Congratulations on your promotion to shodan, Herman! - Andre Engels
Dat gaat lekker vooruit. Kan je me eens vertellen hoe je het aanpakt? Tijd/Keuzes/... Dieter
Hmmm, goede vraag. Ik ben inderdaad niet ontevreden over de vooruitgang, hoewel ik wel links en rechts voorbijgeschoten wordt door jeugdtalenten :-) Tot 1e dan heb het eigenlijk volledig op basis van rekenkracht gedaan. Ik had een gruwelijk slechte aggressieve stijl met veel overplays, die ik alleen waar kon maken door in de resulterende gevechten mijn tegenstanders eruit te rekenen. Ik heb in die tijd weinig gestudeerd en vooral eindeloos veel gespeeld, vooral vluggertjes (10 min p.p. ofzo) Toen ik eenmaal 1e dan was, kwam de realisatie dat ik op die manier niet veel verder kon groeien. Ik ben me toen gaan focussen op twee dingen:
- Een betere stijl. Goede vorm proberen te maken, rustiger spelen. Heb daarbij veel gehad aan adviezen van Willem Koen Pomstra (5d), wiens stijl loodrecht tegenover de mijne staat, en juist solide (bijna traag) is, met enorm veel focus op vorm.
- Openingen. Heb hierbij veel gehad aan Whole Board Thinking in Joseki, en aan wat lessen van Guo Juan. Wat ook wel helpt is dat ik een fotografisch geheugen heb, waardoor ik de meeste joseki kan onthouden de eerste keer dat ik ze zie.
Daarmee ben ik tot 3e dan gekomen. Op dit moment probeer ik 4e dan te worden, en ik merk dat nu de belangrijkste focus voor mij is om de partij te controleren. Nooit een gevecht uit de hand laten lopen. Geen overplays. Proberen de partij in balans te houden en langzaam de overhand te krijgen. Natuurlijk wel kansen grijpen als je ze krijgt, maar altijd voorzichtig blijven. Altijd bereid zijn tot furikawari, altijd een optie achter de hand hebben. Dit is iets wat ik in de meeste goede spelers zie, die zijn eigenlijk nooit verslagen tot er geteld is.
Dieter: Gelezen en goedgekeurd. Bij mij lag het aandeel conceptualiteit véél hoger bij mijn promotie tot 1d. Ik denk dus dat je wel ver zal geraken.
Jeff: The above content is about how Herman has studied/practiced to achieve 1d and later 3d. Apparently it's worked well for him. To read it, go to babelfish and use the "Dutch to English" option.
Herman Hiddema: Or as an alternative, let me provide a translation. Dieter asked me how I achieved the progress I did, and my answer was:
Hmmm, good question. I am indeed not unhappy with my progress, although youthful talents are passing me left and right :-) Up to 1st dan was pretty much solely on reading strength. I had a horribly aggresive style with many overplays, with which I could only win because I outread my opponent in the ensueing fights. In those days I didn't study much, and mostly played a lot, including lots of lightning games (10 min p.p.) When I had achieved 1st dan, I realised that I wouldn't be able to grow much further with that style. I then focused my studying on two things:
- Better style. Try to make good shape, play more calmly. I had a lot of help with this from Willem Koen Pomstra (5d), whose style is pretty much the opposite of mine, very solid (almost slow) with a lot of focus on shape.
- Openings. THe book Whole Board Thinking in Joseki was a lot of help here, as were some lessons from Guo Juan. It also helps that I have a photographic memory, which allows me to remember most joseki the first time I erncounter them.
That got me to 3rd dan. Right now I'm trying for 4th dan, and I'm noticing that the main focus right now is to keep the game under control. Never let a fight get out of hand. No overplays. Try to keep the game balanced and slowly push for an advantage. Which does not mean I don't pounce on a chance when I see it, but it does mean always to be careful. Always be willing to play furikawari, always keep another option open. That is something I see in most good players, they are never beaten until the game is counted.
Herman, je bent in Delft?! Dus speel je ook op woensdag? Ik zou er wel zin in hebben om na lange, lange afwezigheid van een echte boord weer dicht bij huis te kunnen spelen. Ik woon op fietsafstand in Rijswijk. e-mail: tderz@ en verder een heel bekende provider in NL beginnend met xs4.... Trouwens is mijn stijl - IMO - een mengvorm tussen konstant zoeken naar de beste vorm, soms kunnen rekenen, maar vooral proberen niet te veel onzin in de opening uit te halen. Verder ben ik nog zwak in het eindspel.
Ik speel inderdaad tegenwoordig in Delft. Ik heb je een mailtje gestuurd met verdere details!
Bedankt tderz
I wish u good luck in the next rounds...
Thanks! I had a terrible tournament, played very badly, but it was a lot of fun :-)
thanks for answering my question. when it's x's and o's rather than stones it's harder to see when stones are put in atari.
You're welcome, glad to help
GregoryWonderwheel: Hi, I just discovered SL and your "difficult problem" page. You show H19 as the solution with E19 as white's response, but I don't see why G19 is not the right response for white? In play as white I would never try E19 while black's play at H19 was still a open door and F18 shows why. Could you explain? Also, in a game, I would have played black G18 as the solution, but your discussion page didn't even show this as a viable move, so could you explain why this isn't mentioned on the discussion page and why it doesn't work? Thanks. (I saw you're note about being away so I will check back later.)
DanSchmidt: I think the one missing entry in your Joseki Learning Order page that players would have picked up by this point is the standard 3-3 invasion underneath a hoshi stone.
Herman: Thanks, that is indeed one of the earliest joseki players pick up. I have added it now.
ThorAvaTahr: Stiekum het eerste bord afpakken van Frederik he! Ik heb het wel door. Gefeliciteerd met je resultaat op Wintergo!
Herman: hehehe. Ja, dat ging erg hard met die ratingpunten op de manier. Ik had er eigenlijk al op gerekend dat Frederik bord 1 zou zijn, die 27 ratingpunten leken me erg moeilijk te overbruggen. Nou maar eens kijken wat het NK wordt wat betreft mijn rating :-)
Bill: I didn't mean to cause you work with the taisha page. :( I thought that the link to the joseki page would be good enough, and have the plus of showing people what the taisha really is. Otherwise I would have changed links myself.
Herman: No problem. I think the current taisha page is a good addition to SL, but most of the references to taisha are direct references to the joseki, so the interjection of another page might confuse people :-)
Phelan: Could you please review the XuanxuanQijingProblem2 pages? I merged them, but since I'm not familiar with the problem myself, I'd like to make sure I didn't mess anything up.
Herman: Done! Thanks for the merge, looked fine! :-)
Phelan: Thanks! Sorry for posting in the main page, didn't notice you had a Talk page.
tapir: 4d+, 5d+, 4d+ - I don't believe you're "only" 3 dan. You're hereby promoted to SL 4 dan - if nobody disagrees within five days :)
thanatos13: I second this motion. Looking at the charts, it is either Herman is better than ""only" 3 dan" or that ALL his opponents were not playing well due to indigestion (or other causes). If this motion is not passed then we should make a motion to give him a rank of 3d++ :P
Herman: hehehe, thanks guys! I've been having a really good run the last 8 months or so :-D
Herman: Well, it happened. After my SL promotion, I was now also promoted to 4 dan IRL.
thanatos13 k thanks herman :)
JG: Thanks for your /FixingAProGame page. Move 10 was never labelled in the series of 'fixed' diagrams: I am not sure whether you meant to do that so I have not made a change. I did fix a couple of typing mistakes.
tapir: Will you be back on Monday? Because I won't be online for the Article of the Week update. Anyone else?
Herman: I will be traveling monday and tuesday, but I can try to do it sunday night, before I go to bed!
tapir: Fine. See you.
Herman: Sorry, it turned out that I did not have internet access anymore sunday night, thanks for finding the time to do it yourself after all!
tapir: No problem, the week before I missed the monday and nobody volunteered... Congratulations to your victory in Leksand. A pity you couldn't organize and play the EGC at the same time.
thanatos13: welcome back Herman!
Herman: Thanks! :-)
Peter Dijkema: Top, 1e in Leksand Open! Is er al een tabel?
Herman: Nog niet, op http://goclubdelft.nl/ staat een verslagje, ik verwacht dat de tabel binnenkort wel op http://leksand-open.eu/ zal verschijnen.
Herman: Tournament Table: http://www.goforbundet.se/turneringar/09/leksand.php
Pandanet ranking: http://www.eurogofed.org/eurocup/rank09-10.htm
Dutch report: http://goclubdelft.nl/?q=node/118
English report: http://goclubdelft.nl/?q=en/node/122
tapir: Is it time to start a Sensei's Library in 2010 threat... before 2010 starts? I feel like I want to talk about the future.
Herman: I think it's always a good idea to talk about the future of SL. Maybe at Future use of SL?
thanatos13 way to make 4d IRL and even beating a 6d. Very impressive.
imabuddha: Thanks for enlightening me about that usage of the word custom in Final Summit. I've never heard (or read) anyone use it that way before.
ThorAvaTahr: Did beating Michiel Eykhout do anything for your shusaku number?
Herman: Nope. The shortest route out of Europe is (and will probably remain for some time) through Hans Pietsch, so the only way I could improve is by defeating someone who has defeated Hans (such as Emil Nijhuis). And since Hans is dead, that group is fixed (as listed at Winning Shusaku Number: Emil Nijhuis, Victor Bogdanov, Catalin Taranu, Rob van Zeijst.) Maybe I can win against Rob at wintergo ;-)
tapir: I guess I misunderstood your merge proposal for the KGSWorstAdmin and the KGSAdmins/Complaints page. On the day of amnesty means on that day not on that page, right? I actually agree, and will do that anyway, there is no necessity to sign template being there in the meantime. Do you know any other pages which are well described as complaint pages on sl?
Herman: Yes, i meant on that day (in time), not on the page "Day of Amnesty". I think that KGSAdmins/Complaints is a good page title, while KGSWorstAdmin is not. Everyone disagrees on who is good or bad anyway, there is no objective measure, so for neutrality I think SL should just stick to "Complaints". I don't know any other such pages off the top of my head. There are bug/error pages related to some software, as well as wish lists, but those don't really fall in the same category (they don't need amnesty).
tapir: Imo KGSWorstAdmin is an introduced trademark (and somehow an answer to the best admin election in 2004). It was just ridiculed and obstructed from the beginning after an attempt to get rid of it altogether failed (admins nominating each other, self nominations etc.). I would rather keep that title and guarantee that the new edition won't be obstructed as the old one. There really does not need to be agreement who is good and who is bad, measurement of the quality of the kgs admins isn't the purpose of the page anyway, but to give an opportunity to speak out when frustrated, exchange and generation of ideas for a better kgs.
tapir: Wish a good time in China. Are you going to study weiqi there, or is it more like holiday or even work related ...? I am curious and a bit jealous.
Herman: Thanks! It's a holiday. I'm going together with my girlfriend, and we're going to travel around the country. We'll try to visit a go club during the trip, but it's not the goal of the trip :)
richardamullens: Interesting, I am thinking of going to China in the new year to learn a little Chinese. I wonder did you get a visa for more than 3 months ? I was thinking of going to Chengdu to start with - if you do play some go maybe you could update http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiPlacesInChina and the Travel Trips for China page you started - http://lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=654
Herman: I got a visa for 90 days, which is the maximum for a tourist visa, I think. AFAIK, 30 day visa are easy, 90 days are harder, but not too hard. We had to give a list of hotel reservations as a prerequisite. I'm definitely going to update WeiqiPlacesInChina when I'm back, and I've already posted over at L19 :-)
tapir: Hi Herman, I messed around in your user pages to create a christmas related problem page. Forgive me. I would like to prepare something else as well, but if you're away seems like nobody is stepping in to update the AotW (unkx80 is busy as well).
Herman: No problem! I just got back from China, so I'll be on SL more regularly :)
Bass: Welcome back! Also, it's your turn in 16 games at plofblub :-)
tapir: Can you have a look at Joseki choice, please?
Herman: Will do! It'll have to wait until next week though, as I am leaving for Amsterdam in a hour, going to the Dutch Championship :)
tapir: Don't forget that you're the favorite (at least in the L19 poll) ;)
tapir: Do you mind looking at both the last and the previous version before and after language check. (jts made rather big changes, i am not sure that it now expresses what i intended.) Imo, such a page is important for joseki presentation on SL. Maybe one even can add a passage that joseki are created because there is choice about direction, influence/territory, outside/inside and for each of those professional create lines to achieve them best - unless you play in a blocked configuration (which contains a major mistake before, so you have no professional play to refer to).
tapir: Sankyu! Do you have any opinion how a better 45josekis page, can be made, do we even need a unified presentation, maybe the branches are too different to accomodate an unified presentation? 3-3 Joseki turned out to give the main variation while the number of joseki, variations etc. are very limited. 4-4 Joseki is more a graphical index to subpages, however including some material easily lost in the former presentation. 3-4 Joseki are difficult, to understand and to present. So I turned to the 4-5 Joseki page now.
Now it is a list without much surplus value (like a part of the taxonomy page). I am not sure, what the best approach is. My database suggest that 4-5 point becomes increasingly successful in professional play, so we may see much more of them in future, still they are currently too rare to claim very much on database search, which is usually my first choice. Still I would like to add some basic explanations and hints towards commonness of certain plays. Any ideas?
tapir: Can you have a look at High Shimari, Probing with a Peep Example (hopefully I do :))?
Herman: Looks good! In fact, I think it is too good to be just a subpage :)
Bass: There's this other board game site that is still hoping to see you every once in a while, hope you haven't completely abandoned it. :-)
Herman: Oh, yes, I really neglected that, didn't I? Be right there :)
Bass: Well, three is much better than none.. :-)
Herman: Yeah, sorry, that's all I managed before my holiday. Done the rest today.
Bass: Yay!
Reuven: Wow Tsumego From Games 141 and the rest of them were awesome, you sure played some complicated (Interesting) games... :)
Where is the territory line in Double Go?
arkuat Hello, and thanks for your contributions. I hope you're still active here! I recently discovered LongCycleSekiRule and find it extremely interesting, but I haven't been able to find any discussion of it anywhere else. May I ask, is this your own invention? Has anyone tried it out? If so, is there any discussion of how this has worked in practice?
Herman Hi arkuat. The long cycle seki rule is my own invention. I don't know if anyone has tried it. Even if it has been introduced as a rule somewhere, long cycles are very very rare, so it might not have come up yet.
arkuat Thanks for the reply! I also asked about this on the OGS Forums (under Go variants) and it was pointed out to me that Robert Pauli incorporates a similar idea in his LJRG (2002), where he calls it "removing a disturbing cycle," a thing a player can choose to do as part of their move before playing their stone. He gives a pretty extensive discussion of how his rules implement it and what he thinks the implications for best play are.