Friday Go Forward: Week 54

Overview

This week marks the start of my race towards the dan wall that all kyu players are striving to overcome. I’ve tried playing more recently, and I’ve completely ramped up my training regimen. In the past, I’ve tried alternating between time-based training versus task-based training and kept finding something lacking about each. As a result, I’ve decided to do a fusion this time around to really get the ball rolling. I’m really hoping that it will gain some traction this time.

Secondly, I wanted to give a shoutout to a fellow go player Lizardfish (aka Eulerstotle for those who knew him before) who started a new go site called Lizardfish’s GO Notes. He approaches the notion of explaining go topics through PDF’s as opposed to SGF’s (which can be quite confusing if designed poorly). Be sure to check it out! Definitely looking forward to seeing more of his work.

Finally, in case you missed it, I am going to be heading out to Hong Kong this week and will be pretty MIA for the next week. However, I am happy to announce that none of the weekly articles (i.e., Monday Go Meditation) will be taking a hiatus. I’m not sure what my internet connection will be like, but I’ll be sure to try and update as best as I can. So if I don’t get a chance to get online next week, I’ll see you all after I get back!

Training Regimen

• Reading Ability - Work on the tasks below until whichever comes first.*

  • Work on go problems for 30 minutes.
  • Work on 200 go problems.
    *This is a way to split the difference between task based versus time based training. If you work faster than normal, and can get through 200 (or whichever number you decide on) problems. Kudos to you. But in the event you’re having trouble and need more time to work on the problems, just keep at it until 30 minutes is up (or whatever time you think it best for you).

Games

• KGS - 2 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• OGS - 6 ongoing games | 1 completed games

Books

• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.

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.

Friday Go Forward: Week 52

Overview

Can you believe that this post represents a full year of my Friday Go Forward posts? As I glance through some of my earlier ones, I have to say that it’s interesting to see how the series has changed over time. At one point its as incredibly detailed as to what I was doing, and then got general, and then back to a bit more specific again. I do think that I would like to eventually return to a very detailed weekly update, but I’ve yet to figure out a way to do that in a sustainable fashion, so hopefully you’ll bear with me until then. =)

Overall though, this week has been a good week in terms of building up sustainable change and habits. As some of you might have noticed, there was a post for each day this week! The cool part about that is that it didn’t take too much effort on my part to push out the content. If anything, it was more about simply being disciplined and just taking some time out of my day (that I might have used for some other unproductive activity) to write what’s on my mind. The Weekly Go Wednesday article could probably have used some polishing, but hopefully I’ll have that ironed out as time goes on.

In terms of the game itself, I am still working on a more disciplined life and death training along with trying to play more games. They still cause me some anxiety before I play, but I’m hoping that it goes away after some time.

Finally, best of luck to my friend Nate, Yuki, and anyone else who will be attending the New Jersey Open Go Tournament at Princeton! I’m looking forward to hearing about your games and how the tournament goes. Wish I could be there!

Training Regimen

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

Games

• KGS - 3 games
• DGS - 2 ongoing games
• OGS - 6 ongoing games

Books

• Worked 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.

Friday Go Forward: Week 51

Overview

This week has been a little lax in terms of playing actual games, but I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my goals and have really started to slowly come to terms with matching my drive to get better at go with some of my other goals in life. So in other words, instead of the brilliant flash of energy and vigor that I used to put out (which was then followed by an equally tragic burnout), it feels as if the energy is brewing in a slower but much more sustainable way this time. Not sure how this translates into tasks and such yet, but only time will tell.

Training Regimen

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

  • Note: I’ve been trying to do 10 problems a day from the Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume 1, but I have to admit that it’s been more of a skimming style where I try for a little bit and then look at the solution to see if my instincts were correct. This has not been terribly beneficial for my reading skills as a whole, and I have plans to approach this differently once I’m done with the book.

Games

• KGS - 0 games
• DGS - 1 ongoing game || 1 finished game
• OGS - 6 ongoing games || 7 finished games

Books

• Worked 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.

Friday Go Forward: Week 50

Overview

It’s been great getting to slowly have go pick up in my life again. Starting with the go workshop I volunteered at the mall last weekend, it’s been a little tumultuous since I’m dealing with old habits that have plagued me for quite some time; however, I’m glad to be back into it and trying to work through it. Just taking it one move at a time…

Training Regimen

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

Games

• KGS - 0 games
• DGS - 2 ongoing games
• OGS - 5 ongoing games + 3 finished games

Books

• Worked 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.

Friday Go Forward: Week 49

Overview

Another week has passed me by and man have I been swamped. On the upside, I am starting to be able to grasp my to-do list and really start cutting it down to size. It’s certainly been a big relief as I continue working on multiple aspects of my life. Once again, I must apologize for being so absent this week; but I am really hoping to be coming back full swing with real consistency soon. So until then, hope all is well with you and your journey to gaining the next stone!

PS. I’ve updated my Leather Goban Review to include information on how it was made. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t read it already!

Training Regimen

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

Games

• KGS - 0 games
• DGS - 1 ongoing game
• OGS - 5 ongoing games

Books

• Worked 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.
• Finished Fighting Fundamentals by Robert Jasiek.

Friday Go Forward: Week 48

Overview

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It’s the Year of the Horse and with that I think the theme for this new (lunar) year will be charging forward full speed!

I’ve been a little quieter this week than I would have liked, but I’ve started on some new ventures that I think will greatly enhance my life and I’ll be sure to report on them once I feel I’ve settled down and gotten in a good rhythm with it. But meanwhile, I’ve been working hard on figuring out how to do game reviews effectively without consuming a lot of time. It seems as if I’m constantly trying to catch up on creating game reviews no matter how hard I try. I think the plan is to try and review the games immediately after in order to speed up the process.

Second, I have been much more active on KGS that I have been in the past. In particular, I have actually started playing longer games again (i.e., 30 minutes main time each person). Many thanks goes out to my friend Nate for helping me get back on track. I will write a post on his advice to me later, so be looking out for that later.

The other focus of mine has been to get the rest of my reviews finished within the next week or so. I still have a couple of product and book reviews to finish and they’ve been hanging over my head. So hopefully I’ll be able to get those done ASAP so I can alleviate that weight off my back.

Finally, you’ll probably notice that I but the training regimen in half. This is due to the fact that I was actually having a hard time simply doing 10 a day. It’s not so much that I “couldn’t,” but more along the lines of I was unable to be consistent since the 10 problems felt like a lot more when you also have like 30 other things that need your attention that day. So I’m dropping it down to 5 to see if that can get me to a perfectly consistent level.

Training Regimen

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

Games

• KGS - 2 games
• DGS - 1 ongoing game
• OGS - 7 ongoing games

Books

• Worked 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.
• Worked on Fighting Fundamentals by Robert Jasiek.

Friday Go Forward: Week 47

Overview

This week is all about playing catchup and getting back to where I was prior to my trip. While it was fun, I have to say that it threw me more out of sync than I would have liked. No matter. Content is back up and running and I’ll do my best to prevent it from stopping again.

In terms of overall, the highlight of the week is definitely finding out about Kaz’s Online Go School. If you haven’t heard about it, go check out my post and I definitely recommend that you sign up! Even if you can’t make all the classes, Kaz will send you the game record from the lesson and it will include his written comments (since he won’t be using a mic). Isn’t that great?

Other than that, I’ve been doing my best to actually start playing again. Trying to not put so much pressure on myself before each game. I still get a bit anxious before playing, but I’m hoping that will get better over time. See you all next week!

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 10 minutes) - My California trip totally threw off my training regimen. So this training has been lacking lately. Trying to get back on track this week. Hopefully it’ll be back to normal by next week.

Games

• KGS - 1 game
• DGS - 1 ongoing game
• OGS - 7 ongoing games

Books

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

Videos

• None this week. Been super swamped in California. Haha.

Tiny Habit

1. Every time I use the restroom, I will do 5 tsumego problems.

Friday Go Forward: Week 46

Overview

This week has got increasingly crazy with work and such, but I’m proud to say that I’ve managed to keep up with all that I’ve wanted to do in regards to go so far. I still have a bit to go before my habits become a lot easier to execute without it feeling slightly laborious, but it’s nice to feel like I’m making some real and steady progress. Hope you all are doing well!

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 10-15 minutes) Though the recommended problem set would obviously be life and death, other problems like tesuji and endgame are more than adequate. Be sure to pick problems that are around or even slightly below your level. Remember, your goal is just a bit of exposure to go everyday. And if you think it’s not that much, that is the entire point. Because it’s only a small mouthful, there is little excuse for not doing it everyday.

Games

• KGS - 0 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• OGS - 10 ongoing games

Books

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

Videos

• None this week. =(

Tiny Habit

1. Every time I use the restroom, I will do 5 tsumego problems.

Friday Go Forward: Week 45

Overview

They say if you want to start out anything, start out strong. So in lieu of starting strong with the blog, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and bring back Friday Go Forwards! I’m still on the fence about the overall format of the post (in terms of making it as informative and useful to you), but I’ll continue with what I have for now and hopefully inspiration will strike me (or you can leave a comment and be my muse! xD).

In terms of my progress as a player, I have rebooted my entire training regimen and am starting with the lowest common denominator: go problems. The key to any sort of growth is most certainly consistency. And since 2013 was a bit rocky for me, I would really like to use 2014 to build a well-oiled and super efficient machine. So if you’re interested in trying to gain the next stone while not taking a huge amount of time, join me as I pursue the ideal training regimen.

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 10-15 minutes) Though the recommended problem set would obviously be life and death, other problems like tesuji and endgame are more than adequate. Be sure to pick problems that are around or even slightly below your level. Remember, your goal is just a bit of exposure to go everyday. And if you think it’s not that much, that is the entire point. Because it’s only a small mouthful, there is little excuse for not doing it everyday. Good luck!

Games

• KGS - 2 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• OGS - 11 ongoing games

Books

• Started working on Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume One: 300 Life-and-Death Problems.
• Completed Position Judgement 1 - Territory by Robert Jasiek.

Videos

• Baduk TV English: Kim Seongryong’s 007 Lessons: Lesson 1