WORD OF THE DAY => SYZYGY
A syzygy is the opposition or conjunction of "heavenly bodies" such as stars and planets. Think of 3 bodies lining up in a row such as the sun, the moon and the earth during an eclipse. The alignment of two planets with the sun is pretty common. Total solar eclipses on earth are more rare. They are beautiful and interesting events.
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => San Ren Sai
The san ren sai opening in Go is also known as the 3 star point opening. This opening is used to emphasize influence. It also creates a moyo or area of influence. Three stars in a row could by considered to be a syzygy. The opening above could be considered an "all star" opening. ;-)
WORD OF THE DAY =>
FLOCCINAUCINILIPILIFICATION
FLOCCINAUCINIILIPILIFICATIONFLOCCINAUCINIhIliPILIFICATION
FLOCCINAUCINIhiILIPILIFICATION is the act of calling something worthless or of no value. In the eighteenth century, Eton College had a grammar book. It is said to have listed words from Latin which all meant “of little or no value”: flocci, nauci, nilinihili, and pili. As a learned joke, somebody put these together and then stuck – fication on the end to make a noun for the act of declaring that something is worthless (floccinaucinilipilificatefloccinaucinihilipilificate, could be a verb: to judge a thing to be valueless). The first recorded use is the aforementioned quote by William Shenstone in a letter in 1741.
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => the value of your move
One question to ask of yourself is: "What is the value of a stone on the board?" If your find that your answer is that the moves have no value then you might be guilty of FLOCCINAUCINihILIPILIFICATION. You can create a story to go with your moves – "this move expands my area" or "this move attacks and defends at the same time". Even a stone that later becomes doomed to capture can be used to create value for you, so don't floccinaucinihilipilificate.
WORD OF THE DAY => tweedledum and tweedledee
When two things are just the same we say that they are as alike as two peas in a pod or as alike as tweedledum and tweeedledee. T & T were so alike it was surprising that they would fight.
the Nursery Rhyme and a drawing from Through the looking glass
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel;
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => miai
In Go, miai are two moves that are essential equivalent. Thus neither move is urgent since if your opponent takes one you can take the other. The game above shows two moves a and b either of which allow white to live. When do you play "b"? – not until black plays "a".
WORD OF THE DAY => mirror movement
Mirror movement is an exercise used in dance and theater. Two people stand face to face and mirror each others movements. This takes awareness of both your own body and your partner's movements. It is interesting in part because there is no talking and no clear leader. Each must follow the other but each must also take the initiative.
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => contact fight
A contact fight is when two (or more) groups are touching. The touching groups may be in danger of capture or may be attempting to influence the same area. Contact fights with unstable groups make it urgent to play in the area of the contact fight. If the groups become stable then the contact fight is less urgent.
WORD OF THE DAY => dog's tail
If you call a dog's tail a leg how many legs does a dog have?
President Lincoln once got into an argument with a man who insisted that if they re-framed the issue by calling it another name, there would be no disagreement. The exasperated President is said to have replied, "Look here. If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs would it have?" "Why, five", said the man. "Wrong!", said President Lincoln. "Four. You can call it a leg, but it's still a tail."
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => counting liberties
In a race to capture the number of liberties is critical. But it is not only the number of liberties - the number of moves needed to capture may be larger than the number of liberties. Black has 5 liberties and white has only 4 but who wins the capturing race?
WORD OF THE DAY => sockdollager
A sockdollager is a heavy blow that changes the course of a fight or knocks the opponent on their dehind. It can also be a surprising event that catches someone unaware. It is an uncommon word that seems to have been mostly used by story-tellers that want to sound "folksy".
"I hit him one polt - it was what I call a sockdolloger - that made him dance like a ducked cat."
from The Hawks of Hawk-hollow by R.M Bird, 1837.
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => tesuji
A surprising and effective move is sometimes called a tesuji. The eye stealing tsugi is used to make eye space into a false eye or a large space into a single eye.
WORD OF THE DAY => transformation
In mathematics, a transformation is a new way to look at something – you don't change what you are looking at but you change the way that you look at it. One of the most famous, Fourier's Transformation, allows the user to switch from looking at an electrical signal in the time domain to looking at it in the frequency domain. This allows the user to multiply two signals rather than Convolve them (convolutions are difficult and convoluted).
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => strategy
Your strategy is the overall plan you have. You may try to strive for territory or influence or for a balance between them. When you don't understand your opponent's strategy their moves may appear to be random or confusing. Your view of the game can transform when you become aware of their strategy.
WORD OF THE DAY => Catch-22
A Catch-22 is a double-bind: heads I win – tails you lose.
This phrase comes from the novel Catch-22 by the American writer Joseph Heller, published in 1961. The catch here is that the only way to get out of flying on military bombing raids is to be declared insane, but to apply for exemption from such dangerous missions is obviously a very sensible thing to do and therefore a clear proof of one's sanity. "Orr would be too crazy to fly more missions", the book explains at one point, "and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to". – That is quite a catch!!!
In the damezumari situation to the right, it is black's turn. Black and
White each have two liberties. So to kill white black just needs to take
away a liberty. But taking away a white liberty leaves black without
enough liberties.
GO CONCEPT OF THE DAY = => damezumari
Damezumari is a situation where a group has a "shortage of liberties". The place where you want to play would reduce your liberties thus putting your own group into atari.