Life In 19x19

@jlt That is a good idea. I'll try handicap the next time. I'm a little worried though that the fact of giving handicap alone might already discourage some people. But I'll try it!

I'm a KGS 2k and EGF 4k. I got into Go with my cousin. We both were beginners and had several 9x9 games weekly. When I started winning consistently he gave up, but then I was already strong enough to take the leap to KGS. And I feel like this is the best way to start with Go, because every time one ...

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and giving your advice. Yesterday was a little rough, so I might have been a little too negative.


People say that you have to play at least 1000 games to become 1 dan. The path from 3k to 1d is longer than the path from complete beginner to 3k, so at ...

Do you review your games with AI or with a stronger player?

I have Crazy Stone Deep Learning. It can be helpful sometimes. But other times it gets in super deep sequences. Letting it play them out would take too much time also it'd turn my laptop into a fan.

How many games a week are you ...

I've started playing Go when I was 18. Now I'm 26. 2019 and about the first half of 2020 I focused on my studies and took a break from Go. Before the break I was stuck for quite some time at 2-3k KGS. Since I'm trying to get back into Go I realise that I'm still stuck at the same level.

These are ...

Thank you wolfking and hyperpape. I get the idea, but their reading is super strong right? So shouldn't they know. I'm gonna play a threat now, but eventually this situation created by playing the threat will be bigger than answering the ko? And if so why even bother starting the ko, if you already ...

Ko in Pro Games always confuses me. If a Ko comes up in my game I try to see if it is big enough. If it is I play it until it is resolved and if it is not I'll just ignore it.
But pros always start a ko then do it for a bit, and then seem to forget (I'm certain they don't and there a valid reasons ...

Thank you everyone for your replies!

So the main question was how much time I spend on a problem. Well that really depends: I have heard about that 3 minute rule (If you can't sove it by then, move on). So now about 30 minutes for 10 problems seem correct, but before that I'd spend an hour on 10 ...

Yes, I have done that. Those 3 in a row problems and also bulky 5 are easy for me
I'm talking about something like Problem 222 from Tatsuki Intermediate...

Hello, I'm a 3-4k on KGS for quite sometime now. When you ask someone what to do to get stronger most people will tell you to do Go problems. I don't like doing them, because it is not as fun as playing a game and also I don't have that much time for Go. So if I would do Go problems regulary most ...

First of all thanks to everyone for their answers, they were very helpful!


Not to disparage reading, but I am a big fan of seeing .

When I try to solve a tsumego, I don't really see the stones on the board. It is hard to say, I kind of try to save the information, like: this group now has 3 ...

Hello. I am a KGS 2-3k. Many people keep telling me that the fastest way to get stronger would be doing lots of tsumegos.
Some say you should do very hard problems, and just try to read as far as possible. Others say you should do easy problems and solve them quickly.
I've been trying both, but I ...