Path to 9Dan, step by step.

gennan · **#441**

Yes, if you have good discipline and good self-reflection, studying individually can work. But top athletes still tend to have a coach. They need it to point out weaknesses that they cannot see themselves. A good coach can give personal advice to focus your training on some specific issues. It makes your training more effective.

Also in that respect, In-Seong does it really well. He really focusses on your personal issues (he has over 70 students, but he still manages to remember each one's weak and strong points). I had been declining for many years, but my game and my results clearly improved after getting personal advice from him to change my playing style and focus on issues where I am weakest at.

Fixing the weakest aspects of your game is the most effective way to improve, but it can be difficult to see those for yourself, because the weakest aspects of your game tend to be close to the strongest aspects of your game and you want to keep the latter.

For me, my weakest point was my overaggression and impatience during the game. But fighting was my strongest point. So the most important thing for me was controlling myself. I should play more patiently. Play a calm opening and take points instead of trying to pick fights whenever I can. Fights will come anyway, so I don't need to force the game in that direction. Another eye-opener for me was that In-Seong showed that my opening wasn't really good, while beforehand I thought it was a stronger part of my game. So I had to change my positional judgement.

So I needed to have a different state of mind and a different perception of the board while playing. I couldn't change it overnight ofcourse, but it did improve over time (with In-Seong hammering it in, every time I lost control of myself again in my league games) and it helped me to get out of my long slump. It doesn't mean I win all the time now (I need to work more on my reading and endgame skills), but my games are more stable now and I feel better and more confident while playing.

Alas, I'm lacking time nowadays to be a league player in the Yunguseng Dojang, but I will surely continue when I have time again.

hl782 · **#442**

A little update here and there.

First, I've decided that I'll put my lessons with Mark on delay for now - this is primarily due to a few reasons. 1) It's nearing performance review cycle at work, so I need to focus my primary attention on that, and 2) I felt that the lessons would be more beneficial when I'm a higher level player (at least minimum of Tygem 5-6D).

I feel that I can get that far by independent study, as Mark repeatedly has told me that I have the intuition/instincts of a 6D, but the reading skill of a 1D (lol).

On my go, I've actually won a bunch of games on Tygem recently, and I am currently +4 games away from a promotion to 4 Dan. It's odd that I've gotten better results when I haven't really read any go books or solved any problems, but maybe my poor results in the earlier months was a result of overexertion syndrome. I'll post some games up for inspection later in the week.

Bill Spight · **#443**

hl782 wrote:

I feel that I can get that far by independent study, as Mark repeatedly has told me that I have the intuition/instincts of a 6D, but the reading skill of a 1D (lol).

That's actually a good sign. Misreading is easier to correct than poor judgement.

Bonne chance!

Edit: I am reminded of the game that 6 year old Fujisawa Hideyuki played to become an insei. Segoe stopped the game because he was impressed by a one space jump little Hideyuki-chan had made in the center.

hl782 · **#444**

I just moved up to Tygem 4D today.

Attached is my promo game. I played as black.

Gomoto · **#445**

congrats to your promotion

I stopped playing at tygem because the short per move time control hindered the development of my reading skills.

I just added some move alternatives to your promo file to have a quick view at your playing style.

hl782 · **#446**

I'm off to a 5-9 start on my first 14 games as a 4D on Tygem, but I take comfort in that all of my losses were actually "quality" losses. I don't think I'll get demoted as long as I am careful.

In terms of problems, I plan on actually going through the GGPD Vol.1, 2, and 7. I'm just aiming to do 10-15 problems a day - nothing too fancy, but just nice consistency. Ideally, I'd be able to hit 6D Tygem by end of 2020, but that does seem challenging. Realistically, 5D is more likely.

There are many more challenging, difficult problem sets that I would love to do but I don't think my floor is there yet.

hl782 · **#447**

Happy new years to all! 11 days in, and I still haven't solved a single problem, nor played a game on Tygem. So much for new year's resolutions.

On KGS, I am currently at 1.94 Dan, nearing my goal of 2D. However, roughly 6/10 of my progress came from anchor adjustments, so I'm not exactly sure how qualified I feel about my current rank. But, I did beat some 1Dans rather comfortably recently, so I find a bit of solace in that.

Attached is a fun game I played recently. I've attached a few comments on points I thought became obvious to me after the game, but not during it. It's related to killing, vs not killing and winning more comfortably.

hl782 · **#448**

Here's a game I played vs. a 2D on KGS today. Attached are some comments. There were some moments that he let me off the hook, but overall I think I played pretty well.

hl782 · **#449**

hl782 wrote:

Here's a game I played vs. a 2D on KGS today. Attached are some comments. There were some moments that he let me off the hook, but overall I think I played pretty well.

This game turned out to be my promotional game. I am now a 2 Dan on KGS.

hl782 · **#450**

Here are 3 games I played as a 2D. 3 Ws!

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

hl782 · **#451**

Hello all, some updates.

I am about 75 problems down in Graded Go Problems for Dan Players, Vol. 7. A bit less than the 10 a day I was aiming for but at least I'm doing something.

On KGS, the gap between 2 and 3 Dan seems to be quite large in comparison to previous levels. I just snapped a 6 game losing streak, but I really haven't played on here too often.

On Tygem, I am currently at +3 to promotion to 5D and -11 on demotion to 3D. Honestly, I feel like I'll hit the promotion very soon. I don't think there is a massive gap between the 3 and 4D levels. According to LZ for most of my losses, I usually hit around 80-90% win-rate then find ways to lose. Refinement is needed.

Kirby · **#452**

Your improvement is really steady! I enjoyed your game against BadAtBaduk - a lot of cleverness there.

hl782 · **#453**

Hey all. It's been a while since I've updated, and I have not adhered to any of my resolution of studying baduk at all. I've began my studies to prepare for law school on top of work, so even 10 problems a day is a bit too much to ask it seems.

The only "studying" I've done is play on KGS/Tygem casually and watch Kim Sung Ryong's youtube commentaries of pro games. Overall, I'm nearing 5D on Tygem and 3D on KGS. If I do make a breakthrough on either server, I may begin to put off games for a bit and study for real.

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy from Covid-19. God bless.

SoDesuNe · **#454**

Ha ha ha, I started to really study go while beginning law school - good times!

Good luck for both your studies! : )

hl782 · **#455**

Update - I am 3D on KGS now. I did lose a few games after and got demoted, but then won a few more to re-promote and stabilize. Oddly enough, I am struggling rather heavily against 4Ds on Tygem. I think it's because I don't like early game conflicts, and the players on Tygem are very aggressive.

I am coming up with a somewhat of a detailed study routine as I do feel that I have lots of holes in my game still so far. I'll post that once I finalize it! It will be heavily oriented towards problem solving.

ez4u · **#456**

Congratulations! Looking at the progress you are continuously updating in your original post, I am impressed with how long you have continued and your steady improvement. :tmbup:

These days how do you see your original goal of matching your father? Does it seem closer than when you started or has the mountain grown in size as you have understood what climbing it requires?

hl782 · **#457**

ez4u wrote:

Congratulations! Looking at the progress you are continuously updating in your original post, I am impressed with how long you have continued and your steady improvement. :tmbup:

These days how do you see your original goal of matching your father? Does it seem closer than when you started or has the mountain grown in size as you have understood what climbing it requires?

Thanks! I think the beauty of go is that I can step away for a while and come back and my skillset will remain more or less the same. Since I've entered the dan ranks, it has actually been much more casual, since I expect the progress to be slow anyways.

As for matching my dad, I'm pretty sure I'm still a few years away. I'm not sure if the mountain has grown because I originally expected it to be a long long journey up. If anything, it probably has shrank a bit since then since my dad does not play or pay attention to go anymore. I think any of the newer, post alpha-go moves I play will likely catch him off guard.

hl782 · **#458**

Hi everyone. Back with some updates.

For studying - I am reading through Fujisawa Shuko's Tesuji Dictionary (4 volumes by Slate and Stone). I'm almost done with Volume 1 now and it's ideal for casual, self-paced study. I'm almost a 5D on Tygem, and going up and down at KGS at the 3D level.

I've attached some of my latest games. No self-commentary like the usual. Maybe next time on those.

W vs 2D - I lost to this guy a few nights ago after 3-4 glasses of wine, and this time beat him sober.

W vs 2D - Pretty comfortable win

L vs 2D - I beat this guy in our previous game before and I lost a capturing race here by a lib.
Unfortunately, LZ says that i was up 96% at one point.

SoDesuNe · **#459**

Because I was interested about the invasion point in the last game: KataGo 1.4 with over half a million playouts:

Opening was a bit dire though ; )

Great fighting and nice shapes in all games - to my eyes at least!

hl782 · **#460**

I am just at awe of at how good the Fujisawa tesuji dictionary is. Wow. Everyone in the Dan level should really read these.

Path to 9Dan, step by step.

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