A couple of nights ago, frozensoul mentioned something to me that really struck me.

My mind is my greatest opponent.

Yup. You read that right. Instead of being trounced by opponents better than me or making dumb mistakes, I often end up out-reading myself.

What do I mean by this? I’m talking about being fearful of potential aji in X area and adding unnecessary moves “just in case.” Now this might sound reasonable, but let’s think about this one moment. If you are adding a move to an area that doesn’t require it, are you not essentially passing your turn?

To further illustrate my point, take the following problem:

Is there anyone out there who would suggest that Black capture the White stones “just to in case?” Absolutely not. Because any player above 12 kyu would know that it would be completely absurd to do anything but tenuki.

“But wait Ben! Not all positions are as clear cut as the problem you presented! What happens if you’re wrong and then you lose because you think you can tenuki when in fact you really can’t?!”

Well, to that I have only one question: Are you trying to get stronger or simply keep winning against opponents of the same strength?

Yes. It would suck if you tenuki when you actually needed a move and then lost a game; but guess what, that is part of growing and learning so that we can get stronger. We make mistakes. We fall. We get back up. We learn. We grow. We get stronger. And the cycle goes on and on…

So the next time you feel like you’re in a questionable position, do your best with the reading ability you have and then have faith in your moves. You will make quite a few mistakes along the road, but I assure you that it will be a heck of a lot better than defending against imaginary aji.

Friday Go Forward: Week 35

Overview

This week has been quite an interesting one for me. I made the decision to switch from task based productivity to time based productivity and have found it to be a much more manageable method to keeping consistent about the things that are important to me. In addition, now that I have been shifting my focus to increase the quality of my training, I am feeling a lot more at peace with my progress and don’t feel like I will be burning out anytime soon. So while my training menu might seem very simple, the key factor I’m aiming for is consistency. And if I have additional time in the day, then I’m welcome to pile on any additional training that I’m in the mood for. =)

Games

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

Training Menu

• 20 minutes of Reading Training (i.e., Life & Death, Tesuji, etc.)
• 20 minutes of Go Theory Study (i.e., Joseki, Direction of Play, etc.)
• 20 minutes of Experience Training (i.e., Play or review a game)

Reading Material

• Working on Jump Level Up 3.
• Working on Get Strong at Endgame.
• Working on_ __Perceiving the Direction of Play_.

Video Lessons

• Becoming a 5 Kyu - Lesson 1
• Becoming a 5 Kyu - Lesson 2
• Becoming a 5 Kyu - Lesson 3
• Becoming a 5 Kyu - Lesson 4
• Becoming a 5 Kyu - Lesson 5

Last week, I was playing a game when other players started showing up to watch the game. My opponent then remarked, “Everyone is here to see me lose.” And then I promptly replied, “You’ve got it wrong. They’re here to see me lose.” Though it was said in a joking manner that was also supposed to be humble, it wasn’t until after the game that a comment made by a visitng dan player struck me: “Confidence is worth two stones.”

It got me thinking about my whole approach to the game, or perhaps life in general. With the way I’ve been brought up, it’s expected that one be humble and not be cocky or overconfident. However, I started to wonder whether or not I ended up taking this mentality too far and becoming self-deprecating instead. In other words, even though I would say things like, “No no, I’m a weak player” as a way of being humble; I may have actually been planting seeds of doubt in myself this entire time.

Now to be clear, I’m not saying that one should prance around saying how they’ll win every game and rub it in their opponent’s faces. “Look at me! I’m so great!” I mean sure, sometimes the cockiness works as a placebo effect and some people end up becoming “stronger,” but then everyone thinks you’re an asshole and that is way worse than being a weak player. So instead, I will stop using negative statements and stop worrying about what other people think.

With each stone I play, I will simply aim to play the best go that I can. That is all that matters.

A couple days ago, I suffered a rather one handed defeat that was a rather rude awakening. Not only did I lose convincingly, but I made three very critical misreads during the game that sealed the deal. Needless to say, it was rather dishearteningly en you consider how much time I’ve put into my studying.

Of course, with a shock like that, it is only natural that I took some time to really evaluate how I have been studying. Though my reading productivity has been rather impressive to some, it is no surprise that I have ended up sacrificed accuracy in end. My reading speed is rather quick, but the lack of discipline when it comes to reading alternate variations or considering the fact that my opponent might just flat out ignore me is not taken into consideration when I’m actually playing. As a result, I have thought about different ways to approach my training.

So far, what I have decided that I need to switch from a task based productivity to a time based productivity. What does that mean exactly? Well, instead of trying to complete say 300 problems a day, I will instead devote a full 20 minutes to practicing problems. How ever many I finish is completely irrelevant, but I will hopefully be able to focus more on the accuracy and discipline of my reading this way. In addition, this will hopefully help me manage my time better and prevent me from throwing my life out of balance.

Friday Go Forward: Week 34

Overview

The theme of this week seems to be “Revisions and Updates.” After attempting the aggressive tsumego regimen I had set last week, I realized that I was once again just starting to blow through problems instead of trying to practice reading variations. So it’s been changed again to try and find a better balance between quality and intensity. In addition, I am sad to report that I won’t be getting on Tygem any time soon since it seems that the resignation button causes the iPad app to crash all the time. It just really sucks because I enjoy Tygem as a server but their software is just SOOOO crappy. People might complain about KGS being outdated, but it generally works like a charm.

On a more progress-based note, getting a chance to finally see Go Seigen’s brilliance shine on the board has been incredibly eye-opening for me. It’s not so much that other professionals are not brilliant in their own way, but perhaps what I’m talking about is the fact that Go Seigen’s play constantly reminds players just how much freedom they really have on the board. Forget joseki or proper sequences, if you want to play somewhere else because you have a grand plan in mind. Go for it!

Otherwise though, it was a pretty productive week and I look forward to what challenges the next week has for me. Till next week!

Games

• KGS - 8 games
• DGS - 2 ongoing games
• Nova - 3 ongoing games

Daily Training

• Life & Death Routine (Magic Baduk Go on iPhone)

  • 300 Beginner Problems
  • 50 Intermediate Problems

• 30 Pages of Jump Level Up 2

• 50 Problems from the Get Strong at Go Series.
• Play or review at least one game per day.

Reading Material

• Finished Commented Games by Lee Sedol - Volume 2.
• Finished Get Strong at Invading.
• Finished Jump Level Up 2.
• Finished Get Strong at Tesuji.
• Started and finished Master Play: The Style of Go Seigen.
• Started and working on Jump Level Up 3.
• Started and working on Get Strong at Endgame.
• Started and working on_ __Perceiving the Direction of Play_.

So my resolution to play one game a day has ultimately fallen through. As time went on, my games began deteriorating in quality and each game began to feel more like a chore that I needed to hurry and finish instead of a learning experience. After feeling like this for a few days, I decided to that I needed to re-examine what I was doing before I started developing bad habits. Instead of just stopping the idea as a whole however, I decided to revise it to the following: Play 1 game of go / thoroughly review one of your previous games per day.

As an active blogger, I face some challenges when it comes to things like generating content. One of the pieces of content that people seem to like are the game reviews. However, I found that trying to find time to play one game a day every day was making it difficult for me to find time to review my games. In addition, even though it doesn’t normally take too long for some people to review their games, I have been trying to make my reviews much more thorough and explain each move as I go. So as you might guess, it takes me a lot longer to review games than one might normally take.

By doing this, I hope to not only reinforce my own understanding of the game; but to also make the reviews more useful to readers of various levels. In addition, by allowing myself the option to choose between playing and reviewing, I am hoping I will be able to maintain a higher quality of learning for myself while generating content for the blog. And for someone with a crazy schedule like me, being able to save that kind of time will do wonders for the other aspects of my life. With that said, hopefully my revised discipline inspires some of you to possibly take a similar route with your study as well. =)

I recently finished Master Play: The Style of Go Seigen (Review coming soon!), and it has really given me a lot to think about in regards to the way I play go.

For starters, though I’ve been familiar with the concept of professionals ignoring an area when there just aren’t any good moves to play, it wasn’t until I saw Go Seigen’s games till I realized how true this really was. In fact, not only did Go Seigen constantly resist giving in to his opponents; but he would also not hesitate to trade large sections of the board! And what made it even more mind-blowing, was that these areas he would sacrifice were places that were only a few moves away from solid territory!

With that vivid illustration in mind, I couldn’t help but start to notice how stubborn kyu players get about hanging onto stones or territory. It’s as if once they’ve made a decision (i.e., I have declared the right side to be mine!), they will defend it to the end regardless of the fact that they are losing. Another example of this is I’ve noticed is: “Oh look, I’ve spent the time to play three stones here, even though they are now strategically useless, I must save it at all cost even though I will let my opponent walk right into my territory!” Granted, I realize that you must understand strategy and such to be able to walk away from some groups, but this seems to be a general trend that I’ve noticed.

In addition, I think I may have started to internalize the idea of, “If you can’t find a good move, play somewhere else.” In other words, seeing Go Seigen’s game for the first time has really shocked me into realizing how much freedom there really is on the go board. Although a sequence might be considered sente or an area might seem large, it may not actually be from a whole board perspective or from another player’s strategy.

I keep trying to bring this post to a nice closing statement, but it seems that this post is destined for random ramblings. It’s still a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions that I’m sorting through, but I guess that’s one of the benefits of having a blog right? A way for me to dump my thoughts and attempt to sort it out in the process. xD

On an entirely different note, in case you haven’t heard about it, the American Go Association (AGA) has taken a big step towards establishing a presence online. Starting in October, there will be an AGA Online Tournament that will be used to help gather information and help them figure out the right way to proceed with online games in the future. And yes, I have already signed up! For more information, check out their post here.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been making it a habit to head out to the local Starbucks to remove myself from the distractions of being in the apartment (aka putting on shows on Netflix or rewatching Hikaru no Go for the five millionth time). And overall I have to say that I definitely enjoy and look forward to these study sessions.

I have half a mind to design a little billboard for myself with a welcoming message for people to ask me about go when I’m sitting at the table with my board and stones. I saw a number of customers walk by looking onwards at the board a few times, but I was in no position to really teach them at the moment. So in the future I think I may create me a some portable materials to setup a “booth” and allow interested people to ask me about the game and learn about it.

Other than that, it’s been a pretty productive session. So far, I’ve played one game, finished _Get Strong at Invading _and _Commented Games by Lee Sedol Volume 2 _(so be sure to look for those reviews soon), and am hoping to get a bit more work done on _Get Strong at Tesuji _and Jump Level Up 2. Anyhow, that’s all for this random post! Till next time!

Friday Go Forward: Week 33

Overview

This has been pretty hectic in regards to work and life in general; but for some reason I still managed to convince myself that I needed to increase the scope of my training to be far more vigorous. So as you’ll notice below, the regimen has spiked quite significantly. And the fun part of all of this is that the training regimen is still far from complete. xD Anyhow, for now I think it will be enough if I manage to survive my training regimen without burning out. Once I’ve gotten acclimated to it, then I will be looking for ways to improve it once again. Hope you all have had a good week!

Games

• KGS - 5 games
• Tygem - 5 games
• DGS - 1 ongoing game
• Nova - 2 ongoing games

Daily Training

• Life & Death Routine (Magic Baduk Go on iPhone)

  • 300 Beginner Problems -
  • 50 Intermediate Problems
  • 25 Advanced Problems
  • 10 Expert Problems

• 10 Pages of Jump Level Up 2

• 25 Problems from the Get Strong at Go Series.
• Play at least one game per day.

Reading Material

• Working on Commented Games by Lee Sedol - Volume 2.
• Working on Get Strong at Invading.
• Working on Jump Level Up 2.
• Started working on Get Strong at Tesuji.

After I got back from boxing last night, I was pretty much wiped out. The funny thing about me is that no matter how tired I am though, it seems that I somehow manage to find the energy and motivation to do something go related. So I decided to check out my first episode of a BadukTV English game review of Lee Changho 9P vs. Lee Sedol 9P.

For those who aren’t aware of the popularity of go in the rest of the world, there are actual television channels that are ENTIRELY dedicated to go. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would love it if we had something equivalent here in the Western world. Unfortunately though, go has not yet risen to that level of popularity. On the upside though, pioneers like GoGamGuru and BadukTV have taken the first big step to bringing us one step closer to that dream.

Here is the video that I watched last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCBHI_lNgXI&list=PLq69jNwwOmf-Lkbyny1HwiRUKMg6uuFo2

Since I had never watched a TV episode dedicated entirely to go (excluding Hikaru no Go), I was a little nervous that I might get bored or that I would be unable to gain anything from it. Contrary to my fears however, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Though many complain about the co-host interrupting often and saying “Yes” all the time, you have to be conscious of the fact that the English is clearly not her first language and that chances are pretty good that her mannerisms derive from Korean culture. So with that in mind, I was able to look past it rather easily and just enjoy all the marvelous go.

For those who enjoyed the video above or would like to find out more about where you can watch more episodes like this, check out GoGameGuru’s BadukTV to get access to more BadukTV that is accessible to English speakers!