So, SoDesuNe, did the cutting stones get captured?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc I think this is dead, isn't it?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X O . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 0 8 , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . 9 7 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 6 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 4 3 1 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . X . . . . . X . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Oh, I took the extension as an attempt to gain more liberties before sacrificing, to get forcing moves on the outside, only that white can ignore and cut.

Something like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X O . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 8 5 1 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 0 O X O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 6 X X 2 . . . . X . . . . . X . O . |
$$ | . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

White gets a nice corner, but black's doing pretty well in the center.

If white answers at Marcus' black can play as here and get the corner.

Well, as long as assessing the situation goes this move is (most likely) the correct response.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X O . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . X . . . . . X . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

White can't really take Gote here and capture the stone, so Black has a lot of Aji later on. And even if White takes, it results in a awefully overconcentrated position.


This was the game (I don't remember the exact order of moves but the resulting position is correct) and yeah, I made more mistakes later on ^^

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X O . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 1 5 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X O 6 8 . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X 2 0 . . . X . . . . . X . O . |
$$ | . . . . 9 . . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc After White played 'b' and I resigned. Didn't see this.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X O . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X X 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X O O O . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . a O O X X 1 b . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 8 X X O O . 7 . X . . . . . X . O . |
$$ | . 9 c . X 4 . . 0 . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . 5 . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

By the way after , when White plays 'c' the corner turns into a Ko.

But well, extending this one stone was simply bad and unnecessary : /

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Just something I slapped together, so it might not be optimal play.



(edit, I forgot to add variation 4).

My view of the bad move in the game line is actually . I would have ataried from the other side to climb higher and then captured in a ladder, sacrificing the stone that was originally extended from and getting a nice bottom side. Black looks like he's ahead in this game, so he can afford to take a nice profit in exchange for giving white a strong center group. Black has a strong group on the other side of it, so white's group will never be terribly valuable. The fight, on the other hand, seems to be something to play when behind, to bet the game on it instead of losing outright. I could, of course, be severely mistaken here.

Edited for tone.

Thank you for your variations!

After the game we didn't dig deeply because we thought that extending out of the Atari was bad in any case. Of course I could have played better from there on but it was (in our opinion) without question a mistake to begin with. My opponent, from which I took four stones by the way, said after the game that most likely the cut at E4 was better suited for a handycap-game.

I really should learn to fight, though.

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Tesuji vol. 4 is done. As thought, it was fairly easy. Notwithstanding I failed now and then ^^

Now I'm at Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Tsumego vol. 4, which is for now quite reasonably difficult. My only problem is that there are some Tsumegos, which are either printed bad, so that I thought I had to live locally (which was not possible) but in the answer diagramme there was more space so cutting became an option if the opponent wanted to poke out one eye.
And then there are problems, where I'm unsure about the presented solution.

E.g.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc White to live
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . O . . O .
$$ | . . . X X O . . X X
$$ | . . . , . X O O . ,
$$ | . . . . . X . . X .
$$ | . . . . . . X . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

The book says...

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc White to live
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . X O . . O O . . .
$$ | . X . X . O . . X X .
$$ | . . . , X O X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

The book says...


My solution is...

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc White to live
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . .
$$ | . X O . . O O X X . .
$$ | . . X O O . X . . , .
$$ | . . X X X X . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

The book says...


My solution is...


Something different: I'm almost finished with Shuei's game vol. 3. I'm now thinking about how to replay/review the games in vol. 4 in more depth. I don't want to be unrealistically. I'm too weak to understand even a quarter of the moves played and I don't want to laborate one week on one game, since it should still be fun in the end.
Here is what I came with until now:

• I will count the score every 30, 60 and 90 moves. One downside is that I can't really compare my counting since it's not explicitly included in the commentary but I should just be good for training and getting a habit to count.
• More or less after each diagramme I will try to find the next move. I try to assess the board position by doing this and maybe I will keeping notes and will post them here.
• I will search for at least three moves or situation where I will read myself, why this works, what Aji there is (the commentary hints at this quite often without giving deep explanations) and so on

If you have some other recommondations, I'm glad to hear them =)

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

So, I finished volume three of Shuei's games just now - the last game was great to cheer for Shuei ^^ Tomorrow I'll start the 'bit more serious'-study with volume 4.

On the other hand Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Tsumego vol. 4 keeps confusing me. Maybe I'm too weak to appreciate the answers or there is something in the text, I don't understand. But the book keeps giving me answer diagrammes that I find "inferior" : o

E.g.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc White to live
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . .
$$ | . . X O O O X . . . .
$$ | . O . X O X X . . . .
$$ | . . O O X . . . . , .
$$ | . O X X X . . . . . .
$$ | X X . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

The book says...


My solution is...

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Some thoughts after replaying the first four games in volume four of Shuei's games (right, that's a nice sentence!).

I do count every thirty moves and I experience some benefits from it. Since I never really counted systematically before, I found out that it is extremely time-consuming and exhausting to start anew every time. So now I try to give each group it's own count (and of course remember it), so that I only have to count positions that are changing. Takes some training but seems like a good idea for now.

Of course just giving a group a count is troublesome enough. Do I visualize every endgame against that group and thus have a lower count? Or do I take everything what's now "controlled" and count that? Counting influence seems somewhat impossible so I just "feel" it.
How to count unsettled groups? The proverb says one weak group is minus 20 points. I just give every weak group five points for now, because that is what experience tells me and then after I counted the whole board I make a mental note like "White has potential here but Black can profit by attacking this weak group". It doesn't say anything about the final score but at least I don't forget about it ^^

I should borrow Positional Judgment again and read it this time.

Then I already included Ten's guide to studying professional games. I think it helps me to proccess games because I have a mental framework and can ask some general questions depending on which stage the game is in. It narrows the complexity a tiny bit.

As far as Tsumegos are concernced:
Yi Ch'ang-Ho's Tsumego vol. 4 still offers me 23 problems of excruciating pain, meaning: There are really hard by now. I solve like five to seven a day, maybe. More is too exhausting. That also leads to a lot of wrong problems, but here and there I still get one right and that's just great ^^
But I wonder, ... it's just volume four and there are still two more in the series. Sucks to be weak =D

On goproblems.com I still do my daily fix of 20 problems ranging from 5k to 4d (on a related note: All the later problems in vol. 4 are harder than those 4d-problems on goproblems.com ^^). After the christmas break I dropped to a 6d-rank, now I'm solidly back at 7d and on the verge to 8d. Of course those are just any numbers, but hey I'm just a humble human =D

Since the uni is closed for a month now I have some more free-time at hand and looking - go figure! - for some Go-related stuff I could add to my study regime. Obviously I have enough Tsumego-challenges for now, so I thought more in the direction of a textbook.
As of now there are three books to choose from:

• Go Seigen's A way of play in the 21st Century
• Dictionary of Modern Fuseki: Korean Style
• Improve Fast in Go by Milton N. Bradley (http://users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/I ... Index.html)

Although I'm very interested in the opening, I don't like to just read a book about it without real focus what I want to achieve. Especially the Dictionary of Modern Fuseki offers so much diagrammes to each opening pattern that I will have forgotten everything from the beginning when I am at the end.
Go Seigen's book is a little bit different because he mainly covers one style (one idea) of play and then focusses on whether or not this is good and what White/Black can do. But still it covers a wide range of Fuseki patterns.

For me, right now, it's more important to have a fundamental knowledge of the opening stage and not to reproduce some fancy patterns professional players tend to play a lot. But the question is, when I read through those opening books especially the Dictionary, won't I get this knowledge just due to the way the moves in the diagrammes are chosen? A quick browse through showed that all the diagrammes aim at either "This is bad!" or "This is good/even!".

Milton Bradley's book just seems interesting and I think fighting is one of my main weaknesses. Of course he is an amateur and not even a particulary strong one but what harm could there be? Since I never had pro tuition, I already have a lot of bad habits. If some more come to join, it won't matter ^^

Then there is the completely odd idea of starting to study Josekis. But again, some difficulties around the "How to" emerge.
First of all, do I start at A and go all the way to Z?
Do I start with the ones I deem "important" for my level, respectively the ones I like to know?
Should I make the effort to really memorize them or is it enough to lay them down, read and try to understand the explanations?
Actually I had a funny idea that after I looked at one Joseki, I will search three modern games in GoGoD where it was played to get a feeling in which situations it is appropriate.

I guess, in the end, there is only the hard way. But I'm always glad when you have some hints for me : )

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

If you're studying professional games, then the easiest way is to learn the josekies (and opening patterns) they use while you're already studying their games. To this point, it's why it's important to also study some modern or recent professional games. However, the latter is less important the weaker a player.

If you study Essential Life & Death Vol. 1-4, then you'll find Lee Changho L&D Vols. 4-5 a breeze. Sorry, I can't remember vol. 6.

Yeah, twist the knife in the wound : D

Sadly I don't have the time to go over recent professional games right now. I will at first finish my Shuei-studies and then I'd like to go over Dosaku or Go Seigen (most likely the latter) games, just for the love of their styles ^^ And Huang Longshi is also calling.

I think I will make a plan to study Josekis in the next month. Choosing the ones I think are important to know now, then trying to understand every move of their sequences and last but not least search for three recent professional games for each Joseki to try to understand their application.

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Sooo, I completed my first run of the book cycle.

Here are the results:

Problems are marked wrong when

• I chose the wrong first move
• I did not read out the main line of resistance (not the one listed on the answer page)
• I did not read out all relevant lines of play (not the ones listed on the answer page)

So, a quick resumee shows an overall decent handle on the Tesuji problems and a overall average handle on the Tsumego problems, whith a lot of room for improvement.
I stated that I wanted to achieve at least a 95% score on a book before it will drop out of the cycle. But I changed my mind. Every book will at minimum be solved two times with a score of 95% and above before it will be replaced.
The reason is that I experienced a blind spot with some problems. I could slap me when I saw the answer but couldn't think of it before. So to make sure, I will remember, respectively overcome those blind spots, I want to do the problems in question at least twice.
Although to spice things a little up and to not mark time, I will do every book with a score form 95% and above in one day (given the time). Of course that encourages mistakes and oversights but well, that's just a dry run for Byo-Yomi.

Alright, here we go again:

1. YCH Tesuji vol. 1
2. YCH L&D vol. 1
3. Get Strong at the Opening
4. YCH Tesuji vol. 2
5. YCH L&D vol. 2
6. 501 Opening Problems
7. YCH Tesuji vol. 3
8. YCH L&D vol. 3
9. YCH Tesuji vol. 4
10. YCH L&D vol. 4

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Oh my, oh my, I got really picky now ^^

I finished the first Tesuji volume from Yi Ch'ang-Ho and jumped from seven wrong to 25 :O Despite "solving" all the problems the way they were intended (e.g. Black to capture something etc.), I have some very bad habits - regarding playing unnessecary moves, wrong order of moves, whishful-thinking responses and not accounting Ko-threats -, which I need to get rid off.

Some examples:

a) Whishful-Thinking / Ko-threats

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Black to play
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . X . O . X . . . . .
$$ | X O O O X . X . . . .
$$ | X X O X . . . . . , .
$$ | . O X X . X . . . . .
$$ | . O O O . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . .[/go]

Solution:


b) Ko-threat value

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Black to play
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | X O O O X X . . . . .
$$ | X X X X O X . X . . .
$$ | . O X X O O . . . , .
$$ | . O X O . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

Solution:


c) Unnecessary moves

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Black to play
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . X O . O X . O . . .
$$ | . X O O O X . . . . .
$$ | . . X X X O O . . , .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

Solution:


d) Move order

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Black to play
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . X X O O . . . . . .
$$ | . O O X . X . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . X . . , .
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

Solution:


I believe that's why Sakata wrote his book "Tesuji and Anti-suji" : D

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

So, my Joseki book is home.
After a quick browse through, these are the Komoku-Josekis (the rest comes later) I like to take a look at. Just 29 cases. EZ-PZ! : )

Komoku, low approach:

Komoku, low approach, pincer:

Komoku, high approach:

Komoku, high approach, pincer:

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Which book?

The "new" Takao - The 21st Century Dictionary of Basic Joseki, Volume One.


post scriptum:
Pattern 1:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc 1. White Tenuki
$$ ------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I make a little change in my cycle. I will switch 501 Opening Problems to the end for now because I feel I need first and foremost more Tsumegos and Tesuji training.



So, it looks like this now:

1. YCH Tesuji vol. 1
2. YCH L&D vol. 1
3. Get Strong at the Opening
4. YCH Tesuji vol. 2
5. YCH L&D vol. 2
6. YCH Tesuji vol. 3
7. YCH L&D vol. 3
8. YCH Tesuji vol. 4
9. YCH L&D vol. 4
10. 501 Opening Problems

I'm at YCH Tesuji vol. 3 now.
Furthermore I'm done with my second replaying of Shuei's games vol. 4 and started vol. 3 right away. And I also read about and replayed the first 19 Joseki patterns. Looks good right now =)

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I updated my "guide" (link in my signature), if somebody is interested : )

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I proudly present my new Goban : )



After editing this picture I figured that it does not really show much ^^ (Like the beautiful thickness) Anyways, you can have a look at the board at the Go Game Guru shop (http://shop.gogameguru.com/shin-kaya-go-board-24-c/). There you will also find my review.

In short: Great and the service is exemplary.

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

SoDesuNe, congrats! Please post a few more shots, at an angle, etc. so we can see the thickness and the side grains? Thanks.

(Looks like maple hardwood floor, too? )