Life In 19x19

xD I think everybody buddy-lists himself so you can check your played games or rank

Knowing he had to overcome a 65 point advantage, of course he had to try and kill me everywhere. I can't outfight a 7d and I can't out-endgame a 7d. Halfway through the endgame when I was trying really hard, I just realised that I had to out-endgame someone like that. Besides that, I thought my "sente" move to capture some stones would've given me more eye shape and after that I would invade the 3-3; I didn't invade the 3-3 at first because I figured he'd pick the variation that ends with him getting sente. I actually ended up remembering that variation wrongly and realise he couldn't afford to tenuki at the tenukiable point. I was really concerned for that group. But nope, he took the 3-3 spot and, well, I somehow won by 7 points. I think he blunded in the endgame when he let 3 stones get cut to slightly reduce my points.

That game took a lot out of me, so I'm going to sleep now.

*Did Intermediate problems #208-221
*Did Elementary problems #1-50
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #145-198
*Did Get Strong at Invading problems # 43-54
*Watched Shusaku review #15 (vs. Gennan Inseki, Ear Reddening Game)

I should take a break or something and only do a few tsumego a day for a bit.

*Did Intermediate problems #222-229
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #199-216

*Did Elementary problems #51-97
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #217-233

Hopefully in 12 hours I will be playing Go in person for the first time.

Well, I went; about 6 people in total showed up and I got to play 3 games in two hours against the same guy. I won all 3, though mainly because he tried to take a big point before an urgent one and I ended up killing the group. Or, you know, save two stones about to get cut and lose the whole group. I've done that plenty of times before. Or he ignored a leaning attack and decided to jump out again when the leaning attack really threatened to hurt his shape. rip 12 stones.

I also really liked the stones and bowls that were used even if they were slightly old and weathered. The weight of the stones is much nicer than my plastic ones which are fairly light.

*Did Elementary problems #98-123
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #234-264
*Watched Starstorm3 [AGA 5dan/KGS 4dan] - KGS Go Lecture (Baduk/WeiQi) on "3-4 Probes" (#21)

Time to actually get back to work tommorow, probably.

*Did Intermediate problems #230-240
*Did Elementary problems #124-150
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #265-306
*Watched Starstorm3 [AGA 5dan/KGS 4dan] - KGS Go Lecture (Baduk/WeiQi) on "Choosing Fuseki" (#19)

Won a game against an 8k. I've now won 75% of my games since I reached 8k, but there aren't that many games, to be honest. 2-4 more wins should push me to 7k if I can even manage that without losing.

I think I'd like to point out that this book may become useful very soon; I've always tossed it aside as some kind of misc book for when I was very bored. GGG sent it to me for free, so it wasn't like I had any interest in it to begin with.

http://i.imgur.com/lOcsVBd.jpg

That being said, the book is called "Korean style of Baduk" and it's mainly focused on the large avalanche and mini-chinese. What it does is provide various variations and then gives professional game examples for that variation, usually to about 80 moves at most. In short, I have a lot of easily acessible pro games from 30-80 moves that deal with the mini chinese, and explanations on some of the variations. The translator's English is not native, but certainly fairly good. Besides that, the comments are brief and to the point.

I didn't really feel like L&D today.

*Did Intermediate problems #241-242
*Did Elementary problems #151-185
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #307-360



You ever make a really stupid mistake that costs a game and then go on tilt trying to make up that win with even more wins but only find your frustration causing more lost games while you struggle to get back to a 50/50 W/L ratio for the day? Yeah, don't be me. I wonder how long it's going to take to undo all the damage to my go playing ability from blitzing all of the ones after Justin9202. At least I can playing 2-10 second move blitz at an 8k level. That's something, right?



If you look closely, you can even see the frustration wearing off!

Play a game. Play to win. Then study it. Then play again.
Playing to recover from an alleged rank dip is probably the worst reason for playing. You end up with randomness around your current level.

Books can be a source of inspiration but there's only so much inspiration a mind can take at a time. In particular, opening patterns are fun to explore but do almost nothing to the winning percentage of an 8k. If winning percentage is what really gives you the goose bumps, here are a few tips:

- only play when your mind is healthy (no alcohol, sleep deprivation or 10th game in an hour ...)
- think about 3 alternatives almost every move (avoids automatic play)
- don't resign
- play opening and middle game according to basic principles (connect & cut on a large scale)
- reserve your energy for the endgame and try to make a difference there

Source of inspiration: get strong at the endgame, by Bozulich. It will do more to your winning percentage than any openings book.

Good luck!

*Did Intermediate problems #243-245
*Did Elementary problems #186-205
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #361-390
*Watched Shusaku review #29 (vs. Ito Showa, Castle Game #4)

There's also this post:

I know it's hard and we all do it but don't obsess about your 'local' rank progress, especially on one server. It's immature and will just cause you pain. As it gets exponentially harder to progress you'll just get more and more frustrated. Cool things to do instead

* Aim to complete a collection of problems
* Read a book cover to cover
* Beat someone you admire, or win with one less handi stone than before
* Enter a real life tourney
* Play blitz, rengo or some other quirky format
* Get your goban out, make coffee and try to memorize a pro game
* Pick a pro you like the look of and follow / study their career
* Offer a teaching game to a nublet
* Help out at your local club

If you goon over your rank graph on KGS on a constant basis as a measure of progress you will end up hating this game. I speak from experience. Set healthy, interesting and varied milestones like the ones above instead......

Taking a break from those L&D problems, mainly; the tesuji ones are so much more fun.
*Did Intermediate problems #246-249
*Did Elementary problems #206-214
*Did Get Strong at Tesuji problems #391-426
*Watched Shusaku review #30 (vs. Sekiyama Sendaiu)
*Watched Batt's lecture in the Enclave
*Read Lessons chapter 1

Think; don't think - there's no difference in my play.

Note that B5 was sente from on to . If you play it and white doesn't respond to make his group alive, you can force it down into an [sl=LGroup]L-group[/sl]. If your opponent does take gote to make life, then b5 makes your outside a lot stronger.

I think the L-group is one of the most important shapes to know in the entire game. If you're able to recognize when you can force your opponent into it I guarantee you'll start killing corners of other people at your level who don't know the shape. Situations involving the L-group come up all the time.