» Still alive
7 years and 11 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
» ALMOST Daily Tsumego
10 years and 10 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Well, the daily tsumego settled into a 'few times a week' frequency. But it's better than No Tsumego, so I'll take it. I have been playing some games in the ASR League so I am not doing badly go-wise, I just wish there were more time in the day. Will follow up on that trick move soon, today I have to bake banana bread and such because fruit flies are taking over the kitchen. Priorities , right?
» Tsuke Nobi Trick Play
10 years and 10 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Today I encountered a trick play I hadn't seen before. It is in the tsuke nobi joseki off hoshi. You know, the one which is to be avoided by black unless black is a high dan. It makes white strong and has many complicated variations. So the new move I noticed is 3, which is a trick play. Interesting. What do you think is the correct response for black?
» Getting Back in the Groove
10 years and 10 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
So it's summer vacation (no 7am school bus, YAY!) and even although it will be harder to play with all the kids commitments, I should be able to get at least a decent amount of go problems studying in. I have to admit that go problems had been one of those balls I had dropped and I could feel it in my games. "What atari three moves from now?" "How do you mean dead?" So I decided that I should do a bunch of go problems every day. No excuses. I started yesterday and h...
» Intermezzo: Lucky Ladder
11 years and 9 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Will post the other two Boston games soon, but wanted to share my lucky game of the day. It started 'boring' although I don't see that one space high pincer much. I am black. I expected him to jump from his hoshi stone, but he tenuki'ed. Since he didn't play at A, I decided to play there and see what happened. I expected his next move. But then he surprised me again, and I made many mistakes answering his moves. Anyway, the game went on, and eve...
» Four Handi but STILL Lost!
11 years and 9 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Sigh, four handicap stones and I STILL lost... Here is the game with review by sendol. Here is my first mistake. White played A, and I played a simple one point jump instead of being more aggressive. This would have been a much better way to play. Not only do I make white painful, but I made a base for black. Go is so easy in hindsight!!!
» Boston Game 1
11 years and 9 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Here is game 1, reviewed by my teacher sendol . First interesting move was when he atari-ed on the inside instead of on the outside during this joseki. I had seen it before, but it doesn't seem as common as the outside one. Luckily I remembered not to just connect, but to atari right back at him first. At the end I made a mistake when I didn't play A first and then B, but instead played B directly and omitted A. Oh well, next time I'll remember!
» MGA Tourney!
11 years and 9 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
On Sunday I actually went to a real life go tourney again! Happiness is mine. I won two and I lost two, so that is perfect, right? Game 1: against 1d, he tried to kill, but stumbled over his own sword, and suddenly I was alive and his killing stones were dead. Game 2: against a 5d, with 4 handi stones. I lost one corner (oops, will have to review that joseki!) but things didn't go too badly till I decided to take points instead of fixing a cut. Yeah, she cut and and...
» July Madness
11 years and 10 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
I might not have been posting, but I have been busy playing. I really want to get back to ASR alpha and on the last day of June I was still stuck in gamma and not even ready to promote. But I played and managed to promote to beta. (ASR has four layers, with alpha being the highest and delta the lowest) Since July 1st was a Sunday I actually could play quite a lot so I got as many ASR games in as I could. It is my experience that it is easier to get games early and l...
» Messy Opening
11 years and 10 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Two games today, not perfect, but not bad either. It is at least a start to get back into playing. The second game had an interesting, but messy opening. I was white in this game. Move 1 to 4 were unremarkable, but black 5 was unexpected. If he wanted to split up the left, I would have expected a third line move. I decided that taking away his base from the direction of my komoku was best answer. I played white 6. Again he surprised me and played black 7. Hmm...
» Back!
11 years and 10 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Yes, I know I have said that before... But this time I mean it! My house finally is not on the market anymore, my divorce is OVER!, and my handicap stones kids are growing up and fighting less and less every day. Well, kind of. Yes, I am an optimist. I am still playing in ASR, although after a few months in alpha, I let life push me down to gamma. Which is fine, because it's fun to fight my way back up again. Stay tunes for exciting games and interesting board...
» To Tenuki or Not To Tenuki
12 years and 3 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
I am playing a lot of games at the moment (for me that is) which results in interesting questions. Here is one question which came up when I played a 5-3 point as my first move. I was white. Black immediately invaded. Hmmmm... Now what??? I wasn't sure whether to tenuki or not. I was tempted to do so, but I didn't like the idea of him coming out. I'd rather have him live small in the corner while I got the outside. Although my outside would face his hoshi, so maybe ...
» Midnight Games
12 years and 3 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Note to self: midnight games can suffer from minor issues like missing a big atari. Oh well, I knew that midnight isn't my best playing time, but I hadn't played all day. That is a good excuse, no? One of those 'If only I hadn't missed that atari I would have won!' games ^^ Maybe I should start sleeping at midnight :p
» MGA Go Tournament
12 years and 3 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
After many months, I finally made it to a go tournament again. It was a good experience. I went 2-2. My first game was against a 2d, I took black, no komi. I felt that all my playing on wbaduk helped me to see any weaknesses in his shape and take advantage. Won that game. Next game against a 1k. This one didn't go as well, and I lost too much. Luckily it is really hard to win a won game, so I kept attacking and looking for weaknesses. Even although one of his groups...
» The Evils of MultiTasking
12 years and 4 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Today I was playing a game and doing quite well. I played thick moves, I didn't make a lot of stupid mistakes (just a few :p) and I knew I had this game won. At the same time, I was chatting with two friends in another window. Did I mention my kids were interrupting me a few times too to ask me things, so yes, I was multitasking as usual. But that was ok, because my game was so easy by now... I had a corner group, an L+1 group. I have studied that group only two thousand t...
» New Book Store on the Block
12 years and 4 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
I was happy to find out that the excellent Go Game Guru blog now sells go books. They have a lot of the classics, Life and Death, Tesuji and more, and a bunch of new books I had not seen yet. I might have to find myself a Christmas present on their site ^^ Go check them out at http://gogameguru.com/go-game-shop/category/buy-go-books/ ! And yes, I am still alive, just have been playing and studying a lot instead of blogging. Good excuse, right?
» Unexpected Move
12 years and 6 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
A few days ago I had someone play this against me. I had not seen it before and suspected it wasn't joseki, but the question is how to deal with it. If you want to see the game and how I dealt with it, click here . Another interesting situation which came up in that game has to do with a capturing race starting at move 176. It is a simple capturing race according to the Hunter book (Counting Liberties and Winning Capturing Races). Still, I was as always surprised to...
» Yet Another Go Tournament
12 years and 6 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Two tournaments in one month. Such a miracle! This was in Boston and I won one game (out of four :D) The game I won surprisingly was the one in which I was giving handicap (2H to a 2k) which usually are my weakest games. Interesting. Picture by John Uckele.
» Butterfly Conclusion
12 years and 6 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
This position white can live, although depending on board situation, white might choose a ko anyway. Here is David (from Go Game Guru )'s comment on it, which includes a link to a sensei's library page which is a good and thorough summary of this position. As you and badge have said, white still can live, as shown at length here: http://senseis.xmp.net/?Butterfly However, I've found in practise that it's often better to fight the ko as white. This is because it's a ...
» Butterfly Followup
12 years and 6 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Thanks Badge, for your input. I had forgotten about the butterfly name. I do remember it is considered bad shape because of the sansan invasion. But when I invaded... It didn't end so well for me. This was your proposal, which is basically correct apart from missing an atari on the way. Of course is easier to see on the board than when you type a sequence. This is how I have learned the invasion (but without the extra okeima stone at N17. As you can see, blac...
» Random Study Subject: Invasions
12 years and 6 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Since I am studying more again, I have been looking into invasions. This was one of my interesting ones that I didn't know yet before it jumped up and started attacking me. When I played white in a game, I confidently invaded, because we all know that an okeima star point corner lives without any problems, right? Well... There was the tiny issue of the other okeima. But this was a nice and sunnny day and the birds were singing, so I was willing to pretend that other...
» You Can't Get There from Here
12 years and 6 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Finally, I played a real life tournament again. On Sunday I drove to Middlebury in Vermont and was amazed and shocked to see the damage hurricane Irene had wrought. Even our favorit snackbar in Woodstock has been mostly washed out. Anyway I made it to Middlebury just in time for the start of the tournament. I played 4 games. Game 1: Even, no komi against a 1k, I won by resignation when one of his groups died an unexpected death. Game 2: Against a 2d, even no komi ag...
» Still in Gamma but No Time to Play
12 years and 8 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Geez, story of my life. At least I got to play three games on the last day of August, but I haven't been able to get any games in since then. What is more serious is that I didn't even do any tsumego! Hoping next week will be more successful, did I mention I am an optimist?
» Fighting My Way Back Up
12 years and 8 months ago from Go Shodan Challenge
Hmmmm, was without internet for a while, had a lot of life, my handicap stones were home from school for the summer and I was trying to sell a house. Somehow I didn't get to play much go. Not only did I manage to drop down to ASR League gamma this month, but in addition I am RED, which means that I will be demoted in a few hours unless a miracle happens. Or if we are short on miracles, an opponent to play in my class in the next hour would be awesome too. My goal in...
» Japan lost to Norway in WAGC
12 years and 11 months ago from 361 Points = Go
The 32nd World Amateur Go Championship started yesterday in Matsue, Japan. Nothing unexpected in the first two rounds, but the third round came with a big surprise: Japan lost to Norway!! The Japanese representative this year is Mr. Hironori Hirata who will be 85 next month. He participated several times at this championship in the [...] The 32nd World Amateur Go Championship started yesterday in Matsue, Japan. Nothing unexpected in the first two rounds, but the third roun...