gorogue wrote:Uberdude wrote:Do not use OGS to measure your strength as a beginner as 30k there is very broad and includes many stronger players. Some (e.g. Bill) will say beginners shouldn't worry about rank but I can understand wanting to see a number changing to give feedback and encouragement of progress (I did and still do). Try KGS instead, though the beginner ranks there probably aren't as meaningful as they were a few years ago due to fewer players.
Everyone says to try KGS, but unfortunately the client will not work on my computer. I think part of the reason I can't improve much is that I was never a good visual thinker. It's really too bad, because I find myself very drawn to games like chess and go, but I have 0 aptitude for them because my visualization is so terrible. Maybe someone has overcome this and can give me advice? Anyway, I'll probably get back into it later when I have fewer "real-life" responsibilities to worry about.
My answer would depend on what you mean by "visualization is so terrible". There's a lot of reading advice out there which suggests that you should be able to "see the stones on the board" as you're reading. I can't do that, not even a little. I've come to understand that this doesn't mean that I am not able to read out the patterns ... it simply means that I'm not processing the data in a visual manner (I also can't picture people's faces or visual details of a given location, no matter how familiar; this was an interesting quirk that led me to abandon my research into memory palaces since most memory palace advice I've read tends to heavily rely on the ability to picture a tangible, detailed location in one's head ... a feat I cannot seem to accomplish).
Having given this a bit of thought, I believe that I read on a go board in a similar fashion to reading a language (bear with me, I've never explained this before, and I don't know how accurate the metaphor really is). I learned (slowly) to read by starting with basic 2- and 3-stone shapes (akin to learning "letters" in an alphabet). Discovering the term
Haengma and its implications really helped with this basic start to learning to read (for me, at least).
From there, combinations of basic shapes began to emerge in certain patterns, like ladders and nets (the "words" in my metaphor, or at least the more basic ones; consider these like the first words a child will learn). There are many variations and nuances to these, and to other similar "basic" combinations of shapes, but, like a child learning to speak, I don't know all the differences in usage and meaning.
Finally, basic shapes start to combine and affect other shapes across the board. Understanding these interactions is like understanding a sentence or paragraph in our new language, and is much more difficult. I can't say I understand too many of these right now. I'm still a child learning his basic words and how to use them.
With the above in mind, I tend not to "read ahead" in the traditional sense (or not very often; I find reading ahead very taxing, and frequently make mistakes because I "see" nothing). Instead, I read the board as it is and find whatever current meaning I can see. As I build my vocabulary, I learn new ways to use the words I've learned, and I add to the vocabulary I have with each game.
As you might imagine, this is an incredibly slow way to progress in skill. You will not reach shodan quickly using this method. I mean, I still haven't reached it, though I'm quite a casual go player, so I'm probably not a good role model.
So, that's my reading method. It would be interesting to hear comments on it, and on the metaphor. Fire away with your comments/criticism!
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