Lesson with UmezawaYu (teacher) on KGS

As some of you have experienced, or just noticed from my journal, I play a lot of 13x13 games. For now, my time during the day is limited so I prefer short matches.

The 5th Jodan Cup (Cho Chikun's grand Go Marathon) has begun on IGS so few players there are accepting 13x13 games. I've thus been frequenting KGS for my small board matches.

Post-It Manga by ChiyoDad

I've lost most over the past day. That's to be expected when challenging more experienced players without handicaps; but it doesn't help either to also be short on sleep. Work demands a lot of my time right now and I seem to be sacrificing some of my sleep hours for Go. I'll probably force myself to stay off the servers for a while.

UmezawaYu (teacher) provided me with a lesson today using audio (single-plex, only on her side). We first played a 13x13 game and then she reviewed it online and showed me variations. She pointed out that I make unnecessary moves and still need to recognize more basic shapes. That's all very true.

Screen capture of the online audio lesson from UmezawaYu

Her summary was that I needed more experience and that I should play more games. She also suggested that I ask for handicaps appropriate for the difference in ranks. Many thanks for the lesson!

For those of you who know me from IGS, DashBaduk and WWGo, you'll get to see (a small image of) what I look like if you click and enlarge that screen capture.