Hi, I've been trying the problems at goproblems.com and would like a reality check, since I'm finding them hard! Should a (say) 15k player be able to solve 15k problems easily? In a few seconds or several minutes? (feel free to replace 15k with any rank from 5-20k.)

thanks,
Eric

One important point to remember is that strength in solving Tsumego or Tesuji problems is not equal to your playing strength.

I for instance regulary solve some 4D problems on goproblems.com without breaking sweat and I play between 1k-2k. On the other hand I occasionally need minutes to solve a problem labeled 5k =D

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

thanks -- I think that's part of my question -- I think my playing strength a lot stronger than my problem strength - which I is why I need to do problems!

I guess the other side of my question is whether I should focus on problems that take me 10 minutes to solve or those which take less than a minute. I'm sure the answer is both, but I'd appreciate some hints on where to focus.

Well, don't do problems you will despise after a while. You should have fun while solving them.

Look for ranked problems you feel comfortable with and then search for problems ranged two to five stones stronger and weaker than those you are comfortable with. That is what I do =) That way you have some challenges, some easy ones and some which are perfect.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I recently saw a dan player say "this is a 3k problem". When challenged by a dan player who found it hard, he replied "yeah, but if you could do all the 3k problems you'd be 5d". Take that as you will.


I find the ones that take a little more than a few seconds - say, between 10 seconds and a minute - are the most useful. Problems that take you 3 seconds aren't worth drilling - you know them like the back of your hand. Problems that take you around 30 seconds are problems involving shapes or techniques that you almost, but not quite, know like the back of your hand. Problems that take you 3 minutes involve many complicated techniques that you're not close to being able to piece together in real time. Drilling the almost-but-not-quite problems gives you the most practical benefit in games and in harder problems - go through them over and over until you find them noticeably easier, and then move on.

Don't forget that, unlike tsumego, in a game you don't have "black to play and kill!" hovering over the group in question. You have to read both "can I tenuki and still be alive / leave his group dead?" and "if I play there now, can I make myself live / kill him?", which might well take you twice as long.

thanks for the advice!

This is the main reason I'm much better at problems than a real game. I find that tsumego that indicate "black to find the best play" bridge that gap quite nicely and are generally harder than "black to kill" or "black to survive".

Finding the edge where tenuki is possible or prohibited seems to be the main skill to learn here. I'm not sure whether this is learned in life and death problems or tesuji problems or some combination of both.

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I think this is absolutely true. Kyu-low dan problems tend to demonstrate common techniques, they WILL come up in games ALL the time, and if you can do them, you probably have a handle on the fundamentals. On the other hand, 5-dan problems tend to be strange, unrealistic reading challenges.

I usually do 5k-2d problems. I can do them quickly and they keep my game sharp. But occasionally I'll do higher dan problems just to test the depth of my reading.

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