A Baduk Blog

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...)