Redid GSATesuji again with 95% accuracy. I got a 10 hour bus ride tmorrow up to NYC, aka 10 hours of problems to solve. Fun stuff.

Still around 45-50% against 4ks. I am slowly but surely going up.

_________________
My Baduk Journey

How could you stand doing problems for 10 hours straight? Usually I can only focus for a few minutes at a time.

Seems that and are both questionable: if White captures instead Black loses control of the game. Clearly by you had a lead, though.

Up to , which shows power, your stones fall into place. And again up to , though I suspect that at S5 would be a more active way to live. If you were already thinking about R7 to peep, I'm impressed.

So White dies: more power. A fine game.

Back! I had a great weekend up in NY - chilling with friends, getting a new job, and had a few days away from Go. And Abyssinica, I managed to do around 400 problems combined on the way and back - but these were very easy problems so... it didn't take too much effort. And Charles, thank you for the compliments

I am still 50:50 ish against 4kyus. Progress is a bit slower than I had hoped, but they don't feel impossible anymore. I actually won a few very convincing games against them, but the losses are also very convincing losses. I'm getting there!!

Also, I finally started to work on the tesuji bible - Segoe Kensaku's Tesuji Dictionary. I am just going through the C-Level problems, and so far they are pretty easy. I have additional books, such as the harder volumes of LCH Series, Making Good Shape, and 501 Tesuji Problems, but I'll save them for later. As soon as I hit 4kyu, I plan on starting on the LD Bible - Gokyo Shumyo as well.

Attached are 3 games, 2 wins, 1 loss for inspection & review.

1st, the Loss - i think even after the capture of my gruop on the top right, i had a shot cuz i was so thick, but i failed to make use of it and i crumbled. Any help on this game would be great.


2 wins - These were probably my two most convincing wins!

_________________
My Baduk Journey

On the lost game:

1) the fact that your loss of a big group was a direct consequence of an opening sequence, shows that the level of this game was quite high. White played really well in the corner there to start with. I'll leave treatment to better players.

2) Black 113: make territory while attacking. Exercise. (your move was too close to thickness already)

3) Black 117: how to keep sente? Exercise. (after 118 White is already alive)

This game was not far from dan strength I'd say.

The second of the wins: you win in the fighting, but there are some strange shapes earlier.

Compare this with a play around E6, if you need to defend. (I'm not convinced you do.)

Omit this, and just play P11. And shortly your play at looks ridiculous.

A few comments on the loss.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Hi everyone, hope you all have had a good week.

I started working at my new job, so this week has been incredibly hectic - as a result, I completed 0 problems this week! I am now more used to the pattern though, so I'll definitely be going back to solving problems again.

As for games I've had 4 wins, 5 losses - and it was really frustrating because in all of those 5 losses, I was ahead and I failed to close the games out properly. That, and I think added fatigue made me less focused. I feel confident against 4 kyus. This isn't like the mega tilt i was in when I was at 7k, where the game felt impossible. It's the subtle things that need refining. I feel like I am about 4k strength now, just taking a while going through the rank of 5k.

Attached are a few for inspection. I have about 2 months and 1 week to hit my goal of 3k. It will be tight but hopefully I can make it.

Game 1 - W - I botched the left side and top pretty hard, but I pulled something out of my butt and forced a ko on the bottom left that really sealed the game out. I played the Ko realizing that the upper right corner could live (i just wanted to kill the top), and I dont think my opponent realized what I was going after.


Game 2 - L - Yeah, i was well on track to win by 60+ until I missed a tesuji and game was lost. Frustrating.


Game 3 - L - I saw the variation to kill the corner in the bottom left to win, and... for some bizarre reason I didn't play it.

_________________
My Baduk Journey

Yeah, OK, a conservative style and then mutate into a ninja. This is more like a dan player than SDK. Though not in detail.

Not an obvious joseki choice. Your options at R6 and S5 mean that you can allow White some framework on the right side.

I wouldn't play here, but many ama 1 to 2 dans perceive the game this way.

Extension at F13 looks right to me. But I'm glad you extended.

is somewhat slow.

and are the main teaching points of this game. Neither invasion is quite right.

(1) destroys "territory" that is open on both sides (see ). So the issue is why you didn't play on the fourth line with Q8. The clamp at R6 is still good news, and White's Q10 stone is in more trouble.

(2) On the lower side, only the H3 invasion looks like anything at all to me. Keep as a far as you can from White's strength on the right. Go in deep enough that life is a local victory. You could try G4 to see if White is a wimp, but White then at F5 is just thick everywhere.

In brief, you got your third and fourth line invasions swapped round. Black 103 and onwards is resourceful. And luck was on your side. White didn't play for safety with N18.

I've gotten to play 3 games in the past 2 weeks. So busy. So little time. So minimal progress on go :/

_________________
My Baduk Journey

So i still pretty much only have time to play about 3-4 games a week - which is way less than what I had hoped - But thankfully I am doing alright in them. Since the start of november, I am 6 wins 2 losses on my ranked games.

I am now very close to 4kyu. Unfortunately I am not sure if my goal of 3kyu by christmas will be attainable at this point because I just don't see myself having the time to play as many games or solve as many problems as i would like.. I think I solved about 10 problems in the past 2 weeks

Attached are a few of my games for reviews. Comments would be greatly appreciated!

_________________
My Baduk Journey

a few more games

_________________
My Baduk Journey

Game 1 is close. You seem to shed a few points in the endgame.

is a good guess: but you don't get a great result round here. I would play at R11, just to get an answer. This would give you an option on the edge with - the hanging connection by itself isn't inspiring. is a mistake, and you should play atari immediately. goes one to the left, and you shouldn't be answering . is poor shape. One "refuses" to play things like that.

at J7 is the intuitive play, as is at J4.

is passive, compared to L4. is sharp. But is greedy shape, leaving H3 and G4 for Black.

In the later fighting, B131 isn't likely to be correct. There is a vital point at K18.

W174 is potentially larger than six points for capturing three stones. Black holds on despite errors at this stage of the game.

Hello all - it's been a month since I last posted - and I am now teetering on the border between 4kyu. I feel like I am at that strength already, maybe even 3kyu but i just need to get the rank from KGS. I keep on choking hard on the games that will elevate me over the hump...

Long story short, I dont think I'll be able to hit my goal of 3k by christmas - These last few months, I started a new job, and it's taking up alot of my time. Next year though, I'm going to make it a resolution to set times into my schedule to play games and do problems no matter what - My goal of 1 dan by my birthday (June 25th) still stands.

Hope everyone is having a great time Baduk-ing! Happy holidays~

_________________
My Baduk Journey

I feel a rush of wind from below none the less .
Maybe we might end up playing each other in a bid to 1d someday.

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

finally broke 4k today - it feels like i teetered around the border for so long but woohoo!

_________________
My Baduk Journey

Congratulations! Gets harder from here ...

Hope everyone is doing well - I am now starting to get the jist of playing against 3ks. Honestly doesn't even feel that much different vs 2 or 1ks (i've played a few in free games here and there, and at local clubs) - it just seems like a matter of reading a bit more carefully and making less mistakes.

I am about 1/3 of the way to 3k. Still hoping to hit Dan by June 25th.

Also, who else is excited for DeepMind vs LSD? My favorite pro vs the world's greatest bot. My money is still on lee though

_________________
My Baduk Journey

About halfway to 3kyu. Tbh i can play against them with even footing. Now my winrate against 3kyus is very subpar to my normal rate (36% vs high 50%s) - and a big reason for this is that I am blowing away games that I've won - or that I am winning. I've had multiple games where I lost after I outright won a corner fight in the opening, killed a big group, or simply out played my opponent in the opening by a margin of 20-25 points.

On the positive side, I am now playing with less fear, more aggression and some originality. I try to play moves I have not tried before, moves that I have not seen before. Sometimes I die, sometimes I win. But its all part of the game.

As for problems - I've really slacked off on them

Attached are 3 games for your inspection.

Game 1 - I was blowing this guy out of the water in the opening, but i was slack midgame, and he eventually caught up to me. I lost by half a point.


Game 2 - I then beat the same guy on a different day with a pretty sweet kill up top.


Game 3 - Talk about blowing a game away - I had an entire group up top killed, then got careless, lost a group of my own, lost my cool and just blew the rest.

_________________
My Baduk Journey

[quote="hl782"]

Game 1 - I lost by half a point.


isn't needed: take a big point.

What you really need is a corner enclosure, so do that first.

D14 and then C15 would make it harder for White.

is a bit planless. How about F14?

seems slack compared with C9.

At , Black's reduction can't be called a success. There is the issue at that Black could hope to get stones at N15 and O8. Then the centre might swell up. But the best Black can realisticly get is P16 as a forcing play. So: Black P16 and White might answer at P17. Black O8, White N8, Black N9. Now White can play at P8, and aim to damage the right side after another play at P7. But at least Black has generated some prospects.

does establish the centre, but White has taken profit on the left. And there are gaps left. was pretty slack.

By White 128 it isn't clear who should win. Black has been complacent.