The Joseki Tutor f.a.q.

• Can I download this program and use it without being connected to the Internet?
  
• What is a joseki, and why do I need a tutor for it?
  
• The program doesn't work, I only see a gray icon. What should I do?
  
• I want to play a move that's not in the Joseki Tutor. Wat should I do?
  
• I don't understand one of the words in the comments. What does it mean?
  
• Why does it take so long to read all the joseki moves and comments, once the program is loaded?
  
• What should I do if I have a question that is not listed here?

Can I download this program and use it without being connected to the Internet?

Well, yes and no. Technically speaking you can, but I wouldn't recommend it. Shockwave is designed to be an application that is used on the Internet, and should be treated as such.

If you want to have this tutor on your machine without being connected to the Internet, you should download the Windows version of TurboGo. This version is faster, contains a lot more joseki moves and doesn't need an active internet-connection once it's downloaded.

What is a joseki, and why do I need a tutor for it?

A joseki is a standard opening sequence, that is usually played in the corner of a board. If both players play the proper moves, the sequence should end with an even result. Since the first moves in the corners form the groundwork for the rest of the game, playing proper joseki is very important.

This does not mean however that you should try to memorize all these joseki. Currently, the Joseki Tutor features more then 30,000 moves (not counting mirroring the position, switching colors or changing the order of moves of course) and it seems impossible (at least to me) that anyone would be able to learn all these moves by heart. Besides, what good would it do to learn these 30,000 moves, when there are at least 100,000 other moves that might be considered joseki?

The way to become a stronger player is to look at these joseki and try to understand why these moves are played. If you understand the underlying reasons, not only will you be able to play this joseki without having to learn it by heart, but you will also be able to apply these reasons to the rest of your game and become a stronger player.

The program doesn't work, I only see a gray icon. What should I do?

There can be a few reasons why the Joseki Tutor doesn't work:

• The shockwave application hasn't loaded yet. The shockwave application is about 150 kilobytes in size, and it could take a few minutes to load. Depending on your browser, you should be able to see the progress of this download somewhere in the browser window. Please be patient.

• You haven't installed shockwave properly. The Joseki Tutor is a so-called shockwave-application. Shockwave is a (free!) plug-in for your Internet browser (like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) that enhances the capabilities of your browser. Shockwave is used more and more by many Internet sites, and I wouldn't have been able to create this Joseki Tutor without it. You can download shockwave for free from the Macromedia Website.

• If you already have shockwave installed and you still have problems, you may not have the latest version of shockwave. Please download this latest version and try again.

• It may be that your browser doesn't support shockwave. According to Macromedia (the firm that created Shockwave), it should run in these browsers:

I want to play a move that's not in the Joseki Tutor. Wat should I do?

If you can't play the move you want to play, it probably means that I haven't added this move to the joseki database yet. You should by no means take this as an indication that this is a bad move. It is simply impossible to list all joseki in the tutor for several reasons:

• new joseki are invented regularly, so it's almost impossible to keep up.

• since this is my compilation of joseki, it may simply mean that I have never seen this joseki, or that I simply haven't had the time to enter it.

Finally, don't be afraid to send me a move because you think that it is a bad move. In studying joseki, it is also very important to see why certain moves are bad, so I want to add bad moves to the Joseki Tutor as well. Just send them in, and I will see what I can do.

I don't understand one of the words in the comments. What does it mean?

The word is probably a Japanese term that is used in the game of Go. I have listed a few of these terms and an explanation below.

• Gote A gote move is a move where the opponent doesn't have to answer. When you play a gote move, you lose the initiative.

• Joseki A standard opening sequence, that is usually played in the corner of a board. If both players play the proper moves, the sequence should end with an even result.

• Ko A small, repeating fight for one stone.

• Sente When you have sente, you have the initiative to play elsewhere.

• Tesuji A smart move.

Why does it take so long to read all the joseki moves and comments, once the program is loaded?

There are several reasons for this.

• First of all, in order to save download time the joseki library is heavily compressed. This strongly reduces the file size of the database, but means that it will have to be uncompressed when the Joseki Tutor starts.

• Secondly, although I consider Shockwave to be a great environment to create Internet applications, it is unfortunately not very fast. One of the reasons for this is that it has to run within an Internet browser, which brings extra complications.

• Finally, the time it takes to decompress the database strongly depends on the speed of your computer. If you have a slow computer, it will take longer to decompress. I have done my best to make decompression as fast as possible.

What should I do if I have a question that is not listed here?

If your question is not listed here, just email me your question and I will try to answer it as soon as possible.