Velobici/ Study Log

Table of contents 2009 2008 2007 Dr Straw: What to Study

2009

• Aguust Life and Death -- multiple times
• August Tesuji -- multiple times
• August Weiqi Small Book Collection / Making Life
• August Weiqi Small Book Collection / Stealing Eyes
• August Weiqi Small Book Collection / Capturing Races
• 25 January Making Good Shape (245, 490) second pass
• 11 January Making Good Shape (245, 245)

2008

• 31 December Five Hundred and One Opening Problems (501, 8177)
• 12 December Five Hundred and One Opening Problems (501, 7676)
• 15 December The Workshop Lectures Volume 5, thrice
• 31 October One Thousand and One Life and Death Problems 700 - 1001 twice, (602, 7176)
• 27 September The Workshop Lectures Volume 4, thrice
• 1 September One Thousand and One Life and Death Problems 401 - 700 second time, (300, 6574)
• 27 August One Thousand and One Life and Death Problems 401 - 700 (300, 6274)
• 12 August The Workshop Lectures Volume 3, thrice
• 8 August One Thousand and One Life and Death Problems first 400 twice (800, 5974)
• 15 June 200 Endgame Problems -- Winning Tactics (200, 5174)
• 12 June 200 Endgame Problems -- Winning Tactics (200, 4974)
• 5 June The Workshop Lectures Volume 2, thrice
• 1 June 200 Tesuji Problems -- Known at a Glance second time (200, 4774)
• 12 May 200 Tesuji Problems -- Known at a Glance once (200, 4574)
• 05 May Weiqi Rapid Drill 800 Problems, second time (800, 4374)
• 23 April Weiqi Rapid Drill 800 Problems once (800, 3574)
• 23 April The Workshop Lectures Volume 1, thrice
• 23 March Weiqi Zhongji Jieti Xunlian, all volumes twice (399 * 2 = 798, 2774)
• 04 March Weiqi Chuji Jieti Xunlian, all volumes twice (250 * 2 = 500, 1976)
• 19 February LiChangHo Jingjiang Weiqi Shoujin, all volumes twice (123 * 6 * 2 = 1476)

2007

• Get Strong at Tesuji twice
• Cho Hun Hyun's Lectures on the Opening
• Graded Go Problems for Beginners all volumes,
• Weiqi Rapid Drill 800 Problems
• LiChangHo Jingjiang Weiqi Shoujin volume 1 twice,
• Life and Death first 13 sections twice,
• Tesuji partial
• Weiqi Introductory Problem Collection partial

Dr Straw: What to Study

Up to about 20k: don't even think of studying. And don't play slow games. Play as many games as you can as quickly as you can. Log onto a go server and while you are waiting for a game watch the games of players about 4-6 stones stronger than you. Don't bother watching dan games too much as you will not learn a lot from them.

20k-10k: Slowly incorporate study into your day but concentrate on playing. Play more slower games and start to review them. From this point on until you reach 9p try to find at least two new mistakes in every game you play. Study at this stage should be limited to tesuji and lifea& death. Don't bother with joseki and don't study pro games - they will be beyond you.

10k-5k: Master all the basic L&D shapes and get a thorough undertanding of basic tesuji. Don't bother studying joseki in isolation but every time you get a bad result in a corner look up the joseki and see what you should have played. making sure you understand the reasons for the moves in the joseki (this is why you need to study the tesuji and L&D). Play more slower games (30 minutes a person) and limit your fast games. Review every game you play before you go on to the next one. Incorporate study of other material, such as fuseki and endgame and start playing over a few games of pros and strong amateurs, but don't try to memorize them. Start watching serious games by dan players on a go server and try to predict their moves before they play them.

5k-1k Study everything you can and spend at least as much time studying as playing. Try to understand the meaning of all the moves in all common joseki and fuseki. Study lots of L&D and tesuji problems. Review every game you play and try to determine why you lost when you did, or what the opponent could have done to win when you won. Watch games by high dan players. Make sure you teach a people in the 10k range - teaching helps you clarify ideas in your own mind because you have to explain them.

1d-3d: Learn every joseki and fuseki pattern you can find -- and then forget them all. The act of learning causes you to hardwire patterns in your brain, but the act of forgetting them causes you to not rely on them and so you have to really understand the moves you play. Study more L&D and tesuji. Thoroughly review every game you play and try to find every mistake: ask stronger players to help. Watch a lot of serious games by high dans. Teach a lot of high kyu players - this makes sure you understand all the ideas well enough to explain them. By this stage you should be able to replay all your serious games without seeing the game record: if you cannot then you are not spending enough time thinking about them during play.

Above 3d: You are on your own. You will not improve much without serious competion so make sure you are playing serious tournaments. Continue to review all games and try to find all mistakes.