones are adjacent to the same
        enemy stone.

HASAME  Squeeze play.

HONTE   A theoretically correct move.

HOSHI   Star; a handicap point.

ISHI    Stones.

JI DORI GO  A derogatory description covering conditions where both players
        capture territory independently without combat as long as possible.

JOSEKI  The standard opening tactics of corner play. A recognized sequence of
        plays in a corner.

KAGEME  A pattern that appears to contain two protected eyes where one of
        the eyes is actually subject to attack.

KAKARI  A relationship between stones that are not connected.

KAKE TSUGU  A defensive move that protects a connection between friendly
        stones but is not adjacent to them.

KATACHI  An efficient and economical arrangement of stones. Good shape.

KEIMA   Spacing stones as in the standard knight's move in chess. The small
        knight's shape.

KESHI   A territory-reducing or erasing play.

KIKASHI  A forcing play to which there is usually only one answer.

KIRU    A move that severs a potential connection between enemy stones.

KO      The potentially cyclic pattern of successive captures involving the
        same points. Sometimes called a knot. Ko means "infinity". A situation
        in which one side captures a single stone and the other side, though
        theoretically able to retake the capturing stone, is forbidden to do
        so until a play has been made elsewhere.

KO THREAT  A forcing play intended to allow recapture in the ko.

KOMI    Points or stones sometimes awarded as compensation for playing second.

KOGEIMA  See Keima

KOMOKU  A highly conventional opening move, specifically C-4, D-3 and so on.

KOSUMI  A play on a point diagonally one space from another stone. A one-step
        diagonal extension.

KYU     A ranking system below the Dan (master) levels. The Kyu rankings range
        from 1-kyu (highest) to 20-kyu (lowest).

KYOKUMEN  The atmosphere of the game in the early stage.

LADDER  A tactical manoeuvre in which a group is driven in a ladder formation.
        see SHI-CHO.

LIBERTY  A vacant intersection adjacent to a stone or group. A breathing space.

ME      An Eye. Unoccupied point. Also a liberty.

MEIJIN  The highest rank in the Japanese hierarchy of Go players.

MIAI    Points of reciprocity. Two vacant points which if the first player
        occupies one the second player will occupy the other.

MOKU    Eye

MOKU HAZUSHI  C-5 or E-3, particulary as an opening move.

MONKEY JUMP  A tactical manoeuvre, commonly seen in the yose, which is worth
        about eight points. Also called the monkey-slide.

MOYO    A loose formation of stones enclosing a large territory.

NIKKEN  A 2-point interval.

NOBIRU  Placing a stone adjacent to a friendly stone on the board,
        particulary in extending the continuity of a line of stones.

NOZOKI  When the enemy has stones on three points around a vacant point,
        this term implies a play on the fourth point, where the enemy is
        about to play. A preparatory move in conection with tactics for
        severing a possible connection between enemy stones.

OBA     An extension play that is big in terms of territory or influence.

OGEIMA  An extended knight's move, such as C-2 to D-5. The large knight's
        shape.

OI OTOSHI  A tactic involving sacrificing one or more stones in order to
        capture a greater number.

OSAE (OSAERU)  A blocking play directly at the end of a line of enemy stones.

OYOSE  The middle game. Also see CHUBAN.

OZARU   A special move along the border of the field during the end game in
        the form of an extended knight's move, e.g. from C-2 to F-1.

PONNUKI  The diamond formation made by four stones about a single point.

SAN-SAN  The corner points C-3, C-17, R-3, and R-17. Any of the 3-3 points.

SEIMOKU  The nine marked handicap points.

SEKI    Impasse. A pattern of interlaced black and white stones such that
        whichever plays first will be captured. A local deadlock situation.

SEMEAI  A close-coupled battle where only one of the two engaging groups
        can survive. A situation in which there is insufficient room for
        both of two rival contiguous groups to live.

SENTE   The aggressive advantage. The side that has sente is effectively
        forcing the direction of the game. The initiative. The player with
        sente does not feel obliged to reply to his opponents last move.

SHI-CHO (SHICHO)  The ladder pattern.

SHI-CHO BREAKER  A stone in the path of a ladder which trips it.

SHIKKEN  A 4-point interval.

SHIMARI  The moves involved in securing a corner. An enclosure of the corner
        by two stones.

SHODAN  First Dan or 1-Dan. The first (lowest) master title.

SHOGI   Japanese chess.

SNAP-BACK  A tactical manoeurve in which a stone is sacrificed to reduce to
        one the liberties of a group which is then captured.

STAR POINT  One of the nine handicap points.

SUTE ISHI  Sacrificed stones.

TAIGAISEN  A game with no handicap.

TAKAMOKU  A relatively hazardous opening move such as, specifically, E-4. The
        four-five or five-four point in any corner.

TAKASHIMARI  Securing a corner with two stones on the same line, usually
        across the handicap points such as C-4 and E-4.

TENGEN  K-10, the center point.

TENUKI  A move to a new or remote area, specifically a move that is remote
        in the sense that it has no significant application to a situation
        that has been developing. To leave a situation and play elsewhere.

TESUJI  The key move in a local situation.

TE OKURE  A poor move, specifically a wasted move, or the choice of the
        least desirable among several possible moves.

TEWARI  A pair of moves between the opponents that result in a balanced game.

TOBI    The extension of stones in a pattern with open points between them.

TSUGU   A connecting play.

TSUKE TE  A conventional opening reply; specifically, where black has a stone
        on the handicap point D-4 and white attacks by playing on F-3, then
        tsuke te is the response consisting black's play on F-4.

UCHI KOMI  A move to invade enemy territory.

WATARI  A connecting move between two groups of stones usually applied to
        a connection consisting of a stone placed on the border line. A play
        on the board edge linking two stones on the second line.

YOSE    The end game. That part of the game in which all significant territories
        have been apportioned and only a few local situations remain un-
        resolved.

YOSE KO  A cyclic ko situation in which one side is placed in check each time
        the ko pattern reverses.