So for now I guess I’ll be posting my games on a regular basis since I think it’ll be helpful to see some of my mistakes (which I’m sure many other DDKs are making). I’ll be including my own review of my game to show you what I see through my eyes so that hopefully you can gain something from it too.

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So here ends my Monday. Overall, there was a lot of progression in terms of how I saw the game and what I know I need to do now. I just played a free game with a weaker player who, for some reason, only wanted a two stone handicap. It was definitely different to see such a difference in reading ability. I mean I know he (or she) is only a 23k and I’m a 15k, but still… it wasn’t till I was playing him that I was like… Oh… that’s how stupid I must look to all the stronger players I’ve been playing.

Overall.. here are my ratings for the day.

1. Problems - Minimal
2. Theory - Minimal
3. Games - Satisfactory

Hopefully I’ll be able to at least to satisfactory on all three on a more consistent basis.

So here’s the game that broke my miserable resignation streak from last night. It was a game against a 9k. We played with a proper handicap this time (one guy tried to give me less stones earlier and as the idiot I accepted… let’s just say it didn’t go so well).

Overall, I definitely have come to see the game in a different light. As someone who was told that life and death is my first priority, it’s easy to get caught up in old habits and just simply try to kill the opponent’s stones the whole time. This game was a clear illustration of my growth from that mindset. At least I hope it is…

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It seems I can’t seem to get my wrapped up properly in a game tonight. Every time I try to play online, it has been a miserable game each and every time. I always start out playing solid, and then always seem to mess up later on.

On the upside, playing with Todd and Keith today was insightful and I learned a lot. It’s still frustrating how little I feel that I’ve grown in the (almost) two months time frame. I clearly haven’t been studying as much as I should have been lately. I should probably modify my regimen for improving my abilities.

Five more days until the second month is up…. sigh….

ANNOUNCEMENT: You can now follow me at Twitter! Click on the link below to follow me!

Follow @bengozen

So in lieu of trying to gain more credibility as a Go expert and blogger, I’ll be trying to implement the following goals for increasing blogging content:

1. 5 posts a week concerning my personal progress as a player.
2. 2 Go book reviews per month.
3. 1 Go equipment review per week.
4. 1 Go Guide per week.
5. 1 Weekly and Monthly Overview on my progress as well.

Let’s see how this goes for the month of October.

EIDOGO WORKS!!! Many thanks to Nate for helping me get it up and running!!!

So here’s the game I was talking about last time. As I’m looking over it now, I definitely would have played differently. Anyhow, enjoy!

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So today was pretty nice. Played some Settlers of Catan with my cousin, and then headed off to both the Rockville Chess and Go Club and the Greater Washington Go Club. Yuan Zhou was there reviewing games and I gotta say I learned quite a bit from that. Then I had the pleasure of meeting Nate, who is stronger than me but it seems my measly skills are adequate enough to entertain him for now. Overall, still working hard to get stronger before the second month is up. Wish me luck!

So today was nice. I got to play a few games in the morning. Can’t figure out for the life of me how to embed my games into the blog. I am definitely moderately web design savvy, but I guess my ability to figure out how to embed EidoGo into my blog = failure. If anyone knows how to do it, including where to upload the files so I can properly code the src and sgf urls… I’d be indebted to you.

Anyhow, my KGS rank keeps moving up and down. So much for trying to play a lot of games to get a consistent rating. Looks like I’ve settled on 15k for now. I was at 14k yesterday, but due to me playing under time constraints and having multiple distraction… I timed out against the 11k bot and messed up games that I shouldn’t have messed up.

As an overview, I played four games today. I lost to a 13k due to some misreads and thus my ranked dropped to 16k. Then I proceeded to play an awesome game with a 17k which I won by resignation. Then I proceeded to get my rematch with the 11k bot and beat him by 26.5 points. And finally, I played a grueling game with a 14k where I think I played the best I have so far. I would integrate that game into this post… but alas I am lost on how to do that.

I’m happy with my progress so far. I just need to increase my reading ability…. patience and foresight…. that will get me to the SDK ranks….

So ironically my friend Todd happens to have been using the screenname “zenix” for like all his life. Now mind you… I pronounce mine “zeh-nix” while he pronounces his “zee-nix.” Anyhow, although the odds are like a bajillion to one (and those who know the statistics feel free to correct me) that we made the same screenname, I just thought it’d be better if I took the highroad and made a bengozen account anyhow since this is the brand I’m trying to blog with. With that in mind, I’ll probably be getting the KGS Plus soon, and will be reviewing that as soon as I make some use of it.