Malweth’s Metablog

B+R

Ever notice how sometimes you really feel like playing go, but you know you’re not going to do a scrap of reading for whatever reason? I started out with good intentions last night, playing a ranked game with relatively short time controls (10:/:20) against a 9k (giving me White). I hadn’t practiced my tsumego all day, and I just wasn’t in the mood to do any deep thinking…

Needless to say, B+R!

B+R

I got smart about things… well, someone gave me the idea

I put up another ranked game with all the same time controls… this time a guest offered me a free game. Good idea! I knew I wasn’t going to play any better than last time. The game was interesting, but I gave up too much by overplaying and underreading. The early opening was a bit more promising for me, but I saved where I should have sacrificed! I thrashed around a bit more, and B+R!

W+R

I’m still feeling fine about myself and my game… I mean, I knew I wasn’t reading - it’s nice to play for the fun of it. My last game smartened me up, though — this time I listed a free game (same time controls). Before you go congratulating me on a win, I took Black this time…

At least this game was relatively even going, even to yose (I was a bit behind, but probably not enough for a resignation). This time, though, I decided to make a 1p sente move to negate the 1p sacrifice yose. It’d be easier to show you:

Needless to say, he extended and really screwed me up. I managed to get a nice 50 point ko out of the deal (certainly a flower ko for Black). Which I of course lost… I didn’t really care that much, until my opponent (a guest again) “reviewed” my game for me — he completed yose and showed me just how much I lost by. What a nice guy.

So I wasn’t really feeling bad about my game - I knew going in that I wasn’t really thinking… but that one guy made me feel pretty bad about people in general. And that’s why I play IRL games

One thing that’s making me pretty happy about go, though:

US GO CONGRESS

12%

AUGUST 2007

Let’s keep THAT going!

I was thinking about tsumego, not specific ones, but in general. In fact, the specific “set” of tsumego I was thinking of was the very first few beginner problems of Cho Chikun’s L&D Encyclopedia (available here).

I’ve mentioned in the past that I believe a big problem intermediate players have is that they cannot get to the next level in reading. The reason for this problem is that online sources promote bad habits in tsumego. I thought it would be nice to have a beginners’ workbook of go problems with specific questions about each problem. These questions would be identical for every problem and would guide the beginner in the right direction for proper tsumego study.

A preliminary set of questions would be:

Black to Live

1. How does White kill black? List all the first moves are available for White to kill black.
2. How does Black live? List the first move black must make to live.
3. What are the best moves White has to refute Black’s play? List all possible answers to Black’s first move.
4. Why do White’s best answers not work? In your head, think of Black’s path after White’s answer.
5. How many points does Black have once he lives?
6. How many points does White have if she kills?
7. How many ko threats are there if Black plays the first move?
8. How many ko threats are there if White kills?
9. What is the value of Black’s living move?

It’s an impressive task for one problem, but all of the boldface questions are important for each problem. The additional questions can be applied to problems as well and are good practice for counting territory and value of moves. This is a slightly more advanced task.

US GO CONGRESS

8%

AUGUST 2007

Learning the game of Go is a very fast process. The rules are simple, the game is very basic, and even learning how to play a solid game isn’t a hard task…

Studying Go, Getting Stronger at Go, becoming a Player of the Game. These are the hard tasks!

Studying Go

Studying Go is hard. There are many elements of the game, and each of them deserves attention! The game has a natural progression, and each part of that progression needs to be studied: Fuseki (and Joseki), Middle Game (Attack, Defense), and Endgame. This doesn’t even include specialized tactics such as Cutting and Connecting Tesuji, Sabaki (light movements), Making and Breaking Shape, Invasion, Reduction, and others.

I believe there are simply two ways to study all of the above. I do grant that specialized (direct) study of certain topics can be useful (the endgame, for example). However, these two study methods will cover a very wide base of the above:

1. Study Pro Games. I can’t say this enough It’s fun to do for most people and the benefit can help you with ALL topics. Even visualization and reading is worked if you’re reading kifu off-board, this is a more advanced application of studying pro games that I suggest starting around 5-kyu AGA. Pre-5k I highly suggest playing out pro games on a board. Pre-15k I even suggest using a reader and computer game records (SGF). It’s important to find the moves on the kifu yourself but before 15k the number of games watched is even more important!


2. Tsumego. This is something you either really enjoy or really hate to do. I hated tsumego and shied away from anything but the easiest problems (and even those once I reached a total mastery of them). Anyone who hates tsumego WILL grow to like it once the tougher problems start becoming easier! Reading is the most important skill in Go, and 95% of all Go tasks will include reading to one degree or another. Do at least a few tsumego a day, even if you hate it. Do 50 or 100 tsumego a day if you like them.  In all cases, make sure you are studying tsumego the correct way (see my older blogs).

Getting Stronger at Go

Getting Stronger at Go is another very hard task. It may come easily at first, or it may be tough every step of the way, but the two methods should be continued even as you get stronger. The hardest part about getting stronger is finding the appropriate study material! Some kifu are way too tough for certain ranks. I’m currently studying Go Seigen starting from his very early games (he was around 10 years old, I think) and continuing on to his tougher games. This is a good method to slowly increase the difficulty of the games… but be aware that it isn’t possible with all players and each player may start their games at a different level! (Go Seigen will be tough to understand for beginners). Style may also matter. Takemiya Masaki is a good pro for the middle-kyu ranked player, but he prefers a very moyo oriented style. Experiment with different players, find one that appeals to you, and study!

Tsumego are also very hard to find! I highly recommend Graded Go for Beginners. I recommend against GoProblems.com. They key is ordered problems. A book should start easy and slowly get harder. Unfortunately, many of the books I’m in favor of I only have in Chinese. A good free starting point is Cho Chikun’s Encyclopedia of Life and Death. These files are in postscript format, but can easily be converted to pdf.

“Player of the Game”

Perhaps it’s facetious, but I consider a “Player of the Game” to be someone who fully understands each move they play (correct or incorrect). It’s what we all strive to become. I don’t know at which point this becomes possible… perhaps at dan ranks, perhaps high dan or even pro… It may never be possible with some moves in the opening or mid-game. Reducing Territorial Frameworks talks about “one’s best guess,” which is hardly in tune to what I’m describing. This is the hardest task a Go student has… it’s the diploma of a life-long study.

Perhaps it’s an impossible dream, but I strive to become a Player of the Game.

US GO CONGRESS

6%

AUGUST 2007

Yes, only 6%, but I’m back on track again… family parties are the bane to my progress.

I have an idea of how to go about studying joseki:

Firstly, take a standard sequence (short to start, growing more complex as you get stronger).

Secondly, look up all games that use the sequence, as well as common diversions to the sequence (a program like MoyoGo or SmartGo would help with this).

Study the whole board and notice what’s different when different variations are chosen. Is there a common theme with the full joseki? What is gained when the joseki is used, how is this used on the whole board?

I’m sure there are more questions that would be useful to ask, but when I’m studying Joseki, this is the method I’ll be using. More about it as I refine the method.

US GO CONGRESS

4%

AUGUST 2007

I purchased a new book: 呉清源打碁全集 from amazon.co.jp. This is Go Seigen’s complete Kifu collection. It’s a tad expensive, but a lucky buy - the book is out of print and I bought the last (new) one in stock. I got the cheap shipping, so it should be here by the end of June.

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I have big plans for this book… I want to study one game a day from it, but I also have plans for this blog! I know I’m just a 2-kyu (AGA), but I think I’ll find that actually commenting these games will help me improve my play. I will be commenting one game a week and blogging it here. (I may move to a different blog system first… something more layout-friendly).

I’ll also be putting weekly (or even multiple-per-week) tsumego up here. They won’t be my own creations, but I will discuss. Also weekly Joseki - I’m going to try a fairly intensive study of joseki. I may have to create my own blog scripts for this! I plan on being a [b]solid[/b] Dan level player for Congress 2007.

Look forward to some changes over the summer!

US GO CONGRESS

4%

AUGUST 2007

Well, there’s no chance I’m going to this year’s Go Congress. My sister is getting married in September and things are going to be busy (and expensive) all summer! I think Congress 2006 sounds like a beautiful location, but it’s just not going to be realistic for me.

US GO CONGRESS

0%

AUGUST 2007

However.

I’ve taken a small bet with my wife (and myself, I suppose) to get in shape by about this time next year. One of the important parts of getting in shape is a strong goal and excellent concentration and willpower. Luckily Go helps with that (and hopefully it will help my game improve too). I’ll be updating with my progress… currently at 0% (I’ve lost some weight, but I have a “starting” point of my scale that I’m a bit off from just yet).

But also,

I’m putting myself on a whole new “Shodan Challenge.” My goal for US Go Congress 2007 is to be well within the DAN rankings (AGA). I’m really not far off from Shodan now, and I can feel my reading getting steadily better. A part of my study includes at least 10 tsumego a day, and I’m also planning on playing through the complete kifu of Go Seigen (as soon as my Birthday copy arrives).

Big plans…

but you can’t stay in one place, you’re either going backward or going forward