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How Does It Feel to Improve at Go
Keywords: Question
As I explained in Why Did You Start Go, I began to play because my father loved the game. I'm a competitive wretch, and I needed to beat him at his own game. Then I fell utterly in love with Go, and you know how that goes. Last summer, my father gave me nine stones, and won. In January I took Black in an almost even game (no komi) and won by a single moku. When I went home for Spring Break a few weeks ago, I took White and won several times, by thirty or so points at least or by resignation. The thing is, I can't tell what makes me stronger. I'm not sure what the difference is in my play between January and now. (I can tell the difference since last August, though.) It's like trying to remember the first time I learned about death - I just can't. I can think of a few tesuji I've studied, and I read a book on fuseki (and promptly forgot most of it), but that doesn't seem like enough. Can any of you put your finger on what it felt like to be a weaker player, and what it felt like to gain in strength? Has your mindset changed, or your attitude? What happened? --Regyt Scartol: It's odd for me to write about this, seeing as how I'm still so weak (27-25k). But I know I'm stronger than I used to be, because I don't make the stupid mistakes I used to (and I can beat weaker players because they do). The impression I get, however, is that definite things like this are less tangible as one progresses in the ranks. HolIgor: Easy. You were a blind puppy and now you see. Dieter 1d: I have kept some game records of the earlier days. That allows one to keep track of one's improvement. I think I improved most in playing good shape, in not playing out unpromising positions (tenuki earlier) and in playing more severely. I would like to say that I improved in Life and Death and yose (endgame), but although I invested a lot of time in tsumego, my current games still show a lot of blind spots in those areas. Bill Spight: Sometimes single ideas have an almost immediate effect. When I was starting out, "Play the whole board," and "Throw stones away," were worth several stones each. A few months later, "Play efficiently: make the stones you have already played work," was worth a lot. Even at the dan level, "Is good shape good enough?" was worth a stone in a month or two. The rapid progress that follows such insights can be exhilarating. But, more than any game I know, character is important in Go. In my 20s I often had no chance to play anyone for over a year. Although I would occasionally read Go material, I didn't really study. But on moving to where I could play regularly, I often found that I made quick progress, even though I had reached a plateau before. I think a lot of that had to do with emotional maturity. In one place I lived, we could always tell the state of a local 2-dan's marriage by the quality of his play. :-) Matt Noonan: As for how it feels, I like Go Seigen's words on this the best: "Becoming one stone stronger is the supreme enjoyment." (From A Way of Play for the 21st Century.) BlueWyvern: I've noticed two things myself. One is my score scale has changed. I used to think that 15 points was a close game, and 30 was a game with a few mistakes in it, and maybe 50 was a crushing defeat. Now I think anything under 5 stones is close, 10 is a solid victory, and if I am investing serious thinking time in the game I will usually resign when I am 15 points down in the late middlegame. 20 points is a crushing defeat, and anything over that is just embarassing. :-) Another thing I've noticed is that I don't play nearly so thoughtlessly anymore. I'm able to recognize moves that look forcing but really aren't, sometimes turning the table on my opponent, and I've learned how to do things like play in such a way that I lose 1-2 points but gain sente, things like that. And now more than before, I am playing much fewer blunt mistakes. This is a copy of the living page "How Does It Feel to Improve at Go" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |