Archive: undefined/2014

A Retrospective on 2014

Hey everyone. Sorry that I’ve been MIA for a while. As you might have guessed, I’ve been caught up with work along with the many obligations that come with the holiday season. Lots of late nights, running errands, cooking, cleaning, etc.

While I haven’t been able to blog as much as I would like, I couldn’t bear the thought of ending 2014 without some sort of retrospective.

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Weekly Progress Report: #11

Overview

Hey everyone. Sorry for not updating the weekly status report for the last two weeks. I’ve been doing a bit of introspection and came to the realization that everything had started to become a bit too mundane for my liking. I know that this runs slightly counter to my whole notion of “consistency,” but I feel like there comes a point when it becomes robotic (which is the last thing I want for this blog).

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Stirring the Embers Once Again...

As many of you are aware, the legendary Go Seigen passed away on November 30th. I’ve been wracking my brain for a way to properly honor him, but it is still eluding me. To help the process out, I decided that it would be a good start working through my collection of his games again. As I played through his game (above), I started to feel the embers begin to catch flame again.

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Good at the Opening? Blasphemy!

I’ve had the good fortune of playing with two 5+ dans recently. Though my game crumbled very quickly in the middle game, I received interesting feedback from both players: I have a good sense of the opening.

To say I was surprised was a bit of an understatement. One of the things I always prided myself in was the willingness to fight and dive into complicated situations. So naturally, I always assumed that the strongest part of my game would be the middle game. Apparently I am wrong. Haha.

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One-Space Low Pincer-Phobia

As I’ve been starting to unravel the tightly wound knot that has been at the core of my fear to play games the way I used to, one of the things I noticed is that there is one joseki in particular that has played a major role in my discomfort at playing full games.

Yup. The one-space low pincer to the high-one space approach to the 3-4. Words cannot express how much I hated seeing that move played against me due to one simple fact: I have no idea how to properly play against it.

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Weekly Progress Report: #10

Overview

Looks like Monday Go Meditation will continue to be on break for a little bit; but on the upside, that comes with the contingency that it seems like I am working my way back into playing games again (which will inadvertently make the MGM’s that much more meaningful as time goes on).

Life and work continues to try to drown me in all of its priorities as I shift gears and prepare to ramp up things. And while I am a tad tired and busted up (particularly from the workouts), it does feel like I am making progress. In addition, I’ve given my training regimen an official tweak with a more variety of problem difficulty along with a new training system I’ve been testing out for a little while. I’ll be sure to post a full review on it when I feel like I’ve fully vetted it.

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Journal Entry: #11

Over the last few days, part of my subconscious was nagging me for spending so much time not playing a single game. And while I did play at least one 9x9 game a day, it has been ages since I last played a full 19x19 game in real time. And for those who want to count the one at the Pumpkin Classic, that doesn’t really count since I wasn’t planning to play. So in another sense, I have been avoiding playing games in real time.

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Weekly Progress Report: #09

Overview

As the weeks have piled on, it’s only to be expected that I would eventually hit a burnout period of some sort. This week seemed to show signs of it, but I’ve managed to weather the storm for the most part. My training regimen hasn’t been impacted at all, but I’m afraid that Monday Go Meditation will have to be on break next week.

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Journal Entry: #10

Although progress seems to have been a bit slow, I’m happy to report that I actually finished Jump Level Up 2 recently. When I first started the book, I have to admit that I was concerned it would take too long; but before I knew it, it’s finished and I’m onto the next volume! Hoorah for steady progress.

Even though I have some concern regarding my lack of playing, I’m still happy that I’m able to continue studying at a consistent pace amidst the craziness of life. In the meantime, I’ll just continue living vicariously through my friends and look forward to the day I will be playing consistently.

Monday Go Meditation: Game 70

For this week's go meditation, I am featuring my game from the Pumpkin Classic that I had the pleasure of visiting for a round. This game was an interesting challenge for me since it had been a while since I had played a game in person, let alone play a handicap game. As this is a handicap game where I play White, I hope that my thoughts throughout the game will help you understand better why players sometimes make the moves they do in handicap games. Enjoy!

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