Life In 19x19

Thunkd wrote:

jts wrote:Don't be afraid to play more slowly.

I've heard a lot of people give the advice to new players to play a lot of games and play them quickly. As a beginner, is it that more important, or do you still think I should play more slowly?

There's more than one way to look at that advice.

There is the proverb to "Lose your first 100 games quickly" (or something like that). One could say that it means to 1) play quickly, or it could mean to 2) get your initial losses (and learning) out of the way as soon as you can so you can move on toward your real learning

Typically, many beginners play far too slowly, agonizing over each move for 5 minutes or more at a time with absolutely no idea why they might choose one move over another. For these players, the advice is to play quicker. If they don't know why they would choose one move over another anyway, then they might as well just throw it down and see what happens. Then by playing quicker, you might begin to see the flow of the game, and realize your mistakes sooner so you can correct them sooner.

But some play too fast, mere seconds per move, and no thought whatsoever as to the consequences of their moves. For these players, we try to recommend to slow down and at least consider the possible consequences of a few alternate plays.

Find the balance. Think about your moves (and the followups) before you play them.