Progress Report

Tsumego: On hold
Games Reviewed: 2 lost games
Elementary Go Series: Finished reading Attack and Defence

After last week I made sure I finished reading Attack and Defence this time round, though I'm not sure how much of it is sticking. The problems at the back I got 16 out of 20 right, but given that they were all pick A or B and my reasonings were not often the same as the ones given I'm not sure how well I really did. Next week I think I will start reading Tesuji a second time, I didn't get through the whole book properly last time as it just felt above my level.

PeterN

Progress Report

Tsumego: On hold
Games Reviewed: 3 lost games, 1 won game
Elementary Go Series: Started reading Tesuji

Played a lot of games this week and I seem to be all over the place, some games I feel unstoppable and others it feels more like I've forgotten how to play go entirely! Lost more games than I won but looking back over the results it's not by as large a ratio as it feels like.

Found some very strange moves in my lost games I reviewed this week, seem to be bumping my stones into a wall for no reason whatsoever and I can't remember why I did it, perhaps after losing some I just went on tilt?

PeterN

Perhaps. Work on your basics; there's no other way.

That just opens up a whole can of worms on what are the basics, let alone how to work on them.

PeterN

See this thread

Well that was an interesting read, although I'm still not 100% on whether I'm understanding it or not, but my understanding is for example being able to play an enclosure is the basics of that enclousre while weak points, how to attack with it, best extensions, etc, are the fundamentals.

In which case I'm pretty confident I don't know any fundamentals....

PeterN

Understanding is not binary. (Many people don't understand this.)
It is a continuum, with infinite levels. Examples:

With that I was more meaning understanding what fundamentals are as oppossed to understanding fundamentals. I also just don't put any time in on anything approaching the examples I mentioned with the exception of reading which has to be one.

PeterN

Yes, that is part of the understanding of fundamentals!

Progress Report

Tsumego: On hold
Games Reviewed: 1 lost game, 1 won game
Elementary Go Series: Continued reading Tesuji

This has week has been a bit poor on the amount I've managed to do, not made as much progress into Tesuji as I should have, I really need to get back into this and I suspect without this weekly update I'd have lapsed entirely already. On the bright side I no longer feel like I've completely forgotten how to play like I did in my last report.

I keep mulling over Ed's comment and link to the basics Vs fundamentals thread in my head and the more I do the more I'm wondering if I'm going about things in the right way, I play stuff because it's what I've seen, copied, and seems to work. While I have some idea of how things can go wrong through sheer trial and error I certainly don't know *why* they're good ideas to any real extent. The only advantage is that I don't think many of my opponent's (excluding the occasional higher ranked person I play) have much idea either.

PeterN

Good question. If you are playing good moves
and good follow-ups, then they will continue to work, even with better and better opponents.
But if you have weakness in your moves, then better opponents will exploit it and you'll find out
what "seems to work" with previous opponents no longer works any more.

Progress Report

Tsumego: On hold
Games Reviewed: 1 lost game
Elementary Go Series: Continued reading Tesuji

December could be a bad month for doing anything I'm deciding, way too much stuff piling up. Most of the way through Tesuji now and I think it's time to resume tsumego as well.

Well that was a dull update

PeterN

Progress Report

Tsumego: Started reading through Graded Go Problems for Beginners III
Games Reviewed: None
Elementary Go Series: Finished reading Tesuji

Last week's update got missed due to me having been ill for most of the week so nothing getting done, however I've finally begun to get back into the swing of things now, just in time for Christmas to break that probably

It's been too long since I've done any tsumego now, mainly in the attempt to stop hard wiring the specific problems into my brain as I only have two books of these so far. I don't feel like I'm instantly answering a problem because I know what the solution is to it now, and I don't feel like I've lost a lot from my break (although how well I do after finishing it will see if I'm deluding myself or not).

Also took a look at goproblem.com and, yep, I am still USELESS at online tsumego! I suffer from the "Ooh... *clicky*" symdrome

Not really been able to play many games recently, so no serious reviews done this week. Did review one of my old ~25K games just for fun, but can't count that.

I have finally finished reading through Tesuji for the second time, and this time I could at least understand it instead of just staring at the words and diagrams going "Huh...?", of course, putting into practise is a different matter entirely.

PeterN

I know exactly what you're talking about. Apart from christmas preparations there suddenly seem to pop up other (seemingly) important things as well, let alone that at this time of the year most of the people catch a cold or two (or even worse).. It's my impression, too, that at this time of the year it is a real challenge to keep (let alone establish) a study routine. But although it sounds like you're having a hard time, I think you're doing well, so keep it up!

It is also encouraging that you found Tesuji easier to read at the second try. I thought about reading it in the last few weeks, too, but I admit that it has left me just as puzzled the last time I read it (which was even not the first time) and have avoided it ever since. Of course, this subject is important and should not be neglected, though.. I hope your study will pay off and that you'll be able to find many tesuji in your next games!

_________________

Thanks for the encouragement, hoping to keep it up.

I did still find Tesuji puzzling, and it did take the being lead by the nose with the text as well to understand it. Linking groups is probably the area I'll find the most useful in my games, mainly because I tend to ignore this little thing called defence.... That and it's one of the less complicated parts so I have some chance of actually pulling it off.

PeterN

I think that finding balance in one's own game might be one of the hardest things. I played very solidly for a long time and lost quite a few games by playing small but secure moves instead of risking a bit. Getting over this habit was not easy (I still tend to fall back into it) and I guess it'll be just the same for you. But I think, that learning these tesuji will help you a lot! If you're looking for more material on this subject, I can't recommend Fujisawa Shuko's Tesuji dictionaries warm enough! The second volume is all about tesujis for defense, so maybe you'll want to give that one a look. I really liked it a lot (more than Tesuji from James Davies )

_________________

Off date progress report!

New rank: 5 kyu!

Well, my rank finally hit 5 kyu and I fully expect it to drop back down to 6 kyu very soon! The loss of that extra handicap has suddenly ratcheted up the difficulty of my games and I'm going to need to start spotting my weaknesses and correcting them a bit more to just stay where I am now.

Two games from today that I quite liked, lost both of them, and intend to review them, but it's not likely to happen till after Christmas. First one is against a 7k which I lost by 0.5pts and second is against a 4k which I lost by 18.5pts. Oddly I felt like I was doing better in the second one.

Game 1: -



Game 2: -



PeterN

Progress Report: -

New rank: 6 kyu (again)
Tsumego: Read through Graded Go Problems for Beginners III (92.4% correct) again
Games Reviewed: 4 lost games
Elementary Go Series: None

Unsurprisingly my rank dropped back down to 6 kyu, definitely not helped by me playing a massive amount of games yesterday and being on a bit of a losing streak, but I was back to it after a single day anyway.

After my break from tsumego I was expecting to do worse than I did, but as I went through the book some of the answers were just popping into my head way too quickly to be anything other than having memorised some of the answers. That being said I did still do worse than the previous read through the book (93.1%) but not by much. Can't estimate the time this took quite so accurately as my the trains going haywire during storms broke my normal counting system of how many train journeys. Best guess is 8 days worth of train journeys, or 320-400 minutes.

Had two of my ASR games reviewed for me, a nice one on aji and a sledgehammer to the head of "Defend!" as well as reviewed the two games I previously posted. The first one I will put down some brief comments from my review in the next post. The second one is a more difficult one to review, I was thinking a strategy of let my opponent build up the giant moyo, then drop a stone in the middle and live as it was just too large... then I went off and started nibbling at the sides and made it stronger first....

I have also got some new books for Christmas (amazing what pointing everyone you know to a website and saying "Look, they have a sale on" does ) so now need to decide which book to take a look at next. Main choices are Get Strong at Attacking, Get Strong at Invading, and 1001 Life and Death Problems. Thinking Get Strong at Invading as it's the area I'm most clueless on.

PeterN

And some comments on my game against Dave100, any additional comments would be appreciated: -

This sequences feels better for B to me, but after looking up the joseki apparently B's last move is a mistake, I'm assuming it leaves some invasion points, but not sure.
Trying to balance with my other stones in the area, but not sure if it's quite the best spot.
Cap the stones instead? I think this would be a good chance to build a lot of influence towards the bottom facing my stones already there.
Do this from below instead to try to build up a moyo along the same lines as the previous comment?
My potential is gone, and B is no longer attackable.
Bumping into B's stones feels wrong, but I'm not seeing a better alternative.
Perhaps start from the top and try to break into his area?
:w138: So many missed opportunities to play in this area, so just listing when W played here.
:b155: Jump out to O16 and poke everything!
:w216: Probably should have saved this stone....

PeterN

I attached this game with a few mixed and unsorted thougths. I'm still a noob in fuseki and overall strategy but there may be some interesting tactical points.