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 Post subject: Greetings everyone, allow me to introduce myself :)
Post #1 Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:07 am 
Dies in gote
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Hello,

my name is Tobias, I'm 36 years old and live in Germany. Even though I've known about Go for a long time and started playing about 10 years ago, I'm still a beginner.


Let me tell you a bit about myself and my history with Go.

My first glimpse at Go was about 15 years ago while I was studying at university. A friend of mine was reading the rules about a board game that was supposed to be quite popular in Japan. I was curious, but didn't really pursue it.

5 years later I remembered the game my friend tried to learn during classes. Even though my anime days were long behind me, I discovered "Hikaru no Go". The first few episodes seemed quite ridiculous to me, but little by little, I got hooked and bought a bunch of books and equipment, started doing tsumego and playing online. That was in 2008 and unfortunately it lasted for just about a solid month before I stopped playing again. So I didn't really get anywhere in terms of skill, probably barely above 30k.

Over the next couple of years I never really forgot about Go, but except for re-reading the rules every few years, I didn't do much and I certainly forgot everything I learned. But I always wanted to get back into the game.

For some reason I didn't even notice the AlphaGo craze during 2015&2016. I don't know why, because I studied computer science, I'm interested in Go and programming and the topic is absolutely fascinating.

I went to Japan with a friend in early 2015 and even wanted to visit a Go salon, but never got around to it. I remember trying to get my wife to start playing Go with me around that time, but she wasn't interested at all.


It feels like I was lagging behind the rest of the world, because in late December of 2017 (basically a couple of weeks ago) I found out about AlphaGo and remembered how much fun I had with Go almost 10 years ago. So I dusted off my books, searched the web for new sites and forums and started learning again. (turns out I even forgot basic rules)

This time my enthusiasm even worked to get my wife into playing the game with me!

So this is where I am right now. I'm a bit hesitant to play online (but I already made a KGS account), so far I'm mostly doing Go Problems, playing games with my wife and some short games on GoQuest.
Around October of this year I'll be going to Japan with my wife to visit my parents in law and I want to finally visit a Go salon there. I'm considering to set myself a motivating goal for a rank I should try to reach until then and open a study journal for that purpose here.

I'm not sure how much of an impact my age (36) will have at my learning ability/speed. I kind of wish I didn't stop learning 10 years ago, but I can't change the past, so I'll make the best of it. I'm glad that I rediscovered Go at all and I'm having a great time so far.

So, that's me. I actually have a bunch of questions about learning and progressing, but for now I just wanted to introduce myself. This is already quite a long post, so I'll stop here and post questions later in this thread.

If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask!

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This post by MysteryFTG was liked by 5 people: Bonobo, gamesorry, Kirgan, tj86430, Waylon
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 Post subject: Re: Greetings everyone, allow me to introduce myself :)
Post #2 Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:01 pm 
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Greetings and Welcome!!

Your not the only one who learned of GO long before playing it... Don´t be afraid to jump in and start playing!

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We play because we enjoy the beauty of the game, the snap and feel of real stones, and meeting interesting people. Hope to see ya there! お願いします!

Anthony

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 Post subject: Re: Greetings everyone, allow me to introduce myself :)
Post #3 Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:24 pm 
Oza
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Moin Tobias,


welcome to the best Go forum worldwide :)

And no worries: I was ~7 when I first encountered Go … in the early 1960s my father tried to get the family to play, but because he was too competitive it didn't work, instead we were all frustrated. (Also, today I know that his understanding of the game was relatively poor.)

I’ve tried it several times later: in my teens, in my twenties, always trying to hook friends to the game, but in vain, although I tried to play not as competitive as my father did.

In my thirties I lived in Hamburg, there I even had a regular opponent (and we visited the Hamburg Go club but left it again, terrified by the strength of the players there); after about two years my friend quit the game, and thus I also quit.

Then, in my forties, I discovered internet Go, and this time it stuck with me. Meanwhile I’m 60, and I find that I learn very slowly … wish I had more time for play, but instead I waste too much precious lifetime on work.


Herzlichen Gruß aus der Lüneburger Heide,

Tom

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