Archive: undefined/2014

Weekly Progress Report: #08

Overview

Two months has come and gone. While I haven’t been able to make much headway on time to play more games, it’s been satisfying to know that I have been able to maintain my training regimen all this time. The past me would have been unsatisfied with the progress I’ve made thus far, but I know better than to expect more than what I’ve been able to accomplish. In fact, I’m even in the process of tweaking the training regimen so that it becomes even more effective with minimal effort. I’ll be sure to update it when I think I’ve made a change that has been useful.

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Journal Entry: #09

As I continue embarking on an effort to achieve whole board vision on my approach to my life, I have to say that I have nothing but thanks for my past self for designing the training regimen the way I did.

One of the things I noticed about many go players that I have met is that we all seem to view go as much more than a hobby. It is a skill, an embodiment of a philosophy, or simply a core part of who we are. So instead of seeing it as a hobby, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of us would jump at the opportunity to study go or play go on a part-time/full-time basis.

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Monday Go Meditation: Game 69

In today's go meditation, I am glad to welcome back fellow friend and go player Bonscott. For those who don't remember, I've played a number of even games against Bonscott (even though there is a few stones difference between our ranks) and actually lost quite a few of them before. So when he challenged me to a game recently, I made sure to not underestimate him!

In terms of the game, you'll get to see the rather uncommon 3-3 opening. In addition, this is a good game for study in regards to the importance of selecting the correct strategy in conjunction with your opening moves. As you progress through the game, you will notice that Black's attempt to shift from territorial to moyo and how it results in a difficult uphill battle for Black.

Finally, in light of Halloween last Friday, I’ve included a fun life and death problem with a pretty detailed variations at the end of the game. Hope that you enjoy this game!

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Weekly Progress Report: #07

Overview

Man. The time sure does fly by doesn’t it? It only felt like just yesterday when I rebooted this series and yet here I am seven weeks in.

To be honest, part of me feels like after almost two months, you would think I would have something significant to report; but even this week, the focus is still on the same goal: consistency. At the end of the day, consistency is not nearly so glamorous as a huge gesture of studying that usually fizzles out with an equally bad burnout. On the upside though, I’m at least working on go on a daily basis without impacting the rest of my life in any significant way. And while it still takes a little bit out of me to keep this discipline, I’m thinking that eventually it will become more automatic and ingrained in my routine.

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Journal Entry: #08

Thanks to Gurujeet for this photo!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the NOVA Pumpkin Classic Tournament and seeing many friends there. And though I originally planned on playing in the tournament that day, I ended up being on call for work and thus planned on only attending to see friends and show my support.

Upon arrival though, I got convinced to play in the first round since we had even numbers. And while I would have liked to have played for more rounds, it was simply not possible for me to do so with a possible work call coming at any moment.

On the upside, I did get to play a round against an opponent I had played against in the Baduk Open Championship. I had decided to self-promote to 1k this time and was giving her a 2 stone handicap. The following is the game record (which I will be sure to review in a future Monday Go Meditation).

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Monday Go Meditation: Game 68

For this week’s meditation, we are going to be reviewing my first professional simul game from Go Congress - Day 1! Through this game, you’ll get to witness the enduring strength of professionals in simul games. Even though the game looks overwhelmingly in Black’s advantage for a good portion of the game, it is in the middle game where their precise analysis becomes extremely evident.

In case there are those wondering though, Dahye’s felt that I played well for most of the game; but as you’ll see in the game, an oversight on the security of my own groups was the ultimate reason for my demise. Hope that you enjoy the game!

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Weekly Progress Report: #06

Overview

As I continue into the second stretch of non-stop hammering of work and attempts to sustain consistency, I’m happy to report that while I feel pretty winded, I don’t feel anything close to burnout yet. On top of that, I’ve actually come to realize that executing my routines first thing in the morning seem to work out pretty well for me. On days that I didn’t manage to do so usually resulted in a last minute scramble to get it done at the end of the night, but I’m hanging on as best I can.

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Journal Entry: #07

The only way I can describe the past few days is that it has been a flurry of work and attempts to straighten out other aspects of my life (like working out more consistently and waking up early). On the upside though, I’ve been rather successful at those things and have actually found that doing my training regimen early in the morning is actually quite effective. There’s definitely something about knocking out four pages of problems and playing a game of 9x9 first thing in the morning that really makes for a good start during my day. I’ll be sure to report more later on this week on how it goes.

Monday Go Meditation: Game 67

For this week’s meditation, we are turning back the clock to my first game at the Go Congress 2014 — Prelude! For those who need a refresher, this game was from the day I arrived in New York and was asked to play a match while we were waiting for people to arrive. It’s a fun game that shows just how you can find the opportunity to reverse a game if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and complicate things. Hope you enjoy this game!

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Book Review: The Road Map to Shodan, Volume 2

The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game

Description: “In this book, 20 basic principles are presented. Each principle is accompanied by numerous examples and each section is followed by problems in which the application of these principles is required to solve them. The intuition of the novice player who studies the principles, examples, and problems presented in this book will quickly rise to the level of an expert go player.”

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