Life In 19x19

I'm so sorry for you lost!

I always thought cats with FIV can live for many years with proper treatment.

SoDesuNe wrote:I'm so sorry for you lost!

I always thought cats with FIV can live for many years with proper treatment.

The cost was far too much. If I had had the money I would have tried to get the treatment, but as it was, I didn't. I just wish it hadn't had to go that way.

So sorry for your loss. It's never an easy choice but you made the best for Stanley. Hang in there.

So, for a more positive post today, there is something weird going on. I have been winning games rather.....effortlessly. From 4 Kyus to 6 Kyus, it seems like I'm on some kind of odd roll. I've gotten my 5 Kyu ranking back and it would seem I am well on my way to 4 Kyu. I highly doubt my game has gotten that much better (likely still full of errors), but it's weird. But I feel very confident right now.

One thing is striking me most: I seem to win more when I play fast. As y'all know, I recently discussed my problems with entering Byo-yomi far too early in a lot of games. And my results are not very good. So I'm playing faster. I'm playing instinctually. Obviously when i look back I see moves that could have been better. But it seems I win more playing fast.

But one thing concerns me about this. It could be detrimental to true growth. What I mean is I'm allowing bad habits to stick solely for the victory. I dunno. Maybe I've got the wrong idea. But in the end, a win is only a temporary joy. But strength is the gift that keeps on giving.

Any thoughts?

You being on a role makes me nervous about next week.

Just to play devils advocate here. If playing faster is leading to winning against stronger players more regularly, could there be some consistent mistake that comes out in your play in slow games? I know one thing I'm guilty of is reading out a long variation, finding out that it doesn't work and then choosing another move on impulse. Or perhaps you aren't fair in reading out your opponents responses? If you consistently miss the best move in a local fight for your opponent that would lead to a global loss right? So I don't think it is fair to say that playing fast equals mistakes, but playing slow results in correct play.

And I'm curious as to the time issues of your opponents, are they keeping pace in playing speed or are you finding your self with a considerable time lead? I don't think very many people are comfortable under time pressure, it takes a lot of games where your in your last byo-yomi period for a good quarter of the game before you start to relax.
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I'm by no means a fast player. Ever since I started playing I've had a lot of fun reading out my options carefully. As a result of this I've completely avoided games shorter then 20minutes main time +some byo yomi. In addition I make an effort to be in byo-yomi before the first 100 moves(for the 25:00 main time games on KGS, longer time settings I might not meet this). Within reason, I don't waste time to meet this goal. This means I'm often in sudden death byo-yomi periods while my opponent has a good 10+minutes. And since I've had to play under these conditions in so many of my games I've gotten to the point where I feel quite at home there, and rarely lose on time.

I got to 2d playing only fast. Don't worry about it, just play more games.

Twitchy Go wrote:You being on a role makes me nervous about next week.

Just to play devils advocate here. If playing faster is leading to winning against stronger players more regularly, could there be some consistent mistake that comes out in your play in slow games? I know one thing I'm guilty of is reading out a long variation, finding out that it doesn't work and then choosing another move on impulse. Or perhaps you aren't fair in reading out your opponents responses? If you consistently miss the best move in a local fight for your opponent that would lead to a global loss right? So I don't think it is fair to say that playing fast equals mistakes, but playing slow results in correct play.

And I'm curious as to the time issues of your opponents, are they keeping pace in playing speed or are you finding your self with a considerable time lead? I don't think very many people are comfortable under time pressure, it takes a lot of games where your in your last byo-yomi period for a good quarter of the game before you start to relax.
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I'm by no means a fast player. Ever since I started playing I've had a lot of fun reading out my options carefully. As a result of this I've completely avoided games shorter then 20minutes main time +some byo yomi. In addition I make an effort to be in byo-yomi before the first 100 moves(for the 25:00 main time games on KGS, longer time settings I might not meet this). Within reason, I don't waste time to meet this goal. This means I'm often in sudden death byo-yomi periods while my opponent has a good 10+minutes. And since I've had to play under these conditions in so many of my games I've gotten to the point where I feel quite at home there, and rarely lose on time.

Well it very well could be my opponent feeling pressured by time and the fact that I play fast. See I'm very comfortable playing fast. That's how I played from 22 Kyu to 7 Kyu. It's only recently that I slowed down and thought out moves. Those tend to be the games I'd like to win the most (tournament games, ect.)

And it's likely I make more errors in fast games. Actually, it's probably a fact. But a lot of times when I think out my moves I do not go with my gut feeling in that situation. And believe me, looking back some of the moves are indeed laughable, but the results speak for themselves.

Maybe I get better results because I play crazy moves fast and then my opponent feels obligated to respond fast and doesn't properly think and see that I just played a terrible move.

But it sucks when you burn 10 minutes reading something out just for your opponent to spend 2 minutes and completely destroy everything you read.

I don't know if you're still looking for someone to play a 7 series with, but I would enjoy playing a few games on kgs with you :]

Unusedname wrote:I don't know if you're still looking for someone to play a 7 series with, but I would enjoy playing a few games on kgs with you :]

Sure, I'd be happy to do so. My series with Twitchy Go will also be going on at the same time though.

I have time most days except tuesday and thursday.
I am PST if you'd like to plan days to play.

Or is there a room that you are usually in?
I'm not really adept with the kgs private message system.

Sorry for not posting here in awhile. I decided to take some time off of practice and whatnot (yeah, yeah I know ANOTHER break), but this one was definitely a lot smaller than my last one and the reasons were quite a bit different.

Anyway, I'm back with a pair of rated victories! So that's good. Back to 5k....again. I wonder how long I'll last here this time?

But I'm back with a vengeance and plan to hopefully finish my 7 game series with TwitchyGo while simultaneously beginning a new one with Unusedname.

My goals for April (skipping by March altogether at this pont) are simple. Keep my 5 Kyu ranking.

Other than that my goal is to simply play games for the time being. I don't think I have the attention span for Go books and they don't seem to be helping my play any. I think reviews by stronger players is worth more than attempting to read a Go book at this point.

However, I do aim to try and read one of the aforementioned books again simply because I'm sure there's something I can gain from them.

So, now it's may. And unfortunately I remain at 6k. I could *probably* get back to 5k in a couple of games, but I think I'm a little afraid to play too many ranked games. I've played 86 games this month and 16 of them were Ranked. My ranked record isn't terrible this month (7-9), but I fell back to 7k for an hour about a week ago. And keep in mind, I was close to reaching 4 Kyu at one point.

All in all, it's fun being back in the mix. For the first time I might actually finish in the Top 10 of Delta! My record there is 6-13.

Back to the point, I feel I need to start reviewing my games more. With or without other players.

And I need to finally start reading books. One thing I'm considering doing is spending some time memorizing all the fuseki I seem to have troubles with.

Also, is Tygem doing another Pro qualifier?

I was intrigued by the idea of spending 8 hours in a single day devoted to Go, so I did that today (maybe more) to see how it was. I'm not going to lie, there were times, particularly in games, where I felt my attention lapse. But it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. But then again, that's easy to say after one day. I divided my time by doing the following:

1. Reading Opening Theory Made Easy
2. Solving tsumego
3. Playing Serious Games
4. Playing For Fun games
5. Review

The problem is I need to figure out a schedule my Go activities so I can do things in an organized fashion rather than the disorganized fashion that I did it in today.

Now, onto the matter of my journal title change, I plan on spending the next three months spending 8 hours (potentially more) a day devoted to Go in an attempt to see what my rate of improvement will look like with dedication and effort. This isn't to reach pro level by any means, but a sort of trial run. If I like how the next three months go, I may continue.

It's not perfect, I know, but it will answer a few of the questions I've been asking to myself and other people.

I debated over whether or not to post this yet, but I figure it couldn't hurt.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them. Oh, one more thing, I do plan to get a regular teacher as soon as possible. I reckon that will happen some time next month.

Now that this has been explained, on to my thoughts on today.

1. I need to re-read Opening Theory Made Easy (the parts that I've read so far) to get a better understanding of the concepts I failed in trying to implement today. The good thing is, I feel my reading has helped my judgement to a degree.

2. My problem solving went surprisingly easy. I'm using a book. The only frustrating part is when the solution can only be seki or Ko. Then I spend time trying to figure out how I can make life without that. Other than that, tsumego is pretty fun when solving by the book on a Go board.

3. I need to slow down when I play games. And not just because I feel the need to burn my clock's time some, but to reflect on the situation on the board. I hate to admit this, but sometimes my concentration lapsed today. So I need to figure out how to deal with this.

4. I need to make a uniform schedule (as mentioned before). I think that will greatly help the rate in which I improve.

And that about covers it for today. Sorry for the long write.

Good luck!

Are you lucky enough to have a room, or a corner of a room, that you can dedicate to go? Or perhaps a nearby library or other quiet area? If not, perhaps you might consider establishing a certain routine or a certain kind of room setup that mentally signifies that it's time to study go. That might help the concentration. My concentration lapses a surprising amount when I try to work in my room, simply because I don't particularly associate it with work.

billywoods wrote:Good luck!

Are you lucky enough to have a room, or a corner of a room, that you can dedicate to go? Or perhaps a nearby library or other quiet area? If not, perhaps you might consider establishing a certain routine or a certain kind of room setup that mentally signifies that it's time to study go. That might help the concentration. My concentration lapses a surprising amount when I try to work in my room, simply because I don't particularly associate it with work.

Good idea. I just stayed in my room today like normal. But maybe it would help if I got elsewhere. The computer is sort of a double edged sword. It's where I do all my Go related activities for the most part, but it can sort of be distracting as well.