Friday Go Forward: Week 53

Overview

As the weeks have gone on, it’s been great to feel a sustainable change happening in regards to my discipline towards blogging along with go itself. In case any of you missed it, Go Congress is coming up soon! So in light of that, I am really aiming to step up my training in preparation for it. My goal is to become a solid dan player before Go Congress. Might be impossible, but I’ll never know till I try. So with that said, here’s to the start of overcoming the monumental hurdle all kyu players are aiming for: climbing over the dan wall and never falling back (aka not jumping between 1k and 1d). Ikuzo!

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)

Games

• KGS - 4 games
• DGS - 2 ongoing games
• OGS - 7 ongoing games | 4 completed games

Books

• Finished on Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume One: 300 Life-and-Death Problems.
• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.

Weekly Go Wednesday: Issue #33

As some of you know, Gu Li and Lee Sedol recently had their second game in their jubango. And because the feedback on my review of Gu Li and Lee Sedol’s first jubango game was positive, I am happy to announce that I will continue reviewing every game from this jubango! Before we get into the review itself though, there are a couple of things I wanted to mention.

1. In response to your feedback from my review of Gu Li and Lee Sedol’s first jubango game, this review was created to include more of my reactions and thoughts on the game as opposed to simply trying to “teach people what’s going on.”
2. However, I do want to emphasize that I still believe firmly in providing a thorough breakdown of the game in order to allow players of all strengths to be able to follow the game and gain more enjoyment from it. So continuing with the same format as before, there is commentary for every single move regardless of how “obvious” it might seem.
3. Though frozensoul and I were able to combine forces on the first game, I was unable to get together with him in time for me to release this post. So this game review is solely my doing and therefore all ideas and analyses come from the best I have in my SDK brain. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to collaborate with him and/or other stronger players as well.
4. For more advanced reviews, be sure to keep an eye out on World Go Online and GoGameGuru since I’m sure they will have their own in the near future.
   I hope that you enjoy the review and improved format. Be sure to leave comments as the format is still a work in progress and I am always trying to make the reading experience a more enjoyable one for you!

Credit for the kifu and some insights go to GoGameGuru

Update: There is a correction to the score I reported in the kifu. Due to Chinese counting, the final score was actually a half point win for Lee Sedol. Though it didn’t change the result of the game, it definitely only adds to the epicness and excitement of the game!

In case anyone doesn’t get the AGA E-Journal, it’s been officially announced that Go Congress will be held in New York this year!

For those wondering why I’m so excited, it’s because even though I have been blogging for a few years now and played for an equal amount of time, I have never been to a Go Congress.

Yep… So anyhow, unless there is some cosmic force at play that I’m not aware of (where I’m destined to never go to a Go Congress), I will move heaven and earth to go this year. And so if you have any interest in going, please check out the link below and start getting ready for it!

U.S. Go Congress Official Site

So excited!!!!!!!!!!

Graded Go Problems for Dan Players: Volume One - 300 Life-and-Death Problems (5-kyu to 3-dan)

Description: This is the first volume of the continuing series to the popular “Graded Go Problems for Beginners.” This first book is focused on providing life-and-death techniques that are foundational to developing stronger reading abilities as players try to climb their way into dan status.

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As I’ve been playing games here and there, I realized something: I’ve completely lost my sense of creativity. And while that might seem slightly odd since I’m talking about a game as opposed to something artistic, it’s not as weird as you may think.

This dawned on me primarily when I was going over Gu Li and Lee Sedol’s second game from their jubango (which is coming next week), and I just realized how rigid my fuseki has been lately. I got so comfortable and expected certain responses that the opening became more of a ritual than anything else.

I remember looking back at my old games and being so surprised at how adventurous I was. In one game when I was a DDK, I even had the audacity to try a 5-4 opening. Hahaha. So with today being the first day of March, I’ve decided that it’s time for a fresh start. I plan on approaching the game from a new perspective and with an open mind and break away from my conventional play! Ikuzo!