Life In 19x19

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:51 am**

Thank you : )
Here are two more pictures from the sides.

Regarding the floor, my best guess would be: Birch ^^

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:01 am**

SoDesuNe wrote:I proudly present my new Goban : )

After editing this picture I figured that it does not really show much ^^ (Like the beautiful thickness) Anyways, you can have a look at the board at the Go Game Guru shop (http://shop.gogameguru.com/shin-kaya-go-board-24-c/). There you will also find my review.

In short: Great and the service is exemplary.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2013 5:06 am**

Thanks for the profile shots.

SoDesuNe wrote:Regarding the floor, my best guess would be: Birch ^^

Ah, it was already there before you arrived.

I highly recommend as an upgrade to your current ~8mm glass stones, these 10mm ING stones --
they are fantastic for the price, and match much better with your bowls and new board.

They feel great, they look great, they are weighted nicely, and for normal use, practically indestructible
(unlike glass stones which chip so easily on hard floors at coffee shops or bookstores).

I just wished it hadn't taken me 10 years to discover them -- I think they're much better
than even the US$100+ Japanese 10mm glass stones which they replaced (for the weekly Go evening
at Coffee Bean, and other non-home use -- but even for home use in your case, they're very nice.)

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:35 am**

Ah, yes I know the ING-stones : ) We have them (among other stones) at our Go club. They are quite nice and easy to handle but I don't really like the look of them. Of course glass isn't great either, my stones have a lot of dents "already" and a few are even badly chipped (might have something to do with the constant smashing on the board after I first learnt to hold the stones properly : D).
Then again, I plan to visit Japan next year, who knows, maybe there are some beautiful slate and shell stones to be found ^^ (Although I propably can't afford them with 10mm : D)

...on the other hand, now I am curious how the ING-stones will look on my new board. I will ask at the Go club if I can borrow them in exchange for my glass stones this week ^^

post scriptum: Actually ~10mm slate and shell stones at KGT aren't as expensive as I thought (standard or moon grade) : )

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:56 pm**

SoDesuNe wrote:They are quite nice and easy to handle but I don't really like the look of them.

That was my initial reaction to them, for the past 10 years! Because I had only seen them at AGA tourneys,
and all of them were old and used and

grey in color -- kind of icky --
but the new white stones are much whiter (kind of an off-white, a bit creamy), so much prettier!

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:32 am**

Code: Select all

Book                                                     First Run (correctly solved [%])                 Second Run
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 1     //     116 out of 123 problems [94%]      |      98 out of 123 problems [80%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 2     //     119 out of 123 problems [97%]      |     107 out of 123 problems [87%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 3     //      97 out of 123 problems [79%]      |      97 out of 123 problems [79%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 4     //     119 out of 123 problems [97%]      |     120 out of 123 problems [98%]      

Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 1    //     121 out of 123 problems [98%]      |     115 out of 123 problems [93%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 2    //     110 out of 123 problems [89%]      |     113 out of 123 problems [92%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 3    //     101 out of 123 problems [82%]      |     105 out of 123 problems [85%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 4    //      69 out of 123 problems [56%]      |      74 out of 123 problems [60%]   

Get Strong at the Opening                          //               n/a                      |     131 out of 175 problems [75%]
501 Opening Problems                               //               n/a                      |

Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 4 is now the first book which will be replaced in the next round. Replacement is - no surprise here - YCH's Tesuji Problems vol. 5.
Since the remaining three Tesuji books will most likely drop out after the next round, I plan to replace them with YCH's Tesuji Problems vol. 6 and Go/Segeo's Tesuji Dictionary vol. 1 and 2 (every problem category). YCH's Tsumego vol. 1 and 2 will most likely also drop out after next round, maybe even vol. 3. Here I will also take the fifth and sixth volume of the series and then 1000 Weiqi Problems.

Furthermore I will finish my second replaying of Shuei's games in volume three in the next days (right now I'm at game 17 of 19) and start the third and final run of volume four right after that.

I am bit inconsistent with my Joseki studies since I'm not really sure anymore how important that is (I've looked at the first 23 patterns - see this post). I can't say that I don't learn anything but it's hard to pinpoint exactly what I learn. I will continue for now because I want to read at least once about every Joseki I chose. I will decide later how to carry on.

Then I already decided to buy Final Summit from John Fairbairn after I finished (for the time being) with Shuei's games. I figured games between two of Shuei's admirers would fit perfectly and when one of them is Go Seigen, there is nothing what could go wrong : )

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:20 am**

Considering You already spent some time on this practice regime, do You noticed any improvement in your go?

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:46 pm**

Hm, it's hard to say. I consistently followed my study regime just a little over a month, so I don't expect wonders but I'm at least back at my old peak. Feeling-wise (as in making sense what happens on the board) I'm a lot stronger compared to my old peak but results have been inconclusive so far ; )

I'm definitely improving further but it's impossible to put a number on it - yet.

Posted: **Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:06 am**

Code: Select all

Book                                                     First Run (correctly solved [%])                 Second Run                                 Third Run
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 1     //     116 out of 123 problems [94%]      |      98 out of 123 problems [80%]      |     115 out of 123 problems [93%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 2     //     119 out of 123 problems [97%]      |     107 out of 123 problems [87%]      |     118 out of 123 problems [96%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 3     //      97 out of 123 problems [79%]      |      97 out of 123 problems [79%]      |
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tesuji Problems vol. 4     //     119 out of 123 problems [97%]      |     120 out of 123 problems [98%]      |

Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 1    //     121 out of 123 problems [98%]      |     115 out of 123 problems [93%]      |     120 out of 123 problems [98%]      
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 2    //     110 out of 123 problems [89%]      |     113 out of 123 problems [92%]      |     115 out of 123 problems [93%]
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 3    //     101 out of 123 problems [82%]      |     105 out of 123 problems [85%]      |
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Selected Tsumego Problems Vol. 4    //      69 out of 123 problems [56%]      |      74 out of 123 problems [60%]      |

Get Strong at the Opening                          //               n/a                      |     131 out of 175 problems [75%]      |     144 out of 175 problems [82%]      
501 Opening Problems                               //               n/a                      |     340 out of 501 problems [68%]      |

Finished my second run. Took a little bit longer than expected since I had a busy last week. I also did not find time to replay Shuei's games, so I'm still just at game 9 from the forth volume.

From my Komoku-Joseki studies I have two patterns left. Maybe I will go ever them today. But I decided not to pursue the Joseki studies after that, at least not by replaying them from dictionaries. I really don't see the point, right now. I found some videos on Youtube, which explain Josekis more useful in my eyes. They explain by showing why it is bad to not follow the Joseki move (thus showing what the Joseki move aims at) and often also show follow-ups, which are at least as important as the Joseki itself, in my opinion.

At the moment I find it more entertaining to not "play by the book", so I don't play any special opening and I always low approach a Komoku on the third move to neglect any Fuseki my opponent tries to play. My reasoning is to play a game where the basics (big points, urgent points, attacking and defending, counting and so on) count, not how much time one spent memorizing stuff.

So, here we go again:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Posted: **Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:28 pm**

SoDesuNe, congrats. Clearly, the next logical step, in addition to recording the correctly solved percentages,
is to use a stopwatch and record the times it took you (in minutes and seconds).
(Got the idea from Charles Matthew...? Or another UK 6d person?)

Posted: **Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:50 pm**

Thank you =)

Hm, do you mean in total per book or do you mean per problem? The latter is way too troublesome for me to keep track off ^^ In the end I think it will slow down everything.

To keep track of the time I need to complete one book is doable. The only obstacle is that I don't have fix times where I solve problems. I mostly do chunks of five to twenty problems (depending on the difficulty) somewhere inbetween other things but to keep an eye on the time should be possible. Maybe I will finally establish at least one hour per day for problem solving (my dream would be two session of one hour each), then it will be easier but I'm so used to do this irregulary, I have the feeling I will miss my fix =D

The other thing is, now after solving all the books the second time I will most likely don't have anything to compare the times to when certain books drop out of the cycle after this run. Maybe it will be better to start this with new books like YCH Tesuji vol. 5

Then again, I already don't spend a lot of time on one problem (no more than 5 min, I think) because I don't believe in brute-forcing to become stronger and because it bores me otherwise. I think speed should not be a factor right now since I believe this will come naturally after solving a lot of problems and internalizing the shapes and vital points. To really are able to solve a problem is - right now - number one priority ^^

But well, couldn't harm to try it at least when I'm solving YCH Tesuji vol. 5, I guess =)

Posted: **Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:41 pm**

In whatever divisions that you find convenient.
For example, if it takes me more than 10 minutes on a problem,
then it's not very useful to time, say, 20 such problems in a row.

But for me it may be useful if I start out with 50 minutes on 30 problems,
and later, after some effort, to cut it down to 30 minutes -- I'd feel nice about that.

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:55 am**

Okay, I'll see how it goes with YCH Tesuji vol. 5 : )

Since I now replay volume four of Shuei's games for the third time, I naturally came across certain games, which I like "more" than others. Mostly there is something almost magically (as in educational but too high for me to apply, so all I can do is drool in amazement) in them, which lets me grasp a tiny spark of Shuei's true strength...

The first game I came across and which still amazes me is this one against Osawa Ginjiro 5-dan. After 30 moves, Shuei (White) has two weak-ish groups, whereas Black already has secured two corners. After another 30 moves, Shuei has only one weak-ish group (although considerable stronger than before), an emerging Moyo in the bottom right, cut of some stones from Black to get the initiative, whereas Black still has only the two secured corners from before. After 100 moves, Fairbairn writes "White has more or less already erased the advantage of Black's handicap".
Talk about making a comeback : )

Posted: **Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:10 am**

I finished replaying The Games of Honinbo Shuei vol. 4 for the third time now and will start my final round of replaying vol. 3 shortly.

Here is one more game I really like from the fourth volume. Many interesting Tesujis with sacrifices and light play (especially the squeeze on the left and the play on the bottom and bottom right). Also very educational how Shuei treats his forcing moves at the top. Sadly he lost.

Posted: **Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:51 pm**

Since I visit the forum quite often on my smarthphone I saw that my code-thingy here was completely unreadable on lower resolution. So I made this shorter version.

Code: Select all

Book               1. Run (correctly solved [%])      2. Run                     3. Run
YCH Tesuji 1     //     116 / 123 [94%]      |      98 / 123 [80%]      |     115 / 123 [93%]
YCH Tesuji 2     //     119 / 123 [97%]      |     107 / 123 [87%]      |     118 / 123 [96%]
YCH Tesuji 3     //      97 / 123 [79%]      |      97 / 123 [79%]      |     107 / 123 [87%]
YCH Tesuji 4     //     119 / 123 [97%]      |     120 / 123 [98%]      |     - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 5     //      75 / 123 [61%]      |

YCH Tsumego 1    //     121 / 123 [98%]      |     115 / 123 [93%]      |     120 / 123 [98%]      
YCH Tsumego 2    //     110 / 123 [89%]      |     113 / 123 [92%]      |     115 / 123 [93%]
YCH Tsumego 3    //     101 / 123 [82%]      |     105 / 123 [85%]      |     114 / 123 [93%]
YCH Tsumego 4    //      69 / 123 [56%]      |      74 / 123 [60%]      |      92 / 123 [75%]      

GS Opening       //        n/a               |     131 / 175 [75%]      |     144 / 175 [82%]      
501 Opening      //        n/a               |     340 / 501 [68%]      |

Furthermore here is one more game - this time from Games of Shuei vol. 3 - which I find particulary interesting. Coincidentally it is also one, which is regarded as Shuei's masterpiece.
I especially like White's light play in the Fuseki and later on how he he handled the group on the right. That he gave up the top to build his center was also remarkable, I wouldn't dare to give this points away but then again the commentary hints at quite some Aji in White's right side group, which I don't see.

Life In 19x19

SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

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Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan