Michael Lesniak

My name is Michael Lesniak. I'm currently around 9k KGS (Nick: mic) and recently started to play again more regularly.

Blog

18.10.2009

Started to play again -- hopefully with more consistency and thinking. Still 10k/9k KGS.

01.05.2009

I'm doing a lot of Tsumego in the last days (Graded Go Problems Vol. 2 and 3), goproblems.com and try to read out all necessary variations. I hope it will help dealing with my No-Thinking-Attidtude in real games by forming a habit to read more.

Anyone has additional suggestions or comments if this approach could work?

• Herman: I do have the experience that doing tsumego gives the the tendency to "stop and think", though usually mostly about enemy groups that are fully enclosed and where my tsumego instincts tell me something is up :-) For other midgame fighting, such as running battles, I need other ways to slow down (Personally, I find that leaving the board and walking around for a minute helps me slow down).

23.04.2009

Tried my strategy on a game yesterday. It worked for the first ~ 70 moves but then my fast clicking came back. At least I started :-)

Played a game against a 3k with a 6 stone handicap and won by 9.5 points. Slow Playing worked much better!

22.04.2009

Starting to blog here about my wish to think more: Find at least three equally good moves (this does imply WholeBoardThinking ?) and read (for the beginning) only three moves deep, i.e. "I play, he plays, I answer" - what is the situation now?

Question Should I combine this with having a reason for each move or does the latter follow automatically from the former? Any good tips, hints or comments on developing this habit?

• Herman: One good trick to find better moves is the 1-2-3 principle. So if you read three moves deep, think about whether the first two moves are necessary, or if the third can also be played immediately...

Hints from other players

• Dieter: Once you start applying the ideas consciously in games, fast or slow, analyze your games. Analyzing my games has been instrumental for me to improve. Analyze fast games quickly, focus on flaws in your intuition, and analyze slow games more on a tactical level.