An Appreciation of Go (Marcus' Study Journal)

daniel_the_smith · Post by **daniel_the_smith** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:08 pm

white didn't play here?

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:38 am

As promised, I cleaned up the review notes from the game with Tabemasu.

I've also made a few comments, but I've left only variations that were made by Tabemasu.

I have been told (and I agree) that I was not very aggressive in this game. It felt like I couldn't find any decent openings and the game just slowly crept out of reach.

I've actually played another even game against another high dan today, this time for the League portion of the Trollnament VI. My opponent was yamashitaK. I'm going to post the game for review in the Game Analysis forum, but I wanted to mention three parts of the game specifically in my journal here. The first is the joseki in the lower right, which I thought was really interesting, though I've never seen it before this game. Here's the beginning, up until I made a move outside joseki.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bc $$ , . . . . . , . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . X . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . 1 . O . . . | $$ , . . O 3 2 , 0 . . | $$ . . . 9 5 4 X a . . | $$ . . . . 6 8 7 . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . | $$ --------------------+[/go]

This is how we proceeded in the game.

is supposed to be at 'a' in the actual joseki. It seems like an interesting, though obscure, joseki. I need to look into it more.

Second part I wanted to bring up is the point where the game felt like it was starting to slip away from me. I didn't want to play as quietly as I had against Tabemasu, and it felt like there were more opportunities in this game to make trouble. So, I dove in, and promptly got lost.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bcm27 Move 29 ... White's invasion is getting into trouble. $$ +---------------------------------------+ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . . | $$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . O X O O O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Honestly, I have no clue how I should respond to

... yet another area to study.

Finally, near the end of the game, an interesting Tsumego popped up. Black to live (ignore the fact that one of my groups of stones on the outside won't live if it came down to a capturing race ... assume the outside stones are all alive):

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Wcm96 $$ | . . . O . . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ | . O . . . . . $$ | X X O O O . X $$ | . . X X O . X $$ | 1 . X O X . X $$ | . . X O . X . $$ | . X O O . . . $$ | . . . . . . . $$ +---------------[/go]

Solution (as played in game; I cannot say if there is a better one):

Now, I need to find time for more Trollnament games ...

Excalibor · Post by **Excalibor** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:14 am

Marcus wrote:Let's talk about a recent game of mine.

I played a game for the ASR League recently, which drove home joseki choice rather heavily. I've been playing with a particular joseki for a little while now because I like it, and many people don't seem to know the continuations very well. My opponent in this game did know the proper continuation, and the joseki turned out to leave me in an awkward position...

There's a recent blog entry by a spanish Go player who has spent a month in Seoul (with two other of the highest spanish dan players) about this joseki, which he calls the 'Spanish nightmare' cause he always ask about it to every professional he meets, and they all (most are Koreans) end up asking to Mok Jinseok 9p, who explained it to him...

http://www.badukaires.com/2010/07/24/el ... nightmare/

It's in spanish, but easy to follow or you can use translate.google.com... Maybe you already know this, otherwise you might find it interesting...

best regards

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 10:04 pm

Well, I guess I should update this, since I've begun to play more frequently again.

I've just made it to 3k on KGS after going 4-0 tonight in ranked games. Not that I feel I'm any stronger. We'll see if I can keep this rank, or if I'll bounce back down again shortly.

I have my work cut out for me for the next few stones to gain. My yose is terribly weak, and I still play instinctive moves without reading.

On the plus side, my counting is getting better. I hope that counting will help me to slow down and read more often as well.

Somehow, in the transition from 5k to 4k, I seem to have lost all my sense of fuseki, joseki, reading/fighting, and what little yose I knew. Perhaps it's just that my opponents now know more than I do.

Now that I'm 3k (at least for now), I'm going to assume that I'll have even more trouble keeping up with my opponents.

The new "study" plan:

1) Count more
2) Pay attention to sente
3) Read more

That's about all I have time for.

I'd post a recent game, but I'd prefer to go through them myself first to better have an idea of the questions I have concerning my play.

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:24 am

Back to 4k. Seems like I'll always hit a new rank 3 times. That was #2 ...

I've posted a recent loss in the Game Analysis forum here.

It's not all losses, though. I had a good even game against a 2k in the ASR League. I think I did well. Here's that game:

I have decided to push for as much strength as I can gain by the end of the year. If I reach KGS 1d, that would be awesome (but it's highly unlikely). I'll settle for feeling like I've gained strength over the past year. It's definitely been a fun year for my Go.

Shaddy · Post by **Shaddy** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:53 pm

comments!

Website · Post by **Chew Terr** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:55 pm

Shaddy doesn't need SGF output, he sees the matrix directly. =)

Shaddy · Post by **Shaddy** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:11 pm

whoops, haha. fixed.

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:24 pm

Thanks for the comments, Shaddy! I do seem to take gote (and tiny moves) a little too often. Gonna have to work on fixing that.

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:08 pm

So, I've been an active go player in the ASR League this past month, squeaking into the Beta level. My Beta class, Beta II, is incredibly active. Also, in Beta, instead of being at or near top strength (like in Gamma), I'm closer to the middle. I'm getting to play a number of good games with strong players.

As for getting stronger, I think I'm doing well in that department. I'm more or less a solid 3k now on KGS, and I have set a goal for November: 1k by the end of November.

How will I do this? Well, I'm going to play a lot. I'm going to review my games ... but most of all, I'm going to have fun!

I'll post some interesting tidbits from some of my games a bit later ...

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 8:57 pm

I'm back! At least, somewhat.

What happened? Well, internet in general was taking over my life. So, I cut all extraneous internet use in my life out for a month. Now, I'm phasing some stuff back in ... but I won't be nearly as active as I was. So, my improvement will be even slower.

That doesn't mean I can't have some fun! Look at this recent game. I admit, I won because my opponent made a mistake and seemed to tilt. Also, there's nothing really impressive to highlight. However, I played "Big Moyo" as my game strategy ... and it didn't go too badly. Playing a style so much different from what I usually play seems to have helped me slow down and really LOOK at the board in this game. Plus, thinking about the game from a new angle can be fun, too! Take a quick glance through, if you have a bit of time:

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:53 pm

I have reached 2k on KGS!

Not that my play is very consistent. Sometimes I feel like my play has gotten much stronger ... other times I feel like I'm still so weak ... sometimes I feel both in the same game!

This most recent game is a good example. My opening feels like I don't have any plan. Some highlights of things that seem wrong in my own play:

a) I abandon my lower left attacking stone at

(not in and of itself an issue) then go back and try to extract it at

, after White has added a third move in the lower left.

b) I jump into a cramped space with

, abandoning yet another single stone.

c) What kind of aji keshi move is

????

d) Move 115 ... no words to describe how I feel about that one.

Still, a win is a win. This is just another game for me to review, looking for improvements.

Shaddy · Post by **Shaddy** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:53 am

A review:

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:07 am

Thank you for the review, Shaddy! It's much appreciated.

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 7:43 pm

I think I'll resurrect this journal ... I'm finally taking a bit more time to play, and I might take some time to study some more.

To update those who might be interested (maybe there are one or two floating around the borads ...):

My time has always been limited. I don't have the time to devote for study like so many others who have reached my level. Nor do I have much in the way of monetary resources to spend on Tsumego books or Lessons. I have no Go club (though I know of a couple I might be able visit if I weren't working all the time).

This was all true the last time I updated this. Couple new things: I have a second child on the way, which has meant some more planning, and less time (child was at least a planned event, so it's not like this is a surprise). Also, work has been extra crappy this past year, so I'm squeezed in that direction as well.

So, Go ... my attitude has shifted a bit ... I'm enjoying the games I play more, but my play has devolved significantly from my peak performance ... I am now 4k on KGS, which is my typical measuring bar for rank (I play zero in-person games; no time to do so). I also play a lot of games on DGS (5/6k on there).

Got a bit of time back into my schedule recently, so I'm going to try this whole studying things again. I'm a poor student, though. I don't stick to regimens and tend to fall back on just playing for fun.

I'll never be truly strong! But that doesn't mean I won't continue to learn. Go is fun!

What's on the menu this time? I haven't decided yet. I'll post again soon! (I hope ...)

Life In 19x19

An Appreciation of Go (Marcus' Study Journal)

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