Steve Kroon
I'm a South African 1 dan at the Stellenbosch Go Club. I've been playing since 1995, off and on.
I run the South African Go clubs website, and my personal webpages are at http://www.cs.sun.ac.za/~skroon/personal.
My nick on KGS is thekro.
Promotion and tournament history
1995: 30k (started)
1995: 29k (1 win vs 0 losses)
1 March 1996: 28k (1 win vs 1 loss)
1 March 1996: 27k (1 win vs 0 losses)
6 March 1996: 26k (1 win vs 1 loss)
13 March 1996: 25k (1 win vs 2 losses)
23 March 1996: 24k (1 win vs 2 losses)
1 April 1996: 23k (1 win vs 4 losses)
1 April 1996: 22k (1 win vs 0 losses)
4 April 1996: 21k (1 win vs 4 losses)
21 April 1996: 20k (4 wins vs 3 losses)
8 May 1996: 19k (detour via 21k, 4 wins vs 3 losses)
24 July 1996: 18k (detour via 20k, 10 wins vs 6 losses)
28 August 1996: 17k (detour via 20k, 10 wins vs 12 losses)
30 August 1996: 16k (detour via 18k, 3 wins vs 1 loss)
4 September 1996: 15k (4 wins vs 1 loss)
23 September 1996: 27th in the 1996 South African Open - won the 20k-15k division (upset: beat a 13k on scratch)
23 September 1996: 14k (detour via 16k, 9 wins vs 6 losses and 1 jigo)
3 February 1997: 13k (detour via 15k, 10 wins vs 15 losses)
12 February 1997: 12k (3 wins vs 0 losses)
23 February 1997: 11k (4 wins vs 2 losses)
12 May 1997: 10k (7 wins vs 6 losses)
6 March 1998: 9k (detour via 13k, 12 wins vs 16 losses)
September 1998 - April 2002: No games
28 August 2003: 8k (detour via 15k, 34 wins vs 48 losses)
4 March 2004: 7k (10 wins vs 11 losses)
22 June 2004: 6k (24 wins vs 19 losses)
June 2004: Participated in 2004 Cape Town Open- 1 win out of 3 games (upset: beat a 3k on scratch)
October 2004: 6th in Upper Division of 2004 Western Cape Open
12 March 2005: 5k (detour via 9k, 51 wins vs 66 losses)
March 2005: Placed 2nd in the 2005 Cape Town Open (upsets: beat a 3k and a 1k on scratch)
March 2005: Finished last (13th) in the Stellenbosch Club First Quarter Handicap Tournament
May 2005: Finished 3rd in the Stellenbosch Club Second Quarter Handicap Tournament
23 June 2005: Finished tied 2nd in Pool B of the 2005 Stellenbosch 9x9 Tournament (upsets: lost to a 6k and a 10k on scratch)
16 July 2005: Finished last (12th) in the South African Candidates' Tournament (so 16th in SA Closed)
6 August 2005: Placed 7th in the 2005 Western Cape Open (upsets: beat a 4k on scratch, was beaten by a 6k on scratch)
8 August 2005: Part of winning Western Cape team in 1st August 2005 Gauteng-Western Cape Internet Showdown (upset: won my game vs a 3-kyu)
11 September 2005: Finished 3rd in Preliminary Round 3A of the 2005 Western Cape Closed
15 October 2005: Finished 3rd in 2005 Stellenbosch First League
2 February 2006: 4k (detour via 6k, 94 wins vs 75 losses)
24-26 February 2006: Reached semi-finals in winner's bracket of the 3rd African Oza (upset: beat a 3-kyu)
24-26 February 2006: Finished 18th in the 2006 South African Open (upsets: beat a 3-kyu, lost to a 7-kyu, beat a 1-dan, beat a 3-kyu)
26 February 2006: 3k (9 wins vs 7 losses)
18 March 2006: Finished tied 5th in the 2nd group, and 13th overall in the 1st Quarter 2006 SA Internet Go Tournament
1 April 2006: Finished 7th in the Cape Town Open (upset: lost to a 4-kyu)
25 May 2006: Began detour at 4 kyu
3 June 2006: Lost a 7-stone game in a simultaneous game against Alexandre Dinerchtein, which I qualified for by a top 10 finish in the "World of Korean Baduk" quiz run by the Goama newsletter in the 14 May 2006 issue - I got 6 out of 8 for the quiz.
24 June 2006: Finished tied 2nd in the 2nd group, and 10th overall in the 2nd Quarter 2006 SA Internet Go Tournament
29 June 2006: Tied winner of the Stellenbosch 9x9 tournament (upset: lost to a 6-kyu)
15 July 2006: Qualified for a simultaneous game against Alexandre Dinerchtein by tieing for first in the "World of Chinese Go" quiz run by the Goama newsletter in the 30 June 2006 issue - I got 8 out of 8 for the quiz.
15 July 2006: Finished tied 9th-11th (?) in the South African Candidates' Tournament (so tied 13th-15th in SA Closed) (forfeited 1 game due to server crash, upset: beat a 3-kyu)
5 August 2006: Finished 5th in the Stellenbosch Open (upset: beat a 2-kyu)
5 August 2006: Returned to 3 kyu
27 August 2006: Finished 3rd (last) in the South African Pair Go Championships, with teammate Christina Auret (11k)
2 September 2006: Won the second group of the 3rd Quarter 2006 SA Internet Championship (upsets: beat two 2-kyus)
14-15 October 2006: Finished 4th in the Western Cape Closed Meijin Challenger's League (upset: beat a 1-kyu)
15 October 2006: Won the Stellenbosch 1st League
(upset: lost to a 6-kyu)
15 October 2006: 2k (detour via 4k, 39 wins vs 30 losses)
22 October 2006: Won the "World of Japanese Go" quiz run by the Goama newsletter in the 15 October 2006 issue - I got 7 out of 8 for the quiz (tied with 4 players). Prize was a 6-month subscription to http://fuseki.info
25 November 2006: Finished tied 2nd overall in the 4th Quarter 2006 SA Internet Go Tournament (upsets: beat two 1-dans)
14 December 2006: 1k (9 wins vs 8 losses)
24 February 2007: Finished 9th in the 2007 South African Open (upsets: lost to a 2-kyu and a 3-kyu)
17 March 2007: Finished tied 5th overall in the 1st Quarter 2007 SA Internet Go Tournament
19 May 2007: Finished 2nd in the 2007 Cape Town Open
16 June 2007: Finished tied 5th overall in the 2nd Quarter 2007 SA Internet Go Tournament
14-15 July 2007: Finished 12th in 2007 SA Closed
15 July 2007: detour via 2k begins
9-10 February 2008: Finished 6th in the 2008 South African Open and 5th in the 4th African Oza (upset: beat a 1k)
15 March 2008: Finished tied 2nd overall in the 1st Quarter 2008 SA Internet Go Tournament (upset: beat a 2-dan)
15 May 2008: Returned to 1k
17 May 2008: Finished 4th in 2008 Cape Town Open
6 September 2008: Finished tied 5th in the 3rd Quarter 2008 SA Internet Go Tournament
28 February 2009: Finished 8th in the 1st Quarter 2009 SA Internet Go Tournament (upset: lost to a 3k)
18 April 2009: Finished 8th in the 2nd Quarter 2009 SA Internet Go Tournament (upsets: lost to two 2k's)
16 May 2009: Finished 3rd in 2009 Cape Town Open (upset: lost to an 11k on 8 stones)
1 August 2009: Finished tied 5th overall in the 3rd Quarter 2009 SA Internet Go Tournament
22 November 2009: Finished 6th in the 2009 Fish Hoek Open
9 October 2010: Finished 3rd in the 2010 Stellenbosch Open (upset: lost to a 6k giving 3 handicap)
22 November 2011: Finished 7th in the 2011 Cape Town Blitz Go Tournament
3 March 2012: Winner (with Andre Connell) of the 1st South African Rengo Championship
19 May 2012: 1d
21 October 2012: Finished 5th in the Stellenbosch Open
(You can see my record sheet and player stats page on the SA Go clubs website) Username and password 'guest' for the recordsheet.
Study Pages
Overview of Fusekis
General Opening Principles
Basic Strategies List
Overview of Josekis
More on Josekis
The Joseki Quick Reference
Taxonomy of Joseki
Overview of Standard Enclosures
Unusual Enclosures
Framework Theory
Playing around enclosures
Middlegame Joseki: Three-space extension invasions
3-3 invasions
Middlegame Joseki: Reduction Techniques
Overview of Life and Death
Shapes and Connections
Overview of Notchers
Overview of Endgame
Scoring - Endgame Reckoner
Overview of Tesujis
Overview of Shape
Miai Values List
All about Liberties
All about Ko
Six Good and Six Bad Shapes
Basic Instincts
Strategic concepts
Thickness Cycle
Go Proverbs
Advice for Handicap Go
About memorizing Go Games
DieterVerhofstadt/ListOfTrustworthyProverbs
Other pages I use quite often
- Big Titles
- List of Korean Names
- Chinese Pro Ratings
- SGF Archives
- Korean Problem Academy
- Kanazawa Tesuji Series
Other South African Go Players on Senseis
Victor Chow
Ben Gale
Konrad Scheffler
John Leuner
AcidBurn
Gbin
Quantumf
GoJac
True Organ
My most popular contribution to Sensei's Library so far: Top Amateur Players By Country. Other popular contributions: BQM232, this page, and KGS People.
Other previously popular contributions:
- July 2005: Etland Cup.