Path to 9Dan, step by step.

[hl782]

7kyu! lol how does kgs rankings work didnt even expect this...

So I achieved my goal of 7kyu about a month earlier than I expected - I hope to hit or get near about 6k by the end of the summer!

Beware of getting too motivated by arbitrary successes. Soon you'll encounter arbitrary drawbacks. It's natural to be driven by rank but try to find other measurable signs of progress so that your motivation does not become dependent on something as variable as the KGS ranking algorithm.

Still, congratulations with the overall improvement.

Thanks! And yes of course haha. Besides the rank i do feel improvement when i look at my scores on l&d problem sets i recycle or my old games from1-2 months ago. Im going to keep my head down, stay consistent in my studies and continue towards my goal of beating my dad in an even game! Until then all of your help will be greatly appreciated

[hl782]

First game as a 7k. I spoke to justin recently and he said that I played too many games as black so I played against an 8k in an even game, with white. Overall it was a W, but i think I could have played much better.



Edit: Also added a 2 stone handi game against a 4k. Tough fight. Tough win.



I am also redo-ing Graded Go Problems Vol.4 all over again along with LCH LD Vol 2&3. Vol. 2 was decently easy. 3 is pretty tough! By far the hardest baduk problem set I've ever gone through so far.

Also, for anyone with the SmartGoBooks app, does anyone know how to turn off the automatic moves played for white for the L&D problems?

[Charles Matthews]

Also added a 2 stone handi game against a 4k. Tough fight. Tough win.

I think if had played the driving tesuji (at H10) the game would have gone on longer. Anyway, you didn't back down.

[hl782]

Two more games I played - 2 wins against a 6, and 7k respectively. The game against the 6k, i got toasted almost the entire game. Then my opponent made 1 mistake and i took major advantage of it. The game against the 7k was smooth sailing.





As for other studying, I am just solving problems and reading some books from time to time. Unfortunately due to work, i haven't been able to stay true to my studying regime. But I am becoming more bold with my moves, and still having a lot of fun with the game, which is always a good thing

[Celebrir]

Some quick notes on the first game:

belongs on J14.If you have your opponent surrounded and you're not in a race for liberties, securing your own connections goes over taking liberties.

I can't see anything to dangerous here. This was more or less like a pass.

Feels far to deep. Maybe K7 as preperation miai to invade either the bottom or the right moyo?

[Charles Matthews]

Two more games I played - 2 wins against a 6, and 7k respectively. The game against the 6k, i got toasted almost the entire game. Then my opponent made 1 mistake and i took major advantage of it.

seems early: and invasion at O3 seems more natural to me. The lower side is bigger and looser, so give it attention. For the same reason I would have blocked on the other side, as White.

at J15 seems more urgent to me.

White has a heavy group. A normal suji is to play atari at L14 before connecting. At least then Black has floating stones. one the right is surely correct shape: White gets "lucky" later but it all starts here.

It may seem reasonable to go for the kill: but at O14 to attack territory makes a lot of sense right now.

turns out to be too close, so play one line lower.

is just a bad idea. You need all the liberties you can get, to kill the group.

Here you should play N2 before anything else. It's big and sente now, and you may lose the chance. Also it has a probing function: does White answer at M2 or M3? In the centre K7 looks reasonable. Not sure what else there is.

Black 127: well, at K1 leads to ko, and you have a massive first threat, at L13. Did you consider the ko?

Black 137: Ouch, endgame Black at S14 was good and perhaps also sente.

[hl782]

6 More games! 3 wins, 3 losses. 6kyus are hard. I've only had 1 convincing win against them. I'll improve though. I'll keep chugging forward!

First, the 3 losses. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

[hl782]

On a more positive note, the 3 wins!

[Charles Matthews]

First, the 3 losses. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Game 1. It is interesting that you are now finding opponents who are going to punish your bad shape. (This doesn't mean they are making good shape themselves, by the way.) You will have to get your style together. What happens with at H15?

If you want to live here quickly, you need a third line play and more distance, i.e. O3.

[Charles Matthews]

On a more positive note, the 3 wins!

Game 3. Technical mistakes galore.

at is an easier path.

is "small even if it works". But having played it, you must cut at M5 to leave something here, before losing the two stones.#

at B12 to attack seems natural.

Black 102: cut at J15 right now. The atari plays at D10 and E11 may become important. Black 120: you should still look to cut here. Black 132: you were quite lucky to get this.

Black 142: imagine if this stone had been played long before!

Black has a lead at this stage, as White seems to have realised. Comments end.

[hl782]

So i had one of my worst streaks i've ever had in baduk, but meh, it is starting to turn around. I'm maintaining about a 58% rate against 7ks, around 50% against 6ks. I've had one of these slumps at 11k, 9k, and 8k, so hopefully I'll get another epiphany and start blazing through my games soon.

Attached are a few of my recent games.

He played an interesting opening, and I thought i was disadvantageous in the beginning but I managed to reduce his territory well enough.


Got wrecked against the sanrensei in this one.



Pretty comfortable win in this one.



As for problems, I went back to blitzing some easy problems (GGPB Vol 2 and 3) and a few problems that my friend assigned me on gochild. After this, I plan on just doing more of the LCH series.

[Charles Matthews]

Got wrecked against the sanrensei in this one.

Yup. Your overall opening and level of technique seem too basic.

Why is it that your overall position lacks the scale of White's? Consider that about now you seem to start thinking about consolidation.

Given just one chance to invade, I'd play O3. The right can be invaded at R12. Also you might want to play P13 to reinforce your long extension.

This kind of play is no good.

123 principle says you omit the atari.

Looks like White is ahead.

One basic framework principle: if you can, do the heavy fighting deep in the opponent's area.

[hl782]

A pretty good start for me in August - I'm winning often and having fun with alot of my games.

Attached is a game I played a few days ago - one of the best games I've played so far! Particularly sweet because i think i lost to this guy a total of 3 times before i played this one.




One thing is for certain though - 6ks are hard to match up against than 7-8ks. I feel that my technique amd overall gameplay is too basic, and i havent had a big epiphany yet like i had when i faced my previous slumps. I wonder when that will come!?

[Knotwilg]

You outplayed the 6k on technical, tactical and strategical level. I don't know if that's enough for an epiphany but I'd say, continue to walk that path.

All the goodies mentioned in the comments aside, I have one major remark and a few exercises for you in this game.

Major remark:
Keep playing simple moves when ahead (see comments)

Exercises:
Black to stay connected
White to live

Solutions later, if you decided to solve those and post them here.

[Charles Matthews]

I feel that my technique amd overall gameplay is too basic, and i havent had a big epiphany yet like i had when i faced my previous slumps. I wonder when that will come!?

That was quite a reasonable game, against a fairly unreasonable opponent.

You know something about fighting. Incrementally, you need to pay attention to placing your stones slightly better. Otherwise seems fine to me.