Life In 19x19

Yes, Cho Chikun's style is more aggressive than Yi Ch'ang-Ho, but in 1996 Yi was still playing his famous "give my opponent what he wants and then win anyway" style, so he was comparatively passive next to most players.

I hope your first teaching session is good, let us know how it goes.

My lack of desire to play or study go is starting to bother me. I just don't feel like it. I know our passions wax and wane, but that isn't very good when you want to improve in something.

Past weekend I went to my first teaching session. It wasn't much teaching as it was just playing a stronger player which was enjoyable. I got to play two games against a 6dan. My recent lack of playing to definitely showed itself as I misread some silly things. I really need my fervor to return so I can make the most out of this opportunity.

Another week of studying has gone by. I played a 2 dan at two stones this past weekend. I won one and lost one. This weekend I will again be playing on real boards. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to play once a week with people on a wooden board.

My motivation for study is coming back. 501 Tesuji problems is a really tough book. While I get the general concepts in most of the problems some of the answers I wouldn't think of. I think anyone who can look at all the questions and solve them easily would be at least a 2-3 dan player.

Cho Chikun continues to be an interesting study.

I have been a very bad go student recently. I have not been studying very much at all. Other games have taken my focus. Games that I know aren't nearly as beneficial or rewarding as go in the long run but are just more stimulating and interactive. Hopefully this is just a passing phase and I can refocus on go. I just don't feel like putting the effort in right now nor make the time. I even missed an opportunity to play on a real board this past weekend.

While I feel good, I need to get back on track with go soon.

I have been slowly but surely been getting back into go. It is finals week right now and so after I finish most of my testing I can switch my focus to go. I am going to freshen things up: I will be studying a new pro Takagawa Shusaku, read a new book Go Strategy in the Mastering the Basics series and do some new problems on my phone.

I feel that Mastering the Basics Tesuji is slightly too advanced for me right now. While I can get quite a few right there are also several that I really have no idea with out taking a long time to read everything out. I hope to come back to this book later and reassess my situation.

I have some interesting new ideas to discuss in my study journal that I hope you will like, which will be written in the next couple of weeks. With spring break I am not sure how my studying will be organized. I could say review one game a day play multiple games, read, ect. but I am not sure if I want to spend that much time studying go this break. Go will most definitely be given more attention than I have been giving it recently.

I will still be able to play on a live board on Sundays for the next couple of weeks so I will be sure to take advantage of that.

I hope all of you are well and studying hard!

Slowly getting back into go again. Started studying Takagawa Shukaku 1954 games. Always nice to see his no nonsense go. I have been doing a lot of tsumego on my phone using weiqidb. I also went to the garden last weekend to play too.

The Basics of Go Strategy has arrived but I haven't found it very engaging so far. So I just need to crunch down and read it.

I have also started watching dwyrin's videos. They are good so far.

I will be posting about an interesting topic this upcoming week.

Today I will rant a little:

Go's place in society has dropped considerably. Once considered one of the four noble arts of the scholar in East Asia, go has been swept under the carpet into dark game rooms. It has become a game, especially in the West, reserved for eccentrics. I find this quite disturbing.

With the invention of the unlimited number of video games and TV shows that now absorb people with their addictive qualities go has been forgotten. Despite go's unrivaled depth and beauty it can not compared to the much more base thrills of computerized entertainment. I too find myself choosing other forms of entertainment rather than studying go but I do know that go would be a better choice. Those flashing pixels are just so much more interactive.

The skill of go needs to become valued again. While many young children learn go in Asia but it is limited to children for the most part. I remember when trying to purchase a set in China that one of the employees said that it is a game for children. Go should be the game of intellectuals and high society as it use to be.

Go is not just a game but an art. No other board game can capture the complex subtleties of the mind as well as go.

Getting back on the horse:

The past couple of weeks have been difficult dealing with a long term addiction to gaming. Something about certain games just suck the life out of me and obsess my thoughts affecting my education, athletics, and life in general. I am going to try to put it down for good this time, I need to focus on what is important to me and forget these little distractions. What I like about go is that I do have a passion for the art but at the same time it doesn't have that same consuming quality. For other games I couldn't control myself and that is all I wanted to do and that is obviously unhealthy.

So now is the time to get back on the go horse. I only have a couple of games left of 1954 Takagawa Shukaku left and then I will start studying the games of Honinbo Shuei.

Despite being quiet I have been studying go almost daily now. I have decided to take a more non-competitive route with the game then before. Enjoying the art for what it is rather than trying to get to some rank.

I have been studying the games of Honinbo Shuei. They are pretty amazing. The flow and simplicity of his play is quite beautiful. Despite some rather primitive fuseki the games are entertaining. I can see why many pros admired him so much and even went on to saying that they would be no match for him.

I am focusing on entrenching some joseki into my head. I am going to learn all of the joseki in the 38 basic joseki book. I find it frustrating running into a situation where there is a joseki and not knowing it. I realize that joseki must not be used blindly but must take the whole board into account. I hope to gain a foundation of understanding through this study. Although some of the variations in the 38 basic joseki book are outdated they will provide me with a familiarity of the position. If I run into a new variation I can just learn it. I have divided the book into 5 sections and will complete a section every 7 days. I have just finished the 3-4 approach section.

I continue to do l&d problems on my phone but don't have a formal regiment going.

The club my teacher runs is in the process of moving. Hopefully I will be able to attend its meetings. At this stage I am not sure if I will be playing online any time soon.

So you all might be wondering what I have been doing with my life these past three months. There definitely has been some go playing and studying but not as much as I would like. I have started using crazy stone to play more games and have found it helpful not only to practice playing but also studying things such as fuseki and joseki.

I have a tournament in October that I would like to compete in so I hope to be studying much more seriously soon. If I am going to be studying more I will probably posting here more too so keep a look out