September Challenge

In this month's challenge it's all about playing games because it is....

Tournament time!

My go has been neglected quite a bit in the past few weeks/months, so it's time for me to jump back in, and 'force' myself to get some games. And what better way to do that than play some tournaments!

I came up with this challenge after seeing that this September the KGS Iron Man tournament will take place, and after finding the "European Tournament Group" on OGS.
So, my plan for this month is to participate in the European Weekly Tournament on OGS that will take place this Sunday, and to participate in the Iron Man tournament that will start the 20th.

Quite honestly, I am still very unfamiliar with OGS. I have played maybe 1 or 2 games, so my rank is still provisional. I can't enter the tournament with a provisional rank, so I will have to play a few games in the coming days. I'll just figure that out as I go I guess.

For the Iron Man tournament I'm quite excited. For anybody who doesn't know what it is, basically you will play a game every 6 hours, for 5 days, so 20 games in total. Both players have 45 minutes main time, so they're pretty serious games as well.
Originally I wanted to play all of the rounds, but I have to work on the Saturday it starts, so I'll have to miss two rounds then. I also have classes from uni, so that means I'll miss one more round. Aside from that, I should be able to at least play the remaining 17 rounds.
I'm sure that during/after the tournament I will be tired, cranky and probably hate go, but somehow it still seems like a lot of fun to me. I'm crazy. I know.

Of course, I want to challenge you to do this as well!
As much as I would like everyone to participate in the Iron Man tournament (let's suffer together!), it will probably take too much time for most of you. But OGS has quite a lot of tournaments, so I want to challenge you to at least play one tournament this month if you can!

End of May challenge and 'hiatus'

Hello world.
Unlike what some of you might think, I have not fallen off of the face of the earth.

First things first; May has ended and therefore so has the May challenge!
I am pretty sad to say that I have not entirely completed the May challenge, which was to review all of my games, at least 10, shortly, and at least an additional 5 in detail.
I have shortly gone over every single game I played, which were 11 in total, so in that sense I sort of completed it! I have, however, had no time at all to review an additional 5 games in detail. As you may have noticed, I also haven't really had time to write any posts. Which brings me to my next point:

The challenges are going on a hiatus.
I know, I have done one and a half challenge and I'm already stopping them now. But here's the thing, I really don't have much time right now, and that is not going to improve any time soon.
Let me explain:
The semester at uni is ending in a month. A MONTH!
This doesn't just mean that I have to hand in assignments every week from now on and study for exams, but it also means that I am leaving Adelaide in a month. Aside from uni work, I have to arrange everything to return to the Netherlands. Honestly, I really don't want to have to stress about completing a June challenge as well.
And then in July and part of August I will be travelling in Australia, which is awesome, but won't leave much time for go, obviously.

After this I will be back in the Netherlands and, provided I survive the immense cold that once used to be normal for me, things will go back to normal.

Don't get me wrong, the entire blog is not going on a hiatus, as I will still play/study go and probably feel the need to write things about it. There just won't be any monthly challenges for while.
I'm also thinking of starting a bit of a study-journal to track what I CAN do during these months (go problems, playing games, etc.), but I'm not sure if anybody would even be interested in that.

Now that this little pity-party is over:
I do hope that others were able to complete their May challenge, even though I failed! So let me know!

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!

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!!