Eden's GO!

Back! and 5Kyu?!

2007-12-10T17:41:00.000Z

Well after a few months offline due to lack of a job I'm back into work and back into Go.

Played my first Simuli game which was harder than I thought! and amazingly rather than slipping like I had expected I've grown and managed to beat a 10,9 and 8 Kyu consistently and I'm now a 5Kyu?!

If I can solidify that and get rid of the? I'll actually hit my goal!!!!

I've also finally learnt how to really LEARN Joseki, after reading Fundementals of Go for the 3rd time this finally sunk in!.
Learn the REASON for each move, not just the move.

Finally! Progressing!

2007-07-04T11:11:00.001+01:00

HUZZAH!!!!
I'm still 10Kyu but I really feel as if I'm finally starting to move forward, that feeling of slow, inevitable momentum.

I think Guo Juans lectures are helping a lot as is practicing life and death.
Best of all I think I've found where I need to improve:

1) Seeing the biggest moves vs Urgent moves and playing accordingly.
2) Deciding which stones are important, when to sacrafice and what direction to play in.
3) Learning some more Joseki
4) Practice Life and Death
5) Start counting!!
6) Practice reading.
7) Practice the Fundementals and reduce mistakes and overplays.

I also have a Group lesson with [url=http://www.goschool.resurse.com/index.php]Solaris (AKA Cristian Pop)[/url] next week on KGS.
He's a 7Dan From Romania and the strongers Romanian Go Player who also spent time as an Insei trying to go Pro!

I think this will be an amazing learning experience and hopefully will be a regular thing.
I may just have found my Sensei :)

Guo Juan and some Real Games

2007-07-02T21:53:00.001+01:00

I finally signed up to some of Guo Juans recorded lessons starting with the Basic Step by Step Series to review my basics and already within 2 lectures I've improved a bit with some basics that I was neglecting.

I think this will help and is a good place to start my real study of Go as I appear to of gotten as far as I can get by just playing casually.

I've also got myself a digital camera so I can record my Go Club games against several 3 Dans and some High Kyus every monday as I feel there is a lot to learn if only I can take the games home to analyse and replay.

I may also get a PDA at some point or palmtop so I can record the game that way but I figured the camera was more useful as we were going on holiday anyway ^_^.

Steady does it....

2007-06-30T09:41:00.000+01:00

OK well I'm finally stable at 10Kyu and trying to get my 9K? account settled.

Anna (my Girlfriend) has picked up Go as well and is shooting through the 20's already (21 after a couple of weeks) and is pretty strong, she'll catch me up in no time at this rate which will be good.

Her KGS name is Amiella.

Oh and I had my first real sandbagger today, someone called Fate15K who isn't really 15K but I didn't realise that it was a fake name with a hidden rank.

He without saying a word proceded to rip me apart in what was meant to be a ranked game but switched to free when he joined (Again without me realising).

Didn't learn anything as I'm sure he was overplaying a lot I just couldn't seem to punish him.
Meh anyway, I'm not one to get annoyed, just a little dissapointed he wasted my time when I was trying to secure my rank.

Wavering

2007-06-12T10:59:00.000+01:00

Listening to: The sound of server fans
Mood: Tired

Well I've hidden myself away in the server room quickly to get some work done (and update my blogs!).

I need to buckle down and study some more and play more games as my strenght is wavering.
I'm now at 10Kyu and 9Kyu on my 2 accounts and holding steady but only just, I'm fighting to keep that strength and I need more!!!

Going to sign up to some lessons on pay day.

9 Kyu and a rival

2007-06-01T12:33:00.000+01:00

Well I'm offically naming Chinmay as my Rival :)
We are about the same strength I feel and both want to learn and get stronger.

We've agreed on a goal of 5Kyu by the end of the year.
I'm now 9Kyu on KGS so I've got 6 Months for 4 stones but it won't be easy I don't think.

Overcoming OGA and 9Kyu Game

2007-04-18T18:26:00.000+01:00

Well after almost a month of not playing online out of fear I've finally got back on to KGS.

I set myself to an Anonymous rank and took the first challenge that came along.
A 9Kyu took me up in an Even game and suprisingly this helped me relax more as I didn't expect to win this game so I just decided to have fun.

Imagine my suprise when I won by 7.5 Komi :)

You can review the game here

13 Kyu and OGA!

2007-04-10T14:42:00.000+01:00

I've hit 13Kyu, nearing the SDK (Single Digit Kyus) and I've hit a serious patch of OGA (online Go Anxiety).

I've been unable to login and play out of fear as I feel I'm getting out of my depth.

Had a great discussion about it on GoDiscussions.com and I'd like to thank Chiyodad for his blog that did a lot to make me feel better about it!.

15 Kyu and Two Good Games

2007-02-22T10:57:00.000Z

Back down to 15Kyu :)
Played 2 games against Chinmay last night and as I predicted from reviewing his previous games it was a very good fight and I came away with lots to study ;)

It came down to 1 game each after 2 games.

I'm off to study some more Life/Death and to drill into my thick head to kill stones when there isn't much room for error as I'm clearly not strong enough to keep walking the thin line and mess up more often than not.

Playing GO Online

2007-02-21T14:51:00.000Z

To be able to play on my lunch break I've not signed upto OGS (Online Go Server) as Eden.

I took their test to work out my ranking and amusingly came up as a 7 Kyu :)
I put myself down as 16 Kyu (My current KGS is 14KYU) just to give myself a comfortable place to start

Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go

2007-02-20T14:56:00.000Z

I've started reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" by Kageyama Toshiro.
It's a pretty good book that I think will last me a while as I go back over it as I get stronger.

It may well has something to do with my rise from 21 Kyu to 15Kyu over the last 2 weeks :)

GO!

2007-02-20T13:58:00.000Z

Welcome to my blog about a game called GO!.
I started playing this game in late December '06 and wanted somewhere to record my thoughts and progress in this amazing game.

Go (also known as Baduk in Korea or Weiqi in China where it Originated) dates back to Ancient China (2337 - 2258 BC) and has a very simple set of rules.

2 Players (1 black 1 white) take it in turns to place a single stone on a 19x19 board.
The goal is to surround more intersections on the board than your opponent without being surrounded and killed.

Sounds simple but it's very hard to play and takes a lifetime to learn and longer to master :)

I Started as a 28Kyu and I've managed to work up to 15Kyu as of 20th Feb.

I'm a 24 UK Male (Half British, Half Taiwanese) living in Luton.
I attend the Milton Keynes (Open University) Go Club in the Weatherspoons pub on mondays from 6:00PM GMT and St Albans Go Club in the White Lion pub on Wednesdays from 8:00PM.

I play on KGS (Kisego Go Server - www.gokgs.com) as Edene.