Identifying and Developing your strengths

[SmoothOper]

Is it possible for beginners and amateurs to identify their aptitude in go prior to or while developing skills, or do the facets of the game that interest a player guide the skills that are developed? Some of the skills I am thinking about might be: raw reading power(ah ah ah!), memorizing professional games, pattern recognition, counting, recalling tricky sequences, Jedi mind reading, creating disorienting artistic displays etc, there are probably others. It just seems that a beginner or an amateur wouldn't be able to identify if they would be able to master some skills, even if they were interested in them, while they may be able to master some of the skills that they aren't interested in.

[DrStraw]

I think all the skill you mention come with practice and repetition. Most people, with enough desire, can develop them all. But it takes work: nothing comes easily. I never cared about memorizing pro games beyond the fuseki, but all the other ones you mention developed steadily with practice.

[PeterN]

I'm having difficulty just working out what my current strengths are, let alone trying to determine my aptitudes. I'd expect a similar feeling for most people unless their skill is severely unbalanced.

[Phoenix]

I'm having difficulty just working out what my current strengths are, let alone trying to determine my aptitudes. I'd expect a similar feeling for most people unless their skill is severely unbalanced.

As you play Go and become stronger, you'll go through so many phases and have much different strengths and weaknesses throughout that this is not much of a concern unless you reach the mid-dan levels.

The way to make progress in Go is to spend time studying it, enjoy it and play it. Then you learn what your weaknesses are and iron them out. Until you reach a high level it's hard to see what your potential strong points might be. Personally, I find my Go is schizoid enough without trying to pin down what my potential strong points might be.

[PeterN]

I'm having difficulty just working out what my current strengths are, let alone trying to determine my aptitudes. I'd expect a similar feeling for most people unless their skill is severely unbalanced.

As you play Go and become stronger, you'll go through so many phases and have much different strengths and weaknesses throughout that this is not much of a concern unless you reach the mid-dan levels.

The way to make progress in Go is to spend time studying it, enjoy it and play it. Then you learn what your weaknesses are and iron them out. Until you reach a high level it's hard to see what your potential strong points might be. Personally, I find my Go is schizoid enough without trying to pin down what my potential strong points might be.

Heh, sounds about right. I know I'm getting better (I'm not 30K anymore ) but it's gradual enough that when looking back I just cringe at what I did before without feeling any difference while going up. Maybe I'm a jack of all trades, or maybe I just don't know any better.

[Ember]

As you play Go and become stronger, you'll go through so many phases and have much different strengths and weaknesses throughout that this is not much of a concern unless you reach the mid-dan levels.

The way to make progress in Go is to spend time studying it, enjoy it and play it. Then you learn what your weaknesses are and iron them out. Until you reach a high level it's hard to see what your potential strong points might be.

Very well put. Actually, I think the OP's question is really interesting and I bet that every player who wants to improve (quickly) regularly asks him-/herself this question. What Phoenix wrote applies really well to reality, well, at least I find what happened to myself in these words. Until a few weeks ago, I didn't play a lot and had no real clue where my strengths and weaknesses were. I just knew, that something didn't work that well. Then, I started to play a lot more (only play, no real analysis) and about 4 weeks and around 30 games later (a lot for me!) I was able to see a pattern in my games. Although I was winning a lot of games, I had huge problems in the opening and usually came out with a smalish, weak group. Still, because I was able to find (mostly strategically) good moves in the middle game and take advantage of small or sometimes even wrong moves my opponents made later, I was still able to win quite a numer of games. Therefore, as I just finished studying Toshiro Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go (which I cannot recommend highly enough!), I'll start studying opening patterns and joseki next.

So I'd also say: play more, more and then some more and in the course of this, you will find out what makes a game hard for you. By analyzing your games (with a stronger player, your opponent and later maybe by yourself) you'll get valuable information. Sometimes it's as obvious what your game lacks at the moment as in my case, and sometimes maybe someone stronger has to point it out to you. Still, playing more games never hurts. Have fun!

[SmoothOper]

I'm having difficulty just working out what my current strengths are, let alone trying to determine my aptitudes. I'd expect a similar feeling for most people unless their skill is severely unbalanced.

As you play Go and become stronger, you'll go through so many phases and have much different strengths and weaknesses throughout that this is not much of a concern unless you reach the mid-dan levels.

The way to make progress in Go is to spend time studying it, enjoy it and play it. Then you learn what your weaknesses are and iron them out. Until you reach a high level it's hard to see what your potential strong points might be. Personally, I find my Go is schizoid enough without trying to pin down what my potential strong points might be.

I agree, however, I am actually interested in developing an unbalanced game.