From: yychen@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (Youyi Chen)
Subject: The Mysteries of Weiqi (part 7)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 03:01:53 GMT

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!!! Warning !!! Ancient Chinese writing should be understood as an 
art presentation rather than a straight forward communication tool. 
Understanding of art needs imaginations.
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Number 7 golden rule is

                "Shen Wu Qing Su"

Shen4 = cautious, careful;
Wu4   = avoid, do not;
Qing1 = light;
Su4  =  rapid, speedy.

"Qing Su" reminds us "Qing Shuai" which corresponds to "rash" 
and "hasty" in English. Also, "Qing Su" is made up by "light" 
and "speedy" in English. With these in mind, we can have following 
straight forward interpretation:

      "make thick shape, avoid hasty moves"

where hasty moves sometime result from being too "light" or too "fast",
i.e. "Qing Su".

After pointing out that it's hard to understand "Qing Su",
Otake Hideo made his interpretation as follow:
 
      "Make good shape, don't blindly contend for sente".

We should note that being "thick" often ends up with gote.
It is reasonable to say "thick for gote and thin for sente".
A good shape doesn't necessary mean a thick one, it seems 
proper to replace "good" by "thick" to go along with "sente" 
in Otake Hideo's interpretation.

Playing "thick" is not only a matter of style. It is actually one 
of the most difficult technique to master. Many winning games are 
being turned over in the end simply by not playing thicker enough. 

Let's look at the following interesting example.

Black to play:
   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T
19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
18 . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . # . . 18
17 . . O O . . . . . . O . . . # . # O . 17
16 . . . # # . . # . + . . . . . # O . . 16
15 . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 15        Board 1
14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
13 . . . # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 12        Black: Otake Hideo [9p]
11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11        White: Si Tian Zhang [7p]
10 . . . + . . . . . + . . . . . + . . . 10
 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
 6 . . # . . . . . . . . . . . . ? O ? .  6
 5 . . # O . . . . . . O . . . . . # . .  5
 4 . . # + O . O . . + . . . . . + . . .  4
 3 . . . # # O . . . . O . # . . # . . .  3
 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T
Source: "I like to play this way" by Fujisawa Hideyuki.

Facing White's R6, S6 and Q6 are common choices for Black. 
However, with style being called "thick" and "beautiful", 
Otake Hideo choose S5. After S5-P14-S6-P6-R8, Board 1 becomes Board 2.

   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T
19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
18 . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . # . . 18
17 . . O O . . . . . . O . . . # . # O . 17
16 . . . # # . . # . + . . . . . # O . . 16
15 . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 15        Board 2
14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . 14
13 . . . # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 12        Black: Otake Hideo [9p]
11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11        White: Si Tian Zhang [7p]
10 . . . + . . . . . + . . . . . + . . . 10
 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # . .  8
 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
 6 . . # . . . . . . . . . . . O . O # .  6
 5 . . # O . . . . . . O . . . . . # # .  5
 4 . . # + O . O . . + . . . . . + . . .  4
 3 . . . # # O . . . . O . # . . # . . .  3
 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T

Black's sequence S5-S6-R8 is so thick that every move looks as solid 
as a bullet. The advantage of such kind of moves is clear. 
It leaves no room for White to manoeuvre and has huge potential 
in the end game.

Surprisingly, as another "thick" player, Fujisawa Hideyuki 
criticized S5 and suggested that the only move for Black is S6. 
(BTW, Fujisawa Hideyuki's moves are called "The Only Move" in the book.)
I don't want to get into the details of S6 against S5. However,
Fujisawa Hideyuki's arguments can be summarized roughly as ----
Black has already been very thick all over the board, this is the 
place to take advantage by using the thickness. Otherwise, it may be
overly thick and unbalanced.

Finally, I like to point out that "thick, never blindly contend for sente" 
is often used to characterize players. Fujisawa Hideyuki and Otake Hideo are 
just two among many to have such kind of styles.


Youyi Chen                                    yychen@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca