Don't stress too much about the undos - I've granted a couple but never got one myself ... and after all whether you win or loose, rank is just a number right ... _{the most important number ...}

p.s. to lesson my own righteous anger, I tend to adopt a no undo policy these days - I don't ask for them, I don't give them out.

No games yesterday; very busy with the post-Christmas-fire house rebuild. Supposed to move back in on Friday, but the builder has all sorts of problems still with the house.

However, I did train:

Problems

Basics
In spare moments (lots of them), I managed to cram in about 400-500 "basics" from EasyGo. I really like thee because:
1) I obviously need work on the basics, as I get a surprising number of them wrong
2) I feel like the sort of skill-separation EasyGo has is more in line with how Deliberate Practice drills are supposed to be.

My only concerns:
a) I just wish there were MORE of the basics drills.
b) I also wish the "capture races" in EasyGo basics were more about long, intertwined strings and counting liberties and figuring out if you can win or not (something I'm terrible at), and less about throw ins and squeezes.

Life and Death
Did some of these, too. Probably about 50? From some random life and death app on the Ipad.

Tesuji
None, beyond what was in the basics.

Pro Games
I replayed some pro game SGFs, mostly because of the stories behind the matches. One was a duel between two pro sisters in Japan, where the older sister loses a seat on the Meijin tournament to the younger.
Others were just games by people I like, like Lee Sedol, Gu Li, Mok Jinseok (mymy on KGS?), and Kong Jie. Poor Kong Jie never seems to win these days.

Sorry for the long radio silence, but this week has been taken up mostly with trying to move back into my house (it was burned down in a house fire over Christmas, and is only now nearing completion.) Sadly, the house did not pass electrical or general inspection, so we are caught in this strange, transitional, semi-defined limbo state where our stuff is mostly in the house but we are not legally allowed to live there.

I've spent the last two nights there, camping out with a machete at my hip (as I do not own a gun and am an excellent broadswordsman), practicing yose problems. The house was robbed 3 times during construction, only while uninhabited, mostly of construction materials, and we are concerned it might happen again. Not much is left since the fire, and we don't want to lose the few keepsakes/new stuff we have left.

We hired a guard dog for two months (did you know you can do that?), but we can no longer afford him. Seeing as there is usually no crime in our neighborhood, it is likely either neighborhood kids or the contractors themselves stealing things. Either way, I have strong hopes there won't be trouble -- the dog probably scared everyone off. If there is trouble, well, that's why I've set up the sight lines to see it coming and decide what to do then.

Last night was tough -- no internet, no air conditioning, 90 degrees with high humidity, radio blaring with lights on so people know someone is there. But I did study a little Go when I wasn't jumping at shadows.

The week hasn't been a complete Go loss, however.

Problems
Honestly, I don't know how many problems I've done. Not 4-500 on one day again, like last week, but there were at least two days of probably 200 exercises, Monday and Tuesday, including -- and this is important -- lots and lots of extremely simple squeeze tesuji and oiotoshi problems.

At the house I've been doing mostly yose problems, but on those nights I only get a handful done. It's hard to focus. I have other things on my mind.

Teaching Games At Work
I did play a couple of teaching games Monday and Wednesday at work with the newbie up there. He still refuses to take a handicap, and he doesn't like it when I help him either. I try to balance it by giving him a lot of takebacks.

Dallas Go Club Game
Thursday night was Dallas Go Club, and I got to play Chuck, the AGA 4 Kyu there. I took a 9-stone handicap, expecting to be demolished. Chuck's a cool guy! A really great player.

I wish I had a kifu of the game, but I am still trying to teach myself how to use my kifu apps, and I gave up quickly. I can't remember the game move-by-move, but it was so electrifying near the end that I have extremely clear recollections of the exact board layout for the critical side and corner.

Game summary
Chuck worked his way into a pretty comfortable lead after the opening was over, pretty much negating my 9 stones. He even apologized at one point for beating up on me.

He took corners sides from me while destroying my budding moyo in the middle. We discussed moves as we went, so I probably played a heck of a lot better than I normally would, because he would let me bounce non-critical ideas off of him or review what just happened/went wrong.

The First Turning Point
It was because of Chuck complaining that I was following his moves around too much that I finally looked more seriously at a move that I'd been eyeing for about 20 turns. This turned out to be the first big turning point.



What I was thinking is hidden below in case you intend to use this as a problem.


The Second Turning Point
Just a few moves after the end of the ko fight, Chuck decided to try and kill my top right corner, the only corner I felt that I really held. He'd actually sunk most of his ko threats into it, and he did take out a few stones, but it turned out to still have some power left.



Again, thoughts hidden.


... So there it is, what little I remember about my first win at Dallas Go Club.

Is Chuck Chuck Bell, by any chance?

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

I don't have anyone's last names or even their contact information, only first names and sketchy details (which seems weird; it's like the Go club is actually some Cold War spy ring or, perhaps, a Baduk Anonymous recovery group)

I will ask Thursday night, if my wife deigns to let me go

Probably not, as I had mistyped "4 dan" instead of "4 kyu" in the first draft of the post (my fault! sleepy!).

We do have a 4 dan, named Bill of all things, but I haven't played him. I'm afraid I wouldn't be a challenge for him, no matter how many stones he gave me.

Actually, when I knew Chuck Bell, he was a kyu player. But that was a long time ago, and he could have made 4 dan by now. Chuck lived in or around Odessa, and had organized the West Texas Go Aficionados.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

It could be him. I will check!

A comment. Ko fights are pretty tricky. You have two ko threats here, playing T18 and then T15. This is "normal". But you could also play this threat at T16.

Why would you do that? It potentially loses endgame points; and it actually loses one threat.

The point would be that, if you are going to win the ko, then you may end up killing the upper white formation by the throw-in at T13.

So ... without the rest of the board, it is hard to assess the decision. (Actually, honestly, it is impossible). Because White has a strong play pushing out at R13, Black did well to finish the ko anyway.

Thanks, Charles. I think that is exactly what I wanted/intended to do during my gote follow up, but I hadn't set it up properly. Fascinating.

I'll have to work through this a few more times on the board, to try and get to a point where I can see configurations like this in an actual game.

Training has been light but consistent over the weekend. We are still dealing with the house, but at least now there is a security system in there, and the AC is back on. Hopefully we will pass inspection tomorrow, and get our certificate of occupancy.

(brag)
I won a game against a 13 kyu by 60 points, and I'm now 9 kyu with a ?-mark on KGS!
(/brag)

(getting head back on straight)
Yay! A rank, finally. I do not really believe I am 9 kyu; I probably got lucky and hit the guy on an off day. But still! Exciting to even touch SDK not-quite 3? 4? months in! My strategy of drill drill drill seems to be paying off, at least for now We'll see if it holds for the long term.
(/straightening)

Joseki and Game Memorization
Over the weekend:
Not having internet for the past week has put a real crimp in my studying, but I memorized the first 50 moves of Lee Sedol/Gu Li jubango #6 (An Youngil's analysis), along with joseki variations. I really like that handicap-game three-space slide that Gu Li used to invade with.

I also went back through Weiqi Daquan Dingshi to the point I had stopped last time. It's just about 6 pages or so, not very impressive. This may be a lifetime's work, memorizing this one book. How does anyone do this?

Yesterday and Today:
I've been using Waltheri Fuseki to research the most common openings to get an idea of what games layouts occur most commonly. Interesting stuff!

Problems
Weekend:
I don't remember. Some.

Yesterday:
Maybe 100 of the basics from Easy Go. They are really fast; I can crank them out in about 20-30 minutes.
42 Fuseki problems, two or three times over, from Android's "Go Fuseki". I got all of them wrong the first time through, but hand-entered every problem and solution into Drago and figured out why I thought the right answer was right.

Today:
50 Fuseki, twice.

Games
Over the weekend and yesterday:
None of note; I tried to play OGS on my Ipad mini. DO NOT DO THIS! I had to abandon the game 5 moves in because every move was a misclick. Luckily my opponent was very understanding.

Today:
A handful of 9x9's on OGS; nearly won one against a 10 kyu with no handicap (or, rather: it was surprisingly close!). I then got overconfident and was destroyed by a 20 kyu with no handicap I really need to slow down and actually read, not just play by gut . I really don't think 9x9's are particularly interesting, just time-filling exercises, so I will not post them.

I tried to play some unranked super-blitz on KGS against a computer, and that was fun, but I would always time out about move 20. Educational and candy-like, with no stress.

I then got my first ranked game on KGS (as mentioned above):


My thoughts:

You were more efficient than your opponent. Cut out plays like and that don't do much, and you'll be a little stronger.

Here's a quick review:

1. You made no big mistakes at this level
2. You played on a large scale at several occasions
3. You fortified your comfortable lead by playing connecting moves

That makes for a solid 9k

Charles Matthews and Knotwilg - thank you!

S2W - great analysis. It jibes very well with the feedback I got last night at Go Club. I'll definitely be studying this game again; there is a lot to learn from it. Even my good moves are only good locally, not globally.

Cheers - if you keep ranking up like this, I'm looking forward to your reviews.

Why, thank you. Really, I expect my rank to bounce back and forth quite a bit on KGS before settling down.

I am starting to actually read some theory books too, not just do problems. So that might slow me down as well.
---

To all:

There's a 4 Dan at the Go Club who can look at a move near the opening or a joseki mistake and eyeball and estimate if it's a 6, 8, 15, 30, or 40 point mistake. That seems like a very valuable skill, one I should endeavor to develop. Honestly, I feel blind without it.

He recommended a book, but I believe that it has been so long since he read it, it may not actually cover this. Anyone know where to look for that kind of info?

Update: Mostly I have been reading Go books since Sunday.

I've finished Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-Hyun's "Learn to Play Go" #1 and #2, and am nearly done with #3.

In addition, I've begun:
-"The Elementary Go Series, Vol 1: In the Beginning" by Ikuro Ishigure - easy to understand, about 1/5 done with it.
-"Opening Theory Made Easy" by Hideo Otake - not as easy to grasp for some reason. 1/2 way done, not sure if I understood all of what I have read.

On tap for later:
-"Elementary Go Series, Vol 2: 38 Basic Joseki" by Ikuro Ishigure - I am tired of slogging my way through rarely used Joseki, and would like a toolkit of common ones before I go back and learn the uncommon ones. This looks like the ticket.
-"Learn to Play Go" #4 and #5

I think what I'm after here is the illusion that I understand what I'm doing.

Without the drilling constantly on the problem sets (I can either read a ton or do problems, not both! No time!), my go skills are slipping. Because of the move and STILL not being in the house, I've had only sporadic internet, so MFG is my only opponent, and it is destroying me on 15 kyu. Of course, I am playing lightning fast, just as fast as the computer, too, and making stupid mistakes because of it. But still. I expected to be better even going fast, by now.

Because of my love of drills and the benefit I've seen constantly doing different types of problems, I think I have run into a set of books I would dearly love to buy:

"Speed Baduk" by Sung Rae-Kim -- All of them!

This will have to wait until I have mo' money and am actually at my house (so they don't get lost in the shipping vortex that is UPS/DHL/USPS (only Fed Ex seems to make it to my house with any regularity))

Anything else I should be looking at? The "Level Up" series looks interesting, but I've seen some mixed reviews?

Tesuji by James Davies might be good given your love of drills.

Nope. If you want to improve, you must take your games seriously. Better play 2 games in which you invest, than 10 games during which you have a drink, smoke, listen to music and chat with your beloved.

The above is also inconsistent: it is impossible to apply what you've learnt, even think about it, if you play lightning fast. You will enjoy both the reading and the playing but the two activities are only very remotely connected. Playing fast games is another anti-pattern and mostly an excuse for your games not reflecting your increased wisdom.

Of course, if joy is what you're after, not study and improvement, it makes perfect sense.

Books
Honestly, I haven't picked up any of the books I was reading since the last post. I've browsed a couple of others, but mostly I've been jumping around.

Of note: I opened up Bruce Wilcox's Sector Fights again (I've already completed Contact Fights), and I finally, after the third time trying, completed the Elementary section. Basically, I think he's trying to teach how to attack and defend and build a moyo and invade -- and well, lots of stuff -- all at the same time. And the Elementary section doesn't always seem to have real-world implications, because it specifically disallows contact on all invasions, even when they're invading your third line base. I'm sure this changes later, as you become more advanced, but I've been so frustrated with trying to apply it that I've given up on it several times.

Still, the ability to visualize sectors and how to tear them apart is extremely valuable. I definitely need to get over my frustration and buckle down and finish it.

Teaching Games
Two teaching games at my Go club. The first was by a 5 dan visiting from out of state. He seemed surprised that I knew the Chinese Opening 4 months in (why wouldn't I?), and humored me by showing several variations of different situations, so I could see how badly things turned out when I chose wrong, and how good they go go if I chose right.

I learned a little about the Avalanche joseki from him; small avalanche and how to turn down the avalanche if I don't want to participate. He showed me some large avalanche stuff, but I'm more interested in having a few tools in a lot of situations rather than deep knowledge of one situation, for now. What good are 20 avalanche josekis going to do me if my opponent chooses to play another way and I don't have an answer?

After that game, which took most of my brain power, the 4-dan at the club gave me another teaching game. I learned from it that people don't invade early enough, because he really did a number on a double-base extension I'd made after I'd half-secured it.

A good night, really. I didn't want to play a real game because I felt my skills had slipped dramatically due to lack of doing problems.

Talking about Problems
I started doing the EasyGo Basics again, but I've had a bit of sabotage:

My 5yo daughter watched me doing the exercises, and she has taken over. I mostly just tell her what kind of exercise it is, and she finds the answer. It's amazing to see her progress, even in just three days. Thursday she couldn't do the double atari problems at all -- they frustrated her. And on the single atari problems, whether or not she atari'd in the right direction was random. Wednesday she had no problem atari'ing in the right direction, and double-atari also became easy. Today we did a couple of Ko problems, and they frustrated her, but I'm sure she'll get the hang of them soon.

I'm sure ladders and nets will be very frustrating when we start them, but they, too, will eventually be conquered.

It's quite wonderful having her snuggled up next to me as we go through problems together, but the main issue is -- I'm not getting much of a mental workout from it. I will have to find some other time of day for my own study, I guess.

Games
Only one big game. It was against a computer because the house is still not done, and I still do not have internet. Taking Knotwilig's advice, I decided to play slow. To raise the stakes, I decided to play hard so I would have no choice but to read as deep as I could. MFG on 2 kyu, no handicap, 5 hours per player.

Note: Somewhere around 2? 4? hours in (time flies!), my wife interrupted me and made me save and shut down. When I returned to the game, it had switched the computer to "human". When I switched it back, the computer was 4 kyu. I also could not quite get my head back into the game, despite really trying hard.

Comments on what I was thinking (delusions and all) are in the file, so you can see exactly where my brain goes haywire.