Random Ramblings

[Elom]

When I believe that losing from a blunder is fair and just reason to lose a game, I think I feel and play better. So if someoneone loses a game from such a slip, they should better unite the different elements of their play and look towards the future. Or play some atari-go. And maybe give atari-fives instead high-fives .

[EdLee]

Newkyu 4x4 board
v
Teach capture go, rulesets and basic endgame principles on 7x7 board
v
Beginner 9x9 board
v
Teach basic joseki on 13x13 board
v
19x19 board

It depends immensely on the individual.

Special cases:
- When Mr. Michael Redmond was a child, he would just quietly and patiently watch his father play Go with friends. Later, Michael got hold of some kind of Go book (say, a joseki dictionary or a life-and-death problem set) and in a relatively short time promptly memorized it.
- Another pro had no memory of anyone teaching her the rules; but only memory of watching adults play and figuring out the rules by herself from watching.
- We have a local member with a learning disability -- even after one year, still doesn't understand eyes. For example, even after one year of detailed, step-by-step instructions, repeatedly and in varying methods, still doesn't understand the status of for this shape:

$$
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . O O O O O O O O . .
$$ . . O X X X X X X O . .
$$ . . O X . . . . X O . .
$$ . . O X X X X X X O . .
$$ . . O O O O O O O O . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . O O O O O O O O . .
$$ . . O X X X X X X O . .
$$ . . O X . . . . X O . .
$$ . . O X X X X X X O . .
$$ . . O O O O O O O O . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$[/go]

This is a rare exceptional case, but it highlights why it depends so greatly on the individual.

Let's define a raw beginner as a random coffee shop patron who sees Go for the first time in their life; a beginner-2 as someone who returns a second time to the club, a beginner-3 a third time, etc.

I've had experience teaching raw beginners, beginner-2's, and beginner-3's from age 5 through age 70's for the past 15 years. Probably in the hundreds range, total.

In general, I'd say these are too early for beginners: complications of various rulesets, endgame principles, basic joseki. ( Of course, there are always exceptions. )

For the raw beginner: just the most basic rules ( no more than can fit in a normal font on one side of a business card ). Zero jargons: I avoid jargons as much as possible for the raw beginner; thus I don't say: liberty, eyes, ko, throw-in, etc. In general, I don't even mention the term atari to the raw beginner. I demonstrate the concepts of dame, atari, and captures visually and in normal everyday language, without jargons. I feel the concepts are important, not the jargons. It's my preference when teaching raw beginners. Maybe there are people who have greater affinity with jargons and can learn faster with jargons -- so YMMV here.

In general, for a raw beginner, even up to a beginner-3 (as always, exceptions apply):
- the most rudimentary rules ( zero jargons );
- the most fundamental capturing exercises ( capturing a single stone in the center, the side, and the corner; capturing the smallest group with 1 real eye; etc. )
- the most fundamental rescues: saving 1 single stone in atari, etc.
- capture-1 on 9x9 ( just a few iterations, to see their digest levels );

|
| (the down-arrow 'v' in the quoted text above)
v

This down-arrow 'v' depends immensely on the individual:
For many beginner-3's, they never made it past capture-1 to a full 9x9 game.

Sample: last night at the coffee shop, a recent university graduate showed up. He's currently applying to graduate schools in the U.K. but is in town for a few months. He had played some 9x9's with friends and against engines. He had only played two 19x19 games before last night. He played his third 19x19 game with our 10kyu member. He played his 4th 19x19 with me; 9-stone -- he was ready. So it depends greatly on the individual.

[jlt]

He had played some 9x9's with friends and against engines.

You didn't specify how good at 9x9 he was before starting 19x19.

[EdLee]

Hi jlt, because I have no idea. Sometimes, you just play.

[Elom]

Fascinating Edlee. Avoiding jargon until needed sounds great .

It seems that to stay safe, one must only introduce the basics of a concept the smallest size it properly appears, and advance depending on the person learning. Capture go should be at 4x4 in the sequence, although introducing a Chinese art of life and death makes go look like Kung Fu .

[Bill Spight]

introducing a Chinese art of life and death makes go look like Kung Fu .

You start with harakiri, of course.

[Elom]

What if go has two dimensions of space and a sole dimension of time? If so, it means each stone makes melodies as a one-dimensional string vibrating according to the other stones around it. It's length spans between the start and end of it's life. This go string theory sounds like something from djhbrown .

Maybe oftentimes, one could avoid telling a beginner that a move is bad outright by instead stressing that the timing is not good .

[EdLee]

one could avoid telling a beginner that a move is bad...

Remember that before AG, some pro assessments of the goodness and badness of certain moves for hundreds of years were not only wrong, but exquisitely wrong.

[Elom]

...
Remember that before AG, some pro assessments of the goodness and badness of certain moves for hundreds of years were not only wrong, but exquisitely wrong.

It reminds me of a concept mentioned before. If a professional's student play the wrong move, it must be in the right area .

[Elom]

Ah okay maybe this is better.
Acuity/Athleticism| Mindset*
Knowledge.............|Perception

*(includes things like thinking of the game from your opponents perspective)

Belts update
But I heard some teachers of martial arts do not think of belts as helpful. If you're at stage B, maybe rank is the last thing to stress over.

Go life cycle.
D fun discovery, just do it. Imitate pro games. Focus on quantity: lose a hundred games! (Smaller boards speed this up).

C Casually learn basic concepts (mostly simple endgame). Also increase creativity, which is only useful now for fun but may be helpful in later stages.

B Progression pace decreases, review your games more. Quality over quantity (longer games). Discard bad habits (both in go technique and attitude). Focus less on rank and more on style, which only fully forms when with pro strength correct technique. Be.

A Acquire more advanced knowledge (more fuseki and Joseki). Go.

P Peak. Potential. More blitz games again as you have fewer bad habits. Study professional games more.

Repeat! Stage P is just stage D reborn.

The funny thing is these belts are based on Mamu ratings

1d spans 0.0 to <1.0, 2d spans 1.0 to <2.0, etc

Black belt with a middle stripe: White 1d, Yellow 2d, Green 3d, Blue 4d, Red 5d, Brown 6d, Solid black belt is 7d and maybe you could have 8d be grandmaster.

Brown 1k-5k. Red 6k-10k. Blue 11k-15k. Green 16k-20k. Yellow 21k-25k. White 26+

Each belt has: First kyu solid, Second kyu one white dot, Third kyu one white stripe, Fourth kyu white dot and stripe, Fifth kyu two white stripes.

White belt, middle stripes brown to yellow for 26 to 30 kyu, below that it is solid. Stronger than 25k may have a black middle stripe

But I prefer cool beginner badges much more now .

[Elom]

Some maybes.

9x9 is best to quickly get to life and death (earth greenery and fire).

19x19 adds more speed and shape and form perhaps (wind and water).

[Elom]

Ay, atari.

I forgot to mention that if you play on 9x9 more than a small while...

You might say they're you dual^2 days...

.

[Elom]

. Heaven
| Humanity
_ Earth


Fire
vital points for attack

Wind speed, timing, moving first on important points, response to shape, winds of change Water shape haengma response to speed

Earth
vital points for defence

Maybe fire overlaps with earth and wind overlaps with water, creating two axes of improvement with the centre of the compass as the origin. You improve squared. . .

[Elom]

I should be able to really read more now (before I was just getting confused and rereading over again).

[Elom]

I've had another mobius link to something I was thinking about!

Getting stronger by setting point zero and getting closer by Zeno-ing up.

But shifting point zero should change the way you train at the start in terms of picking up bad habits.

If kyus were pars. . .

Perhaps.