As in the title, I make great use of this forum for study but haven't contributed a letter to it. I'm 24, living in the United States and I've been playing for ten years casually and about 2-3 years semi-seriously. If everyone just did what I've done and browsed without ever saying anything the forum would just up and die, and upon realizing this I feel I have to participate.
Although that said, I'm only a 5kyu OGS, and play far less than I study these days. I suspect I may be a small amount stronger than that and my rank hasn't had enough games to adjust, but in any case that's hardly strong enough to offer meaningful insight in most positions. I want to push to Shodan this year and the next, so I'm likely to post plenty of positions for review from my games.
Lurker for several years makes account
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Kirby
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EdLee
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Knotwilg
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Re: Lurker for several years makes account
I hope you won't be offended by the following possibly condescending advice like a previous joiner did - I really mean well.Frowntown wrote: I'm only a 5kyu OGS, and play far less than I study these days. I suspect I may be a small amount stronger than that and my rank hasn't had enough games to adjust
It's not rare for Go enthusiasts to study more than they play and to think their rank is a little behind their true level. This can lead to frustration when the rank doesn't adapt and hence "fear of playing". I think many people on this forum will recognize that, including myself. We subconsciously fear that we will be exposed as "really only x kyu or dan" instead of the rank we have in mind for ourselves.
Actually playing up to your level of understanding is not easy. We need to accept that our rank reflects our effective playing strength and won't go up unless we play more and play well. Playing well requires a few things which you usually don't find in study material: mental toughness, time management and concentration. By contrast casually blitzing and resigning at the first setback, is not going to bring us anywhere.
Let me know if you want to make a step up there. I think I can help. Then again: if you like studying more than playing, there's nothing wrong with that.