Life In 19x19

I am often on the receiving end of such commentary. "Shall we go over one or two sequences where things went badly?" is a useful approach, especially for 20-10k players who want to get better but have no idea what you're talking about, mostly. Can you remember your ability to perceive the subtleties of go when you played at your opponent's level or are you just showing off? Let me put it this way, whether you are a condescending jerk or an encouraging mentor is not up to you, it is determined by the other player.

David Boise Id

topazg wrote:

Horibe wrote:I don't. But the tendency is to think they made two mistakes. The mental ego commentary would be "This guy is so weak he blocked on the wrong side, and now he makes the hane mistake - watch me punish him with the descent...oh, he connected"

It is helpful to realize this. Your post suggests that the hane can be part of a good strategy. I think this is rare. You are right, however, that it can help repair a previous error.

I agree with pretty much all of this - I do think it's valuable to be aware of. If Black blocks on the wrong side, knowing that the hane may be a better choice than the descent is useful I think. I only posted it because it was a valid variation that has cropped up in a few games I've encountered and it hadn't yet been posted here.

Just to further mix things up, it's worth noting that blocking toward the right side will almost invariably be a gote choice for black, where blocking the top-side first is virtually always sente for black. If sente is black's primary aim, and the right side is black's secondary aim, the hane may seem reasonable (of course, we may get into the questioning the validity of the initial pincer...).

Hello CSamurai,

to my mind offering a review was completely ok, but I was not the one who got beaten Difficult to be objective after a sudden loss.

Surely, there will be a better atmosphere between you and the other club members when they'll get to know you better after a couple of visits.

If your the new person, there are some rules to follow in this type of social situation.

After the game, thank the other player.

Do not speak unless spoken to.

Accept commentary from the other player, if they offer it, but do not offer any of your own.

Continue this until you get to know them, which may take months.

The general goal here, is to get others to speak, and then let them speak. The more they speak, the better you will know them.

Then, when you do speak, keep the subjects focused on what THEY are interested in, not on what YOU are interested in.

This applies to all sorts of social situations.

Thank you.

"The only time I went to go club regularly was in SLC, where Anders and the others were always ready to discuss anything they played with you. "

What is SLC? Do you mean, Salt Lake City? Did you really play in Salt Lake City, or across the river?

That's a red flag, right there. Not everyone in the world is going to know what "SLC" means, and they may take it as "I'm smarter than you".

Xiaoding38 wrote:If your the new person, there are some rules to follow in this type of social situation.

After the game, thank the other player.

Do not speak unless spoken to.

Accept commentary from the other player, if they offer it, but do not offer any of your own.

...

And the final rule: if this is your first night at the Go club, you have to play.

And bring 500 dollars.

Has the general attitude of go players in the U.S. changed that much in the past six years? When I started playing it was considered normal to review the game afterward, even perhaps slightly rude not to, and you even saw a brief "this might have been better" after games on KGS.

I haven't been on KGS much recently, so I dunno about that, but face to face play hasn't seemed so different here on the east coast...