Happy 2014 everyone I hope you will all have a go filled year!

As my break ends and school starts once again it is time for to reflect on what I have done in the past two weeks and a half.

I played 28 games on kgs. I won 15 and lost 13, and even though I came up over 500 the kgs ranking scheme decided to still put me at 4k when I was originally 3k. Though I do feel like I have gained something from it even if my rank doesn't show it. I think I played some good go. Emotionally there were definitely times when I was literally sweating and may have even lost my cool but I kept playing on. I think 1 dan by the end of march is still possible.

I am about done with the third volume of the mastering the basics series: Making good shape. This book is very important for learning about good and bad shape. Shape is so crucial to the game but hardly focused on especially by beginners. The problems are helpful but at the same time absurd. Don't expect to get many right, but they really help to show you how to use certain situations to make good shape or to prevent your opponent from doing so. Even though I still understand very little about shape I feel that I have this air of sophistication because now I can talk about this somewhat abstract concept.

The book I am going to be working on next is kisedo's new 1035 tesuji book. What? You have never heard of it? Well it's true kisedo doesn't have one book with 1035 tesuji problems in it but when you combine the Get Strong series and the Mastering the Basics series you do. So why am I going to be doing two tesuji books back to back? Because time after time people have stated that learning tesuji is the quickest way to improve. So I am going to put this statement to the test. I will first go through the Get Strong version as I have heard it is easier so that I will be warmed up when I hit the Mastering the Basics one.

This week has been interesting. I started Get strong at Tesuji. I like the problems but you will notice that they are all corner positions. While I am sure a lot of these tesuji can appear anywhere on the board while other non-corner tesuji don't appear. It will be interesting to see how the Mastering the basics tesuji differ.

Playing wise it has been a week of ups and downs. I lost two frustrating games on kgs but this past Sunday I convincingly beat my "rival" on a board twice. He is around 1 dan AGA, so I know I am improving.

I have also finished sporadically doing cho's first encylopedia of tsumego and now I will do the second one from time to time on my phone.

Weekly Update:

School is back in full swing and my go studying is going well. This past Saturday I lost three heartbreaking games in a row and lost my cool. Was winning the game and made a silly life and death mistake and that was that. I recomposed myself on Sunday and won both of the games I played. I have mentioned this before but go is an extremely frustrating yet rewarding game. It tears at my soul sometimes but other times it really gives me substance.

I have found that I no longer fear playing online. While I still get anxious and nervous while playing the game, the original dread of playing online isn't there. I know I have to play and even if I lose I have to keep playing and that is just par for the course. I know I am getting better and I understand the game more but that doesn't mean I am going to win every game or not make silly mistakes. Go is a journey and I have to appreciate that.

This has been an interesting week. I will be finishing the Get Strong Tesuji and will be starting the Mastering the basics one. Thanks to MLK day I was able to review 4 games this week instead of the normal three. Though I didn't play a single game online.

Since I was very young I have been playing video games. It represents a very large part of my life. Though I have enjoyed that time, I think if I had been doing more beneficial things it would have been time better spent. After college I stopped playing for awhile while I was in China but during those long winter breaks I succumbed out of boredom and started playing again. I have stopped and started several times and this past week I really didn't feel like studying anything and decided to give it another go. While it was mildly entertaining it started to bite in to my time.

I have this drive to play games that I wish I had for go. Though I have noticed I feel much more satisfied when I finish a game of go rather than a video game. Actually I know exactly what it is. With online games I am able to interact with people much more to obtain a certain goal but with online go you don't have that human interaction it is really only you and the computer even though you are playing someone else.

For five years now I have had an on off relationship with a very popular game called League of Legends. I have installed it and reinstalled it countless times. Every now and then it is fun to play but I very easily start getting competitive with it and then it begins to eat too much of time and I have to stop.

I have chosen go as one of my life long passions but to support that passion I need to find people I enjoy playing that I can play often so that I can get the human interaction I need and play go at the same time.

For the human interaction part, there is often an active and friendly chat at http://online-go.com/, and maybe in some KGS rooms I don't know. A live club would be best but for many that is hard to find nearby.

Thanks for the suggestion Luckyjim but like the KGS server I play on there is usually some friendly albeit strange conversation going on in the EGR. Yet working together with other people to accomplish a goal is more what I was after and not just nice conversation.

Have you tried the Advanced Study Room on KGS yet? Or thought about having your own room on KGS? If you have enough people join, you can have a permanent room (either private or open) in which you could invite people with the same goal as you.

Anyways: Good luck with your studies!

_________________

It's that time of the week again. This week I finished Get Strong at Tesuji and started Mastering the Basics: Tesuji. As was told to me earlier, yes, Mastering the Basics: Tesuji is more difficult than Get Strong. I felt Get Strong was almost like a L&D book with all of its corner position. Regardless I found Get Strong to be helpful for my reading and tesuji spotting.

The Mastering the Basics: Tesuji is much more broad in its survey of tesuji which is a good thing but it is more difficult to see certain tesuji. This book has many of the tesuji found in Davies' book on the subject. I think all of these books are helpful.

I am almost done studying Yi Ch'ang-ho 1996 and was planning on starting to study Takagawa Kaku to continue my study of a flowing game. But I have become interested in looking at Cho Chikun's games possibly of the year 1982. We will see. One of the things I am somewhat worried about with studying Takagawa's and Sheui's games are that they are older and their opening theory is different than it is now. Cho's period is a little more reminiscent of today's play. Then perhaps I should just focus on the flow of moves in Takagawa's and Shuei's games as opposed to their opening and joseki.

Playing wise I haven't been pushing myself recently enough to play. I have been playing other games to change things up, perhaps it is for the best, but I will be sure to get back and continue playing on KGS. I won one game against a 4k, I was dominating for most of the game but then I think I started playing to quickly and that allowed him to catch up a little too much. This weekend I will have the pleasure of playing on a real board against my "rival." This will be the time to see how much my tesuji practice has payed off.

Well I have been lazy this past week so much so that even my go problem regiment has been affected. I have two more Yi Ch'ang-ho games left until I start 1982 Cho Chikun which should be interesting. Despite my laziness an opportunity to learn from strong players on real boards has presented itself which I am very grateful for. In two weeks I will no longer do study a pro game on Sunday but instead go to a teaching session.

Haven't been too focused the past week despite all of the free time due to numerous snow days. I just haven't been in that go playing mood, at least for online play. I have finished Yi Ch'ang-Ho 1996 which was great. After going over so many of his games it is obvious why he is one of the best ever. He was so dominant it is almost scary. I have started Cho Chikun 1982 and from the get go it was easily noticed that the play style between the two players is quite different. Cho has a much more aggressive flair than Yi. Nonetheless I hope to learn a lot from Cho's games.

This Sunday will be the first time when I go to a teaching session and I hope it will be very worthwhile.

Yes, Cho Chikun's style is more aggressive than Yi Ch'ang-Ho, but in 1996 Yi was still playing his famous "give my opponent what he wants and then win anyway" style, so he was comparatively passive next to most players.

I hope your first teaching session is good, let us know how it goes.

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

My lack of desire to play or study go is starting to bother me. I just don't feel like it. I know our passions wax and wane, but that isn't very good when you want to improve in something.

Past weekend I went to my first teaching session. It wasn't much teaching as it was just playing a stronger player which was enjoyable. I got to play two games against a 6dan. My recent lack of playing to definitely showed itself as I misread some silly things. I really need my fervor to return so I can make the most out of this opportunity.

Another week of studying has gone by. I played a 2 dan at two stones this past weekend. I won one and lost one. This weekend I will again be playing on real boards. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to play once a week with people on a wooden board.

My motivation for study is coming back. 501 Tesuji problems is a really tough book. While I get the general concepts in most of the problems some of the answers I wouldn't think of. I think anyone who can look at all the questions and solve them easily would be at least a 2-3 dan player.

Cho Chikun continues to be an interesting study.

I have been a very bad go student recently. I have not been studying very much at all. Other games have taken my focus. Games that I know aren't nearly as beneficial or rewarding as go in the long run but are just more stimulating and interactive. Hopefully this is just a passing phase and I can refocus on go. I just don't feel like putting the effort in right now nor make the time. I even missed an opportunity to play on a real board this past weekend.

While I feel good, I need to get back on track with go soon.

I have been slowly but surely been getting back into go. It is finals week right now and so after I finish most of my testing I can switch my focus to go. I am going to freshen things up: I will be studying a new pro Takagawa Shusaku, read a new book Go Strategy in the Mastering the Basics series and do some new problems on my phone.

I feel that Mastering the Basics Tesuji is slightly too advanced for me right now. While I can get quite a few right there are also several that I really have no idea with out taking a long time to read everything out. I hope to come back to this book later and reassess my situation.

I have some interesting new ideas to discuss in my study journal that I hope you will like, which will be written in the next couple of weeks. With spring break I am not sure how my studying will be organized. I could say review one game a day play multiple games, read, ect. but I am not sure if I want to spend that much time studying go this break. Go will most definitely be given more attention than I have been giving it recently.

I will still be able to play on a live board on Sundays for the next couple of weeks so I will be sure to take advantage of that.

I hope all of you are well and studying hard!

Slowly getting back into go again. Started studying Takagawa Shukaku 1954 games. Always nice to see his no nonsense go. I have been doing a lot of tsumego on my phone using weiqidb. I also went to the garden last weekend to play too.

The Basics of Go Strategy has arrived but I haven't found it very engaging so far. So I just need to crunch down and read it.

I have also started watching dwyrin's videos. They are good so far.

I will be posting about an interesting topic this upcoming week.

Today I will rant a little:

Go's place in society has dropped considerably. Once considered one of the four noble arts of the scholar in East Asia, go has been swept under the carpet into dark game rooms. It has become a game, especially in the West, reserved for eccentrics. I find this quite disturbing.

With the invention of the unlimited number of video games and TV shows that now absorb people with their addictive qualities go has been forgotten. Despite go's unrivaled depth and beauty it can not compared to the much more base thrills of computerized entertainment. I too find myself choosing other forms of entertainment rather than studying go but I do know that go would be a better choice. Those flashing pixels are just so much more interactive.

The skill of go needs to become valued again. While many young children learn go in Asia but it is limited to children for the most part. I remember when trying to purchase a set in China that one of the employees said that it is a game for children. Go should be the game of intellectuals and high society as it use to be.

Go is not just a game but an art. No other board game can capture the complex subtleties of the mind as well as go.

Getting back on the horse:

The past couple of weeks have been difficult dealing with a long term addiction to gaming. Something about certain games just suck the life out of me and obsess my thoughts affecting my education, athletics, and life in general. I am going to try to put it down for good this time, I need to focus on what is important to me and forget these little distractions. What I like about go is that I do have a passion for the art but at the same time it doesn't have that same consuming quality. For other games I couldn't control myself and that is all I wanted to do and that is obviously unhealthy.

So now is the time to get back on the go horse. I only have a couple of games left of 1954 Takagawa Shukaku left and then I will start studying the games of Honinbo Shuei.

Despite being quiet I have been studying go almost daily now. I have decided to take a more non-competitive route with the game then before. Enjoying the art for what it is rather than trying to get to some rank.

I have been studying the games of Honinbo Shuei. They are pretty amazing. The flow and simplicity of his play is quite beautiful. Despite some rather primitive fuseki the games are entertaining. I can see why many pros admired him so much and even went on to saying that they would be no match for him.

I am focusing on entrenching some joseki into my head. I am going to learn all of the joseki in the 38 basic joseki book. I find it frustrating running into a situation where there is a joseki and not knowing it. I realize that joseki must not be used blindly but must take the whole board into account. I hope to gain a foundation of understanding through this study. Although some of the variations in the 38 basic joseki book are outdated they will provide me with a familiarity of the position. If I run into a new variation I can just learn it. I have divided the book into 5 sections and will complete a section every 7 days. I have just finished the 3-4 approach section.

I continue to do l&d problems on my phone but don't have a formal regiment going.

The club my teacher runs is in the process of moving. Hopefully I will be able to attend its meetings. At this stage I am not sure if I will be playing online any time soon.

So you all might be wondering what I have been doing with my life these past three months. There definitely has been some go playing and studying but not as much as I would like. I have started using crazy stone to play more games and have found it helpful not only to practice playing but also studying things such as fuseki and joseki.

I have a tournament in October that I would like to compete in so I hope to be studying much more seriously soon. If I am going to be studying more I will probably posting here more too so keep a look out