In my experience thus far, one of the most difficult things to swallow is losing a won game. And let me tell you, boy did I royally screw this one up.

The thing that makes this kind of loss worse is the fact that you know it’s entirely your fault. There’s no ifs and or buts to be said about it. Unlike other games where a slightly slower reaction time can make the difference or luck comes into play, Go is purely about your inner strength and ability to make the right decision.

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For my debut back in the ASR League, I am slightly embarrassed to report that my return to the stage was far less than spectacular. It’s not so much that I played terribly, it’s just that I ended up fighting out a ko battle that was very good for my opponent.

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For those who are new or still following, a lot of my reviews and links are currently outdated at the moment. In other words, some products that I reviewed are no longer for sale, some stores are no longer selling go equipment, all my old kifu’s are broken, etc.

Fear not however! I will be working hard these next couple weeks to completely redesign the blog for your reading enjoyment and so that this blog will continue to be a great source of reference for you or anyone you know looking to play go.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below so I can consider it in the redesign!

So I’ve started reading my go books again, and I did not realize how poorly I’ve been playing lately. As a result, I’m taking a break from online games (once again) because I’ve only been reinforcing really poor playing habits.

At first I was troubled as to why I was still a DDK, but it does not surprise me any longer. It’s time for me to undergo some serious training.

Go ability transformation here I come!

UPDATE: So I noticed I tend to get overly frustrated and then determine to take a “sabbatical” only to find myself playing again the next day. Thus, scratch that idea, it’s just time to play better.

So it seems that even though a lot of time has passed, my rank on KGS still seems to be the same as when I left. It’s not so much that I’m slightly concerned that time has not marinated my abilities or anything, but maybe I just need to give it more time.

It seems that my playing lately has been extremely centered on fighting. Kill. Kill Kill. I feel as if the empty triangle devil is much stronger than the angel. Haha.

In order to see whether my hypothesis on my self-destructive tendencies in go hold true, I will be adhering to the following three principles:

1. Unless I am playing someone I know or am challenged by someone, I will no longer go out to play random online ranked games for the sake of playing.

2. I will now focus on my patience in the game by training through absolute reading for every single go problem I do.

3. If I am playing a game, I will read at least 3 moves ahead and determine whether or not the board position is favorable to myself before simply jumping in on impulse.

Let’s see how this goes…

That’s right. Lo and behold. I have emerged from my hermit hole away from the go world and have now returned! Looking forward to posting here again. Be sure to leave a comment if you’re still following or still play go!

So I know I wrote about coming back from the sabbatical, but it looks like I’ll have to retract that statement unfortunately. There are some things that have come up in my life that are going to require a significant amount of attention and energy. So it’ll be some time before I will be able to attend to Go for awhile. I’m more than willing to play with anyone here and there if they want. The difference is that I won’t be able to just hang around KGS anymore to play.

To all my fellow Go players, thanks for all the help so far. I’m sorry I have to dip for a little while, but rest assured you can always get a game with me anytime you like. Just shoot me an e-mail or comment on the blog and we’ll set something up. Take care everyone!

Hey everyone. Sabbatical over. It’s time I returned to the game. For all those who have been keeping up with my progress, I have virtually been absent from playing any serious games. I think the only two online games I have logged online are against the 30k computer. xD

That being said, no idea what my strength is anymore. Maybe the time away has let me grow, or maybe get weaker. More people probably believe weaker, but I dunno if I necessarily agree. I’ll be approaching this game a whole new way this time. I was studying it as if it were going to be my career at first, but the sabbatical really helped me to get perspective on my own “whole board thinking.”

The rest of this month will serve as my beta testing for my plan, but this is what I’m looking at.

1. Serious games per week: 3 games per week

2. Study method: Review and study a little bit during each weekday.

That’s it? Yup. The key thing for this plan is consistency. I’m in no rush to get to the dan level. It’ll come when it’s time. Meanwhile, watch your back SDK’s. I’m coming for ya! =D

Sorry everyone. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to seriously update or post anything. I’m currently on a mini-sabbatical and trying to get a lot of things in my life straightened out. Progress on my Go studies has been close to none so it’ll be interesting to see how I do when I get back to the game. I’m planning on doing a major overhaul on the blog so that it is a bit easier to navigate and just heavier on content. So I’ll be back in a week to give you guys what I’ll be projecting. Till then!

Man…. I’m used to being destroyed by my opponents… but this guy had an annoying mouth and I was destroyed by him. The way he took advantage of almost every single weakness was quite beyond me. I think I was doing okay in the opening, but then I didn’t properly chase down what should’ve been a dead group. Ugh. Can’t even comment on the game. But for all those players looking to see bad aji come back and kick you in the balls, and the usage of a double ko to kill of groups that were supposed to be alive: this is the game.

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