Ben Mantle

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My name is Ben Mantle and I am a 17 year old full-on Canadian Go player. My goal right now is to become a Go player of professional-caliber strength. My dream is to actually be a pro. I've played for 10 months as of the start of February and am about 1 kyu at local Go clubs. If anyone has information about the professional Go exams, and anything relevant that would be of use to me please do tell, much appreciated. An example of such information would be age limits. Are there professional Go exams in Europe? What's the age limit, and that of Japan? I really want to go to Japan or Korea, or I guess anywhere in Asia that I would be able to learn better. I'll update my progress on here. I hope to hear some feedback from random people hehe.




=================== UPDATE! ===================

I forgot all about this page I put up here... So far, my progress is: 2 years and one month - 3-4 Dan in Canada. I had a 6 month quit period not long ago, for various reasons, but I've long since been back!

I'm the one who made Youtube's "Baduk Legend" videos, and one day I will continue it, though perhaps I'll change the name. I have a blog - [ext] http://honinbou.blogspot.com - so original, I know.

My friend, KGS's Zeratul, has referred to my Go as "similar to Shusaku. Even your midgame fighting reminds me of Go from 100 years ago. Not necessarily a bad thing, it's just interesting." Don't quote me. I've studied Shusaku more than any other pro, and next would be Lee Chang-ho.

Currently, my strongest aspect is Yose, and I've become a fairly balanced player. At York University's Go club in Toronto, back when I was steps away from Shodan, my Go was referred to as "Subway Style" by a Korean Shodan named Robert. On that note, it seems most Korean players I've played with love central Moyo play and fighting. I can't name even one Korean player I've played against who isn't like this, it's very interesting. Back then, I would constantly play an unbalanced, overly territorial game. Sometimes, the game would go like this: I would take most of the low territory, then jump right in the middle, usually right on Tengen. I called this the "Seed Style". I plant a seed in the center and watch it grow, obliterating all of my opponent's center potential - it was ridiculous. Incidentally, through playing many, many games at a Korean Go club, my style has become agreeably effective against these overly center-based attack styles.


My favourite openings are as follows:

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

For black

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

For black

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

For white

If black plays two Komoku, I'll also take two Komoku. If my opponent takes white's position as shown here but as black, I will still take this as white. These openings aren't interesting or anything, they're very ordinary but i really like them right now.


Favourite strange Fuseki and Joseki moves:

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

Figure out the variations for yourself. My friend taught me this, and it's one of my favourite moves, though I rarely get to use it.

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

Phantom Kakari?


Favourite Common Joseki Variation:

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

Continued below...

[Diagram]

19x19 diagram

I like white.

I'll add a lot more content some other time!


This is a copy of the living page "Ben Mantle" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2009 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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