Get Strong at Joseki 1

Description: In the second volume of the Get Strong at Go Series, Bozulich familiarizes the reader with 11 basic josekis that commonly occur around the 3-4 point and how to handle them in regards to their variations, choosing the correct joseki given the whole board, and how to play after the joseki is completed. A great book for players who want a better grasp on joseki as a whole.

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The Workshop Lectures (Volume 4)

Description: The Workshop Lectures Volume 4 is part a series of lectures given by Yilun Yang (7P) at workshops in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The topics covered include: “Good and Bad Shape,” “When to Play Fast or Slow,” “Playing a Fighting Opening,” and “Destroying Large or Nearly Completed Positions.”

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Friday Go Forward: Week 29

Overview

So I’m going to change up the format of my progress report in hopes of determining my own training menu and give you better insight into what I’m doing each week. Instead of an “Education and Training” section, I’ve split it up into “Training” and “Reading Material” so there is a clear distinction of what I’m actively doing. My training regimen is far from what I would like it to be at the moment, but my goal this week has been to establish consistent and disciplined habits in order to make continuous gains. I’m sure I will still find wrinkles in my system as I progress, but the key thing I’ll have to remember is to always “fail forward!”

Games

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

Daily Training

• 10 Intermediate Life & Death Problems - Magic Baduk Go (iPhone)
• 10 Pages of Jump Level Up 1
• 1 Joseki from Joseki Jeongseok Compass
• 25 Problems from the Get Strong at Go Series.

Reading Material

• Finished The Workshop Lectures Volume 4.
• Finished Get Strong at Joseki 1.
• Worked on Jump Level Up 1.
• Worked on Joseki Jeongseok Compass.
• Worked on Fight Like a Pro.

Last night I had the pleasure of playing fellow go twitter friend goBum. For our first game against one another, I thought it was exciting and a lot of fun. Afterwards though, we were severely reminded of the numerous mistakes that occurred throughout the game. Of the two of us though, I would have to say that my play was probably the most shameful. Haha. And if you’re wondering what kind of moves I’m talking about, I mean the whole gamut of making empty triangles that are thank you moves along with playing impulsive moves that are the equivalent of passing. Needless to say, I got what I deserved when it came to verbal bashing. Haha. xD

Since I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided to also show the game to sensei today. As I expected, the feedback wasn’t much better from his end either. Haha. However, he pointed out a critical flaw in my play: I still play from a pressured player mindset. In other words, I get so entangled in myself that I fail to analyze the board correctly. I fail to separate myself from what is happening on the board. Instead of calm analysis of what’s going on, any slight deviation from what I expected led to me feeling like it as a personal failure instead of a simple change on the board to be accounted for. As a result, the impulsive and reckless moves that plague my game are inevitable.

To separate myself from the game when I play… What a cumbersome obstacle I have in my way…

The Workshop Lectures (Volume 3)

Description: The Workshop Lectures Volume 3 is part a series of lectures given by Yilun Yang (7P) at workshops in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The topics covered include: “Playing the Opening,” “Developments Around the 4-4 Point,” “Punishing Weak Groups Directly,” “Using Forcing Moves,” and “Handling Weak Stones.”

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A couple days ago, I was doing some mitt work with my partner at the local boxing gym. About halfway into the round, I was getting visibly tired and close to exhaustion from trying to push beyond my limits. It was then though, that my partner said something that struck me:

Remember to breathe. Control your breathing.
Seems like such an obvious statement no? After all, don’t we all breathe subconsciously? Without breathing, we’d all be dead! What a stupid thing to say!

If you think such crude and rudimentary thoughts though, you are missing the point. The fact is that while I might have been “breathing,” the fact is that I was so caught up in punching and keeping good form that I forgot to breathe half the time. You might exclaim, “How does one forget to breathe Ben? That’s ridiculous!” And you’re right to some extent, but instead of breathing more efficiently through my nose and exhaling through my mouth, I was holding my breath half the time (without even realizing it due to concentrating so hard on punching and maintaing form) and taking short gasps of air with my mouth in between. It’s no wonder that I was winded and at the point of near collapse before the round was even halfway through.

So how does this relate to go?

The reason I went to great lengths to explain breathing in boxing is because it occurred to me that a similar thing was happening to kyu players. Instead of breathing however, I would make the analogy that kyu players often players fail to play moves with the whole board in mind. Similar to breathing, it is a given that every move that is played affects the board in some way shape or form. However, if we just play moves without making a conscious effort to understand or give it a purpose in regard to the entire board, it is just as if we are going through the motions of punching without remembering to breathe properly. And then the next thing you know, you’re out of breath and your opponent cuts off a big group and delivers the knockout punch.

Of course with time and experience, playing moves with respect to the entire board will be second nature; but while we still remain the weak kyu players that we are, we must be sure to make a conscious effort to take the entire board into consideration at all times. So to put my partner’s advice into another context:

Remember to consider the board as a whole before playing your next move.

Something interesting happened yesterday. I had just finished the arc in Hajime no Ippo&ei=6IoOUrG_FaWbygGL6oCwAg&usg=AFQjCNFFI0eP4wTVR8AszqReTx_t5ZpG1w&sig2=vGXcojo8m7DpILIfiStOww&bvm=bv.50768961,d.aWc) where Volg fights for a world title. And since I was looking to possibly play a game in real time, I got excited when I saw the chance to play someone from Russia. (For those who don’t understand the connection, Volg is a Russian boxer.) Before I knew it, I find myself neck deep in a complicated cross-fuseki game where all the fighting spirit I had been reading about had gotten into my blood and I was trying to strike at all of my opponent’s groups with everything I had.

There was one particular moment (towards the end of the game) where I found myself in a rather precarious situation where I could either make certain of absolute life or leave it up to a capturing race. I know that the old me (and probably a lot of other players) would have probably chosen the sure route to life. However, it felt kind of surreal as I glanced at the position and realized that I could just tenuki because I already knew the end-result of the capturing race: Black would never win due to a shortage of liberties.

The reason I’m writing about this is because I don’t think I’ve ever captured this kind of moment before in my journey. Do you know what I mean? It’s that moment where suddenly your training is starting to show its results and you feel as if something has dawned on you. In other words, all those tedious problems that I had practiced in the Level Up books had begun to show their true colors. Without much effort, I looked at my position and knew there was nothing to worry about.

I know that I have been kind of out of it the past week; but what happened in yesterday’s game is a testament to my efforts before. And I think it’s just what I needed to kick my butt back into gear with my training. Time to revisit my training menu once again!

Friday Go Forward: Week 28

Overview

Over this past week, I’ve been rather introspective about where I am in life and where I want to be over the next few years. While go has been an incredible addition to my life and has enriched in a more ways than I can count, I am working on figuring out how to utilize other aspects of growth to not only improve my overall self-achievement; but to also as transfer that knowledge back to go as well. A simple of example of this was my post on boxing earlier this week. So while my studying and playing has been rather laid back, I’m optimistic of the changes I’m making and the impact it’ll have on my go abilities. =)

Games

• KGS - 4 games
• DGS - 3 ongoing games
• Nova - 2 ongoing games

Education & Training

• Worked on Jump Level Up 1.
• Worked on Joseki Jeongseok Compass.
• Worked on Takao’s Astute Use of Brute Force.
• Worked on Fight Like a Pro.
• Worked on Get Strong at Joseki 1.
• Worked on The Workshop Lectures Volume 4.

I’ve been feeling rather off the last couple of days. Not sick or anything, but just feeling a little out of it. Haven’t really felt like studying, but it’s been fun playing a casual game here and there. But on a more important note, I just discovered a site called KGSBash. And if you’re wondering what it’s about, here are some that had me laughing…

_#54 _
adoreme: it is said that kgs has a secret end stage
adoreme: get 9dan
adoreme: and beat 50 9dans in a row
adoreme: then tartrate will appear as the endboss

_#49 _
RayFrost [2k]: I played a 3p today… with 9 handicap
RayFrost [2k]: I lost.
RayFrost [2k]: 3p is strong. :|
LazyDragon [3k]: i once played a 5p with 9hc - also lost …
tellone [2k]: i once played a very drunk 2p who forgot which collor he had
tellone [2k]: and i still lost

Oh KGS… Good times…