Malweth’s Metablog

I’m starting a reread of Tesuji. I find it best to peruse a number of books at one given time. Typically it’s a matching topic book and problem book, but currently I’m also reading an opening book (plus the opening problems book) and the Tesuji book (which includes problems).

Depending on the author, the  introduction of the book can be one of the best parts! Kageyama’s “Fundamentals” is a prime example. It’s not often that any skills arise simply from reading the introduction, but sometimes that’s where much of the philosophy of the book can be found. In fact, just reading through the introduction of Tesuji gave me an insight on (sequence) reading in general.

To quote from the book, “The first principle in [sequence] reading is to start with a definite purpose. There is no better way to waste time than to say to yourself, ‘I wonder what happens if I play here,’ and start tracing out sequences aimlessly. Tactics musts serve strategy. Start by asking yourself what you would like to accomplish in the position in question, then start hunting for the sequence that accomplishes it. Once you have your goal clearly in mind the right move, if it exists, will be much easier to find.”

Well Go writers certainly aren’t known, for their grammer. (One would think the editors would do a better job), but that aside:

The fact that I’m learning how to read after almost a year of playing go has brought another 10-kyu insight: the passage above can apply to every part of the game - the only difference is the ease in finding the goals and key points. The opening is becoming a more important aspect of the game to me. I took a look at some of my losses and, though some were a result of misreads or fast play, many were because I was already behind after the opening!

I played an interesting game today versus an 8-kyu. I’m currently 9-kyu, but uncertain of my true rank (because of my recent games and new acquisition of basic reading). The interesting thing about this game (other than the fact that the game was long, 30/1/1) was the fuseki. My opponent played two 4×6 points for his corner enclosures. He later mentioned that he doesn’t believe in corner territory….. riiight… in any case, the game was still good, but the fuseki gave me a bit more than it should have. My successful  invasion in his moyo (after his in mine) won me the game.

Interesting… I wonder whether the jump from 5-kyu to shodan involves the prevention and destruction of the opponent during invasions. Only something I’ll find out when I’ve made that jump!

Yesterday my rank increased on the KGS server to 9-kyu. I’m happy to finally be a SDK but I cannot help but feel that there’s still a very long way to go! Now that I am ‘SDK’ I feel confident that I can, at least, no longer call myself a beginner. I’ll feel more like an SDK when I’ve penetrated the ranks a bit further (5-8 kyu), but even before 9-kyu I’ve begun to find some understanding in the game.

I had a long discussion with some friends on “The Goban” (Room on KGS) about “understanding” go. I believe that there are somewhat distinct levels of understanding and that progress in go comes from a certain enlightenment that takes place. It’s easy to comprehend what I’m talking about at the new player levels. A 30-kyu (and weaker) understands the rules of the game (because she may have been taught) but cannot understand concepts like “atari.” Certainly they know what “atari” is, but it isn’t something natural to them.

Between 25 and 20 kyu “atari” becomes a natural way of playing. Escaping atari is easier and escaping atari into atari is almost never done any more. Some minor slip-ups of being put back into atari (such as in a ladder situation) still occur. Understanding captures such as Geta (Nets) and many Nakade (killing shapes) are still lost on them. Certainly it’s understood that two eyes lives, but gaining two eyes is easier said than done. The 20 kyu understands that you should be sprinkling stones during the opening, and usually carries the knowledge that stones should first be placed in the corners, then the sides. Proper extensions, extensions from shimari (corner enclosures), and responding to kakari (corner attacks) are not yet fully understood.

At around the 15 kyu level this is harder to describe. Primarily, all of the things mentioned as not understood at the 20 kyu level are at least mostly understood by the 15 kyu. In my own experience, I found that travelling between 20 and 15 kyu was based on learning these topics and that the journey from 15 kyu to 11 kyu was based on refining these topics. The only real new topics concern Attack and Defense (the book is excellent).

The 11-kyu is a shape based animal. Pattern recognition is now a key skill. Seeing Life and Death patterns is key. Finding basic “key points” is necessary. The opening is usually refined and played out equally with most players of a similar level. Now a refining of Attack and Defense can give some small gains (12-11 or 11-10 kyu perhaps). Now Life and Death and Tesuji become key, but not for pattern recognition! The next hurdle is one of reading ability. The game can be played up until 12 kyu without ever having to read more than one (or maybe two) moves ahead. Any moves read further than this are from pattern recognition. At the 11-kyu level it is imperitive to learn to read. Using influence is starting to become important as well - the game that earned me my rank increase was one where I controlled an equal amount of corner and side territory as my opponent, but his moves were submissive and I also gained the entire center. Disrupting and preventing influence is also important - and the path to these ends come from reading skill.

Further than this I can only speculate, but from what I’ve read it seems that most progress up to about 5 kyu is reading ability based. One needs to learn to read Fuseki (aiming for good extensions and moyos 3-4 or more moves before they occur), Joseki (corner battles in general - not memorization… reading), Attack + Defense, Life & Death, and escape and containment tactics.
I hope my speculations are correct… it sounds fun Perhaps it’s best to focus on game playing and observation at this point…