Life In 19x19

Ahh okay. I'm back. So i hit another losing streak after snapping out of the initial funk. This compounded with other personal stuff and i decided to take a 1.5 week long break from baduk.

Taking the time off was good. I think I rushed back to it a little bit on my previous losing streak... but now i feel good. I don't feel antsy to play ranked games anymore. I don't feel like I'm gonna lose when heading into a game. In losses I don't get that discouraged anymore. I am mad that I lost but, its enough to fuel me to think - "what can i do to beat this guy next time". Now I'm riding a 8 game winning streak (4 ranked), where I genuinely feel like I outplayed most of my opponents 6k opponents in my games.

But the most important realization I had is - I'm just going to really try not to care about my rank and win/losses anymore. I'll set my goals and just work to get to them.

My next shortterm goal is of course, to break 6k. Looking back, I well exceeded my goal of reaching stable 8-7k by the end of the summer. My next midrange goal will be to hit 3k by Christmas.

I'll attach some of my games later with comments - Until then, happy baduk-ing everyone

Here is a win and a loss. The loss especially left a sour taste in my mouth as i felt that i had thoroughly outplayed my opponent throughout the match. I need to stop making 15k mistakes, particularly in the endgame.

The Loss


The Win



For studying theory, I am trying to study a bit more diligently - Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go, Fundamental Principles of Go, and A&D for reference texts.

For problems, I am still recycling 1001 L&D, GSATesuji, GGPB Vol. 4, and LCH L&D Vol. 2&3. I'm starting to almost memorize the answers to some of these problems... but I still have oopsie moments in my reading ingame, which I am trying hard to get rid of.

Both of these games are very well reviewed by yourself. You get the major points where things went wrong or opportunities were missed.

In terms of play, I notice an improved building and usage of thickness. You also resist very well (like breaking through at the end of the won game).

About the key point in the lost game, how to avoid making beginner mistakes? By continuously paying attention to fundamentals, like liberties. When liberties become scarce, typically when the board fills up but also when a battle reaches the edge of the board, or a close by group, try to be extra vigilant for shortage of liberties and "tesuji" that may exploit them. In this case it was simply the weakness of a diagonal connection (straight connections are better than diagonals, another fundamental).

You're not far from fixing that, with such good self reviews.

Officially 6kyu!!! It finally feels like I broke through a wall. Hopefully ill stay long enough not to get demoted

Attached are 3 of my most recent games, 1 loss, 2 wins - including my promotion game!



First, The Loss


Second, A Win


Thirdly, The Promotion Game!



I noticed two things.

First, I really need to stop making dumb mistakes. If I made 3 less stupid moves a game (worth about -10 points each), I think I'd easily be 2 stones higher. As the margin of error gets tighter and tighter as I progress through the ranks, this is vital.

Secondly, Simply put - I need to read deeper. Much deeper.

I've just caught up reading your journal from the beginning, and have quite enjoyed seeing your enthusiasm and rapid improvement. Congrats and keep up the good work!

But I wanted to mention an attitude I see that if you can modify, I think it'll help you improve even faster (and others have mentioned already as well)

hl782 wrote:Another pretty slow day in terms of improvement! 1 wins and 4 losses!

Losses do not mean you are not improving!

Winning is great. And makes improvement measurable. But if you think about it, its entirely possible to lose every game yet still improve (its a very extreme viewpoint, and in practice, not really accurate -- yet indeed, still theoretically possible).

Suppose, for example, all your opponents are also improving at the same rate you are improving, and you continue to lose every game against them. You are not getting worse. You are still improving, as they are. Only you don't yet have the win-loss record to show for it.

Learn to be grateful for your losses, as much as your wins, because you do indeed have much to learn from them.

"Improvement" is an ambiguous term.

1. On one hand, improvement can mean added knowledge or ability toward any particular aspect of the game. An example of this might be learning how to calculate endgame values. If you never studied endgame, and then learn how to calculate the values of endgame moves, it's "improvement".

2. On the other hand, improvement can mean an increased ability to win games. Since Go is a zero-sum game, I think this is a valid interpretation. Many factors contribute to win/loss: endgame performance, middle game performance, the opening, psychological factors, the strength of your opponent, and many more.

If you study and learn new things, you're probably going to improve from the standpoint of #1. But if you lose all of your games, you are not improving in the sense of having an increased ability to win games. #1 is easier to control than #2 since #2 has many external factors that may not be easy to control.

You might argue that by improving by means of #1, you will eventually aid in improving by means of #2 (i.e. increasing your win rate). But practically speaking, you are not improving at winning games if you are not winning games

Kirby wrote: But if you lose all of your games, you are not improving in the sense of having an increased ability to win games.

But this is simply not true, if your opponents are also improving at the same rate or faster than you. You still have increased your ability to win games, just not against that small sampling of opponents.

xed_over wrote:

Kirby wrote: But if you lose all of your games, you are not improving in the sense of having an increased ability to win games.

But this is simply not true, if your opponents are also improving at the same rate or faster than you. You still have increased your ability to win games, just not against that small sampling of opponents.

For a small sample it may not be true, but as the sample size increases, it becomes a true statement. If you play against the entire population of Go players and don't win since they're getting stronger, you aren't increasing your ability to win against that population.

For that matter, even if you play the same small group of people, if you keep losing, you aren't increasing your ability to win against that group of people.

Unless you are hopeless or careless, it is almost impossible to play a game during your first year of play without learning something, in the sense of improving your ability to win games. Up to 7 kyu, I don't think I won more than a game or two.

One point is that when you play (unless you are hopeless or careless) you form subgoals and meet them or not. If you improve in setting or meeting a subgoal, you have improved, even if you do not win the game.

Bill Spight wrote:Unless you are hopeless or careless, it is almost impossible to play a game during your first year of play without learning something, in the sense of improving your ability to win games. Up to 7 kyu, I don't think I won more than a game or two.

One point is that when you play (unless you are hopeless or careless) you form subgoals and meet them or not. If you improve in setting or meeting a subgoal, you have improved, even if you do not win the game.

Regarding not winning as a beginner, I'd say that it's due to the opponents. If you always play a 5k and keep losing, you are not improving at winning against that 5k until you have won against the 5k.

But you might be improving at winning against, say 20k players.

I think the distinction is useful, because it handles the case where someone is 5k for 20 years. They are not improving at winning games, because their win/loss ratio is the same against similarly ranked players.

That 20-year-long 5k might be improving in terms of knowledge, or maybe they have more experience and depth in what they know about the game. But they are not getting better at winning.

Here's three more games, against 5ks now! I'm also going to start playing against more opponents of my rank, and lower rank (albeit on free games), to familiarize myself with playing as white. Now if anyone has some other suggestions for the opening as black, I'd greatly appreciate it. The Low Chinese is starting to boring as hell.

First, the loss. My first ever game against a 5k. Really should have won this one.


Next, two wins. 1 was a fairly easy victory - The other had some tough fighting, and a couple strokes of luck involved.




Also Kirby, i think the distinction you make is very interesting - and most likely true. But I have a question - If the 20year 5k learns more into depth.. are they really improving? If they did wouldn't they become higher than 5k?

xed_over wrote:I've just caught up reading your journal from the beginning, and have quite enjoyed seeing your enthusiasm and rapid improvement. Congrats and keep up the good work!
...
Learn to be grateful for your losses, as much as your wins, because you do indeed have much to learn from them.

And lastly, thank you xed_over! I really appreciate your comments! And yes, I am trying my best to become more accepting of losses! I'm trying to just neglect results/rank and try to focus on improving. If i focus on learning and playing my best, i'm sure the wins will naturally follow

hl782 wrote: First, the loss. My first ever game against a 5k. Really should have won this one.

Move 15: White ignored your shoulder hit and approached your corner. Did you consider J3?

@hl782:
I don't know for sure. Many factors affect the result of the game. As someone gets older, their skills may shift. For example, after many years, someone might get weaker at reading, but maybe they know joseki better. And they might be 5k throughout.

You might say they improved, since they are better at joseki, now.

But you can't say they improved at winning - maybe they win and lose for different reasons, now.

hl782 wrote:First, the loss. My first ever game against a 5k. Really should have won this one.

General comment: your opponent made numerous mistakes of style and shape. This is apparently infectious. To become strong, don't get dragged down to your opponent's level.

After . you don't get an adequate result on the lower side. I think has to be at J3, contesting the key space ("base of both groups"). Your stones to the left are light and flexible, so draw this line and fight now.

- I think C16 is more interesting here. The usual line leaves something to aim at on the top side. loses the chance to cut, so has to be wrong here.

Black 103: doesn't N18 just cut?

Black 123: this is needed?

At Black 149: you need to count, and read the lower left, in that order. Black C6 then D7 can be interesting to cut, but what is then the status of the corner? How much can Black allow White in the centre?

Black 167: again the status of the lower left corner. A play such as J7 might be enough to win.

Charles Matthews wrote:To become strong, don't get dragged down to your opponent's level.

Worth repeating.