A beginner's journal of little interest

[Boidhre]

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1900

If I missed any options I apologise, I've gotten no sleep. I'm still quite ill and recovering from a mixed episode so my concentration is a bit off.

[Redundant]

Your "best option" variation has a large error in it. You may want to take another look at it.

[Boidhre]

Another head desk moment. Sorry, I'm tired but still should have been able to see this.

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1901

[Boidhre]

This problem was set by mitsun to drive me mad. It was fun at the start but now...

There's this huge clue in the difference between mitsun's two diagrams but for the life of me I cannot see it.

[topazg]

This problem was set by mitsun to drive me mad. It was fun at the start but now...

There's this huge clue in the difference between mitsun's two diagrams but for the life of me I cannot see it.

You actually got very close in the last variation of your "If I missed any options I apologise, I've gotten no sleep" post (#381)

[Boidhre]

This problem was set by mitsun to drive me mad. It was fun at the start but now...

There's this huge clue in the difference between mitsun's two diagrams but for the life of me I cannot see it.

You actually got very close in the last variation of your "If I missed any options I apologise, I've gotten no sleep" post (#381)

The best my sleepless brain can see is this:

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1904

White starts the ko but Black gets to make a huge ko threat elsewhere in compensation. I'll look at it some more after I've gotten some sleep, I've been up over 24 hours at the moment and not feeling the best for it. But, why this works in this position and not in the second position that mitsun posted escapes me which makes me think it's the wrong answer.

I think I've proved pretty conclusively in this thread that I'm very, very bad at forcing kos.

[Boidhre]

On a side note and a very personal one: I'll be having a major medication change very soon. Switching mood stabilisers is always a complicated and potentially dangerous procedure but ultimately it may be the path to health for me. I dream of stability, of leading a normal life. I may never get this but any improvement would be welcome. How does this relate to go? Well, go has become something I enjoy quite a lot and serves to stimulate me mentally which is a good thing and is something I need lest I lapse into passive playing of computer games again to kill the sleepless hours again.

I gave this problem to another beginner friend of mine. He immediately set it up on his board to play with it. He's a mathematician and a good one so despite me probably being the stronger player, due to me playing a lot more games, I'd put money on him solving it first. Either way mitsun thank you for something interesting/frustrating to play with.

I'm getting the chance to play an even game with a 1k on OGS due to the tournament running at the moment. I hope to learn a lot from this game. I'll get crushed of course, the difference in strength is just too great but this hopefully will be a game that I learn much about the fuseki from.


On a psychological note: Sometimes I'm low at the moment and feel like with go I'm wasting my time since I'll never be particularly strong at it. Then at other times I enjoy it for what it is, a game, and don't worry about strength or rank and just focus on enjoying my games. I'm practicing what my psychologist has been telling me to do, i.e. Opposite Action, playing when I feel miserable to show myself that I still can play when I'm like this. I'm wary of playing ranked games when low though or very tired. I think I need a few free games on OGS or KGS for times like these. In fact I just opened 3 non-ranked blitz games for this purpose. I know blitz and turn based are poor partners really (although 3 days a move isn't really true, true blitz) but they should prove fun and give me a chance to practice what my psychologist preached.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling post, I just felt like giving an update on my health combined with my rough plans for having some fun with go for the immediate future. The focus is having fun first, improvement second for the moment until I get some stability back in my life. I'll continue this journal I find the reviews interesting in their own right even if I can't fully digest them yet and hopefully others can learn from them too. I know I get something from following the reviews of other players around my rank.

[Redundant]

Your last attempt has the right sequence. This shape is a ko where white takes first.

[mitsun]

Congratulations, you got it! Now for extra credit, figure out how W manages to avoid this ko in the second diagram

By the way, this is a problem which strong kyu and weak dan players regularly miss in real games. It is rather common to see players deliberately convert the second diagram into the first diagram, thinking they are gaining a point in sente, not realizing that they are losing a critical liberty in the process.

[Boidhre]

Your last attempt has the right sequence. This shape is a ko where white takes first.

Ah, I'd interpreted "Black starts the ko" as Black takes first. Goes to show how ignorant I am about kos eh?

[Boidhre]

Congratulations, you got it! Now for extra credit, figure out how W manages to avoid this ko in the second diagram

You're evil.

[lemmata]

On a psychological note: Sometimes I'm low at the moment and feel like with go I'm wasting my time since I'll never be particularly strong at it. Then at other times I enjoy it for what it is, a game, and don't worry about strength or rank and just focus on enjoying my games.

You did a good job. This particular problem was not a beginner problem. It really helps to solve many tsumego problems rated at anywhere between 30k-8k. I still do those now. I lost a game the other day because I didn't see a potential atari my opponent could play in a complicated fight, so I probably need to do more of those problems. This probably applies to all amateur players, but especially to DDKs: Not missing the easy opportunities and not making the easy mistakes makes a HUGE difference in rank (perhaps as big as 5-10 ranks if you are 15k on KGS).

The following is a beginner problem that is related to the harder problem:

$$ Black to start ko for the corner
$$ ------------------
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . X O O O . |
$$ . . . X . X O . O |
$$ . . . . . X X O O |
$$ . . . . . . . X X |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Black to start ko for the corner
$$ ------------------
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . X O O O . |
$$ . . . X . X O . O |
$$ . . . . . X X O O |
$$ . . . . . . . X X |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |[/go]

I absolutely know that you know how to solve this problem. You only missed it because it was part of a longer, more difficult problem (and also because you were doing problems late at night instead of sleeping). That is because there are more distractions in a longer problem. The same goes for a game. There are many distractions in a game because the board is huge and many things are going on. Yet, these beginner mistakes add up in a game quite fast.

In a DDK game, you will never lose because you couldn't figure out how to make ko in 6 moves. However, you might lose many games because you missed 20 opportunities in each game to make a ko in 1 move (or some similarly profitable 1-2 move sequence). Quickly seeing the simple problems in a game is a real skill that must (and can) be acquired through repetition.

So don't feel discouraged. You can certainly improve many ranks just by drilling the stuff you already know! Happy trails, fellow go soldier.

[Boidhre]

Thanks lemmata.

[Boidhre]

I feel like I should post a game and the one I have is a very narrow victory. A close game, played over several months in which both of us got stronger I think. I'm sorry to say that since I was 18k and she was 14k at the end it resulted in a major swing in both directions for us which I feel a bit bad about.

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1907

I feel like my passivity in this game will be a serious barrier to progress for me going on.


In terms of sleep, unfortunately a sleeping tablet and two benzo tablets made no dent in my insomnia so it might be another sleepless night for me which would be very unfortunate as I've a friend from out of the country visiting tomorrow and I promised him a game of go (he's a fellow beginner).

[EdLee]

(;CA[utf-8]OT[90 days + 1 day per move and 10 extra periods]XM[167]GM[1]FF[4]AP[SmartGo:2.8.3.0]
SZ[19]RU[Japanese]DT[2012-04-01,2012-08-02]PC[Dragon Go Server]PB[Black]BR[16k]
PW[ Boidhre]WR[17k]KM[2.5]RE[W+2.5]MULTIGOGM[0]
;B[qd];W[dp];B[ec];W[pq];B[po];W[np];B[qq];W[qr];B[qp];W[or];B[ce];W[pm]C[Good.]
;B[qm];W[ql];B[qn];W[pl];B[rr]
(;W[jd]C[B. This move, I'm not so sure about. I think approaching the top right corner might be bigger now.

E. See var.]
;B[od];W[qh];B[hc];W[md];B[qf];W[jq];B[cj];W[cm];B[ch];W[eq];B[qj]
(;W[ph]C[See var.])
(;W[pj]C[Simple and good. End of notes.]))
(;W[rs]LB[rr:a][rq:b][qs:c]C[Basic shape.
This move is almost automatic for this shape.
If B does not reply, then you have (b) and the entire B group is not alive.
If you miss this, then B has (c) atari, which is also free for B.
This is why this first line hane is so big here.]))