taiji

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I play as [ext] usagi on the Kiseido Go Server. I don't play much on the taiji account anymore, but maintain it for historical purposes.

I really don't know how strong I am, or how strong I could be. I had, at one point, achieved the rank of 4 dan on KGS. What one must realise is that I won many games against 2 dan and 3 dan to reach that point. Regardless, I lost my next 30 games and only fleetingly held on to 3 dan, then 2 dan, then 1 dan. Where had my skill gone? There are many easy explanations, but none of them are important. I'm impatient. In addition, it's difficult for me to play a game sometimes. But through it all I will never give up.

I have played over 3,000 games of go on IGS (accounts xinjia and kungfu), however I don't play there anymore out of preference for KGS. I've played at least another 2,000 on KGS. From these games I have learned that simply by playing games one can reach a certain level. However, to move beyond that takes a kind of dedication and hard work that many people are not willing to give. The reason they are not willing to do so is not because they are lazy, it is simply because they do not have a reason for doing so.

Professional Go Players:

 * My Alexander Dinerschtein number is 1.
 * My Solaris number is 1.
 * My tartrate number is 2 (through both solaris and breakfast).
 * My Cho Hun-Hyun number is 2 (through Kim Jung-Jin).
 * My shuusaku number is 5 (Shusaku-Shuei-Shusai-Iwamoto-DrStraw(KGS)-Me)

A long time ago, my games would have been described by my opponents as 'interesting'. Nowadays they're not. I read too many joseki books and study too many pro games. Tactically (locally) I am very strong when I want to be, probably KGS 4d or stronger. Strategically however I am very poor, sometimes playing close to the 3k level. This should change soon as I refine my fuseki strategies -- and indeed this has been at the forefront of my recent studying.

My strategy is one of minor impatience. I want the game to end -- perhaps now. I want to get a winning position and then I want the opponent to resign, but they don't. What this means is that late in the game I often make mistakes which cost me the entire game, or I often win by killing large groups. A close call game is almost unheard of for me, and when I get one I don't even realize it because I didn't count. These things are what I'm aiming to change about how I play. I feel that some of my opponents moves are mochikomi and I go overboard in trying to kill them, or rescue my own stones which should be uncapturable, and I make a mistake somewhere down the line. I'm not a moyo player anymore. I'm not good with or against them at this level. I need to learn more strategy.

All of that being said, I do believe I have a rambunctious nature to my style, something that is truly unique. A long time ago I started calling myself a "professional kyu player". This means that I am "at least several stones stronger than the corresponding amateur kyu". Don't misunderstand me. I know this doesn't make much sense now, but back when I was 16 kyu professional on IGS, I had a dream. And, I had finally beaten those hard to beat 16 kyus and figured out their mystical "sente".

You might think it's kind of nuts, but it is my dream and one way how I motivate myself to get stronger. I don't play the player anymore, I play the board. People who do not understand this cannot say anything about my playing strength.

My top influences are currently Go Seigen and Shusaku. I strongly reccomend the book "A Way of Play for the 21st Century" by Go Seigen, and "Invincible: The Games of Shusaku".

My Mission:

I have a mission in the go world: to become 1 dan professional, for real. It's a long, hard road; I suspect I will need to become around 6d on KGS before it would be possible to think about really becoming pro. After all, at least one chinese pro has a 7d account on KGS, and some have 8d accounts. So getting to at *least* 6d is the first step. Why?

It would seem that 7d and 8d KGS is equivalent to 1p and above. What I mean by this is that there are some 1p players who retain 7d+ accounts. _Although pro ranks are not ratings, there does seem to be a requisite strength of pros; This appears to be at a *minimum* of 7d-8d on KGS._

Here is my plan:

1. Memorize Ishida's joseki dictionary. Memorizing Joseki Discussion

2. Memorize Cho Chikun's Life and Death. Do many go problems. Many.

3. Memorize professional games. A lot of them if possible.

4. Take lessons from a very strong amateur dan, or pro player.

5. Promote the game of go and teach go. Please see:


Updates: April 25th, 2004:

I wrote the above back when I was around 5 kyu on KGS. Over time I began to get stronger. My taiji account is only 1k, but I have another account which I worked up to 4d before bouncing around in the low dan range and now settling down at 1k.

The plan is working. It's a self directed plan and it requires dedication, but if I have nothing else but my dream, I still have dedication to it.

So as I write this I stare down the final 6-7 stones it will take me before I reach one of the final doors I must open. When I get to 5 dan or 6 dan on KGS, I will make a final leap of faith, a final blind stab in the dark, and I will do what I came here to do.

As part of my plan to promote go, I used to teach go in a children's school. I taught two children's classes per week and I am currently looking at picking up any additional go students soon. I also have several students on KGS and at the local club, their strengths range from about 15 kyu to shodan strength.

Go books: I am writing a series of go books; the first one, for beginners, is almost finished. You can download a copy if you like, just go to: taiji's books

-taiji


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