Yeah, we media folks also call them “typographical” quotes. In German we use them like this: „Wort“, so I suspect Thimblefox could be a speaker of German, but they could also be East European since many East European languages also use them this way. In French it is « mot » (note the spaces!); and in German you can also use the Guillemets, but in the other direction and without spaces, like this: »Wort« (this is my favourite for typesetting German).
Took me quit a while until I could type them all on the Mac, including the single ones › ‹ ‚ ‘ ’
In print, there are few things worse than using inch (") and foot (') marks as substitutes for proper quotation marks and apostrophes.
Yeah, in Norway we use «» (without the spaces) or “„ , in Germany they use „“, and then there's "". To be honest I'm not even sure what's correct in English anymore.
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 2:02 am
by EdLee
Thimblefox wrote:To be honest I'm not even sure what's correct in English anymore.
Thanks EdLee, I'm glad I can brush up on my English as well as my Go.
In the spirit of life and death problems I got stuck on Gokibitz for a long while trying to figure out if Black could live in this position. I even posted a probably unhelpful post of my attempt to find a solution. The sun will rise in a few hours, so I need to stop trying to solve it.
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 7:56 am
by Thimblefox
I've had two weeks vacation, and I've barely played Go in the meantime. However, I taught my girlfriend to play the game. I've tried to do some life and death problems though, as well as peeking a bit in “Making Good Shape”. I have been trying out the trial version of SmartGo however, and I can beat it on 9x9 with black, with white I usually lose by 1 to 4 points. But since I have quite a lot to do, it's nice to have an opponent that can play with you when you have time. This is the first game I played after my vacation.
White 150 is stupid of course, I was thinking I might be able to do something about the N3,O4,P5 stones, it was a senseless move.
Another play to consider is an approach against the top right corner. Because is a large knight's approach, White does not have a severe pincer against it. looks at a slide to "a".
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:40 am
by Thimblefox
Ah, I didn't see that. =)
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 2:45 pm
by Thimblefox
My goal for this year is to improve by seven stones. At the moment I've improved in almost every aspect of the game except for reading. I played some chess the last few weeks, and it was a real eye opener as to aspects of Go that I really needed to brush up on. So now the plan is simply to do a lot of life and death problems, and I need to find some good collections.
Spending half an hour solving problems per day should make some kind of difference, and I'm now finally at a place in my life where it's actually possible to spend that much time on problems. Hopefully I won't slip up.
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 9:38 pm
by sparky314
My recommendations:
Graded Go Problems for Beginners, volumes 2 and 3 (4 is aimed at high SDK).
1001 Life and Death Problems
Get Strong at Tesuji
Put them in a cycle, and reread each one 3 times.
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:01 am
by Thimblefox
I have the 1001 book. I'm also considering Graded Go Problems, that really helped me when I played Go a few years back, back then I also felt that just by reading vol. 2 and 3 I was basically prepared to start going at vol. 4 straight away. It's amazing how much I've forgotten over the 3 years I didn't play.
Here's my latest game, it's also up on Gokibitz (here):
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:19 am
by Bill Spight
A few top of the head comments on your latest game.
This approach is fine, maybe best.
Better to extend on the top side, to make a framework ( ).
Better to play the kick at E-17 and then, assuming he stands at F-16, jump to D-14. Make territory while attacking.
Overplay, but that's how you learn.
The slide to S-04 is better.
Don't run. This threatens nothing.
Bats the air.
Excellent! Enlarges the White framework while reducing the Black framework. All is forgiven.
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:29 am
by skydyr
You should read this out, but the group at the top is dead as it stands. Even if black tries to connect under, you can cause liberty problems, and there is not enough space to fit two real eyes in there.
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 12:33 pm
by Thimblefox
skydyr wrote:You should read this out, but the group at the top is dead as it stands. Even if black tries to connect under, you can cause liberty problems, and there is not enough space to fit two real eyes in there.
You mean at the end of the game? Yeah, I meant to say that when I was too unconcentrated to be sure if the group was in fact dead (now I can see it plain and simple*), I should've played F19 instead of A11, because at the very least it makes sure beyond all doubt. On the other hand, I was too unconcentrated at the time to see that A11 was bad.
*) It's the second time I play Go after having had a cup of coffee, the effect on my reading ability is always horrible. It's kind of like the opposite of doping for me. Next time I will go with camomile tea.
Re: Seven stones
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 2:10 pm
by skydyr
Thimblefox wrote:
skydyr wrote:You should read this out, but the group at the top is dead as it stands. Even if black tries to connect under, you can cause liberty problems, and there is not enough space to fit two real eyes in there.
You mean at the end of the game? Yeah, I meant to say that when I was too unconcentrated to be sure if the group was in fact dead (now I can see it plain and simple*), I should've played F19 instead of A11, because at the very least it makes sure beyond all doubt. On the other hand, I was too unconcentrated at the time to see that A11 was bad.
A11 is fine, do you mean A10 (where you commented on it)?
At that point, playing F19 is effectively a pass that loses 1 point, because black's group is already dead. Not playing it is best. F19 isn't even a ko threat for black.
is a large knight's approach, White does not have a severe pincer against it. 
This approach is fine, maybe best. 
Better to extend on the top side, to make a framework ( 
).
Better to play the kick at E-17 and then, assuming he stands at F-16, jump to D-14. Make territory while attacking.
Overplay, but that's how you learn. 
The slide to S-04 is better.
Don't run. This threatens nothing.
Bats the air.
Excellent! Enlarges the White framework while reducing the Black framework. All is forgiven.