A couple days ago, I was doing some mitt work with my partner at the local boxing gym. About halfway into the round, I was getting visibly tired and close to exhaustion from trying to push beyond my limits. It was then though, that my partner said something that struck me:

Remember to breathe. Control your breathing.
Seems like such an obvious statement no? After all, don’t we all breathe subconsciously? Without breathing, we’d all be dead! What a stupid thing to say!

If you think such crude and rudimentary thoughts though, you are missing the point. The fact is that while I might have been “breathing,” the fact is that I was so caught up in punching and keeping good form that I forgot to breathe half the time. You might exclaim, “How does one forget to breathe Ben? That’s ridiculous!” And you’re right to some extent, but instead of breathing more efficiently through my nose and exhaling through my mouth, I was holding my breath half the time (without even realizing it due to concentrating so hard on punching and maintaing form) and taking short gasps of air with my mouth in between. It’s no wonder that I was winded and at the point of near collapse before the round was even halfway through.

So how does this relate to go?

The reason I went to great lengths to explain breathing in boxing is because it occurred to me that a similar thing was happening to kyu players. Instead of breathing however, I would make the analogy that kyu players often players fail to play moves with the whole board in mind. Similar to breathing, it is a given that every move that is played affects the board in some way shape or form. However, if we just play moves without making a conscious effort to understand or give it a purpose in regard to the entire board, it is just as if we are going through the motions of punching without remembering to breathe properly. And then the next thing you know, you’re out of breath and your opponent cuts off a big group and delivers the knockout punch.

Of course with time and experience, playing moves with respect to the entire board will be second nature; but while we still remain the weak kyu players that we are, we must be sure to make a conscious effort to take the entire board into consideration at all times. So to put my partner’s advice into another context:

Remember to consider the board as a whole before playing your next move.

Something interesting happened yesterday. I had just finished the arc in Hajime no Ippo&ei=6IoOUrG_FaWbygGL6oCwAg&usg=AFQjCNFFI0eP4wTVR8AszqReTx_t5ZpG1w&sig2=vGXcojo8m7DpILIfiStOww&bvm=bv.50768961,d.aWc) where Volg fights for a world title. And since I was looking to possibly play a game in real time, I got excited when I saw the chance to play someone from Russia. (For those who don’t understand the connection, Volg is a Russian boxer.) Before I knew it, I find myself neck deep in a complicated cross-fuseki game where all the fighting spirit I had been reading about had gotten into my blood and I was trying to strike at all of my opponent’s groups with everything I had.

There was one particular moment (towards the end of the game) where I found myself in a rather precarious situation where I could either make certain of absolute life or leave it up to a capturing race. I know that the old me (and probably a lot of other players) would have probably chosen the sure route to life. However, it felt kind of surreal as I glanced at the position and realized that I could just tenuki because I already knew the end-result of the capturing race: Black would never win due to a shortage of liberties.

The reason I’m writing about this is because I don’t think I’ve ever captured this kind of moment before in my journey. Do you know what I mean? It’s that moment where suddenly your training is starting to show its results and you feel as if something has dawned on you. In other words, all those tedious problems that I had practiced in the Level Up books had begun to show their true colors. Without much effort, I looked at my position and knew there was nothing to worry about.

I know that I have been kind of out of it the past week; but what happened in yesterday’s game is a testament to my efforts before. And I think it’s just what I needed to kick my butt back into gear with my training. Time to revisit my training menu once again!

Friday Go Forward: Week 28

Overview

Over this past week, I’ve been rather introspective about where I am in life and where I want to be over the next few years. While go has been an incredible addition to my life and has enriched in a more ways than I can count, I am working on figuring out how to utilize other aspects of growth to not only improve my overall self-achievement; but to also as transfer that knowledge back to go as well. A simple of example of this was my post on boxing earlier this week. So while my studying and playing has been rather laid back, I’m optimistic of the changes I’m making and the impact it’ll have on my go abilities. =)

Games

• KGS - 4 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 2 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Worked on Jump Level Up 1.
• Worked on Joseki Jeongseok Compass.
• Worked on Takao’s Astute Use of Brute Force.
• Worked on Fight Like a Pro.
• Worked on Get Strong at Joseki 1.
• Worked on The Workshop Lectures Volume 4.

I’ve been feeling rather off the last couple of days. Not sick or anything, but just feeling a little out of it. Haven’t really felt like studying, but it’s been fun playing a casual game here and there. But on a more important note, I just discovered a site called KGSBash. And if you’re wondering what it’s about, here are some that had me laughing…

_#54 _
adoreme: it is said that kgs has a secret end stage
adoreme: get 9dan
adoreme: and beat 50 9dans in a row
adoreme: then tartrate will appear as the endboss

_#49 _
RayFrost [2k]: I played a 3p today… with 9 handicap
RayFrost [2k]: I lost.
RayFrost [2k]: 3p is strong. :|
LazyDragon [3k]: i once played a 5p with 9hc - also lost …
tellone [2k]: i once played a very drunk 2p who forgot which collor he had
tellone [2k]: and i still lost

Oh KGS… Good times…

I’ve recently taken an interest in boxing, and I have to say that the more I study it, the more I can’t help but see similarities between boxing and go. Here are a few off the top of my head:

1. There are two players in each match.

2. Regardless of how badly each player might want to win, there can only be one victor at the end of the match.

3. Exchanging blows with your opponent is inevitable and necessary for a good match.

4. There are different styles of boxing that seem analogous the go styles as well (e.g., technician/point counter, infighter/fighting, etc.).

But most importantly of all, those who rise to the top are those who are instinctively faithful to the fundamentals.

After all, look at any boxer’s training regimen and what are you going to find? Running, jump rope, shadow boxing, combinations, sparring. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. There might be a few deviations occasionally depending on what muscle groups they need to build for certain techniques, but the training menu almost always consists of the fundamentals. And what does a fight primarily consist of? The basics: jab, cross, hook, uppercut, jab, jab…

So how is this relevant to go? Well, one topic that I know runs rampant throughout the community is the idea of getting stronger (especially for kyu players who want to reach dan level). And as I begin to study boxing, I can’t help but wonder what a go players training menu should look like? I mean sure, everyone will say do life and death problems, but that advice is so incredibly generic and subject to interpretation (as to how to study it) that I would guarantee that many players have gone astray and become frustrated with their progress because they couldn’t figure out what to do to keep getting better.

I know that no one has a magical formula for getting better at go; but I think that there is more wisdom that can be offered from my study of boxing in terms of trying to discover better guidelines for designing a training menu for go. After all, it’s not about knowing the most complicated joseki or knowing the common trick plays, but to instead constantly improve the fundamentals.

More on this as I continue researching and testing out different things…

So the first part of my package from The Surrounding Game came in last week! As you can see above, I got my black t-shirt, white stone from the game between Daniel Ko and Calvin Sun (that determined who received the first invitation to the AGA-Tygem professional certification tournament), the correlating game record, along with a postcard as well! Still waiting on the poster and DVD (although who isn’t waiting eagerly for it), but it was still great to get at least some of it to start!

On a different note, I think that I realized that while my attacking skills are rather abysmal, I have really come to terms with the fact that I may actually just be very poor at understanding what the board is telling me. In other words, am I able to look at any game in progress and already begin to get an idea as to the picture that is being painted? Is this a game of competing moyos? Or perhaps is Black behind even though his central moyo is looking enormous?

More on this when I have managed to put more words to what I’m feeling, but here are some close ups of the the stuff I received:

Friday Go Forward: Week 27

Overview

Though this week cannot even begin to live up to 1% of the awesomeness that is happening on at US Go Congress, I will have to say that it has been a rather productive week. I’ve started really diving into some new books in an effort to really further my understanding of my failure as a player: the inability to attack properly. If you’re wondering why I make it sound so dramatic, it’s because I always considered myself more of a fighter / power type of player, and what kind of fighter or power player am I if I can’t even attack properly? Haha. =D But I think I’m making good headway on that, so hopefully I won’t have to write about this weakness of mine for much longer. Till next week!

Games

• KGS - 5 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 2 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Started and finished The Workshop Lectures Volume 2.
• Started and finished The Workshop Lectures Volume 3.
• Finished Get Strong at the Opening.
• Worked on Jump Level Up 1.
• Worked on Joseki Jeongseok Compass.
• Worked on Takao’s Astute Use of Brute Force.
• Worked on Fight Like a Pro.
• Started working on Get Strong at Joseki 1.
• Started working on The Workshop Lectures Volume 4.
• Started working on The ABC’s of Attack and Defense.
• Started working on Breakthrough Attacking Power.

Lesson Learned

1. Whether you win or lose, the important thing is to find something you can learn from the game.

As many of you are aware, the US Go Congress 2013 is currently going on and everyone’s focus is on it. Though I have been living vicariously through some friends who were able to go and try to watch the games that are featured on KGS, I must say that I am rather sad that I was unable to attend this year. It would have been an incredible to be able to experience and blog about a go convention of that level; but alas, I am here and they are there.

To console myself, I have been burying myself in more books in hopes of distracting myself from the constant reminders of how awesome Go Congress is. Haha. In addition, I have also decided that I will be making a sincere effort to make it out to US Go Congress 2014. So for all those who weren’t able to make it out this year, let’s try and start the preparations to make it out next year!

Over the weekend, I have been giving a lot of thought to some insight that I received recently from my friend moboy78. I am paraphrasing a bit, but the bottom line message I remember was:

Your attacks are just awful. How do you expect to win any games with those sorry excuses you call attacks?

Read More

Friday Go Forward: Week 26

Overview

Friday Go Forward has officially half a year old! Woot! Hard to believe that 6 months have passed since I first started this weekly series, but I’m definitely glad that fellow go player Feather suggested it to me! It’s certainly been really helpful to document my own progress and force myself to evaluate how each week is going.

With that happy note said and done, this week has been a great launching point to start diving back into playing again. Though I am still finding it difficult to find the time to properly play a ranked game with proper time settings, it has been good to simply stretch my go legs once again. As some might notice in my training below, it also seems like my studying has ramped up again; but I assure you that I am definitely taking it a lot slower with my studying. I’m just simply letting the go muses inspire me as I continue my journey to gain another stone. Whatever topic comes to mind that I’m interested in is what I study. Might seem haphazard, but I’m actually having quite a bit of fun. =D

Games

• KGS - 4 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 3 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Started and finished Level Up 10._
  _
• Started and finished Level Up Review 2.
• Started and finished The Workshop Lectures Volume 1.
• Started working on Jump Level Up 1.
• Started working on Joseki Jeongseok Compass.
• Started working on Get Strong at the Opening.
• Started working on The Workshop Lectures Volume 2.
• Started working on Takao’s Astute Use of Brute Force.
• Started working on Vital Points and Skillful Finesse for Sabaki.

Lesson Learned

1. Although studying and learning about theory is important, application is just as critical (if not more so) to one’s growth as well. Thanks to moboy78 for reminding me of that.