BadukClub Residency 4th Session (part 3)
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.
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)