Puzzle d'art en bois 500 pèces : La houle

L'éditeur Praxéo qui s'est spécialisé dans l'édition de livres d'initiation et de perfectionnement des jeux de stratégie asiatiques notamment, nous propose un nouvel opus sur le jeu de go, L'Usage de la Force,  voici ci-dessous, le message de l'auteur Motoki Noguchi, 7-dan et quintuple champion de France

La force, essence du go, critère absolu de direction de jeu, révélée et déclinée par deux proverbes connus de tous : « Un coup urgent avant un gros coup » et « Jouer loin de la force ».

Dans ce cinquième opus, nous faisons de nouveau appel à Sensei et Ludo qui vous ont accompagnés dans Le langage des pierres et Tsumego. Ludo a progressé, il est motivé, il joue en club et en ligne. Malheureusement, son niveau stagne. Il faut dire que Ludo a des tas d’occupations, et pas assez de temps à consacrer au go pour affiner son jeu. Au Japon, on dirait que Ludo est un « gros paresseux » !

Pendant vingt ans de pédagogie en France, j’ai rencontré beaucoup de Ludo. C’est pourquoi je relève le défi de vous donner les clés pour développer un style simple et efficace.

Both the king and queen have wide bases meaning the whole set is comfortable only on chess boards of at least 21 inches. The deep red of the dark pieces complements playing surfaces made from woods of similar hues. The black and white knights are without doubt the most striking pieces on the board. The detailed bridle gives each horse a restrained appearance; well trained and ready for battle. These chessmen take more than two months to make, and it is of no great surprise that the knight takes the longest to carve.

• Maltese influence on a traditional design.
• Beautifully detailed knight.
• 4.5 inch king.
• 2 extra queens for pawn promotion.
• Heavily weighted for balance.
• Bases lined with billiard cloth.
• Perfect on a 21 inch board.

I used to play a lot of chess as a teenager many decades ago. Those days, there were hardly any computers that played the game and there was certainly no Internet. Learning new ideas in the game was possible only through books or magazines and if something was not clear, there weren’t too many people to consult for explanations. I was never a great player and quit when other things in life took precedence. Then, a few years ago, I decided to start playing again and be better than before. This time, there were a lot of resources at hand computers’ analysis, streamers, commentators everywhere. This meant that now, opening theory became monstrous in its size. Learning all of it is now a very difficult task. I realized that the key to any improvement, before memorizing endless variations, lay in understanding the opening phase better and practicing as much as possible hence the reasoning behind this book.

Nery Strasman, 2024  - 256 pages - Hardcover

The Scotch Game is a solid opening that has been tried and tested in practice by some of the strongest chessplayers in the world for more than two centuries. The idea behind the Scotch Game is simple and easily understandable. White eliminates – in a purely mechanical fashion – Black’s e5-pawn which initially impedes his ambition to dominate in the center.

This is very appealing for White, as he controls the direction of the struggle’s development, while Black can only try to keep pace. Furthermore, there are relatively simple schemes in the white repertoire in which it is enough to remember the main plans of both sides and typical maneuvers.

This is the second edition of Vladimir Barsky’s book that first appeared in 2009. The new edition consists of seven chapters dealing with the core ideas and variations of the Scotch, supplemented by 79 Illustrative Games. The authors not only present detailed analysis of all lines but are also careful to discuss the ideas behind the opening. If you already play the Scotch, you need this book. If you don’t, find out what you have been missing.  224 pages