My very own way to the game of "Go"

A beginners main problems when relearning the game of Go, and how to solve them.

2008-03-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

As it is the third time now that I start playing Go I think I am fairly qualified talking about beginner problems...

The most important one is in my opinion the motivation. Although people are usually eager to learn and rather excited encountering something as new and entirely new such as Go, they are often put back by other, more skilled players. Whenever I started playing again I felt like I am the worst player out there becouse somehow my opponents always managed to keep my score at a minimum... And often I had no idea why at all... Somehow my territory seemed to continuously shrink without me making any mistakes, or at least none apparent to me... And if you're on a loosing streak it's always a simple way out to simply quit, especially if you don't know why you keep loosing. But, luckily, especially on KGS there have always been people trying to help and support me, and I am very grateful for that. You need other people to keep going, or at least I do. That's why I think a local Go-club is very important to ones development. On the Internet you are somewhat anonymous, but in a Go-club you're not. The person opposite to you sees your face and gets to know you, and might recognize you in the future somewhere on the street. And imagine you have quit playing and you meet that person again, what are you going to tell him or her? That you simply gave up? I now that I couldn't do that, and therefore I “have” to keep playing in order to avoid that situation. Anyway, Go has never been all about the game for me anyway, but also about the people. Never in my life I have encountered such a nice bunch of intelligent and kind people such as Go-players. They seem to be always considerate and respectful, for, somehow, the game seems to form your character. Another good reason for joining your local go-club I guess... Go is more fun on a real board anyway. But coming back to the topic:

Another problem is getting better. Whenever I do something it's not that much about doing it but more about getting better at it. And that's what I like so much about starting go: you usually get better so fast! Every once in a while you may encounter a phase when you simply don't improve, but by playing continuously, solving tsumego and studying theory you'll manage to survive these times as well. One never stops improving, only the speed differs. There are always better players out there that enjoy teaching beginners, and that's part of the reason why I started the “Sarthilfe” on KGS. When I was one of those better players I very much enjoyed teaching weaker ones, and so do many others. Just ask a dan player for a game, you'd be surprised how many times they agree to playing a game or two. It's an awesome experience that nobody should miss. Again, joining a real life Go club comes in handy here. Usually there's at least one strong player there, or if you're lucky a lot of them, and they'll happily play you and comment your and their moves if you as them to do it.

Well, that's all the problems that I encountered so far, there might of course be different ones for everybody. If I forgot to mention something important, feel free to drop me a line using the comment option.

In this post I talked about joining a Go-club frequently. But what if there isn't any around that you know of? Well, using the Internet in order to gather intelligence is the obvious thing to do. But if you still can't find a club this way why not found your own one? You could teach some friends to play, and you could meet frequently. That's good fun, good for your social life and also good for your playing skills.

Something I would like to add: If you travel frequently it is always good to visit the local Go-clubs at night. I have met many many nice and interesting people that way, and I think the playing style differs from town to town, so you may gather some important impressions and also techniques that my help you throughout your entire ordinary and also Go-playing life.

Pew, haven't forgotten everything...

2008-03-13T00:40:00.001-07:00

Well, now that is a relief... Thank god I haven't forgotten everything… I of course can't remember a single Joseki or something, but at least I can still more or less play. After a few games my rank is at around 14k, so at least I don't have to start again from Zero. Not that I would have minded, for at that time you improve so rapidly it's just fun watching your rank graph, but I am not sad about a little challenge either ;-) Well, everyone, wish me luck :o)

Good news - blog resumed!

2008-03-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been playing in a long time, and quite frankly, I thought I never would again. But then it happened: last Saturday I met an old buddy (who is by the way 1k now…) from my go-club at a bar and we got into talking. Anyway, at some point in the conversation he pulls out his portable goban and asks if I cared playing him. Well, as I didn't have anything better to do that evening I agreed and we played.

Of course, I was crushed.

But playing him I realized how much I had missed Go actually. Thinking back, I realized that a lot of the things that went wrong in the past few months might have not been so bad if I had still played Go, for the game had always made me calm and balanced.

Anyway, I decided starting to play again, and realized once more that I had forgotten much but not all. Well, I started a new nick on KGS and I won't be using my old one before I made 9k again, for it would simply be too embarrassing…

Anyway, thanks, Pascal, for being there that evening and reintroducing me to one of my greatest passions!

Bad News - Blog suspended

2008-01-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Some of you may have noticed it, but not much has happened here... The reason for this is thatI am sipply not playing Go at the moment, which is really a shame...
I am sorry for that, but I hope to spend a mont in Japan, soon, and this might trigger me into playing Go more regularily again hopefully...

So, until then, this blog is suspended...
Sorry for the inconvenience

Have a nice day,
Lollylan

My 3D-animation Website

2007-11-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
You may have noticed, that I haven't been able to write a lot in this blog lately... This has got a reason and I am going to tell you:
I am in the middle of my preparations for my A-level-exam, and as part of that I am doing a 3D-animation.
This means that I did a lot of 3D work lately instead of playing Go, and as i am a very social person, I decided to share the work I did with other people for free and createt a website for it: http://everything4maya.com/
Check it out! It's still a small page, but it's growing already :o)

2007-10-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

it’s been quite a while since my last update, and I am sorry for that, but I have been so busy over the last month(s) that I actually haven’t played at all… but I hope that there will be some freetime ahead soon … as long as nothing new comes up anyway … but well, enough about me.

What I really want to tell you guys is that there is a new SUJI – episode is out finally, and I reckon it’s even better than the 2 before! Check it out!

KGS - "Starthilfe"

2007-07-31T14:47:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine (Tellwell on KGS) and I started a new room on KGS, called “Starthilfe”. This is German for “help at the beginning”. We regularily give free lessons to anyone willing to learn from us (mostly 30 kyu – 15 kyu), and I must say I find it very rewarding for people are really grateful for your help and also for you learn a lot more when you teach stuff than when you learn it alone at home. I really enjoy that! If anybody wants to join the room, you can find it under “Social” – but be aware that the lessons are in German and in German only! If you are not somebody looking for a teacher but rather a teacher yourself, you’d be very welcomed, just write me a note!

By the way: I designed a homepage for the “Starthilfe” which I find to be quite good actually. You can download previous lessons there and inform yourself about upcoming events. Just have a look! It won’t hurt you ;-)

If you don’t like teaching by giving lessons, teachers that do reviews would be just as welcome! There are lots of ways you could help beginners master their first steps towards shodan!

Tsumego collections

2007-07-19T07:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I found a very nice website called „tsumego collections”. There you can download sets of about 900 Problems each as a .pdf file, for free of course :o) There is also a paper-friendly version available which has got two pages of Go-problems on one sheet of paper. And, if you want to safe even more paper you can print both sides of your paper thus reducing the total amount for one of the collections to 20 DinA 4 papers. I really think this is great: Now you can just solve tsumengo problems while you are away from your computer without having to buy a book or something…

A Something I find very good is that these problems are problems only, meaning there is no “black to kill white” or “black to live”, but you have to find the problem yourself. And what is even better is that these problems don’t come with solutions. This might sound a bit weird for many, but I agree with Benjamin Teuber’s “Guide To Become Strong”, which says that the right way to solve tsumego is thinking every possibility through yourself, even if that might take a long time. Only like that you become better at reading, there is no one in an actual game telling you whether or not a move is correct.

But back to the tsumego: There are tsumego for every level of playing from beginner to pro, all in separate files, so download yours and stark solving and improving ;o) have fun and good thoughts!

SUJI – “The Bimonthly Go Magazine”

2007-07-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

I just found a free, bimonthly Go magazine on the web which I actually really enjoyed reading, called "Suji". And it’s, as I already said, for free which makes it even better…

The magazine covers most topics a normal Go magazine would also cover: current professional games, player profiles, international tournaments, a bit of Go-theory and a Tsumego-corner as well. There are two issues out already, just download them and check them out, it won’t hurt you ; - )

As I personally don’t like reading ebooks on my computer and prefer the printed version I just print the magazine with my inkjet. It’s only about 20 pages b/w, so it doesn’t even cost much to do so.

GoGrinder

2007-07-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to present a nice and handy program to you that I found quite a while ago on the net and which I find to be very useful: GoGrinder. It’s a Java program for practicing go problems basically and uses the standard SGF format. Here is a quick list with all of GoGrinder’s features (from the publisher’s homepage):

Loads go problems that are stored in the standard SGF format
Allows refutations of incorrect answers to be included in the problem files.
Remembers where you were when closed and restarted.
Can save progress through problem sets to file, so you can go work on a different set of problems, and then pick up where you left off.
Filters the available problems based on tags associated with the problems, e.g. Life and Death, Tesuji, etc.
Allows the selected problems to be sorted in various orders - by difficulty, random, etc.
Keeps statistics on the number of problems that have been correctly solved in the set, and long-term stats for each collection of problems.
Allows import and export of problem sets.
Allows editing of the current problem in an external SGF editor
Splits files containing multiple problems for use with GoGrinder.
Comes with 347 problems, ranging in difficulty from 25k - 4d.
Thousands more problems are available for free on the internet - links provided in the documentation.

The program is available in English, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Czech, so everybody should be able to use it, I guess. The best feature is not mentioned yet: the program is completely for free!!!

11 kyu again

2007-07-07T03:29:00.001-07:00

Nooooooo! I am 11 kyu again!!! Thanks to KGS I at least saw a 10k behind my name once, but when I played a KGS-9kyu-opponent I lost… But not due to bad playing, I just made one major mistake, or well, not really a mistake, I just didn’t see a certain move (marked with red) until it was too late…I think I could have gone for a ko-fight but I was worried about losing more than just this one group and played it safe…

But although I lost I think I did quite well in this game, and I now clearly see that I have improved heaps over the last few days. I think I never had an even game with a 9kyu before :) , and that I didn’t completely got crushed actually makes me quite proud! I hope it continues that way, for then I might one day reach my goal of being a shodan (1dan). Well, we’ll see…

Extremely fast win in a rated game (only 30 moves)

2007-07-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

Wow… that hasn’t happened to me before… I won a rated game on KGS with only 30 moves on both sides altogether… That’s quick, eh? My opponent said „I can see the difference“ right after resigning… I guess that’s a compliment, then, right? Am I really that strong? That would be really cool, for I think that I have improved heaps in the last few weeks / days … Well, stay tuned ;-)

I played white ;-)

The Go Master (movie)

2007-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Finally! There is going to be a movie out there soon that has Go as its main topic : - ) Go has often be used in movies (just think of „A beautiful mind“ or „Hero“) but there has never been a movie about playing Go. “The Go Master” tells the story of Go Seigen, which you should all know I hope. I don’t know about you guys, but I am so going to watch that one… Can’t wait for it to come on DVD…

11 kyu already

2007-07-03T08:36:00.001-07:00

Wow, I am improving rather fast… 11 kyu already : - ) I wonder how long it is going to be that way… As always, here is the game that provoked the rank change, I was back. I won by resignation, but if it had been counted I think that I was around 70 moku ahead… not bad, eh?

The way to Go (ebook)

2007-07-02T07:06:00.001-07:00

I just found this little .pdf-file by Karl Baker that explains the rules of Go in a very easy to understand way. Check it out! (You will need the Acrobat Reader to be able to open it)

Do you know any other, good (free) ebooks for either beginners or pros?

Please notice this legal note: “ “The Way To Go” is a copyrighted work. Permission is granted to make copies for personal use. Copies may be distributed freely to others either in print or electronic form, provided no fee is charged for distribution and all copies contain this copyright notice.”

Finally 12kyu

2007-07-02T06:29:00.001-07:00

Pew… after a very hard and exciting game I finally can call myself a KGS-12kyu. I think this was most likely the hardest game I have played thus far (or at least within this second try of playing) and so I am actually very proud that I won this one as well : - ) I wonder how long it will take me to reach the 10kyu – hurdle ?

Book recommendation: "Basic Techniques of Go"

2007-07-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to recommend one of my favorite Go-Books to you, called Basic Techniques of Go by 9- Dan Nagahara Haruyam, Haruyama Isamu, Nagahara Yoshiaki. It’s good both for absolute beginners and soon-to-be-pros (and of course everyone in between) for it basically covers everything, from the basic rules to Fuseki, Handicap Opening Strategies, Joseki and Tesuji, and Endgame too, of course.

Even David Godinger (IGS 1d) says:

“I've been teaching Go since the late 1960's and, since it was published, have always considered Basic Techniques of Go a major book for teaching people who are beyond the beginner's level. It really gives a lot of vital information, in the organized form useful for teaching courses in Go, that I don't see equalled anywhere else. And, no, I don't see it as a mere dictionary.

“To this day, I find myself looking at it every now and then.

“I think that, for the serious Go student, it is a wonderful book and I always recommend it before any of the others I have seen--and I think I've examined the gamut. “

In my opinion the only thing not perfect about the book is that some diagrams are a bit, well, turned around, but that doesn’t really matter. So I really recommend buying this one!

Complete Victory

2007-07-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today I am proud to announce my first 112-moves-win in a long time :) It’s moments like that one when you completely crush your opponent that remind you why you are actually playing ;-) I know this isn’t Go-philosophy at all, but it still feels good … I was white by the way...

Music for the game

2007-06-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

Do you guys listen to music when you are playing Go? Well I do. As a matter of fact, I even chose my KGS-name “AmonAmarth” by the music I listen to when I play Go. I used to listen to old classics (like “killing me softly…” ;-) ) but now that I outgrew that phase I listen to Metal mainly, and to be more accurate to “Disturbed”, “In Flames”, “Cannibal Corpse” or, as my nickname implies, “Amon Amarth”.
I don’t know why, but I think especially Viking Metal with its repeated battle calls and stuff like that gets me into the right mood… So, if somebody wants to find out whether or not I am going to play aggressive or calmly you should check out my last.fm-account to see what I am just listening to ;-)

Ah, I thought I’d make a list of songs suitable for playing Go the Metal-style ;-) Well, here it is:

“Kill or be Killed” by “Biohazard”
“I will kill you” by “Cannibal Corpse”
“Make them suffer” by “Cannibal Corpse”
“Killing Me” by “Drowning pool” (well, that one is risky ;-) )
“Kill you” by “Korn”
“Hail and Kill” by “Manowar”
“Killing in The Name” by “Rage against the Machine”
“Kill the Assholes” by “System of a Down”
“Think” by “Drowning Pool”

Well, as you can see, I am more of a kill-all-or-lose-it-all kind of person ;-)… But isn’t that way more fun than playing it safe?

Go Go Igo!

2007-06-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to learn how to play Go? Well, try this little movie! It's from the "Hikaru No Go"-animeseries. But in order to protect your ears from permanent damage I highly recommend turning off your speakers…the backgroundmusic is just awful!

Hikaru No Go - why did I start ... twice?

2007-06-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, why did I actually start Go?

Here in Germany we used to have a manga-magazine called “BANZAI!” which used to read. It isn’t sold anymore (unfortunately), but thanks to this magazine I actually ever heard about Go. It also had some episodes from “Hikaru No Go” in it, which I read, but not more. A friend of mine to whom I gave the magazine once I was finished with it kept nagging and asking me to start playing Go, for he himself wanted to but didn’t want to be the only one playing. So, more or less to do him a favor I learned the basic rules and played a few games online. This was when I started playing on KGS. The people there were very friendly and I visited KGS more and more often, mostly due to its user’s friendliness. I played more or less regularly and soon surpassed my friend. Well, as I became better I even went to a few tournaments (I even totally ruled one, I played 5:0 J ), but as I said before, at some point I stopped playing.

So, as fate wanted it I cleaned up my apartment (that doesn’t happen very often though…) and found my old manga-books with “Hikaru No Go” in it. I read through them again and well, I felt the urge to play once more. My account on KGS is “AmonAmarth”, so if you would like to play against me, feel free to do so J!

So, concluding one could say that “Hikaru No Go” got me into playing Go – twice… thanks for that ;-)

Just a quick update: I just finished reading through the complete HNG-saga again, and I have got to say, it’s always gripping again. A real jewel of a Manga!

Getting started

2007-06-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is, my very first blog. I wonder for how long I will be writing in it, months maybe, or just weeks? Or maybe years? Who knows?
So, why the heck am I actually starting this blog and what is it all about? I hope, you all know the game of Go. If you don't, check out the Wikipedia-article and start playing! It's really a fun game! Well, this is a blog about me and my Go playing. I used to play quite a bit in the past when I was a child, but at some point in the Past, I stopped for some reason that I do not really know...
But anyway, I started again a week ago, and having forgotten almost everything I will start from the very bottom again, but hopefully things I used to know will come back to me, and if they don't I can still relearn them which will also not be that bad I guess.
So here you will find both: Some stuff about me and me playing, but also, and probably more interesting to most of you guys, stuff about Go, like techniques, games, theory, nice programs I found and so on... I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
I would be very, very thankful for any feedback, so feel free to comment if you like ^^