Do you know the feeling of competition that ensues between two go players? Each player is clawing to get that little bit of extra territory. You can almost feel upset when the enemy player places a stone down, as you realize the area he is taking for himself, angrily you attack back trying to take that territory, out of envy.
I recently noticed this behavior in myself. This feeling that every game was an argument between two players, the only way to win was secrecy and betrayal. I didn't care how the other person saw the match, I just wanted to beat him. but did it have to be this way?
As I hit the "auto match" button, I decided to think about my game as though it were a conversation. Instead of taking territory away from me, my opponent was asking a question. When he played 3,4 he was saying "Can I have the corner, or the wall?" then I could respond. "I would like some of this corner, you can have the wall." Then he might respond by tenuki, playing at the other end of the map. That would be like saying "Hm, This side of the map looks nice, you could build up your position over there, or we could work on dividing up this side."
And what this did for me, was it made the game much more friendly. I started to feel like the person I was playing against was a friend, instead of an enemy. I also found myself understanding his movements better, and when he made unreasonable moves I would ask myself "what is he asking for? doesn't this seem unreasonable?" then I could offer a compromise "You can't take away all my territory there, see you wont be able to escape, but maybe you could use this move as a good ko threat later." Or I could just say "No, you can't have that."
I challenge you to try this out, or let me know if you already think of the game this way. Please comment and tell me how you think of your opponent and his moves.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Letting go of your Points of view
Yesterday I was playing a game against a 1k with a 6 stone handicap when I had an epiphany! He attacked on of 4,4 stones with 3,6 stone, I pincered him High Korean style and then he he played the 6,3 point on the opposite side.
At that moment I was filled with a haunting fear of this player. Every time I had been attacked like this by a strong player I ended up losing. Deep down inside I felt like I had already lost, 4 moves into the game. This was nothing but an unjustified point of view, a judgment that I had made.
How many times have you decided that you have lost a game? How many times was that true? There are an infinite number of possibilities. Every time you notice you have made a judgement, say to yourself "interesting point of view." because that's all it is, a certain point of view. Someone else might look at your same situation and think you have a distinct advantage, or perhaps someone else might think you are drawing a picture with black and white stones. Realizing that this is just a point of view opens up a whole new world of exciting possibilities.
Once you have eliminated your limitating judgments, you can start asking questions. What can I do here? What can I use to my advantage? How can I make this group live? What would this move accomplish? If I resigned right now, what else could I do with my time. Even if your questions lead you to resigning, you still don't have to feel defeated, knowing that you made the best decision you could think of.
Thanks for reading
~Nukermage
At that moment I was filled with a haunting fear of this player. Every time I had been attacked like this by a strong player I ended up losing. Deep down inside I felt like I had already lost, 4 moves into the game. This was nothing but an unjustified point of view, a judgment that I had made.
How many times have you decided that you have lost a game? How many times was that true? There are an infinite number of possibilities. Every time you notice you have made a judgement, say to yourself "interesting point of view." because that's all it is, a certain point of view. Someone else might look at your same situation and think you have a distinct advantage, or perhaps someone else might think you are drawing a picture with black and white stones. Realizing that this is just a point of view opens up a whole new world of exciting possibilities.
Once you have eliminated your limitating judgments, you can start asking questions. What can I do here? What can I use to my advantage? How can I make this group live? What would this move accomplish? If I resigned right now, what else could I do with my time. Even if your questions lead you to resigning, you still don't have to feel defeated, knowing that you made the best decision you could think of.
Thanks for reading
~Nukermage
Friday, October 4, 2013
New sister, Watch out go world!
I am proud to admit that as of last thursday I have a new baby sister! Maebry Skye (Last name omitted for sake of privacy) was born 8 lb 2 ounce 22 inches long!
I heard that in Japan and China some go players train their children from infancy, so I decided, hey why not? She is currently 7 days old, but doesn't seem to grasp the concept of liberties yet.
I heard that in Japan and China some go players train their children from infancy, so I decided, hey why not? She is currently 7 days old, but doesn't seem to grasp the concept of liberties yet.
I haven't made her a KGS account yet, but as soon as she knows how to move the mouse I promise I'll let some of you play against her.
Now, some of you may think I'm being rediculous, but when my sister becomes Go Meijin you may change your mind.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Autopilot Disease Part 2
Once again I begin to write an article that will captivate, nay capture, your hearts, minds, souls etc...
"What's that you say?"
"We're broadcasting already?"
"Well why didn't you say so?"
"Never mind that we've got a show to run!"
Welcome folks to part two of the ongoing series on playing in Autopilot mode. Now that we've covered what Autopilot in part one looks like let's go over some of the reasons people play that way.
Number 1: Stress
When something goes wrong in your life, whether the car breaking down, or your mother's unreasonable complaints that you're 30 years old and that you need a job, The stress can put you into autopilot mode.
Number 2: The Desire to rank up
Paradoxically, the harder you try to get that rank to go up the more difficulties you run into on the way.
Number 3: Impatience
This kind of goes back to No 2. but, when you are in a hurry to win, you don't take the time to think.
On further consideration, the possibilities for going into autopilot mode seem quite extensive and I'd like to take this moment to show the common denominator behind all these causes.
When you push harder you lose the subtlety.
Try balancing a piece of paper on your hand. Now add a pen. You can feel the difference in weight easily.
Now try balancing a bowling ball on your hand. Now add a pen. It doesn't really feel much different.
The less you carry, the more easily you can feel.
Applying this to Go, simply don't focus so intently on winning. Enjoy the game and experiment. If Go feels like work instead of play, your brain just shuts up and relies on what it already knows.
Remember when you were practicing piano as a youngster. When you played your piece at home from the comfort of your living room, it sounded perfect, but when you played at the recital, you failed miserably.
It felt so difficult to do what was normally an enjoyable activity.
Loosen up! try less and achieve more!
"What's that you say?"
"We're broadcasting already?"
"Well why didn't you say so?"
"Never mind that we've got a show to run!"
Welcome folks to part two of the ongoing series on playing in Autopilot mode. Now that we've covered what Autopilot in part one looks like let's go over some of the reasons people play that way.
Number 1: Stress
When something goes wrong in your life, whether the car breaking down, or your mother's unreasonable complaints that you're 30 years old and that you need a job, The stress can put you into autopilot mode.
Number 2: The Desire to rank up
Paradoxically, the harder you try to get that rank to go up the more difficulties you run into on the way.
Number 3: Impatience
This kind of goes back to No 2. but, when you are in a hurry to win, you don't take the time to think.
On further consideration, the possibilities for going into autopilot mode seem quite extensive and I'd like to take this moment to show the common denominator behind all these causes.
When you push harder you lose the subtlety.
Try balancing a piece of paper on your hand. Now add a pen. You can feel the difference in weight easily.
Now try balancing a bowling ball on your hand. Now add a pen. It doesn't really feel much different.
The less you carry, the more easily you can feel.
Applying this to Go, simply don't focus so intently on winning. Enjoy the game and experiment. If Go feels like work instead of play, your brain just shuts up and relies on what it already knows.
Remember when you were practicing piano as a youngster. When you played your piece at home from the comfort of your living room, it sounded perfect, but when you played at the recital, you failed miserably.
It felt so difficult to do what was normally an enjoyable activity.
Loosen up! try less and achieve more!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Autopilot Disease Part 1
You sit down to your computer and fire up good ol' kgs. Instinctively you guide your mouse to the automatch button. This time kgs assigned your color as black. You decide on 4,4 as usual. 'Woops' misclick now your on 4,3 'oh well it's all the same'. White responds with 4,4 in the opposite corner. You respond thoughtlessly a 4,4 accross from your own stone. Black approaches your first corner stone at 6,3. You play your joseki. He responds in an unuasual manner. At this point you feel the need to punish him for his originality, so you play the first move that comes to mind. The next 8 moves you do the same thing. Suddenly it dawns on you that you are in a complicated fight. The rest of the game hangs in the balance of this fight.
If you end up losing you feel upset, angry, confused and hurt. You immediately decide to jump into another automatch to win and nurse your wounded feelings. If you end up losing you feel your opponant was pretty blockheaded and decide your rank isn't nearly good enough for you (after all you won by 30+), so you play another automatch to get your rank to were it 'ought' to be. This creates a vicious addicting cycle.
If you or a loved one suffer from this condition, please do not dispair. Now that you have defined your condition you can overcome it! However, if you are unable to best this deplorable disease, you could read part 2 right here
If you end up losing you feel upset, angry, confused and hurt. You immediately decide to jump into another automatch to win and nurse your wounded feelings. If you end up losing you feel your opponant was pretty blockheaded and decide your rank isn't nearly good enough for you (after all you won by 30+), so you play another automatch to get your rank to were it 'ought' to be. This creates a vicious addicting cycle.
If you or a loved one suffer from this condition, please do not dispair. Now that you have defined your condition you can overcome it! However, if you are unable to best this deplorable disease, you could read part 2 right here
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Eidogo: A healthy source of vitamin joseki
As I've been memorizing games from various professionals I've been wondering about the nutrition value in each one. How much will this game help me in my day to day playing? The one that helps me the most now is the one that taught me a new joseki that I added to my day to day games. I'm kind of slow though so I didn't actually understand what I was supposed to do until after the next paragraph.
In a recent study game with my good friend allara[5k] he devastated me in the fuseki. He then told me I needed work on opening knowledge. After the game I went to Josekipedia and Eidogo (two websites for studying joseki). I found out that Eidogo lets you view a whole bunch of pro games for every joseki you type in.
This is life changing! all I have to do is type in unknown joseki, memorize a pro game or 2 from it and boom! Now I can get the benefits of 2 kinds of study at once. It's even better than a protein shake.
other posts you might enjoy
Some great books for getting deeper knowledge of opening play
Monday, December 3, 2012
Play Go!
Go is not automatic. Fun is not automatic. Learning is not automatic. When you play go you must play go.
Devise strategies, take unexpected turns, and play deeper than you ever have before. Throw yourself into each and every move. Go cannot and will not play itself.
The moment you are content with the first move that comes to mind is the moment you will stop improving. It doesn't matter how many thousands of games you play. You will not improve without stretching yourself to think in ways that are hard for you. Your brain makes connections when you do new things. If you rely on what you are already comfortable with then your brain won't make new pathways and you'll be stuck in a neural rut.
When you learn a new concept and apply it to the way you think about go it is difficult at first. Once you understand it fully it becomes automatic. And once it is automatic you must look for a new concept to apply to your thinking.
We learn things one thought at a time. Every move is a chance to think in a new way and understand a little more. Think outside your comfort zone or it will imprison you. Chaining you to the walls of apathy. Holding you back from the unknown. Yes, learning is scary, but not learning is far scarier.
Devise strategies, take unexpected turns, and play deeper than you ever have before. Throw yourself into each and every move. Go cannot and will not play itself.
The moment you are content with the first move that comes to mind is the moment you will stop improving. It doesn't matter how many thousands of games you play. You will not improve without stretching yourself to think in ways that are hard for you. Your brain makes connections when you do new things. If you rely on what you are already comfortable with then your brain won't make new pathways and you'll be stuck in a neural rut.
When you learn a new concept and apply it to the way you think about go it is difficult at first. Once you understand it fully it becomes automatic. And once it is automatic you must look for a new concept to apply to your thinking.
We learn things one thought at a time. Every move is a chance to think in a new way and understand a little more. Think outside your comfort zone or it will imprison you. Chaining you to the walls of apathy. Holding you back from the unknown. Yes, learning is scary, but not learning is far scarier.
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