The gap between a professional and, say, a 1-dan amateur is all to do
with tesuji knowledge, life/death knowledge, and (to a lesser extent)
tactical reading skill, accurate endgame counting and joseki knowledge.
All except joseki-knowledge is board-size independent.
There's also what you might call the meta-knowledge of joseki: "Which
joseki will accomplish worthwhile goals for me in this position vs which
joseki might (while giving perfectly balanced results in a generic
corner) entirely fail to make the best of this situation?"
That is a separate type of knowledge, as in the proverb "Learn joseki,
lose ten ranks in strength."
The chief difference between a 9X9 game and a 19X19 is in the demands
the larger board makes on our _strategic_ reading ability.
And that is not merely another board-size-dependent skill, among many.
That is the most significant difference between a competent player and a
strong one.
Forrest Curo
San Diego
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