The Key to a Powerful Game

In the book "The Direction of Play", by Takeo Kajiwara, Kajiwara emphasizes the importance of careful analysis in order to determine the correct direction of play; that is, the direction in which a stone or a group of stones exerts its main influence.

The essence of correct direction of play can be distilled into two key principles:

1) Play from your weak group.

2) Push your opponent's stones towards your strong group.

Mastering these two principles of direction of play is crucial for Go players to gain strategic advantage, as it allows them to strengthen their position while simultaneously limiting their opponent's options.

In fact, mastering the theory of direction of play enhances the application of other Go skills:

1 It guides joseki selection, helping you choose sequences that align with the overall game strategy.

2 It focuses your reading on productive lines, ensuring that your tactical calculations serve a strategic purpose.

3 It provides a framework for decision-making, allowing you to make better use of your knowledge and reading skills within the time constraints of a real match.

In essence, the wisdom gained from understanding direction of play acts as a force multiplier, amplifying the effectiveness of your other Go skills.

1) Play from your weak group.

2) Push your opponent's stones towards your strong group.

Now let's see how this applies in a real game situation.

Example:

White to Play

Given this game state where black has just played the attach, what's the correct direction of play?

The first thing we need to check is the strength of each of the groups. Which groups are weak? Which groups are strong? If we can't judge the strenth and weakness of a group, we won't be able to use the two basic concepts of direction of, 1 play from your weak group. 2 push your opponent's stones against your strong group. For this reason, we'll first take a look at each of the groups on this board.

Analyze the strength of stones

Black's Stones

First of all, the upper left and upper right corners are alive and strong. Also the large knight enclosure in the bottom right is pretty stable so we can call that a strong group as well. The one extension stone at R9 has a connection in either side in miai, so it's not a weak stone that we will need to worry about. This leaves us with the one group in the center. It has no base and no eye shape. It's a floating weak group.

White's Stones

The group on the upper side is fully connected up, and it has a lot of territory (eye space) so it is a strong group. Based on how you look at it, you could even treat it as a wall of thickness. The one stone on the star point in the bottom left is left alone so it's strong for now. So this leaves us with the one group in the center. This white group in the center as it is in the moment carries this weakness.

If white responds by defending the cutting point,

Black can jump. And white is left with zero eyes. Given this reality, this white group cannot be considered strong. It's more like an unstable group because the eye shape is not there yet. So we can say that this group is a weak group.

Great, so now we've checked the status of all groups on the board for both sides. White has a weak group in the center so we'll have to care for it as we play our next moves. With this in mind, we'll look at the two theories of direction again.

The Correct Direction of Play

Rule #1: Move from your weak group.

Rule #2: Push your opponent's stones towards your strong group.

We are both playing from white's unstable group in the center, and pushing black's weak group against white's strong group.

Black doesn't have much of an option here but to respond by extending...

But white will just keep pushing with the image of pressing black against white's strong group.

Black again has not much of an option but to keep his head out to prevent being surrounded...

But once again, white pushes from the weak group and pushes black's weak group against white's thickness.

Continued by black extend.

White keeps on pushing black against white's strong group.

Black extends.

And since what matters here is direction of play, we push yet again with no problem. Remember, white's group on the top side of the board is very strong. So we will push the opponent's group against it.

Black doesn't have much other than to extend again,

And around here white can follow through by playing a knights move down to the third line. Now observe how black's direction of play is completely uninteresting. Not only is black getting pressed into an un-interesting direction, white with every move, is building a massive thickness towards the center.

And so even if black adds another move to somehow save this group from dieing, white can just take sente here and play somewhere on the bottom side of the board to turn the thickness he has made into a ji-moyo.

The Wrong Direction of Play

Now let's see what would happen if white plays from the wrong direction of play.

Recap:

1) Play from your weak group.

2) Push your opponent's stones towards your strong group.

Finally, let's compare the two outcomes.

On the left, white makes the first direction of play mistake. Instead of playing from the weak group, white plays from the strong group. White also makes the second direction of play mistake, that is to push your opponent towards your weak group. This choice contradicted both of the basic ideas of correct direction of play.

On the right, white takes the correct direction of play by playing from white's weak group. And by moving from the weaker group, this consequently allowed white to also push the opponent's stones toward white's stronger group. This choice uses both of the ideas of correct direction of play.

Conclusion

As demonstrated in the examples, a single mistake in the direction of play can drastically alter the game's outcome. This strategy may seem overyly simplistic, but pretend you were fooled and try it out in a real game. I think you'll be surprised how often it works in practice.