Bildstein

Me

I live in the city of Canberra, the Australian national capital. If you're ever nearby, catch up with me for a game of Go.

Please see my contribution to Why Did You Start Go for more info on me.

Table of contents Me E-mail address Dragon Go Server account IGS account How many games I've played Questions and Answers An idea about ko Positions of note Karate Guest book

E-mail address

ben {dot} bildstein {at} gmail {dot} com

Dragon Go Server account

http://www.dragongoserver.net/userinfo.php?uid=4146

IGS account

Was Bildstein, with which I went from 25k* in about 2001 to 4k* in October 2004. Then, on a hunch that the rating system wasn't keeping up with me, I created a new account as a 2k called BenB, which was 1k* by the time I earned my '*'. When the Bildstein account is removed for lack of activity, I will create it again with a more correct rank.

Currently playing as BenB 1k* (April 2005).

How many games I've played

As of 26 April 2005, I've played approximately 770 games. Here's a bit of a breakdown:

• Bildstein on IGS: 500 games
• BenB on IGS: 80 games
• Bildstein on DGS: 115 games
• Karateka on DGS: 25 games
• Manego on DGS: 28 games
• Local club: 20 games (approx)

Of the Internet games, it seems about 20% were non-rated games.

Questions and Answers

Here are questions that I've asked on this site, and had answered by people more knowledgable than myself.

An idea about ko

I had some thoughts about what the possibility of playing go without allowing ko at all. It's now in a sub-page: /AnIdeaAboutKo

Positions of note

This is another sub-page I created so as not to forget a position that I found interesting (even educational).

Karate

I am also a student of karate, and in karate we have what we call "dojo kun", which are five prinicples that we remind ourselves of each training session:

• One! To strive for the perfection of character!
• One! To defend the paths of truth!
• One! To foster the spirit of effort!
• One! To honour the principles of etiquette!
• One! To guard against impetuous courage!

Take from this what you will.

Guest book

I'd love to know who's reading this page, so here's a place for people to say anything they want to say, even if it's nothing:

Bildstein: Hello, I'm reading your page. Oh, wait a sec, this is my homepage :(

Liso: Hello, where is graph of your karate rating? :)

Bildstein: Well, no, but graphs of karate ranks tend to be a little more predictable and hence less interesting. Basically, it would look sort of like this:

|
|                             *
|                 *
|          *
|       *
|     *
|   *
|  *
| *
|*
+------------------------------

LaTomate I made Shodan at karaté over 10 years ago (I stopped there, though) and I agree, the graph goes something like that :) Cheers, and nice page!

RueLue I think, I saw your name in some games on really big boards, like 27x27 - is there any good page here or anywhere else about really big boards (stratregic thoughts etc.)? Players on those: beerslayer (KGS, 37x37, march to august 2006, recently he played only 19x19)

Phelan: Well, I'm not Bildstein, but I'd suggest you read LargeBoards, and maybe even DifferentSizedBoards.