Games

• KGS - 5 games ( 1 win : 4 losses )
• DGS - 5 ongoing games

Tsumego

• Go Game - Life and Death (iPad App) - Practice Phase 2 ( Class 18 - 20 )
• Five Hundred and One Opening Problems - Page 55 - 90

Other

• The Chi­nese Open­ing — Page 63 - 87

Thoughts

I’m happy to announce that the StudyGroupKyu site went live this week! There are still some enhancements to be made, and that will continue to take up my time; but it’s been fun to combine my love for design with go. Definitely hoping to do more of that as time goes on.

With that being said, this week has a decently studious week combined with sporadic blitz go. Now although none of the game time settings will indicate that, I generally didn’t spend more than 30 seconds on a move. This is probably due to my lack of time and newly acquired ability to not be attached to winning or losing a game. I’ve been more obsessed with trying out new things and experimenting with what I’ve been learning. And to be honest, it’s quite refreshing.

For those who are wondering how my studies of Korean go have gone, while I did not finish all the material that I originally set out to do, I have learned that Korean go is centered on fighting. I know that many people will say that they already knew this, but I will tell you that experiencing it firsthand is an entirely separate matter. It wasn’t until I was being pummeled by 5 dans on Tygem and studying the material they use that I began to really see the impressive feats Korean style go can accomplish. It will definitely become a useful weapon in my arsenal against the calmer players I have seen on KGS.

As March is literally right around the corner, I will have you know that I am now taking a free style approach to my training. If I feel motivated or excited to study something, that is precisely what I will study. I won’t feel obligated to begrudgingly finish a book because I started it. The only thing I will maintain consistently however, are my life and death problems. That will be the only aspect that will never change.

With my success at rising to the Alpha class in ASR, I have also decided that it is time for me to drop the league for now. I will be turning my attention towards playing more ranked games so that I can find out how much I have grown over these last couple of months. In addition, I’ve decided to join the Study Group Kyu tournament to see how my skills match up against other SDK’s. Since I will only be playing each opponent once, it should be less time consuming and may even give me a chance to play more ranked games as well.

Though it seems like just yesterday when I was attending the NAGC, it has been an exciting month where the experiences and adventures I’ve had this month will certainly serve as a critical milestone for me. Looking forward to what March will bring!