Guo Juan's lectures and study plan

[darthmage]

I just got the annual membership at Guo Juan's internet Go school and have been working through the basic course.

There is a nice study-guide to orient oneself depending on your level, but I was wondering if any of you had recommendations on a study path or lectures that I should particularly concentrate on.

I'm a beginner somewhere in the low-intermediate DDK range.

[Boidhre]

I liked the Basic Shapes lectures and the Middle Game Training ones from the 30k-20k group.

[Buri]

Greetings,
like me you bought the full Monty and it is such fantastic value for money you are going to have to work flat out for a year to actually use all those credits. But it is worth the effort.
Aside from the two basic courses I suggest the following in particular
1) Opening Training ((this will make a major difference to your game)
2) Basic Shapes
3) Important Stones.
4)ponnuki
5) Middle Game training
6)The third of fourth line.forgot the name.
7) The Chinese opening L1 only.
8) Basic Mistakes
9) Counting
Best of luck,
Buri

[peppernut]

Greetings,

6)The third of fourth line.forgot the name.

If you mean "High-Low Moves", I agree with you. I find that all of the "Basic Course" series are quite good, and I would recommend them in particular for DDK players.

[Charlie]

Does her material for SDK and Dan players meet the same level of quality and usefulness?

[billywoods]

Does her material for SDK and Dan players meet the same level of quality and usefulness?

I like the SDK material I've seen.

[darthmage]

Thanks, I'll try some of these suggestions out.


Any comments on the step-by-step course ? I'll be "done" with the basic course this week and am tempted to jump into step-by-step course....

Would opening theory training, middle game training or shapes be a better next step ?

[Buri]

Greetings,
the step by s tep course is great so I suggest you do it.
Do the opening training without fail. That benefitted my game to an extent I can hardly put into words. It's fun too. Apparently the course is the real deal used in some Chinese Go schools of good repute.
As far as the middle game training is concerned , at this stage I would respectfully suggest you simply spend a such time as possible on life and death problems using a good book. That is the main thing and it is a point Guo emphasizes all the time. The middle game training courses tend to focus more on direction of play and othe rs lightly broader topics. It's wonderful stuff and as a lower level player I would hate to say it is less important than the basic fighting technique but my feeling is that at this stage the courses already mentioned plus the life and death is a great combination. Go back to the Middlegame training after that and it is much easier.Jennie Shen tends to be a little fast and uses slightly long sequences to make her points. Good reading skills and lots of games is good preparation for this.
The opening training will give you a very real edge in your current games.
Best wishes,
Buri

[darthmage]

Thanks Buri ! I'm all set to go now

[Buri]

Greetings,
glad you are happy. I think it is important to follow through these courses to the end no matter how long they take, but at the same time you can have a lot of fun dipping into lectures that look interesting. For example the Kobayashi ones are very helpful. I would add a word of caution based on my own predilections. It is easy to get so immersed in studying the game that one ends up not playing enough games. Guo insists on I think at least ten games between lessons in the step by step course.
And yes, the high/low lectures I misnamed are excellent at our level. Shouldn`t take too long either.
Cheers,
Buri

[darthmage]

I would add a word of caution based on my own predilections. It is easy to get so immersed in studying the game that one ends up not playing enough games. Guo insists on I think at least ten games between lessons in the step by step course.

So so true ! I already have that problem

In my case the issue has been that at the end of a long day it's so much easier to just relax with a bottle of beer, watching these lectures, than actually playing a game on KGS


Trying to play more on weekends now

[Mage]

The step-by-step course is very good, but gets advanced at a fast pace. Like others have emphasized, do play a lot of games in-between lectures.

Apart from lectures already mentioned, I also like the "All about 3-4 point" and "All about star-point" lectures.

Have fun