Quote Mania 7

"Before I fall, I’ll look up to the sky with a smile." 

 From a song from the Prince of Tennis Musical

I am writing this right after I lost a pretty interesting game. I was white and my opponent played a cross-fuseki (well, I accidentally let him). Cross-fuseki's are my mortal enemy. I don't know why, but whenever one is played, either by me or my opponent, I start playing badly. That is not the topic, but I just wanted to throw my frustration out there.

Anyway, I felt like I was on the losing end the entire time, made some not-so-smart decisions (as if I ever make smart decisions) and he/she ended up with a big moyo that I had to invade. I almost lived, but almost isn't good enough so I lost. To get to the point, the game was frustrating, but fun.

In Quote Mania 3 I said that losing games is important to get stronger (which also happens to be general knowledge). But that's not the only thing. For most people, it would get boring to always win their games. Where is the fun if there is no challenge?
Sure, the best would be a game that is a challenge but you still win (for me anyway), but should I let that stop me from enjoying a game where I lose?

Not only did I learn something, I had fun playing and got motivated to do some more studying. Losing can, and should, be fun as well!

May Challenge

Yes, this is way overdue and I apologize! But, even though May already started a few days ago, there is still time to start this months' challenge!

This months' challenge will focus on something that I have been systematically forgetting and avoiding.
Reviewing my own games:

Learn from your mistakes

Game count: 10+5 

 For some, this will be no challenge at all, as reviewing their games is second nature. After you played it, you go over it to see what could have gone better, where you went wrong/where your opponent went wrong, what went well, etc.
For me though, well, I just don't do it. There is always this idea in my head that I can't find my own mistakes anyway. So, it's time for change!

For this month, I will go over all of the games I play (at least 10, but more is always better) and find at least one 'learning point' that I should work on. This doesn't have to take very long, just a quick look is enough. But, I have to review at least 5 more games in depth, and find 3 'learning points' per game.

Of course, if you don't already do it, I challenge you to do the same!

Do you accept the challenge?

You can change the game count to fit your playing schedule, so let me know if you join me!

April Challenge: Complete!

April has come to an end, and so has the April challenge!

Of course, the big question is, did everybody complete it?

As for me, well, I barely completed it. Between university assignments, travelling and training, I didn't have as much time as I would've wanted for go. The biggest issue being that I was gone for 2 weeks to travel (which, by the way, was amazing) and I got a bit sick before that. So I had to play 4 of my 5 games in 3 days, with a deadline for an assignment looming over me.
On the other hand, it's not a challenge if it's easy, right?

So, without further ado, here are my results for this challenge:

Losses: 3
Wins: 2

Actually, that is not too bad! I think I learned quite a bit during this challenge. The 3 losses all happened in the same way. My mindset was focused on one goal: 'Be aggressive!' I cut and invaded anywhere I could and ended up scrambling around, trying to take care of all of my own weak groups. Oops.
Then I changed my mindset. Sure, I had to be aggressive, but that doesn't mean I should be stupid about it. So I stopped cutting and invading everywhere, and tried to think about what I should attack, and how in order to get profit. Although I of course didn't get it right all the time, it proved to be a much better strategy than forcing myself into a blind rage.
I also noticed that my small, but (almost) daily go problem sessions are paying off. In one game, I saw that I could use a squeezing tesuji and killed a big group!

For now, I am quite happy that I can allow myself to go back to playing calmer games, but I also feel that I am less afraid to attack when I see the chance. I really hope that will benefit my go!

So, even though I hardly completed the challenge, I do consider it a success!!

Now, how did your challenges go?
So far, I know from the awesome bengozen that he completed his challenge, at a tournament even!!
I look forward to hearing how you all did and if you consider the challenge a success or not!


PS. May has already started, and there will be a may challenge, but it won't be up until tomorrow or the day after (because, uni..)! Of course, if you have ideas for challenges, they are still very welcome!

April Challenge update

As promised, here is an update for the April Challenge!

Actually, this update will be quite short. I got a bit sick last week and I had to hand in a few assignments, so I only had time/energy for one game.
And I lost. But the real question is, did I play aggressively/out of my comfort zone? Seeing how the game ended up; me with 2 weak groups, one dead and not much territory, I guess I did. Sort off.
Some moves I would not really think about, almost as if I'm playing a fast game (which, in case you didn't know, I NEVER EVER do), and suddenly I would realize that I was supposed to be aggressive. Then I would plop down a stone somewhere in his territory and be satisfied.
Short story, it still needs work. Good thing that I still have 4 games left to 'complete' the challenge! What I need to work on most, is to actually think about every move, and make sure my play is consistent.

I also went back to doing daily problems, because trying to fight without reading won't get me anywhere. It's not much though, maybe 10 to 20 minutes a day. But still better than nothing!

Since the coming two weeks are a mid-term break, and I will be travelling through Australia, there won't be an update until the end of April, unfortunately. That also means that I will have to play the remaining 4 games in 3 days, but that should be no problem :)!

More importantly, how are your challenges going?? I am really excited to hear how many games you have played so far (if any) and how they went, so let me know!

Quote Mania 6

Welcome to Quote Mania, where random quotes are forcefully related to go!

'The second you think you are doing well is the second you are finished.'

This.
This is so relevant I shouldn't be giving an explanation. I will give one, because I want to, but I shouldn't have to.

Hands up if you have ever lost a game you (thought) you had won. If your hand isn't up right now, I think you might not be human.
We've all had that game where everything just goes right. You're in a good mood, your opponent is challenging, but not better than you, and you are winning. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Right?

Usually this is where I lose focus on the game and lose. Either I was really winning and made a (stupid) mistake, or I wasn't winning at all, I was just being delusional. One way or the other, I get overconfident and lose.

It's not a bad thing to know if you are ahead or not in the game. You should count during the game! But when you then find out you are winning, getting overconfident is pretty much the worst that could happen. It makes you greedy, unfocused and generally not a nice person.

Overconfidence = bad. Stop it.

Which is a lot easier said than done.

April Challenge

I know I said that a small challenge for March would still happen, but uni got in the way of that, so my apologies. Moving on...

It's time for the first monthly challenge!

The challenge will be:

Get out of your comfort zone!

Game count: 5 

This was one of the first things I came up with (and so did Eyecatcher). It is actually pretty simple. Think about your style of play. Is it aggressive? Passive? Influential? Territorial? Anything else?

For this month, it's time to change things up. Come up with an idea that is out of your comfort zone, or the opposite of what your normally play. Think about it before you start the game. What style will you play (if the situation allows it)? Which opening will you use if you're black? Of course, you'll have to try and stick to this for the rest of the game.

The goal is not to win more games, but to find new things. Maybe you will enjoy playing in a different way than normally. Maybe you won't, but you might find ways to counter it when others play that style against you. Heck, maybe you won't get anything out of it. But does it hurt to try it out?

Of course, I will participate as well!
As some of you might know, my style is generally (too) passive. I've been trying to work on it, but it hasn't gone very well for me so far.
So it's probably no surprise that I will try to play more aggressive. Before I play a move, I should remind myself of this. Is this move passive? Am I avoiding a fight here? If the answer yes, I will change my move, even if I am not entirely comfortable with it. If I lose, I'll have something to review. If I win, I'll also have something to review.
I will try to do this for at least 5 games in the month of April, and I challenge you to do the same! Of course, you should find your own comfort zone, and what is outside of that.

Do you accept this challenge?

If you do, leave a comment with your area of comfort, and how you will get out of it!

My plan is to give weekly updates on my own progress, and of course, you can let me (and everybody else) know your progress too. If you complete the challenge you will get an honorable mention on the future wall of fame! (Which is worth absolutely nothing, but it's the idea that counts.) Of course, you can make this more challenging by adding more games, or the other way around!

One thing though, this month my uni has a 2-week teaching break, in which I will be travelling, so those weeks have no weekly updates. Which defies the point of weekly updates. Next month will be better. I promise.


In unrelated news: 9x9 go has been solved!!

Putting the challenge back

Hello everybody!

It has been a while, but I am back!
The past few weeks have been hectic, but great. It involved a lot of moving, beach and meeting new people. It didn't involve much go, but not much is better than none at all, since I managed to squeeze a game in here and there.
Now that things are settling down, I have a bit more time for go. Luckily my study load doesn't seem to be too much (then again, this is only the second week), so that gives more time for go and this blog :)!

Regarding the blog, I mentioned before that I want to give it some new direction. That basically includes putting the challenge back in the Go Challenge!

I want to not only challenge myself, but also you, the reader.
The idea is pretty simple. Every month I will try to come up with a different challenge. These challenges won't  really be focused on increasing your strength or rank, but more on enjoying the game, and they do not have to take up extra time (unless you want them to).

Aside from that I will try to throw some random, fun and short challenges in every now and then. Of course I will do all of these challenges myself, and give updates, but I would love it if you would do the challenges with me, so let me know if you like the idea! And let me know if you have an idea for a challenge, because I only have few, hahaha.

Since March is already well underway, I will start with a monthly challenge in April, but stay tuned for a smaller challenge this week or the next.

Of course, I will also continue the Quote Mania's!

So that's the update for now! I'm looking forward to hear what you think, so leave a comment :)!