Life In 19x19

Yeah, I like that result (which would make GGPfBv4 wrong and Making Good Shape right). But I wondered if it might depend on context (neither book gives wider context).

fwiffo wrote:Yeah, I like that result (which would make GGPfBv4 wrong and Making Good Shape right). But I wondered if it might depend on context (neither book gives wider context).

I don't have Graded Go Problems for Beginners, but the first thing that occurs to me:

Are you certain that the "wrong" one is also starting from a 4-4 stone? There's a 3-4 joseki which starts out identically, but black gets in a bit of trouble if he blocks.

Mystery solved, the correct and incorrect diagrams are swapped in the book.

July 6-14, 2010

My studying has been more erratic lately

The Direction of Play Started Chapter 3
Making Good Shape #19-72 (33/54)
Graded Go Problems for Beginners, Vol. 4 #79-90 (7/12)
Lesson with teacher (Sunday)

I'm doing very poorly on the Making Good Shape problems, which is sad, because it's my second time through them. I don't really know what to do about it. They're not the kind of problems where I'm going to do better by taking more time to read. I'm wondering at this point if I've just gotten to old to learn new things. After getting so frustrated with Making Good Shape, I go on to do other problems, but the frustration carries over so I don't exercise enough patience. The section of GGPfBv4 I'm in right now is really the same kind of problem as in MGS. I really don't understand them very well.

I've finished several more DGS games, the most interesting of which was my first DGS loss, handed to me by Marcus316:

[sgf-full]http://www.dragongoserver.net/sgf.php?gid=581146[/sgf-full]

Thanks for sharing the game, it was interesting. You seemed to play more moves that were fast and light, and Marcus seemed to play several more moves that were slow and steady, 'This will give me 15 points here, and is rock-solid' like R3. I just played through it quickly, but it was fun to watch. =D

Heh, this game was my first experiment with the Micro Chinese (R8) as played by Lee Sedol in the Fujitsu Cup Final 2010. I really enjoyed the way the board played out, and I'm going to have to try incorporating this formation into my repertoire.

This was a very fun game, but it really stretched my reading and estimation skills. Chew, you mentioned my move at R3. That move in particular I wasn't keen about making, but I didn't want to fall behind any more than I already felt I was, so I took gote (for what felt like the 20th time) to secure the corner.

It really felt like I was giving up sente too much in this game, but I couldn't find a good way to keep it a lot of the time. - in particular felt very strong for White, and I couldn't find a good time to attack those 3 floating stones until the very end of the game.

Definitely a lot of fun, though. I'm up for another any time, fwiffo, if you'd like.

Sure, I plan to play a few games on KGS this evening if you'd like to do a real-time game.

Go is hard!

I know!

Nobody knows anything about go and I know less than anyone...

if you know the fact that go is hard then you know alot.

"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Magicwand wrote:if you know the fact that go is hard then you know alot.

"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Yeah, maybe we shouldn't be in such a rush to learn. Heh...

I've tried to explain it to beginners in the past. And they're always like "Well, you're like an expert, how long have you been playing?" All I can do is shake my head "No, no, no... You don't understand." It's really hard!

A couple games from last night. In the first my opponent played super-fast and aggressive, which always goads me into playing too fast, leading to inevitable disaster. In the second, I felt like I was the speed demon, pushing my opponent around all over.

[sgf-full]http://files.gokgs.com/games/2010/7/15/fwiffo-tnylui.sgf[/sgf-full]

[sgf-full]http://files.gokgs.com/games/2010/7/16/fwiffo-katagun.sgf[/sgf-full]

Magicwand wrote:if you know the fact that go is hard then you know alot.

"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Yes. The more I learn, the more I feel that I know very little.

The point of this journal was to hold myself accountable for my study plans, and in that regard, it has failed. I haven't made time for the reading, problems or games that I had included in my plan. Almost as bad, forum members haven't harangued me properly, which was the whole point of making the journal public.