Finally there are people in RI who actually play go! The first meeting of the RI Go Club (or what ever we’re going to call it)! We also have a Sensei’s Library Page.
Hopefully we’ll be able to play lots of games (handicap and evens…) - I think it’s time for me to start brushing up on handicap joseki and strategies 
It’s currently a small group, but give it time. (4-5 members isn’t half bad to start, though)
I am, much to my dismay, having MAJOR KGS problems. In fact, it’s not limited to KGS, but any Java app that displays a goban! It’s very strange, but it seems something is conflicting with my Java (and it’s not just Java 5… I returned to Java 1.4.2 and still problems). I also have a very hard time watching video on the computer, so I think I may have a graphics card issue. I’ll be trying an old pci gfx card (ATI Radeon) I have at home, and if that works I may have to get a new one (or suffer with the very old one… I don’t game that much I think my new (came with the PC) gfx card is on the motherboard, so I’ll probably even have to disable it to get the old one to work. Hopefully I can be back on KGS by tonight!!
—-
I just received Fujisawa Shuko’s Tesuji Dictionary in the mail from Kiseido! It’s quite the book, but it is in Japanese with a lot of text. I’m translating as much as I can as I go along (it’s not hard using JWPce on my PocketPC). It looks like it could be very useful, but slow going because of the language. I might end up learning a lot of Japanese along the way, though (to add to the 100 or so kanji I already know). If I do learn any of the language, I’ll probably end up being able to read Japanese, but not speak or listen to it
Here’s a good example of a tsumego I was looking at this morning. This is similar to one found in “Get Strong at Tesuji” though, since I don’t have the book in front of me, it IS my own creation (Black to play)
$$B Problem
$$ | . O . O . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . O O . O . . . .
$$ | . X X X O . . . .
$$ | . . O O X X . X .
$$ | . . O X . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . X . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ ——————
I know I’m not really in the position to make a lot of plans for my time now. With a baby on the way in just about a month, I really don’t know what my schedule will be like this summer (aside from “busy”). I do want to plan a few things go related, though…
There are the long term software projects I’m involved in, mainly Ultimate Go Server, but also a Tsumego interface I’d really like to see get off the ground (and learn some Java at the same time). These two are definitely the lowest points on the totem pole, though! I don’t even know much Java - just hoping I can get by with some already created libraries!
I’d also love to play some games IRL! I missed the last Massachusetts Go Association handicap tournament and I’ll be missing the next one (which is THIS Sunday - I would have gone, but my parents will be here for the weekend). One of the things I think is essential is this potential RI Go Association. Although the size of it will pale in comparison with the MGA - now that we have 3 players in Rhode Island I think this thing might get off the ground! Perhaps some coffee-shop play will make the club grow even more. For now it seems like a regularly scheduled time to play informally once a month (or even every two weeks) is best. I should be able to get out of the house this much, at least.
I met up with MrShin and Koreangirl8 on KGS last night - played both of them 
It’s fun to play weaker players (and high handicap games are helpful teaching all of us). I definitely need more practice with handicap games!
Hopefully meeting up every few weeks will work well! Time to plan.
When I play on Little Golem, it changes the game a bit for me (especially if I’m winning, but also when I’m just playing well against a better player).
It seems as though I’m reading a good book… I can’t wait to get to the next page and have a modicum of depression when finished. I want the book to continue, but know that the story is over.
As it is with go… once the point of resignation has been reached it is time to resign. We may wish to continue, but there will be new games.
$$B (Starting at 101)
$$ ————–
$$ | ……..34 33 31 35…….|
$$ | .xo25 23 26..32 27 28 29.39…..|
$$ | ..xo24o.o42 30o38 21.37..19.|
$$ | ..x,….41,..36..x17 16 69|
$$ | .57.xxx.x……..67 18.|
$$ | .55 56.o..51 50 44.40..63.66.70|
$$ | .58.o.54 52.45 43 46 72 71.64.20 68.|
$$ | ……x53..47 48..62….|
$$ | .6 4..73..o.49…..60 22.|
$$ | .5 3o..o.o,.xx..x61 59.|
$$ | .15 14 10.o.oxxxox……|
$$ | 9.xxxo.xooo.oxxx.o.|
$$ | .7o..oxxxxooxxo.xx11|
$$ | .8oxxx..ooxooo.ooo.|
$$ | …oo.1ooxxoxoo13o.12|
$$ | …,..2.xoxoxx.xxx.|
$$ | …o…oxoxx..x….|
$$ | ……..ooox…….|
$$ | ……………….|
$$ ———————–
I’ve set-up a Sensei’s Library like tool for this website! Not all functions are enabled, but the basics are available and moves can be numbered 0-99. Numbering moves more than 99 WILL break the script (though only enough to make the diagram look stupid ;)) The first line must be a comment.
An example diagram:
$$W White Goes First
$$ ———————
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 10 11 . 6 9 . . . |
$$ | . . 1 . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . w . . . . |
$$ | . 8 . . 3 . . 7 z |
$$ | . . . y . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ———————
Look good?
I’m a big believer in the memorization of pro games. In fact, I definitely think that, the more times you play through a game (from memory) the more you pick up from it.
It’s interesting how some games I pick up much more quickly than others… There are two games that I can think of… The one that I started looking at today (It was on the GoGoD’s New In Go page earlier today) is:
January 12th, 2005
29th Japanese Kisei, Title Match Round 1
W: Hane Naoki
B: Yuki Satoshi
W+R
When I’m running through a game like that, I pick up more of it each time I play through until I’m finally playing through it at 90+%. I certainly don’t understand 100% of the fighting and I’m not doing NEARLY as deep reading as Hane (isn’t that the understatement of the year), but I realize what most of the moves are for.
On the other hand, this game I’ve most recently looked at (before the Kisei match game):
March 4th, 1982
37th Honinbo League
W: Takemiya Masaki
B: Sakata Eio
B+5.5
This game I’ve also been able to memorize at 90% (up until about move 100 or so - which is about as far as I bother going, especially with a hard to understand game). The reason I’ve chosen this game is because I’m looking at games where Takemiya plays White against a san-ren-sei. (My game as White is sorely lacking).
The reason this game seems so much harder is that the moves, and order of moves, don’t make nearly as much sense to me. The more I play through, still the more I understand, but it takes longer and the light reading is still too hard to see.
There are other differences between the games, the Hane Naoki game was an early resignation while the Takemiya/Sakata game went to full term. the Hane game was a fighting game while the Takemiya/Sakata game involved a messy-moyo (moyo invasion/reduction fight).
In my opinion, the easiest games to understand are the ones that involve big moyos and few invasion/reductions and some outright fights (especially with early resignation).
However, memorizing both easy and hard games is probably a big help.
I’m currently studying a game:
22nd NHK Semi-Final
1975, 03/09
W: Takemiya Masaki
B: Go Seigen
What interests me about this game is that, in the fuseki, Takemiya tended to jump around a lot. I’m not sure how normal this fuseki is: the game is not shown on fuseki.info, but all of the games available in their free database divert after four moves (perhaps order is different…)
This isn’t the only interesting thing, though. One of the comments in a recent panda mail-magazine game (Yamada Kimio’s “To the Point Commentary” No. 93) says “Black should switch to a large fuseki point elsewhere.” It’s amazing to me that this type of small moves made because the player is tied-up in thinking about one part of the board still occur between 1d players. It seems to me that this type of idea is one of the most important to fix in order to reach IGS shodan.
This seems like a striking example of efficiency. Many of us [moderate] weaker players are drilled in ignoring one-point “sente” moves played by our opponent in the endgame in order to play a larger (or more-sente) move elsewhere. This is also how the begin-game should run, though it’s even harder to determine when a group is safe and when a certain point is too small.
I’m proposing to ask myself the following questions during my begin-game:
In addition, I’m going to treat all single stones as extremely light. My fuseki focus should be on making the most money in a short period of time - even if it means losing out a bit in one area… My thoughts on this are based primarily on the popular modern fuseki where B gets two hoshi, W takes hoshi and 3-4, and B approaches the 3-4 at the 3-6.
Make the game easier by playing well in the begin-game.
