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Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:26 pm
by SoDesuNe
Elemental Life-and-Death-knowledge comes back, step by step. Now I don't lose games because a group dies, I lose because my opponent gains while chasing it around : D
More over: Won against two 1-dans and lost against two bots (1k and 2k on 2H).
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:05 am
by SoDesuNe
Almost back at my 7-dan goproblems.com-rating : D Not that it is in any way accurate...
Next week starts the regular Go meeting again. Soooo pumped!
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 4:36 am
by SoDesuNe
I went through YCH Tesuji vol. 1 again and I ended with 111/123, therefore just 90% correct. Of course I had a couple of months no practice and the majority of the wrong ones are not reading all the relevant variations (but correct first move), but I been through this book three times already in the past ten months or so. Although my last attempt also "only" yielded 93% correct and there I was solving problems continuously for a month.
Sooo, don't know whether this is a bummer now or was to be expected ^^ I guess I need to check the rest of the first cycle to find the answer : D
On KGS I'm on and off 1-dan right now, though most of my rated games are against bots. I would like to play more free games but no one enters :o
So, here's the new list:
- 1. YCH Tesuji vol. 1
2. YCH L&D vol. 2
3. Get Strong at the Opening
4. YCH Tesuji vol. 3
5. YCH L&D vol. 3
6. YCH Tesuji vol. 5
7. YCH L&D vol. 4
8. 501 Opening Problems
9. Go/Segeo Tesuji Dict. 1
10. 1000 Weiqi Problems
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 6:52 am
by SoDesuNe
Code: Select all
Book 1. Run (correctly solved [%]) 2. Run 3. Run 4. Run (four months later)
YCH Tesuji 1 // 116 / 123 [94%] | 98 / 123 [80%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 111 / 123 [90%]
YCH Tesuji 2 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 107 / 123 [87%] | 118 / 123 [96%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 3 // 97 / 123 [79%] | 97 / 123 [79%] | 107 / 123 [87%] |
YCH Tesuji 4 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out - | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 5 // 75 / 123 [61%] |
YCH Tsumego 1 // 121 / 123 [98%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tsumego 2 // 110 / 123 [89%] | 113 / 123 [92%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 113 / 123 [92%]
YCH Tsumego 3 // 101 / 123 [82%] | 105 / 123 [85%] | 114 / 123 [93%] |
YCH Tsumego 4 // 69 / 123 [56%] | 74 / 123 [60%] | 92 / 123 [75%] |
GS Opening // n/a | 131 / 175 [75%] | 144 / 175 [82%] |
501 Opening // n/a | 340 / 501 [68%] | 372 / 501 [74%] |
A 92% score for YCH Tsumego 2. That seems about right. Next one is Get Strong at the Opening.
So far I can hold my 1-dan rank on KGS (7 game winning streak), although when I play rated it's still mostly against bots.
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:18 am
by SoDesuNe
Surprise, surprise! I even got a higher score in Get Strong at the Opening now than roughly four months ago. One thing I noticed is that I mostly do poorly when the task at hand is to exploit a weakness the opponent left behind. Of course I know my standard patterns but aside from that I frequently choose the wrong invasion points. On the other hand I'm relatively good at spotting the weak group which needs a defense move ^^
YCH Tesuji vol. 3 is next.
Code: Select all
Book 1. Run (correctly solved [%]) 2. Run 3. Run 4. Run (four months later)
YCH Tesuji 1 // 116 / 123 [94%] | 98 / 123 [80%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 111 / 123 [90%]
YCH Tesuji 2 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 107 / 123 [87%] | 118 / 123 [96%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 3 // 97 / 123 [79%] | 97 / 123 [79%] | 107 / 123 [87%] |
YCH Tesuji 4 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out - | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 5 // 75 / 123 [61%] |
YCH Tsumego 1 // 121 / 123 [98%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tsumego 2 // 110 / 123 [89%] | 113 / 123 [92%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 113 / 123 [92%]
YCH Tsumego 3 // 101 / 123 [82%] | 105 / 123 [85%] | 114 / 123 [93%] |
YCH Tsumego 4 // 69 / 123 [56%] | 74 / 123 [60%] | 92 / 123 [75%] |
GS Opening // n/a | 131 / 175 [75%] | 144 / 175 [82%] | 149 / 175 [85%]
501 Opening // n/a | 340 / 501 [68%] | 372 / 501 [74%] |
Furthermore I think I like me a good long coffee break here and there because I solved 851 problems on goproblems.com since 29th August.
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:36 am
by SoDesuNe
I keep thinking about the next step for improvement.
A while ago I began to replay professional games again and now I'm finishing Final Summit (somewhere within the next two weeks). The question is if I'm to follow my "old" plan of going over it like three times and then go back to Shuei (maybe even Dosaku, Doteki, Chitoku or another ten game match from Go Seigen). Essentially this boils down to whether I should replay old masters with outdated Fuseki and Josekis or if should focus on more modern players (I like Chen Yaoye) to get a feel for the "modern inventions".
Since in the end my struggles should yield improvement and not just the awe of experiencing beautiful games, I kind of slightly feel a bit drawn towards modern players. The advice from an amateur reaching 9-dan (starting at 7-dan) on Tygem in his mid-40ies could add to that. tchan re-posted this on his blog and the advice goes: Study only one Fuseki. I already read something similiar from Cho U.
The point is obviously to free time on the Go-board while playing the opening stage as well as off the Go-board while studying. I already play only one Fuseki as Black and as White I almost always play the same, too, so this should not be a great change. Although my Fuseki as Black does not get often played by professionals : D
The advice further includes to only replay professional games with this one Fuseki (actually two, one for Black, one for White). I could of course just stick to my rotating Komoku-Fuseki and therefor replay games of old masters, where this Fuseki was widely used. But then I'll replay games without the use of Komi, so Black might feel too passive and there is of course the thingy with outdated opening theory and Joseki.
(Unimportant tidbit: The reason why I gave up on replaying Shusaku is that I was tired of relaying Taisha almost every game. So boring.)
So, to dig even deeper into the question: What seems to stand at the bottom of things might be the appreciation and usefulness of modern opening theory and Josekis and whether I will have an easier time improving when I'm somewhat more acquainted with both.
My view right now is that I don't lose games (against players around my level) in the opening and when I do it's not due to "theory mistakes" but because I've made a tactical error. The middlegame is far more deciding and even sometimes the endgame (the area where I feel I can improve the most). That would mean, I can replay whichever professional records I like and just continue with Tsumegos and Tesujis : D
Suggestions, recommendations? =)
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:01 am
by RBerenguel
SoDesuNe wrote:tchan re-posted this on his blog and the advice goes: Study only one Fuseki. I already read something similiar from Cho U.
Is there any more enlightenment in that post? I'm not in the chosen circle of readers for Tchan's blog

(I'm missing how easy it was to find what that Japanese book was before!)
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:17 am
by SoDesuNe
You could always ask him ; )
I'll will not give all of it away because tchan went through the trouble of finding and translating the tidbit. In general all of the given pieces of advice focus on "practicability" (or efficiency) to minimize the workload.
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 6:07 am
by RBerenguel
I'll do, I want to read it. I'm also missing all the wonderful pictures of go books!
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:43 am
by SoDesuNe
Code: Select all
Book 1. Run (correctly solved [%]) 2. Run 3. Run 4. Run (four months later)
YCH Tesuji 1 // 116 / 123 [94%] | 98 / 123 [80%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 111 / 123 [90%]
YCH Tesuji 2 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 107 / 123 [87%] | 118 / 123 [96%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 3 // 97 / 123 [79%] | 97 / 123 [79%] | 107 / 123 [87%] | 101 / 123 [82%]
YCH Tesuji 4 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out - | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 5 // 75 / 123 [61%] |
YCH Tsumego 1 // 121 / 123 [98%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tsumego 2 // 110 / 123 [89%] | 113 / 123 [92%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 113 / 123 [92%]
YCH Tsumego 3 // 101 / 123 [82%] | 105 / 123 [85%] | 114 / 123 [93%] |
YCH Tsumego 4 // 69 / 123 [56%] | 74 / 123 [60%] | 92 / 123 [75%] |
GS Opening // n/a | 131 / 175 [75%] | 144 / 175 [82%] | 149 / 175 [85%]
501 Opening // n/a | 340 / 501 [68%] | 372 / 501 [74%] |
The score of YCH Tesuji vol. 3 seems reasonable, too. Again it's not really the not-solving part but the right-first-move-but-sloppy-variation-reading part that breaks my back.
I guess due to knowing some problems quite well, I don't have trouble spotting the right move and I also know that it's the right one. But since I force myself to read at least some variations, I try to get over it as fast as possible and thus make stupid mistakes like not looking for a shortage of liberties.
This of course also tells me something, either I don't know the common shapes of liberty shortage well enough or my visualisation is too narrow so that I forget how the stone configuartion is after I mentally placed some stones. As always I think it's a bit of both. Liberties and the lack of them is one of my Achilles' heels anyway.
YCH L&D vol. 3 is next.
- 1. YCH Tesuji vol. 1
2. YCH L&D vol. 2
3. Get Strong at the Opening
4. YCH Tesuji vol. 3
5. YCH L&D vol. 3
6. YCH Tesuji vol. 5
7. YCH L&D vol. 4
8. 501 Opening Problems
9. Go/Segeo Tesuji Dict. 1
10. 1000 Weiqi Problems
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:21 am
by SoDesuNe
Seven game losing streak. Oh my!
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:41 am
by daal
I recently lost 6 in a row on one account, but I followed it up by winning 11 of my next 15 and ranking up

Good luck!
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:24 am
by SoDesuNe
Thank you!
I had a ten game winning streak before ^^ It will go up again, I'm sure. I guess all the tactical problems right now led to a rising unappreciation of the gloabl context. I'm too focussed on spotting Tesujis and killing/attacking my opponent that I forget about my own groups.
In one game I killed almost one third of the board. Then we went for a mutual destruction of frameworks and I cut his group and saw that he couldn't get two eyes. Well he cut me back and he had like ten more liberties than my group did, killing almost half of the board : D
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 5:18 am
by SoDesuNe
Code: Select all
Book 1. Run (correctly solved [%]) 2. Run 3. Run 4. Run (four months later)
YCH Tesuji 1 // 116 / 123 [94%] | 98 / 123 [80%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 111 / 123 [90%]
YCH Tesuji 2 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 107 / 123 [87%] | 118 / 123 [96%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 3 // 97 / 123 [79%] | 97 / 123 [79%] | 107 / 123 [87%] | 101 / 123 [82%]
YCH Tesuji 4 // 119 / 123 [97%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out - | - dropped out -
YCH Tesuji 5 // 75 / 123 [61%] |
YCH Tsumego 1 // 121 / 123 [98%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 120 / 123 [98%] | - dropped out -
YCH Tsumego 2 // 110 / 123 [89%] | 113 / 123 [92%] | 115 / 123 [93%] | 113 / 123 [92%]
YCH Tsumego 3 // 101 / 123 [82%] | 105 / 123 [85%] | 114 / 123 [93%] | 108 / 123 [88%]
YCH Tsumego 4 // 69 / 123 [56%] | 74 / 123 [60%] | 92 / 123 [75%] |
GS Opening // n/a | 131 / 175 [75%] | 144 / 175 [82%] | 149 / 175 [85%]
501 Opening // n/a | 340 / 501 [68%] | 372 / 501 [74%] |
Still above average score for YCH Tsumego vol. 3. Not much else to tell.
YCH Tesuji vol. 5 is next.
- 1. YCH Tesuji vol. 1
2. YCH L&D vol. 2
3. Get Strong at the Opening
4. YCH Tesuji vol. 3
5. YCH L&D vol. 3
6. YCH Tesuji vol. 5
7. YCH L&D vol. 4
8. 501 Opening Problems
9. Go/Segeo Tesuji Dict. 1
10. 1000 Weiqi Problems
Re: SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan
Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 2:23 pm
by SoDesuNe
A commented game of mine I played recently. In the end I lost due to time constraints but the biggest mistakes were already made.