In my latest attempt to break my several-year barrier, I decided to concentrate mainly on mentally solving simple tsumego, along with reading elementary textbooks with help of board and stones.
I wonder if the reason that we are frequently advised to solve easy tsumego is similar to the rationale behind the typical GM's advice to chess amateurs to study endgames. That is to say, I surmise that studying the fundamental patterns repeatedly may give one a better understanding of how go works.
$$c Example Problem (Number 127 in Tasuki's collection) $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . O . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | X X . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | O X . X O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . $$ | O O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[go]$$c Example Problem (Number 127 in Tasuki's collection) $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . O 3 X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | 4 b 2 X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | X X . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | O X 1 X O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | O O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]
And Black is defeated because of he cannot play at b, while White can do, making a farmer's hat.
I am not convinced that the answer is a thousand-year ko, and I will doubtless come back to this problem, but I feel I have learned quite a lot about the potential shapes that lurk beneath even a fairly simple-looking situation, and that is surely the real benefit. It is not so much about visualisation (and I have a near-photographic memory, such that I can easily see a position in my head after a glance), but about grasping and working with relationships.
Anyway, I thought I would share this. My dream one day is to be able to say "Yes, I am several stones stronger" and then "this is how I did it", so that you can do the same; but in the meantime, you'll have to be content with speculation and entertainment.
Addendum
While I think of it, I notice that I use very simple exercises both in my own practice and when I am teaching singing. I find it invaluable for building up the technique that enables one to tackle difficult music. Make of that what you will.
Last edited by Tami on Wed Mar 18, 2015 5:06 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:
You need to proof read. You missed all the [/go] tags.
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).
[go]$$B $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . O . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | 3 . 2 X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | X X . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | O X 1 X O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . $$ | O O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]
Yes, you're quite right. In fact I did see this variation in my attempts, but misjudged the status at first. ---- And that only goes to show the great value in doing these things!
Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:
If I'm unsure about my reading, what I do is follow these steps:
1.Assess the area of relevance to the tsumego in question. Always cast this net slightly too wide! 2.Build a tree of every move possible within the area of relevance. (use something like cgoban if your memory isn't good enough to hold the entire tree) 3.Assess every single node of that tree. 4.??? 5.Profit!
It's a bit dull, but I've been able to solve and understand problems which make no sense at all otherwise.
You'll come across lots of stuff which otherwise makes no sense at all to you this way. It's not the gentle, easy road though. It might just bore you to tears.
There is a technique called "1-2-3 reading" in the AYD.
Instead of randomly trying variations, the idea is: 1. Try the simplest way first (eg. from the outside). 2. If it works, great. If not, what was the opponent's refutation? 3. Try playing the place your opponent refuted first!
It doesn't work all the time, but it's a little more directed than random attempts.
So after your thorough analysis, the last diagram you posted was:
$$c Example Problem (Number 127 in Tasuki's collection) $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . O 3 X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | 4 b 2 X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | X X . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | O X 1 X O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | O O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
There is tsumego and there are real games. Correct play may differ.
Tsumego:
Living > ko > dying. So this is the answer.
$$B Seki $$ --------------- $$ | . O . X O . . $$ | 3 . 2 X O . . $$ | X X . X O . . $$ | O X 1 X O . . $$ | O O O O O . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . .
[go]$$B Seki $$ --------------- $$ | . O . X O . . $$ | 3 . 2 X O . . $$ | X X . X O . . $$ | O X 1 X O . . $$ | O O O O O . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . .[/go]
As Sennahoj pointed out.
Real game:
Tenuki is an option. The local temperature often drops before the end of tsumego play.
Sente and gote matter.
Kos may be better than seki or not. Ko threats matter.
(;GM[1]ST[2]SZ[19]AP[GOWrite:2.3.46]FF[4]CA[ISO8859-1]FG[259:]GN[ ]PW[ ]AW[ba][ad][ae][be][ce][de][ee][ed][ec][eb][ea]PM[2]AB[ac][bc][bd][da][db][dc][dd]C[*** Here are some plausible variations in a real game.]PB[ ] ( ;W[cd]C[*** White kills. This is a large endgame play.] ) ( ;B[cd]C[*** This lives, but. . . .] ( ;B[cb]C[*** This makes two eyes for a local score of 7. A medium endgame play.] ) ( ;W[bb] ;B[cb] ;W[ab]C[*** White makes seki in gote if Black can win the ko.] )
( ;W[cb] ( ;B[ab]C[*** Seki. Black will often choose this option when White can win the ko, but will often choose the other variation, as well.] ) ( ;B[bb] ( ;W[ab]C[*** This is a ko, but it is an approach ko. White must play an extra move in order to capture Black. So even if White can win the ko Black may choose this variation.] ) ( ;W[ca]C[*** When neither player can win the ko outright, without giving up points to do so, Black will often choose this sequence over taking gote to make seki. White will often choose it when he cannot win the ko outright instead of making the approach ko.] )
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The Adkins Principle: At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins
Bill Spight wrote:There is tsumego and there are real games. Correct play may differ.
Tsumego:
Living > ko > dying. So this is the answer.
$$B Seki $$ --------------- $$ | . O . X O . . $$ | 3 . 2 X O . . $$ | X X . X O . . $$ | O X 1 X O . . $$ | O O O O O . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . .
[go]$$B Seki $$ --------------- $$ | . O . X O . . $$ | 3 . 2 X O . . $$ | X X . X O . . $$ | O X 1 X O . . $$ | O O O O O . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . .[/go]
As Sennahoj pointed out.
Real game:
Tenuki is an option. The local temperature often drops before the end of tsumego play.
Sente and gote matter.
Kos may be better than seki or not. Ko threats matter.
(;GM[1]ST[2]SZ[19]AP[GOWrite:2.3.46]FF[4]CA[ISO8859-1]FG[259:]GN[ ]PW[ ]AW[ba][ad][ae][be][ce][de][ee][ed][ec][eb][ea]PM[2]AB[ac][bc][bd][da][db][dc][dd]C[*** Here are some plausible variations in a real game.]PB[ ] ( ;W[cd]C[*** White kills. This is a large endgame play.] ) ( ;B[cd]C[*** This lives, but. . . .] ( ;B[cb]C[*** This makes two eyes for a local score of 7. A medium endgame play.] ) ( ;W[bb] ;B[cb] ;W[ab]C[*** White makes seki in gote if Black can win the ko.] )
( ;W[cb] ( ;B[ab]C[*** Seki. Black will often choose this option when White can win the ko, but will often choose the other variation, as well.] ) ( ;B[bb] ( ;W[ab]C[*** This is a ko, but it is an approach ko. White must play an extra move in order to capture Black. So even if White can win the ko Black may choose this variation.] ) ( ;W[ca]C[*** When neither player can win the ko outright, without giving up points to do so, Black will often choose this sequence over taking gote to make seki. White will often choose it when he cannot win the ko outright instead of making the approach ko.] )
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That was brilliant, Bill. Many thanks.
It has been very interesting to see both the mistakes that I made (thank you to all who pointed out things I got wrong) and the many possibilities that exist in this elementary exercise, and to see how they may be treated in the context of a real game. There is so much about go to be learned from such tsumego, in just the same way that chess endgame studies teach players the essence of handling pieces correctly.
Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:
almost works, but when white plays 
, it messes everything up. 1-2-3 reading! Try playing 