Ben Mantle
Ben Mantle is a 5 Dan Go player from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was born October 17, 1989 and has played Go for over 6 years. He studied for 5 months at King's Baduk Education Center in Hoengsong, Gangwan Do, South Korea, a school for foreign players that has since moved to Seoul, then closed down, then reopened in Hungary.
- See the bottom for some recent updates*
Ben is a very active Go teacher with several current students on KGS, and is currently accepting additional students. He has many past students and years of experience teaching players of all ages and all levels. Aside from formal students, Ben has taught kids in South Korea, DDK-levels on KGS, Anime North Go Area guests, high school Go club members (as president) and members of various Go clubs in the GTA. Now you can find him at University of Toronto Go club on Fridays, playing and teaching. He also competes on behalf of U of T Go club in the inter-collegiate Go league, http://college-go.org.
You can find him at http://facebook.com/GoPlayer, or email him at linkxsaber@gmail.com to inquire about lessons or anything regarding Go in the Toronto area.
Ben was until recently teaching a beginner Go class at Golden Key Cultural Centre in Mississauga on Saturdays ( http://goldenkey-en.webs.com), and from next year on. He was also the President of University of Toronto Go club, but has since handed down the position while he continues attending the club. He studies English and Sociology at University of Toronto, currently getting through second year. He aims for a career as a teacher or in a sociological field, but also does a lot of creative writing during non-Go spare time.
Ben believes that, because of KGS's rating system that seems to punish excessive playing by causing the rank to become more and more fickle with each game, those who are still improving steadily or quickly will be held back by using the same account for too long. They will be stuck playing weaker players and thereby have their improvement inhibited a little. From experience and discussion, Ben believes that Go is deeply psychological and philosophical- having a low ranking can cause some players to play worse, the way they would with weaker players, even if they try to be serious. Their confidence/ego will be lower, or they won't feel enough pressure from the weaker opponent to play their true level. Conversely, If their rank is ideal or inflated, they will often play very well, just like confidence will do them good in Go tournaments. Therefore, Ben is quite an account-hopper, discarding accounts every few months like old shells.
Ben believes that Go is a mirror of the self. While one's style can reveal truths about one's personality, he also believes the opposite is true. He loves to guide people in Go through its philosophical yet concretely practical elements. Ben has many personal theories about Go psychology, and even moreso, Go philosophy. He believes in players having certain affinities (talent) and even lack thereof, and developing as players both balanced, and also able to utilize their personal strengths and weaknesses to the fullest - secret weapons and weaknesses. Go is analogous to life. Our Go reflects both our daily condition and our life in the grand scheme. Mastery of Go is impossible - but learning to play well requires balance, flexibility, and rational thinking. We must be reasonable. Go is not a struggle against the opponent who sits before us - it is a struggle against ourselves! An opponent in front of you has nothing to do with the game. The moves they play, which could also have been generated from a program just the same, are the only thing to think about. The only real player and the only real opponent, is yourself.
Another thing Ben believes to hold true, at least for amateurs, is that incorrect moves can be correct within a particular game. Humans have an innate ability to sense, and when we play Go, sometimes we can sense what kind of move might work against the opponent before us, particularly during an in-person game. We can learn a lot about their style, strength, and unique thinking from just a few moves. Maybe not everyone can do this, but maybe everyone at least has this potential. Therefore, although it may not fit with the logic of personal training, this idea holds that a won game is a correctly played one. In the Go world, nothing matters except for the result. "I put myself into Atari", "I didn't see that", "I wasn't feeling well", "I wasn't trying" ... Everyone can say one of these things. But in the end, the winner moves on. I have learned this the hard way and changed my mind about this years ago. It may be controversial when considering the term "skill." But what if we use, for example, the words "winning ability?" In that case, no one can complain, because all of those excuses are an integral part of your winning ability, aka, your "strength"! Strength at Go is ability to win, and anything that hinders that power, including poor vision or what have you, is a part of your strength. Perhaps "skill" is a frequently-used useless word in Go communities.
4-2 record in 2-Dan division and second place in Pair Go (with Amira Song, then 1-Dan) at the 2008 Canadian Open Go championship in Quebec.
3rd Place in the 5-Dan division at the 2010 Canadian Open in Vancouver.
3rd Place in the 2011 GTA Open, run by Golden Key Cultural Centre in Mississauga.
Various other 3rd place results in 5d or Championship divisions of recent tournaments after 2009, such as Waterloo tournaments.
1st and 2nd place results in various High School - University Team Tournaments, teamed up with Di Wu (5d) and Michael Liang (5d).
Place | Rating | Certification | Alias | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canada | 5 Dan | CGA | |||
Korea | 4 Dan | KBC | |||
Japan | 6 Dan | Gangneung World Youth Baduk Festival | |||
KGS | 5 Dan | KGS | gilgil |
1 Dan | 2 Dan | 3 Dan | 4 Dan | 5 Dan | 6 Dan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Year | 1 Year 6 Months | 2 Years 3 Months | 2 Years 6 Months | 3 Years 1 Month | Still working on it. |
Canadian Rating: http://www.go-canada.org/documents/Memb-02f.pdf
Ben wins more as white than as black, according to hundreds of games' worth of KGS statistics. It may be due to more of a reactionary style.
Ben Mantle was first inspired by Hikaru no Go, a Japanese Anime about Go that he really likes and has watched several times through. His first encounter with Go was in his school's Anime Club in 2005, but it was not until a year later that he learned the rules, which was on KGS.
Teachers:
Ben was shown the most elementary of basics by DonClaboni? on KGS, who kindly explained for a good hour or two, to great success.
Ben's first teacher was Jeffrey Fung, a Canadian 6 Dan player. He took lessons from Jeff for some months, and this was his time of most rapid improvement, moving from beginner to 1 Kyu in under a year.
When Jeff was out of Toronto for some time, Ben moved from 1 Kyu to 1 Dan with the help of Eddy Zhang, a Chinese 4 Dan who was visiting Canada from China. They met at a York University Go club meeting. Eddy's KGS account was, or still is, causenet.
When Ben was Canadian 3 Dan, he started playing Go nearly every week at James Sedwick's home, usually playing James, but sometimes other players who attended as well. James is the president of the Canadian Go Association, and 6 Dan. They started playing with three stones of handicap, and when Ben improved to 4 Dan, they moved down to two (though Ben lost well over half). Since Ben's return from 5 months of studying in Korea, they now play on Tagai-sen.
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- Recent Updates**
Current blog: "Nevermeltice" - http://ygami.blogspot.ca (UPDATED Jan. 12, 2014)
He also used to keep a Go blog at http://honinbou.blogspot.com called "Dreams of a Go Player."
His Facebook -->
http://facebook.com/GoPlayer
LiveJournal? -->
http://ramenboya.livejournal.com called Duelist Domain.(old)
Another blog:
http://driftingsand.blogspot.com, called Drifting Sand. It is not strictly a Go blog, but just a personal one. (stopped posting)
Ben has recently had some more success at another tournament, the 2013 Canadian Open Go Championship.
Ben still attends University of Toronto Go club --> http://https://www.facebook.com/groups/uoftgoclub/
And he still *teaches* (linkxsaber@gmail.com)
He is currently posting blog entries about Go (and many other things) over at Nevermeltice
http://ygami.blogspot.ca
May be 6-dan now