So, today I decided to play a blitz game for the first time in awhile. Since I naturally play fast anyway, I'm surprised I don't play more blitz games. Today, however, I learned that it's not a good idea to play a blitz game when you're distracted by football (my prediction of the Pats winning was accurate, but that was a nailbiter!) So the next time I play one of these, I need to make sure I can focus solely on the game.

In the end, I got the favorable result. The person I played was one I was observing in another game, so I suppose that's why he challenged me. Anyway, I played a lot of questionable moves, but I'm not going to review it. I only plan to self-review regularly timed games.

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Slava Ukraini!

I'm not rank obsessed but if a AGA 6d takes the trouble to post on a forum what made him strong, I'd ignore all other comments and go for imitating his behavior. Moreover, what shapenaji advises is neither far fetched nor discouraging. It's the plain old cycle of brain training by feedback.

Adults have a tendency to overestimate theory and analysis. Children's way of learning is play. There's a lot of unconscious learning provided by feedback.

New idea - play - unconscious feedback - adjust - play ... occasional review - adjust - play ...

Adults also tend to seek comfort. They want a sure fire strategy. Children experiment all the time and accept failure as another kind of feedback.

Sure, we are not children anymore, so let's be lopsided a bit on the review and comfort. But playing very few games or hardly experiment are recipes for stagnation.

Well, don't give me too much credit, it's hardly "trouble" to post about a game that you're obsessed with. And 6d AGA does not give me status to say that other people's methods are wrong. I can really only say what worked for me.


However, I do notice an emphasis that a lot of players put on in-depth study of all their games, where exactly they went wrong, etc... They play in serious tournament-style games as a way to get better or abuse blitz as "fostering bad habits".

On the one hand, it makes a certain kind of sense, it's a study plan that insei, professionals and stronger players use, so why not you?

IMO, the number one asset for getting better is a source of ideas and a playground to test them out.

You can get those ideas from just about anywhere, from Tsumego, Tesuji problems, playing a stronger player and seeing their tactics, looking at a pro game, or just purely through your own innovation during a game (I even credit Sun Tzu's the Art of War as being responsible for a few of my ideas).

The playground is obviously games.

The reason why pro's and insei have THEIR study plans is that, at their level, new ideas are harder to come by. To just get to dan though, you can come it from many directions, (Which direction you come at it from probably defines your "style")

You'll probably only get to try out a few new ideas per game, so get through your games as quickly as you can. If you're unable to try out an idea because of the speed of the clock, then you're playing too fast. If you spend a long time agonizing over what decision to make, then you're playing too slow.

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

Well, my personal opinion is you all have valuable information, and anything you say to help me improve is greatly appreciated. I can't say it always sinks in, but I'm the type of person who learns greatly by trial and error. If I see something enough times, eventually I'll memorize it. Some things I can remember on the spot, but Go information takes awhile for me to process. Especially certain corner joseki.

But that's for another time. I have intentionally been taking this week easy. I want to be well rested for the 28th since I'm going to have to be up at....3AM! It's a good thing I'm a happy morning person! The reason for the "taking it easy" bit is because I don't want to get burnt out before the big tournament. I really think I've bettered my clock management skills over the past week or so, too. I can't say it's perfect, but it's definitely better.

So I'll be playing maybe 1 game a day until the 28th. The following week, I plan to spend more time playing games. My new schedule will be:

Monday-Thursday:
1. Games. Games. And More Games. No Set Number.
2. Tsumego.
3. Observe Stronger Players.

Friday:
1. Blitz Day. (Basically, I try to play as many fast games as possible for fun, and to just enjoy the game.)

Saturday:
1. Self-Review Day.
2. Post 1 Game Here For Review.
3. Study A Certain Aspect Of The Game (Fuseki, middle game, yose, ect.)

Sunday:
(Day Off)

So, this may look weird, but I actually have a reason for making all my reviews on a day where I don't actually play any games. It forces me to look at older games and figure out what I was thinking in games that I won, and games that I lost. Monday through Thursday will be about improving my game by playing and solving tsumego. Friday is my TGIF day to just relax and forget worrying about improving. This will be my day to not care about results.

Saturday will be my study day. That's all I plan to do. Simple. I think a nice day of reviewing all the mistakes I've made in a week, and getting opinions from stronger players on a game will be greatly beneficial. And of course, studying a certain aspect of the game will also be huge. As I've said, for now, I'll probably focus mainly on familiarizing myself with every single fuseki known to the Go World.

As for Sunday. That is my relax day. I will do NOTHING Go related at all. I believe this will be my hardest challenge for the entire week! Either way, this is my new and improved Study Journal. As several have pointed out, if I'm serious about reaching 1 Dan this year I've really got to work harder. Of course this will all be done as time permits! But I'm going to do my best to stick to this.

What do you all think of this strategy?

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Slava Ukraini!

IMO the best time to review is right after you play the game, and playing and reviewing should be seen as the same activity, but if you have another strategy that may by fine also.

I know that's the traditional process, but I was thinking about it. If I wait a few days and THEN look at the game, my mindset might be different. Maybe I'll have a new outlook on the game itself and be able to make better commentary. The whole thought process here is maybe throughout the week I'll improve at least a marginal amount and be able to spot things I couldn't on the day I played the game.

I hope that makes sense.

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Slava Ukraini!

Me too. I'm looking forward to your report on Monday.

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Patience, grasshopper.

Funny story, really. I went to sleep earlier today so I'd be nice and prepped for the Meijin Qualifiers at 3am this morning. I wake up, and look at my clock at see 6:06! So I panic. I thought I overslept, so I scramble to get out of bed and get my computer on.

Then I look at the computer time and notice the PM. Well, I just got trolled by time. Fantastic.

Either way, I'm awake! And I can't wait. Only 9 hours left! Because of course, now I can't get back to sleep.

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Slava Ukraini!

I'm also going to participate! But It is scheduled for early in the morning here and I'm bad at getting up early... So I'll be trying to get some sleep soon

Hopefully it'll be fun and make some good games to review, yeah? Anyway Good luck , let's have some fun in the tournament.

Good luck. I wish you the best. It would definitely be cool to see an L19 member make it past the qualifiers.

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Slava Ukraini!

This is a game I played for fun in preparation for tomorrow morning's tournament. Playing the bots occasionally is fun. Usually I get destroyed, and I definitely should have gotten destroyed. I played questionable moves, but the bot played some bad moves, too.

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Slava Ukraini!

So how did it go?

Sorry this is late, but with how L19 has been working on my end, getting in posts has been quite difficult.

Regardless, my report for Monday is as follows:

Record: 0-1
Weekly Record: 0-1
# Of Problems Solved: 4

My Take: It was a slow day. I was away for a majority of the day, and then I got sucked in by Captain America: The First Avenger. The one game I did play was quite disappointing. I blew a huge capture opportunity, and I feel like I'm playing terribly these days. This will definitely I review on Saturday.

If y'all would like me to post it, I'd be perfectly happy to. Again, I know this is a day late, but yesterday was a bit more of a busy day than I imagined it would be. I'm going to figure out a time so these reports come out in a more formal manner. And hopefully I'll be able to post them!

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Slava Ukraini!

Today was another slow day. I ended up only playing the GNU bot a few times. In those games, I went 1-2 but I won't really count those.

Tomorrow though, I should be free to keep on schedule. I never realized how hard it was to keep to a schedule. I did manage to solve a few problems.

This week I continue my fuseki study. I was told I managed to outplay a 5 Dan up to 42 moves by studying the fuseki, so I'm going to keep at it. Hopefully soon I can increase this number to 100 moves. I figure if I can go head to head with a 5d for 100 moves, reaching 1d won't be hard to gain after that.

Tomorrow looks like a solid day for making up lost time. Who knows, I might even get to play more than 5 games!

Weekly Record: 0-1
Daily Record: 0-0
Problems Solved: 5
Song For The Day: Bring It Home by Led Zeppelin

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Slava Ukraini!

This week has been a bit ridiculous in the fact that I've been busy a majority of every day and when I did have a breather, I just didn't have the focus to play a game. Hopefully next week I can start my planned schedule!

Anyway, today I played who had an unknown rank. I'm assuming they're not bad because they beat a 2k by 23.5 points in an even game. And I managed to lose by only 3.5! Call me crazy, but I'm quite pleased since I felt like I should have lost by a far larger margin.

I can't say I did too bad. But I can't say I did fantastic either. What do y'all think? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

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Slava Ukraini!

Move 22: You CANNOT connect in empty triangle here. R3 is the small avalanche joseki (I personally had to look it up, though :p). I wouldn't play 18 at Q4 if I am not comfortable with at least the basic avalanche variations.

Move 26: This loses points and ko threats for no reason.

Move 28: The other side seems better, here a pincer works really well with the lower right.

Move 30: I would consider extending without keima here because, again, the pincer/contact at R13 looks good for black.

Move 32: This is joseki, but the solid corner you get as a result doesn't seem that great in this situation due to black's upper right being fairly safe. Black's extension from 2 seems like it works decently with the lower right. I would consider a pincer instead because of the C8 aji.

Move 36: This seems to leave some weaknesses behind (aji later at E17/F17/G15/H17/etc.). E16 is apparently joseki here, but black being solid on top right makes it not that attractive imo.

Move 38: Feels a bit wishy-washy with no obvious local follow-up/threat. After 39 the game looks desperate for white.

Move 40: The sequence starting with this is too painful for words. There is no good invasion around there unless you have more support first. Invading now and solidifying your opponent loses the aji.

Move 52: Seems a bit aji-keshi, but I guess white doesn't really have better moves locally anyways, so not a big issue.

Move 55 is very very bad for black.

Move 57 is small and a bit boring. I think white should ignore. And then the sequence that trades second line for third line is unnecessary and painful.

Move 65 is big, white answering makes it even better.

Move 67 is questionable as well.

Move 69 is the same mistake as white 40.

Move 70: Giving black a ponnuki here is way too generous. I'd consider either N3 or O5 here.

Black should capture at 75.

Move 78: Seems like an important point

Move 82: Seems like overplay. Hane on the other side.

The sequence that followed turned out really good for white because black let white ruin the entire area. A move like D8 or D9 before would leave white in an awkward spot, I think.

Didn't look at the rest of the game too carefully after. Move 168 is nice feeling, but doesn't actually work as far as I can see.

This is an ASR game I played with a 4k. I read out the final moves surprisingly well.

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Slava Ukraini!