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Does anyone play on IGS? I made an account there because I much prefer Goban to KGS's client, but if everyone's on KGS I might have to make a KGS account too.
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# ¿ Sep 1, 2024 01:13 |
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Guess I could lose a bunch of games in this tournament too--can I get an invite to the group? My OGS username is "amsone"; thanks!
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I'm around 10k (OGS, mostly correspondence; vacillates between 9k and 11k depending on whether or not I'm a winning streak or a losing streak), and I've been stuck at 10k for around 8 months, after having made consistent monthly progress before that. I feel like my openings are generally better than my opponents', and (if we get there) I usually play a better endgame than they do (I can usually see a few mistakes they make, and it seems like I typically make up around 10 points in the endgame). When I lose, it seems like it is because I screwed up fighting in the middlegame. I don't typically lose big groups (though it happens), but often let a few important stones get cut off and captured, or give my opponent huge influence, or nullify my own influence, etc. I have Davies' "Tesuji" but struggle to use it (I also have the companion "Life and Death" and find the problems in that much easier to read out, even though it's supposed to come afterwards). I also have Kageyama's book, which maybe I should revisit again. Should I just be powering through these problems I already have, or is there something else I should be studying to either fix my bad middlegame fighting or learn a style in which fighting is less important?
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I don't think Fundamentals is a good first book either, even though it's my favorite book overall. I think it's a great book once you're solidly like 15k or so, but I don't think you can get there in "only a few teaching games" unless you're kind of a go prodigy or think "a few" means dozens of games. The reason it's so good is that it rewards rereading every couple of kyu, in a way that other books don't, but Kageyama doesn't do a great job of explaining why all sorts of the lines which a weak DDK would think of aren't actually playable. I actually think Attack and Defense might be easier than Fundamentals in parts (but I also think Attack is easier than Tesuji which is a minority opinion, for what that's worth). The Second Book of Go is a great first book (you no longer really need what it considers a "first" book, since there are so many free rules overviews on the internet). I'm looking forward to rereading Shape Up, also--glad it got a link.
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Blendy posted:I think we're more active on OGS https://online-go.com/group/8 I play frequently on OGS (u: amsone) but I feel like the group's dead. If it's not, should we do a new tournament? Or at least get some ladder activity going?
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I think OGS is the best for western players--HTML5 and does correspondence and realtime equally well. I hear it's not good if you're too strong (not enough strong players, who are all on East Asian servers) but if you're starting out that's not an issue.
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I think playing the 4-4 on top is the best response to a 3-3 opening on a 9x9. If not, maybe 5-5 (by transposition, since 5-5 is a good opening and 3-3 is a bad response to it)? Edit: Where are people playing these days? I've historically been mostly OGS but recently have been on KGS a bit thanks to the the new web client for it; it's pretty good (minus the lack of automatch and it not letting you stay in the lobby through a disconnect). Scythe fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jul 28, 2021 |
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PerniciousKnid posted:Are there any good books for studying 9x9 or 13x13? I'm short on time so I only ever play baby Go. There's a great free ebook for 9x9, looks like it got revised in 2019: 81 Little Lions.
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mycophobia posted:fox 6kyus are insane insane how? i'm somewhere around 6k on KGS, haven't tried fox but might if the playstyle is super different. also, thanks for the reminder to do more tsumego, your regimen seems good even though i know dans are gonna be like "read more, don't guess"
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that’s nuts. It’s insane to me that a human compared that problem, also.
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I gotta get back into it, I’ve inadvertently taken a couple months off. Before I start some OGS correspondence and hang out on KGS in the evenings sometimes, is there anyone else people are playing lately?
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Am I misreading it or isn’t it dead already even if you play above or right, because black 172 still falsifies that eye and cuts you off from the corner? I feel like it might even be dead already by 168 but I can’t quite read it out. edit: not trying to be a jerk here, just inadvertently started doing some reading practice and wanted to see if I was missing something.
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Ah, I thought you were white and were regretting having played 172 rather than an adjacent point, and then just totally misread the situation with the incorrect background assumption that white was dead. Ignore the above, lol
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How long have you been playing? 4 stones is a decent size handicap, especially on the 13x13 board, but handicaps go up to 9 stones for a reason, and even with a 9-stone handicap, even advanced amateurs who have been playing for years and years cannot beat pro players. The skill differences between a pro and an advanced amateur, between them and an intermediate, between them and a beginner, and between them and someone who has literally never played are around 9 stones each. Go has massive depth. If you've been playing for less than a few months, and you understand the rules, IMO you should read less (or not at all, for now) and play more. And you should play all 3 standard board sizes, to get a feel for how they're different (9x9 is all about close fighting tactics, 19x19 is where long-term strategy comes in). You'll start to see the patterns the more you play, and if you're the type to be interested in the game in the first place, you'll start to get it soon. There is a proverb (there are always proverbs in this poo poo): "Get your first 100 losses as soon as possible." One of the best things that playing go taught me was how to lose more gracefully.
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# ¿ Sep 1, 2024 01:13 |
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I’ve been bouncing around mid-SDK for a long time and usually find that a Fundamentals reread helps a concept click into place faster/better than picking up Tesuji, L&D, or Attack again.
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