tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27793564803353981682024-03-04T21:02:45.143-08:00Lose 100 GamesOne GO proverb for beginners is
"Lose Your
First 100 Games As Quickly As Possible".
Here I will share my journey to 100 and any insights along the way.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-3068126109845337212011-10-24T17:34:00.000-07:002011-10-24T17:55:39.986-07:00Testing out GoKifu.comI am still playing Go, I just haven't improved. But I discovered a coworker that is a 6k! He plays on PandaNet, so I decided to give it a try. Here is my first game. PandaNet exports with a UGI file. A site that reads UGIs is <a href="http://www.gokifu.com/">www.gokifu.com</a>. They let you export in a bunch of ways.<br /><br />How should I play move 73* ?<br /><br /><iframe src="http://gokifu.com/w/qz7" width="455" height="640">&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Gokifu player.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</iframe><br /><br />My friend suggested to stop the growth of white's moyo with a play around G9. He guessed I should be able to run to safety either up the board or down, depending on how white defends.<br /><br />*NOTE: this is a 2 handicap game, and gokifu starts counting a stone too early. So, the move in question is really move 72. (Not that it really matters much...)Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-52586762660213579062010-10-28T17:02:00.000-07:002010-10-28T17:24:31.833-07:00Attach - Bend - Retreat - ProtectThis is just a sequence that was pointed out on a Go forum (Life in 19x19 I believe).<br /><br />I think it is kind of a mini-joseki, and you will see it all over the place.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirEpLrSDRm_R96XYaXiKe-LmbhAel7a3fW0CRNKs3cjvc6JJxQKDbKBH3kDWRJ2lHVC9EFvGWvzN_BF628U947LceTJFZtfpEjoupwNCqA5dW7vciSU28jeauoCO_v2YzzBOpJbGYFTbpw/s1600/ABRP.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 83px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirEpLrSDRm_R96XYaXiKe-LmbhAel7a3fW0CRNKs3cjvc6JJxQKDbKBH3kDWRJ2lHVC9EFvGWvzN_BF628U947LceTJFZtfpEjoupwNCqA5dW7vciSU28jeauoCO_v2YzzBOpJbGYFTbpw/s400/ABRP.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533256426067453218" border="0" /></a><br />Move 5 can protect the cut with a Tiger's Mouth as shown in the image or with a solid connection.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-28445788145594953422010-04-08T06:18:00.000-07:002010-04-08T06:21:51.278-07:00Next TopicsYeah, I am still around. In the 12 kyu range on OGS. I haven't played on KGS in so long my account expired and so did the graph posted here...<br /><br />But I am still playing and making slow progress. I do have a few things to share - hopefully get to them soon!<br /><br />1. Attach - Bend - Retreat - Protect<br /><br />2. Watching Thecaptain, 4-corner tsumego, reading and the path to progressVulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-67925979471904528782009-09-12T12:59:00.000-07:002009-09-12T13:41:03.756-07:00Malkovich gamesHow do you learn? What is the quickest method for you to see how your thinking is flawed and then fix it? If you had a brain dump of exactly what you were thinking during a Go game, you could replay it and see where you missed things, where you valued areas too highly and where you assumed your groups were safe when they weren't.<br /><br />Normal Go commentary can't really do this. Adding comments to a game record after it is complete is like rereading a book when you already know the ending. It does add enjoyment to replaying a game, but I don't think it helps as much as it could as a training aid.<br /><br />Recently on <a href="http://www.godiscussions.com/">GoDiscussions.com</a> an effort to capture player's thinking while a game is progressing has started gaining momentum. The term "Malkovich game" has been coined which refers to the movie where people are somehow inside John Malkovich's brain (Being John Malkovich). To find threads about this go to GoDiscussions and search for - you guessed it - "Malkovich".<br /><br />I think having players capture their thoughts as they make each move helps reveal what they think is going on, without any real guess of how the game will progress or end. It presents a more rounded version of all their concerns at each move and will capture flaws in their thinking. Once the game is complete, going back and reviewing those original comments is like having a brain dump! The players should be able to clearly see the flaws in their thinking and make real improvement in their games. Including some post-game additions/corrections to the game file could help other players see how they can avoid the same false thinking as the player in the game.<br /><br />I really think this is a valuable method of learning. It is tough to use in a real-time game, but with a little discipline, it is easy to do in a turn-based game. Before you make each move, write down why you decided that was the best play. Once the game is complete, go back and review your thinking. Get others to take a look at your game and do some post game analysis. Seeing moves where you made "bad" decisions and your reasoning behind them will help you be alert to your faulty thinking in the future.<br /><br />Doing a "1-man Malkovich" where you are the only one doing your in-game comments seems valuable. I believe that you will get the most out of your own comments - seeing other player's in-game comments will help you see how they think, but it isn't the same as analyzing your own brain dump.<br /><br />Having both players making in-game comments seems potentially even more exciting. So, find a buddy and see if you can convince them do play a turn-based Malkovich game with you. When the game is over, trade notes and see what your opponent was thinking, and how you could have done better!<br /><br />These "2-person Malkovich" games are exactly what the players on GoDiscussions are trying. Here are the first 2 games:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.godiscussions.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9091">Vap vs Joaz</a><br /><a href="http://www.godiscussions.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9658">Joaz vs Sol</a><br /><br />Enjoy!Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-72001092065601060232009-09-12T12:34:00.000-07:002009-09-12T12:58:37.820-07:00Review of posted materialI just went back and reread the whole list of posts. I think most of the postings are pretty good - even though I am no master, they are generally accurate.<br /><br />For a quick recap, here are the most important points I think I have touched on:<br /><br />1. Resign a lost game. (Or ask your opponent if it is okay to play it out.)<br />2. Claim the same screen name on all the online servers when you start.<br />3. Don't play "hope Go". (Assume your opponent sees everything you do.)<br />4. 30 kyu starter kit:<br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />First off, go through this tutorial: <a href="http://playgo.to/interactive/">The Interactive Way to GO</a><br /><br />If that all makes sense do some life or death problems here: <a href="http://www.goproblems.com/">GoProblems.com</a><br />1. Click the button in the top middle that says Problems.<br />2. Set "How Many" to 50 or so.<br />3. Set the difficulty from 30kyu (easiest) to 25kyu (a bit harder).<br />4. Click the "Get Problems" button.<br />5. You will see a list of problems, click the top one.<br />6. Try to solve it, retry, etc. until you understand it (or just want to move on).<br />7. Click the "Next in Set" button.<br /><br />Next, download <a href="http://www.smart-games.com/igowin.html">IGoWin</a>. (Only works on a Windows PC.) It is a 9x9 GO player that remembers your strength. It will give you handicap stones to try to make the game even. As you improve, it will give you less and less handicap stones until you are giving the computer the handicap!<br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />5. Don't attach when attacking.<br />6. Basic moves (Extend, Diagonal, 1-Space Jump, Keima).<br />7. Ranks (30kyu - 9P, each server/organization is internally consistent, but ranks may differ across different bodies).<br />8. Rulesets (don't sweat the details until you start joining tournaments).<br />9. Resist spending extra stones to kill a nearly dead group.<br />10. Sent and Gote<br />11. Go Terms<br />12. Ladders<br />13. Center vs. Edge<br />14. Killing eyes<br />15. Playing online (KGS)<br />16. Urgent before big.<br />17. Bases, Moyos (I screwed this post up. Bases are not Moyos.)<br />18. Ripped shapes<br />19. No posing on Ko (I am still avoiding Ko battles in my games.)<br />20. the Clamp<br />21. Extending from walls<br />22. CORNERS!!! SIDES! center...<br />23. Shape<br />24. Nose Tesuji<br />25. Online Go Anxiety<br />26. OGS Issues<br />27. 4-4 Opening<br />28. Tsumego<br />29. Traditional 1st move<br />30 Stronger Opponents<br />31. OGS Ladder<br />32. Play - Review - Tsumego - Books<br /><br />Having these line items all in one place will help me remember what I haven't talked about that might be worth discussing. So, if you are new here, and some of these topics look like they could be helpful - try to go back and read the blog in order. (I just did to make this list, and it isn't really designed to be read in chronological order...) :PVulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-9645527946223147172009-09-12T09:32:00.000-07:002009-09-12T12:34:53.561-07:00The better you get, the more you realize you don't knowMy original intent on this site was to play Go and improve. As I improved I wanted to analyze that growth and capture the critical things I learned. Then I wanted to share what I learned to help others ramp up faster.<br /><br />So, a couple things are slowing me down. First, I have not improved much in the last few months! It is a lot of things combined: Go gets harder as you improve, I haven't been playing a lot, I haven't been studying books or doing much tsumego. There is also some level of unexplainable effort. When I play now, I strain to make the best move, but I can't explain why I select a lot of moves - they just feel like the biggest plays. Finally, there is the realization that what you thought was rock solid fact ("empty triangles are bad") turns gray ("empty triangles are usually bad") and then loses the feel of a rule at all ("empty triangles are often inefficient, but should be used whenever appropriate").<br /><br />So, it is tough to act like a fountain of knowledge for others when I am questioning everything I have used to get this far.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-19510439099892207742009-07-28T11:27:00.000-07:002009-07-28T11:33:14.082-07:00Lots of distractionsSorry I haven't updated the site recently! I haven't made a ton of progress lately, and life has been pretty hectic. Hopefully I will have time for a few new posts soon. Since I don't have anything wildly original to say, I'll leave you with the proven wisdom of the ages: <br /><br />Play games. (and review them/have them reviewed)<br />Do tsumego. (then do some more tsumego)<br />Repeat.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-35223165405871182392009-03-23T14:34:00.000-07:002009-03-23T14:45:48.389-07:00Driving toward SDKMy most recent OGS ladder and OGS tournament games have matched me up with a 15k, a 9k, a 19k and a 12k. I won all 4 of those games! Woot! My rank is up to 11.9k. I went 4-2 in the 1st round of the tourney and I've jumped 112 rungs up the ladder to 76th place!<br /><br />It feels good, but I think I am due for a butt kicking or 2 soon. I wouldn't be surprised to see my rank fall a bit, but I really think I am on a good path to help me improve.<br /><br />I may just have to comment up the game I won against the 9k. It was a lot of fun. So was the 12k game. It sure would be nice to have some face to face games as well...Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-35951690878674778572009-03-11T06:56:00.000-07:002009-03-11T07:44:55.978-07:00Playing opponents that outrank youFor a long time I was intimidated to play against players with a better ranking than I had. I wasn't super-confident that my own 15k-ish rank was accurate and I didn't want to "waste the time" of higher ranked folks. I didn't want to waste their time or get slaughtered by them.<br /><br />It feels like there are a lot of 15 kyu players that have this attitude and are all looking for an even 15k game that they have a chance of winning. Now I am wondering if this isn't a bit of a trap. My theory now is that 15k is too soon to start settling and assuming you have hit a plateau.<br /><br />I started playing against SDKs (Single Digit Kyu) when I attended the Go Club. I have continued sort of by chance in a few different spots. On KGS I played a few robots and got a (9k?) rating. That seems way too high, but it got me a game against a player I knew from GoDiscussions. He was an 11k so he asked for 2 stones! Also on OGS I have joined a tournament which has me playing against players up to 8 kyu.<br /><br />Third area, also on OGS is the OGS 19x19 Ladder Competition. This is a ladder for all skill levels, and I made up my mind to challenge the highest player up the ladder that I could each time I finish an old ladder game. This decision could have me playing even games against Dan players, depending on where they are on the ladder!<br /><br />I have only played a few of these "stretch" games so far, but I think they are important. It just reminds me of the old saying that if you want to improve in a competitive field you need to play against other players stronger than you. <br /><br />For a long time I think I was pretty happy to be able to say I was a 15 kyu. I was humbled by all the things I realized I didn't know and was just happy to have mastered a little. But now I am starting to feel that the SDK ranks don't seem that far away. I have a sense that by playing SDKs I will be forced to stretch myself to play like an SDK. Time will tell.<br /><br />BOTTOM LINE: I truly think that having some mechanism built into my training schedule that forces me to play stronger players will help me improve faster. I would suggest the OGS Ladder trick to anyone that wants to try this.<br /><br />++++++++++<br /><br />Vultur's OGS Ladder Ritual:<br /><br />Step 1: Join the <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/tournaments/ladder_view.php?boardSize=19">OGS 19x19 Ladder</a><br /><br />Step 2: Challenge the top 3 players available to you on the ladder. (The way things are set up, you won't start out with access to challenging people at the very TOP of the ladder, but you will be able to challenge people 50 or 100 spots higher than you.) Don't worry about their rank - it may be below yours, the same or above - it doesn't matter. Your goal is to climb the ladder!<br /><br />Step 3: As you complete a game, challenge the player at highest available spot on the ladder. <br /><br />Repeat step 3 until you are in Ladder position #1 !!! :)<br /><br />Use the results of these games as "review and improve" material.<br /><br />++++++++++<br /><br />If nothing else, playing against stronger players should help reduce the intimidation factor of people rated higher than you. It has helped me see that I am not stuck on some 15k plateau with an unclimbable cliff leading up to higher ranks. The slope up to 8 or 9k seems achievable now.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-32704377506276193772009-02-19T11:49:00.000-08:002009-02-19T11:55:11.586-08:00Need to study bases and openingsInitially the opening was scary, because just like an artist can freeze up at a blank canvas or a writer at a blank page, starting a Go game was something that seemed all too easy to mess up with a bad first move. But it is a mental block you have to get past to play, so I grasped on to the 3-4 opening. It has an expected follow on at 5-3 and gives you a nice enclosure. Any decent opening was enough at first - I just needed to get into the game far enough to start seeing those tsumego like patterns starting to form - now we are playing!<br /><br />But, I got tired of the 3-4 as all too often I didn't get the chance to follow up with the 5-3. Even if I did, the likelihood of extending to the appropriate side star point (the one on the 3-4's side) was even slimmer. About then the brilliance of the 4-4 started making sense. It is less of an enclosure of the corner, and more like getting home field advantage when the fight for the corner begins.<br /><br />Next thing that hits me is that the corners and sides are much more valuable than I could possibly have imagined! I had been playing some kind of "send eyeless dragons down from the center to reduce opponent's side territory, and then tie them together with a big central moyo" strategy (my poor man's attempt at a cosmic Takemiya Masaki style), but it didn't seem to work. I never ended up with that much territory in the center, due to opponents reductions and the difficulty of surrounding territory that requires stones on all four sides. My appreciation of the Go Proverbs "Corner, Side, Center" and "There is no territory in the center" grew immensely.<br /><br />Imagining that the territory in the center was worthless, and that lines 1 through 4 were all that mattered helped me start focusing on fighting more fiercely for every point on the corners and sides. I tried to make all my moves on the 3rd and 4th lines unless defense required a move somewhere else. I think this is the right way to look at the board - at least for now. (As the game proceeds, any center area being surrounded by an opponent can be fairly easily reduced.)<br /><br />My latest difficulty is building successful bases. I can claim a few corners with my opening stones, but then I need to invade and break up my opponent's areas. I know about what the size of a base is supposed to be, but I am pretty fuzzy on the details after that. I can't tell if a base is alive or not. So, I need to work on understanding bases.<br /><br />And since this is one of the first things you do after the opening, it makes sense that the opening sets you up for the "base building phase". So, after finding a way to get past the "beginner's paralysis" in the opening, I am now ready to start studying why different openings make sense, and which may fit best with how I like to play.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-28668187719361561932009-02-17T15:43:00.000-08:002009-02-17T15:51:47.143-08:00Playing in the KGS Ranking RoomIf you are not familiar with it, the KGS Ranking Room has a few Bots that will play rated games against you. There are only a couple so you have to be quick to grab one when the bot finishes its previous game.<br /><br />I had RankBot000 and was ready for a game - I set handicap to 4 and clicked go. (I had to go fast or someone else would get the game.) In the process of setting handicap the game switched from rated to free. Doh!<br /><br />Nonetheless, the bot is rated at 8k, so with 4 stones I figure I should get my butt kicked. I followed my latest thinking - play on the 3rd and 4th lines, focus on corners and sides, keep the center a low priority. It was apparently good enough to win by 20 points!<br /><br />I will post the game under the "Prime Games". I did win, but hopefully the strategy I used is clear, and I think it is one a beginner can understand and use to gain a stone or two!Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-37505758341769069192009-02-17T11:14:00.000-08:002009-02-17T11:20:40.768-08:00Traditional first moveAlthough there is no requirement on where to play your first move, there is a tradition.<br /><br />Trevoke from GoDiscussions.com posted the details:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The tradition is 'kata' - form, japanese etiquette. Black is the weaker player and will then play closer to White, in a reaching move which can be extended as a bow. This leaves White's right-hand corner free, as a courtesy, so that White's first move does not force White to reach unless they choose to.</span><br /><br />There is definitely no requirement on the exact spot to play, but playing in the upper right hand corner shows you know a little Go etiquette!Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-37657548376661278442009-02-17T10:39:00.000-08:002009-02-17T10:44:14.357-08:00Ugh - where have these comments been hiding?I just found out that there are some comments on a few of my posts. I am sorry to have missed them until now. There must be some setting that alerts the owner of a blog that they have comments, but being the "noob" blogger that I am I must have that turned off.<br /><br />So, thank you everyone for your previous comments, and don't take offense if I miss your future comments! :)Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-85494852158482707112009-02-13T10:35:00.000-08:002009-02-17T09:59:08.759-08:00Yet another good page at Sensei'sSome good responses to common situations at: <a href="http://senseis.xmp.net/?BasicInstinct">Basic Instinct</a><br /><br />I posted my latest thinking on strategy at GoDiscussions.com, but figured I'd repost it here:<br /><br />Imagine the only important places to play are on the 3rd and 4th lines. You are trying to capture territory in the corners first, then the sides. Forget the center - it is a distraction!<br /><br />Fairly quickly you will run out of moves on the 3rd and 4th lines and/or your opponent will do things that you need to defend that cause you to play higher or lower than those lines - that is okay. Defend those urgent spots and return to the focus on corner/side territory capture.<br /><br />Finally, remember that as long as you win just over half the board, you win (aka don't get greedy).Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-50181003426210629822009-01-21T11:40:00.000-08:002009-01-21T12:08:50.840-08:00Playing at a Go clubI got a chance to play a face to face game against a 3 kyu opponent at the Nashua, NH Go club last weekend. It was a 9 stone handicap game, which I lost by about 30. It was enjoyable in a lot of ways:<br /><ul><li>I liked playing against someone stronger who was willing to make comments (as if it was a teaching game) as well as try to win like a competitive game. We didn't have a kifu to record the game - too bad. I think it could have been helpful for a review.<br /></li><li>I liked that fact that I felt like I wasn't too far from gaining some strength and catching up to the other club members level. I guess I didn't just feel like a "loser DDK" amongst the elite SDK members. They didn't seem or act godlike and unapproachable. They were regular people I felt I could learn from and hopefully gain strength from.</li><li>It didn't feel like a game against a computer. I had a real feeling of moves being about tradeoff and compensation. When a computer moves, it feels like it has made the one, the only, the best move. Playing a person had a much different feel. Lots of "I'll let you take the side if you give me the corner" situations.</li></ul>There were some downsides - mostly that it is an hour drive to get there. But I will see if I can't keep attending.<br /><br />Other news - Santa was good to me, he brought 4 Go books! I got Graded Go Problems 2 & 3, Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go (<span class="ptBrand">Kageyama</span><span class="binding"></span>), and Go the Natural Way (Takemiya Masaki).Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-74409527480461939642008-12-15T08:49:00.000-08:002008-12-15T10:45:38.357-08:00Return to tsumego - and recognized weaknessReading a thread on <a href="http://www.godiscussions.com/forum/">GoDiscussions</a> about getting to SDK (Single Digit Kyu) I saw a bunch of good recommendations, mostly around a few books and doing problems.<br /><br />I realized that I hadn't done any tsumego for quite a while, so I headed over to <a href="http://www.goproblems.com/">GoProblems</a> to try a few. I set up a set of 50 problems from 30 kyu to 15 kyu and got 49 right. Next I tried 20 from 12 kyu to 10 kyu and got 6 or so.<br /><br />Wow! Tsumego really does have difficulty levels! I don't think I really believed that before. I was successful at tsumego that focused on killing "dead shapes" and finding cutting points but generally failed on liberty races. This is a huge, clear indication of a path to improvement.<br /><br />Seeing that there were situations on the board I wasn't comfortable with helped me see others. In the past I think that when there was something tough to read, my brain just sort of glazed over a little and I convinced myself it wasn't important. Now I am trying to alert myself when I get into a position that is over my head.<br /><br />I noticed that I can't clearly tell when an unfinished corner is alive. I am not confident that I can succeed at a 3-3 invasion. I also need work on liberty races.<br /><br />So, although you hear it from everyone, doing tsumego can help your game. Tsumego actually does have strong correlation with skill level. So, if you work on problems that are a bit harder than you can do, and you learn how to recognize and solve those situations, you will have improved!Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-57993539458403577872008-12-15T07:55:00.000-08:002008-12-15T08:24:10.707-08:00"The Corners Don't Matter" or why 4-4 Opening is OKSo, my opening strategy has gone as follows:<br /><br /><ol><li>Clueless - play anywhere and get beat up. This was the chaos of a beginner.</li><li>Imitate Others - I started playing 4-4 since it seemed common and maybe a symmetrical opening would be easier to memorize. I kept getting attacked and undermined. It seemed too hard to save the precious corner.</li><li>Read a little - Picked the 4-3, 3-5 opening. This supposedly secured a corner with 2 moves rather than the 3 moves required for the 4-4. It works ok, but I often don't get that second stone on 3-5 down before my opponent invades.</li></ol><br />Hmmmm...if my opponent can block my 2 move corner how would I ever get a 4-4 corner secured that requires 3 moves? Answer: Almost never!<br /><br />***LIGHT BULB***<br /><br />I realized that even though the corners are worth a lot and you WANT to get entire corners to yourself, your opponent will never let you play 3 unopposed moves unless they are getting "adequate compensation" somewhere else on the board. So, in fact you have to assume you won't get the corners you stake out with a 4-4.<br /><br />What you can expect is to split the corner fairly evenly with your opponent via some joseki. (Joseki's are famous series of moves more or less Go's version of Chess openings.)<br /><br />So, a 4-4 opening is a one move method of setting yourself up to split the corner rather than attempting a 4-3 & 3-5 opening that requires 2 moves to try to get the whole corner.<br /><br />Looking at a 4-4 opening move as a "quick 1-move initiation of a corner splitting series" rather than the "start of an attempted 3 move unopposed series to capture the corner" changes the way I see the opening and the whole initiation of the power struggle on the board.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-53478266456161403442008-12-15T06:51:00.000-08:002008-12-15T07:37:24.468-08:00Playing on OGS (Online Go Server)Almost all my recent Go activity has been on <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/index.php">OGS</a>. It is quite a different experience to play "turn-based" Go rather than "real time" play. Some points:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anxiety:</span> KGS gives me some anxiety - I have a hard time starting a game there. On OGS it is a lot easier. You can also join tournaments, so I quickly had around 30 games all going at the same time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Focus:</span> Having 30 games going at once can be problematic. You need to make 1 or more moves a day to make sure you don't lose on time. So, playing 30 moves in a day, all on different games feels a bit like tsumego (life and death practice problems). It doesn't allow you to get into the flow of the game. I often go into the Analysis window and roll the game back a few moves and then play it forward to remember what was going on. I guess the obvious point here is that it doesn't feel like playing a game in the traditional sense (sit down, set up the board, play through to the end, count the score). <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Feeling of Progression:</span> It is also a bit difficult to judge if you are improving. Starting 30 games at the same time and playing them in parallel to the end feels different than playing 30 games in a row, one at a time. If I feel my opening is lousy, I will play 30 lousy openings at the same time rather than have 30 chances to play a better opening and learn from mistakes if I play in a series.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Time Pressure:</span> It seems silly to think that 1 move a day is tough and can lead to time pressure, but it does. Many days I have been in a situation where I wasn't in a Go mood. For whatever reason I wasn't really ready to play, but I felt I needed to so I didn't lose on time. Maybe I was really tired, distracted or had a few glasses of wine and even though I shouln't have moved in my "unready" state, I did. So, my games end up with a bunch of moves that were probably not the best I could have made. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Less interest in tsumego:</span> It didn't really occur to me that the "one move per board" play style that OGS offers feels like doing tsumego until I wrote this. Each time you sit down to play you see a board and the question is "What is the best move?". It feels A LOT like tsumego. So much so that I stopped doing any real tsumego. I think that is a big reason I feel like I am not improving...I stopped doing tsumego!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusion:</span> Turn based online Go is just another tool out there. Like any tool it can be helpful or it can get misused. Having spent almost all my Go time on OGS lately, I can see that it isn't the perfect tool for helping me get better. It is one of many tools that I need to split my time on. I need to add more tsumego, books and real time play to my "Go diet" as well as adding some across the board play.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-61521529889502662552008-12-03T06:08:00.000-08:002008-12-03T07:09:52.894-08:00Feeling Stuck at 15 kyuHi all,<br />I haven't posted for awhile as I haven't seen much improvement in my game. (I have been a bit busy - moving from west coast to east, unpacking and job hunting.) But I have kept playing GO on OGS. OGS is a nice change from KGS, but it has its own issues (I will post on that). I need to play a few games on KGS and get rid of my ? again...<br /><br />I do have a few things to talk about. I am straying away from my "ignore the middle" strategy that I posted on below. I find myself roughing out small side areas I think should be able to make an eye and then looking to connect with other groups (and surround territory) in the middle. So, a lot of my latest games have me taking chances/guessing about what moves will allow me to connect. If two groups are a knights move apart can they connect? What if their closest stones are 2 knight's moves apart?<br /><br />Latest realization is what I call "the corners don't matter". What this really means is that it is OK to play a 4-4 opening rather than a 4-3 and 3-5 combo. More on this in a later post.<br /><br />Finally, I really think I would benefit from some in person games. I need to join a local club and/or find a teacher. I will post as I investigate these potentially helpful methods of improving my GO.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-33245687771224684992008-09-24T13:13:00.000-07:002008-09-24T13:46:34.049-07:00Tesuji by James Davies and the Nose Tesuji<span style="font-weight: bold;">Elementary GO Series, Vol. 3 - Tesuji by James Davies</span><br /><br />This is a book that takes a while to get through. Every few pages a new tesuji is shown, and then there are problems for the reader to solve using the new moves.<br /><br />I originally understood tesuji to mean "trick play". I thought it was something that happened on rare occasions by masters of the game. But tesuji are really not tricks as much as known positions of stones that lead to some kind of a forcing play or capture if you know the pattern. I would call the Ladder and the Net some basic tesujis. I guess my point is that I assumed I didn't really need to read a book on tesuji since it was just some weird trick plays - well, I was wrong.<br /><br />Tesuji is a book with a lot to offer. Davies details quite a few tesujis and then gives some great problems to help you practice. I am nearly done with my first pass through the book, but I can tell I need to revisit it regularly. Why? First, I have forgotten some of the patterns already. Second, I did a fairly poor job at the problems. In general, I could guess what the critical first move of the sequence would be, but I wasn't able to see the "forced" response or get the chain of moves through to the solution. I think that as I absorb a few of the tesuji in the book, I will be able to wrap my brain around a few more, until I eventually have more or less memorized the tesuji in the book. The fact that I can't read the problems out to the end tells me that I need to improve my reading - or simply that I am a 15 kyu, and I have a lot to learn.<br /><br />Despite the book being a pretty strong challenge, it has already paid off in game. Here is a game where I recognized the opportunity for a "Nose Tesuji".<br /><br />Here is the position where I recognized that a Nose Tesuji was possible. A play at 'A' by white is the Nose Tesuji - I guess getting the name from the fact that the 2 black stones stick out like a nose. The set up wasn't quite perfect yet, so I played a stone to set up the trap...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ81cVx_WaSwxvI9tqTt_uL-lQ5rmZS00zU1HKa1bnorQy1eHu-wKRKBhHWObnzcvykSv3pXQr_ZsTkI9Grk47-289A2Quxhs5GJmFr0QIhCoroXyhK46_OLaa3uh-eTF1ioWhY4-g2Y8e/s1600-h/NoseTesuji1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ81cVx_WaSwxvI9tqTt_uL-lQ5rmZS00zU1HKa1bnorQy1eHu-wKRKBhHWObnzcvykSv3pXQr_ZsTkI9Grk47-289A2Quxhs5GJmFr0QIhCoroXyhK46_OLaa3uh-eTF1ioWhY4-g2Y8e/s320/NoseTesuji1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249687645410718162" border="0" /></a><br />White 1 below doesn't seem to be an attacking move, but it isolates the black stones at F13, G13 and sets up the tesuji. I am guessing that my opponent doesn't know this tesuji, so he isn't prepared to defend against it. His Black 2 doesn't affect the tesuji, so I spring H13 on him...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEVB4gcvNi5amuDrHooGknvA6y402W368ZFiak3dEJIxDHZ9mdwluA_ciaf_jL6c7xGz_aI58ItQFno57OUQv3lnIgOfId5G6RqIq1sow9yeL9TuHOoTAMuwM2Nb5762dU7hDaAKWD0lF/s1600-h/NoseTesuji2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEVB4gcvNi5amuDrHooGknvA6y402W368ZFiak3dEJIxDHZ9mdwluA_ciaf_jL6c7xGz_aI58ItQFno57OUQv3lnIgOfId5G6RqIq1sow9yeL9TuHOoTAMuwM2Nb5762dU7hDaAKWD0lF/s320/NoseTesuji2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249687649833766850" border="0" /></a><br />The Nose Tesuji reduces his group to two liberties and by struggling to escape he loses another liberty. Now the 5 black stones are in atari - nice job Nose Tesuji!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Bf3vo3ZmNKVMwlIepcSxClZMVoCMmL6WFnioLRsaqvB4NqhpDtHeQcjA9JVaJye50uX1BzPr0GNznr5XubzLWDHsivOvi57rQhwopynuVJTVpjccXY8I1VNEW6swKTnbxBBk2gEfPCo2/s1600-h/NoseTesuji3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Bf3vo3ZmNKVMwlIepcSxClZMVoCMmL6WFnioLRsaqvB4NqhpDtHeQcjA9JVaJye50uX1BzPr0GNznr5XubzLWDHsivOvi57rQhwopynuVJTVpjccXY8I1VNEW6swKTnbxBBk2gEfPCo2/s320/NoseTesuji3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249687648440340434" border="0" /></a><br />Having read Tesuji, and having seen the praise it has received on GoDiscussions, I believe it is an essential book for a player's GO library.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-35185283918794564662008-09-24T12:19:00.000-07:002008-09-24T13:00:21.941-07:00Janice Kim Vol 5 and Shape<span style="font-weight: bold;">Janice Kim's "Learn to Play Go" Volume 5</span><br /><br />I zipped through this book and found it light but clear.<br /><br />One highlight: This book does a nice job of talking about a tough GO term - "shape". I have struggled with understanding what <span style="font-style: italic;">shape</span> is in GO. I have learned a few things about it.<br />First is efficiency. You want to get the biggest bang for the buck when placing your stones. If you play extra stones in an area that doesn't need them you become inefficient and "overconcentrated".<br /><br />(Here is an example of what Janice Kim talks about.) What is the most efficient way for white to capture this stone?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVuf_-XW6mwB73K15BVPwJSUnVCbtb44-Gx5G7vdFMn3T1lgwNfC5B-zmCuHV3w6QZiIYko2l5h2Qj36u8_-HbllWtJNdXZw-_KjLAc53y26doe8XXwdBNuwESSzPq36Vjarn5Rehq_ITN/s1600-h/Shape1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVuf_-XW6mwB73K15BVPwJSUnVCbtb44-Gx5G7vdFMn3T1lgwNfC5B-zmCuHV3w6QZiIYko2l5h2Qj36u8_-HbllWtJNdXZw-_KjLAc53y26doe8XXwdBNuwESSzPq36Vjarn5Rehq_ITN/s320/Shape1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249673413386462402" border="0" /></a><br />The most efficient way is to surround it and cut off its liberties directly. This makes the Pon Nuki shape (or "Death Star").<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8HDwFrpW6FuX13TM3Gcy3DgQlB1SqUtBjTHtjM_wS5eFxWw_-d8pRcL-KRoVy6szz4UchoH0ibk6uQo0-WRT0gnbu2XWMznL4VQ8gKq9fpCYDlH516OJ0VXhwDP2syM3FfIb5cGTdJ4o/s1600-h/Shape2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8HDwFrpW6FuX13TM3Gcy3DgQlB1SqUtBjTHtjM_wS5eFxWw_-d8pRcL-KRoVy6szz4UchoH0ibk6uQo0-WRT0gnbu2XWMznL4VQ8gKq9fpCYDlH516OJ0VXhwDP2syM3FfIb5cGTdJ4o/s320/Shape2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249673416381256738" border="0" /></a><br />Look at the shape below - it used an extra stone to capture the black stone, so this shape is not as good at the pon nuki above. White should have played that 5th stone somewhere else to be efficient.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zx0fN9-7so7ESeRBXCiFqNVHV4uuPFvO-Nc5SQsWr4HIV7SYAUP1n5t2Cv_TDgweOGx3rPSiXGU1RqiHUZLWPbr-l7vi5jaFoFP0iCtEVrR2N54fmYSxpk7ub5eMBIIThqamLnYn_BZ8/s1600-h/Shape3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zx0fN9-7so7ESeRBXCiFqNVHV4uuPFvO-Nc5SQsWr4HIV7SYAUP1n5t2Cv_TDgweOGx3rPSiXGU1RqiHUZLWPbr-l7vi5jaFoFP0iCtEVrR2N54fmYSxpk7ub5eMBIIThqamLnYn_BZ8/s320/Shape3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249673420747423426" border="0" /></a><br />Next, shape as a concept has to deal with the proverb "<span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">My opponents best move is my best move.</span>" Shape isn't something that deals with one player's stones while ignoring the other player's stones. I really didn't get this at first.<br /><br />Look at this shape. A play at 'A' by either player will create the pon nuki shape. White may really want to play at A to make a Tiger's Mouth. Black may want to stop the formation of that white Tiger's Mouth. So, playing at A is "good shape" for either player.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yU8FtbWHREQOEWuGkWzNzffKHVJTcM7HpYs38pnoBQMTSlXPgvBSXzwHWXo_pDhK307VN52lOVG4V2QThJE0UzAna7-9fRirgjfKbP7O_e2NDxmTnOANqD9EJBFjWfIgqeoK5b-VzH2x/s1600-h/Shape5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yU8FtbWHREQOEWuGkWzNzffKHVJTcM7HpYs38pnoBQMTSlXPgvBSXzwHWXo_pDhK307VN52lOVG4V2QThJE0UzAna7-9fRirgjfKbP7O_e2NDxmTnOANqD9EJBFjWfIgqeoK5b-VzH2x/s320/Shape5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249676343684909730" border="0" /></a><br />Other good shapes are listed on Sensei's library. (<a href="http://senseis.xmp.net/?AStaticTreatiseOnShape">Here are some.</a>) I still don't feel 100% comfortable that I understand shape on the GO board, but I am starting to grasp the basics.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-28157234145128924762008-08-02T17:26:00.000-07:002008-08-03T07:14:28.342-07:00A bit of an insightSo, playing on OGS has been a different experience than KGS. I am in a tournament that includes 3 players who are a lot stronger than I am. Playing them, and playing the 'bots on the site made me realize some things I may be doing wrong.<br /><br />I know it is common advice to play in the corners, then the sides and then the center. But, I don't think it is stressed strongly enough. Take a look at this board:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobxaGCARMtsKyr9TXN3UG73VXQhWvZ8Y4MFmRVP1BOtPddnaTjV61ulaVOJVnT3AXo9ucQzK6_dULCAfUhb-SMw76KbQJ80n_RfWNb7nX4phlhR7nOEYcwa9dp8CMvLfZHoiF5cnhm3y1/s1600-h/2toneGoban.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobxaGCARMtsKyr9TXN3UG73VXQhWvZ8Y4MFmRVP1BOtPddnaTjV61ulaVOJVnT3AXo9ucQzK6_dULCAfUhb-SMw76KbQJ80n_RfWNb7nX4phlhR7nOEYcwa9dp8CMvLfZHoiF5cnhm3y1/s320/2toneGoban.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230087047927459922" border="0" /></a><br />Imagine you are not allowed to play in the pink area, or that points there don't count. Imagine only territory gained on fourth line and below (the yellow, regular board colored area) is worth anything. Think of how much more desperately you would fight for the corners, and how strongly you would lock up the borders so your opponent doesn't sneak into your area. Fight that intensely for the edges of the board before considering the center. That is how important I think this is. Maybe the guideline should be:<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Avoid the center! SECURE THE CORNERS AND THEN THE SIDES!! Stay on the 4th line and below until borders are secure! Only run to the center after that!</span><br /><br />So, that is "Job #1". Using the thinking above, you still need to make sure you avoid overplay. I understood overplay to mean stretching too far, such that your opponent can punish you, but I didn't have a practical feel for it.<br /><br />EXAMPLE #1: Here I am pushing hard to try to set the border up around line 12, so that I get a point of territory on line 11 at B11. This is too weak considering none of those stones (A11, B12, C11) are connected to each other or the stones below.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ePRsUq0tVNVr0QVQlQvuU7LI7VDcQUhXBeCslP1Tl31MIDEnAW3HKUa7K8bpA6U-yb4ARuqV0FYkWoB4EWOYm8HaVDbFuZADbg_h12Vp9CJ6WM1_iBqnXLWrm2KKQphr6jFbtrG0N1PT/s1600-h/Overplay1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ePRsUq0tVNVr0QVQlQvuU7LI7VDcQUhXBeCslP1Tl31MIDEnAW3HKUa7K8bpA6U-yb4ARuqV0FYkWoB4EWOYm8HaVDbFuZADbg_h12Vp9CJ6WM1_iBqnXLWrm2KKQphr6jFbtrG0N1PT/s320/Overplay1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230287201895251874" border="0" /></a><br />White separates my upper stones with 4 (B10) and I have to go in to damage control.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzUSd7DCM5sNXfZtibxdGiIHR_qbD68WDx2fUjBO8o0B35azzTwt34R3AD5TwNO7mwPbmzv7FyRIq8YORBDvmFDClAkc016QtPaeF_MbiyqzvkQkgu2EbHl0zRSGbGbKI-Gi6nyVERIcy6/s1600-h/Overplay2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzUSd7DCM5sNXfZtibxdGiIHR_qbD68WDx2fUjBO8o0B35azzTwt34R3AD5TwNO7mwPbmzv7FyRIq8YORBDvmFDClAkc016QtPaeF_MbiyqzvkQkgu2EbHl0zRSGbGbKI-Gi6nyVERIcy6/s320/Overplay2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230287203618415234" border="0" /></a><br />As you can see - I have no strength and have to reform the border by retreating.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRtFxwTtAMjX8p2Aha0FkD-0XAr-JecJgtTEiIs-WD2flM2JQ64KlwhbTQkB34yx9FRgXCEwR1DTk_83J1rNaCuSsF3JInHe6VGLYJwtvda_ZGkieHMDvd0q2WP5BABroe08nRYdUItY7L/s1600-h/Overplay3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRtFxwTtAMjX8p2Aha0FkD-0XAr-JecJgtTEiIs-WD2flM2JQ64KlwhbTQkB34yx9FRgXCEwR1DTk_83J1rNaCuSsF3JInHe6VGLYJwtvda_ZGkieHMDvd0q2WP5BABroe08nRYdUItY7L/s320/Overplay3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230287209701317698" border="0" /></a><br />So, here we have the real border after my overplay and the results. The real border is low enough that My highest territory is on line 7, a 4 line loss! I think if I had played B11 as move 3 above I might have been able to claim territory on line 10.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2J6w35jVnFjcivJZn4rMTe9hFwmfyaVpwLIFf5i7e8yQyjYs40hoDcMqLavVX6hqwuwdWKrgw8mcbUJHGa8gdaeSpXvl_pknOr8ZlhVhQOqTefaz282iJ0sUQ42XL-XloyoVbh5mMGLF-/s1600-h/Overplay4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2J6w35jVnFjcivJZn4rMTe9hFwmfyaVpwLIFf5i7e8yQyjYs40hoDcMqLavVX6hqwuwdWKrgw8mcbUJHGa8gdaeSpXvl_pknOr8ZlhVhQOqTefaz282iJ0sUQ42XL-XloyoVbh5mMGLF-/s320/Overplay4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230287209869420226" border="0" /></a><br />EXAMPLE #2: Same game a few moves later. (Ignore the 19, 20, 21...) Look in the lower left. I was trying to get every last point in the corner, so I did a "double hane", moves A2-B3-C4. This is too greedy. By trying to play right up against my opponent and grab every point, I end up with weak stones that can't stay connected.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSVYsXDSB55lX2XBlp_yrOnqvF6DBM3RfOKNkPHUyX0tkFn7GJvR3roPpsoNH4HpJuADjWByH2v7CB2FxWrEbv4Yai_Y2gEZQIgvUuiLf73ba9QJXeEQaYMfklRw1WG8vmYSebUyFmQ5Q/s1600-h/Overplay5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSVYsXDSB55lX2XBlp_yrOnqvF6DBM3RfOKNkPHUyX0tkFn7GJvR3roPpsoNH4HpJuADjWByH2v7CB2FxWrEbv4Yai_Y2gEZQIgvUuiLf73ba9QJXeEQaYMfklRw1WG8vmYSebUyFmQ5Q/s320/Overplay5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230287213176930594" border="0" /></a><br />White punishes this overplay with the moves below - further reducing my lower left territory.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrrv5wUbiABDcpuM1tZagAoImS0OTTJzKHNnFrnkgU5snKaQW0dCxAacspz-q1x8zMmXcp0q97Op8K9Wi6-YDQlaeGb8GrCy6xRN8SOLjzL1zey_tlCtbETtXqFEgTD8__jHKHHTgjYPV/s1600-h/Overplay6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrrv5wUbiABDcpuM1tZagAoImS0OTTJzKHNnFrnkgU5snKaQW0dCxAacspz-q1x8zMmXcp0q97Op8K9Wi6-YDQlaeGb8GrCy6xRN8SOLjzL1zey_tlCtbETtXqFEgTD8__jHKHHTgjYPV/s320/Overplay6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230287295201921666" border="0" /></a><br />So, the summary of this post is: Grab and secure as much of the corners and sides as possible, focus on this with a very heightened urgency. Get as much territory as you can around the edges, but with solid moves that don't leave you overextended. If you win the battle around the outside, you should only need to reduce your opponents area in the center and you will be headed for a win.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-4694586798666003222008-07-31T14:23:00.000-07:002008-07-31T14:51:58.287-07:00Turn based online play - more fun than expectedI volunteered to play in a tournament with some other GoDiscussions.com regulars. It was being hosted on <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/index.php">OGS</a>. I hadn't tried any games on a turn-based system, so I was feeling a bit like a newbie player. But I signed up, and figured I would be playing a game as if we were emailing moves back and forth.<br /><br />Well, things happen alot faster than I expected. We built a 9 player tournament and that means each player plays all 8 other participants twice - once as black and once as white. The big surprise was you play all 16 games AT THE SAME TIME!!<br /><br />So, even if a few players don't show up in a day, you still have a bunch of games that you can move in. I think many of the players leave a browser window open to the site and check on their games whenever they get a few minutes. The point is that you can get a lot more than 1 move per game in each day. What I actually expected to feel slow feels really good. There is a lot less anxiety when you only have to play 1 move. If the position is really dificult, you can just skip that game and work on it when you have more time.<br /><br />Games are played with Fischer time measured in days. Our tourney was set up as 7 days, plus 1 day time added per move, max time on the clock of 7 days. So, you could theoretically wait a whole week for 1 move, and then play 7 moves the next day and be back up to the max time on the clock.<br /><br />I was concerned about trying to play on a second server, but at this point I like <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/index.php">OGS</a> better. Getting back into the realtime games on KGS may be more of a challenge. <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/index.php">OGS</a> has some other nice features like official tournaments, ranking via ELO, bots to help you establish rank, and their ladders.<br /><br />The ladders are a neat feature where everyone who wants to join gets on a big list. There are some rules about who you are allowed to challenge, but basically everyone plays everyone else on the ladder. If you win, you move to the spot above your opponent. So it is a big GO version of 'king of the mountain'. It makes me think of the insei program where all the students are playing each other to get to the top so they can take the pro exam. <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/index.php">OGS</a> has 3 ladders - a 19x19 ladder, 13x13 and 9x9.<br /><br />I have played a few bot games to try to establish rank, and I think I will join the 19x19 ladder soon as well. I say give a turn-based server a chance! Take a look at both <a href="http://online-go.nainwak.org/index.php">OGS</a> (Online Go Server) and <a href="http://www.dragongoserver.net/">DGS</a> (Dragon Go Server) - maybe one will seem right for you!Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-80063135737337965542008-07-22T14:30:00.000-07:002008-07-22T14:46:42.522-07:00Watched entire HnG seriesI have been looking for inspiration to help me improve my GO in all directions. Not sure why, really, but I felt like I needed to watch all the Hikaru no Go episodes...so I did. I think it is a pretty good Japanese-style cartoon (manga) with a pretty linear plotline. The one interesting twist is Sai. Of course it is all about GO, so if you like manga and GO, I think you would enjoy it quite a bit.<br />I think watching it actually helped me, in the attitude department. I was able to see Hikaru's drive to improve. I watched the characters review games with their high level dan sensei - and although I understood the concepts they discussed I can't really apply them to my own game yet. It made me want to improve enough to see what they saw on the board.<br />The concern I have about rank seemed to be addressed as well. All you can really ever do on the GO board is "test your strength". Ranks don't really matter so much. So that is my new mantra when I consider playing - I need to "test my strength".<br />If I understood the ways to use thickness, had confidence in my groups level of connectedness, and could read better I wouldn't really care about my rank. I would be able to appreciate the subtleties of the game.<br />So, I guess I think Hikaru no Go is a motivational story for GO players. I think it could be a good break from playing and studying, worth rewatching every few years.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779356480335398168.post-90404709403737708392008-07-11T16:24:00.000-07:002008-07-11T16:41:26.122-07:00Free game with BuzzsawI have posted on my occasional resistance/fear of playing on KGS. Too caught up in ratings, etc. But I logged in the other day and saw buzzsaw online. I am a fan of her blog and so she has "celebrity status" for me. I decided to be brave and ask her to play a game. We played a free game, I got 5 stones and lost, but I was happier than I have been playing most of my online games.<br /><br />It made me realize that I have been missing out on the "playing" part of the game. Rated games feel like you are in a tournament. These serious, competitive games are fun sometimes but they don't feel personal. I guess "free" games are intended to be casual games, but I have always viewed free games as "I don't want to mess with my rating" games.<br /><br />I want the equivalent of a "curl up on the sofa with a good book" game. A comfortable game. A friendly game where each player wants to do well, but is also happy to point out better continuations, or try variations. This interactive learning style of "playing" doesn't translate so well to computers I guess.<br /><br />Having a friendly rival of about the same strength, who I could play over the board at the local coffee shop sounds like it would be the best. I guess I need to start checking out the GO scene and finding some opponents here in town rather than just in cyberspace.Vulturhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896398965433746548noreply@blogger.com3