There are few books on Handicap Go that attempt to give recipes for good play. Those that do exist advise simplistic, safe, but slightly ineffective josekis. Cosmic Go takes a different approach. The authors teach you to take the severest path in the opening and play on a large scale. They instruct you to create big open spaces and not worry about territory in the beginning. Handicap books will tell you to create thickness but this book will teach you how, and then use it to construct moyos and pick advantageous fights.
Cosmic Go explores the foundation of two, three, and four stone "star points-in-a-row plays," using examples from professional even encounters and takes its inspiration from Takemiya Masaki's patented cosmic-go style of play. Cosmic Go will show you how to apply these principles to four-stone handicap games. The four joseki chapters, which contain many new josekis, illustrate how to use them in more than 100 full board problems. These deal with a large number of openings and the proper use of josekis covered in the earlier chapters. Tesujis, trick plays, and shapes are treated in depth. A solid understanding of these principles will make winning your four stone games a snap and you wil soon find our handicap stones drifting away like leaves in the autumn breeze!
