Hyppy/Go Blog

Sub-page of Hyppy

Welcome to Hyppy's Go Blog. I modeled this after Doug's Go Blog. It'll contain useless rants and petty discoveries of a double-digit kyu player

Hyppy's Proverb/Disclaimer: Reading my blog will drop you 6 stones in strength.


May 16, 2003

Friday

After a mighty sad loss during my lunch break, which of course put me in a sour mood for the rest of the workday, I believe I have stumbled on a nice personal discovery, let's call it a proverb:

Play fast to learn, play slow to win.

I believe it sums up the whole concept between advising beginners to play quickly and look back over their games to learn mistakes, and professionals who play umpteen hour games for titles and rank. Now, I feel I mush raise a question: When should one traverse the line from playing mostly quick (NOT Blitz) games to learn mistakes in the review, to slow well-thought out games for pushing along the path of mastery? It's obvious that a complete beginner gains nothing from a 3-hour game of mental endurance, as a professional gains nothing from a 20-second-per-stone-Blitz. There must, however, be a line somewhere, where this inverse relationship hits an equilibrium of sorts. A line where one, while learning and studying, moves from gut reaction plays to meaningful, well thought out moves. Comments?

By the way, wish me luck in waking up in time for, and finding, the [ext] Charlotte Go Club meet-up. I just hope I make it, I've yet to play someone of any skill on the Goban.

DougRidgway Play fast, lose fast; play slow, lose slow. Me, I lose fast (even when I'm playing slow).

Charles If you are trying to absorb some new concepts, I think you should spend time on the part of the game where they occur.


May 14, 2003

That's An Insult To My Strength!

A friend messaged me last night, telling me about her recent trip to [ext] hell. Apparently, she had a temporary lapse of judgement and decided to go on a little visit down the brimstone path.

Now, personally, I first learned Go there. For me, it was a 'normal environment' to be playing the game. I didn't really think anything of the multitude of rude, obnoxious, pathetic people that make up 90% of its player base. Of course, when I switched to KGS, it was like a whole new loving, caring, fuzzy-wuzzy world. I mean, people would actually TALK to you. And I've never, EVER seen someone shout "17/M/NY lookin 4 a grrl to play - hit 7 if U wanna!". True, there is the occasional off-topic discussion in the English room, but it's usually pretty friendly and good humored.

Back to my friend who has taken her expedition to the dark side. She's give or take around 24k KGS. Nothing spectacular, but we're both still learning. She tells me that her opponent screamed "That's an insult to my strength!" after a move she made during a close game. I sometimes hear this comment, usually between a couple 1-10k players during an obviously won game. This, however, was not the case. Not even close.

This was after a low small knight approach.

On a hoshi stone.

In a nearly empty corner.

. . . . . . . . .

People never cease to amaze me. Thank your chosen diety for alternatives to [ext] hell


May 13, 2003

Go Clubs

A multitude of different lessons are learned the hard way. Do not touch a hot stove, keep your fingers out of an electrical socket, and don't wait to the last minute to use the bathroom. These were all lessons that had to be ingrained into many toddlers' minds "the hard way".

I have learned another lesson the hard way. 99% of people the military are just plain stupid. Well, perhaps not stupid. How about. . . 'intellectually challenged'?.

Why have I come to this conclusion? . . . have any of you ever tried to locate a Go club within 60 Miles of Fort Bragg? Charlotte, Raleigh, and even a couple on the northern tip of South Carolina. All at LEAST an hour away. And they meet on weeknights.

My hypothesis is that the density of stupidity within Fayetteville and Fort Bragg creates a 'ripple effect' extending for a great distance outward, by which all intellectual activity ceases to exist. Sure, there's at least 4 pubs and strip clubs on every city block for miles and miles, but that about sums it up.

Or maybe I'm just bitter. . . .


May 12, 2003

Study Hall

Over the past couple months I have been brooding over the value of my recent purchases. I have spent a small amount of money on four Go Books: Opening Theory Made Easy, The Second Book of Go, In The Beginning, and Graded Go Problems For Beginners Volume 2. All in all, I hear they are great purchases for someone of my level (22kyu solid, KGS). The only issue I am having is the concentration factor. I have a slightly (read: insanely) busy schedule as of late, so Go Study time has fallen to the wayside. I usually only have about 30-45 minute spurts of time to study, and it always seems like it's not enough to really gain anything from. I've had all four of these books for a couple months now, and I haven't gotten past page 20 on any of them. Whenever I try and continue where I left off, I feel the need to go back 10 pages to review, and the cycle repeats itself. I suppose my study habits are falling on the wayside a bit, but the progress I am making seems to be beyond slow. sigh.

On a totally different subject, I found a fascinating little position in one of my recently played games. I think it's a great example of how playing on the point of symmetry can yield great results, I moved it to a separate page, as the discussion got too big for this little space. Enjoy. It's also been added to [ext] GoProblems.com


Hyppy/Go Blog last edited by StormCrow on March 12, 2004 - 20:58
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