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August 16, 2004
The Nature of Things
Someone asked me about when to attack in Go. The Zen answer is to attack when the fruit falls from the tree. Not to be coy, let's explore the Zen answer.
When you were young, you lost your baby teeth. We'll hope, naturally. When those baby teeth first started to wiggle, you could have tried to pull them right out. Probably a bad idea, unless you like the pain of your teeth pulled. Another approach would be to have them dangle around in your mouth for a few hours by nary a thread. Again, not recommended unless you like playing with vestigal teeth.
The right time always seemed to be a bit before the thready action was going to happen or in the midst of a chew of apple. The point is that you're better off getting the timing right or you'll bleed profusely, experience tremendous pain, or be playing with a tooth that'd rather go.
Attacks are the same way. You can attack as soon as your troops are near the enemy, you can attack when you've done some initial jockeying for position, or you can attack after moving your troops around and around for days in plain view of the opponent. Depending on the circumstances, your probably best not doing any of these. Probably best to hit the timing right and then attack.
How? It's a matter of experience, often luck, and insight. For everything there is a timing. Attacks, teeth, and press releases. You best respect that nature determines the timing, your job is to understand what that nature is.
Posted by wayofgo at August 16, 2004 08:31 PM
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