Life In 19x19

I have played go on and off for about 10 years. I started playing in Japan, a number of years ago, when I was invited by a friend to a go parlor owned by one of his friends. I played my first game on 19x19 against the owner, who was a low kyu player. He actually had other ambitions and inherited the go parlor from his father who was a high dan, but had passed away already. After he explained the rules and gave me a little hint for the first couple of moves, I won the first game I played ever. Two more games, we played, and I won both of those games as well.

It took my little time to get where I am now because I haven't studied much at all. I have always played pretty well instinctually. I also never played regularly. I just played once in a while.

I was about 6 or 5 kyu on KGS at my peak, though, since I started studying, I think I dropped a stone or two. I stopped playing instinctually a lot and started trying to read more. This made me a bit weaker in my games, which I heard is also normal.

So, I would like to get a little better in my game and try to improve and enjoy the game a bit more.

My first primary goal here is just to play more. Second, I want to play relaxed and calm games so that I can practice reading and not rush through my playing. So, here is my plan:

1) Play 3-5 games every week.
2) Focus on playing calmly and slowly regardless of win/loss result.

I don't really have a plan beyond that yet. Once I feel better about this, I will add some more goals and change my plan. I hope writing this will help me stay focused a little. I probably won't post many games for review because I almost always know some things I did wrong in the game. I want to get a bunch of games under my belt before I start asking for reviews. So, I just want to keep myself on task here generally.

Enjoy.

That sounds like me too
I play stress free learning matches on ASR

I think it's great that you're focusing on enjoying the game as well as improving. I hope your journey is rewarding!

nukeu666 wrote:That sounds like me too
I play stress free learning matches on ASR

I used to play ASR games. At the time I was too focused on winning though and I got frustrated quickly because I lost so many games against stronger opponents.

Hello Go_Japan,

nice to read you

Go_Japan wrote:[..] I want to play relaxed and calm games so that I can practice reading and not rush through my playing. [..]

Have you looked at OGS? Have you ever thought of correspondence games?

Due to a stressy life all games I play online are slow correspondence games, which I enjoy a LOT (preferably with Fischer time up to a max. of ~2 weeks which makes for quite relaxed games), and I have the impression that using the analysis function extensively (plus noting variations in the Malkovich log which the opponent can read after the game) improves my reading — also in Real Life games (I’m currently ~10k on OGS, and at age of 59 I’m not learning as fast as I used to do).

There also are lots of site-wide and group tournaments there, live as well as correspondence, without as well as with appropriate handicap.

Greetings, Tom

Bonobo wrote:Hello Go_Japan,

nice to read you

Go_Japan wrote:[..] I want to play relaxed and calm games so that I can practice reading and not rush through my playing. [..]

Have you looked at OGS? Have you ever thought of correspondence games?

Due to a stressy life all games I play online are slow correspondence games, which I enjoy a LOT (preferably with Fischer time up to a max. of ~2 weeks which makes for quite relaxed games), and I have the impression that using the analysis function extensively (plus noting variations in the Malkovich log which the opponent can read after the game) improves my reading — also in Real Life games (I’m currently ~10k on OGS, and at age of 59 I’m not learning as fast as I used to do).

There also are lots of site-wide and group tournaments there, live as well as correspondence, without as well as with appropriate handicap.

Greetings, Tom

I have played correspondence games on DGS a long time ago. I just started 2 OGS correspondence games. One was timed out by the other player, the other is ongoing. I want to get a rank at least so I can join the ladder games. Though, I don't like having too many games open at the same time.

I also have a bit of OGA. That's why I am focusing on just playing games, not caring about the record. I play much worse online than in person, which is why I find mistakes pretty easily on my own after the games are finished.

Go_Japan wrote:

nukeu666 wrote:That sounds like me too
I play stress free learning matches on ASR

I used to play ASR games. At the time I was too focused on winning though and I got frustrated quickly because I lost so many games against stronger opponents.

In my case, I don't mind losing if i know the opponent is stronger, then I just try to play my best
But if the opponent is within one stone of me, I overtry, pull out hair and get angry if I lose due to my own mistakes

As I mentioned, I am trying to enjoy my play more, so that means I vary my servers and style quite a bit. This is a fun game I played on GoQuest 9x9. I generally get pretty stressed out with the time settings on GoQuest and have lost a few games to time settings. This game, my opponent lost by time, but probably would have lost anyway, but just 2 points or so, if my calculations are correct. So, it was a pretty close game.
I really liked this game because of the fun little Ko in the game and the strong fighting style. It was an emotional roller coaster playing it.
I don't play many games every week, once a day at most, even 9x9 because I get drained emotionally playing these games. So, reviews are not asked for, but feel free to comment if you wish.

I am replying to my own post, but I just realized I could have gotten a seki on the left side by playing D1 at move 42 instead of defending against J6.

[/quote]

B could have killed the upper right corner at move 35 (or the next few moves). This is a nice life & death problem. Find the vital point, then prevent W from making two eyes.

In your endgame variation, W can avoid seki several ways, for example move 46 at B3.

mitsun wrote:B could have killed the upper right corner at move 35 (or the next few moves). This is a nice life & death problem. Find the vital point, then prevent W from making two eyes.

In your endgame variation, W can avoid seki several ways, for example move 46 at B3.

Thank you. I actually was thinking about the top right corner even at move 17. It just looked like it wasn't settled yet, but I wasn't sure how to play it and whether I could kill it yet. I see at 35 that it could be killed now. It is so hard to read during these games as they are so fast.
Still, I was pretty happy with this because I tried to play calmly and not respond too strangely to the opponent. Simple connections and keeping my opponent in two groups I thought would help me later even if it isn't directly making territory at the beginning.

Thanks for your comments.

I played a slow game against a stronger player. I felt like I ended up "just living," which really wasn't good enough in several places. Most of the time, when I am white, I feel like I am trying to remove black's territory without making enough of my own. I also made a big blunder toward the end of the game. I make those big blunders sometimes and ruin my games... no fun after that.

I played 4 games in two days! Great for me! I lost two, terribly, and was a bit frustrated. Then, I won two pretty easily and felt a renewed sense of purpose.

I keep telling myself... "play for fun, not for winning" and I think it might actually be working.

I also started to listen to Mozart while I play. It really helps with concentration and relaxation.

Finally, I am trying to figure out how to come to terms with the fact that even a few stones above me, the difference in play is a complete mystery. I am about 5 or 6k on KGS. If I play with someone 2k even game, I lose terribly. It is really amazing to me that there is such a large difference in just a few ranks. Not only that, but this difference could possibly be nearly insurmountable. How do I come to terms that I may never reach a few more stones improvement, let alone shodan?