Life In 19x19

Hello Aidoneus,

I’ve just sent you a “friendship” request on OGS and a suggestion for a correspondence game

Greetings, Tom

<edit>

BTW, really nice things (unrelated to the game itself) can happen in a correspondence game on OGS when both are online at the same time, suddenly realize this and decide to chat and play on live; it’s not just a great place to play and learn Go but also a nice place to meet nice people. Happens to me all the time. Sure there also are a few rude people but they are a tiny minority.

</edit>

If you think that I am criticizing your corner kosumis, I am not. I was just showing you alternatives.

As for attacking while racing to the center, the one space jumps on the right side do that. In addition, the one I recommend at move 10 is also defensive. And it keeps White separated. (Not that White is currently threatening to connect. )

Shape is basically about locally efficient play. Shape Up! is good. Also, local issues are more paramount on the 9x9 and 13x13. You might look at the haengma material on Senseis Library, too. I highly recommend doing so.

A heuristic for basic shape. Count the stones for each player in the local area. For instance, in the 3x3 square around there are 3 Black stones and only 1 White stone. Does Black really need two more stones there than White? Maybe so, but usually not. Similarly with . Black has 2 more stones in the 3x3 window than White. Besides, forms an empty triangle, a well known bad shape. (BTW, the later in the game, the less these disparities matter.)

As for connecting, the plays I talked about were much simpler than nearly all composed problems. See moves 4, 10, 16, and 22. Think about keeping your opponents stones separated.

You have a lot of books. At this point, playing and reviewing your own games is probably the best thing to do.

One thing that might be helpful is to study high handicap games. But most modern books only have a few games at each handicap. A wonderful book is Okigo jizai by Hattori Inshuku, which presents handicap game openings. Some of the plays are old fashioned, but high handicap play has not changed much in the past 200 years. You can find it online at http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/861111 . That’s volume 10, with 9 stone games.

Not being able to read the Japanese text is not so bad. But you do need to be able to read the numbers on the stones.

Here is a game from vol. 10, with a few comments by Hattori and a few by me.



Enjoy!

Aidoneus wrote:I just took a look at OGS. There was only one non-live game on offer.

The secret magic of OGS is the sitewide ladders - 19x19, 13x13 and 9x9. Once you join them, you can challenge any three nearby people above you (within 20 places or something) at once for each ladder. The games are correspondence, move-per-day paced or so, though you can have gaps up to three days between moves if you get busy.

Since I joined I have had at least 9 correspondence games going with people 1-5 stones stronger than me at all times (currently 15, including some friendlies and getting challenged myself). Finding opponents has been very smooth between 30k and 10k and I suspect it would be the same for other people whatever your rank

A couple of more openings from Okigo jizai.

Aidoneus wrote:I'm looking for a stonecutter...
...

Maybe find a copy of The Art of Go Series: Connecting Stones?

Like Bill said, you already have a lot of good books, and most of them are filled with concepts that you are not yet able to apply. Connecting Stones is another one. It's basically a problem book, and most of the problems are too difficult for me. My suggestion is that instead of reading the books, you simply think about their titles before playing your games - direction of play - shape up! - vital points and skillful finesse for sabaki - connecting stones for example, and see what insights you gain on your own.

I'm back home. My last class MW ends 9:15 PM CST.

@ Bonobo (or Tom if you prefer): I saw your post between classes and logged into OGS, but I couldn't see any friend request. Give me time to read the site's instructions!

@Joellercoaster: I saw your game invite and tried to send you some questions. Afterward, I wondered if you posted the invite earlier and weren't actually on at the same time as me.

I'd be happy to play both of you in ranked games with some time settings of 24-48 hours, with extensions as needed, though I would anticipate playing faster at the start of the game. (Come the second week of December I'll have the last tests to write and grade, followed by final exams to write and grade for four classes...and then there are the holidays.) In fact, I think that I could handle 2-4 OGS correspondence games total if anyone else would like to play with me.

Also, I have been wanting to try a Malkovich game for a long time now. So, I'm going to add my name in that thread.

Bill Spight wrote:If you think that I am criticizing your corner kosumis, I am not. I was just showing you alternatives.

Bill, Bill, I want you to criticize my moves! Your moves are so much better!! I was just trying to explain my rational for playing certain moves--even when my moves aren't so good because I miss proper direction or whatever.

Bill Spight wrote:As for attacking while racing to the center, the one space jumps on the right side do that. In addition, the one I recommend at move 10 is also defensive. And it keeps White separated. (Not that White is currently threatening to connect. )

Shape is basically about locally efficient play. Shape Up! is good. Also, local issues are more paramount on the 9x9 and 13x13. You might look at the haengma material on Senseis Library, too. I highly recommend doing so.

A heuristic for basic shape. Count the stones for each player in the local area. For instance, in the 3x3 square around there are 3 Black stones and only 1 White stone. Does Black really need two more stones there than White? Maybe so, but usually not. Similarly with . Black has 2 more stones in the 3x3 window than White. Besides, forms an empty triangle, a well known bad shape. (BTW, the later in the game, the less these disparities matter.)

As for connecting, the plays I talked about were much simpler than nearly all composed problems. See moves 4, 10, 16, and 22. Think about keeping your opponents stones separated.

You have a lot of books. At this point, playing and reviewing your own games is probably the best thing to do.

More great advice! Thank you!!

Want to adopt me? You can claim me on your tax return...

joellercoaster wrote:You could play on OGS? You can set a provisional rank when you join - for the next bunch of games, only your rank is adjusted (not your opponents'), until yours is calculated properly. It seems like a fair way to manage the I-don't-know-my-true-rank question.

I haven't played at OGS, just tried watching a few games when I first joined many months ago. I guess there is no way to change my self-chosen provisional rank of 21-kyu to, say, 10-kyu now? I think that rank would give me fairly competitive even games with players from 12 to 8 kyu. Or not, but if I can't buttress my hubris I deserve a large heaping of
Yeah, machines may have over-inflated my head, just like my dogs think that I am something special--or maybe just their favorite behind-the-ears scratcher!

Aidoneus wrote:I guess there is no way to change my self-chosen provisional rank of 21-kyu to, say, 10-kyu now? I think that rank would give me fairly competitive even games with players from 12 to 8 kyu.

PM one of the admins (there is a list pinned on the forum I think)... this situation comes up from time to time and they can set a provisional rank for you by hand.

just like my dogs think that I am something special

"Lord, help me be the kind of person (my dog thinks I am)"

Bill Spight wrote:One thing that might be helpful is to study high handicap games. But most modern books only have a few games at each handicap. A wonderful book is Okigo jizai by Hattori Inshuku, which presents handicap game openings. Some of the plays are old fashioned, but high handicap play has not changed much in the past 200 years. You can find it online at http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/861111 . That’s volume 10, with 9 stone games.

Not being able to read the Japanese text is not so bad. But you do need to be able to read the numbers on the stones.

Here is a game from vol. 10, with a few comments by Hattori and a few by me.
Enjoy!

After grading tests this morning I found time to go over the three games you uploaded, thank you! There were some very interesting plays! (BTW, I have a secret trove of exclamation marks. Britannica refused to let us use any, so now I've reverted to the wild.) I need to learn, or at least see, more tesujis. I think that I'm going to pick up Five Hundred and One Tesuji Problems to look at while my students are taking tests.

@Bonobo:
Time to drive to Purdue. Back tonight. I think that I figured out how to accept your friend invite. Do you want to set up a ranked game? Or maybe you could first reset my rank to, say, 10-kyu from 21-kyu? (I've never played at OGS, and I set that value about the time I joined L19.)

A couple of more Okigo jizai games.

Enjoy!

Just a short note for others here: Aidoneus and I have meanwhile found each other over there

Bonobo wrote:Just a short note for others here: Aidoneus and I have meanwhile found each other over there

I sent you an invite at OGS for a ranked correspondence game. Feel free to change any of the terms (I left them at the default settings).

Wind gusts to 60 mph and strong lake effect snow coming down this morning here in Northwest Indiana, so I'll probably stay inside all morning or even all day.

A few minutes after my last post, my neighborhood lost power. As a youngster I sometimes watched the Wall Street TV Channel during the summer. The only utility this national program ever mentioned as a recommended buy was NIPSCO (Northern Indiana Public Service Company)--I guess for its dividends rather than infrastructure improvements, as we have one outage per month on average.

Anyway, its too dark and depressing to grade papers so I get in my car, turn on the heater, and discover that my heater fan has gone kablooie (a technical mechanical term), and that my local mechanic can't get to me until tomorrow.

Fortunately, my power had been restored by the time I got back from eating breakfast out, though looking at NIPSCO's outage map (http://www.nipscooutages.com/WSSNisourc ... oaded=true) worries me about losing power again, as we still have very strong wind gusts.

What does any of this have to do with Go, you ask. Nothing except that I'll get back on OGS for Bonobo and joellercoaster and be looking for any moves by Ed, again.