Speed Baduk - Level 3 - for Beginners

Baduk has been regarded as the best board game in the East for more than three thousand years. There have been so many strong players but no one has completely mastered this game. This indisputable attraction is the reason why Baduk still exists now and we can share the same feeling with our ancestors. In the West, Chess has been played for a long time instead. Recently, I heard the Chess world champion lost to the best Computer Chess programme. However, I think Baduk is totally different from Chess. In Baduk it is really difficult for the Computer to beat human players because Baduk is much more complicated and philosophical. Therefore Baduk is really worth challenging.

However, it is not easy to learn Baduk. The board is small but it has depth and its own world inside. The majority of the people who give up in the middle of learning think Baduk is too difficult. Even in Korea, China and Japan, Baduk is still believed to be the most difficult board game, in spite of a lot of good learning materials. I think it is because the materials are not easy to understand and are not well-organized.

As a professional player I have felt sorry for the beginners and learners because of these problems. I have also experienced a lot of problems through the teaching of Baduk to the beginners. Therefore we really need lots of good teaching materials.

This book is quite popular for the beginners and teachers in Korea. It is written in easy language and lots of problems, quizzes and other aspects in this book will give you much fun and interest. I hope this book will help Baduk spread all over the world.

--2004 Sung-Rae KIM