Magics way up the hill

[MagicMagor]

The term is ending, and together with the prospect of more free time came the motivation to do something for my Go. Knowing myself, it's clear that having a plan is crucial for my success in improving.

This study journal is also a motivator for me, as i should feel obligated to have something to report every week.

Goals:

• Starting rank: 2k (KGS 2k and EGF 2k - Current Gor: 1762)
• Reaching 1d for the next german pair-go championsship (there is currently no date for this, but i think/hope it will be around summer 2011 or later) - 2011:Failed
• Playing at least as 1k at the Bonner Torunament 2011 (End of February) - Failed (didn't even played in the tournament)
• Managing to get a "Dan-Trophy" - Done
• Having a correct Gor for my rank (long-term goal) Done (30. May, 2012)

With "Dan-Trophy" i mean a game-record of a game against a solid 1d, which i won. Though only serious and even games qualify for this (so it has to happen at a tournament)

To achieve these goals i have formulated four groups of study. I ordered them in the priority, i think they have for myself improving.

1. Playing Games:

• 1 to 3 serious games per week
• Played on KGS via Automatch using the middle time-setting (25m+5x30s)
• At least 1 game per week on another server (IGS or WBaduk) to experience different playing-styles
• I should use at least 20 to 25 minutes in every game
• Count in every game, at least after fuseki and once during the middle game

I haven't played very much in the last time, and therefore i have problems concentrating in tournament-games which leads to a lot of small silly mistakes. Playing should give me the practice i need, to get my concentration back up.
Also, playing is what i enjoy most.

2. Analysing Games:

• Self-Review every serious game of myself, to spot 1-2 crucial mistakes
• Replay 1 pro-game on my real board per week
• Give 1 review per week to a weaker player (5k - 8k)
• Put one of my games per week online to get a review from a stronger player

I don't intend to memorize the pro-games i replay (if it happens, it's a nice bonus), instead i want to get a feeling for shape and the flow of a game. Trying to understand what the pro could have meant with each move.
Giving a review each week to a weaker player is important for me. Not only may verbalizing my thoughts help me understand go better, it also wouldn't feel right to ask for a review each week without me giving something similar back.

3. Tsumego:

• Do tsumego (L&D) for 30minutes each day
• 1001 Life&Death Problems
• Cho Chikuns E. of L&D 1-3
• Tsumego cards (4k-2k)

I don't enjoy tsumego that much, but i know from experience that doing some tsumego each day will greatly help my play. I have put my sources of tsumego also on this list, i will try to avoid goproblems.com (where i will aimlessly click around instead of reading the sequence out).
I would like to add some tesuji-problems to the mix, but unfortunatly i have no source of tesuji-problems at hand. Maybe they will be added later.

4. Theory:

• Kageyama: Lessons in the Fundamentals of go
• Audiogolessons - 1 Lesson per week (starting in august)
• Attack & Defense

I really need to read Kageyama, as it seems most (if not all) of my lost games are thanks to mistakes in the fundamentals. I have put A&D also on the list, as re-reading it always helps me to correct my way of attacking groups.

Well, thats my plan. When i'm in the mood and have time, i may play more or do more tsumego but the numbers in my plan are the minimum which i want to achieve every week. Everything above that is considered a nice bonus.

What i already achieved
14. July 2010:

• 15 minutes of tsumego (1001 L&D) - most problems solved on sight, some wrong (about 1 in 10)
• One game on KGS against my girlfriend, with a short post-game analysis

15. July 2010:

• 30 minutes of tsumego (1001 L&D) - most solved pretty quick, only a handfull wrong

[Jonas]

Hey Magic,
didn't knew you're also active here in the L19-Community!
Did your Bundesliga-team advanced to league 3? I'd welcome a rematch, if I remember correctly I lost our last game ^_^

If it can't take place at the Bundesliga we'll maybe clash at the Pairgo-Championship next year. Although my girlfriend still needs to grow stronger a little bit, hopefully she is able to do it until next year

What tournaments to you plan to attend? Bochum? Cologne?

I wish you the best of luck and hope you achieve all your goals.

[kokomi]

Very well scheduled. Totally different style compared to mine.

Good luck

[MagicMagor]

So, the first day of my new study-routine ends and i'm quite happy with it.
To say i was motivated would be an understatement =).
After the 30-minutes tsumego with my morning coffee (a great combination) i tried playing in the afternoon. My first game on WBaduk against a 4k (i'm ranked 4k on WBaduk) was a desaster. I actually misread the time-setting and thought of playing a nice 20minute-game - turns out the 20 was the byo-yomi time - and i played a rather fast 10minute + 3x20sec game. Against the typical over-agressive korean player you can imagine how the game developed.
Well nothing really died from me, but i didn't make that much points either. In the end i got lucky, because my opponent was so intend on killing my group, that he negleted a vital defense-move and in the resulting capturing race i was ahead by 2 liberties. A win after a quite unsatisfing game. I think i will refrain from playing on WBaduk for while. Either i have to find slower games on there, or greatly increase my reading-ability before i have another shot.
It may be a good learning experience, but if i don't enjoy the learning process it won't do me any good.

The second game of the day was agianst kokomi (i believe) on KGS. I would say it showed my typical problems with low-handicap games (i gave 2 stones). I made a comeback but blew it by being to greedy.

In the evening i played another game on KGS against a ? who estimated himself as 2k/3k. I took white with no komi and was quite satisfied with the game. In the end, i played to fast and had to resign. Evaluating the whole-board position and deciding that sometime not going for the kill is the right thing to do, seem to be something i have to (re)learn.

Apart from these 3 games, i replayed two pro-games. My first one was a game from Shusaku (can't say which game or who his opponent was) and aside from the strange opening i could predict alot of moves. Also playing these games on a real board instead of clicking through the sgf seems much more "alive". I can't describe it, but just looking at a position on the real board i seem to get much more insight than on the screen.
The other game was the oldest game from Iama Yuta, which i have in possesion. (My Girlfriend is a huge Yuta-fan and has kindly send me here collection of his games) - a game played in 2002 when Yuta was still a 2p.
Where Shusaku seems natural in a lot of situation, Yuta showed some great usage of attaching. Well at least for me, who hasn't really replayed pro games up until now.

I also had a look at the first chapter of Kageyama and put the "easy" ladder-position on my board. I will try to integrate it in my tsumego-session tommorow morning =).

[kokomi]

What you believe is correct
Nice combination of coffee and tsumego, i should try it tomorrow.

[MagicMagor]

In terms of Go, a not so succesfull weekend.

Friday
I just managed to do my 30 minutes of tsumego on this day. Visiting my parents denied me access to my board and i was otherwise busy the day.

Saturday
Coming down with a headache fully taking up the whole afternoon -> no time for go

Sunday
I tried doing tsumego this morning, but just managed to do some for around 10 minutes. As i have an exam tomorrow, i studied for the exam instead of go.
But this evening (in around 5 minutes) a free german lecture ("Profipartie des Monats" - Pro-game of the month) starts on KGS, so i will get at least something done today.

I hope i will be back on track tomorrow, after my exam.

[MagicMagor]

I hope i will be back on track tomorrow, after my exam.

Well i was not back on track.

Monday
With the exam (which turned out very well) i took the day off in terms of go.

Tuesday
Didn't managed to do my 30 minutes of tsumego, only managed 10 minutes i think. I partly blame it on the heat, but of course thats no excuse.

Wednesday
Back on track at last =). Well at least i did 30 minutes of tsumego, oh and i found a way to motivate me. If i manage to follow my study plan, i allow myself to watch some Hikaru no Go - to further motivate me. I just can't decide wether i should allow myself an episode each day, or each week.

[MagicMagor]

I hate to make a triple-post but seems its unavoidable.

My slacking of go-study continues - though i managed to do 30minutes tsumego today and i also played a game.

In this game black tried to live inside my area of influence and succeded by killing a large group of mine.
I don't think i was too agressive but more i just failed at properly killing the invading group.



Maybe the push with move 64 was wrong and jumping to K15 would be better, but i don't know if that would changed that much.
Or was my judgment, that black should die there, incorrect? But if so, i'm not sure where i went wrong before (maybe Move 18 was to weak/fearfull).

But i appreciate any comments.

[tapir]

What about D18 at D14, K12 instead of M15, playing the cuts of either G17 or H16... And yes you were way too territorial early and aggressive later if you ask me. You basically killed your group yourself forcing the opponent to enclose you and then not cutting off his stones to live. After living and making some territory with it in time (the cuts), the black group would still have been weak.

[MagicMagor]

Sorry about the delay. I will try not to slack of this much in the future.

What about D18 at D14,

What for? I was actually quite satisfied with the result in the game, i wanted the wall to build a framework with my stones around K17. D14 looks odd to me, leaving the corner this wide open..
Yeah the the fight in the middle was unnecessary, i really need to work on focusing on the right things.

I managed to did some tsumego the last days, not nearly the amount my study plan tells me, but better than nothing =). I finally finished all the 1-move problems in 1001 Life&Death, they may be helpful for my reading, but mostly they seemed so easy, that i became quite bored doing them.
The next chapter are 3-move problems "Black to live", sounds like i could use this in my game.

I played a game on KGS this tuesday - another horrible fighting game, where i basicly beat myself to death - got demoted to 3k after that.. At least this pushed my motivation back up, i really want my 2k back =).

The good news is, i started the Audio Go Lessons at wednesday and already heard 2 of them, regarding High- and low-moves. Quite interessting, and it seems i made a fuseki error quite often in my games (instead of playing san-ren-sei placing the third stone on the third line).

I hope i will be back on track now, well i'm off to do some tsumego =).

[sub0]

If you want to study fundamentals Kageyama might not be your best choice, I'd recommend Fundamental Principles of Go, written by Yilun Yang http://senseis.xmp.net/?FundamentalPrinciplesOfGo. I personally think this is one of the best go books ever.

[MagicMagor]

If you want to study fundamentals Kageyama might not be your best choice, I'd recommend Fundamental Principles of Go, written by Yilun Yang http://senseis.xmp.net/?FundamentalPrinciplesOfGo. I personally think this is one of the best go books ever.

It may be not the best choice (is there such a thing, as "the best book"? i doubt it), buts a good choice, considering i doesn't have to spend money to aquire Kageyama, which would be the case with the book you suggested. Still, i will have a look at that book if i win a prize at one of the next tournaments i will attend =).

Regarding my study - the slacking continues. I don't know wether its a personal problem i have with tsumego (i don't enjoy them very much), or its just that "1001 Life&Death" is too easy for me, the end result is that i don't do tsumego. I will try some other material.

Anyway i played a game on KGS. Not only did i won and got back to 2k, i was also really satisfied with my play. So things are looking good, i might play another game today, or watch another audio-lesson, still unsure =).

[MagicMagor]

I'm back.

I played several games over the last weeks, but not enough.
At least on the tsumego-front i have good news. I now have "Graded Go Problems for Dan Players - Volume 1" and the problem in that book are more satisfying (and more difficult) than the one in 1001 L&D Problems.

But as i probably can't keep the 30minutes/day up, i wanted in the beginning, i reseigned to a weekly plan. I now try to do 120 minutes of tsumego over the course of one week. In average its about 17 minutes per day. Not much, but hopefully a goal i can achieve.

Last weekend it was tournament time (Cologne), my first real tournament after starting this journal. I played 3-2 as a 2k, though the first round pairings where done based on EGF-rating.
Though i played some crap, i think it was mostly due to a lack of concentration, not a lack of ability. I have played worse the tournaments before.
I'm looking forward to the Kido-cup in Hamburg in three weeks.

[MagicMagor]

I think i'm on a good way.

Last week was a not so successfull week, only played 1 game on KGS and heard one audiogo-lecture (on pincer).
But i think, this week is the first week, where i can fulfill every goal i set for myself =).

Games
Yesterday, and the day before yesterday, i played 2 games each day on KGS and another one today. Though i lost 3 of these and won only two, i was mostly satisfied with my play. I got a bit greedy in some instances and made tactial errors in other, but overall i played fine (i think).
As my weekly goal is at least 3 games on KGS, and 5 in total, i have already achieved this.

Pro games
I just finished replaying a pro game (Agon Cup 2005 - Iyama Yuta vs Cho U), a nice game, where most moves made sense to me.
My weekly goal is at least 1 pro game per week, so also achieved.

Theory
I haven't read any theory books in the last time, but audiogolessons.com is a great alternative. I watched the second pincer-lecture yesterday, though i got around half of the question wrong i gained some more insight on when to pincer and when not.
Also achieved my goal already.

Tsumego
Well, this seems to be my most problematic section. I messed around a bit on gochild today, but i have done no serious tsumego this week. Also i have reduced my weekly goal from 120 minutes to 60 minutes.
But the week isn't over yet and the upcoming tournament (see next section), may be the opportunity i need to do some tsumego.

Bonus
I will attend the European Student Go Championsship 2010 which starts tomorrow. Not only will i play 5 serious and (hopefully) nice games, there is also a pro and a lecture is scheduled for saturday evening.
Beside i can (and have done so often in the past) do some tsumego between the rounds. Maybe i will fill my tsumego-quota for this week =).

Still to do
The last point in my schedule, that isn't fullfilled is one game on another server (other than KGS, which means WBaduk/Cyberoro for me) to experience different styles (though the games on KGS were quite korean-like). Maybe i can put this one in tomorrow morning before i get picked up.
Next week is the first round in the Bundesliga and after that the Kidocup, which means i can probably keep my current motivation for the next week.

Edit:
Typos..

[MagicMagor]

European Student Go Championsship
It was a really nice event. The location was great and i managed to get a pro comment on my first game, another often played sequence corrected =).
Though i played 1-4 i'm satisfied with most of the games i played. As it wasn't a normal tournament i had to play mostly stronger opponents (3 of these 5 games were against 1k, mostly with me taking white). Not an excuse but maybe an explanation for my 1-4 result.

Week35: 13.09 - 19.09
Following the ESGC was a week filled with Go, at least at the end. I played only 2 rated games on KGS during this week. Both against 3k and lost both. It looks i'm still to greedy.

Week35: 16.09 - Bundesliga
On thursday evening the first game of the german league-system for the new season was scheduled. As i'm part of a new team (german team-blog in my signature), we have to start in league5 at the bottom.
So that thursday i played as board1 against a 1d. I fell in the trap of a fuseki which looked similar to Kobayashi Fuseki and played a 1-space kakari.
Following the pincer i was prompted with a weak group. Though i managed to get half of that group alive through a ko, i was behind without a hope of catching up.

Kidocup
Following the bundesliga on thursday, was the Kidocup in Hamburg. Though it was rather stressfull (due to the long 5-hour drive) i'm happy with the tournament and my personal results.
I won my first game against a fellow 2k, with a rather large margin. Following my mistake with a double-hane, which allowed him to gain a lead, he made a mistake with a double-hane himself, which allowed me to live inside his moyo (for the price of 2 rather unimportant stones).
I lost the second game (against a 1k), though i blame my headache for my rather poor play. I'm not saying i would have won without the headache, but the game would probably have been more balanced.
Game 3 and 4 i didn't play, i felt rather ill saturday evening. But my condition was a lot better on sunday, so i played the 5th round and won against another 2k. A game of which i'm rather proud (though i literally throw away a 20-points corner, because i was too greedy - sounds familar, doesn't it? - in the end i was still ahead by 10 points).
So i played 2-1 and mostly gained the rating points back, that i lost during the ESGC. But more important than the rating points is, that i was satisfied with my play, somehow i feel i'm making progress.

Week36: 20.09 - 26.09
Well, my spreadsheet for this week only shows 5 minutes of tsumego on thursday. A pair-go game with my girlfriend and another pair is schedulded for today, but i'm lacking behind. I don't think i can catch up with my plan this week (not enough time left today), but i can do at least something. Another Audio Go Lesson and at least one game on KGS is my plan for today.
Also the time for my bachelor thesis is aproaching, so i'm not sure how much i can do before my free time shrinks.

What's coming up
I will attend a tournament in Bochum in 2 weeks (8th/9th october) which also marks the end of my massive free time. Semester will start after this, and i should start working on my thesis at that point.
I will try to keep up with my plan for these 2 weeks and gauge my success with this tournament.

Games
I rarely post game records here, mostly because i can't decide which games to post. But it's time to change that.
To not bloat this post up, i will post both games inside spoiler tags.

My first game is a game played at the ESGC against a 1k. Though i made a silly mistake in the lower left corner (getting a ko, instead of just living) i don't think that's the game losing mistkae. I lost by a rather large margin, so i would appreciate any hints or comment on what went wrong.

The second game is my bundesliga-game against the 1d. I don't post this game specificly for comments, as i already know that my kakari at the upper left corner was my crucial mistake. Still you are free to comment on anything you want. I'm e3angels1 btw.