topazg

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My real name is Graham Lamburn (used to be Philips) and I'm a [ext] Go player from the UK. I used to run OGS, which started at the beginning of November 2005 and has steadily grown. You can find me as topazg on [ext] OGS, [ext] DGS and [ext] KGS.

I'm currently between 1 dan and 2 dan on KGS' ranking system.

Teaching - [ext] Topaz Go School

One thing I've noticed is the typical advice given to DDK players about teachers and getting better is "don't bother, just play lots of games, do a few tsumegos and you'll just naturally work up to 5k quick enough". From my experience, this is not the case for quite a lot of people; So not only does no-one fill in that teacher role that they asked for, but they then feel frustrated about not getting as far as they are supposed to by themselves, which may well put people off asking again.

I'm a big believer that, provided the teacher is at least 5 stones stronger than the pupil, teaching skill outweighs playing skill with regards to how effective the teaching is, so people around 10k or weaker don't even need a dan teacher to get good improvement.

So, I've started offering teaching for anyone up to KGS 3 kyu. I'm not offering to do it for free, for two reasons: a) I think people motivate themselves better for things that have cost them money - people rarely respect things for free (and this goes both ways, I'm likely to put more work into something if I'm being paid to do it), and b) I'm prepared to put quite a lot of time aside to really work at helping people get better, and I can't afford that amount of time for free.

So, with that out of the way...

What am I offering?

  • One 90 minute long online session per week (or fortnight), typically split out as follows:
  1. First 40 minutes analysing one game in detail recently played by the student
  2. 30 minutes playing a teaching game with the student
  3. 20 minutes analysing the teaching game
  • All games reviewed and played will be written up with detailed commentary and summary.
  • Free availability outside of lessons to answer any Go related questions.

I also do double length sessions with some success. The 3 hour sessions typically cover 2 or 3 games played by the student and a more thorough analysis of the teaching game. For the prices of the longer sessions, simply double the prices in the section below. Please see my website [ext] teaching details page for full information.

How much does it cost?

10 GBP per session (just under 12 EUR). For any student I wouldn't expect to pay this much off the bat with no prior experience, so I'd do a big discount to begin with: A cheap first lesson doesn't make a great deal of sense as it can often take a few weeks to get into the swing of whether it will work - so the first 10 GBP would cover 3 sessions and therefore 3 full lessons, which should give a good indication of whether it's worth the money to continue.

After the trial period, bulk discounts are available as follows:
25 GBP for 3 lessons (=16.67 per session)
40 GBP for 5 lessons (=16 per session)
75 GBP for 10 lessons (=15 per session)

What do I expect from a student?

First and foremost, I would expect both student and teacher to feel like the money and the time is worth the investment. I think language barriers can really obstruct this, so I would expect the student to have a fluent grasp of English (both written and spoken). I would expect a student to play at least 2 serious (15 + 5x0:30 or longer) rated games per week. I also consider Skype / VoIP to make up most of the ground lost by not being face to face, and make for a much more productive experience all around, so some form of voice over internet communications would be strongly preferred. This way you can get an intensive 3 hours worth of one-to-one tuition at around 6 GBP (7 EUR) per hour, and 2 GBP per hour for the first three weeks.

Am I strong enough to be teaching at all?

Depends on the grade of the student! Seriously, I'm not strong enough to be worth paying for lessons for any student of 4k upwards, but I believe I can give real value for money for any students up to 8k (hence the offer above). Many people state that no amateur player should receive money for teaching Go, but I think that's up to the person wanting to learn what they are or are not willing to pay for. Essentially, if someone feels that a KGS shodan is worth paying to improve their skill, it's their right to feel that way. If they feel otherwise, that's their right too.

How can I be sure the money will be well spent?

The short answer is you can't. I'm not wanting to waste my time, nor anyone else's money, and I'm not going to want to continue if it isn't offering good returns for the sake of either of us. For what it is worth, I have had a total of 8 students (including active students) since august 2008, and the typical improvement is around one stone of strength per 4 sessions.

My [ext] Go Teaching Ladder reviews have been generally very well received (link takes to my member page, so you can look through the reviews and decide for yourself).

I have some [ext] Go videos as well that will cover a wide range of topics. Comments and feedback always welcome.

So, if you have Skype, can speak and write in English, are somewhere between 5 and 20 kyu on KGS, and want a one-to-one teacher that may be able to help you get stronger, let me know. I can be found with this username on GoDiscussions, KGS, OGS, DGS, and contacted directly at graham {at} topazg {dot} com


This is a copy of the living page "topazg" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2011 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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