It usually works out like this:

I decide to start working on my Go and practicing hard. Playing regular games and doing lots of tsumego as well as reading books on it.

I lose some games at first when I'm getting back into it but then I start winning and doing well enough to be satisfied. Maybe 40-60% win ratio. Sometimes better than others. Losing happens and I brush it off and keep going.

At some point during this, usually a couple months into my study, I start losing. At first I brush it off as a bad streak. But it keeps going and I stop winning altogether. I try to get into each game calmly and remind myself that I'm just trying to get better.

After a while of this I start getting frustrated and eventually I step away from Go in order to distance myself from the frustration.

Rinse.

Repeat.

I've been stuck at about mid to weak SDK strength for a while now and I just want to improve. Anyone else go through this? Any thoughts on dealing with it and moving forward so I just don't continue looping like this?

I also get very frustrated when I lose. I think it helps remember the fun of go. Try something like blitz, rengo, or teaching a beginner, small board, etc.

I have the same problem. If you come up with a solution, let me know

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be immersed

Stop playing internet Go and get reviews from stronger players, so that you know, why you lose so many games. Helps me.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Internet go is the only place I can play. Stopping that is quitting Go for me. And I ask for reviews sometimes. I don't get them all that often so I stopped and just continued self reviewing. I don't have any play partners or friends that play so I just play random people online

Slumps happen. Plateaus happen. OC, the object of each game is to win it. But if your purpose is to improve, then each game is a learning opportunity. And losses are even better learning opportunities than wins, because you are sure that you goofed.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Here is a thought. Take 5 stones from shodans. Non-rated, OC. Even if they do not review their games with you, you can learn a lot.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

That loop seems to be a natural part of improvement. Around 15kyu I got really good at winning by moyo. At that level players were bad at invading and keeping moyo's in check. I won a lot of games. But every player is unique, and some were good at stopping moyos. It was very painful to build up a giant area of potential and watch it all get erased for a loss. So from them I learned when a moyo was an overplay or too one dimensional. I became more selective, I stopped relying on the assumption that I could get two miai points because my opponent would miss one.

And that made me worse, because I was no longer benefiting from overplays and I had to fight on different terms than I was used to. I think I also overcompensated and became too tenuki focused. I lost a lot of games.

Eventually I integrated what I had learned and pushed on to the SDK's.

Now I view losing streaks as a positive sign that I'm improving. As long as people can beat me with 9 stones, I'm probably approaching the game very wrong: if I lose a heuristic that was helping me win, it was probably just a local minima, a temporary advantage that couldn't last me. Somewhere my intuition has started rejecting paths that were bringing me wins, and I trust that it's because it knows they weren't lasting advantages. Personally, just framing it in this light helps alot. These loss streaks always end, and I'm always better because of them. It's a chance to relearn a little something about go, and to strengthen my psychological resolve.

Another thing that works for me is to replay professional games or watch some haylee videos. Suddenly there's no pressure at all, it's not me winning or losing. But I'm still immersed in Go, so I'm drawn back into playing quickly. It eases the pressure of wins and losses without cutting Go out of my life.

That's a good idea. I'll give it a shot if I can find any shodans that want to



I do usually go to watching Haylee or pro games or whatever when not playing and I DO like the way you view it. I tend to start making dumb mistakes though for the reasons. Maybe I stop playing honte or something. but it tends to be games I start playing well and then lose myself somewhere in the midgame

If you can wait until after the US Go Congress, let's play online sometime. I can relate to your feeling, because I'm in a slump, myself.

Maybe we can help each other out.

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be immersed

Sounds great when's the go congress?

This Saturday. I'll be back on August 9th. You can contact me on KGS either with 'Brian' or 'Kirby'.

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be immersed

Will do!

Losing too much is certainly not fun, but I don't quite get what's going on. If you are only winning 40% of your games, that might be an indication that you are a bit weak at your current rank. If you are losing all of your games, then your rank should drop and you should start encountering opponents you can beat 50% of the time. Perhaps some of your frustration comes from thinking that you are (or should be) stronger than you really are.

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Patience, grasshopper.

40-60% I said. sometimes more sometimes less. It's within the parameters. I win my way up to whatever strength it is. I win and lose as normal. Then I start losing and dropping. Losing to strengths I was beating plenty and easily giving them 2 stones. For a number visual: Figure a person that's winning their way to shodan at maybe an 80 or 90% win ratio. They get to shodan and play for a while at about 40-60% win ration. Which is fair. Then they start losing. 2k starts beating him. then 3k. Suddenly the person just can't seem to win for a stretch of games.

I can describe my feeling with the following analogy.

I decide that I want to lose some weight. I set a goal of losing, say, 40 pounds. To achieve this goal, I start to diet and exercise. I change my routine so that I can start to see a difference. When I get home from work, instead of sitting down and using the Internet, I get on the treadmill and run for an hour. And instead of eating that burrito that tastes so good at lunchtime, I start eating salad every day in order to cut down on the number of calories I eat. At first, I see a big difference. But as time goes on, the amount of weight I am losing starts to decrease. My body adjusts, and before I know it, I'm only losing a pound every two weeks.

It's hard work to exercise for an hour every day, and I really miss those burritos at lunchtime. So in some ways, I feel that I'm losing some pleasure in life. But at least I can console myself that, ever so gradually, I am losing a bit of weight.

Then one day, it's my best friend's birthday. I've been on this diet for weeks now, and I've gradually lost maybe 10 pounds. But I decide that this is a special occasion - just for today, I'll relax on my diet. So I eat what I want at the party. It's enjoyable. But then the next day, I check my weight, and I've gained back 5 pounds.

What took me weeks to achieve is lost from a small loss of willpower. This is very frustrating. And it makes me wonder why I have bothered sacrificing those burritos in the first place.

---

Drawing this back to go, sometimes I feel like I have tried to study hard. And I've spent significant time doing go problems, trying to get stronger. And I can *gradually* see the effects. Little by little. Progress slows, but hey, at least it's progress.

But then I let up a little bit, and I take two steps backward.

Sometimes, I miss burritos.

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be immersed

If it's dumb mistakes, I've found the key to fixing them is to immediately reflect on your state of mind. They're dumb, they're blunders, so you don't need to go back and review to find them it's just, "seriously? You missed that?" during the game.

For me, there's almost always a "why". I was listening to a conversation around me. There was a key stone that had been captured earlier and I was relying on memory of the position rather than the actual board. I haven't seen this shortage of liberty shape in a while and must have been subconsciously adding a liberty. So I note the issue and look out for it going forward.

I think as we're improving, we also become susceptible to relying too heavily on instincts. Some positions you know in a glance what to do (there's a squeeze here). Others you need to methodically read and think about. As we improve, our intuition starts wanting to assert itself (I know this shape! we hane here!). And for stuff we really know well, for stuff 8 stones beneath us, that's fine. But there's an intermediate area where the intuition isn't fully developed but is still calling out moves. You might try lengthening your games a little and trying to methodically read out things you "already know" just to be sure next losing streak.

Holy crap! I think you hit the nail on the head for most cases. I hadn't been able to figure it out but I think it IS running more on instinct for simpler situations sometimes. I suppose I just need to try and take my time on even things that seem easy. Thanks

Hi OP! I am about the same strength level as you so I am possibly able to relate to you as well.

I am a very competitive person, and I hate losing. If i don't get at least 55-60% on my winrates, I get pissed off to no end. Losing isn't fun - but I'm slowly realizing that there will be no improvements without it.

Recently (just 3 days ago) I had my worst streak of baduk in a while, where I lost 11 out of 18 (5 out of 6 ranked) games on KGS. I lost a majority of those games from a couple silly mistakes that compound to lopsided losses. This is honestly a common sighting in my games. However, a friend of mine just recently told me - "There is absolutely no excuses for losing". If you keep telling yourself that "Oh i just lost because of a stupid mistake", then you wont improve. If you review with stronger players and vow not to make that mistake in the future, then you will improve. no matter what. I think a good habit is to find 3 mistakes in each game, and learn from those to not make those mistakes ever again.

I also get pretty sulky and upset at myself for losing games - and that mindset is cancer. For example in that slump, i played a lot of games where i thought "okay maybe i can just win this 1 game now" (after losing a bunch), made more mistakes and lost. I think a good way to keep this in check is to limit the number of quality games you play in a day. And also, how you deal with that attitude is important. For me, I try to turn the sulk into anger - and that tends to drive me to improve.

Also, if you are in a slump - try different things. I like playing free games because it lets me play without the burden of damaging my rank - and it leaves me free to experiment with moves I wouldn't play before. Or I play my dad and just resign after 120ish moves (losing so badly makes me feel slightly better about my other games). Or I just go back and do some easy problems to study the fundamentals. Or hey maybe just get away from the game for a while, go out, and come back and start slaying once more with a fresh mind.

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My Baduk Journey

Chiming in with the previous reply, I repeat An advice I gave to others having the same issue. What you ad so many others want is positive feedback. The only positive feedback you currently have is wins. So, you either have to search for a more diverse positive feedback (a teacher, a forum, other goals than winning) or start training stuff that directly translates to your winning percentage. Many ardent students of the game pick something to study and then expect to win more games. Then they are frustrated when the wins don't come because of blunders, losing on time and early resignations.

So you have to stop resigning out of misery, train time management and work on concentration level to avoid blunders. Do this first and only later work on opening, joseki, whatever pro fad ...
Good luck!