So something kind of remarkable happened. I was obsessed with go during my senior year of highschool 2008/9 but stopped for the most part that December, around 5k kgs at my best. Fast forward to about two weeks ago when I pick up the game again seems the general consensus is that I've gained 1-2 stones by doing nothing! Has this happened to anyone else?

Yes.

Yes.
Before I stopped playing I never would be able to break the 5k barrier. Within two months after resuming the game in March I was not only back to 5k but 3k.

My time off was about 3 years (completely devoting myself to something else) and I had to relearn practically everything (starting at 15k).
But that happened rather fast, after a couple of days I again knew 3-3 invasions, kakari respones what seki is etc. These things were just locked away in my brain but a lot of old ballast (mistakes and fixed ideas I had collected on my first time making the way to sdk) seemed to have fallen off and it was much easier to learn and remember new things, thus becoming 2 stones stronger than before.

[edit] Btw, what suffered a huge loss during my go absence is reading skill and it is really difficult to recover that.

I was just about to come here write about something related to this.
Yes. For me it happened quite a few times. My way is sort of a one step back two step forward thing. Sometimes just the other way around. I found mostly during periods of studying and reading books. ( guess this relates to "learn 1 joseki and lose 1 stone")

Well I did progress the most when just forgeting about it and have fun playing. Or after taking a break from go for a few months and coming back playing relaxed, fresh when feeling to do so. Not just because I read that book that says this and that, trying care too much about it. This went now for a period of 4-5 years from around 14k to around 5-4k. Though I'm playing since 20 years first 15 years were not studying and reading anything, just playing from time to time with friends.

Maybe much of these effects has to do with the drift of the ranking system.

Yes. I left Hawai'i as a shodan and lived for two years where I hardly played go and then only by giving several stones. Then I returned to Hawai'i and after a month went to a local tournament in hopes of getting promoted to 2 dan (nidan). When I registered the TD said, "You play as nidan." I did, and took second place in the 1 - 3 dan flight, losing only to a Korean visitor who was obviously under-rated.

My hypothesis: emotional maturity matters in go.

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Everything with love. Stay safe.

It's the wisdom of age (even it is going from 18 to 21).

Bruce "Geezer" Young

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