Overview

As many of you know, I spent the past weekend at the 1st Washington Baduk Open Championship and have been therefore swamped with trying to make sure I took the time to write the posts before too much time had passed. It was an eye-opening experience that has given me an opportunity to really change my perspectives on how I’ve been approaching go. Especially after talking with Myung (9p) with some of his thoughts, I definitely am looking to make some changes to my training regimen.

The only other thing that’s worth mentioning is that I am officially making a move away from KGS to either WBaduk or Tygem (depending on whichever I can get running on my Mac). It’s not that I won’t be logged in anymore or will refuse to play on it, but I’ll be reserving KGS for playing with friends and anyone who asks me for a game. Otherwise, my focus on playing “ranked games” will be moving to the Korean servers. More on that to come when I have a well formulated thought as to why I’m doing this. Till next week!

Training Regimen

• Temporarily On Hold

Games

• Tygem - 4 games
• WBaduk - 2 games
• DGS - 6 ongoing games
• OGS - 2 ongoing games

Books

• N/A

Overview

After trying to go through my training regimen from last week, I realized I was getting bored of practicing the same problems over and over again. And while my intentions were good (since my goal was to make all the problems instinctive), interest and motivation trumps that so I’ve moved on to more interesting topics to change it up for now. And especially after giving thought to the notion that tesuji is more important than life and death, I really wanted to start studying tesuji once again.

On another note, in case anyone missed it, the Washington Open is happening this weekend. Yours truly will be attending and competing/participating in whatever I can do. So you can definitely look forward to a series of posts on the event. I’m a little nervous because I haven’t really been playing as much as I should have, but I’ll have to brush that aside and just go to have as much fun as I can. If I can play really interesting games, then I will consider this event to be a success. See you all next week!

PS. In case you didn’t know, fellow go player Risingstar just started his own blog, so be sure to check it out and support him as we try and bolster go’s presence online!

Training Regimen

• Life and Death Problems

  *   Book: Jump Level Up 5
  *   Frequency: Daily
  *   Task: 10 minutes working through problems
  

• Tesuji Problems

  *   <span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Book: Graded Go Problems for Dan Players (Vol. 2) - 300 Tesuji Problems</span>
  *   Frequency: Daily
  *   Task: 10 minutes working through problems
  

Games

• KGS - 3 games
• IGS - 2 games
• DGS - 5 ongoing games
• OGS - 2 ongoing games

Books

• Jump Level Up 5
• Graded Go Problems for Dan Players (Vol. 2) - 300 Tesuji Problems

Overview

As I’m sure you all have noticed, I have finally gotten around to releasing my Hong Kong trip series this week! It took quite a few hours to work through all the photos and then make sure they were ready for viewing, but if you all enjoyed the posts, then I think it was plenty worthwhile.

With that said, I have been starting to approach my life with a lot more vigor. One of the things I’ve gotten back to doing consistently is going to my local boxing gym. Even though this takes up a lot of time throughout the week, I think that we often underestimate the connection between physical and mental conditioning. Both must be optimal in order for them to work together harmoniously. In addition, I’ve started watching more Yunguseng Dojang lectures and changed up my training a bit.

Over the past week, I got a chance reconnect with Lynx on KGS and we had a fun teaching game. I lost of course, but after a bit of discussion, she showed me an article she wrote on “How to Improve at Go.” While I could write a whole post about the various things I like about the article (which will probably happen in the near future when I have a moment to breathe), the main thing that stuck out to me was her emphasis on tesuji problems rather than life and death problems. As a result, you’ll notice my training regimen has changed a bit from before.

I’m still trying to create a training schedule that works well for me, so you’ll have to bear with me as I continue to experiment and try different things. It’s particularly volatile at the moment, but a large part is due to the fact that I really want to be in a stable position when the Yunguseng Dojang starts in May. So I’m really testing the waters in various areas to see what works best for me. Just have to keep trying.

Training Regimen

• Life and Death Problems

  *   Software: MagicBaduk
  *   Frequency: Daily
  *   Task: (1) 10 minutes or (2) Finish an entire problem set (250-300 problems depending on difficulty). Whichever comes second.
  

• Tesuji Problems

  *   <span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Software: MagicBaduk</span>
  *   Frequency: Daily
  *   Task: (1) 10 minutes exploring the problem set and practicing problems I've learned before.
  

Games

• KGS - 5 games
• IGS - 0 games
• DGS - 5 ongoing games
• OGS - 2 ongoing games

Books

• N/A

Overview

Man. I really fell off the wagon this week in terms of my training regimen. I was super disciplined about my reading training a couple of weeks ago, but I really got bum rushed with other priorities in life and just couldn’t do the regimen properly. The only thing that is redeeming about this week is that I was able to practice problems here and there, but just not in one session the way I might have preferred.

In addition, the silver lining of it all is that I’ve been much more involved with my game reviews and trying to really improve upon them. In case you missed it, this week there were two game reviews that were released (MGM 50 and Jubango Game 3). And oy vey did they take a long time to do! Regardless, I would like to think that it will be valuable to my own growth and journey.

Finally, I’ve started digging into the lectures on Yunguseng Dojang and really have loved what I have been able to watch so far. I can only imagine what it will be like when I’m actually participating in the reviews and having my own games reviewed. So excited for the season to start!

Training Regimen

• Currently on pause at the moment. Will hopefully have an update next week.

Games

• KGS - 5 games
• IGS - 4 games
• DGS - 5 ongoing games
• OGS - 3 ongoing games

Books

• N/A

Friday Go Forward: Week 56

Overview

This week marked the start of April and thus the official countdown to US Go Congress! In addition, I am uber psyched to announce that I officially joined the Yunguseng Dojang and will definitely be part of Season 9 2014! Even though it hasn’t started yet, since it’s a break month, I was able to get started on checking out some of the recorded material in there. And while I would love to rant on and on about it right now, I will keep it short and just say that there is a lot of great stuff waiting for me to discover.

I think I have come up with a new training regimen for my training my tsumego and reading, but I haven’t finalized it yet so I’ll wait till next week to update the section with what I’m doing. And in terms of playing go, it has been a bit quieter this week, but I’m definitely hoping to get online and play a game soon! Hope you all are doing well and I’ll see you next week!

Training Regimen

• Reading Ability - Work on the tasks below until whichever comes first.*

  *   Work on go problems for 30 minutes.
  *   Work on 300 go problems.
  

  *This is a way to split the difference between task based versus time based training. If you work faster than normal, and can get through 300 (or whichever number you decide on) problems. Kudos to you. But in the event you’re having trouble and need more time to work on the problems, just keep at it until 30 minutes is up (or whatever time you think it best for you).

Games

• KGS - 2 games
• DGS - 5 ongoing games
• OGS - 4 ongoing games

Books

• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.

Friday Go Forward: Week 55

Overview

Ever since getting back from Hong Kong, this week has been consumed with getting back on track with life and not to mention getting readjusted from a 12 hour jet lag. (Yes it was quite painful to switch back and forth.) However, in the process of picking things back up, I have had the opportunity to start fine tuning a number of my daily processes in order to maximize my output with minimal input. For example, I’ve actually managed to start becoming more efficient and accustomed to doing a set of go problems every day now. In fact, if I go most of the day without doing any problems, I usually find myself itching to grab my phone and practice some before bed.

In addition, I’ve had a bit of a self-revelation in regards to my destructive habit of overthinking things. Since that post, I have really been trying to streamline my mental processes so that I am not hindered by any self-doubt or overly cumbersome obstacles that I create for myself. And even though it’s only been a couple of days since that post, I feel that it has had a rather large impact on my life.

Anyhow, I also wanted to take the opportunity to mention an event going on in DC on April 12th, 2014 - 10:30am to 6:00pm - 54th Annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival. I had the pleasure of volunteering to teach go there last year, but failed to ever get around to writing about it. Long story short though, I had a great time and it was a fantastic experience. So if you’re in the DC area and have some time to come out for it, I’d highly recommend it and you will probably find me teaching go at the go kiosk. Hope to see you there!

Training Regimen

• Reading Ability - Work on the tasks below until whichever comes first.*

  • Work on go problems for 30 minutes.
  • Work on 300 go problems.
    *This is a way to split the difference between task based versus time based training. If you work faster than normal, and can get through 300 (or whichever number you decide on) problems. Kudos to you. But in the event you’re having trouble and need more time to work on the problems, just keep at it until 30 minutes is up (or whatever time you think it best for you).

Games

• KGS - 1 game
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• OGS - 5 ongoing games | 1 completed games

Books

• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.
• Worked on 1001 Life and Death Problems from Kiseido.

Friday Go Forward: Week 54

Overview

This week marks the start of my race towards the dan wall that all kyu players are striving to overcome. I’ve tried playing more recently, and I’ve completely ramped up my training regimen. In the past, I’ve tried alternating between time-based training versus task-based training and kept finding something lacking about each. As a result, I’ve decided to do a fusion this time around to really get the ball rolling. I’m really hoping that it will gain some traction this time.

Secondly, I wanted to give a shoutout to a fellow go player Lizardfish (aka Eulerstotle for those who knew him before) who started a new go site called Lizardfish’s GO Notes. He approaches the notion of explaining go topics through PDF’s as opposed to SGF’s (which can be quite confusing if designed poorly). Be sure to check it out! Definitely looking forward to seeing more of his work.

Finally, in case you missed it, I am going to be heading out to Hong Kong this week and will be pretty MIA for the next week. However, I am happy to announce that none of the weekly articles (i.e., Monday Go Meditation) will be taking a hiatus. I’m not sure what my internet connection will be like, but I’ll be sure to try and update as best as I can. So if I don’t get a chance to get online next week, I’ll see you all after I get back!

Training Regimen

• Reading Ability - Work on the tasks below until whichever comes first.*

  • Work on go problems for 30 minutes.
  • Work on 200 go problems.
    *This is a way to split the difference between task based versus time based training. If you work faster than normal, and can get through 200 (or whichever number you decide on) problems. Kudos to you. But in the event you’re having trouble and need more time to work on the problems, just keep at it until 30 minutes is up (or whatever time you think it best for you).

Games

• KGS - 2 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• OGS - 6 ongoing games | 1 completed games

Books

• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.

Friday Go Forward: Week 53

Overview

As the weeks have gone on, it’s been great to feel a sustainable change happening in regards to my discipline towards blogging along with go itself. In case any of you missed it, Go Congress is coming up soon! So in light of that, I am really aiming to step up my training in preparation for it. My goal is to become a solid dan player before Go Congress. Might be impossible, but I’ll never know till I try. So with that said, here’s to the start of overcoming the monumental hurdle all kyu players are aiming for: climbing over the dan wall and never falling back (aka not jumping between 1k and 1d). Ikuzo!

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)

Games

• KGS - 4 games
• DGS - 2 ongoing games
• OGS - 7 ongoing games | 4 completed games

Books

• Finished on Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume One: 300 Life-and-Death Problems.
• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.

Friday Go Forward: Week 52

Overview

Can you believe that this post represents a full year of my Friday Go Forward posts? As I glance through some of my earlier ones, I have to say that it’s interesting to see how the series has changed over time. At one point its as incredibly detailed as to what I was doing, and then got general, and then back to a bit more specific again. I do think that I would like to eventually return to a very detailed weekly update, but I’ve yet to figure out a way to do that in a sustainable fashion, so hopefully you’ll bear with me until then. =)

Overall though, this week has been a good week in terms of building up sustainable change and habits. As some of you might have noticed, there was a post for each day this week! The cool part about that is that it didn’t take too much effort on my part to push out the content. If anything, it was more about simply being disciplined and just taking some time out of my day (that I might have used for some other unproductive activity) to write what’s on my mind. The Weekly Go Wednesday article could probably have used some polishing, but hopefully I’ll have that ironed out as time goes on.

In terms of the game itself, I am still working on a more disciplined life and death training along with trying to play more games. They still cause me some anxiety before I play, but I’m hoping that it goes away after some time.

Finally, best of luck to my friend Nate, Yuki, and anyone else who will be attending the New Jersey Open Go Tournament at Princeton! I’m looking forward to hearing about your games and how the tournament goes. Wish I could be there!

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)

Games

• KGS - 3 games
• DGS - 2 ongoing games
• OGS - 6 ongoing games

Books

• Worked on Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume One: 300 Life-and-Death Problems.
• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.

Friday Go Forward: Week 51

Overview

This week has been a little lax in terms of playing actual games, but I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my goals and have really started to slowly come to terms with matching my drive to get better at go with some of my other goals in life. So in other words, instead of the brilliant flash of energy and vigor that I used to put out (which was then followed by an equally tragic burnout), it feels as if the energy is brewing in a slower but much more sustainable way this time. Not sure how this translates into tasks and such yet, but only time will tell.

Training Regimen

• Step #1: Do 10 go problems a day. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)

  • Note: I’ve been trying to do 10 problems a day from the Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume 1, but I have to admit that it’s been more of a skimming style where I try for a little bit and then look at the solution to see if my instincts were correct. This has not been terribly beneficial for my reading skills as a whole, and I have plans to approach this differently once I’m done with the book.

Games

• KGS - 0 games
• DGS - 1 ongoing game || 1 finished game
• OGS - 6 ongoing games || 7 finished games

Books

• Worked on Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume One: 300 Life-and-Death Problems.
• Worked on Life and Death Problems 1 - Basics by Robert Jasiek.