Hey everyone! Just wanted to drop in and let you all know about a brand new go server that is currently in beta: Bitcoin Go! Though currently still undergoing development and being in beta, one of the unique factors about them is that they will be using bit coins (aka digital currency) as prizes for the tournaments! Isn’t that awesome?

So since it won’t cost you a thing, be sure to get on over to Bitcoin Go and sign up for an account and become a beta tester with them! And if you have any suggestions or notice any bugs, feel free to contact the developers. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and playing with Steven and he was really responsive and friendly. So don’t delay, go check it out! =)

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.

Hey everyone. Sorry that I have been a little MIA over the past week. I was out of town for a little over a week and have just been incredibly swamped. Haha. I was ready for being kind of busy, but nothing like what the trip held for me. As a result, everything got thrown out of sync and content is on break this week until I can recalibrate my brain and get back on track. Hope all is well with everyone!

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

Happy new years everyone! 2013 has come and gone and 2014 is now upon us! And though I’m one that comes from the philosophy of living each day to the fullest and not waiting till the beginning of the year to start change, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to do a little new years resolution for the blog!

New Year Resolution #1. Change the hosting service that I am using.

For all those who have experienced times when the blog have gone down, I sincerely apologize for the fact that my hosting site has been absolutely terrible. I am growing tired of their frequent outages and will definitely be looking for a change in hosting service. You cannot believe how many times I tried to login to write posts or prepare material only to find that my server was down. Bleh. So if you have any recommendations, please be sure to pass them on.

New Year Resolution #2. Write at least one post every week.

As some of you are aware, there have been a number of times where I try to take on way more than I can (healthily) handle. As a result, I’ve burnt out and gone through more down points than I’d care to admit. So instead of trying to accomplish a goal that might lend itself to another crash and burnout, I’m hoping to simply stick to being disciplined and working consistently rather than short bursts.

New Year Resolution #3. Give the blog a brand new design.

This one is definitely a bit ambitious; but since it’s the beginning of the year, I think that this is something that will be more feasible as time goes on. Although I have tried my best to make the experience of my blog as user friendly and pleasant as possible, I know that it falls short in a number of areas and can use a big overhaul. So if there’s going to be one resolution that is going to be a grand overture, might as well let it be this one. =D

And though I could probably go on, I think that the key to making 2014 successful is to have broader goals that feed into the grand vision. The smaller goals (i.e., do 100 tsumego problems a day) are ones that will come and go as I progress through 2014, so we’ll get to those as they come. So with that, here’s to our first step in 2014. Onwards!

As the new year is about to be upon us, I thought it only be fitting that I write a retrospective post on how my go has gone in 2013. Seeing as this might be a long post, let’s get started shall we?

#1. How strong have I gotten? Well, based on KGS ranking, I started 2013 with a whopping rank of 6k. And after 12 months, it seems I have only gotten 2 stones stronger. Haha. Most will probably disagree with this rating though since the frequency of me playing ranked games dropped dramatically sometime in the middle of the year. So it’s probably more accurate to say that I gained around 3 stones. =)

#2. What is my proudest accomplishment? Though not necessarily about my actual progress as a player, I think 2013 has been a success in regards to the go blog! Though you are free to correct me if I’m wrong, it has been quite productive and I’m proud that I’ve managed to have been writing consistently throughout the entire 2013. As a result of my blog, I have met many new friends and forged new bonds that I have deeply treasured!

#3. What is the biggest lesson I learned this year? I’ve been through quite a few ups and downs this year in my go, and so if I can pass on one lesson it is this: Play for fun. The moment you get so deep in the competitive nature of it and the obsession over gaining another stone, you’ll find the game much harder to enjoy and you’ll be burnt out before you know it. And for those who really want a lesson in regards to the game itself, I would say it is this: Before every move, check to see if you have any (important) weak groups.

#4. What would I have done differently? In hindsight, I think I pushed myself too hard this year overall. Whether it was trying to crank out book reviews or churn out post after post, it put me through a lot of grief that was probably quite unnecessary. So if I could go back and change one thing, it would be to have approached things with more a relaxed and carefree mindset.

#5. What are my final thoughts before 2014 is upon me? Though I might not have progressed as much as I would have liked in 2013, it certainly has been a rather interesting journey. I am hoping that the I will be able to learn from my mistakes in 2013 and approach 2014 with a new passion and energy that will burn brightly for the year to come.

I hope that you all have enjoyed the blog in 2013, and I only hope to exceed your expectation in 2014. And as always, but especially today, please be sure to leave comments below if you have any ideas or suggestions for things I can do for 2014 so that I can continue to improve this blog for you! So for now, good-bye to 2013 and I look forward to seeing you on the other side in 2014! Sayonara!

First off, a happy belated holidays to everyone! I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get back sooner to the blog. I know what it’s like to keep checking for blog content only to see the same post for days on end. Hopefully though, that will be coming to an end.

As most of you know, December is a month of holidays, festive cheer, and a whole ton of things one after another as everyone is trying to wrap things up before the new year rolls in. While I would have loved to have gotten back to the blog sooner, I was caught up in the same hurricane as everyone else as 2014 quickly approached.

In all fairness though, I will have to admit that my December detour was more than just family, work, and holiday craziness. No, if it were only that, I think I would have found time to find time to squeeze out a post in the time I’ve been gone. The truth is that I’ve felt rather out of sorts lately, especially when it comes to my go. I’m not sure what the real reason is, but it is suffice to say that I chose to get some distance from it as a result.

My brief stint into League of Legends (LoL) turned into a bit more serious venture than I thought it would be. As a result of my need to get some perspective and distance from what I was doing with my go, I decided to dive into a different game that surprisingly has many similarities to go. It is said that a Korean player who passed the professional exam passed up his chance to be a pro go player because he wanted to become a professional LoL player instead. Haha. So naturally I had to investigate. (No worries though. I’m not abandoning go in the slightest sense of the word. xD)

I plan on writing a retrospective post to kind of overview what 2013 has been like for me, but I think this post has been a bit long as it stands. Haha. Luckily I have one more day before 2014 is upon us, so I hope to see you guys tomorrow. Till then!

I’ve been sick the last week or so. And against my better judgment, I thought it would be a great idea to try playing League of Legends (LoL) again. Haha. Fortunately after only a game or two, I was very quickly reminded of how much trash talking and just unnecessary cursing and name calling goes in those games. You get like 1 game of good sportsmanship for every like 10.

Anyhow, so then I was like, “Screw this! I’m just going to play go! Who cares if my rank drops or whatever. I’m just going to play and gain experience in go instead of trying to level up my account.” And what do I decide to play first thing in? Blitz.

Needless to say it was fraught with reckless play and incredible bloodlust. Just kill… get killed… try to kill again… and then ultimately combust in one fantastic poof where I resign. Haha. And the best part is that I decide to try and continue on to another game, which ends in a similar manner. I suspect that this may be induced by the League of Legends I had just played, but no matter.

Oh well. Haha. It’s times like these I have to look at myself and either fall into the emotional roller coaster I used to feel when I would lose like earlier, or to simply laugh it off and move on. And as someone who is currently working towards a path of zen, I choose the latter. =)