Back on track

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 6:25 am

At the moment I'm facing the problem that I have stoped playing go entirely for a little more than a year. So not only did I learn nothing in that time, I forgot and lost some of the things I had acquired.

So the Goal: get back on track.

To do this I need to retrain my reading. I think it's probably what suffers the most from not playing. I think I'll go back to Graded Go Problems 2 and 3 first, 30 mn a day.
I also want to reread Opening theory made easy.

And obviously, playing is the most important thing. I'm feeling a bit strange about playing online again, though. I'm completely unsure about my current rank, but I'm not a beginner either, so I might be a very boring fight to a 15k, like missing an atari or something, but I'm not going to go slaughter beginners just to assert my self confidence, either. So I don't know where to start. Maybe I'll try getting crushed by GnuGo for starters. The good thing with bots is, they always punish the basic tactical mistakes.

Edit: adding my KGS graph here

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:35 pm

Amelia wrote:And obviously, playing is the most important thing.

This depends on your goal. If you just want to have fun, then playing could be the most important thing for you.
But if you want to improve, then playing is necessary but not sufficient.
Playing is very important, but not necessarily the most important thing;
other factors -- reviews with a good teacher, self-study, or group study, etc. -- could be equally important.

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:47 pm

EdLee wrote:Playing is very important, but not necessarily the most important thing;
other factors -- reviews with a good teacher, self-study, or group study, etc. -- could be equally important.

I'm glad you say that, because I have the tendency to do more studying than actual playing ^^ (Games are fun, but discovering new concepts and moves I would never have thought about is the most fascinating part of playing go).

tomukaze · Post by **tomukaze** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:47 am

Good luck with your studies!

I have to say I am the opposite at the moment, I play alot without any reviews and study (This is probably why I have been my current rank for about 6 months now). However I must say that playing is essential, or as Ed says necessary, as you will actually pick up alot of tesuji, joseki etc.. through osmosis especially playing stronger players. Also what I have found fun is reading pro games from books like the ones by John Fairbairn.

Anyway 頑張ってください!!!!　（Gambatte Kudasai ≈ Keep battling on）

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 2:13 am

Currently reading Graded go problems 2. Those books are so great. It does a wonderful job of reminding me of all the basic shapes.
I also got thrashed by GnuGo a few times. Although I should stop just closing the game when a big group gets captured and review it instead. It's a horrible habit to take and it wouldn't happen if I was playing a human.

Which I feel ready to do without being ashamed of myself, now.

tomukaze wrote:Also what I have found fun is reading pro games from books like the ones by John Fairbairn.

Pro games at my level are mostly a big mistery. I do it sometimes for fun, I replay a commented game, try out the variations explained and so on. But I don't think it improves my game much, because it's so much higher level than what I understand from the game. Maybe it pays off in the long run though.

tomukaze wrote:Anyway 頑張ってください!!!!　（Gambatte Kudasai ≈ Keep battling on）

Thank you!

SoDesuNe · Post by **SoDesuNe** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:35 am

Amelia wrote:
tomukaze wrote:Also what I have found fun is reading pro games from books like the ones by John Fairbairn.

Pro games at my level are mostly a big mistery. I do it sometimes for fun, I replay a commented game, try out the variations explained and so on. But I don't think it improves my game much, because it's so much higher level than what I understand from the game. Maybe it pays off in the long run though.

Pro games don't make sense for me either (the most time) and it only pays off in the long run. But the latter is true for everything regarding Go ^^
If you have fun replaying commented pro games, then by all means, replay a game a day. It is good! Your pattern-loving brain will most certainly learn something.

I can recommend Fairbairn's Shuei books. In a month or so, I might also recommend his Go Seigen books : D

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:06 am

SoDesuNe wrote:Pro games don't make sense for me either (the most time) and it only pays off in the long run. But the latter is true for everything regarding Go ^^
If you have fun replaying commented pro games, then by all means, replay a game a day. It is good! Your pattern-loving brain will most certainly learn something.

I can recommend Fairbairn's Shuei books. In a month or so, I might also recommend his Go Seigen books : D

Thank you, I'll look into it. I also had a look at your "How to get strong at go" page, it was interesting. Once I'm done with my current reading, I'll look at the books you recommend.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:08 am

Amelia wrote:Pro games at my level are mostly a big mistery. I do it sometimes for fun, I replay a commented game, try out the variations explained and so on. But I don't think it improves my game much, because it's so much higher level than what I understand from the game. Maybe it pays off in the long run though.

You're 100% correct. :clap:

SoDesuNe · Post by **SoDesuNe** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:34 am

Amelia wrote:I also had a look at your "How to get strong at go" page, it was interesting. Once I'm done with my current reading, I'll look at the books you recommend.

Thank you, nice to hear =)
It sure needs an update though. Hopefully I have it up next week.

tomukaze · Post by **tomukaze** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 1:40 pm

SoDesuNe wrote:
I can recommend Fairbairn's Shuei books. In a month or so, I might also recommend his Go Seigen books : D

I have his 9 dan showdown one and find it thoroughly intriguing. The stories are great fun and really enjoy the comments on the games.

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:39 am

Boy, I really need to be more focused and careful.

Here I thought I wasn't doing too bad, but I got too excited about my own capture to pay any attention to what GnuGo was actually doing (move 156). And so a close game became a loss by 30 points. What was the trick again? Sit on your hands?
But hell, even before that I should have noticed this group could be threatened and I never even stopped to assess its status. Seriously need to work on my attitude and I think to do that I have to stop playing against GnuGo.

Anyway, I registered on Kaya but the server's down, so now I'm back on KGS. I also registered on Tygem. Time to play some real people again.

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 1:51 am

There's a huge difference between reading a problem in a book calmly and assessing a group's status in a game.

This game yesterday night made me painfully aware of that difference. But I think as I keep doing tsumegos over and over again, it will get easier to spot the winning move even when I feel under pressure.

The main problem is, innerly I give up too early. Just because I can't read out that a move will succeed or fail doesn't mean I should stop trying entirely. I need to remind myself that I play to learn more than I play to win.

At the moment I'm very busy, but in april it will get better. I will be able to play more often, and hopefully to go back to my go group meetings.

The Kido Cup in Hamburg is in May. It would be fun to go there. I want to be stronger by then.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:43 am

Amelia · Post by **Amelia** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:50 am

Thank you EdLee!
I did consider Q18 but dismissed it quickly because of W Q17. I will take some time to look into it more.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:54 am

Amelia wrote:I did consider Q18 but dismissed it quickly because of W Q17. I will take some time to look into it more.

Then B atari P17 and hurts the :wc:

stone, which makes :wt:

a bad wedge.
Your first instinct of :wt:

wedge means you don't have a feeling it's a bad wedge,
and you don't have a feeling about :wc:

getting damaged -- develop these feelings.
Also, if :w7:

at R18 works, then everybody would play it, instead of the joseki keima at Q18.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Wc $$------------------- $$. . . . . . . . . | $$. . . . X X 7 . . | $$. . . W X Q O . . | $$. . . . . X . . . | $$. . . . . . . . . | $$. . . . . . X . . | $$. . . . . . . . . |[/go]

B also has the option to connect on the outside with :b1:

:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bc $$------------------- $$. . . . . 4 . . . | $$. . . 3 2 X O . . | $$. . 5 W X Q O . . | $$. . . . 1 X . . . | $$. . . . . . . . . | $$. . . . . . X . . | $$. . . . . . . . . |[/go]

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