Crest in Abilities

I think I've finally reached the apex of my knowledge and abilities. Given my study, I quickly went from 30k to 15k on KGS. I think I've topped out on my meteoric rise. Every game I play now is either close or a loss. Fortunately, I got two books on Go for my birthday so maybe my improvement will begin again. I will review these books in due time.

For now, I have to obsess over other issues for my moot court class. I have until Wednesday to organize research and write my brief.

Ko Fighting

Since Ko was the word of the day in my last game, here is a lesson on Ko fighting from our favorite, tripod challenged sensei, Goplaygo.

Game File Review

I found that someone posted one of my games for review on the go teaching ladder. The game was reviewed from his point of view but I thought it was interesting to see. The reviewer was not impressed with this game. Truth is, neither was I in retrospect. You can download it in .sgf here.

If you want to see my original review I did of the game, the post is here.

It inspired me to send one of my games to the teaching ladder. This might be the best game of Go I have played. It isn't perfect but right now, this is as good as I get. I'm posting my questions and comments on the game along with the game file for the curious.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bzb40wrjyll

Move 8, should I have instead moved somewhere worth more points like claiming a star point on the side or fanning out the corner at R 14 like I did on his first approach?

Move 28, I don’t know what I was thinking, it just felt instinctive to attack while I had him pinned elsewhere, given a second chance, I would have played C 10 or R 10

Move 40, I should have let this battle go shouldn’t I? I wanted to go ahead and finish off and expand this corner but I think instead I should have played a bigger point

Move 66, yes I know I should have just gone to S 19, captured, and put the group on Atari; for some reason this move was just dumb enough to startle me

Move 76, I think I must have gotten bored or something, I should have pushed outward on the right side of the board towards the middle with that group

Move 94, Instead of capturing, should I have run with this group until I ran out of room and destroyed some of his territory, I allowed him to wall off quite a bit of territory by capturing

Move 106, I should have kept moving out towards the center here, it is obvious he didn’t intend to cut with his response to my last move, I could have made a bigger territory but allowed him to cut me off with this backtracking

Moves 112 & 114 I make these knights moves quite a bit when I am trying to wall off territory, is this the most effective way?

Move 130 starts the most tense ko battle I’ve ever been in, I would like your comments generally on this, by move 138 he knows I intend to capture not survive; move 174, should I have gone elsewhere? I felt the need to answer his threat at R 2 and had nowhere else I could think to go; move 178 I capture and end it, did I do right to end it or should I have answered the threat in my corner? I think I did right but sometimes I capture stones that are already dead so I want to double check…

Move 182, I should have connected at R 3 shouldn’t I? How would you have minimized this damage? I lost virtually everything here; was winning the big ko battle even worth losing this corner?

I missed a capture at E 14 that would have gained an extra point;

Lesson on Seki

Here is the newest lesson from GoPlayGo on youtube. It deals with the concept of seki. Seki is the situation where two groups of stones have each other mutually surrounded so that neither group can capture the other.



His go problem is interesting but easily solved today. More to come later. I'm a little overwhelmed with school right now.

Go Lesson 4

Here is part two of Go lesson four from GoPlayGo. I think this is one of his better lessons and go problems. It deals with some issues I've had in my own game lately.

Brawling

So I've played the same game like the last 12 games. Every time I try to get out they keep dragging me back in. I really prefer to play a simple negotiating game. I want to outline territory, place stones, play hane, fill out borders, and call it a day. I'm not a capture oriented kind of guy. I also am tired of people trying to hem me in by allowing me to claim corner territory. They get greedy and want to wall in the entire center. Here's how it goes down. I gain solid territory in the corners and sides. They try to minimize damage, no they try to beat me, by walling off access to the center. There's always a flaw. I push, they bend. Eventually there's an opening. I make a gambit. They chase me for a while and suddenly realize too late that they are being chased. I capture a group of seven or so and have access to the entire center. Even if I don't capture a large group they never capture the group before I've made two eyes and destroyed large amounts of potential territory for everybody. I win by somewhere between 20 and 100 stones. Seriously why do people around this ability level want to brawl? Why are they greedy? Anyway I'm on a hot streak. I've won like 9 of 11 since I went up to 17 kyu. I know I shouldn't complain about winning but it just seems so formulaic.

Access Random Go Games

I just found this section on 361 points. They have a page that allows you to see a random game between two go professionals. These games are in applet viewer format so for those of you without an .sgf editor, you can still see the go games. You can observe them at your own speed.

This website, 361 points, is an amazing Go resource. You can buy Go boards, stones, study games, and find commented games. It is a must visit for anyone who wants to learn more about Go.

Obsession?

You know it struck me the other day that I might be too interested in this game. I was in my Alternate Dispute Resolution class learning about negotiation at the time. Suddenly it occured to me: Go is the ultimate game of negotiation. You begin the game by staking out initial positions. Some of these are challenged but if you do a good enough job in fuseki, these positions you initially claim remain throughout the negotiation. Later you get into unclaimed territory. It is desirable to both sides. Each watches the other claim some piece of the territory. The decision is made whether to challenge or allow them to take it. There is turn taking between the sides and at the end, both get what they negotiated for. One side gets a better deal than another but everyone comes out with something.

It was then that I remembered I should be taking notes... ;)

Go Lesson 4

Another Go lesson to improve your game from GoPlayGo on youtube. It's hot off the presses and is only three hours old at time of posting! He goes through the Chinese Opening for black, some possible responses by white and counters. This is part one of the video, part two will come later.

Main point: if black has sente, play in areas that claim a lot of new territory.

Law School

I have had very little time to play over the last week but when I have played, I've won. I'm three for my last four ranked games. I lost one strange monkey poop fight of a game to an unranked player but it wasn't ranked. I wouldn't even like to start reviewing that one.

I am up to 18k. I think after my win over a 13k in a handicap match I might be inching toward 17 kyu. Progress is coming less quickly but still I improve.

Real Life

Law school threatens to place my Go game in atari... We'll see how much I can squeeze in on the weekends. I will try to continue posting fairly regularly.

Hikaru no Go

Go was a game that lost popularity through most of the 20th century. It was an old man's game. Then came Hikaru no Go. Hikaru no Go is a group of manga comics about a young boy (Hikaru Shindo) who discovers a haunted Go board in his grandfather's attic. The board is inhabited by the ghost of an ancient go master.

The manga was turned into an anime series. The games in the Hikaru no Go series were supervised for authenticity by our old friend Yukari Umezawa. You can find episodes on toonami jetstream. It is designed for a younger set but it is done well.

Third Lesson

Lesson Number Three from GoPlayGo on youtube. He covers the correct way to respond when a lower ranked player attacks you right away rather than claim territory. He also looks at the proper way to approach and attack a stone. He then covers the Chinese Opening of a Go game.



I hope he posts more videos because he always includes a useful Go problem. I do love free Go problems for beginners...

Lesson Two

Here is another lesson from youtuber GoPlayGo on how to invade a corner. Instead of a 4-4 fuseki, he assumes this time that your opponent plays a 3-4 technique in the corner. The approach is very similar.



What is fascinating is the concept of joseki. Go is a zero sum game. I claim territory to the his detriment or vice versa. In joseki battles, I think I've been getting greedy. I move in behind the stone and try to claim it all. I should use more knight's approaches like these he uses and try to carve out corners that are good for both but better for me. Perhaps find a Nash Equilibrium in the corner. No wonder he liked this game...

Corner Invasion

This is a video about how to invade a corner in a Go game. One of the most common fuseki plays is on a "star point" at the 4-4 point on the grid. This is vulnerable to attack in joseki battles. This video explains how to attack the corner using a knight's move approach. I've been trying to sneak in behind at a 3-3 point. I've been taking the point but allowing my opponent to build up terrible thickness and eventually territory in the middle. This way is probably better.



I think I'll post more of his videos. His concepts are good. His organization and camera skills could be improved but all in all this is a very valuable video.

Go Tutorial

This is part I of a Go tutorial on youtube. It goes over the history of the game, the equipment, liberties, spaces that cannot be played, life and death, eyes, scoring a game, and the skills needed to play a game. It is less geared towards kids than the Yukari Umezawa Yoshihara Go Go Igo series of lessons I posted last month.



Notice the handy label function. All Go lessons are labeled as such (How to Play Go) and can be easily accessed.

Go Problems

I've been going to a website called Go Problems. This is an incredibly useful website. They give you problems created by visitors to the website and several timed trials. This is an awesome site to help your thinking about the game.