Malweth’s Metablog

So I keep hearing about these people who “Quit” go…

first of all, if you come back to it - you haven’t quit. If you stop smoking for a month and then start again… you may have made an attempt to quit, but didn’t quite follow through

Which makes me believe that it’s not possible to quit go. For one thing, most people that try to quit or don’t have time for go come back eventually - it’s addicting once you start to glimpse the real understanding of go.

Additionally… if you really were able to walk away from go and never come back, then you never really played go in the first place. You may have seen an interesting game, tried it out a few times, but never really played it (these people usually quit around 25-30 kyu I would guess).

So no quitting go… take a break, play less often, but quitting isn’t possible so don’t even try!

This is not at all about go… well, not really.

Final Fantasy XI for PS2 comes out today… I have a crappy computer so I haven’t been able to use the PC version (at least it still runs ggo and CGoban). I preordered at GameStop, and I’ve heard that a lot of the other GSs are getting it in today (the actual date of release)… unfortunately sometimes things are shipped slowly up here!! I’ll be checking the store this afternoon after work, but hopefully the game comes! Especially since I’ll have extra time today for it (Christy is working late ;)!

So… with any luck it’ll be Chinese food and FFXI tonight! I am making very big plans not to let this game interfere with Go in any way. I think I’m going to do some on the treadmill also - that way I can get fit with FFXI (Can’t play go that way unfortunately… or I really really would!)

And, to tie this in with Go just a tad, the PS2 Hard Drive (Required for FFXI - comes with FFXI in fact) has the potential for downloading other games, movies, etc (at additional cost, of course…) but this service could certainly include a go game and server! Do you think Sony will bother translating whatever currently exists in Japan (if anything?). Go is pretty non-relevant to North American society… in any case, I can certainly stage an e-mail campaign to get board games (especially igo) added to the Play-Online service.

I love live matches… The Kisei is a little slow for me (mainly because I have to quit around Lunch time so I can go to bed!) but I love watching high level games online (in person might be really nice as well…! I have yet to find out)

If you can understand at least half of the moves a stronger player makes, whether or not you can actually find those moves, it could probably be of benefit to watch them in real time. The reason this seems good to do is because while the two other players are thinking, you can also be reading to try and figure out the best move! If you get it right, perhaps you’re on the right tract toward getting stronger… if you don’t make the same move, you can see what move the stronger player would have made and often figure out why (though sometimes it may require a sequence to be played out first). How can you not get stronger when playing a teaching game in this method?

Yes, playing… whenever you read through a sequence as you would in your own game, you really are playing the game. Certainly your move doesn’t show up (unless you’re thinking correctly and on the same path as the actual player). The only difference is one of rules…

Take an example of Mr. 10-kyu (me, perhaps) watching Mr. and Ms. 2-dan play a game. If I come up with the same move, I win the round… if I come up with the wrong move I don’t find out why it’s wrong, but I do get to take back my move and play the “correct” one! As long as I keep that mindset of “I might not have been wrong, but I wasn’t ‘most right’ according to Ms. 2-dan!” then I’ll continue to get stronger.

This seems to be, essentially, the same game the Kisei Kibitzers play. The only difference now is that there’s some competition between the kibitzers to come up with the correct answer. The higher ranked players are divinely deferred to in this game, but you might get a chance to find out why your wrong answer is wrong! I must say I prefer the solitare version.

Yes… it’s going to be a good week, I think!

Next week I have vacation… so that should turn out interesting But that’s next week…

This week I really don’t have much scheduled. I do need to get my licence plate, which is NOT go related! - if I were to get a vanity it would either be “NAKADE” which they might not allow or “TESUJI” which would certainly be allowed This is just a regular old license plate (with a cool number… heheh)

No… the best part is that I finally, after almost exactly a month of hard work, hit 10-kyu! The biggest problem with a big jump like this (akin to a “Level Up” in any normal game) is that I have absolutely nobody to tell! I can tell lots of people - and those I’ve explained Go to won’t, at least, look at me funny and walk away. They still will never understand, though - unless I can finally convince some of them to actually play the game!

It’s interesting… in many other pasttimes, hard work is recognized by the general public. Saying “I broke 5 minutes on a mile run” means something to everyone. It means more to some, but it’s significant to most people. In the Western world 10-kyu is what comes after “please.” My wife is probably the only one who will at least recognize the time I spent…

Now on to 9 kyu. Have I reached an epiphany the masters (Kageyama) speak of? Is this move one that will continue, or will I again be halted for a time at 9 or 10 kyu?
Soon, perhaps, I will no longer need to view myself as a beginner, but as an intermediate (SDK) player.

I think a big benefit to my game might be to classify every move I play. I’m sure I’ll misclassify some moves, (e.g. one not needed to make life), but even if I get 75% of them correctly classified, my game will improve simply because of forcing myself to decide whether a move is the best or not.

So, my tentative classification of moves (begin/middle game):

• URGENT: Move connects out to live


• URGENT: Move makes Life


• HUGE: Move kills a big, surrounded group.


• HUGE: Move cuts off a weak group


• VERY BIG: Move builds large Moyo


• VERY BIG: Move invades enemy Moyo (safely)


• BIG: Move encloses a corner completely


• BIG: Move prevents a corner enclosure


• BIG: Move builds influence LIGHTLY (peeps and other Attack and Defense)


• LARGE: Move takes a “big point” on the side of the board


• LARGE: Move responds to a non-urgent attack by the opponent

I think that responding to an enemy attack is best FAR down the list - obviously there are some attacks by the opponent that fall under the URGENT section, but many do not. It’s harder than it sounds to decide what moves are best… most of the games I’ve lost (or won) recently have turned into big fights starting at the corner - if this makes any sense at all for a 10-kyu, perhaps I should stop playing. I think I need to start focusing on some jouseki in order to punish bad moves by my opponent or to produce an equal result through jouseki.