ok, so, we've had responses from a variety of people, but they all say the same thing:
- study hard until your knees bleed from books, problem sets, videos, etc
- don't get mad at yourself

the discussion has so far been largely generic, so it's time to get down and dirty, and make it concrete, since the purpose of the Beginners subforum is to talk about things that interest Beginners.

So let's do that; let's see if we can help each other, sharing thoughts on a question that interests at least one other person, especially as he didn't get any answers when he asked it.

i've generalised the question a bit, but before presenting it, here are the rules for answering (please observe them, otherwise this experiment won't work):

Rule 1. grade yourself as follows:
Beginner = 30 kyu to 5kyu
Intermediate = 4 kyu to 2 dan
Advanced = 3 dan+

Rule 2:
The first answer must come from a Beginner; Advanced people must not answer until at least one Intermediate has answered. ALL answers must be written for Beginners to understand. No-one is allowed to comment on anyone else's answer (but see Rule 3).

Rule 3:
Beginners can ask questions anytime, but Intermediates and Advanced cannot ever ask questions, not even rhetorical ones!
Higher grades cannot make comments on lower grade answers, although they can answer Beginner questions.
the purpose of Rule 3 is to put Beginners in the Driving Seat (it's my pet theory that a teacher should follow a student, not the other way around as is usually the case).

Rule 4:
No cheating! No asking Leela or any other bot. We can do that together after our discussion is complete; the purpose of this exercise is to help others, not yourself.

Rule 5:
if any trolls come along, don't feed them


if you don't like the rules, start another thread with the rules you want.

Here's the question - it has 2 parts:

Black to play.

1. What's going on in the game?
2. If you were black, where would you play now, and why would you play there?

it's not a "right or wrong" question with only one answer - it's not a test. it's not a trick. it's just an arbitrary example to serve as a concrete platform for more broadly-based discussion.

where you would play is not the main point of interest - it's your reasons for choosing it - and, for Intermediate and Advanced answers, where you got your reasons from is of special interest in tune with the 'what helped you improve?' theme. Of course, often we can't immediately say what our reasons were for doing something, but having made your choice (or done something), you can ask yourself "why did i choose (do) that?" and something will come out.

the picture doesn't tell you what white's last move was. that's intentional.

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i shrink, therefore i swarm

at the risk of repeating myself, there are lots of people telling you what to do etc...

you imply you learned something from the site - what was that?

i very much enjoyed History of Go Concept by Yunguseng Dojang, even if it didn't produce a noticeable improvement in my own game (but that might require a sledgehammer...)

PS Correction: Dojang's presentation of the virtues of the crosscut (that episode isn't listed on the site, but it pointed me towards it) reminded me of their utility, and i've noticed them turning up and seem to be coming away with more sente than i had been getting just previous.

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i shrink, therefore i swarm

It is his site. That was just a shameless plug. OTOH, writing a blog about might help one improve....

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Patience, grasshopper.

to be fair, most of it isn't about him, and everyone has to make a living somehow by advertising commercial publications, don't they pookie?

it didn't do much for Mary; nearly got her head chopped off


PS don't you just love the way the woman commentator says the word "men"

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i shrink, therefore i swarm