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The Empty Board # 13

By Bill Cobb

I’ve just finished reading Cho Hunhyun’s fascinating book Go With the Flow, which was highly recommended by several prominent members of the AGA. It’s fascinating, although the Korean publisher should be ashamed for choosing a translator for such an important book someone is far from fluent in English. The translator probably had a high school course or two. The barbaric language is a constant distraction since it often requires a moment of reflection to decide what Cho Hunhyun must have been saying. Nevertheless, the insight into how one of the best players ever both thinks about and experiences playing the game is both inspiring and enlightening. I think any go player would be happy he or she had discovered go and eager to be more serious about the game after reading this book. Happily, it is not expensive. The overused expression “go is like life” is really true. Thinking more seriously about what playing the game involves and how it is played really will help you to be a better person, or at least to be a more thoughtful person. I know there are a lot of players who don’t think this way about go, treating it as just another of the many games they play, especially on the internet, but they are overlooking a profound experience that will enrich their lives. photo by Phil Straus; photo art by Chris Garlock