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Re: Stuck at 2D

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:54 am
by tapir
gogameguru wrote:I'm not sure where the blitz advice comes from.


Maybe it is good advice for people with a lesser amount of bad habits, who don't have to struggle to get rid of them, but just need to improve by more games, more reading, more experience. I always have the feeling I have to altogether change my game to get stronger. I did this to reach EGF 1d, what I am now, and I feel I have to do this again to improve further. Many players who reached dan ranks are in love with their bad habits and are not willing to unlearn them.

Re: Stuck at 2D

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:02 pm
by Tabemasu
I recommend trying to play on Tygem or Wbaduk. The style is much different than KGS/IGS and it may give you some good experience. The lower dan ranks are weaker than KGS so I would set your rank 1 or 2 stones higher on these servers.

If you really want to get stronger I would recommend looking around for teachers, you can try many different ones until you find a teaching style you enjoy.

Also as a side note, a strong player once told me to get to 5-6d all you really need to do is get very good at tesuji and know a little about the opening.

Good luck!

Re: Stuck at 2D

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:26 am
by Knotwilg
First: progress slows down, in any field for anyone. If you became 2d in 1y, then surely it cannot end here - it's different for someone who has held the same rank for years.

With fast progress the issue may be that you know only one way to progress. Myself I went from 2k to 2d by having a rival with whom I played long games and did intensive self review, eradicating the moves I recognized as problematic. I can't tell you how I moved beyond because I'm stuck there too. :) But I still believe I can make it as far as 4-5 dan if I would start playing and studying again.

What I can add to the many wise words in other posts is what I do when I feel no progress on the guitar, which is what I'm concentrating on the last years. After a period of study to improve technique, I replay old stuff. In the best of cases I have kept track of the tempo at which I could play it flawlessly. Most of the time I'm faster now.

You could review games from your past to "feel" progress.

Re: Stuck at 2D

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:01 am
by Bill Spight
Spezi wrote:Hi,
it took me 1 year to reach EGF 2D (from 30K). I simply read a lot of books (like "Attack and Defense", "In the beginning", "Lessons in the fundamental of Go", "Tesuji", "The Endgame") and played a lot of games. I read a book, learned new things, improved. That was like 3 years ago. Since then I didn't improve at all, still 2D. I can't find any books that make me think "ah, learned something new, cool". Solving tsumego doesn't seem to imrove my game, too. Did a lot of those. Not looking at the solution, solve the next one after I'm sure I have it right. Didn't feel like I improved at all, not even my reading ability. From the book "Tesuji", for example, I improved a lot (maybe the best book I read so far). But reading more advanced tesuji books seem like a waste of time (dictionaries and problem books). Don't feel any improvement. Replaying professional games doesn't seem to help me. And playing games seems pointless, too. I didn't learn any new things I can apply, after all. Playing games feels different from playing them when I was learning new things. It's not like I stopped playing or reading for the last 3 years. I simply didn't improve. I can't find any books that teach me any more things. And I don't think I ever improved by solving problems. When solving problesm I apply what I already know, nothing new. Till I was 2D I never did any tsumego or replay professional games. Only read books and played games. It's not that I didn't play games, read books, solved life and death problems or replayed professional games in the last 3 years since it seemed pointless. Did it all, a lot, since I want to improve. But now I'm thinking of givin up. So I'm clueless on what to do. Any advice or book recommendation?
Thank you :bow:


Book recommendations? High level books in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese.

But it sounds like you have some blind spots. Find a teacher who can identify them and help you overcome them. :)