The Tao of Becoming A Strategist
continuedQ: What books on Go and Chinese Chess do you recommend for beginners?
A: Here is a partial listing of my favorite books:
Go for Beginners by Kaoru Iwamoto
Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) by Janice Kim
Q: How does one apply Sun Tzu's strategic principles in the board games like Go, Chinese Chess, and Shogi (Japanese Chess)?
A: From Sun Tzu's Art of War, Chapter 3, " … attacking the opposition's strategy is the primary importance. Next best is disrupting their alliances. The next best is attacking their armies. The worst policy is attacking the cities when there is no alternative."
In any board game or most any game, the supreme player knows if he/she attack the strategy, the opposition's territory can be surrounded and/or reduced with the minimum amount of effort, while his/her resources are protected.
One conceptual distinction that I discovered from playing Go (and other board games) and reading Sun Tzu's principles is thinking from a grand view. Do not take anything only at face value: Examine the possibilities. Test them if possible. Focus on practicing, performing, and producing those steps in anything that you do. Your results are the outputs of what you put into it. To succeed in any endeavor (Go, Business, and so on) via the application of Sun Tzu's principles, one must start by occupying a strategic corner, then develop a strategic sphere of influence by focusing on continuous progress toward a long-term strategic supremacy.
Q: Who are your favorite strategists?
A: There are so many Asian and non-Asian strategists that I admire. However, one of my favorites is Zhuge Liang.
Q: Why Zhuge Liang?
A: Zhuge Liang was one of those rare world-class strategists who possessed a renaissance background (astronomy, geology, and mechanical engineering) that enabled him to invent both a rapid-fire crossbow and a mechanized wheelbarrow for transporting grain.
It was also rare to have a world-class strategist whose leadership is based on the caring of people around him and the importance of maintaining quality friendship with people.
My favorite quote from Zhuge Liang is the following:
"Opportunistic relationship can hardly be kept constant. The acquaintance of honorable people, even at a distance, does not add flowers in times of warmth and does not change its leaves in times of cold: it continues unfading through the four seasons, becoming increasingly stable as it passes through ease and danger."
Q: Here are nine questions regarding the deployment of Sun Tzu's strategic principles.
A: Answer in terms of Sun Tzu's Principles on Strategy.
The following quotes are from Samuel B. Griffith's translation of Sun Tzu, The Art of War (my favorite book):
Q: What does Sun Tzu say regarding 'completing the objective?'
A: "If not in the interests of the state, do not act. If you cannot succeed, do not use troops. If you are not in danger, do not fight." (12:7)
Always fight with a purpose and with the odds in your favor.
"A sovereign cannot raise an army because he is enraged, nor can a general fight because he is resentful. For while, an angered man may again be happy and a resentful man again be pleased, a state that has perished cannot be restored, nor can the dead be brought back to life." (12:18) Always fight under a state of "detached emotions."
