At any given level there are three types of Tsumego (or problems in general — not exlcusively Life and Death)… I’m sure that many of you can think of many different Problem types, fuseki problems, joseki problems, tesujis, L+D, and endgame are some … you could even have whole board Attacking / defending problems… So why are there only three? Perhaps you’ll start to understand what I’m talking about if I tell you that these three types of problems can change drastically as one gets stronger. Have you figured out what I’m talking about? The three different types of problems aren’t related to subject or topic (though some subjects are probably not very appropriate at certain strength levels). These three levels are:
- Very Easy
- Challanging (but not impossible)
- New Approach, New information (nearly impossible without a little help)
If I’m to take each of these in turn, we’ll start with the Very Easy problems. These problems are ones who’s solutions are obvious (or almost obvious) at first glance. At higher levels, there’s a whole slew of problems fitting this description, so it needs to be clarified a bit. Although it’s not bad to go back and review your basic nakade, at a certain point finding nakade should become second nature. So the Very Easy problems are ones who’s solutions are just beginning to be obvious, but might take 5-15 seconds to reach the actual conclusion. Practicing this type of problem improves your speed, pattern recognition, and vital point finding skills. Next up! The Challanging problems are ones that can certainly be done within, perhaps, a minute, but take more intense reading on your part to solve. The techniques used in these problems should be ones you’ve already learned in the past, but perhaps harder examples of such techniques. Solving these problems helps build your deeper reading skill. It also may help you learn how to narrow down multiple vital points so you’re able to first check the most probable points. And Finally… the New Approach problems are ones that you cannot solve without the help of a teacher, text, or the answer to the problem. These are the most dangerous problems because they’ll teach you the new techniques more quickly, but can bog you down if you’re not ready for the new information. Solving one of these problems should be possible, but might take 5 minutes or even more. A good example of such problems are Tesuji - these give you vital point patterns that are often hard to find before you know of them. For best results, I believe these should be studied in the order shown above and in equal portions. The real problem seems to be finding and categorizing problems using the above method. The Very Easy problems are usually not hard to find - perhaps the Korean Academy Problems or that Tesuji book you finished months ago… The Challanging problems are usually also fairly easy to find… in my opinion the hardest to find are the problems that are just tough enough to give you the New Approaches that you need… and New Approach is where you find much of your growth… A few thoughts on the New Approach problems:
- New Approaches can include:
- New Nakade (typically limited to beginners)
- Unseen Tesuji Patterns
- Extra challanging reading
- New vital points (Non-nakade) or multiple vital points
- New Approaches can simply exist to push your limits rather than teaching an actual tactic
- New Approaches can take five minutes or weeks to change from a “new approach” to simply a “Challanging” or even “Very Easy” problem.
- New Approaches are not limited to problems - they can be found by reading new material or by studying with your teacher
Most interesting is the “Extra Challanging Reading” problems. I believe you can help your reading skill by looking at the answer to a problem you cannot solve on your own, then return to the problem diagram and practice visualizing and reading out the answer. This almost turns a “New Approach” problem into a “Very Easy” problem (in terms of purpose, not skill level).