aLegendWai

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It is a very long-winded autobiography. Be prepared for reading!
PS: (I use "it" to specify unknown-sex person)

Table of contents Table of diagrams
My silly mistake 1a
My silly mistake 1b
My silly mistake2
My silly mistake3

Part 1: About my Go

My strength

(Oct 7) a 3-dan said: maybe 4k for slow games, 14k for fast games.
(Oct 9) eliminated by a 3k from KGS Oct tournment in the first round. What a shame! [my partner won 2 rounds (17k; 9k) and it quited due to busy work.]
(Oct 26) I think I am around 9k.

(Oct)Defeated GNUGo 3.4.X and 3.5.X. Currently I could defeat them in 3-stone handicap game


Go Preference


Go reflections

- I often fear people playing non-standard bad joseki(?). I intend punish them, but get punished. Huh?!
- why do dan play fast & correct? I play slow & wrong. My brain is rusty?! Or my method of finding a correct move "trial & error" is unwise?!
- I'm somewhat rank chameleon in the even game. When the player is weak, I tend to make more blunders. And make a lot of overplays, hoping the player doesn't relise. So I can win more points. Unfortunately when the player realise it, I will suffer quite a lot.


Part 2: My Go learning path

How I knew Go

I first met Go in the animation of Hikaru no Go.
I love the leading character (Hikaru) and Sai. Sorry to say, but I am a bit dislike Akira (Hikaru's arch-enemy) because he is sometimes arrogant to Hikaru.

But don't get me wrong ^^. I didn't start playing Go after the animation. I love the animation but it doesn't automatically mean I love Go. I am not interested in Go!!


When and How I learned Go

(In late 2003 or early 2004?) I learned Go at [ext] http://playgo.to/interactive/ when I didn't get anything to do one day. I didn't play to anything afterwards.


My first game

On Easter 2004, I visited a HOST family in the UK. There was no internet facilities in their home. At night I got nothing to do except talking to them. They slept quite early.
To kill time, I opened a 9-mini-board game (which had a Go board game too) in my notebook computer and played.
I set the difficulty to the highest (master) and fight with it. "Really tough..." It sometimes caught some stones, I sometimes counter-attacked it - what a tough fight!
I stopped By the way, I was very happy that I can equal the Go master. Hehe... I must be very talented at Go. ^o^ When I play Chinese chess, I can only compete with the beginner (the lowest difficulty). What a shame!


A spark to Go

I talked to my friend on the phone. It (I use "it" to specify unknown-sex person) said it played against the Go program as well.
It: The Go program is trash. I don't like to play with it anymore.
Me: O-o Why?
It: It only plays numberless unreasonable moves. It doesn't know how to play. It is just a super-newbie(30k).
Me: Really? I had a tough fight with it!!
It: I bet
Me: Did you set it as Go master?
It: Definitely
Me: hmm...
It: This Go computer is really non-sense
Me: I think it is you who are really non-sense
It: You fool!
Me: No, it's you who fool
It: When you come back, I will show you why you're a fool


I am a dead duck

(In June 2004) I played my first game with my friend. I forget whether it was an even or handicap game. But I lost poorly.

[Diagram]

My silly mistake 1a

W1 is going to die. W is so silly.

[Diagram]

My silly mistake 1b

umm...

[Diagram]

My silly mistake2

What WC is doing here? Wanna die?!

[Diagram]

My silly mistake3

How could you stop me from alive (forming 2 eyes)? W has no way to stop me from living. After B playing at [circled point], I can live. W cannot play inside because it is suicide.



Lost, lost & lost...
I played with him a lot. I couldn't believe I defeated by my friend in a 6-stone handicap game.
So sad >.<". I'd better die! X-X


Enlightenment

"I have to be strong. I have to defeat my friend (It is the strongest among the friends I know). I can't let it laugh out loud in the game."

I started to study Go in summer. All of my holidays are almost spent on Go. I read a lot and a lot.
I am like Hikaru. My friend (arch-enemy) is like Akira. It is also rude and arrogant to me. I has to chase after it, and has to run before it.
My friend borrowed a Go book from its school library. It gave the book to me. That book was my first Sai. It changed my life.
That book changed my life:

  1. sacrifice less for getting more
  2. you don't need to save every stone in the board
  3. refrain from the desire of capturing stones
  4. you don't need to capture stones in order to win. Keeping them in long danger can win too.
  5. tenuki (Playing elsewhere) is always a choice
  6. Don't chase after your enemy all the time (ie whenever the opponent plays a stone, no need to always respond to it)
  7. your opponent deserves some territories
  8. and so on...

Revival

(Early Sep) After my revival, I played 2 games with my friend. The first game:
A practice even game (Undos are allowed for silly mistakes). I tried to play in a way what my first Sai said. Unfortunately, my friend still won by about 5 points.
Before this game, I should be around 4 stones behind my friend. I asked it how strong I was. It: Wow. You get stronger.
Me: So how many stones I am behind you now
It: Just 1 stone or less stronger.
Me: But you just won by 5 points
It: Hey. Don't you remember the undos?
Me: Maybe 2/3 stones stronger
It: No, you can't.
Me: umm... (I don't think so)

The second game:
A real even game (Undos are disallowed!). Initially I lagged a bit behind my friend. But I destroyed its whole upper left corner in the end. It turned out to be me who won by 21 exactly.

Afterthought

(Oct 10) Now I can even defeat my friend in a 3-stone handicap game. Unlike Hikaru, he needs to spend a few years and still he cannot catch up with Akira. I've just spent about 2-3 months to get over him.
My arch-enemy is all over. Instead of happy, I feel a bit lonely however. Although I can find much much more better players on the Internet, they cannot really inspire my enthusiasm so deeply.
My friend has never read any Go book. It skills are all acquired by gaming experience. It has probably played more than 2000 games.
He is full of game experiences, but lacking book knowledge; I am full of book knowledge, but lacking game experiences.


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