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Getting a game with a teacher.
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Author:  Alguien [ Fri Dec 28, 2012 3:41 am ]
Post subject:  Getting a game with a teacher.
I've just seen a game offer by Alexander Dinershteyn in DGS and it's made me think.

How much does one profit from playing a single teaching game (+ review) with someone so much stronger?

Should I plan to get 5-10 games before even considering getting one? Or a single one could push me towards solving a strong weakness and help me improve for a while, maybe to play another one several months later.

Should I forget about pro teaching before reaching 1d because almost anyone could teach me?

(I also have no idea of what are the prices for different teachers and ways of being taught)
Author:  Dokuganryu [ Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting a game with a teacher.
It varies from person to person and from teacher to teacher. One lesson can be a big deal, or a waste of money. Many people think improving is so easy in the kyu levels, that you don't need any external help to reach higher ranks, but there are also those who think that if you have the opportunity (money) to have lessons, you should take them as soon as possible, because it will be helpful and you won't develop bad habits that you will probably develop on your own.

Edit: capital letters correction

Edit no. 2: just in case someone wouldn't assume that, I explain I'm talking about kgs/tygem/etc. ranking system, not EGF one.
Author:  lobotommy [ Fri Dec 28, 2012 8:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting a game with a teacher.
(Ekhm, Gorim, in English you should not use capital letter in a word like "you")
Author:  EdLee [ Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:22 am ]
Post subject: 
Alguien,
Alguien wrote:
How much does one profit from playing a single teaching game...
(This is another favorite perennial question, like "how to teach beginners" or "what's up with the XYZ ranking system"
or "how can I make pro" or "should I study joseki" or "why am I stuck at N rank" ) -- we should have an FAQ for these... :mrgreen:
Think in terms of learning the piano, or a foreign language, or mathematics, or carpentry, etc.... It's a long journey.
It's not about one lesson, or a few lessons, or even 20 or 30 lessons.
It's a LONG journey. :)
Alguien wrote:
Should I forget about pro teaching...
This depends on your budget and your goal(s).
If improving at Go is very important to you, I recommend finding a good pro teacher as soon as possible.
Alguien wrote:
...because almost anyone could teach me?
Do you also think that almost anyone could teach you the piano, ballet, a foreign language, carpentry, etc. at a good level ?
Teaching quality can vary by a factor of 1,000 (IMHO). :twisted:
Author:  Hanmanchu [ Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting a game with a teacher.
Hi Alguien,

I recently started to get lessons from a teacher.

Two years ago, I was stuck at approx. 4 kyu KGS / 6 kyu real life and didn't really improve. I was playing games, doing tsumego and maybe focussing too much on learning joseki by heart. At that moment, I stopped go because of other priorities.

Then, a few months ago, I started to play go regularly again (yay!). Playing games and tsumego to improve, but again I was stuck at 4 kyu. So I decided to get lessons from a strong amateur dan player to find out what was wrong with my play. The lesson consists in game without handi + analysis.

After a few lessons, I felt that I was improving. My teacher had found some weaknesses in my play:
-too lazy to read out life & death of a group during the game. An attitude problem.
-bad endgame. I was told the basics which I completely lacked, try to calculate the (approximate) value of the move before playing it, sente before gote, a few standard techniques.
Of course that does not mean that I am perfect in the other "skill categories", but these two points mentioned above were my "weak points" on which I had to focus in order to improve.

Having a teacher has in my opinion some advantages:
-you are motivated to play (because you paid). So you try to give your best, very similar to a tournament situation.
-you learn which skills you lack and also where you are doing okay
-in principle, you can ask anything. I mean for instance those situations in a game where you just don't know where to play.
-you lose bad habits, for instance relying on trick moves or "hoping that the group is alive".

Ok that is all that I wanted to write on the subject at the moment. So I believe it was a good decision to get a teacher.

Ok was the original question was whether one teaching game is enough or it should be more? I think you should try at least a few lessons. For instance, in my first lesson I was sick and didnt play well.
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