KERWIN ON STUDYING THE PROS: In Sung-Hwa Hon's novel "First Kyu," the character Nak gives his prized Wu (Go Seigen) game-record books, with commentary in Japanese, to his friend Wook. "In Japanese! I don't know how to read Japanese." "I don't either. You don't have to read the commentary-or rather you should never read the commentary-in game-record books. If you do, you will at best become a robot of the person who wrote the commentary. You just replay the games and come up with your own interpretations. So it doesn't matter if it's written in Japanese, or Spanish. . . ." What's the best way to review games? Is it true you should avoid the commentary? It depends on your purpose, says James Kerwin, professional 1-Dan. Simply reading the moves and commentary together can be enjoyable in its own right. But, if you want to improve, you need to engage more. First, play through the moves once. Then, try to replay the game from memory. Each time you don't remember the pro's move, try to figure it out on your own. Once you have your move, look at the pro's move. If it's different than yours, ask yourself why. Was the pro's move in a bigger area of the board? Was it tactically better? Was a defensive move necessary? When you finish, replay the game, again and again, using the same process. After you know the entire game, then look at the commentary. Maybe it will say a move in the game was merely one option and one of your ideas is also correct. Or, maybe the pro's move was the only move. Either way, you've engaged the game and you'll get the most improvement from your review.

- John Pinkerton (27.10.2003)