Life In 19x19

gowan wrote:Some people seem to feel that a game is boring unless there are big fights going on.

Yep, that's me. I can play cash games, but I far prefer corpse games.

daal wrote: Then I try quick coup but it goes awry because among so many useless moves was one that cuts off a large group of mine and I lose it.

...

On the other hand I do tend to leave exploitable weaknesses behind, so probably my opponents are justified in hoping to turn such games around, but I do know uninspired dull play when I see it. It's not like I haven't been guilty of it myself.

Not playing your games I obviously can't know, so I trust your interpretation, but your description sounds like playing somebody with good fighting skills. They're thinking for a long time, then playing uninspired moves, but the moves happen to combine aji to kill your groups. I expect bad moves from opponents when they play instantly, not when they carefully think them over.

There's a proverb that if a player your rank plays a terrible opening, that has to mean they've got a great middle or end game. Perhaps some of it is assuming a lackluster, quickly played opening means they're weak, instead of assuming that means they're unbalanced and will be much stronger for the remainder of the game?

jts wrote:I think it's pretty hypocritical to play games with super-long controls because you need the full time to play "at your best", and then find it boring when your opponent... actually uses the full time.

I have a different problem. I put up games with 20:00 + 5 x 1:00, and often wind up in byo-yomi. Yet there are too many times where my opponents accept that time control, play blitz, and then complain about me using my time! Unrelated but irritating in another way is that too often, my opponents play extremely rapidly and still beat me badly.

Generally, the games where my opponent is using all of his time as well wind up being the most interesting games.

Polama wrote: There's a proverb that if a player your rank plays a terrible opening, that has to mean they've got a great middle or end game.

I don't know this one. What's the proverb?

wineandgolover wrote:

Polama wrote:There's a proverb that if a player your rank plays a terrible opening, that has to mean they've got a great middle or end game.

I don't know this one. What's the proverb?

Maybe not a proverb, but more like an urban legend.

EdLee wrote:

wineandgolover wrote:

Polama wrote:There's a proverb that if a player your rank plays a terrible opening, that has to mean they've got a great middle or end game.

I don't know this one. What's the proverb?

Maybe not a proverb, but more like an urban legend.

Well, if a player plays a below average opening for a certain level, and an average middle game for that level, and an average endgame for that level, he plays below that level.

Beyond taking a long time to think, boring moves can be an effective strategy in and of themselves, though maybe not an especially positive strategy.

I'm starting to come to the realization that my problem is simply that I don't play my best when I'm ahead. Instead of trying to secure the win, something in my head tells me: "You're dominating. Go ahead and have some fun!" Except "fun" means relaxing and playing around. This is a sure recipe for disaster. I think I learned something: in go, being ahead is a danger signal.

The moves you see as being careless might be just attempts to set up the conditions for a fight. The are a number of players who put all of their time into the decisive battle. They are not worried about subtle differences in direction or the values of moves.

daal wrote:I'm starting to come to the realization that my problem is simply that I don't play my best when I'm ahead. Instead of trying to secure the win, something in my head tells me: "You're dominating. Go ahead and have some fun!" Except "fun" means relaxing and playing around. This is a sure recipe for disaster. I think I learned something: in go, being ahead is a danger signal.

Oh yeah that is a killer, "Lets see what happens when ... !" For me it doesn't even necessarily happen when I am ahead. The question I try to ask myself to overcome that is "Do I know what can happen when.... ?" Having said that you know, if it was fun it was fun, it won't hurt your ranking that much.

I only play over the bored, so I never get board. Ahem.

That does mean I average only about 3 games a week, which is evidently not enough to improve.

Even if the opponent is playing on while obviously way behind (which does not happen as often as I would like),
I still feel tense rather than bored. And if the opponent spends a lot of time thinking about moves early in the game,
I can always look around at other games in progress, or simply concentrate on getting my breathing and pulse
rates down to levels that my cardiologist would approve of.

"Terrified", "anxious" and "relieved"; yes. "Bored"; never. What is this "fun" that people speak of?