Basic Instinct/ Discussion

Sub-page of BasicInstinct

aLegendWai (9k? KGS): Note to authors of this page.


Dieter: I cut and paste aLegendWai's additions here, because I feel they should be debated.

Disadvantage of BasicInstinct

aLegendWai:

Note to the beginners.

aLegendWai: All the following cases are analysed in a completely isolated situation or in a restricted local concern.

In real games, stones are inter-affected by each other, and the whole-board view has to be concerned. So you should take the proper move suggested in the basic instinct with a large pinch of salt (ie not rely on them).

About connecting against a peep

aLegendWai: Don't be misled by the above proverb "Even a Moron..." that connecting against a peep is not nearly always true (eg 99%). It is not true. Other responses against a peep is not uncommon.

Counter-Argument:

  1. Am I really a moron if I don't connect against the peep
  2. When Not to Connect Against a Peep

Bill: I am nominally one of the authors, but this is really Dieter's work. I made a few comments at some time or other. The aim of this page is to give rank beginners some very basic ideas.

As for exceptions, that's what Dieter meant. Arguing for or against something as a "basic instinct" play is really to say that it is *not* typical or usual. The exceptions are really exceptions.

Since this page is aimed at rank beginners, I think it is better to keep the page itself fairly simple, and discuss things in more detail on the /Discussion page.

Dieter: aLegendWai, thanks a lot for your comments and suggestions. I obviously agree with Bill. The whole purpose of this page is to give beginners a "basic instinct". In all of the situations below the basic instinct is best in, say, 90% of the cases. It is NOT true that all options are equally valuable. This is precisely the misconception that I wanted to tackle with this page. You may want to read Lessons in the fundamentals to learn about blocking the thrust and other cases.

Please copy the appropriate stuff to the discussion page. As for this page, I really would like to see the "reasons/exceptions" titling restored.

aLegendWai: Hi, Dieter. Correct me if wrong.
Probably I am even worse than a beginner. I don't think the following basic instincts are correct, say, in 90% of the cases. To me, some may be 50%. Some may be even lower. You may have a database search for the following patterns to see if it is 90%.

Dieter: it should be. I should add that I assume the atari was a good move as well.

''It should be. In particular at low amateur level, a peep is often a thank you move: you connect with pleasure. Even if the peep made sense, connecting still is very likely to be correct.

''It should be. This one too follows the principle of connect and cut. Giving way may look better sometimes, but even then it often turns out to be worse.

But if you are suggesting the following basic instincts in a theoretically isolated situation (no ladder, no surrounding stones etc.), all may be nearly 100% correct.
When the basic instinct is going to be applied generally to the real games, I'm afraid they won't work well to find the correct moves.

Besides in my humble opinion, a beginner has already known most of the basic instincts before they visited this page:


I think leaving some ideas/reminders are better than clipping them. However since you are the author of this page, you are in a better position to choose which are to clip. So feel free to cut and paste anything you feel inappropriate in the page. ^^

crux: Since I also think the page was fine and has now become too cluttered, I've moved more discussion to the subpage and deleted some of your additions. Sorry. If I may make a suggestion, wait until you're stronger than 9k before you start thinking about making serious additions to these pages.

Dieter: Well, I encourage anyone to question so-called wisdom. I am only 2D myself. The point I wanted to make is not to tell beginners how to connect against the peep. I want to convince them that they should connect against the peep. Very often. Almost always. The moves described in basic instinct are stronger than they look. Are often, very often, correct, and much more often than beginners think. I think that you underestimate them as well, alegendwai.

Reflections about this page

aLegendWai (9k? KGS): Correct me if wrong.
I think most newbies should know how to play by their basic instinct without reading the page. It is just common sense.
Eg:

[Diagram]

Atari -> extension

It is the very usual way newbies are playing. It will be surprising if they don't play in that way.

However I would rather say our newbies' basic instinct is considerable unreliable, not to say very. Otherwise newbies will not be badly defeated by a kyu in a 9-stone handicap game. And a single-digit kyu can be defeated by a dan in a 9-stone handicap game.

I am one of the victims of basic instinct. When I was a newbie, I usually hane and hane because I would like to reduce their liberties and capture the stone. I usually play atari when I see it (Beginners Play Atari). I try to save every stone.

[Diagram]

My silly mistake in the endgame

It is my basic instinct to hane-block the stone by basic instinct without thinking.



"Basic instinct" is often the cause of loss!

Without the instillation of Go sense, our instinct is never reliable. But when we know more about Go, our instinct will be sharpened and can think with good Go sense. Only at that time will our instinct be reliable.

So instead of teaching them to play by their basic instinct (that they shoud know most of them), it seems to be more worthwhile to tell them to judge when we should trust our instinct; when we should not.
Since I believe people know when to play by their basic instinct, is it better to emphasise more on when not to play by basic instinct?

ilan: My basic instinct tells me that White's move at 1 is the silly endgame mistake.

aLegendWai (9k? KGS): ilan, you are right. W's best move should be "a" as far as I know.

[Diagram]

How best should B respond now?

a) If W is ko loser, how best should B respond now? b) If W is ko master, how best should B respond now? Based on our instinct, would anyone get the answer offhand (say in 1-3 seconds)? ^.^


bud1027 (6-7d KGS) aLegendWai, I agree most of your saying, but I think your requirement is too hard work for ordinary amateur players.

Aa far as i know, including pro players, no one has succeed to explain general and well defined principles or criteria about when we should trust our basic instincts.

anyway, in my veiw this writing(basic instinct) is an excellent guide to Go for beginners.

bye@@@

aLegendWai (9k? KGS): Thanks for your idea.
Yes it is an excellent guide to Go beginners too. It would be more grateful to beginners if counter-examples are provided for each case of basic instinct. So amateur can get more ideas of all basic instincts.

Tenuki

(Sebastian:) Couldn't most of the problems discussed above be solved if we put as a first rule: Tenuki is always an option?

aLegendWai (9k? KGS): Do you mean all issues/problems in the basic instinct? Or the case of blocking the thrust?
If so, it is true in some extents; but not in some other extents in my humble opinion. Just like the case of blocking the thrust, playing elsewhere tenuki can be a bad answer.
It is no hard and fast rule to deal with these problems. Otherwise a lot of people can be dan.
Any idea is welcome.

(Sebastian:) I meant all issues. It's something I currently find very helpful. But maybe that's not for real beginners. And the Thrust -> dodge diagram may be even be a good counterexample, if it's generally better than tenuki.


This is a copy of the living page "Basic Instinct/ Discussion" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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