Life In 19x19

You can just imagine how bad is it to see an overplay on my level, and have no idea how to answer:P Lately my learning pace also slowed down, but this is because I've been playing more and reading books less. I was doing best when I played 2-3 games a day (20-30 minutes per person + 3-5x 30s), and read for 1-2 hours. I don't know how much more effective is it to multiple those numbers, because if we have other responsibilities, we wont have enough energy to absorb more anyway.

Anyway it isn't that important to learn fast, but to learn and remember what You have learned

I think that overplaying isn't important as long as your opponent can't punish it (for example, look at handicap games! Even 9p players use overplay to win!)

I had the same problem where I saw my opponent makes a move that should be illegal. When it happens, just look to see if you can punish it. If you can, do it. If you can't, don't bother with it and look again during the review (you can even post the game on the forums if you want). If you spend too much time thinking about this extension or this move that you think is overplay, you'll probably lose focus about what's going on and start playing to be able to hit that precise weak spot, forgetting the rest of the board. When you finally wake up and see you attacked well the overplay but that, meanwhile, your opponent took half the board, it's hard...

I tend to see these problems as a problem from a tsumego/tesuji book that is too hard for me. If I can find the answer, I find it. If I can't, I don't bother myself with it

It's hard to be helpful, on such a hard topic, but I can guarantee you that they ARE making overplays. The fact that you notice them now can only be a sign that you're getting stronger (or, at least, that you see stuff better than before).

Keep up the good work! Remember we plateau only so we can start climbing higher again!

Leyleth wrote: If you spend too much time thinking about this extension or this move that you think is overplay, you'll probably lose focus about what's going on and start playing to be able to hit that precise weak spot, forgetting the rest of the board. When you finally wake up and see you attacked well the overplay but that, meanwhile, your opponent took half the board, it's hard...

There's a lot of truth to that, Leyleth. Sometimes, it's possible to get so intent on "punishing" that one ends up playing worse than the moves one is trying to punish.

I guess you try (as I do) to play solid and steady. But I often feel to succeed with this way of playing you have to play very sharp and not to err on the side of slackness (as I all too often do).

See also: [sl=BeingObsessedWithPunishing]Being Obsessed With Punishing[/sl]

Most of my time is spent on music, specifically learning to play the guitar. I have found that the main techniques of playing the guitar are not so numerous, and do not take long to learn at a basic level. For example, "alternate picking" is a very simple concept in itself. The difficulty, though, is learning how to apply the techniques consistently and appropriately. Alternative picking is almost always the best way to play a lead line, but not always; making alternative picking sound smooth and rhythmic, while not dully metronomic is no small matter. In other words, gaining an applied ability takes many, many hours of practice.

Similarly, I am starting to think it is likely to be similar with go. The hard part is not so much learning the concepts and principles of good play, but learning how to use them. Knowledge of pro games, joseki and tsumego is crucially useful in exactly the same way as learning the licks of Hendrix or Hammett or Clapton. For instance, it's easy to understand the idea of bending a string up one whole tone to make a vocalic, expressive sound; and somehow the whole principle becomes easier to use once you being learning a Hendrix solo, in which this idea is extensively applied. Likewise, going over the problems in Takao`s Introductory Series (I wrote a review in the Go Books Reviews section here) has helped me to get a much better grip on the basics of opening theory.

Also, I went right ahead yesterday and bought Takao's 21st Century Joseki Dictionary - both volumes. This is the Japanese version. At 4800 Yen, it was pretty expensive, but I think it will serve me well for a long time to come, because it is extremely comprehensive, and very well arranged. I have tended to find joseki textbooks meandering and confusing, but this one seems very easy to use as a reference. My intention is to keep it by my computer, so that I can check out mistakes or alternative possibilities after I play a game. As John Fairbairn remarked in his review of the English version, Takao is pretty good at explaining different lines as opposed to saying "Black plays here, White goes there", and so I feel this will turn out to be a good investment.

The main difference that I am experiencing between my guitar and go learning, is that it is easier for my guitar skills to decrease when not enough time is spent on exercising. Playing the guitar is both physical and mental "thing", while playing go is "only" mental. I think that brain memory lasts longer than muscular memory.

Just got an idea about Go learning - while practicing guitar playing it is sometimes good to push yourself beyond Your comfort zone, for example try to play longer or faster than You can. This way muscles get the information that they have to improve, and your brain gets more familiar with higher difficulty.

I'm not sure how one can apply this to Go, but most probably these concepts can yield some good results:)

[quote="Gorim"]Just got an idea about Go learning - while practicing guitar playing it is sometimes good to push yourself beyond Your comfort zone, for example try to play longer or faster than You can. This way muscles get the information that they have to improve, and your brain gets more familiar with higher difficulty. I'm not sure how one can apply this to Go, but most probably these concepts can yield some good results:)

I definitely agree with that.

On guitar you can always play faster or strive to be more accurate or more expressive; in go, you can try to read one ply deeper, or learn a new joseki or fuseki, or try a harder tsumego, or try to find where you could have played better in your latest games. You can always take aim at a player a bit better than yourself. Stagnation is never encountering anything new; "foo factor" is when you have a lot of new ideas, but no practical experience.

Gorim wrote:Just got an idea about Go learning - while practicing guitar playing it is sometimes good to push yourself beyond Your comfort zone, for example try to play longer or faster than You can. This way muscles get the information that they have to improve, and your brain gets more familiar with higher difficulty. I'm not sure how one can apply this to Go, but most probably these concepts can yield some good results:)

I definitely agree with that.

On guitar you can always play faster or strive to be more accurate or more expressive; in go, you can try to read one ply deeper, or learn a new joseki or fuseki, or try a harder tsumego, or try to find where you could have played better in your latest games. You can always take aim at a player a bit better than yourself. Stagnation is never encountering anything new; "foo factor" is when you have a lot of new ideas, but no practical experience.

Gorim wrote:The main difference that I am experiencing between my guitar and go learning, is that it is easier for my guitar skills to decrease when not enough time is spent on exercising. Playing the guitar is both physical and mental "thing", while playing go is "only" mental. I think that brain memory lasts longer than muscular memory.

Funnily enough, I am the opposite. While I don't forget things that I have learned, I do become rusty if I don't use them for a long time, and rust affects my go more than it does muscular activities. For instance, when I started playing go again last year, after a two year hiatus, it took me a month to get back to where I was before; but when I had to drive a car last summer, after over a year of not driving, I found after ten minutes it was as though I had been driving all my life.

Gorim wrote:Just got an idea about Go learning - while practicing guitar playing it is sometimes good to push yourself beyond Your comfort zone, for example try to play longer or faster than You can. This way muscles get the information that they have to improve, and your brain gets more familiar with higher difficulty.

I'm not sure how one can apply this to Go, but most probably these concepts can yield some good results:)

When I was first starting out I'd grab a pack of problems that were too hard for me and basically memorize the solutions for them (just by doing them over and over. You naturally memorize it if the set isn't too large). I'm not sure if it's a useful exercise or not, but that's probably the equivalent.

It's not go-related, but I would just like to mention that I found out this morning that I passed JLPT N2! Perhaps that should give my reviews of Japanese go books a little bit more credibility; it also shows that perseverance pays off, as only a year or so ago I did not think I could ever pass it.

Congrats!:)

4 March 2012

Finally, I made 1 dan with my "Yosh" account (my fast games account). Even if I were to get demoted again, it stills feels good to get past that particular barrier. I do not agree with the way KGS handles rankings etc., but getting a rank-up despite the system is satisfying.

Also, if anything I find playing quicker (but not very fast) time limits causes me to be more focussed and rational. Slow limits induce pondering. It's probably a good discipline to get into the habit of trying to find good moves quickly, rather than the absolute best move you can; after all it's no use playing to a 3 dan standard for 50 moves only to play the next 100 moves like a 5 kyuu because of the time pressure.

For studying, I am currently making a conscious effort to apply various sets of maxims to my play, (Takao's Three Principles, The Ten Golden Rules and so), and to balance that with work on my reading (Segoe's "The Book to Increase Your Fighting Strength" and other tsumego). In addition, I like to explore joseki and learn how to use them in my games.

Congratulations on getting your one account to 1 dan

I don't want to play blitz but I like your rational for playing faster games. What time limits do you use for your fast games?

I like 5 mins main time, and 5 lots of 30 seconds (possibly 20 if I am feeling sharp).

It's not really blitz, but it means you have to make the effort to think in a structured way, as there's no time for pondering. Basically, it's enough time to

a) recognise the situation
b) recall the appropriate strategy
c) to read the main lines

Tami wrote:I like 5 mins main time, and 5 lots of 30 seconds (possibly 20 if I am feeling sharp).

It's not really blitz,

No, not exactly ponpon go.