Concept notes

Bad Shape 愚形

Bad shape comes in many flavours but in essence it is any shape that is not good. So what is good shape? Any shape that not bad. Actually that circularity is not quite as foolish as it sounds, so long as it serves as a reminder that good shape can transmogrify into bad shape, and vice versa. And it's a curious fact that many of the standard bad shapes, such as four stones in a square, are good when they appear as a nakade shape inside an opponent's group!

The Honinbo family, in Edo times, first began the tradition of calling bad shape gukei or "stupid shapes," and they listed clumps of three, four and six stones. Five stones had a special name: umebachi or the crest of a plum blossom. All these shapes were considered overconcentrated. Bigger clumps tend to be called dango or small dumplings made of rice flour dough.

However, a more general definition would be better than a list, and the best definition of good shape we have encountered is one rather like the concept Chekhovian silences and is due to Mihori Sho. He pointed out that the efficiency of stones lies in what can be omitted, in the space between the stones. If the opponent can play there, it is not good shape, irrespective of balance or anything else. And if it is not good shape, it is bad shape.

Mihori's generalised definition is admittedly rather difficult to get to grips with and it often seems easier to rely on a list of known shapes. Even pros fall into this trap. There are several well known examples of josekis being discovered only because one pro tried a move that all other pros had not even considered because it was supposedly bad shape. Probably the most famous example is Go Seigen's discovery of the inward magari in the avalanche joseki, instead of the outward turn. Here is another, much less known, example supposedly due to Go Seigen.

The five stone clump at the right once White has connected at 1 is the umebachi and was normally considered bad shape. Here, however, it is good for White. Ishida's Dictionary calls this joseki a "stylish result." Actually, although it is given in joseki dictionaries, we have never seen it in a game. We have seen examples up to move 9, but then White invariably plays elsewhere. And the first example of that (i.e. just the umebachi shape in the corner) was by Miyasaka Shinji against Go Seigen in 1932. After it appeared, people began to use the first "proverb" listed below.

As this ugly duckling of a shape for White shows, good shape is not necessarily pretty shape. It is worth testing Mihori's definition against this pattern to see if you can spot the swan.

Then there is also the concept of guzumi - deliberate bad shape...

Useful proverbs

• Umebachi wa angai sharete iru - The plum blossom looks unexpectedly beautiful
• Akisankaku wa gukei no mihon - The empty triangle exemplifies bad shape
• Iwa yori katai umebachigata - A plum blossom can be more solid than a rock
• Jingasa tsukutte bakyaku dasu - A soldier's helmet can hide feet of clay
• Tokkurigata wa korigatachi - The sake bottle shape makes you too tight

© John Fairbairn & T Mark Hall (GoGoD), London 2007.