Life In 19x19

Hey folks,
after playing the L19-Tournamentgame last friday I noticed that I'm in a real state of online-slump. I don't know why but when I play online I can't concentrate on the game. I thought because of the "seriousness" of the L19-tournament game I'd be able to discard my normal online-playing-mood... but I was wrong.
When I start sitting infront of the pc-desk my concentration starts to drop, I'm not able to think longer then 3-4 minutes before I distract myself with surfing the internet while playing or walking to the kitchen etc.

This attitude sneaked in when I hit Shodan. I thought that it'd be a general problem but strangely enough my reallife-tournamentresults are still good, I can truly sink into the game to the extend that I even dont sense any observers etc.

But I cant (anymore) access this kind of concentration when I play online.

For the sake of not playing rubish online games and dishonoring my opponent, I stopped playing online a week ago, but I don't know if this will fix my attitude towards onlinegames.

Has anyone experienced the same and/or has some tips how to come through this?

I have that since I hit 30k. And both online and offline. No idea what to do about it.

Jonas wrote:Hey folks,
after playing the L19-Tournamentgame last friday I noticed that I'm in a real state of online-slump. I don't know why but when I play online I can't concentrate on the game. I thought because of the "seriousness" of the L19-tournament game I'd be able to discard my normal online-playing-mood... but I was wrong.
When I start sitting infront of the pc-desk my concentration starts to drop, I'm not able to think longer then 3-4 minutes before I distract myself with surfing the internet while playing or walking to the kitchen etc.

This attitude sneaked in when I hit Shodan. I thought that it'd be a general problem but strangely enough my reallife-tournamentresults are still good, I can truly sink into the game to the extend that I even dont sense any observers etc.

Ditto on all of this. I went from beating a 3d OTB to losing to a 5k online, and this almost exactly describes why. Enter a big fight that requires reading and I sit there thinking "ah, jeez, I wanted to relax, this is too much like hard work" and starting throwing instinctive stones around while doing something else in another window.

Jonas wrote:For the sake of not playing rubish online games and dishonoring my opponent, I stopped playing online a week ago, but I don't know if this will fix my attitude towards onlinegames.

Has anyone experienced the same and/or has some tips how to come through this?

I don't think it is dishonouring your opponent. You aren't a professional, Go is supposed to be fun - a hobby, something to pick up and drop and enjoy while it lasts. Walking out on an opponent mid-game is rude, but other than that, playing while not concentrating as much as you'd like is entirely your right. If you stop enjoying it, stop playing. If you don't mind playing with less accuracy than you would in a real life tournament and still enjoy the game, play it anyway. Either way, it seems like something not worth stressing about beyond that

Hehe well I think another problem is that I really really hate losing... the result after a short onlinesession (1-2 quick games) most of the time is, that I'm really angry at myself for losing a won game because of playing travian (a browsergame) or watching TV in another window...

But everytime I sat down and intend to play a serious game I end up with talking to my girlfriend on the phone while playing or something

Maybe a break is the right decision (ofc I'll continue the L19-tournament)

Jonas wrote:Hehe well I think another problem is that I really really hate losing... the result after a short onlinesession (1-2 quick games) most of the time is, that I'm really angry at myself for losing a won game because of playing travian (a browsergame) or watching TV in another window...

Travian killed two weeks of my life. No way could I do that again, silly Teutons and their ways...

This may sound stupid but works at least for me. When I play online I make every other move with my left hand. This helps me avoiding at least some of the over-intuitive no-thinking-just-clicking kind of moves.

Edit: Well, to be honest this also has something to do with my symmetry obsession problem

This disease strikes me randomly.

OT: mad props for helel's avatar.

Jonas wrote:Hey folks, [...]

For the sake of not playing rubish online games and dishonoring my opponent, I stopped playing online a week ago, but I don't know if this will fix my attitude towards onlinegames.

Has anyone experienced the same and/or has some tips how to come through this?

Hi. Yeah I've gotten into slumps before, especially online where you can play a dozen games in one sitting. When I find myself playing like this there are a few things I try.

Level one, is I play with or without music. With music, I try different music. Energetic, Hip Hop, Dance, or Chinese Classical music. Or no music at all.

Level two, when I'm really desperate, I keep a goban near me and I play the game out on the goban in real life. Needless to say this doesn't work with blitz games.

Also here is my conclusion that I have learned from painful experience, whenever you are anywhere close to being in a slump, do not play blitz go online.

I've never had an actually prolonged slump, though I always am very critical of my game, so I sometimes seem like I'm in a perpetual slump. "Well, yes, I won 6 of my last 10 games, but I should not have won several of them because my opponents made mistakes!" If I ever lose two serious games in a row in one day and feel frustrated, I stop playing for a day or two so I don't go on tilt. I don't recall a losing streak longer than four games.

topazg wrote:Ditto on all of this. I went from beating a 3d OTB to losing to a 5k online, and this almost exactly describes why. Enter a big fight that requires reading and I sit there thinking "ah, jeez, I wanted to relax, this is too much like hard work" and starting throwing instinctive stones around while doing something else in another window.

Same here although maybe not quite that extreme. The games are still fun, though. And that's what counts. To me.

Jonas wrote:Hehe well I think another problem is that I really really hate losing...

You should not really be losing more than usual.
You play weaker on-line, so your rank is lower, so you play weaker people, so you still win around 50% of your games.
All is as it should be, taking correction for your 'condition'.

The only way for that to bother you is if you think you should be winning more games than your on-line rank suggests.
Or if your on-line rank is inflated and you do lose more than 50% of your games.
But this should auto-correct itself with time and more games.
Again - all is as it should be.


In general, each properly-ranked player should be well accustomed to losing around 50% of his/her games.
On-line and off-line.

daniel_the_smith wrote:OT: mad props for helel's avatar.

Much Ursula Vernon love.

Bantari wrote:In general, each properly-ranked player should be well accustomed to losing around 50% of his/her games.
On-line and off-line.

Only if you're satisfied with stagnation. If you are improving, even slowly, you should win a little more than 50% of your games.

fwiffo wrote:

Bantari wrote:In general, each properly-ranked player should be well accustomed to losing around 50% of his/her games.
On-line and off-line.

Only if you're satisfied with stagnation. If you are improving, even slowly, you should win a little more than 50% of your games.

True. This is why I said 'around 50%'.

fwiffo wrote:

Bantari wrote:In general, each properly-ranked player should be well accustomed to losing around 50% of his/her games.
On-line and off-line.

Only if you're satisfied with stagnation. If you are improving, even slowly, you should win a little more than 50% of your games.

Often true, but you have to account for statistical variance and sample size. You may play a stretch of games that are disproporationately against players that are also improving fairly rapidly (or under-ranked).