Relentless

This book contains analysis of 48 games between two of the top Go players of the early 21st century, but it is not just another book of game commentaries. It is the story of the rivalry and friendship between Lee Sedol and Gu Li, their relentless struggle to become the best, and an explication of the secrets of Go hidden within their games.

There are two parts to Relentless. Part One is the core of the book and examines, in unprecedented detail, the 10 game match (jubango) played by Lee Sedol and Gu Li throughout 2014. Part Two reviews every other official game between the two masters (up until the end of 2015), providing the reader with ample material to review and enjoy, while reflecting on what they learned in Part One.

Rather than just saying what happened, we use the match as the basis for an extensive study of the fundamental techniques, strategies and principles of Go--all applied within the context of real games, so that the reader can see how ideas and techniques are employed in practice.

Go is an art form, and like other arts, studying the work of masters contributes greatly to one's appreciation, enjoyment and gradual mastery of the craft. When you study a piece of music, the goal is rarely (if ever) just to be able to play it. Rather, a deep study of a piece is intended to convey a visceral understanding of the technique and theory embodied within it, in a way that a book about theory never could.

Relentless strives to offer that same experience to Go players. Over two years, we have distilled our knowledge and passion for the game into 625 pages of pure Go, until nothing more would fit.

Where other books might gloss over the details, we have sought to expose the wealth of tactical considerations beneath the surface, so that they may be studied, applied to the reader's games, and eventually mastered. We have extracted a practical lesson from every passage of play and boiled it all down to a series of memorable proverbs (both old and new) for the reader to internalize.

Relentless also draws on the knowledge of great thinkers of the past--such as Sun Zi (Sun Tzu), Lao Zi, Thucydides, Carl von Clausewitz, and many more--demonstrating how their ideas apply to Go.

Finally, the commentary is honest. In the past, some books portrayed professional Go players like gods and politely overlooked small mistakes. We make no apologies for doing away with this convention.

This is not intended to be the kind of book you will only read once. The content is dense in parts and may require reflection. It is our hope that it will serve readers for many years to come, however worse for wear, as a source of knowledge and inspiration, throughout their journey along the path of Go.