For every 100 minutes you play go, how many minutes do you study?

I'm a studyholic so for every 100 minutes I play I study about 500 minutes. I see no point in playing if you don't know how to play. Of course, it takes a lot of practice to learn to apply what you've learned and to stop making simple mistakes that you know are wrong. But in order to learn to see brilliant moves you need to study the masters. Playing go just helps you apply what you already know better and every once in a blue moon you'll learn something know, but if you really want to understand the game you've got to listen to the best.

I see these people on kgs and I look at their game history and they're playing 6 games a day. That seems insane to me. I never play a game without analyzing it and finding out what I did wrong. I have a feeling that a lot of these people who are playing 6 games a day probably study 10 minutes for every 100 minutes they study. If you keep playing without studying you're just going to mostly live under the same illusions or continue to be blind to your mistakes. I have a feeling that the majority of those who are probably 6 kyu or worse do not study the game at all.

Right now, I'm about 10 kyu and there is a lot I don't understand. So I'm not going to buckle down and play a lot until I've read a lot of go theory.

Anything divided by zero is undefined, right?

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be immersed

I guess for me it’s about 20 parts play, 10 parts teaching (school kids in regular Go workshop) and 2 parts study. You’ll have to do the maths yourself for 100 minutes of play

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“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

I think that you should play more than study until you are around the 7 kyu range. Thats when you really start understanding your mistakes and how to correct them. Although, I also like to study before playing if I feel I have been sub-par in recent games I've played. I always review my games right after I play, but I try to get 3 games a day if I'm not busy with college stuff.

I saw that I improved the most when I played at least a couple of games a day for extended periods of time (two or three weeks) and then took a break from playing for about a week or two and repeat.

I also tend to tire myself out to prepare for sleep by doing tsumego on smartgo kifu while laying in bed. I find that I usually dream about tsumego and feel refreshed in the morning if I solved it, and tired if I didn't lol.

So returning to the original question, I would say for every 100 minutes of play I put in 100 minutes of study more or less, not including the teaching games I do at the go club and stuff.

I can't really say in minutes but the average ratio would be at least like 1:5 in favour of studying. Since I mostly do problems (Tesuji/Tsumego/Opening) and replay professional games, I think that's okay.

My main problem is that I don't treat online games seriously - at least not all of them. So I mostly play only two to three games at the local Go club per week, and I review these quickly when I lost.

The question wether you can become "stronger" with only studying or playing depends - in my opinion - on what you study or how you play, respectively if you review your games.
You can become "stronger" when you just do Tsumego and Tesuji problems and rarely play. I don't know to which extent but I believe (and my experience backs that up quite a bit) that it is generally possible. But I don't think you can become "stronger" when you just read textbooks like Attack and Defend and don't play. Because here you have to - I believe - consciously apply the new ideas to have them present at all times later on.
You can also become "stronger" if you just play but get a decent review by a stronger player regulary. But here again I think at some point you will stop progressing.

To sum it up, I don't think you can become _strong_ by just playing or just studying ; )

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

When I was learning go and playing regularly, I think my play/study ratio was between 1/1 and 2/1. (I had long periods when I lived where nobody played go, and periods when I was much stronger than anyone else. I am not counting those. ) There was a time when I was 2 stones stronger than the next players, and wanted to improve, so I set up a training routine. Then my play/study ratio was about 1/5. I think if I wanted to train today, with the internet available and strong local players, I would try a 1/2 ratio.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Studying your own games is excellent!



Who do you play? You can learn a lot from playing stronger players and going over your games with them. Unlike learning from books, what you learn from that experience is targeted at your strengths and weaknesses. You can learn a lot even if they do not go over their games with you. For one thing, you are less likely to pick up bad habits from them. For another, they will punish a lot of your mistakes. I would strongly suggest playing people who are 5 stones stronger than you.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

I seriously doubt that playing six games a day is bad for your Go. Making the same mistakes over and over again is a much faster route to improvement than delaying your next game until you're sure you won't repeat your last mistake.

The reason that playing six games a day may not be bad for your go is that you learn during games, especially at the 10 kyu level. You get feedback.

Making the same mistake over and over again turns that mistake into a habit. It is not a route to improvement. Better to play someone who will punish that mistake.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

they have a go club even in el paso? i've been to el paso, it's a pretty neat town. it feels like an island out in the middle of a desert.

You are so on target. That's why I like to play the computer at level 1 dan.

But there are two types of mistakes, sorry to quote Rumsfeld, those that result from known unknowns and those that result from unknown unknowns. A mistake that results from an unknown known means you made the mistake but you know what you did not know at the time you made it, (a standard goof) then there are mistakes that result from unknown unknowns which are illusions, you don't know that you're doing something wrong. Only a teacher can help you remove an illusion unless you have a rare flash of insight.

Lol I guess if you're only in el paso for a visit it's not too bad, but once you live here for a couple of years, especially when you moved from a bigger city, it gets pretty boring. There's not too much to do, unless you really like hiking and mountain cycling haha.

We barely started the club. I think it's been 5 months since we started it. We only have 5 members that go regularly and it's just two adults, me and trebuchet, who's also on this forum. I'm the strongest one atm and the next strongest is a 15 yr old kid, he's about 10k, and everybody else is between the 15-20k range.

We meet at a library in the west side of the city on E. Redd rd on Saturdays from 12-3pm, sometimes we stay later but those are the usual times.

So if you ever come by again feel free to drop by. If you need directions or anything our contact list is on the aga's chapter page under El Paso Go Society.

yea, i can imagine how el paso would get kind of boring after a while. thanks for the invite. now, let me return the favor, if you ever stop by baltimore, feel free to stop by. i also do couchsurfing, so that shows you my level of sincerity. my email address is kylefoley2000 at yahoo.com. my couchsurfing profile is voyager99 and if you want to play me on kgs go, which i doubt, since i'm a bit weak, by id is kylefoley

Thanks for the invite, and although I don't see traveling to Baltimore in my near future (or anywhere really, the economy has really hit me and my family hard) I will keep it in mind and I appreciate your sincerity.

I wouldnt mind playing on KGS. We could do some teaching games if you'd like, and maybe you could help me with getting trebuchet more comfortable on there since he had some bad experiences on KGS. He's around your rank so it'd be good for both of you and me since teaching is the best way to cement your knowledge.

I'd be happy to play trebuchet. And sure, I'd be happy to do a teaching game. I'll log into KGS and contact you through there.