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

Weekly Go Wednesday: Issue #36

For Game 3 of the epic jubango between Lee Sedol (9P) and Gu Li (9P), we have arrived at a crucial point. Lee Sedol is already 2-0 (Game 1 and Game 2) and there is concern that the jubango will end earlier than desired. After all, everyone wants to see all 10 games. However, the rules of the jubango is that the first to six victories win. As a result, for this game, even Lee Sedol fans were rooting for Gu Li to turn the tide so that we could see more games.

For those who don’t keep up with the professional scene, Gu Li had managed to beat Lee Sedol in two other tournament matches prior to this game, so even though there was concern that there would be too much pressure on Gu Li, people had high hopes that Gu Li would be able to make a comeback this game.

As with the previous reviews (Game 1 and Game 2), this review continues to be geared towards kyu players who struggle with the advanced analysis and discussion that normally occurs between dan and professional level players. There is commentary for every move so that hopefully you won’t ever feel lost. In addition, I am happy to announce that frozensoul (5d) has joined forces with me again for this game review. Many thanks goes out to him for providing a number of the insights you’ll see throughout the review.

Just like before, please let me know if you notice anything or have any suggestions that I can do to improve the review. I look forward to getting your feedback on this game review. Hope you enjoy it and learn a thing or two through it!

For more advanced reviews, be sure to keep an eye out on World Go Online and GoGameGuru since I’m sure they will have their own in the near future.

Update: Many thanks to Anders for letting me know that there were some typos in the review. I’ve gone through the SGF and updated it to hopefully eliminate them all and make sure everything is labelled properly. Let me know if I missed anything!

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.

I know that it’s been over a week since I came back from Hong Kong, so first off, I apologize that I haven’t been able to post about Hong Kong yet.

When I got back, I thought that I would be able to just grab my photos and quickly organize them in an hour or so. And then after I did that, I would be able to start working on my posts. After all, it’s only about a week’s worth of pictures right?

Yeah… Let’s just say I completely forgot and therefore underestimated the amount of effort it takes to properly organize your photos (and that doesn’t even count editing, cropping, resizing, etc.). There were the duplicates, the variations on a shot that I had to choose through, and then renaming them properly so I can easily track what is what…

So while I thought I would be able to knock it out quickly so I could get started on drafting my Hong Kong trip posts, it’ll probably be at least another week before I’m able to get them up and online. Because in the end, I’m not trying to just throw up posts for the sake of posting. I’m really trying to capture the experience as best I can in order to give you the most enjoyable reading experience possible, so I hope you can bear with me a bit longer.

On a separate but related note, I am also starting to feel the twinge of anxiety as I’m starting to fall slightly my weekly posts. As I’ve been trying to improve the quality of the game reviews, they’ve also started to take a considerable amount of time. But don’t worry, I’m working hard to make sure that I don’t fall behind. Back to work I go!

APRIL FOOLS!!!!! xD

To be honest, I had no intentions of pranking anyone or anything; but then I started drafting a post for today and then the idea just came to me. So… bursts of laughing you’ll have to forgive me for trolling you a little bit. (By the way, got to love that GIF. Captures how I’m feeling perfectly. Cracks me up.)

Anyways… on a more serious note, today marks the beginning of April and thus a chance to start fresh as the official countdown to Go Congress begins. Yup… I’ve registered. I haven’t paid yet since I want to make sure that nothing on the schedule alters my plans, but it’s practically set in stone.

Since this is my first Go Congress, I’m really hoping to go there with a bang. In order to really reinvigorate my training in preparation for Go Congress, I’ve started:

1. Re-watching Hikaru No Go - It’s always good to start back with one of the most inspiring stories of all go stories.
2. Joined Yunguseng Dojang - This is essentially an online insei program (from what I understand). My friend Diego has told me good things about it, so I’ve decided to give it a shot!
3. Becoming super-disciplined about my tsumego training - In my last few games I’ve played on KGS, I’ve been reminded just how important reading is and how it can completely change the tide of the game when you’re able to read just one step further than your opponent.
4. Working a lot harder on the blog - I know this might seem totally unrelated to my growth. And to some, it’ll hinder my progress as a player. However, the blog is something that I’ve come to really enjoy and has helped me be accountable for my own journey as a go player. Definitely do not regret any of the time I’ve spent on it!

With that said, I also wanted to give a quick shoutout to Maaike and her April Challenge! Her April Challenge is to “get our of your comfort zone.” So, for this month, my challenge will be to play a territorial style and avoid a moyo style! I think that should be a good one right? (If you have a better one for me, please let me know!)

Hope you all are doing well and don’t get pranked too much today!

PS. I haven’t forgotten about my Hong Kong posts. They are just taking a lot longer than anticipated.

PPS. One last thing, I’ll be releasing another combo review with frozensoul on the third jubango game next Wednesday (4/9), so be sure to be on a lookout for it!

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.

Weekly Go Wednesday: Issue #35

Lately I’ve been piling up topics that I want to write about, but I found myself constantly pushing them off as I wanted to write the perfect article for each and every topic. Similarly, I’ve also realized that when it comes to playing games, I often find myself sitting there thinking about the multiple factors that go into whether or not I’m “ready” to play a game (i.e., how much time do I have, what if my opponent takes forever in byoyomi, what if I have to resign early, what if I’m not actually ready to play and make silly mistakes, etc. etc. etc.).

Today’s topic is kind of counter-intuitive since after all, go is a thinking game. However, I think that especially when it comes to amateur players, it’s actually really important not to overthink things. Because even though we make plenty of stupid moves from the lack of thinking, I think there are a large number of occurrences where players end up making bad moves or not enjoying the game as much as they should due to overthinking.

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