Path to 9Dan, step by step.

[hl782]

btw your guide to getting stronger at Go is fantastic - i'm loving the book recommendations and study methods in them.

Thank you! I guess, I should update it again : D Especially concerning overlearning problems and my take on pro game studying.

I also read your 'guide' a few times and really enjoyed it. When you don't have a lot of time to spend, it is good to know how to use it most efficiently. I look forward to an updated take on your guide.

Also, hl782, your fast improvement is really something. I'm rooting for you to keep going higher and higher!

SoDeSune - Since im not a dan yet any updates probably wont do me any good but, i'll keep on checking for updates! hehe
DinoKino - thanks! I think a big part of this has been my mentality to only play 1-2 games per day only when i feel good and ready. It keeps my mentality fresh, and out of slumps - leading to more wins, and more confidence in my baduk!

[hl782]

One more victory against a 9 kyu today. I was somewhat concerned with how the opening was going - slightly frustrated i gave up such a big moyo right side (I think my 3-3 invasion in the lower right was a bit of a poor decision - would have been better off attaching at q5 or so), but i managed to kill one of white's groups on the top and the opponent resigned immediately.

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=6062

[hl782]

One more W in a ranked game to bring my streak to 11! i had a great start to the game by punishing my opponent for his mistake in the upper left corner but then i forgot a vital move on the lower left corner that just left me with a weak group and white played that to his advantage greatly. in the end i managed to scrape his territory enough and won by 10 points but it was a much harder game than it should have been.

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=6063

[hl782]

No games today - just watched some korean video lectures (Titled: Catch Up to 5Kyu), and did tsumego. Almost done with 1001 Life & Death Problems now! Not going to lie - 1001 is alot and its taking so long to go through! I also gotta add that the first 700 problems or so were decently easy (around 75-80% accuracy on them). The last 300 problems are much much harder.

I also went over my first pro game today - Lee Sedol vs. Gu Li - the 10 Game Series, Game 1. I thought this game was good for attacking a weak group (from Lee Sedol's perspective) and trying to find life for weak groups (from Gu Li's perspective). But I gotta say, idk how to feel about studying pro games so far - I try to guess the next move (or its whereabouts) and see where/why they played them but I still feel somewhat unsure, so i think i'll only go over commented games for now.

[hl782]

two more wins against 9 kyus - bringing my streak to 13 straight ranked Ws since i turned 10kyu. I wonder how close i am to getting promoted to sdk now...

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=6066

in the meantime this was a good win - my opponent made a couple of critical mistakes when invading my upper right hand corner allowing me to kill his stones making my upper right worth double. Had he played p18, or clamped at q15 when he had the chance, i think i would have lost the game. i made the mistake of giving too much territory/influence on the right hand side of the board while pushing up with my stones. overall though - a good win.

[yoyoma]

The upper right was interesting, going to the final moves, I think white has a better move for W62. So going back, I think Black has a better move for B61.

Edit: Well right after posting this I looked again and realized I was wrong, I was thinking white could make a ko for life by playing atari from behind at T17.

[hl782]

The upper right was interesting, going to the final moves, I think white has a better move for W62. So going back, I think Black has a better move for B61.

Edit: Well right after posting this I looked again and realized I was wrong, I was thinking white could make a ko for life by playing atari from behind at T17.

Yeah as soon as white extended and didnt play p18 i thought i would be able to kill that white group unconditionally - turns out that white can live because he has helping surrounding stones on the side (the clamp at q15) but he missed it!

[hl782]

I'm also curious if anyone knows a good book on middlegame jeongseok/variations? Common patterns on when to use them, etc would be very helpful - somewhat like the 3 space extension invasion section in A&D but a little bit more detailed. Thanks!

[Kirby]

I'm also curious if anyone knows a good book on middlegame jeongseok/variations? Common patterns on when to use them, etc would be very helpful - somewhat like the 3 space extension invasion section in A&D but a little bit more detailed. Thanks!

From your original post, I assume you know Korean.

Does your dad have any old baduk magazines? In the not so distant past, there was a series in monthly go called 정석이후, and it discusses variations after joseki.

There are even books on the same topic:
http://www.cyberoro.com/lecture/index.o ... =11&div2=1

If you want English stuff, check out Kim Seong Rae's "After Jungsuk" book.

And anyway, there are tons of online resources for variations after joseki. Just google 정석이후. Or look at pro games, and see what they did.

Or watch just about any baduk tv lecture.

[hl782]

1 wins against a 9 kyu and 2 losses today against a 9 kyu and an 8 kyu - in the loss against the 9 kyu i had it but I screwed up a corner and turned in into a double ko which allowed him to live, rather than just killing him outright

[zac]

I'm also curious if anyone knows a good book on middlegame jeongseok/variations? Common patterns on when to use them, etc would be very helpful - somewhat like the 3 space extension invasion section in A&D but a little bit more detailed. Thanks!

I'm not sure if it's really what you're looking for but 'The Fundamental Principles of Go' - Yilun Yang has a section 'Invasion and Separation of Some Typical Formations', that covers 10 formations and in each formation several variations of reductions or invasions, each covering 3-10 pages- around about 50 pages all up.

IMO there is a lot of really good material in the book.

[zac]

An example, I included some rough idea of what the text says. This is the shortest of the ten formations given but gives a good idea what it's like. The text in the book gives more detail. I hope I'm not infringing any copyright, only trying to provide a sample of the material to a potential buyer.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[0.00]
PW[White]PB[Black]AW[bd][cf][ci]AB[cc][jc][dd][fd]LB[hc:A]C[A is not good unless White has other stones around to help.
]PL[W]
;W[gd]C[The attachment here is common
]
(;B[fe]
;W[id]
;B[jd]
;W[ie]
;B[je]
;W[if]
;B[kg]
;W[ih]C[Black gets influence towards right
])
(;B[gc]
;W[hc]
;B[hd]
(;W[id]
;B[ge]
;W[ic]C[Cuts off one stone but usually bad for White
])
(;W[ge]
(;B[he]
;W[fc]
;B[gb]
(;W[gf]
;B[fb]
;W[hf]
;B[je]LB[jf:A]TR[hd]C[After the atari the extension is the proper response, W is thick and may attach at A later
])
(;W[ed]
;B[fe]
;W[ee]
;B[gf]
;W[ec]C[Bad for White
])
(;W[ec]
;B[ed]
;W[hb]
;B[gf]
;W[fe]
;B[ff]
;W[ee]
;B[df]C[Bad for white]))
(;B[fe]
;W[id]
;B[he]
;W[gf]
;B[ic]
;W[hb]LB[fc:A][ie:B]TR[fe]C[If the ladder at B is not good for Black, the marked stone was in the wrong direction
])
(;B[fc]
;W[id]
;B[hb]
;W[he]
;B[ib]C[Good result for White
])))
(;B[hd]
;W[ge]
;B[gc]
;W[hc]TR[hc]C[Key move to exploit Blacks weakness if clamp
])
(;B[ge]
;W[hd]
;B[fc]
;W[he]
;B[gf]
;W[je]C[Black emphasises getting into the centre.
]))

[hl782]

hmm interesting - just basing off the book title though, is it very different from Kageyama's fundamental principles?

On another note - Two more victories and officially a SDK now!

[hl782]

Finished with 1001 Life & Death Problems - with 74% accuracy overall. I started out at around 80% accuracy but dipped to about 60-65 in the last 5 move problems. I found 'Black to Live' problems much harder than 'Black to Kill' problems though I can't put a finger on why.

Something i realized about the problems is that even for the 3, 5 move problems, if you saw the vital point - the rest of the sequence was very easy to find. I think the most trouble i had was when the eye shapes in the corner weren't as concrete - and I had a tougher time finding out what the vital points actually were.

In the meantime, I'm going to be a bit more busier with work so I'll have to do with less games, more study. I realized I've been playing similarly in most of my games, and I want to take a 4-7 day breather and consume more theory, tactical knowledge before applying to games again.

Over those 4-5 days I plan on reading All About Thickness by Ishida Yoshio & Reducing Territorial Frameworks by Fujisawa Shuko!

[SoDesuNe]

On another note - Two more victories and officially a SDK now! :)

Yay, congratulations! : )