So as some of you might have noticed, I’ve been playing a lot more games recently. However, it seems I am on a losing streak; but it’s not all bad since it means I’m back in experimental mode. My rank has even dropped down to 6k it seems, but this is partially due to the fact that I haven’t played enough ranked games where I actually have time to think. So I really don’t give much credence to my rank drop.

I know for most people, the losing streak plus rank drop is enough to go on a rampage and think about quitting the game. In actuality though, I have found it’s really important to focus on the cause of the loss instead of the loss itself. Perhaps it’s simple reading error? Or perhaps just a rigid approach to the game. Either way, I always find comfort knowing that I have the capability to make a change in my game if I choose. It’s just a matter of swallowing my pride and a willingness to overcome the obstacles that stand in my way.

On a separate note, I have kept true to my promise on sealing away the Chinese Opening. It has yet to make an appearance even though I am on a losing streak. However, I am not tempted in the slightest to bring it back out yet. After all, for those who read Hajime no Ippo, I feel like the Chinese Opening is kind of like my “Dempsey Roll.” I am quite skilled at utilizing it to great effectiveness; but there’s been so much study on it that I must seal it away for now. Once I patch up my other weaknesses though, I have a feeling that I will be able to unleash something fearsome when I finally break the seal on it.

Today I played an interesting teaching game with frozensoul. After losing (as I normally do), he made a very insightful comment about my play: I have a tendency to settle positions quickly. In other words, instead of keeping my options open, I choose to instead play out a local area to completion before I’m entirely sure of what my strategy is for the game. As a result, it becomes a lot easier for stronger opponents to figure out what I’m aiming at and ultimately nullify it.

Though I try to keep as open a mind as possible in every game, it seems that I still fail to appreciate how much freedom players actually have during a game. You want to play three moves in a corner to try and eliminate my stone’s aji? No problem. I’ll go ahead and take the 2 other big points on the board and laugh maniacally later when my stone’s aji still comes back to bite you in the butt.

No longer do I wish to be imprisoned by my own volition and stubbornness. Go is a game of freedom. So from this moment forth, I will stop trying to see the game from the confines of everything I learned thus far. Instead, I will try to see the board as it truly is: a beautifully endless depth of possibilities and creativity.

On Sunday, July 21st, I was able to finally join my friends at Yuan Zhou‘s Monthly Workshop! Though I was originally unable to go, I’m glad that I was able to make it out!

The day began as always with a tsumego on the demonstration board.

Though I had the correct answer at one point, I talked myself out of it by misreading the order of moves. As a result, I unfortunately can’t proudly say I solved it with confidence. Haha. But in terms of what I gained from that experience, I need much more work on my life and death skills. I’m decent with some of the instinctual moves, but I need to be better in terms of being absolutely sure of my answer.

After my friend Gurujeet answered the question correctly, we moved on to reviewing a professional game between Lee Sedol [9P] and Lian Xiao [4P]. It was an exciting game that really helped to open my eyes. Some of the major things I learned from the flow and tenacity of the players include:

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Friday Go Forward: Week 25

Overview

Having nearly burned out after my last couple weeks of intensive study, I’ve scaled back on the study and refocused all of my energy on the Level Up Series. I have plans to slowly scale up to a more balanced regimen, but for now this seems to be working for me. Overall though, this week has been pretty calm. Nothing too crazy. The most memorable part was being able to attend the monthly go workshop. Otherwise though, just moving forward one step at a time…

Games

• KGS - 1 game
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 3 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Started and finished Level Up 7._
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• Started and finished Level Up 8.
• Started and finished Level Up 9.
• Started working on Level Up 10.
• Working on Mastering the Basics, Vol. 8 - Fight Like a Pro.
• Started reading _Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go _again.

Lesson Learned

1. Focus on each game by trying to make the best move on a whole board scale.

It occurred to me recently that it seems that all I do is nothing but study, play or write about go. Though I would love that to be the case, I can assure you that it is not the case. I am like any other working soul in society: I have a 9 to 5 job, I live on my own (which means I have to cook, clean, and do all those non-go related chores xD), I have other interests (e.g., web design, coding, tennis, sports, etc.), and I have more familial responsibility than most might care to have. Nonetheless, I have somehow managed to squeeze in go in between all the other things that I care about. Why am I writing about this? Good question.

In most players pursuit to gain another stone, it seems there is an illusion that in order to do so, you must devote all your time and energy the way an insei does. Whether you believe me or not, nothing could be further from the truth.

The reason why I know I can say this with absolute certainty is that most players’ goal is to simply surpass the kyus and successfully live amongst the dan players. In other words, not become a professional. With that in mind, the first step to continuing progress is to realize that progress in go is rarely (if ever) made in leaps and bounds. Similar to building a house, it is important that every level be built with the most solid foundation possible. Otherwise, when the house gets to 4 to 5 stories high, it won’t take much for the whole thing to come crashing down.

For those who aspire to be professional players, I applaud your tenacity and ambition. In fact, I would have to admit that even I am secretly hoping to rise to the level of a professional. So believe me when I say that the importance of our growth through one solid step at a time is more critical than anyone else. After all, professionals play at a level where the slightest mistake (such as the timing of one forcing move over another) can make the difference between winning and losing.

To those frustrated with their progress, remember that go is a never ending journey where new ideas will constantly be born. The moment we think we know what we’re doing and have some new “sure-win” strategy, someone will come along and blow it away. So just keep at it with an unrelenting discipline to study (even if only for 10 minutes a day) and to focus on playing inspired games where you learn something rather than simply winning. Once you’ve grasped that, the depth and bottomless pit of wisdom that go has to offer will open its doors to you.

Last night I played a fun game against my friend Nate, but was definitely demolished by the end of the game. A 40 point loss… hahaha. Thought I admit that there was definitely a degree of disappointment in myself for playing so terribly, there is a silver lining in my complete failure.

So my experiment failed miserably, but I am sure that the experience I gained with be valuable in the future. In addition, I am happy knowing that my mistakes were not reading mistakes this time around. Though I may have made plenty of strategic and whole board errors, reducing the number of reading mistakes should prove to be very lethal once I take care of my flawed strategies. For those wondering about the kifu, it’ll be featured on a Monday Go Meditation in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, I have also decided to take my sensei’s advice and take the time to really watch Battousai’s 3D Tygem Series. Perhaps I can follow in his footsteps and gain sudden insight into the game through watching the series. Not sure how it will go, but I’ll be sure to let you know if anything changes.

I had a chance to go to one of Yuan Zhou’s Monthly Go Workshops yesterday, and I was severely reminded of I have been severely lacking when it comes to playing even games. There will be more on the workshop later on this week, but I’ve been looking at my games lately (from DGS and Nova) and realized how they all consist of handicap games. This is not a bad thing by any stretch of the means, but it has certainly caused my go playing to become slightly lopsided since I’m either a lot more reckless as White or simply focused on attacking as Black. Not very good for training a calm go style you know? xD

On another note, my studying has been going pretty well. I have been reading a lot of books (if it wasn’t clear as day already), and am really loving the Level Up series. As it stands right now, the only thing I regret is that I did not find this series when I first started go. I am just astounded as to how intensely they focus on the fundamentals and have already been taught a thing or two even though the book is supposedly aimed at like 15 kyus. Also, I am really trying to have entire Level Up series reviewed before the month of July is up. So though I won’t be able to play as much for now, I have plans to reincorporate ranked games back into my routine. Back to studying I go!

Overview

While it’s been fun reading so many books at once, I am starting to feel the weight of my training bear down on me. My usual nightly routine now essentially is comprised of me trying to study until I literally pass out. Then I wake up randomly in a couple of hours, and make my way to bed. Needless to say, it’s not the most productive route and it definitely starting to take a toll on me. I need a more efficient system then what I’ve been doing. Haha. So starting next week, I plan on cutting down the number of books and trying to get everything into a better balance.

Games

• KGS - 1 game
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 4 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Finished Level Up Review 1.
• Finished Elementary Go Series, Vol. 6 - The Endgame.
• Finished Whole Board Thinking of Joseki, Vol. 1.
• Finished Essential Life & Death 3.
• Started and finished Level Up 6._
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• Started and finished Elementary Go Series, Vol. 7 - Handicap Go.
• Started and finished Whole Board Thinking of Joseki, Vol. 2.
• Started working on Level Up 7.
• Started working on Essential Life & Death 4.
• Worked on Mastering the Basics, Vol. 8 - Fight Like a Pro.

Lesson Learned

1. Unless I actually take the time to count and estimate the board position, I am no longer allowed to resign.

In lieu of my last post on the desire to lose, I thought it would only be appropriate that I title this blog post after a marvelous game I played on Monday. It’s already slated for a Monday Go Meditation, so more on that game in a couple of weeks!

With that being said, I’m sure that some of you have noticed that the email subscription widget on the right has changed a bit. And in case you didn’t, here’s the basic rundown!

1. E-mail newsletters now have a new look and feel that should make the reading process more enjoyable!
2. You can now choose the frequency at which you want to receive your email newsletter!
   The only drawback to the plugin I’m using is that it isn’t very easy to switch to a different list, so if anyone would like to switch the frequency of their newsletter, feel free to contact me or go ahead and unsubscribe to the current list you’re on and resubscribe to the new one you want to be on. Either one works.

Finally, as you all have definitely noticed, I am on a book review rampage. I’ve gotten in a really great study groove, but I’m starting to feel the need to take it down a couple of notches since I have a few books I would like to spend more time on. Anyhow, more on that later on. Need to get some studying in before I pass out. XD

PS. To all my first email subscribers (who were all immediately being updated whenever I posted something), in order to prevent everyone from feeling like I am spamming your inbox, I switched everyone over to the Daily Newsletter in order to keep my emails to one per day. If you would like to be switched back to the Immediate Newsletter, just let me know!

So I think I have to revise my one post a day rule to exclude book reviews because at the rate I’m releasing book reviews, I’m never going to get a chance to write for the sake of writing. Haha. With that said, let’s unload some things off my brain.

I recently re-watched the episode in Hikaru No Go (Episode 66 - “Fateful Encounter”) where they do the prelude to the whole series. For those who might not remember, the episode features a child who recently is crowned Child Meijin and wants to challenge Akira to prove he is the strongest. Right before the game, he pridefully challenges Akira with the following statement:

Child Meijin: When I win, tell everyone, “I lost to Hideki Isobe.”

Though most might shy away from the idea of boasting to everyone that they lost, Akira’s reaction reminded me of something I had forgotten long ago.

Akira (with the utmost excited face): I will! I sure will!

How long ago has it been since I last sought out a match where I would be proud to say, “Look! I lost, but it was a great game!” When was the last time I felt a desire to lose?

Nowadays, I just slink away like a dog with his tail between his legs hoping secretly hoping to quickly nab a win afterwards to cover up my shame. What a pitiful state I’ve fallen into… Haha. No matter though, today is a new day! I will return back to the battlefield of Tygem and restart my training against dan players! Ikuzo!