A Baduk Blog

Day 20

North American Pro Qualifiers begin today. We are covering it live on Twitch (BadukClub is the channel)

I will be watching so much Go this week. It's amazing that I know three of the competing players. I feel really lucky

This game deserves to be more popular

Is it fighting spirit or can you not admit when you're losing?

It's just a good question.

However many ways you think it can go, it can go so many more ways than that.

Day 21

What the strongest players are willing to do that weaker players can't imagine, is make trades. Really big trades. There are things you think are necessary to save, but they have no problem letting go. However, they squeeze the value out of everything. Even dead stones.

Because as long as it's on the board still, it has influence. Every stone holds looming threats.

Regarding instigation and showing your hand:

A thought- “Because you made that move, I now know that this move is important.”

Moral:

Don't show your opponent their best moves by playing yours too early.

Your opponent’s stones look dead- So what? They're not captured, they're still on the board. That means if you're not alive with your surrounding group they can kill you back and capture you first

Go has a necromancy feature built-in. Capture is more final than death

Day 22

I want to know how strong I really am. And I wish I had someone to play with more consistently in person that was genuinely right at my level.

I played a go variant today called tetris go. It was very interesting. I'm not necessarily here to learn variants but I need to not always take the game too seriously.

I should do another tournament this year.

Our streaming of the pro-quals has been fun

Day 23

I've been asking for too much, thinly. That is a strategy, but only if you don't expect to keep it all. It's making a challenge to the opponent. Trying to make them envious, and instigate overplay. But I think I'd rather ask for just enough, solidly.

Thoughts from watching Ed play Paul

“I'm going to make you double down on your double down” (over concentration). Can you make your opponent invest too much in one thing while you get to spread out your assets?

Day 24

The pleasure of losing to someone who loves the game so much.

Thank you for not letting me get away with moves that other people let me get away with.

Today I played too kindly. I need to finish my fights.

Mind-space. Orb. A mind-palace for while I play. Building it.

Day 25

Things to do during a liberty race:

Count liberties Increase liberties Make eye if possible Falsify eye Trip up (Time buying tesuji from outside) Thicken the moat (Buy time from inside) Take liberties from outside Take liberties from inside Make ko Tenuki Capture

ZChen (Michael Chen) decidedly won the North American Pro Qualifiers today, not dropping a single game. So he's the next American professional. Congrats. It's amazing how no matter how good someone is there will always be someone better.

If you're not going to be the best, what do you aim for? To be your best and to have a good relationship with the thing; to enrich your life in the pursuit of it. Some get to make it their life. Others get to have it be a part of their life. It's good either way.

Thank you for the game. Next time I will-

Day 26 and 27

Teaching a game to a complete beginner is a beautiful and high-responsibility chance to articulate a particular lens on what it means to play it. The lens I believe will be the most helpful and useful to that person as an entry point.

Day 28

1 Style is when you have two good choices and you choose one because it's how you want to play

-quoting Ed, quoting someone who's name I don't remember

2 On the board you either learn how to make the impossible possible, or how to accept the impossible is impossible

Day 29

Time is moving fast. I have five days left here. I am extra focused

Speaking of time, I only have time to do so many things on the board. When I play Go I see my tendency to spread my self too thin. Very rarely does everything survive.

I need to manage less groups. Or at least, try managing one at a time. Or, not more than my opponent is managing. Balance the tension.

I left my plot armor on. I can do anything, I act like.

But no I can't. I can only do what I've laid the groundwork for. I can do what there is time for. I can do what my opponent will let me get away with. I should assume nothing.

Make it to end game. Remember

Day 30

Today I am going to study the rabbity six and how all dead shapes are nested inside of it like Russian nesting dolls. Today I am going to write down some Japanese words and memorize them. Like, Nakade. Inside move. Today I am going to put into words: how to time Nakade.

Nakade means “play inside”. If you think you can throw in to take a group's eyes out, see first whether it will spur the group to run somewhere you would have rather played. If so it's not the time. Play where you'd rather first. They will owe you their own inside move.

Go is about time and using it better than your opponent. You think it's about life and death and winning but it's about not wasting time. It's about flexibility and negotiating what you want to do in the time you have in shared space. The time and space is equal. Desire

If you don't listen to what your opponent wants and adjust desires accordingly you are on a path of inevitable frustration. Go is frustrating if you don't listen. Life is frustrating if you don't listen to how it is changing around you. Your wants are important, but..

You're not the only one here. You're not alone. Why are you so above being influenced? Why the rigidity? You think if you want what you want bad enough you'll prove it possible. That's an idea. That's a thought. From some childhood moment probably. Somebody told you that

Don't win. Play. Don't lose. Play. As well as you know how to. Converse. Listen. Respect. Adjust. Speak your conviction on the board if you can prove it. If you can't, are you just hoping? Just guessing? Imagine and discover with teachable confidence, what you can have.

Rabbity six, Flowery six. The flower containing all poisons. Know them like the back of your hand, to avoid them being used against you. To know you can use them and how to if you must. Your knowledge of shape is a tool and a looming threat. Your asset and security

Count. See, even in your writing, rushing through and making small mistakes. Missing details. Though forgivable, you trip on them sometimes. Take the extra moments and with discipline, count. Calculate value. The math working today is your intuition working tomorrow.

Day 31

There is a difference between slow and solid. If it was solid I don't need to worry that the move was slow.

I gave my Go lecture today finally. I titled it “Flower of Death, Containing All Poisons” which is super dramatic, I know, but memorable. Which is the point.

Going to try playing simpler. Less risky. More solid.

But there will always be the part of me that, on the board, just wants to fight. Maybe it's a matter of keeping that part of me contained until needed. On standby. All parts of me are welcome, but well delegated.

Day 32 Why would I want to poison you? I only shall if necessary. And then I can and I will. I can find the holes in your thinking. If you ask for too much I can take the value back. I can win by making better shape than you.

Winning is different than destroying. You only have to win by one point. I don't have to play all-or-nothing games. The small details of negotiation can be as stimulating and probably more often satisfying than a big dramatic fight. This is what I'm here to learn.

I've been in the company of a few of our country's best amateur competitors. That's a win. That's something cool that I'll always be able to talk about with pride. I'm glad I keep my eyes open for opportunities like this and glad I said yes to myself and applied.

Yesterday I had a game with a very equally-skilled player, Alper, and it was really fun. I lost because I assumed a group was alive that wasn't. Typical! ha. I hope I get a game with him again in the future. Maybe at club, maybe in a tournament sometime somewhere

Day 33, last day

Studied tsumego, noticed my reading has improved a lot Finished game with Ed Went to go club, played Katie Got lunch with Devin Paul Katie and Ed, gave goodbye hugs Napped Started second season of The Abyss Played Devin in a game of go (boss battle) Packing

This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Both on the board and off I improved myself and simplified my thinking. I am understanding in detail things that I was only guessing at before. I am upgrading habits. I am doing the work. This was a level up.

http://Apply.Baduk.Club

If you want to learn more about the program I've been posting about and especially if you have any interest on immersing yourself in the game for a month. If you love Go and can work it into your life, I don't think you'll regret it.

Post Residency Thoughts:

I am back in Wichita, KS. Back at home. I am continuing my daily tsumego practice and keeping a lot of correspondence games going. I am missing my new Columbus friends already but plan to see them again for more Go adventures someday. I am more confident than ever that intentionally improving at the game of Go has helped me improve myself as a human.

Some things I feel I improved on thanks to Go and community during this 33 day residency:

Value judgements, timing, efficiency, listening/respect of opponent, proving theories or giving them a chance to be disproven, teachability/humility, connection, relationships, solidity, pacing, spatial reasoning, accuracy and depth of reading, sharpness of memory, pattern recognition, awareness of cultural trends, vocabulary from other languages, discipline of mind, consistency, risk-management, multi-tasking and task-management in general, respect for tradition and those who have played before me, willingness to innovate, accuracy, flexibility, style, negotiation, stamina, mental and physical health.

Thank you for reading!

-William (DotQuist)

Day 11

Attempting to make my own trick joseki called the throwing star (the flying knife already exists). Studied pincer josekis with Ed. Took a lesson from him, too. Realized a blind-spot in my reading. If it will take two stones or less to get surrounded, keep jumping out.

Post-lesson notes from Ed:

Key points: Timing of Aji: -Create list of potential points of aji and work through how your opponent would 2. respond in an ideal way for them. -In general, reducing eyespace precedes playing points of strong aji

Joseki: -Joseki are not fixed, they are an assortment of tools to be used to affect the whole board state in a way that you want.

(adendum: I think picking the josekis at the beginning is like deciding on a map to fight in, like in a fighting game, after you pick your characters, you pick a level. You’re building it from the corners, as you fight. The map appears in front of you, the fog of war lifts.)

Whole-Board mentality -Pinch self every few moves to remember to assess the whole-board -Local loss is acceptable for global gain -Read several local options to pick the best for the whole-board situation

Day 12

Sometimes I have to make a mistake so many times in a row I get tired of it and refocus. It's good to be playing enough that I have a chance to get tired of my bad habits.

I desire to play timed games as much as I can from now on. It helps me focus.

Day 13

Streamed tonight for 4 hours. I'm three followers away from 100 on Twtich which is exciting and makes me feel encouraged. I want to offer go lessons someday. I am playing go that makes better sense, but still slipping up sometimes in later midgame when the board gets cluttered.

Day 14

The difference in effect between 3rd and 4th line stones is more significant than it seems.

Day 15, August First

1. Turn 2. Split, 3. Play inside. That order. For killing groups of stones.

Large scale, I can see all the important moves but a lot of them I don't get to on time before my opponent gets there. My order of events is off. My priorities unsorted.

Metaphor

Day 16

Metabolism.

If you get surrounded by your opponent, you will eventually become the negative space inside your opponent's group. You can become a dead shape on purpose. Once swallowed, become a poison. Your opponent will try to make you a vitamin. Resist. Become death.

Connect solidly so your opponent doesn't exploit your weaknesses. If they're good, they will. If you ask for too much, move too fast, become too thin, you will get cut up and that means you have to know how to deal with that. Easier to just connect solidly.

Are you 600% sure you're going to be able to kill that group? If not, don't make the game depend on that one situation. In general. Try to avoid having the entire game depend completely on whether you're right or wrong about one thing. Spread your investments out

Part 4

If you can train yourself to read faster, that counts for a lot. If you can read 3 variations (accurately) in the time your opponent can read 2, over the course of a game you'll see so many more possibilities than them. How much more likely, you finding path to victory

Day 17

Preparing a lecture on life, death, metabolism, and strange corner-physics

Day 18

We played a lot of blitz in the evening. I don't like playing that fast. I learned some one-space-high-pincer josekis.

Check your connections. Watch the clock. Focus your aim. Don't think, though. Edhellen says. Flow.

Day 19

Was mostly volunteer work. Graphic design and OBS/overlay stuff for the pro qualifiers.

But a big thing is, I decided on a temporary goal for my Go playing- Get all my games into end game. I will win or lose there instead of middle game. This feels important.

Day 1

Arrived after 16 hours on the road. Situated most my belongings and made bed. Met Ben Kyo and Devin. Touched stones. Going to bed wondering what to really focus on for my studies (I have ideas but too many). Excited.

Day 2

I played (lost) two games today, one even, one handicap. Learned: Better coordinate pokes at aji. Count value and accurately. Prioritize corners and territory. Reach into mutually valuable places- add to yourself while subtracting from opponent.

Day 3

The whole day was (4) games and review, besides breaks for lunch and dinner. Learned: Sometimes it's okay to get cut if you don't want too heavy of a group Don't abandon the fight- continue until position feels secure A surrounded stone still effects things later on

Day 4

Your physical and mental health have so much to do with how well you play. You can lose to anyone if you slip up at the right time. Consistency and focus count for a lot. Make less mistakes than opponent. Can you push the game into a situation they are likely to mess up?

Retaining players after teaching them is difficult. How to give beginners a good enough first experience with the game that they will want to continue? Also, how to bring chess players into the Go world? How to make Go more accessible in everyday spaces?

Day 5

You're not entitled to wins. The better you get the more you play better players and the more your victories have to do with the details. The tiniest details.

I began studying the flying knife joseki and some others I had been wondering about.

Tea Zone was a cool place

Played a 4 handi game and a teaching game, watched one. Tried to stream later but had to update my drivers. Discovered a three volume collection of modern joseki books. I can't read the chinese that explains the moves but I can read the moves and try to understand

Day 6

I taught John some josekis and played out a teaching game with him. I played against David, a 5 dan, and almost won, with an 80 point swing after an ambitious fight. He said he enjoyed my “fighting spirit”. I played too cautiously after that and still lost by 12

My stream went really well and I even got trolled by Devin on his alt account. His computer gave him away so I knew it was him. We played out a pretty crazy game with a lot of laughs.

I want to practice being more cheerful on stream; less anxious.

Day 7

I'm losing a lot. Like really a lot. But I'm reforming the way I think about the board. My reading is actually pretty good, it's more about my positional judgement, large scale tactics. Knowing I need to do something but deciding to do something else. Discipline and scope

Day 8

Started a book, Golden Opportunities, which will help with order of moves. I was tired today and found it hard to stay socially engaged. But I studied tsumego, reviewed yesterday's stream loss, and played a teaching game with a beginner. Also learned Magnet Go, a variant.

Day 9

Analogy is important for approaching things so complex as Go. Naming certain patterns things they remind you of or give you feelings of helps solidify them in your memory.

Don't play moves you don't want to play. You don't have to.

Day 10

I think I understand bent four in the corner. I never looked deep enough into it before. It's actually an amazing board situation in its nuance. My test is to see if I'd be able to teach it to someone.

Mindset is everything. If you're not present, fully, for the art or game or work or whatever be in front of you, the art or game or work suffers.

(To be continued...)

by Ursa Woodring

From June 16-19, the Burning Board Tournament was held in North Carolina. Five people from the Baduk House, three residents and two local Columbus players, drove eight hours to Umstead State Park near Raleigh. The competition was held at Camp Lapihio, where half the participants stayed the night in cabins, while the other half came from their homes nearby.

This was my very first in person go tournament, so I was very excited for it, and excited to spend a long weekend in the woods(especially during the heatwave). The Baduk House group stayed in a large cabin, where I opted to sleep on its porch.

On the first day of the tournament, the matches began soon after nine. Taking place in a camp mess hall, short tables and benches are lined up in the middle of the room, with three games per table. After people pair up, there is activity and buzz as players find their tables and try to figure out how to set their clocks. But eventually things settle down, and the room gets quiet as the games become serious. I myself don’t understand how the clocks work, and I end up losing on time without realizing it twice in my games (luckily I was already losing both of them so it didn’t really matter). After the first round is over, lunch is had, and then the second round begins at one.

Once the games are over, Yuan Zhou, 7-Dan, does a lecture outside and Ying Shen 2P plays simuls against anyone interested. If not interested in those things, people spent their late afternoon taking naps, going on walks or runs, swimming in the lake, or getting soaked in the thunderstorm. Many in the Baduk House group enjoyed the lectures greatly, as Zhao reviewed one of the day’s games and told many interesting stories. In the evening, people made their own dinners, hung out reviewing or playing games, or playing other games like Poker, Hanabi, or Shogi.

On the last day, there was the award ceremony and the great burning of the board. Three from the Baduk House received awards, Javier coming second overall in the tournament with 5 wins and 1 loss. I came in second in my division, and Paul came third in his.

Although playing two serious go games per day was tiring, it was quite fun. My favorite part of the tournament was getting to meet more go players and experience more of the go community.

After dinner, in the camp’s fire pit was built a fire. And on this was placed a goban. A game was partially played out on top of it using white pebbles and bits of dark charcoal. All the go players gathered, and watched as the game smoldered, wood blackening and warping, flames licking it around the edges. We watched as the board burned and the tournament came to an end. Hopefully though, it will be just the beginning, and this tournament will be held again and again in the years to come.

This post was skillfully written by resident member Ursa Woodring.

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It was the 21st of May and I was looking at socks–or rather–looking at my sister and mother looking at socks. Mostly, I just wandered around REI, wondering about what was going to happen next: driving to the Baduk House. After my family finally made their purchases, my mother, father, sister, sister’s friend, and I got back into the van and off we drove.

Upon arriving, I'm greeted by Devin, and taken on a tour of the house. Upstairs there are two bedrooms shared by the residents. And there are two offices, one equipped with a set up to stream live games. The two residents already here—Jae and Eric—are quietly working on their computers. Downstairs one room contains a floor table with gobans set out and ready to play on. More gobans lie in a corner, and two floor gobans are stacked on top of each other so they can be reached from a regular-height chair. On a wall is a cork board filled with sticky notes outlining project tasks that are being worked on. In the kitchen, the fridge also has sticky notes on it: each one assigned to a different person to track chores.

“What color do you like?” Devin asks me. I say yellow. I’m given a set of yellow dishes that I will use during my time here. After that, I say goodbye to my family and begin playing the game.

I learned to play go over the quarantine summer of 2020. My sister begged me to learn after she had been playing for a couple months. At first, I was intimidated by the seemingly endless possibilities that the game presents, but once I started learning, I found it fun enough to keep going. Now I’ve been playing for two years and decided to immerse myself more into it by going to the Baduk House.

Hopefully here I will be able to steal all the go secrets from the other residents (So far, I’ve observed the goodness of clamps(for non-go players: a clamp is like a stone sandwich—delicious!)); and learn some strategies for starting my own go club when I go back to Asheville, North Carolina.

In my first week at the house, many things happened. Two more residents came: Javier and Ragnarr, from Spain and Texas respectively. I also met many go players at the local go clubs. In the large go book library at the house, I noticed the full collection of Hikaru no go. Since I was in the middle of reading the series, I excitedly continued reading the next volumes in it. I also began writing my own comic about trying to explain the Baduk House to the dentist.

For memorial day, we took a trip to the Green Lawn Abbey nearby, where we perused the stained glass windows and ate ice cream. There was a scavenger hunt to find particular pieces of the stained glass windows, and upon completion, we won some tickets to the outdoor movie night events that the abbey hosts. Then we went to the Green Lawn Cemetery where they were giving out free hotdogs. There, we searched for the oldest gravestone.

Since we all wanted to do more tsumego problems (a type of go puzzle), in the second week, we decided to have an hour a day where we all do our tsumegos. This was a big hit, and is now something that everyone looks forward to.

In the manga I was reading, Hikaru is challenged to play a no komi game (Komi gives extra points to white, so in a no komi game, white is at a disadvantage because black goes first) and try to make the game perfectly even—a tie. This is a very tricky thing to do because you have to consistently count points and adjust your play when your opponent does something unexpected.

I asked Devin if he’d ever tried to do this. He said that this is his strategy with new players. The next time I was at go club, I decided to attempt it. My opponent was a 13 kyu (not a new player), and we were playing with komi, but I still tried to make it as close as possible. I found that this approach to playing a weaker player made the game much more fun. My opponent got the satisfaction of playing a close game, while I tried to find moves that wouldn’t be too slack or too aggressive. I ended up winning by a point and a half. This was one of the interesting things I’ve learned so far.

Hopefully one day I will end a game in a perfect tie.

For anyone not aware, I started a residency program for Baduk, open to people from all over the world to apply and live a life more fully dedicated to this wonderful game! Below is the first in what I hope will be a series of post about how things are going there. This first post is written by resident member Jeremiah “Jae” Donely.

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WARNING: What you’re about to read was from a complete amateur. It might be cringe, hard to read, or hard to comprehend.

The First Week

Whenever you do something new there is always that time people need to acclimate themselves to it. With six other people coming into someone's home there was a risk that it might just not work in the first week. However I think, for me at least, transitioning into the program was easy but not without some chaos. I personally had no trouble but I know a few of my Baduk House mates definitely had doubts.

The first week was a bit chaotic for me, as I had no plan nor schedule I followed. Not in any particular order I just slept, played Baduk and did volunteer work. Other than the teaching games I needed to give I was basically free to do whatever.

You could really just consider the first week as the trails of acquaintance. I think almost instantly Angelo and Soren clicked. Like two peas in a pod from an outside perspective. Eva-Dee was very charismatic and helpful with technology! Jake and I mostly can be viewed as the “want to play baduk gang?” Which to be honest was mostly Jake. For me, I would assume the others would think about how confident I am about anything. We all hashed out what was acceptable of each other and created boundaries to provide a space for ourselves within the domain of the home.

The Second Week

The only changes in the second week was that I was now responsible for helping with some of the MidWest Open organization, albeit mostly physical. Besides loading and unloading boards, stones and clocks. I helped set up the Open division tournament and set up the bracket on poster board. The last change was I started doing lectures for the Columbus Go Club on Thursdays. This week’s lecture was about L and L+1 groups found here: https://senseis.xmp.net/?LGroup. The following week was finishing the L group and onto the J groups.

Our 6th member joined us on Monday of the week. Nikolai’s hobbies and personality definitely received a warm welcome. He knows a bit of woodworking, and computers to trivia knowledge. Jake was by far the most prolific Baduk player, despite there being two teachers of Baduk. Wherever Jake was, there was a game most definitely being played.

The end of the second week was most likely the highlight. Soren, one of the Baduk House residents, came in 4th place at the tournament. Albert Yen won 1st place followed by Edward Zhang and Alex Qi. I think an honorable mention would have to be for Shawn Ray who went 7-0 in the main division. It was a great experience playing like minded individuals and being able to help Devin Fraze with the tournament.

The Third Week

From streaming, gaming, playing baduk, learning no-code website building, going out on walks with the house-mates and other community driven activities, I think we all started on different projects of our own. During this time, sadly, we also lost Jake who needed to return home. With the absence of Jake there has been a lot less games being played. But there has been no shortage of quality games. Instead of forcing you to download the information of what happened after the tournament I am going to present you all with questions and answers from each of the residents. Enjoy!

Soren: “Has this experience at the Baduk House gone as expected? Were there aspects you weren’t expecting/prepared for?”

Jae: “For me, most definitely. My expectations were mostly that I would be able to make a bunch of Go content. Nothing has stopped me from being able to. As for aspects that didn't go well… I made the choice of not preparing for the tournament and that's on me.”

Soren: “I had a general idea of what to expect, but the specifics of what would be required of us on a day to day basis I was not. But ever since being here everything has gone smoothly.”

Angelo: “In a sense I didn't know what to expect and I tried to be prepared for anything. I think everything has gone as well as I could have hoped for.”

Eva-Dee: “More or less. I didn't really know what to expect going into this, and I certainly didn't expect to get along with everybody as well as I do. I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome all the other residents are – as individuals, Go players, and parts of a team.”

Nikolai: “I didn't know what to expect at all coming here, but the thing I was most worried about was being left out. I'm the weakest player, and I showed up a week late due to travel circumstances. Instead, I was instantly welcomed into the house, offered a game of Go, and I've been enjoying it since.”

Nikolai: “What's the most memorable moment for you in the Baduk house so far?”

Jae: “I can't really think of a single moment right now. The most memorable thing for me though is the overflowing positivity that people give at the house. In the past few months, especially in the Baduk House, the people I know have been very positive and my outlook on a lot of things has changed.”

Soren: “The first beginners night at the Baduk House, I pretended to be a total beginner, and played one of the most energetic, passionate, and funny beginner player. Everyone was a great sport and it was a ton of fun.”

Angelo: “The most memorable moment for me so far was when I was recording the top game at the Midwest Open Tournament. I had a front row seat to two high level players playing out a broken ladder across most of the board in a serious game. I got to see their facial expressions, feel the tension and share their amusement at the situation. I won't be forgetting that any time soon.”

Eva-Dee: “The most memorable moment for me was the Broken Ladder game at the Midwest Open. I was running a local stream of the top board each match, and couldn't believe my eyes when they started playing it out. I found myself running all around the lobby grabbing people and making sure they were watching the stream, to make sure I wasn't going absolutely insane. “

Nikolai: “It's hard to choose just one, since I'm sure this is an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life, but honestly the first game of Go I played here I think is one thing that will really stick with me. It turns out there's no better way to induct someone into a Go house than by playing Go, and it instantly made me feel at home. I hope I get a bunch more memories over the next couple months!”

Jae: “What sacrifice(s) did you make to come to the Baduk House?

Jae: “I have sacrificed short-term-gevity for the longevity of becoming a Baduk content creator. I’m hoping and I know I can make this a reality while being in the program.”

Soren: “Honestly, I did not make many sacrifices coming here. Only sacrifices I made were lifestyle changes, such as running training, food/diet, and other hobbies were affected.”

Angelo: “In order to come to the Baduk House I potentially sacrificed my job (they hadn't answered me about a leave of absence yet) and I sacrificed my comfort zone, taking time apart from my partner and moving into a house with 7 strangers! “

Eva-Dee: “I was going back and forth between my place in Philly with roommates I absolutely adore and my partner's place in DC before coming here. Leaving all of them behind was hard enough on its own, but they all knew how excited I was about this program and told me that I had to follow my dreams. Aside from that, I had to quit my job as a church music director. I certainly felt that I was giving up a lot to join the Baduk House, but so far I can say it was absolutely worth it.”

Nikolai: “I was planning on moving to Pennsylvania this July anyway, so in that sense making a stop in Columbus actually works out really well for me, schedule wise. That said, uprooting my life 3 months ahead of plan was a pretty big logistical challenge. There was a lot of re-figuring out exactly what I was going to do, where all my stuff would go, etc. Shout out to my old roommates, who made the biggest sacrifice of paying more rent until the lease is up so I could take advantage of this opportunity.”

Angelo: “Has immersing yourself in Baduk changed your outlook on it at all?”

Jae: “Absolutely, before I joined the Baduk House I was actually on the fence, due to many outside issues, about Baduk. I’m glad I stuck with it because I’ve been able to strengthen my wavering love for the game.”

Soren: “Prior to coming to the Baduk House, I was already a Go teacher, content creator, and tournament director. So I was already pretty immersed before arriving. But it has motivated me to become better in all facets of Go.”

Angelo: “Immersing myself in Go and spending time with others who are passionate about it has reinforced my love of the game. “

Eva-Dee: “If anything, it's made me enjoy the game more. Being around other players who share this passion has been a new experience for me, and I've only felt my love of the game grow in this time.”

Nikolai: “The thing I was most shocked to see coming to Columbus was a dedicated group of players actually playing Go. I used to live in Los Angeles, and even in such a giant city I could count the go players who showed up to my local club regularly on one hand. In my small college town, I couldn't find a game hardly anywhere, unless I taught someone else how to play. The second day I got here, 10 or so people showed up to beginner's night, and we've continued to see big turnouts since. The Midwest Open was enormous. Devin's work in Columbus has given me a snapshot into what the Go community could look like everywhere, and I hope to help make that a reality wherever I go next”

Eva-Dee: “What have you learned since arriving at the Baduk House (Go related or otherwise)?”

Jae: “ I have learned a lot about my personal limits when it comes to playing serious games of go. In terms of skill nothing much has changed but I have learned a lot about computer stuff, IE: Bubble and Arch Linux”

Soren: “I have learned, or at least reaffirmed to myself, that I really do love teaching Go. While I do enjoy competing and getting stronger, I think I thrive and enjoy helping people become stronger.”

Angelo: “Since arriving at the Go house as one of the weaker players I have learned a lot about the game and I will continue to soak up as much knowledge from my stronger housemates as I can. Overall I've learned to take more opportunities as they come and to make the most of them.”

Eva-Dee: “I've learned a lot about myself and how I work with others. I used to think I liked working on my projects alone, but helping with the Midwest Open and some of Devin's other projects has made me realize that I love working on a team to help make all these awesome projects come to light. “

Nikolai: “I've learned a few new juggling tricks, the basics of poi, how to open a pack of Poke'mon cards in the most spoiler-free way possible, a bunch of joseki, and a lot about corner groups. Overall, it's been awesome both learning from the stronger players in the house (which for me is basically everyone), while also getting to share people's passions for the other hobbies they have in our downtime, whether that's bird watching, rhythm gaming, or haggling for electric scooters at pawn shops.”

Bonus: “What does squeezy Jibs mean to you?”

Jae: “Just something Soren got from Game Grumps but it has been turned into a hype call. Whenever you see Soren just yell ‘squeezy jibs!’”

Soren: “Squeezy Jibs is a lifestyle. It’s an emotion, a state of being. We are all Squeezy Jibs, yet not at the same time. Squeezy Jibs is love, is life, is friendship, is hardship, is pain. Without Squeezy Jibs, we are empty. With Squeezy Jibs, we are whole. Squeezy Jibs is the vast ocean, the lush canopy, the pristine peaks of the tallest mountains. Squeezy Jibs is everything, yet nothing all the same. Squeezy Jibs is whatever the beholder wants it to be.”

Angelo: “Squeezy Jibs is the battle cry of the Ohio State Champion.”

Eva-Dee: “”Sente Jibs” is when your opponent plays a sneaky sente move and hopes you don't realize it's sente.”

Nikolai: “A squeezy Jib is either a term for Soren, or a thing to say after you've made a move, clever or not, in a game of Go, depending on context.”

What is Baduk?

Baduk (or Go) is the art of personal growth. The simplest form of that can be seen through victory over others. And winning can be measured in terms of rank as players climb the ladder of personal ability. But... there is much much more.

In Go, there is no luck, no good hand or fortunate roll of the dice. It is for this reason the game can feel brutal to many. There is no way for a new player to experience the excitement of a victory without actually besting the other player. Meaning, almost every players first couple dozen games are an onslaught of losses. But even here — especially here — there is a valuable and humbling lesson for the ego.

Practitioners of Go quickly learn that failure is normal and actually even essential. The losses can hurt though, especially if we are competitive or prideful. And so we learn to steel our minds and hearts. And we learn not to give up in the face of adversity.

Each move is final, like the stroke of a pen a choice cannot be undone. But that doesn't mean mistakes spell game over. In fact, to err is human. And so we find ourselves learning how to live with our mistakes, to try our best to make them work in the moment, and to learn and grow from them after each game.

To be continued...

Baduk Retreat Centers

(aka places without internet)

Go managed to exist and spread for thousands of years because it was an excellent game to pass the time. Now that people have the internet, they have access to near infinite knowledge at their fingertips.

It is human nature for people to seek to engage their brains. It is also in our nature to be as efficient (aka lazy) as possible. Any Go player will tell you that the game does engage the brain in a firework show of activity. But unlike a YouTube video which can be passively streamed into our eyes, Go requires that we put forth a lot of mental effort.

This isn't going to change any time soon. And so, the question can't be “how do we make playing Go more easy/passive?” But rather, “how do we find an environment where Go will flourish?”

And so it follows that retreat centers, rural homesteads, and isolated communities become the perfect place for Go to flourish. The game would still have to compete against books as a form of “passive entertainment,” but books are a lot different than YouTube.

While it is true that all change happens bit-by-bit, the world needs big ideas. We need people working to solve large and difficult questions on things like climate change, political corruption, educational reform and more.

The Go community needs big ideas as well. It needs people striving to solve our communities issues and it needs people doing the work, day-by-day, to make those changes a reality.

Dreamers

I call those change makers with the big ideas “dreamers.” These dreamers are seeking to change things like the underrepresentation of women, people of color, and rural players in Baduk. Dreamers are investing their personal finances in ordering and storing large shipments of Weiqi supplies so that the rest of us can affordably purchase them when we are ready. Dreamers are pouring their life's energy into developing tools to help local organizers to help themselves energize their communities.

That last example is the work I'm trying to do with BadukClub. I am a dreamer and I spend every day striving to help, grow, and empower the worldwide Go community.

Skeptics

So you're a dreamer with a great idea and you’re pumped. It’s new, it’s different, possibly even ground-breaking. It’s such a radical idea that you know people will take some convincing. But deep inside you know it’s a great idea.

And, as expected, when you present the idea, there are some naysayers. Some push-back. But that isn't always a bad thing! Those people could very well be skeptics with valid concerns and feedback. And lucky for me, in the Go community there are plenty of skeptics.

According to the Oxford Dictionary a skeptic is “a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions.” People who value intellectual pursuits such as Go are commonly skeptics because skepticism is often just critical thinking applied in the real world.

Cynics

But dreamers should be careful because there is another breed of naysayer out there; Cynics. According to the Oxford Dictionary a skeptic is “a person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable reasons.”

I like that definition, but the heart of the issue can be seen from the definition used at the Free Dictionary: a cynic is “a person whose outlook is scornfully and often habitually negative.”

The difference is important

Skeptics look for holes in your idea because they want to help you plug those holes. Cynics look for holes so they can make them bigger and sink your idea.

Skeptics ask questions to try to make your idea better. Cynics ask questions to try to make you look stupid or incompetent.

Skeptics say, “I’m not sure if you have enough data to support that… lets do some digging and figure it out.” Cynics say, “You don’t have enough data to support that. You’ll have to prove to me that you’re right.” (And you never can.)

Skeptics have the “meeting after the meeting” to find ways to get past their doubts so they can jump onboard. Cynics have the “meeting after the meeting” to tear down the idea so no one is onboard.

From the founder of Hubspot Dharmesh Shah's article on LinkedIn

My experiences

Working on the AGA board I spend a lot of my time heatedly debating policy issues. But I am happy to say that these people are skeptics. They want to be convinced, to see evidence, and when that happens, they move forward.

I also hear from of cynics when I share my map, wheretoplaygo.com, with people.

As an example, one potential user told me that they didn't want to add their meetup to the map over concerns of data security. So I shared with him how we use a BAS (backend as a service) to make sure that novice code isn't protecting people's data.

Next he took up issue with our authentication process. So I shared with him information on our third-party authentication provider as well as all the best-in-class security measures they use to protect user accounts.

Next he took up issue with his privacy. So I made him aware of the Privacy Policy and of the Terms of Use easily found in our footer. It states that our site is GDPR compliant and that the user owns there data and that we won't ever sell it.

At this point, you may not be surprised to hear that he didn't sign up. He was just there to try and tear me down. To be clear, BadukClub doesn't even collect that much data to begin with and the information we do collect is stuff like “when their club meets” which I assume people want public anyway.

Furthermore, this person also lists their information on another website with no Privacy Policy and which lists their information in a way which is trivially easy to scrape (my site also does a better job at this).

Don't feed the trolls

So it's clear to me that this person was a cynic. They don't believe that I might actually just be creating a website to help make the world a better place.

Cynics are toxic. At a fundamental level they don’t believe in goodness. Cynics don’t believe in the capability of other people to overcome, to rise up, and to achieve. They don’t believe in new ideas because, at heart, they don’t believe in people.

So what should I do? “Shun the non-believers,” says Seth Godin and I agree. I want to serve those who align with my mission to make the world a better place. So if you are that kind of person, let's work together. And if people are skeptical, let's invite them in so we can all learn and grow together. If you are a cynic, I'm sorry, but you're not welcome here.

When I was 22 I sold my worldly possessions, strapped a backpack onto a bicycle, and peddled a few hundred miles to a commune in rural Virginia. I only lived in this hundred person commune for a short while, but it taught me many new life lessons.

Two years later, after traveling around the US and Asia, I found myself back in Ohio. I had grown weary of 'yet another' beautiful sunset with people whom I did not know. I longed for a connection to other like minded human beings that I knew was possible. And so I moved to the city of Cincinnati to be with a girl.

Well... I was still miserable. I didn't know anyone in Cincinnati because I had grown up in Columbus. So after another year, it was time for some more change. I went to Costa Rica to work on a farm for a few months. And after that, untethered from anywhere in the world, I decided to move back to Columbus, Ohio. I moved there because I knew people. I understood how things worked and how I fit into them, and because however loose it was, I had community.

I chose to live in an “up-and-coming” part of town, which a guy I met during another cross country bicycle ride lived. He moved away, but I moved into a house of 3 other people and I loved it. I had housemates, I knew my neighbors, and I made new friends across the city. In short, I began to find and build community.

I still miss the commune and I often think of moving back. But the part I miss the most was connecting with other human beings over shared interests and beliefs. I'm doing that now, right where I am.