Strategy and Tactics
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Go by A Davey To win by strategy is no less the role of a general than to win by arms.Bun Bu Ryo Do - 文武両道. The way of the pen and the way of the sword - follow them both. The warrior class in Japan studied literary arts like calligraphy and poetry. That was Bun. They physically trained in the sword and other martial arts. They studied strategy from classic military treatises and played games of military strategy. That was Bu. Go is a game of strategy. The aim is to surround and control and win territory. In Japanese go is called igo from the Chinese weiqi. It means surrounding game. In go there is a handicap system that allows players of different levels to play each other. The weaker player receives an advantage of a number of stones. Shogi - Japanese chess - means the general's board game. Shogi has the same roots as western chess so the aim of the game is the capture or symbolic death of the opponent's king. In shogi there is a special rule - the drop rule - that lets you suddenly use a captured piece as your own piece. Like a mercenary changing sides. It adds a random element. There is a handicap system in shogi also. Incidentally in western chess odds games with the stronger player playing without one piece were often played in the nineteenth century but now a stronger player will very rarely lose to a weaker player. In western chess strategy is the overall plan and tactics are the technical ways of gaining an advantage. Sacrificing material for a positional advantage for example or setting a trap. So a lot of the advice in The Art of War is tactical rather than strategic. For example, Quote:
In modern martial arts like judo, karate and kendo strategy becomes important in matches. I discussed this briefly in my comparison of judo and aikido. Of course strategy is important in any sport with a concept of winning and losing. For example judoka plan to manouevre their opponents into positions where they can use their best techniques and where the opponents are not able to act or react effectively. In aikido mushin or empty mind is more important than strategy. There is no need to plan a strategy. So aikido is close to the kenjutsu of the samurai. Through our aikido training the body learns to move naturally with no hesitation. This is one of the paradoxes of budo. If we have a deep awareness of strategy then the strategy itself becomes unimportant. For practical advice read books on individual martial arts. Like Attacking Judo by Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki. For the underlying concepts read the classics of strategy. Like The Art of War by Sun Tzu. The Unfettered Mind by Takuan Soho. The Sword and the Mind by Yagyu Munenori. On War by Clausewitz. For modern budo The Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee. Strategy in Unarmed Combat by Paul Maslak analyzes strategy positionally. O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba the founder of aikido played go. That's not a bad model to follow. And if the climb up the promotion ranks in the martial arts ever seems to take a little too long you can take some comfort in the ranking system of go. When you're a beginner you start from 30 kyu… White to move Getting back to strategy and tactics. In the above diagram of the chess board it is white to move. If white can promote the pawn to a queen on g8 it will be a simple win. But black's defending bishop looks powerful and unassailable on a2. So is the game a draw? Or is there a plan for white that will get the win? Write a comment below or send me a message if you think you know. And I will finish with another quote: Quote:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/132 The Art of War by Sun Tzu free e-book from project gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1946 On War by General Carl von Clausewitz free e-book from project gutenberg http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/TOC.htm On War by General Carl von Clausewitz online http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0001/ http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0001/428.htm http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0001/333.htm The Magic of Go, Daily Yomiuri column http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi photo: one of A Davey's interesting historical photos of Japan http://www.flickr.com/photos/adavey/...th/4867276096/ Chess position taken from Chess Choice Challenge by Chris Ward and John Emms, Batsford 1998 | chess diagram by Winboard my blog on aikiweb | my blog on wordpress c niall matthews 2012 Niall Matthews lives with his family in Japan. He teaches aikibudo and community self-defence courses and has taught budo for twenty-five years. He was the senior deshi of Kinjo Asoh Sensei, 7 dan Aikikai. He was the exclusive uke of Sadateru Arikawa Sensei, 9 dan Aikikai, at the hombu dojo in Tokyo for thirteen years until Arikawa Sensei's death in 2003. He has trained in several other martial arts to complement his aikido training, including judo (he has 4 dan from the Kodokan in Tokyo), kenjutsu (for about ten years) and karate (for about three years). He originally went to Japan as a staff member of the EU almost thirty years ago. He received 5 dan from Arikawa Sensei in 1995. This 5 dan is the last aikido dan he will receive in his life. His dojo is called Aikibudo Kokkijuku 合気武道克輝塾. Arikawa Sensei personally gave him the character for ki in kokki. It is the same character as teru in Sadateru - not the normal spelling of kokki 克己. It means you make your life shining and clear yourself. |
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