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dnerra's Ideas on Improvement
I liked DietersIdeasOnImprovement quite a lot, and if you come here, I hope that you have read Dieter's page, and that you have decided that you belong to category 4. I felt I had to add some things, and since Dieter's page is nice as it is, and as I am focussing on a somewhat different topic, I created this page. Sometimes, when a player asks me what he should do (i.e. which books to read etc.) to improve, I feel the correct answer would be "Sorry, with your attitude towards go you won't become much stronger anyway." Now, I try to think of myself as a friendly polite person, and so of course I never say that. But what would my answer be if I were to throw away all tactfulness and politeness for a moment, just telling what I, from my biased and personal experience, would think is the most helpful approach towards improvement in go?
I welcome any discussion. dnerra Dieter: Thanks for the nice words. I was going to add an item about Attitude? myself, mostly copying the inspiring ideas of Sorin Gherman's webpage, but your page suits very well. Myself I would slightly shift the emphasis, in that I think that - although winning is the ultimate goal of the game - the desire to win prevents many players of making good moves. Good moves lead to victory and so the primary focus should be on good moves. The occasions where a move gives certain victory are rare, so the ultimate goal should not blur our vision too soon. So I would advise any student who wants to improve to completely wipe out the desire to win or fear of losing (because so much desire is present that even doing so there will remain enough of it) and be determined to find good moves. The inherent danger is that people will play mildly to the point of softly, but that is one mistake I would soon point out as a teacher. The desire to win prevents players from acknowledging the power of the opponent and the truth of the game. Fear of losing fails to acknowledge one's own strength and again the truth of the game. This is not a disagreeing statement, but merely an addition to what you write, and one which you don't have to agree with. To come back to your writings, n° 3 is the attitude that brought me the major progress once I started reviewing my own games. dnerra: Yes, I completely agree. To add what you wrote: Many players are content enough if a move worked to win the game, even though it was a mistake. Again a lost chance to improve. If you don't mind I might at some point get around to a WME to add your point above. Tamsin: I have two things on my little mind. If somebody approaches you and asks you what they should do and what books they need to read to get better, then why should that indicate that with their attitude to go they won't get any better? Surely such a question shows that they want to improve and that they're willing to do something about it, and that has to be a good attitude.
The other thing that nobody seems to have mentioned is that not everybody can improve. If you've already pretty much gone as far as you can, then trying to improve is not only a waste of time, but also a way to become very frustrated. Not everybody can be really good at something; we all have limits. For instance, I'm good at singing, but I'm never going to be Kathleen Ferrier. Accepting limits is far from being a negative attitude--instead it can set you free really to enjoy something. This is a copy of the living page "dnerra's Ideas on Improvement" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |