Any choice pieces of advice you think don't get bandied about *quite* enough? Be it run-of-the-mill or brilliant.
Also; kibitz, caveat, critique others' advice.

I'll start with:

1) Take care of the super-moyo your opponent is inevitably building before it becomes a big problem/fight.


2) Only play 4-4 stone enclosures when that approach has become your opponent's best next move.

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Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

As pointed out recently: You don't need to kill everything. Getting ahead (esp if in sente is enough). Attacking too hard will leave you weak.

Bruce "Yeah, right..." Young

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Currently reading: Plutarch, Cerebus, and D&Q 25th Anniversary

I read one of Fairbarn's articles where he explained the "amashi" strategy (which you may have only vaguely heard of) is actually to coax your opponent into over-attacking a weak group, ending up with inefficient, "musclebound" shapes and an inferior result (assuming you succeed ).

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Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

We all learn pretty early on that it (eventually) takes at least 6 stones to make a living group in the corner, 8 on the side, and 10 in the middle...but when you think about it, that means that every time you allow yourself to get cut you're potentially committing yourself to 6-10 more moves just to make life for your new group, that's 6-10 more moves that you aren't building, making points, etc. If you're going to let yourself get cut, make sure it's going to be worth it. Likewise, if you have the opportunity to cut your opponent / connect two of your own groups, the reverse situation applies.

I heard some variation on "It's so hard to kill stones" almost every day in China. It's surprising the places you can live in.

However badly you do it, count the score at every big decision.

Before you resign, count the score.
Before you decide whether to invade or reduce, count the score.
Before you play a purely defensive gote move, count the score.

It matters whether you're behind or not for these decisions. The more you count during your game, the better you get at it, both in speed and accuracy.

Here's one I had pointed out at Congress: "If a move doesn't make points, it might or might not end up doing anything". This seems obvious, and it seems like there are a million exceptions to it. But basically, I had to start asking myself whether moves were likely to become dame for no reason. After that, I started finding more excuses to take moves that got points. That is, after all, how you win.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Did they mean specifically territory, or any kind of point-gaining move? If the latter, this seems kind of like a tautology: in go, points are what matter, so if it doesn't make points, it's not doing anything. If the former, it must be a tautology again, balanced on the "might". Any good move that doesn't change the balance of secure territory is changing the balance of potential territory (loosely speaking), so of course that potential might not become actual.

Don't be afraid to get yourself in atari, even knowing it can get captured. This is Go, not Capture Go.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Black to play.
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . 1 . . . . |
$$ . O . . . . . , O . . |
$$ . . . . . 3 O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 4 . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 5 . 2 . . . |
$$ . , . . 4 7 6 , . . . |
$$ . . . . . 9 8 1 . . . |
$$ . . . . . 0 . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Black to play.
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . 5 6 . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O . . . |
$$ . , . . O X O , . . . |
$$ . . . . 3 X O X 4 . . |
$$ . . . . . O 2 1 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Where did White (Choi Cheolhan) play?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O O X X . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O X O . X . . X O . |
$$ | . . O O . . . O O X X O . . . X . O . |
$$ | . . . . O O O X X X O O O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . X X . . . X . . O . O O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . 2 . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Yes, it may seem obvious/tautological. However, I found myself spending a lot of moves in what became dame later. For example, I would split living groups, or play a lot of moves building a wall that was more or less invalidated before I started building it. That sort of thing. So I was basically telling myself 'If this doesn't actually make territory, consider twice whether or not you have a plan for what it WILL do'.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

I guess... but then, it can be okay if your stones, even an entire wall, ends up as dame, or even as part of an opponent's territory. It depends on what you got in return. "OMG I need to make territory here" ends up in a distinctly low class of game. Bill Spight did a great post on how to use walls, with this lesson.

Oh, sure. There's definitely a time and place. I was just in a phase of... forgetting the goal of the whole game, and wondering why I lost.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

If possible, when you make a defensive move make one that does more than just defend.

This is part of the general advice to make multipurpose moves, but so often I see players, when they need to play a defensive move (e.g. to protect a gorup under attack) make a move that has no other effect than defending. For example if you need to protect a group play a move that protects but also does something else like leave a big endgame move for later.

The best defense is a good offense. The hand which strikes also blocks.

but the one I always had/have trouble with: close fist before striking

I speculate it may help to relate those attack and defence proverbs to weak groups.



If your opponent attacks your weak group and has a (related) weak group himself, attacking his weak group may be/is often a better idea than trying to run or live directly with your group. Some possible scenarios:

You answer his attack directly. The strength he gains hounding your weak group helps his weak group.

You attack his weak group in answer. He follows up against your weak group. You follow up against his weak group.

You attack his weak group in answer, he defends his weak group. You use this to help your group.


And very relatedly-



Don't start an attack when you have left a weakness that compromises it.

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Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

My favorite:

Don't go fishing when your house is on fire!

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

I'm not sure if it's good advice or not, but this has been my motto these days. Too often, I've gotten caught up in the message boards, asking, "What's the optimal way to do X?", "In situation X, how should I respond?", etc. (for various values of X).

Theory and proverbs are great, but when it comes down to it, you need experience to win games. So these days, I really try to, "Just do it". I've been playing games almost every day with zero time, 30 seconds per move.

With time that fast, yes I make mistakes. Yes, I lose now and then. But I personally feel that it has been helping me not to dwell on the details of a loss, and just move on to the next game.

I don't know if it's the best advice, and I may be "re-enforcing bad habits"... But these days, I am trying to "Just do it".

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be immersed

Personally, I don't see Chew's advice as saying that you can't use walls. I see the benefit in the advice in the fact that it makes you think about the moves you are playing. Play a move for a reason.

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be immersed

I guess I could accept the advice at the most general level as, "make meaningful moves" or "Have a plan". But I don't think this has anything to do with knowing exactly where your points are going to be. After all, moves that make points can be meaningless too. (As in "that capture looks big, but it's meaningless.")

There's a passage in Kageyama's fundamentals that goes "If you can't see that white has got the better of black in this diagram, lay it out on your bedside table and chant 'White's thickness is superior!' when you get up in the morning." I guess if it's helpful to you and Chew, then it's helpful. But I think a lot players (including me) just need to have faith that a thick position with overwhelming influence really is going to give them the territory they need. They just need to bide their time. Opponent invades at 3-3? Just wait. Opponent plays sente yose in the middle game? Just wait. Refuses to finish a joseki but still manages to live? Just wait. It's like a magnetic force permeating the board, tilting everything in your favor. You don't really need a reason to have a wall (so long as it's not overconcentrated or whatever). If you lose your nerve and say "zomg I need points now", all that influence and thickness is for naught.