Ian Butler wrote:Just started GGPB 3. I've tried it months ago but I wasn't ready then. Now I started out with 12/12 with max a minute per problem. Very happy about this! Even my sense of tesuji seems to be improving
40/42 so far, on a roll!
Though partly because I've done them once before, even if it's months ago. I have a pretty decent memory. Still, 40/42 ain't bad!
Ian Butler wrote:Just started GGPB 3. I've tried it months ago but I wasn't ready then. Now I started out with 12/12 with max a minute per problem. Very happy about this! Even my sense of tesuji seems to be improving
40/42 so far, on a roll!
Though partly because I've done them once before, even if it's months ago. I have a pretty decent memory. Still, 40/42 ain't bad!
50/100 is even better.
At least, the first time around.
The Adkins Principle: At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins
Ian Butler wrote:40/42 so far,Still, 40/42 ain't bad!
50/100 is even better.
Let's all hope he gets 10 right out of his next 58, then everyone will be happy.
I'll go for that!
Meanwhile, I've been using Igowin to sharpen my fighting and also my L&D.
For this match, I wanted to try and create 3 seperate living groups on a 9x9 board. A tough challenge for my L&D skills.
It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to go. But it made a very entertaining game, so I'll share it here
And let's also include this one. I did a nice L&D in the lower left corner for myself there. And it turned into a 1-point match (Igowin doesn't use komi)
(Just to be clear, I don't try to play my best Go in these games. I try out new things here and do L&D and say: can I invade that area and live or ...? So no need to criticise the direction of play or general tactics, these are games to sharpen specific skills)
Once in a while when you take a step back, you can see the long way from where you come. Playing Go, you always end up playing people in similar strength (obviously not always, but usually). So you don't "seem" to improve, because you keep losing about half your games.
But then you can step back and see how much you've grown in just a few months studying Go. And it feels pretty good.
Still studying hard and still extremely motivated after re-discovering Go earlier this year in January. From then, I've steadily progressed from 20 kyu to 12-13 kyu. The progress (concerning ranks) is going slower, but I feel I'm still growing every day (figure of speech). In those few months my memory, concentration, visualisation skills, focus and even creativity have all improved. I've met new people, played wonderful games, dominated games and got totally destroyed. I've read book after book, started my own go-club, started teaching in my class at school and here at the Go club.
So in short. It's been a great journey and I look forward to continuing it!
PS. A friend of mine wanted to buy a magnetic Go-board to practise, so I ordered some books along. Those are:
- Get strong at the Endgame
- Jump Level Up 1-5 (for later)
- The Power of the Star Point, he Sanren-sei Opening.
- Go as Communication
Trying to keep the weekdays for tsumego (Level Up, GGGuru problems) and reading (Attack & Defense, Tesuji...), while my weekend (and Wednesdays) are the days to play games. Either online or irl. I play some games during the week, too, but your concentration on a Saturday noon or a Monday evening after a work day is quite different
I've gotten into the good habit of reviewing every single game I play, and after every game I also feel the need too. So it's really become a 2nd nature for me. It wouldn't feel right to just go off and play another one, or just forget about it. And often I keep thinking about it at night before I go to sleep, too.
So this weekend I played a few games.
- One game which went fairly well, I used influence quite well and that's always a success for DDK. My opponent ran out of time with the game still fairly even.
- Another game was against a sandbagger (my sensei thinks he's probably a dan player), but I actually played okay-ish. I lost, but I didn't make too many technical errors, my strategic decisions were okay. I just wasn't forceful enough in the end. But still a good quality game.
- And the last game, I just played it, didn't go so well. Against an 8 kyu. I came into a weird opening, handled it completely wrong, gave my opponent exactly what he wanted, made a failed invasion, lost a fight and went on to lose by a large margin.
Luckily we still have many things to learn from
I'm still on the road to becoming a better player, though, and my motivation/focus/determination is iron strong at the moment
I think at this point the one thing you have to do to achieve SDK level is to decide that you are SDK level. I bet if you created a new account at 9k you'd win half your games.
dfan wrote:I think at this point the one thing you have to do to achieve SDK level is to decide that you are SDK level. I bet if you created a new account at 9k you'd win half your games.
Thanks, dfan. Perhaps that's true let's just see where the natural development takes us. Today I managed to beat a 10 kyu player, though I thought I was behind during the endgame, so I definitely need to work on my counting.
I'll post the game here, because it also marks a nice 4th consecutive victory on OGS against an 11 kyu, a 10 kyu, an 8 kyu and another 10 kyu.
Meaning my rank is being bumped up to almost 10 kyu as well. Edit: after another game, 9.9 kyu!
The main thing is that I'm solidifying my playing level and I'm still making headway. On the other hand, I might just as easily lose the next 4 games against 11, 10, 8 and 10 kyu, so let's not jump the gun
I've only been like a little over 2 weeks with my Sensei, and already it's had an amazing effect. Biggest advantages a sensei has to offer are:
- Game reviews, adapted to your needs.
- Tips (on what to study next), adapted to your needs.
- A good opponent to play against
- A gentle pressure to keep growing (even if your sensei doesn't expect/stress it, it's human not to want to let him down, instead to do well!)
In the last game an interesting position occurs at 209. After the exchange of 1 for 2 below (207 and 208 in the game), White is short of liberties so Black can play the hane at 3. If White cuts at 4, there is no answer to Black 7. White has to answer 3 with "a" but Black can break in with 5 (after playing the ataris at 8 and "b" in sente of course ).
$$Bcm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | O . . . . . . . X X O X X . O X O . . |
$$ | . O X . X . . X X O O O X O O X O O X |
$$ | O X . X O O X X O O O O . O X X O . . |
$$ | O X X X X X O X X X X O O X . X O . O |
$$ | O X X O X O O . . O O O X X . X X O . |
$$ | O O O O O . . O O O X X . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . 6 O X X X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . a 3 4 X . . O . . . . . . X X |
$$ | . O O 9 7 O X X . , . . . . X X X X O |
$$ | . O X O 8 O O X . . . . . . X O O O O |
$$ | X X X O b 1 X X . . . . . X O . O . . |
$$ | O . X O 2 O O X O . . X . X O . O . . |
$$ | O X X X X X O O X X . . X O X O X . . |
$$ | O . . X X O X X O . . . X O . O O . . |
$$ | X X X O . O O X . , . . X O . O . . . |
$$ | . X O O . O . X X . . X O O . . . . . |
$$ | X O O . . . O X O X . X X X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O O O X . . X O . O . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
[go]$$Bcm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | O . . . . . . . X X O X X . O X O . . |
$$ | . O X . X . . X X O O O X O O X O O X |
$$ | O X . X O O X X O O O O . O X X O . . |
$$ | O X X X X X O X X X X O O X . X O . O |
$$ | O X X O X O O . . O O O X X . X X O . |
$$ | O O O O O . . O O O X X . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . 6 O X X X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . a 3 4 X . . O . . . . . . X X |
$$ | . O O 9 7 O X X . , . . . . X X X X O |
$$ | . O X O 8 O O X . . . . . . X O O O O |
$$ | X X X O b 1 X X . . . . . X O . O . . |
$$ | O . X O 2 O O X O . . X . X O . O . . |
$$ | O X X X X X O O X X . . X O X O X . . |
$$ | O . . X X O X X O . . . X O . O O . . |
$$ | X X X O . O O X . , . . X O . O . . . |
$$ | . X O O . O . X X . . X O O . . . . . |
$$ | X O O . . . O X O X . X X X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O O O X . . X O . O . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21
Was able to go to the local Go club again and had a chance of playing a 10 kyu, a 5-6 kyu and a 2 dan.
I won against the 10 kyu, mainly because of a nice L&D, I killed a corner. (won by resignation)
I lost against the 5-6 kyu with 3 handicap stones because of a reading error. His 2 weak groups linked up and that was that. If I had paid more attention, the game was very much in my favor up to that point.
I lost against the 2 dan, but oddly at the end of the middle game I was 4 points ahead (most of the endgame in his favor, though, so in the end still a +20 point gap). I built a big central moyo and attacked a group of him right in the middle of it. It lived, but still I was up. I lost the game in the endgame with some stones getting caught (reading) and general endgame moves (he had sente a long time, I had to endure. 4 points are easily lost)
It was a great experience and I hope I can go more often in the near future.
April summary in spoiler, from a month ago (obviously)
April Summary
Another month has passed and it's time to see where I stand right now, and what I've done in April to improve my Go playing.
1. Games
I played many games this month. A rough estimate puts me at 25-30 games on a 19x19 against human opponents, an additional 10-15 games against Leela and about 100 games against Igowin on 9x9.
Most of my games ended up being reviewed by myself, members on the site, or my opponent. I like to think I've learned something from each game.
2. Tsumego
Finally found a way to do tsumego, although I'm not sure it's sufficient and I might have to step up my game here. I finished Level Up 6, 7 and 8. I've done GGPB 2 and am currently re-reading it because there's still many mistakes I made.
3. Books
I've read other books but I've spend less time on it then the first few months. I re-read Lessons in Fundamentals, selectively re-read Attack and Defense, and am currently browsing through "All about Thickness" again.
4. Rank/Strength?
In a month's time, my rank on OGS has gone up from 14.4 kyu to about 13 kyu. Noticeable is that the real fast progression is over for now, I believe. I like to think I gained a lot of strength in the past few months, but now it's going much more steadily, but that is only logical, of course. To be honest I'm already very happy to be at the 13-14 kyu level at this point, so I don't want to rush my development.
Things'll go much slower from here on in, and I'll need to put in a lot more work to increase a stone compared to before. Hopefully that won't diminish the motivation.
5. Highlights
My live games with knotwilg. Having found such a strong player nearby, willing to play me every once in a while, has been amazing for my go-playing, I think. The games we played count among me favorite, if only for the circumstances, being able to play a strong player on a real board, both using time to play, reviewing the game afterwards. Beats online go playing any day of the week.
6. Lowest Point
I wish I could tell you studying Go is always a lot of fun but it's actually not. I have to admit that at some points, I find myself wondering: "why am I doing all this?" I got into a losing streak for a while and if you're then reading a Go-book in the evening and you see someone doing some online gaming with friends and having a lot of fun I asked myself "Is this really worth it? Did I stop gaming for this?"
Waking up the next day, I always find myself with the answer "Yes. It's worth it".
But the question returns every once in a while
For now, I can't start letting my go-studying become something half-half. My efforts have already decreased a bit because I picked up my music again after a long break, so I need to be focused and aware that I keep spending at least 2 hours a day on my Go. I think that's an acceptable amount of time for the time being.
On the other hand, I have to be careful not to let Go take over my life, which I am prone to do at times. Going for a walk with good friends, or playing music with my band, or visiting my little niece, are things you should never pass up on, not even for playing Go
7. Trap!
One thing to learn from April that I've come to realize is that I can't fall into one particular trap: expectations.
It's true that I've progressed relatively quickly the first few months (I think so) and some people have also noted that and told me. Others carry it even further and perhaps expect me (or I think they do) to keep that progression rate going.
I have to be very careful about that and push all that aside. Remember that progression will come naturally but also that you probably don't keep improving (unless you keep spending hours and hours a day, which is unlikely in the long term), so who knows, maybe I'll become a strong player. It can be relatively fast, it can take years. Maybe I'll never be a very strong player (what's strong anyway?), maybe I'll hit a "permanent" rank somewhere.
Either way, I'll have to take it as it comes
8. May
One last item: what's in store for the month to come?
I am a pro at planning things and then doing something else, so I'll keep it limited and set some realistic goals.
- Keep playing games using a real board (even online) and reviewing these games.
- Keep up my Level Up & GGPB and also do some other tsumego from time to time, pick up the pace.
- Browse through a Go book at least every two days (be it A&D, Opening Theory Made Easy, Art of Settling Stones...)
- Play 100 games against Igowin to improve my L&D and close contact fighting
- Don't play a Go game if I'm not in the right mood (important!)
May Summary
May was an interesting month, to say the least.
1. Games
I played about +20 serious games, and reviewed them. I think that's a healthy number. 1/day would be even better, but not practical at the moment. 20/month seems good for now.
I won a lot of games, too, this month. Only a few games left a bad aftertaste. I'd say 2-3 games this month. I'm not saying I wasn't always disappointed by losing, but 2-3 left a real bad aftertaste
2. Sensei
Biggest change in May was probably that I got hold of a wonderful Sensei who's already helped a lot in this short time! I hope to work together a long time and see where that brings me! The main thing that helped me was that he focused my Go training more. Of course, playing live games, reviewing... are all very helpful, too.
3. Books
Reading less and less Go books and trying to play more and do Go problems. I started Get Strong at the Endgame but the problems in there were too tough for me and I put it away again for now.
4. Level Up!
Finished Level Up 9, 10 and Review 2. Now I'm doing Jump Level Up.
5. Rank/Strength
Definitely another increase this month. OGS took me from 13 kyu to 10-11 kyu. I think I'm hovering over the DDK-SDK barrier at the moment. Hopefully I can cross it in the coming month!
5. June
What is my plan for the next month? I'm going to try to set up a study rhythm that goes something like this:
Daily:
- +10 problems from 1001 L&D
- 1 chapter from Survey of Basic Tesuji OR 1 lesson in Jump Level Up
Weekly:
- Play 3 serious games & review
- 20 problems from neural net go problems (middle game/dir of play problems)
Not a strict regimen, but rather a guide to get me through June. Let's see if I can follow it.
6. Other thoughts...
Some other (loose) thoughts I've been having:
- My "weakness" in L&D and it becoming more and more important in games is actually motivating me to study it more and more. It's come so far that now I'm actually rather motivated to become a L&D expert! So I'm definitely increasing my L&D studies in the future!
- My fighting is probably my weakest skill at the moment. I might set up a fighting account on an online go server, to train that specifically. Other ways to help this is to perhaps study the games of Lee Sedol, for inspiration and his notion of what constitutes a weak group aka an attackable group.
- My ambition is going through the roof. While realistically I'm patient and I have the "let's see where it ends" attitude, I also have some wild ambitions, which may or may not be achieved. Basically, I just want to keep playing as long as it's fun and if I ever plateau or quit and it's fine by me, than that's okay too. But that's boring. Here is the unrealistic and highly ambitious (and slightly arrogant) side of my talking next: Secretely I'm hoping that I can make 1dan (EGF/OGS) in a year, give or take. More than that, I want to one day play even with my current Sensei (3 dan). More than that, I want to surpass my Sensei (that's the arrogance right there!). Is it possible? Perhaps. But that's what I'm aiming at right now!
The only "worry" I have with that is age. Starting at 25 may see me reach my limit sooner than had I started earlier. On the other hand, I've always been passionate about 'thniking' in general so my brains are "trained" even if not with Go things.
I'll go for that!
