Thank you =)
But I think, I'm still more of an 1-kyu than a Shodan. Although KGS honours me with this rank, it is more due to some ranking drift.
Since I don't play ranked games very often, I happen to jump a lot through the ranks ^^ And in one of my last games a Shodan lost on time (he just idled 2 minutes) although he had a clearly won game.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Yesterday at late hours, I decided to make a new KGS account for some Blitz fun (mostly 1min Main and 3*10sec via automatch). I played 18 games since then and it's really fun. I don't play as awefully as I would have imagined ^^ (but I still play very bad : D)

My rank is 4-kyu at the moment but I think I will soon reach 3k. Still two ranks worse than my slow account ^^

As far as studying goes: I almost finished Dictionary of Basic Tesuji Vol. 1... eh, reading it, not solving. For the most part I'm pretty clueless and all the text and the diagrammes on one page are very distracting to the eye : D So, mainly I try to figure it out a bit and then read the answer and try to remember the shape and the context.
I'm transcribing the problems via GoWrite2 at the moment and make my own problem book out of them. One big problem diagramme on one page and on the back of it the solution and variations but with a lot less text - similiar to the layout of the Yi Ch'ang-ho problem books.

There are christmas holidays in a few weeks and I hope I will find time to go through all of the Selceted Life-and-Death books by Yi Ch'ang-Ho and the last two remaining Tesuji books.

And then maybe - maybe! - Shodan by end of the year =D

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

One nice insight after playing a bunch more blitz games: I play horribly in games where I have handicap stones - and I mean REALLY horrible. I actually just lost to a 1D on 3H (technically...he lost on time)... I'm almost 1D with my slow account as well and now with the advantage of three stones I did not stood a chance in the middlegame...

That's really interesting! Now I just have to figure out why?


Any tips? ^^

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Spontaneous thoughts:

1) Not using the handicap stones to attack/play offensively.
2) Nerves, especially so close to shodan as you are (awesome job with that, by the way!)

For me, I notice that when I get handicap stones, I tend to play more defensively and am also a little more intimidated and pressured, though you seem to generally have a pretty good self-esteem when it comes to the game, so this may not apply.

Oh, you might wonder... ^^
Actually I think it's exactly your last point, which of course also has something to do with your first point - not using the handicap stones efficiently.

I often think that it might be better to calmly defend now and use my thick position for an attack later, since in most cases my opponents in handicap games overextend or leave groups unsettled.
The problem with this approach, I rarely have the time to launch an attack because my opponent keeps me busy all over the board. And when I attack, I end up either losing a dumbling of 17 stones or with a sandwich-group struggling for life.
Of course, inbetween all of this there comes the time issue - launching an attack, profitting from it, not getting killed and not making the opponent too strong is already hard to evaluate in slow games and here I only have 10 seconds : D

Maybe (most likely) there's some psychology involved. Nowadays the only games I play with recieving handicap are games against a Dan-player in my Go-club. And he crushes me almost every time in the middlegame.
Although he openly admits that he intentionally plays moves he knows I don't like or that I'll have a hard time dealing with them (we play handicap games since almost two years) ^^

But well, that's blitz: It's the hard way. I think I'll keep attacking unitil I will find the right mixture between profitting and making myself a burden =D

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I think the best cure for that is to practice tesuji. It seems that this is the best way to improve from SDK to (at least) shodan.

I hardly ever do something else ^^ But at the time I improved, he did so as well. (We started with him being 1k and me around 7k, now he's 4D and I am 1k).

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

It's been almost three years since I started to play Go and today I achieved 1D on my second account (time settings: 15/5*30) on KGS (hard work, no drifting this time^^). It took me 44 rated games (224 with all accounts) from December 2011 to March 2012 and I already beat two 1D on the way.

All I had to do, was stopping to play Go in December and starting fresh in February. I will follow this course (mainly playing, less studying) for a while until I think, I don't progress any further. But I plan to read Positional Judgment and The Endgame next.


This was the deciding situation. Black just played the marked move, White to win the game without bothering with the endgame.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Position at move 129
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . O |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . . . X X O O O O O X |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . X O X X X X X X |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . X O O O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X X . . . X X O . . O . O O X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . O X O O . X . . O X . X |
$$ | . . O X . . . X O O . . . . X O X X . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X O O X X . X O O O . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . X X O . O O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X X O . . . . . . X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X O . . O . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . O . X O O . B . . O X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . X X O X X . O . O . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X X X O . O X X X X X . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . O O . . O O O X . O X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

Okay, after going over it again. My opponent played two questionable moves in a row. First of all this peep, which I answered as shown and then his cut, which is a bit short-minded. He gave up shortly after my last move but I think his right side dies very big.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . O |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . . . X X O O O O O X |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . X O X X X X X X |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . X O O O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X X . . . X X O . . O . O O X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . O X O O . X . . O X . X |
$$ | . . O X . . . X O O . . . . X O X X . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X O O X X . X O O O . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . X X O . O O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X X O . . . . . . X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X O 2 . O . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . O . X O O . X 1 . O X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . X X O X X . O . O 3 . 5 . |
$$ | . . O X X X X O . O X X X X X 4 . . . |
$$ | . . O O . O O . . O O O X . O X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Maybe I could have played directly without defending at .

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc W11 on 'a'
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . O |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . . . X X O O O O O X |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . X O X X X X X X |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . X O O O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X X . . . X X O . . O . O O X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . O X O O . X . . O X . X |
$$ | . . O X . . . X O O . . . . X O X X . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X O O X X . X O O O . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . X X O . O O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X X O . . . 6 . 0 X x |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X O . . O 3 X 5 . 9 . |
$$ | . . . X . O . X O O . X 2 4 O X 7 . . |
$$ | . . X O . . X X O X X . O . O 1 . a . |
$$ | . . O X X X X O . O X X X X X 8 . . . |
$$ | . . O O . O O . . O O O X . O X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Forced? White is alive? But it's kind of risky. Black can stil cut the top White group with L8 and Black 'x' threatens to either kill or connect, so one has to make sure to count the liberties right ^^

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Something strange is happening to me. I don't feel any urge to play games but I could sit down and replay games (at the moment Dosaku and commented GTL-1d-games [for the basics]) all day. Well, we'll see how this goes ^^

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

This sounds interesting. What exactly do you do when replaying games?

Near to nothing but replaying and reading the comments, although there are almost no comments on Dosaku's games. If a move strikes me as particular odd (e.g. those funny shoulder-hits which occur quite frequently), I try to figure out a deeper meaning but due to my limited ability I easily go for the first intuition ^^
Now and then I try to assess the situation in terms of points and which side I would favour and where I would play the next move. But not that often, in the end I like to put down some stones opposed to making a big fuzz trying to understand the moves.

It's actually more meditative than anything else ^^

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

In the Ranka interviews with this year's top two amateur players from China und Korea, both stated that they study Go ten to twelve hours a day. Sadly the interviewer missed to ask what exactly they do. This would interest me very much.

Do they review pro games, solve problems or study Fuseki or endgame? How about playing and reviewing these games? Maybe they do all of it together since somehow they have to be occupied for ten to twelve hours... I find that astonishing. I can't even stick more than three hours a day to something which really interests me and is a lot of fun (like - I don't know - Go).

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Studying 10+ hours a day is frightening. Go is beautiful, exciting, and extremely interesting to me - and I would never spend that much time on it. 10 hours? With 10 free hours a day divided differently, you could learn to play classical guitar, speak a new foreign language, learn to sketch portraits, become a decent knife thrower and still become fairly strong at go.

To each their own. These folk must really, really love go.

SoDesuNe, I enjoyed your input over at Senseis, thanks a million

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"Hell if you understand everything I said, you’d be me." ~ Miles Davis ~

Thanks, Xaos! Nice to hear : )

I'm on and off 1-kyu at the moment. I still do very badly when recieving handicap (I'm too timid with my moves, I guess), on top of that I lose a lot of games (I think) in the early stages of the game. I don't know if it's not sufficient knowledge of Fuseki theory or the lack of Joseki variations. Then I feel I should have a broader repertoire of invasion patterns. I either die too often, sacrifice too big or need too much time handling the situation.

I will finish Yi Ch'ang-ho's L&D vol. 5 and then either take a shot at Segeo/Seigen Tesuji Dictionairy or the attacking volume of Shuko's Tesuji Dictionary. Maybe I will read through Takao's Joseki dictionary, too, and lay down some more frequent Josekis, but I'm not sure about that.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

well, slowly but surely, progress will be made.. best of luck!

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"Hell if you understand everything I said, you’d be me." ~ Miles Davis ~

Argh, I hate it when my opponents plays a lot of moves which are neither urgent nor big, my brain goes on tilt after fifty moves and in the end (like endgame) I miss a shortage of liberties and lose a won game X(

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

is that big group of black died, right?
wowh. the fighting is really long and go to all of the boards.