22k - Time for a break
My rank on KGS was adjusted to 22k after a couple more matches this evening. It may yet drift but I'm satisfied for having achieved another milestone. I've played 143 rated games on KGS since June 1st, 2005.
I will need to take a week's break and my blogging will be less frequent. The first reason for this is that I need to prepare for a major quarterly conference at work. The second reason is that I need to read more of my Go books. My recent games were hard-fought and it's time to acquire new ideas and practice more tsumego.
I'll probably lurk from time-to-time in the Beginners Room. See you all there!
posted by ChiyoDad @ 11:35 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Very nice blog and even cooler comic strips! Thanks for that.
But sometimes I get the impression you're investing more time in creating this blog than studying go. Anyway, I think your progress is rather slow, maybe a few tips might help:
* Try to play as much as possible against stronger players, even 9 stone games! I've noticed you're almost always playing against players of similar strenght, but this way you can get a lot of misconceptions, and if you get stronger you have to relearn many thinks wich can be quite painful.
* The web is not the best interface for studying go. Try to visit clubs or if you don't have the chance try to attend a tournament. About tournaments you wrote: "something still far off for the likes of me", but this is really the false approach in western countrys. Try to get contact to offline players soon!
Admittedly, I haven't played any recent matches with handicaps greater than four stones. Perhaps it is time again for more teaching games with yoyoma, mungo or UmezawaYu.
I've observed though that many stronger players (excluding my KGS friends, KGS mentors, and pros selling lessons) are disinterested in playing against lower kyus. Looking at the Open Games on KGS, many matches are tagged "My rank and up, please" or something to that effect.
This morning, I tried going for nine untagged matches among players ranked 15k to 4k (mostly closer to 15k) and all were either [1] quickly declined, [2] unresponded after 4-5 minutes, or [3] the owner accepted a match from a challenger closer to his/her rank. I imagine this happens more often than not.
One of these weekends, I finally hope to either visit the San Francisco Go Club or join the Lawrence Livermore National Labs Club for their monthly coffee shop games. As I just discovered, the SF Go Club did hold a Division 4 tournament for which I would have qualified. Too bad I missed it.
Thanks for the tips!
Post a Comment
<< Home