Hello. I'm an 11k on KGS and I have been for awhile now. However, I've recently improved quite a bit. I managed to procure a 3 stone handicap victory over an 8k by 45.5 points. And then I managed to beat an 8k, without a handicap this time, by 15.5 points, but I feel there was some major luck involved with that win.

My purpose here isn't to gloat, though. I have more of a problem. Despite these wins, I'm still stuck at 11k. I almost feel like I'm on the cusp of improving my game considerably, and yet I still can't seem to reach that point now. It's almost like I'm stuck in limbo, for lack of a better term.

I still lose to 11k's, I beat them, but then I can turn around and beat players far stronger, albeit with a handicap, by considerable margins.

I don't normally place too much emphasis on wins, but I'm at a really strange point in my Go playing. I suppose it occurs to everyone at different levels, but I don't really know what to do to get out of this situation.

you are lucky, at 11k it is not hard to find big mistakes at your play and correct them to improve

two (or any finite number of) wins against stronger opponents don't really mean anything, overall average matters. however, Mef and jts might be right about that you do your best against stronger players and maybe just want to collect compulsory wins against even ones. if it is so, you should try to play every game the same, doing your best, keeping concentration

or you can just focus on improving your technique and reading, results will eventually come. i went quickly through two of your games and saw many simple mistakes in playing common shapes and in direction of play. i am not really sure how difficult it is to correct them (and they are probably common for 11k), but if you ask a stronger player for a review(s), he should point these mistakes out very easily, so you could work at improving these aspects of your game

PS: i haven't seen a single game against a weaker player in your games list. if there are stronger players willing to play you, it is nice to offer the same opportunity to others. and weaker players are easier to beat

For the most part I would say don't worry about the rank and just keep trying to improve (=

But I guess if you really want to look at it in detail perhaps you could look at why you we able to beat the 8k, and why you were losing to the 11k's....What I would wager is that in one or both of the games there was a lapse in concentration, or a big mistake of sorts (Admittedly this is a cheap prediction since I'm sure a large number of all games played could make the same claim (= ). The point being, if you think there is a wide variability or inconsistency in your play it could be because sometimes you have trouble maintaining focus on the game (alternatively, it could be that the 8k player you were challenging suffers from the same issue). If you can hold your concentration through the game, you will hopefully be able to improve your consistency. In the grand scheme of things though, trying to find some root cause for the outcomes of a small sample set of games might just be causing yourself undue stress.

If you feel that at times you play really well, and at other times you play really poorly, you should probably slow down. The likeliest explanation for huge swings in your ability from game to game (besides luck) is that, in the good games, you were focusing at critical turn points, and in the bad games you were just clicking away.

I'm not a very good teacher, honestly. That's why I avoid playing weaker players, because if I do, I'd feel it necessary to review the game. But I'm terrible at explaining things, and really, I'm just a beginner myself.

Have you studied a lot recently without playing? I once (roughly 3 months ago) studied a lot offline without playing online. The result was I improved roughly 3 stones without really noticing it (I had no one to compete with at my local club and while my reading got better I still couldn't solve some tsumego problems) Then I played 15 games in 2 days and jumped 3 ranks. If you just played sporadically (especially online) you might want to consider a extensive test (like 20 games within a week). At your rank stuff like that can happen, especially when you were on a break and think you have to study twice as hard to make up for it.

Wrong attitude. I started playing a lot of weaker players when I entered my go club and I was around 15k. I think it was one of the most helpful experiences in my go career because it taught me how to attack and how to use weaknesses.



If you really want to beat stronger player: first make them understand that you are not weak

I had a period where I felt what you feel. My hypothesis is that when you are able to apply a lot of the new things you've learned, you will end up beating opponents of your current rank by considerable margins. But in games where you can't/don't apply what you've learned or you mess it up somehow, you'll still lose. Just keep focusing on learning and you'll get past this point.

Wrong attitude. I started playing a lot of weaker players when I entered my go club and I was around 15k. I think it was one of the most helpful experiences in my go career because it taught me how to attack and how to use weaknesses.