Lynx

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Currently: 6kish Alias on KGS: Deepcut

This entry is being made on February 26th, 2005. I have fallen into a slump?. I had reached the rank of 3k on another alias, then suddenly lost all skill whatsoever, and fell to 6k. Then I lost to a 12k.

Don't know why though. I feel very frustrated -- no matter what I try, I lose. I suspose this could be the reason: I just am overplaying constantly out of a sense of frustration. It just seems so easy for a strong player to keep everything together -- yet I can not do it no matter how hard I try...

Don't know. Don't know how to study, how to improve, how to get over this. I wish some strong player, perhaps 3d, would give me lessons and help me. Of course, this is expecting too much -- few are that kind.

Yet when I become that strong, I will be that kind. I will look out for motivated players with set goals and give them constant aid to help them reach that goal.

I don't know. And yes, I already started a paragraph like that, but I can do whatever I want to on my own little rant. Hah.

Regardless, I am very, very worn out. Have been studying tseumego daily, around 100 simple problems, such as the ones at gobase.org. Am recieving several go books tommorow -- hopefully those shall help me.

Who knows? I shall update later, when I next feel like saying something.

Oh: And if anyone wants to give advice, please do so.

chrise Firstly stop feeling so sorry for yourself ;) Secondly lighten up and play the game as though it was a joy, because it is a joy to play!

March 7th :

Playing much better than the last statement. Playing strength fluctuates greatly, however. I can take on 1ks, lose to 5ks. Odd. The problem seems to stem in the fuseki area; I fall behind greatly and while I play better than the opponent for the rest of the game, it is worthless.

I was thinking about this. I decided that it has to do wtih my dislike of the komoku opening. I used to do the 54 instead; of course that was ridiculious.

Played a game. Weird position. My opponent constantly overplayed. I overplayed in return, he punished me, killed 17 stone group. I come back but lose when he then kills another group that I left open to a weird combination inside the "belly." Of course this combination required me to be stupid and mess up several times, but is that not a tesuji indeed?

Lose game after game. Oh well.

Next time I talk here I shall be winning! :)

To reference:

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

Here.

I have no idea what to do. I guess I should have pincered. Any thoughts?

zinger: Since there are 5 stones of each color out there, I'm assuming that you are black and it's your move. I agree a pincer is called for. I suggest B1, which pincers in both directions, and leaves neither white stone room for a two space extension.

Lynx: Thanks for the advice, zinger. And chrise, thank you as well. Positive attitude = good. Yet I try so hard and keep on losing which = bad. Focusing on the second fact = bad.

So I guess statements 2 & 3 cancel, leaving me with 1, which is positive attitude is good :).

More later :).

March 8: Currently BloodyRose? on KGS. New plan. I will pick something to focus on. One major error. Then I shall work my hardest to fix that error. Yet...I have no idea what this error to work on is! I keep on reviewing my games, yet nothing seems to stand out.

zinger: You could try submitting a few games to the Go Teaching Ladder. Many of the reviewers do a good job suggesting specific areas for improvement.

_March 14_:

Back to 6k. Oh well. Interesting thing is at this level you see NO well rounded playing. Not a single player is balanced. And...the odd thing is that every single one of them is overly aggressive.

It's amusing. I hate playing against such play at the same time as I appreciate it as a valuable learning experience. I shall stay at 6k until I become strong enough to handle over-aggression.

And that is the simple truth.

In other study plans: I intend to memorize a pro game a day. I also intend to do around 30 minutes of tseumego a day as well. We shall see how this ends :).

March 29:

Have recieved as a loan "Kato's Attack and Kill" along with "Direction of Play." Shall be interesting study material.

Have so far memorized at least 100 moves of 12 games, the most interseting of which being Go Seigen's 1934 game against Shusai. Am wondering what games of Shusaku are interesting. :)

April 8:

"Kato's Attack and Kill" was/is interesting, along with "Direction of Play." I am almost done working through "Life and Death," just have to do the last couple of chapters.

Have hit 3k today! The game that pushed me over 4k was an interesting one. I start off amazingly well, taking almost the entire left, giving no compensation. Then my opponent fiddles around in the corner, I mess up, and lose a semeai by 2 moves.

At that point, I am flirting with resignation, but decide not to. I had gained some thickness through the act, and the game was still in its early stages.

Needless to say, I play very aggressivly, sniffing for an attack. My opponent senses my energy and played very defensivly. I manage to wrest forward a moyo on the bottom. He invades; I am ecstatic. A kill here will would put me back in the game.

I chase him up to the middle then he connects underneath after I make a mistake. Dissapointing. Am again ready to resign but turn to making another moyo. This time my opponent makes a huge blunder and I get another group to chase!

Long story short, I mess it up and the group lives.

But longer story short, my opponent messes up and I kill two of his groups and reduce one to no territory, only life. He or she then resigned.

April 14:

I am preparing for a tournament in 3 days or so. Have worked through all of life and death except for the Carpenter's Square ;). But! I seem to have acquired a case of the jitters.

I have lost the ability to focus on games; something has shifted. The solution to this is to start winning games again, to have a clear mind. Normally, this would be fine.

But the tournament lurks and pressure is high and I doubt myself. Will I be able to play well? Or will I falter?

...

I hope not.

Playing on a board could be a major shift for me. I have not done so yet. I am quite excited about it, actually. I think it will improve global vision. In fact, my goal is to play over a few pro games on the goban before the tournament.

A question: What is the AGA - KGS conversion rate? Is a KGS rank lower or higher? I hope higher -- would feel great to be underranked somewhat :).

See Rank worldwide comparison.


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