Friday Go Forward: Week #5

Games

• KGS - 3 games ( 2 win : 1 loss )
• Real Life - 2 games ( 1 win : 1 loss )

Tsumego

• Essential Life & Death (Vol. 2) - Pages 82 - 87

Other

• Elementary Go Series, Volume 3 - Tesuji - Pages 1 - 22
• Dictionary of Basic Joseki, Volume 1 - Pages 1 - 15

Thoughts

Although I haven’t played as much as I might have liked, this week has been pretty interesting in terms of the various activities I’ve had going on. My go studying has taken on more flavors and variety, which has greatly increased my enjoyment of what I’m learning. In addition, it feels as if I’m starting to think less and less of winning, which is something I hope to ingrain permanently into my being. There are a number of reasons due to this spark of an epiphany. One that I will mention in particular is from Hajime no Ippo.

The line comes from a scene after the main character, Ippo, manages to win against a boxer who’s goal was to become like his idol. When analyzing what happened and why Ippo won (even though he was an underdog), the idol said:

It was the result of different goals between the challengers. Those who try to reach and those who try to surpass.

Although I’ve heard similar lines to this before, it was rather profound to me when I read it (perhaps due to the emotional attachment to characters and the story). And to be honest, I think there’s a lot of truth in there. Because in actuality, my goal is not to simply reach shodan; but to surpass it entirely.