My plan to become 3-kyu in 4 weeks!

[Saurus]

Us 5ish kyus striving for improvement should form a member group. Certainly a few of us around.

It could be the

1 dan in 2010

group

Count me in. I've been hovering on the border of 6 kyu and 7 kyu for months - I just don't know what I need to break the 5k barrier, let alone the shodan barrier.

[SoDesuNe]

Phase 1 - complete!
Day 6 out of 29:
Last 20 Tsumegos (0 wrong) from “Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol. 3” - check!
29 Tesujis (2 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!


By the way, I spotted a slight flaw in my plan. I wrote, I would start today with studying "Tesuji" and the other stuff, but I actually wanted to start tomorrow
So, I changed this in the first post.

[Chew Terr]

Great job! The hardest part of a serious undertaking is beginning. Keeping up with your plans for six days so far, you've certainly gotten a solid foundation. Good luck continuing everything, and I hope it all works as well as you hoped. Keep us posted!

[SoDesuNe]

Day 7 out of 29:
9 Tsumegos (0 wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
29 Tesujis (3 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

1 Principle from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!
2 Josekis (basic 3*4 high approach [Tsuke-Nobi] and basic Small-Nadare) from “38 Basic Josekis” - check!


What itches me a bit is, I think my biggest weakness is far too less practice. I noticed this in the game against karaklis today, but also in one game against someone from the Go-club. I make huge strategic blunders because I tend to not see my prospects (In the club-game I had two huge walls facing the center but it never occurred to me to use those walls. In the end my opponent managed to get ~10 points in the center while I had like 5 left) or just see the local impact (I knew that by playing the Hane, karaklis could never live locally, but I completely overlooked that he could start a hell of a fight inside my Moyo by just cutting).
Sadly playing games is one thing, I barely have time to. I wouldn't want to play under 25 minutes and so I need to calculate at least one hour and half, maybe more, because I always review my games.

Well, I need to come up with something.
At least I can't say, that doing problems harms me. At the contrary, I managed to make life for a group by using the Nose-Tesuji for the first time in my games =) (Go-club game) That's something one always hopes for, after learning new things!

[karaklis]

Besides the strategic issue there are also some tactical issues involved. I think your invasion should have lived. Twice I was able to avoid that group to make an eye (134 d6, 142 b8). Just have a look at the "eye stealing tesuji" (and the natural counterpart is the "eye saving tesuji" as James Davies names it, iirc).

[SoDesuNe]

Besides the strategic issue there are also some tactical issues involved. I think your invasion should have lived. Twice I was able to avoid that group to make an eye (134 d6, 142 b8). Just have a look at the "eye stealing tesuji" (and the natural counterpart is the "eye saving tesuji" as James Davies names it, iirc).

Yep, that's right. I overlooked this, too, although the Eye-stealing-Tesuji is really nothing fancy ^^ But then again, too less practice with invasions.
At least experience is actually easier to obtain than anything else. So, still dreaming

[SoDesuNe]

Day 8 out of 29:
9 Tsumegos (1 continuation wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
29 Tesujis (3 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

1 Principle from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!
2 Josekis (3*4 high approach with Tsuke-Nobi at the outside and Keima-response) from “38 Basic Josekis” - check!
1 Chapter from “Tesuji” - check!

[SoDesuNe]

Because of a slight sun-stroke, I found it hard to concentrate on more problems from "1001 Life-and-Death-Problems" but because I already am ahead in my plan, I think it's okay.

Furthermore, I will play some games now as part of the training. Tomorrow I am going to play with karaklis and after that, I'm going to play another on KGS. On Monday, I'm going to play each a game on KGS and on WBaduk. Tuesday will be the same. Wednesday is Go-club meeting, so that will be enough.
I'll see how this work out to make further plans. But because playing 'so much' might cause some time troubles, I dare to drop or take my Joseki-studies a bit more casual. So I'm going to just read through the named chapters, but don't go over it on a board to memorize.

Day 9 out of 29:
1 Tsumego from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
29 Tesujis (6 wrong [2 times the right idea, but the wrong first move]) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

1 Principle from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!



post scriptum:
9 Tsumego (3 wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!

[SolarBear]

I'd be ecstatic to reach 3 kyu in 4 weeks, and I'm already 4 kyu.

Agreed. I'm 6k, studying quite a bit, and have been stuck at 6k (even LOST a stone in the process, but got it back) for over 6 months now.

If anything, tsumego made me weaker. Go figure.

[SoDesuNe]

Forgot to update this yesterday.


Day 10 and 11 out of 29:
18 Tsumego (5 wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
58 Tesujis (7? wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

2 Principles from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!
1 Chapter from “Tesuji” - check!


So far, so well. Played a couple of games yesterday and today.
I was able to beat the local Dan-player on 4H for the first time and today for the second time ^^ Furthermore it was a great feeling to hear from him, that I did improved.
Funny thing is though, the most improved part seems to be my endgame ^^ I managed to win two games today just by playing a good endgame. But well, I still do a lot of stupid blunders, almost mental misclicks, so still a long way to go. But the mountains seem to come closer : )

[Chew Terr]

Would you say that any one portion of your new routine is helping particularly a lot or is doing particularly little? Or is it too hard to tell what's causing your improvement?

[SoDesuNe]

I think "Get Strong at Tesuji" is improving my game for the most part. These tiny, yet powerful moves which give you a better result locally, wether to become thick or get a descent shape, this radiates throughout the board : D

"Tesuji" by James Davies on the other hand offers a lot of really useful stuff, but is harder to grasp. In the games I played, I managed to miss some of the Tesujis I just learnt. So, this definitely needs a re-read/further study.

"1001 Life-and-Death-Problems" is mere artificial reading and vital point spotting practice.

"Opening Theory Made Easy" is very useful to remember some very basic approaches in the opening. Forget about Chinese or Kobayashi, here you will learn the basics, which you might have forgotten due to imitating Pro openings : D Definitely helps to have a clearer mind, when looking on the board.


So, I think all this together helps me playing a better game. At least when studying constantly so that ideas and moves become second nature and are still fresh in the mind. For instance, I have noticed, that when I actually find a Tesuji in my game, I will not forget it so easily. But, well, playing is very important so that you can use your new knowledge. If your head is full of theory, you end up with don't knowing where to go first because you lack the practical approach (my experience : D).

[kokomi]

Good luck!

So how's ur level now? 5k ?

[SoDesuNe]

Thank you!

On KGS I'm rock-solid 6k at the moment, but I should be able to make 5k quite easily, if I'd go for it.
Karaklis interfered a bit, because I lost to him as he was rated 10k - nasty sandbagger! =D But this is not much of a problem, as long as I'm satisfied with my play. After Thursday I have more time to play a few games, so maybe I will manage to rank up then.

[karaklis]

My play is very volatile, and so is my rank. Once I was called a sandbagger when I was able to beat a 6k, and on the other hand I have regular slumps down to 10k. So I am somewhere between 5k and 10k I guess, depending on my current mental/physical state...