Life In 19x19

Playing 3-4 games per week now. Following SoDesuNe's guide and reading "In the Beginning" and "Opening Theory Made Easy" parallely, along with re-solving GGPB Vol. I. Also got this :

Mage wrote:Also got this:

Meijinsen.JPG

Mage, congrats. Could you kindly write a review on the Meijinsen, as you use it after some period of time?
The pros and cons of it, from your experience. Thanks.
That looks like a nice table, too. From your photo, I suddenly realized
the narrow footprint, no doubt a very desirable feature in real-estate conscious Japan.
(Also very useful in coffee shops and big tourneys!)

EdLee wrote:Could you kindly write a review on the Meijinsen, as you use it after some period of time?
The pros and cons of it, from your experience. Thanks.

I will certainly do that Ed. I have also uploaded a scanned PDF copy of the quick start guide in the old clocks topic.

EdLee wrote:That looks like a nice table, too. From your photo, I suddenly realized
the narrow footprint, no doubt a very desirable feature in real-estate conscious Japan.
(Also very useful in coffee shops and big tourneys!)

The table is from IKEA I usually sit on the floor with a yoga mat though, while playing; seiza is not very comfortable for me, but the lotus position is comfortable for long durations...

Once I lose my 100 games and my reading improves , I want to try your method of playing out online games concurrently on the board. Currently it's very distracting and self-defeating for me.

Mage wrote:Once I lose my 100 games and my reading improves , I want to try your method of playing out
online games concurrently on the board. Currently it's very distracting and self-defeating for me.

Mage, thanks. Yea, finish your 100 games first. Later, you can enjoy the real set even for online games.

I was told once that 1 game reviewed is worth 2 or more played. Try an learn from every game. Naturally this would slow down a pace of back-to-back games but it's more important to step back and understand why you won or lost and what you or your opponent could have done better, even introspectively.

leonprimrose wrote:I was told once that 1 game reviewed is worth 2 or more played. Try an learn from every game. Naturally this would slow down a pace of back-to-back games but it's more important to step back and understand why you won or lost and what you or your opponent could have done better, even introspectively.

Another good reason for reviews is it lets you calm back down. Some games can alter your mindset in the next game if you just gg, and hit automatch immediatly.
For example, if you played someone who wouldn't protect their groups and the board collapsed into fighting everywhere, and you lost. You can feel cheated, he should have died.
Then if the next opponent is playing very solidly, you might still be in a bloodthirsty mood(especially if your on tilt) and make overplays that get your groups killed.
Taking the time out to review can return you to a balanced state for your next game. (Maybe)

Mage wrote:1. Should I aim to maximize the number of games I play a week (maybe ~6-7 in my case, given other time constraints) or would it be more advantageous to just play a few "good" games (around 4 per week let's say), with peak concentration, sufficient time for thinking (~ 30secs-1min per move say), and subsequent review (oneself and/or a stronger player)?

You should play time controls that leave you enough time that you are able to actually put thought into your moves, otherwise you are just playing by instinct and it is hard to learn if you are not thinking about your moves.

I would recommend that if you really want to learn, you should review your games and try to understand what was good and what was bad and why you won or lost. It is extremely good if you can get a stronger player to review the game with you and offer comments.