If you knew tesuji like I know tesuji ...

Boy, do I need to know tesuji (short range tactics)!

I've added a book to my library: James Davies's Tesuji from Kiseido's Elementary Go Series. You can use the above link to order a copy from Amazon or you can get it for $15.22 including shipping from ecampus.com. I'll be doing a first impressions write-up on this book perhaps by next week but this it has gotten many favorable recommendations from other Go players. Even without my review, it's safe to say that it would be a welcome addition to any beginner's library.

I've consciously applied tesuji only 4-5 times in my games. If I had applied them more than that, then I wasn't aware that what my moves were tesuji.

The Second Book of Go, by Richard Bozulich, contains only eleven-and-a-half pages on tesuji. That much knowledge has helped me in my rise to 23k on KGS but it's reasonably certain that I'll need to acquire more tactical skills to progress further.

British Go Association ranks vs. KGS ranks

Speaking of rank, I came across the above chart from goclub.info which plots solid British Go Association ranks of 37 players against their KGS ranks. It shows only a straight-line regression. After examining the data, I'm inclined to believe that function between BGA rank and KGS rank is more of a curve based on the dispersion pattern of the lower ranks. The slope of the line would increase as it extends to the right.

Without doing a deep analysis, my interpretation of the chart is that:

• dans and single-digit kyus on KGS are roughly eqivalent to a BGA rank minus 4
• teen kyus on KGS are roughly equivalent to a BGA rank minus 3
• 20+ kyus on KGS are roughly equivalent to a BGA rank minus 2

I managed to play three games today and lost two. No worries. I need to be patient and get back into my groove.