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 Post subject: efficient paths for learning to increase a few stones
Post #1 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 11:50 am 
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Greetings, L19!

It seems that Go has crept into my life again, this time due to a seemingly random influx of local players. Given that development, I've been trying to improve my skill a bit so I can play more even games with the locals. With that in mind, I'd like to focus on three things and I was curious if anyone had tips about the best way to get there. Here they are, in order of importance to me:

1. Raise my rank a few stones so that I can play even games with a wider pool of the locals. I really only need to move up about 5 stones, I think. According to DGS, I'm resting at 21kyu and IGS has me at 17kyu.

2. Learn to play a little more quickly. Sometimes I drag out my moves too long and I'd rather not give my opponent a boring game.

3. Try to lessen my Online Go Anxiety to the point where I don't just resign out of panic. I think online games are key to trying to bump my rank a little.

So far, with my schedule, I think I can commit to two to three games a week (some in person, others online). I'm able to work tsumego during slack time during the day. I can probably tackle 5-10 problems a day.

I may also have a little time left over to peruse a book. I don't know if books are more important than tsumego. I would like to revisit Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go as it helped me the most out of all the books I've looked at in the past.

I considered keeping a journal of my in-person games so I can review them like my online games but I don't want to seem rude and I wonder if scribbling in a notebook would distract me from the game itself?

Lastly, I've considered maybe having a much stronger player review some of my games or even paying for a teaching lesson, though I'm not sure how much I'd gain out of that in the short time.

Is playing 2-3 games a week and working tsumego enough? Does anyone have advice on a plan?

Thanks so much for your time!

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Post #2 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 12:31 pm 
Honinbo
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Yes.

If you have SmartGo for iOS,
it's very easy to record your game as you play.

For time management: less than 2 seconds for every move is too fast;
and more than 1 minute for every move is too slow for your level --
if you take too long on every move, you're mostly wasting your time
( and your opponent's ).
It's OK to think a little longer for tricky positions,
but for most moves, try to find a happy pace between the above extremes.

Good luck. :)

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Post #3 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 12:41 pm 
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EdLee wrote:
Yes.

If you have SmartGo for iOS,
it's very easy to record your game as you play.
Good luck. :)


I have Gobandroid on my Android device, I hadn't considered using it. That might be better than pencil and paper.

Thanks for the tip!

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Post #4 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 12:42 pm 
Honinbo
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Paper kifu is also OK; no problem. :)

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Post #5 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 12:43 pm 
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You can post your serious games here for reviews.
( Or, on KGS, etc. )

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 Post subject: Re: efficient paths for learning to increase a few stones
Post #6 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 1:33 pm 
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Play as many games as you can. If 2-3 games a week is what your schedule allows, then that's certainly enough to make progress. If you can play more, do so. I wouldn't play faster games just to fit more in, though. Some may differ on that point, but if you suffer from online go anxiety I think that is only likely to make the problem worse. Plus I've found that trying to play games that are too fast for me is likely to cause me to enjoy playing much less, which eventually causes me to play fewer games instead of more.

Take at least a few minutes to review each game you play. Find one or two moves that you could have played better. Find one or two moves that your opponent could have played better. Try to learn something every time you play.

Tsumego are good, but I recommend finding a well curated source of problems instead of relying on what you can find on the internet. The Graded Go Problems for Beginners series is good (you'd probably find volumes 2 and 3 helpful). They are available in print or for the SmartGo books app on iOS or OS X. (Not Android, sadly.) The problems available for free at sites like goproblems.com are occasionally fun, but are of a much more uneven quality. I'm sure there are other quality curated sets I am not familiar with.

Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go is a great book, but I doubt it's likely to lead directly to improvement. However, anything that keeps your mind on the game is likely to help a little. There are probably better books for immediately improving your technique, but I'm not sure what to recommend without knowing what you've read and/or what parts of the game you struggle with.

Some of the stronger players on this site give great reviews if you post your games. If you actually stick with the process regularly, you'll likely get a lot of the same people commenting each time. That's really helpful, because they can get to know you and your weaknesses well enough to give really good advice.

I think the biggest single piece of advice I can offer is to spend time learning each day in whatever way you find fun. If you're enjoying the time you spend on go, you'll likely see improvement (and naturally want to spend more time on the game). If you make the game a chore, even with the best of intentions, you're likely to have much more fitful progress as human nature will lead to uneven engagement.


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 Post subject: Re: efficient paths for learning to increase a few stones
Post #7 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 9:23 pm 
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In my opinion, you should play faster until you get stronger. I didn't like to play fast either, but I really feel like lower level players focus too much on the local situations and neglect the bigger picture of the overall board positions. By playing faster, you begin to see the "flow" of the stones and how they work together and not focus too much on the smaller local fights. As you get stronger, you'll be able to make better use of your time, to consider the possible variations to choose between, and be able to make better choices.

I think I was about your level when I first started playing through and memorizing pro games. I think I did it at first as a way to help improve my own ability to remember my own games. And it did indeed help, because it made me try to have a reason for every move, which helped me remember them -- and the "flow".

I would just play though them quickly, and not get too bogged down with commentary and variations, because it does help with understanding the overall flow. I think this is good for beginners. Deeper study will come later.

I also started doing game recording/broadcasting about this time too. Many people thought I wasn't strong enough to do it, but I think my OCD prevented me from making too many mistakes. Turns out, I was better than many dan level players :rambo: But it also helped my own game too. I probably jumped 4 stones in those first few months, climbing from ddk to sdk.

When you review your own games, try to find one or two common mistakes that you continue to make and work on breaking those habits. Don't over analyze and try to find every mistake (stronger players like to do this). Just focus on a little at a time, then move on to the next most common mistakes.

I hope some of this advice is useful.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes.


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 Post subject: Re: efficient paths for learning to increase a few stones
Post #8 Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:13 am 
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cmhobbs wrote:
(...) So far, with my schedule, I think I can commit to two to three games a week (some in person, others online). I'm able to work tsumego during slack time during the day. I can probably tackle 5-10 problems a day. (...)

This doesn't say much. Are these easy or very hard tsumegos? What do you mean by "tackle"?

One method I've found very beneficial is to do mainly easy tsumegos in great numbers. By "to do", I mean reading every possible variation in them, even moves that I know to be the wrong answer. I don't know exacty why, but this helped improve my reading much more efficienty than doing a few hard tsumegos.

I guess this has to do with:
- seeing a great number of recurring patterns (instead of focusing 10 min on one position that may never occur in my games)
- reading a lot of easy sequences gives me much more practice than painfully reading a few hard ones

Graded go problems for Beginners is a good starting point if you want to practice in this way.

Hope this helps!

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 Post subject: Re: efficient paths for learning to increase a few stones
Post #9 Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:57 am 
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Shenoute wrote:
This doesn't say much. Are these easy or very hard tsumegos? What do you mean by "tackle"?

...

Graded go problems for Beginners is a good starting point if you want to practice in this way.


I mean to sit down and actually work them out, thinking about each move rather than speeding through them as quickly as I can. I generally work tsumego on my phone with Gobandroid, which guides me through the answers if I get stuck. A book like Graded Go Problems might be more useful.

Thanks for the tips!

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 Post subject: Re: efficient paths for learning to increase a few stones
Post #10 Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 5:09 am 
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cmhobbs wrote:
I don't know if books are more important than tsumego.


Hi,
I think that they are equally important. For your level, Learn to Play Go vol 2, by Janice Kim, is a good book. There is also Opening Theory Made Easy, by Otake. The later is only about general principles for the opening, and is more advanced than the other, while Learn to Play go covers a wider range of the theory, but at a more basic level.

Beware that the Learn to Play Go series doesn't follow a linear progression.
I don't know vol 1, that starts from zero and explains the rules.
Vol 2 covers the basics
I find volume 3 less interesting : nearly no theory, but general advice about how to think, and three annotated games. But it may be interesting in your case since these general advices might adress your difficulties with go anxiety and panic.
Vol 4 & 5 complete each other and cover the basics in a deeper way than vol 1 & 2.

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