Life In 19x19

Hi all,

I am posting a series of YouTube videos in which I analyze a single board position where I made a huge mistake. Some of the mistakes were identified by me, but many were identified by my teacher, Jennie Shen, a two dan Chinese professional currently living in Santa Barbara California. All the positons were reviewed by her.

In each video, I'll demonstrate the actual game sequence including my blunder, and I'll invite the viewer try to find a better move. I'll show how I was punished or should have been punished for my mistake, and then show how I should have played.

One idea of this is to publish English language videos that are significantly shorter than most currently out there. By focusing on a single position, I hope to be able to keep most videos under fifteen minutes, though I'm struggling with that so far.

I wish the first video had more useful content. It does a good job of demonstrating my propensity towards mistakes under pressure, but I think some of the sequences might be a little tough for some kyus to follow, and it doesn't really teach a lesson. If you feel the same way, please give later episodes a chance.

In the information section of most videos, I intend to provide a link to this thread on L19, where I will post the full sgf. In every game there is, of course, more than just the single mistake. Some of the sgf's will contain extensive comments within the variations and some will just have good, but uncommented variations to review. Other sgf branches will just have been me messing around, and don't necessarily demonstrate anything.

I invite questions, comments, and corrections. I can say with great confidence, that any mistakes in the videos and sgf's are likely to be mine, not Jennie's.

edit - I finally made a trailer, here:



I'll do a new post for each episode. If you have a question or comment, please reply to the post which contains the video and sgf.

I hope you enjoy the videos. Please let me know what you think, and how I can make them better. Thanks.

Here is the video and associated sgf. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or comments. Note you must be a registered user of L19 to post. You can view the sgf or download it without registering.

Here is the video and associated sgf. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or comments. Note you must be a registered user of L19 to post. You can view the sgf or download it without registering.

Here is the video and associated sgf. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or comments. Note you must be a registered user of L19 to post. You can view the sgf or download it without registering.

Hey Brady, nice videos. I agree there is space for some shorter videos out there.

I never saw Black's 1 space jump on the 2nd line in the joseki for video 2 before. In fact eidogo says the white move before is joseki and the other white move is an overplay:
http://eidogo.com/#kjd:odqdpfocpcpdqcrc ... oesbqbqgph

BTW can you make the audio level of your voice louder? I had to turn my volume way up to hear you.

Just want to say that I'm really enjoying these videos. I especially like that they focus on a single critical position and then explain the ins and outs patiently, thoroughly and peppered with interesting anecdotes.

My favorite story so far is from the third video, where his teacher, Jennie Shen says to him: "Brady, I wish you had wedged and died and lost instead of playing this move and winning." Brady explains that her point was about the proper attitude, and that by not following through on one's own plan, one hands the opponent the upper-hand on a plate. When I first heard him tell it, I thought: "well, what if you recognize that your plan has a fatal flaw? Isn't it better to abort and make the best of it? Obviously, it depends on the particulars of a situation, but the more I thought about his explanation, the more Jennie's sentiment made sense. If you wimp out in the middle of a sequence, you are giving your opponent the license to walk all over you.

In these videos, Brady shows us how to learn from mistakes, by looking at critical moments in the game and exploring the hows and whys of what went wrong. I suspect that he himself profits the most from these videos, but there is a lot for us as well. Looking forward to more!

Here is the video and associated sgf. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or comments. Note you must be a registered user of L19 to post. You can view the sgf or download it without registering.

Thanks yoyoma and daal. Your kind words are much appreciated!

I think I upped the volume on the fourth episode. Was that better?

That third blunder is something I've known all too well, but I still hesitate to put into practice sometimes when I really want to win.

The volume is good now, good work!

Hi Brady. I just watched your first two Blunders videos and I must confess they were a very good surprise.
First of all you have a very good narrative and your voice and tone are peaceful and nice to listen to...
_ I liked a lot the little story on your first Blunder with Nick playing the part of the bully afterwards
_ I found the second Blunder very useful to know and listening to your explanations really felt like listening a good story, because of all the context and emotions descriptions...

I'll watch your other Blunders later on, but I already know this will be a delightful series and a valuable add to the Go material on YouTube.
So thanks for your contribution.

Dontbtme wrote:Hi Brady. I just watched your first two Blunders videos and I must confess they were a very good surprise.
First of all you have a very good narrative and your voice and tone are peaceful and nice to listen to...
_ I liked a lot the little story on your first Blunder with Nick playing the part of the bully afterwards
_ I found the second Blunder very useful to know and listening to your explanations really felt like listening a good story, because of all the context and emotions descriptions...

I'll watch your other Blunders later on, but I already know this will be a delightful series and a valuable add to the Go material on YouTube.
So thanks for your contribution.

Thanks very much, Dontbtme. I'm delighted you were pleasantly surprised by the first episodes. I'm sure there's room for two of us blunderers (and more) on YouTube. There's plenty of others showing off their good games.

Hehe, Nick was in no way a bully. We are part of a group of US Go Congress buddies that tease each other relentlessly, but always good-naturedly. This year featured go during the day, and board games and beer late into the night.

Funnily enough, I'm in France for a week. I have no idea if there's much of a local go scene on the Somme.

Sadly, according to this page, there's no official Go club in la Somme...

Here is the video and associated sgf. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or comments. Note you must be a registered user of L19 to post. You can view the sgf or download it without registering.

Here is the video and associated sgf. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or comments. Note you must be a registered user of L19 to post. You can view the sgf or download it without registering.