Life In 19x19

Just curious how people play. I don't have strong feelings either way, but it would be interesting to know. (sorry if this has been done before).

Heh ... I don't really use many study materials period, so using them during my games on DGS isn't really going to happen.

I do, however, discuss the position in the games with some of my more talkative opponents. Go is a friendly game for me.

I came from a background of playing correspondence chess as a student almost forty years ago and never gave it a second thought. I use reference material and a board/sgf editor regularly. This has been covered in the DGS forums several times and is mentioned in the FAQ. I think that the situation changes with increasing strength of computer programs. I wonder how this is handled in the chess world today. If I want to play a bot, I don't need DGS

Joseki books and resources? Yes
Analyse board / sgf editors? Yes
Actual engine suggestion / stronger player suggestion? No

I used to play on turn-based servers, and never bothered using those. I hold the view that you should play turn-based games the same way you should play real-time games.

Since when is kgs turn based?
I don't play on any turn based server, but I occasionally check a joseki dict when playing on kgs. How else I'm supposed to learn joseki if not by looking them up when playing.

I feel using a joseki book during the game would not be me playing, so I never look up joseki variations until after I've played the moves.

Also, I feel playing out variations with SGF editor will not really help me improving mental discipline to read out variations in my head, and would also artificially improve my reading above my true ability, so I don't do that either.

However, sometimes I'm too lazy to count properly so I load the SGF and use CGoban SE function. Occasionally I even try to play relatively even endgame out to fix SE reading out the status of different areas wrong (marking alive groups dead, giving me 20 points in neutral territory, etc.).

This usually doesn't help me in the game any more than it would if I counted the score with pen&paper, but I sometimes I do notice a surprisingly large weakness (point-wise) this way, so it is not completely neutral.

Li Kao wrote:Since when is kgs turn based?

ha, i always mix up those letters. whoops.

topazg wrote:Joseki books and resources? Yes
Analyse board / sgf editors? Yes
Actual engine suggestion / stronger player suggestion? No

ditto

If an opponent had upfront concerns I would absolutely respect that.

Well the results so far (~20 votes) look clear. Turn based servers == open book tests for most of us.

Bruce "Will joseki be in the final?" Young

i think i have reached a point where i dont have to memorize joseky.

Not the biggest sample, but seems decisive. Interesting stuff.

Unprotected Go playing isn't safe.

I don't play out variations but try to read as in a normal game, even though I am not at all against it. But I sometimes download the sgf for evaluating the position with score estimator. Rarely use joseki dictionary. But I never consult a stronger player or AI engine.

Li Kao wrote:Since when is kgs turn based?

Games can be set to no time limit. wms has said in this thread that one can never be marked an escaper in this mode. One can even play an unlimited number of simultaneous turn-based games.