Hi all,

Hope this is the right forum. I'm fairly new, and when I play in person, I seem to make far fewer mistakes than when I play online....when I play online, I tend to get a little click happy and rush through plays that I would normally think about, usually leading to the loss of large chunks of stones...does anyone else have this? If so, any suggestions on how to overcome it?

Thanks!

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If you find out, let me know. It's rare I'll play an online game without a trademark blunder.

It's very common. You could always try to make it a rule not to play a move before x seconds have passed, even if it's a totally obvious move. Or sit on your hands. (I'm serious!)

Same here.
But for me it has something to do with knowing that there's a clock ticking. If I play a game with a friend and we set like 40 minutes of playtime for each side, I almost never blunder.
Second reason is, I don't take every online-game vs. some anonymous Go-player serious. Sometimes, I just play for the sake of fun (though I'm still angry when losing ^^) and try some interesting-looking but not in every case sensible moves.
Third reason: I'm way too emotional about certain results. For instance I don't like a bunch of Joseki results and when I have to face those, voices start to rise in my head complaining about almost every move, shape or such ^^ ("There's a weakness in your shape, if your opponent plays there, you'll be crushed!", "This group is weak, with this move you don't have two eyes and your opponent will chase you around!", "Your opponent has way more secure territory than you!" ...)

Third reason combined with the first one lead straight to a loss - no exception.

But at least for me, it gets better. I guess it all comes with experience. Step by step I'm learning how to deal and how to play with certain Joseki results and furthermore with more experience (and more Tsumego practice) less reading-time is needed and possibilities are easier to see, so that the time factor decreases to influence my game.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Personally I think we tend to go click happy online because it's much easier to make a mouse click than to place a real stone on the board. When reading out variations in online games I unconsciously trace over the moves with the cursor, and when I find a move that may be good I go "aha! here's a good move!!" and click, it's done. If I realize just a second later that it's a really a blunder, oops, too late. While in real game, the time needed to reach for the bowl, take out a stone, and placing it on the board is enough for you to read a few moves further and hopefully realize the mistake, or at least think something's wrong.

I've learned to avoid the fast click habit by taking my hand off the mouse after placing a move and not touch it again until I'm sure of the response I want to make, scratching my chin in deep thought the process

If online you think you got the right move, get your hand of the mouse. Count til 3, look again at the goban and your move, is this best you can play in this situation? If the answer is always yes, let's get play. Otherwise...

This is what I do to prevent the pavlovian way of playing which can arise while playing online

Well, I don't know if it is because I am playing online (since I have yet to have the time to get to the local Go club, which meets 10 minutes from my house.... such is the life of the father of a 2 year old ), but I know I play way too fast. Its even worse when I am playing a computer program (9X9 boards, mostly to work on tactics).

I hopefully will get better. I still haven't gotten through my first 30 games yet, let alone 100 .

--
Bill

Thanks for all of the suggestions...I'll give them a try Off to play in person tonight though, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. I don't like losing because I'm not playing properly...I suppose at least I can learn from this!

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Same here.

There are people who play better online, and then there is the rest of us.
I don't think there is a remedy for that. The one I tried is to only play slow games and actually place the stones on the board before clicking with my mouse (yes, I had a board handy next to mu puter.) But I ALWAYS lost the rhythm when the pressure got up and soon abandoned this method. I heard about 'sitting on your hand'... using keyboard instead of mouse... running an egg-timer before moves... whatever. Nothing works.

Some people are just better when playing face-to-face.
And you know... I decided that there is nothing wrong with that.
Just treat the online games as arcade games, fun fun fun and nothing more.
As long as you don't attach any kind of pride/ego factors to online games, you're fine....

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- Bantari
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WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

I just thought up an online anti-blitz feature: A client setting that doesn't register any click before x amount of seconds. Waddaya think?

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Patience, grasshopper.

I'd probably give it a try

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Go is easy: don't play bad moves.

It crossed my mind too, but I think learning how to manage your time, and to use it efficiently and effectively even when you play online, is a skill just like reading, pattern recognition, etc. Training wheels such a configurable delay would help in the same way that score estimation during the game or a built-in joeski dictionary would. If someone wants to do this, they already can (same as sitting in your hands). If the server/client directly offered it, it may be too convenient and actually hinder learning. (See the discussion about Tygem's SE.)

KGS' anti-slip system usually reminds me when I play too fast and sloppily.

Think of it this way.

When you're playing over the board, you (hopefully) look at the board, find a move, and then go to grab a stone, put it into your fingers, and put it onto the board. Even if you play with stones in your hand, you (again, hopefully), put them down, pick them up again, and put them onto the board. The motion uses your whole arm and takes a second or two to do.

When you're playing Go online, you often hover over where you want to play, and when you want to play it, you just tap your finger. Much faster, and much more susceptible to impulsive thoughts.

I recommend sitting back and playing with a Go stone in your hand, don't hover the mouse over anywhere on the board, and make moves by placing the stone onto the table, grabbing your mouse, and deliberately moving to where you want to click, clicking, and moving the mouse off the board again, grabbing your stone off the table.

Ridiculous, but I'm definitely going to start doing this.

Me too...about the worst that can happen is I still make stupid mistakes, and my cat thinks I'm weird(er).

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I love it. Finally something to do with those stones! And for tsumego, you can use a white stone and a black stone.

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Patience, grasshopper.

I tried sitting on my hands once, and my uncle walked in my room right at that moment. He looked at me like I was doing something strange, and then left.

I never did it again.

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Slava Ukraini!

One of the strong Amateur players that I know enjoys predicting where his opponent will play, and clicking in rapid succession on his next move. I've seen him make the most idiotic plays doing this.

Still, he's 9d on KGS.
You're doing something right, Jarrod

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Ko is the best solution.
With Ko, I can keep eating and drinking until I am full.

Visit >>>Koosh's Study Journal<<<

My solution has always been water. If I'm playing seriously online, I always keep a cup in hand. (I do it in tournaments too, since I have a tendency to carry my impulsiveness to the board irl. Too much blitz chess has made my arm fast like a ninja)

Before I move, stop, take a sip, savor, then play.

Personally though, I see nothing wrong with online play being impulsive. IMO, Most people run into a wall precisely because they avoid impulsive play (read: Blunder-filled) by playing longer games.

You need to get your weaknesses out in the open to improve, not hide them behind a veneer of calculation.

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

Good idea, shapenaji, I shall try that until the bladder bursts

A friend of mine told me that, before you make your move, you have to be ABSOLUTELY sure that you can live with your choice...for then to stand up and take a 360 turn before clicking/settling the stone - the standing up and sitting down ritual is often followed by even more thinking before the player moves, at least in my personal tryout.

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Yunzi makes the world go round, the world go round...