« Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Afghanistan | Main | Four Questions Rule Part II »
September 10, 2004
The Four Questions Rule Part I
Of all the rules of Go, the one most often applicable is the Four Questions rule. The Four Questions rule asks:
- Where am I weak?
- Where am I strong?
- Where is the opponent weak?
- Where is the opponent strong?
Much like business's SWOT analysis - Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat - the Four Questions get at where to play by telling you to play away from strength and play closer to weakness. Loosely, if you're strong in the North, South and East, then you should allocate resources to beef up West. Continuing to make strengths stronger and leaving weak positions to fend for themselves violates weakest-link-in-the-chain type thinking. That is, the strength of the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Posted by wayofgo at September 10, 2004 08:37 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.wayofgo.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/26
Comments
Dear Troy,
Rob van Zijst and Gerald Westhoff
formulated the 4 Questions very concise like this:
4 questions to decide your strategy
1.Do you have a weak group?
If yes, reinforce it.
2.Does your opponent have a weak group?
If yes, plan to attack it.
3.Can you make a big territorial move?
If yes, do it.
4.Could your opponent make a big territorial move or does s/he have a big territory?
Try to prevent, destroy or reduce it with appropriate measures.
I made it an entry at Sensei's:
http://senseis.xmp.net/?StrategyForBeginners4Questions
Greetings,
Thomas
Posted by: Thomas Derz at November 2, 2004 01:21 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)