I haven’t had a chance to really talk about this much, but I’m actually going to be headed to Hong Kong in less than a week! As you might expect, it’s been a busy rush to get all my ducks in line and make sure I don’t have any lingering things to do when I leave.

One of the things I’m pondering about however, is how I’m going to be utilizing my time during those long hours on the plane. I’m debating bringing a magnetic go set so I can use it on the plane, but then I worry that I’ll spill the bowls and all the pieces will go everywhere on the plane. Still a little on the fence about what I’m going to do, but so far it seems like I might just use it to do some serious life and death studying. I’m open to suggestions though!

Most importantly, if ANYONE has any connections to people who play go in Hong Kong (or know a friend of a friend who might be able to help me out), please let me know since I would love to be able to do at least one go related activity while in Hong Kong. It would be awesome if I could play with some locals and have something go-related to commemorate the trip with!

I definitely will be doing a post on my Hong Kong trip after I get back, but I’m really hoping to have some go-related material in there if possible. Although worst case scenario, you’ll just have to endure numerous photos of food and stories instead. Guess that’s not so bad right? But it would definitely be epic if I could have at least one go anecdote in there, here’s to hoping…

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.

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!!!!!!!!!!

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!

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.

I’ve been making a more active effort lately to play more. Although it has been good to play real games once again, I have been on a bit of a losing streak.

As most people might think, it’s been a bit frustrating and I almost thought about stopping again for a while; but then it dawned on me, I was caught up in being overly aggressive and trying to kill everything once again. Should an opponent play something I deemed “incorrect” or “improper,” I felt like it was my mission to punish them. However, it wasn’t enough to simply gain profit. No no, each time I would try to dominate my opponent and kill a group or two.

Sigh. This bloodlust is definitely taking a toll on my enjoyment of the game. That combined with the losing streak is not helping since I’m on tilt; but alas, this is part of the journey to getting another stone stronger. I’m sure there’s just a critical mistake I keep making in my games that keeps costing me the game (along with a poor mental state of mind). Anyhow, hope your games are going better than mine.

PS. Be sure to be on the lookout for tomorrow’s Weekly Go Wednesday! I’ll be featuring an exclusive duo review by frozensoul and I on the recent Gu Li vs Lee Sedol Jubango Game 1. In the review, there will be comment on E-V-E-R-Y move. I am hoping that this helps to allow players of all strength levels to appreciate the game. So till then!

Some of you already know, but I went to one of the local malls and volunteered to teach go for the Chinese New Year 2014 celebration. As you can see in the little collage I put together above, there were nice decorations along with performances in the center of the mall. Definitely felt like Chinese New Year! Haha. And of course, how could you have a Chinese New Year celebration without go? (I might be a little biased though xD)

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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.