https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/ Go (Weiqi in Chinese、Baduk in Korean, Igo in Japanese）is an East Asian board game. You can read Kaz's original Go-advice, Go-lessons, and Q&A for fundamentals of Igo. ja http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Go (Weiqi in Chinese、Baduk in Korean, Igo in Japanese）is an East Asian board game. You can read Kaz's original Go-advice, Go-lessons, and Q&A for fundamentals of Igo. Go, Igo, Weiqi, Baduk, Igo lessons, the game of Go, Igo advice, Igo lessons, fundamentals of Igo, Chinese game, Korean game, Japanese game, Kaz no https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/419725905.html Thu, 28 May 2015 13:17:40 +0900 I've recently learned that both Ootake Hideo 9dan and Iyama Yuta 9dan claimed that "in order to get strong, one should play a lot of games."I confess I was rather shocked to hear this- in my experience, adults who make an effort to play a l.. ]]>
I confess I was rather shocked to hear this- in my experience, adults who make an effort to play a large number of games at the expense of studying develop a playing style in which many common mistakes become solidified. I have visited dozens of Go clubs and witnessed hundreds of adults who play common mistakes over the years.

I have great respect for these pros- after all, they are some of the best in the world- but I could not understand why they said this. So I decided to look into their biographies and playing experience. Some relevant facts I discovered:

1. Both Ootake and Iyama had wonderful Go teachers when they were kids.
2. They began learning Go when they were young, so they learned everything very quickly (young children often learn something once and never forget).
3. In addition, they also happened to be extremely talented Go players.

When Ootake was a child, he went to a Go club near his house and played with many adults. In this Go club, there were some strong players. When I read his biography, I can infer that those strong players had a properly training, so they knew advanced tesuji and techniques. He also had a 5dan Go teacher (at that time, the rank of 5dan was equivalent to what we would today consider 7dan or higher). Under his tutelage, Otaka improved miraculously. Later on, he became an apprentice of Kitani Minoru 9dan.

(It is important to have a good teacher and / or to be surrounded by players who have been well trained. As far as I know, in a majority of Go clubs in Tokyo many of the strong players never have proper training, so they don’t know tesuji or good shapes. But their styles still work because their opponents are also not properly trained.)

When Ootake started living in Kitani Minoru’s house, there were already many talented Go prodigies who were pros and insei (Go apprentices), living in the house. Ootake played stronger players all the time.

Iyama also had a good Go teacher. His grandfather was a 6dan amateur and taught him for a year. Iyama stared playing Go at the age of 5. He became 5 kyu in half year and then became 3dan in another half year. It appears to be like the grandfather had a proper training, so he could teach his grandson well.

Then, he was introduced to Ishii Kunio 9dan pro who entered the Meijin and Honinbo Leagues. About 95% of the Japanese pros cannot enter these leagues. Some pros enter it only once. So the fact that he entered three leagues prove that he was one of the top pros when he started teaching Iyama.

Ishii 9dan taught Iyama twice a week. At first he played a six-stone handicap games and gave the commentary over the phone. Ishi continued to teach Iayam even after he became a pro every week.

Also another pro, Kenmochi Jyo 7dan, played with Iyama once a week before Iyama was a child. He also went to Kenmochi’s house in summer and winter vacations and played with him, Takao Shinji pro, who later became Honinbo, and Akiyama Shinji pro, who later becamse 9dan.

One day Iyama also joined the late Fujisawa Hideyuki Go camp and played many games with top players.

Ootake and Iyama were prodigies, had great Go teachers who played a large number of games and reviewed their games.

But not all pros had this kind of wonderful environment.

For example, Fukui Masaaki 9dan did not have a Go teacher when he was a child. He had only famous Honinbo Dosaku game collections. Dosaku was once the strongest player during the Samurai period. Fukui played those games so many times that he eventually memorized all the games.

I was once an assistant of Sensei Fukui’s class and taught with him for three years. During that time, I never heard him say “amateurs should play as many games as possible”. He seemed to give advice differently to a different student.

Consequently, pros’ advice has a lot to do with their personal backgrounds.

Also the advice of Ootake’s and Iyama’s may not apply to adults becuase most amateur adult Go players have different situations.

1. Most adults don't have very good Go teachers. So they may study for years without learning proper tesuji, shape, joseki, etc.
2. When adults learn tesuji, shape, joseki in a Go class, they have a hard time remembering it. (Kids who are dan level can learn shapes, tesuji, patterns and retain this knowledge for a long time.)
3. Most adults are not Go prodigies like Ootake or Iyama.
4. Most adults started learning Go when they were an adult, not a 5-year-old.

In my experience it takes adults a certain amount of time to learn just one tesuji; it may take up to a month. That's not what happened with Ootake or Iyama. They could learn one tesuji and begin using it in their games immediately, and they would never forget it.

This is not to say that all children are natural Go players. There are many children who are not as talented as Ootake or Iyama; quite a few stop playing Go because they cannot
improve quickly.

Also without a Go teacher who teaches and cares about kids, it may not be easy to improve or enjoy playing Go. The other day I had an email from Mimura Tomoyasu 9dan, who has entered the Meijin and Honinbo Leagues many times. He runs a Go school for children. Quite a few kyu players quite because there aren’t a Go teacher there. All the pros are busy teaching dan players.

In conclusion pros tend to give advice based on their experiences. But that may not be applicable to anyone.

Please also read a related topic: http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/409180298.html ]]> 5 conditions to be a stronger Go, Igo, Weiqi, Baduk player Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/419725905 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/411687986.html Fri, 02 Jan 2015 17:42:23 +0900 Recently a student asked me about how he should manage the timebecause he loves to think of a move for a long time. In factsince he likes to think each move for a long time, he likes to play offline.I answered as follows:To be honest with .. ]]> because he loves to think of a move for a long time. In fact
since he likes to think each move for a long time, he likes to play offline.

I answered as follows:

To be honest with you, since I was a child, I always couldn't
play quickly. I had to think, think, and think...
Even if I became an insei, and even if I had 4 hours in the final insei
tournament, I couldn't stop thinking. I spent 4 hours in 100 moves or so.
It was a terrible habit.

Interestingly, after I quit an insei (Go apprentice), I could start playing fast.
Over the years I have also observed many people, teenagers and adults who couldn't stop thinking.
Based on my experiences, I'd like to tell you what I have discovered and learned over the years.

1. Thinking a move for a long time does not necessarily help you play a better game.

2. Thinking a move for a long time in a game does not necessarily make you strong.

3. When you play a game, there are points at which you have to think; that is a life-and-death situation and a capturing race.
But there are many situations where you will never know the best moves.

Let me elaborate on these.

With regard to 1. and 2., I need more explanations.

The reason thinking a move will not help you is that
without solidifying the strong basic foundations, you may not be thinking
correctly. If your thoughts were incorrect from the beginning, you may very well
end up with an incorrect result.

( My definition of basic foundations is that there are basic foundations for 10 kyu players, for
5 kyu players, for 1 dan players, and so on. I believe that you should learn various levels of
basics as you improve. )

This happens often because you still have to learn a lot about tesuji,
life-and-death, shape, etc. at your level. It takes time to learn one tesuji.

This is why I always emphasize learning basics.

With regard to 3., there were interesting Go articles in Japan, asking top pros to play where in the middle of a game.

Almost always every top pros play different moves. This means that even top pros may not know what's the best.

Go is that deep, I guess.

Cho U 9dan wrote in his book that he always intentionally plays fast. He's been
doing that since he was an insei and even now. The reason is that when there
is a crucial moment in a game, he needs time. When he has time, he could find
the best move or a winning move. His opponent often doesn't have time and makes a mistake.

Of course, he is one of the strongest Go players, and that's why he has won
lots of titles in Japan. But even for him, how to manage the time is strategically important.

I do understand that it can be very frustrating not to have time in an online game
when you need time. I send the following advice to those who play tournaments.
But I'm pretty sure that these are also helpful to you, too, when you play online.


☆　Go advice　☆

★ The time ★

When you play a tournament, you have only limited amount of time. You shouldn't spend time on the opening. You should use your time in the middle game, especially fight and life-and-death.

And in the endgame if you don't have time, you often end up miserably. Even if you are 20 points or 30 points ahead, your opponent could turn around the situation if you don't have time to think. I have experienced this so many times when I was an insei. So use your time wisely.

When I play a game, as soon as I play a move, I try to think of possible opponent moves and come up with a response. So when an opponent plays a move, I can immediately respond to it without spending the time.

When I made a mistake and was way behind in the middle of a game, this strategy really worked well because towards the end of a game, my opponent had little time left, and I had more time, and I managed to find a move to turn around a game.

Of course, it's easier said than done. But that may be something to think about.


★ The openinge ★

In order not to spend time in the opening, I think the following advice helps.

When you're Black, you should certainly play your favorite opening.

The problem is White. When you are White, you should try to prevent your opponent from playing her / his favorite opening such as the Chinese opening (fuseki).

The Chinese fuseki is really hard to tackle unless you have studied it extensively. Even if you have studied the Chinese fuseki, new patterns come up often, and it's very hard to keep up with everything.

Later on when I played a tournament in Tokyo, and when my opponent played the first move at Q16 and the third move at Q3, I played my fourth move at Q5 immediately (for kyu players, I recommend Q5 and not R5 because R5 has far more variations). After this, he and I had to face a new fuseki. So whoever strong was likely to win (and I won).

If I had let him play the Chinese fuseki, he would have played the fuseki just like top pros play. So all his moves were as wonderful as top pros up to a certain moves. But when I played the fourth move at Q5, he had to play his own moves rather than top pros' moves. So it's much harder for him to good moves.

In addition, if you let your opponents play their favorite fuseki, it's very likely that they don't spend time because they know what to do, but you probably have to spend time on finding out how to tackle an unfamiliar fuseki. So you may lose your time very fast in the opening.

To prevent your opponents from play their favorite fuseki may also be helpful psychologically. If you prevent that, they can be discouraged.

I'm sorry that this is getting too long.

I really hope this helps.

]]> Q&A for fundamentals of Igo & Kaz's Igo advice Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/411687986 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/409180298.html Wed, 19 Nov 2014 10:39:43 +0900 I always think adults play too many games.Adults need to learn basics.I know there is a myth in Japan and in the West that "you have to play lots of games if you want to be strong".But that's wrong. That's for pros and children at 5dan, 6da.. ]]>
Adults need to learn basics.

I know there is a myth in Japan and in the West that "you have to play lots of games if you want to be strong".

But that's wrong.

That's for pros and children at 5dan, 6dan, 7dan, or 8dan level.

They learned basics when they were 8, 10, or 12 years old. They already knew all the basics.

But not adults. Adults lack a lot of basics.

Also playing many games will not improve pros or 5dan, 6dan, 7dan, 8dan children, either. Pros review their games for many hours. Cho U 9dan often reivews his games 10 hours or even more if he has time.

Most adults never review their games and keep playing the same mistakes.

Keep in mind that learning one tesuji can take a month. Being able to apply that tesuji to your games can take even more time.

If adults play more than 10 games a week, I don't think they will ever have time to master even one tesuji.

There are so many things to learn.

There are lots of tesuji. There are opening, middle game, and the endgame. Adults also need to learn basic tesuji, joseki, fighting pattenrs, sabaki, shinogi, etc.

Compared to children, it takes adults 3, 4, or 5 times to learn things.

Yet, adults have much less time than children. Adults have to work, take care of a family, meet friends, do social activities, go see a movie, etc.

It's not easy for adults to find time to study Go, let alone learning basics.

Still, many adults keep playing without learning basics.

In my 16-year teaching experience tells me that adults play too many games
and learn too little basics.

I've seen hundreds of adults who keep playing and never improve. I've never seen any adults who improved without learning basics.

Many adults claim to be a dan player, and they can win among other adults who have never studied basics. But when they play with a pro or a child with a strong basic foundation, they are always beaten badly.

When adults play too many games without solidifying basics, they will only build their own styles, filled with common amateur mistakes, which are far from basics.

I have taught many adults for many years in Japan. Many of them are full of common amateur mistakes and of very little basics. They had played 10 or 20 years with their own styles.

Then I started teaching basics. I taught many of them for 5 years, but it was still very hard for them to acquire basics because their own styles were completely ingrained in their mind.

Despite my advice, I've found that many of my students still keep playing more than 10 games in a week or a month. Each game lasts 3 hours or more. This means that they are practicing their common amateur mistakes for 30 hours. Instead, they should study basics. If they play only one really serious game in a week or in a month and study 27 hours a week or a month throughout a year, they will definitely improve in a year. But very few people do.

If playing many games is a way to improve, then most adult Go players in Japan and in the world would have to be much stronger today and be filled with strong basic foundations. Why isn't that happening? It's because they are only practicing common amateur mistakes.

I once learned karate as an adult and repeated practices 6 hours or 8 hours a week
and did a fighting only once in a while. Fighting doesn't last long. It's usually a minute for 5 or 10 bouts, and each bout lasts only a minute.

Yet, I have improved quickly and got the black belt in 5 years.

Please read my blog to see how important and how difficult it is to acquire basics:
http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/251428407.html
http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/251432166.html

In my experience, playing one really serious game a week is good enough for adults, maybe 2 at most. (If you're serious, you should concentrate a game from the beginning to the end. Chatting during a game is not a serious game. That's for fun.)

If they have time to play lots of games, they should learn basics.

If adults have 10-hour free time, I believe that adults should study 9 hours and play 1 hour a game.
That's my suggestion. If you want to improve fast, if you want to win, that's what I suggest.

Of course, adults don't have time to study Go for a long time.
Then studying an hour a day is still very good. One of my students, George, is making a big progress by studying an hour or an hour and a half every day.

He started playing Go in his 30s. Now he is in the 60s. He started taking my offline lessons in July, 2014. At that time his KGS rating was bouncing around between 4-6 kyu. In November he is currently a 2 or 3 kyu player.

http://kazsensei.com/recommendations/

I hope this advice helps.
]]> Killing all-the-stones syndrome is not good！ Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/409180298 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/406631508.html Mon, 06 Oct 2014 13:57:12 +0900 I had a student who didn't improve much and decided not to take mylessons anymore. I asked him how many times he has reviewed my problems.His answer was once or twice. Sometimes more, but not many.Then I thought I should tell all of my stu.. ]]> lessons anymore. I asked him how many times he has reviewed my problems.
His answer was once or twice. Sometimes more, but not many.

Then I thought I should tell all of my students about the importance
of reviewing and the importance of reviewing continuously.

I'd like to ask you to review my problems, preferably several times
a week, if not every day, because repetition is the only way to improve Go.

If you spend 5 minutes to review my problems maybe 3 times a day
for example in the morning, at noon, and at night, it should make
a difference after six months.

Of course, the more you review, the faster you improve.

I think it's a good idea to make it a rule to review my problems.

I've taught hundreds of students, and some of them don't improve much
The fact is that they don't review my lessons enough.
Solving my problems once or twice is not at all good enough.

Please take a look at my blog on these pages:
http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/251432166.html
http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/251428407.html

I reiterate "Repetition is the only way to improve Go."

If you stop reviewing my problems, you will fall back into your old,
bad habits, and soon your Go will be back to your original level.

Then your time and money to have taken my lessons will be wasteful.

If you forget everything I taught, and one day you decide to take
my lessons again, you have to do the same thing all over again.

But if you continue to review my problems, even for 5 minutes a day,
you could still build a certain basic foundation. One day if you decide
to take more lessons, then you will be able to learn new things
more easily in the future.

Endurance makes you stronger.

I've been studying Chinese by myself. Like I studied English
by myself, I repeat listening to some Chinese every day and
many times at lest for 10 minutes a day and often more.

I'll listen to the same lesson not once, but 20 times or 30 times
or more until I master them and be able to use them in conversation.

"Repetition is the only way to improve Go."

I hope you understand the importance of repetition
and the importance of continuing to study.

Incidentally, some of my students have been reading various Go books. I’ve been making problems based on their weaknesses and mistakes. No books are written based on their weaknesses or mistakes. So it makes more sense to solve my problems rather than reading various Go books.

Besides, all of my students pay money more than a Go book. So they should make the most of my lessons. To do so, they should repeat solving my problems far more than Go books.

I just want all of my students not to waste their money and time.

Good luck to all of you.

]]> 5 conditions to be a stronger Go, Igo, Weiqi, Baduk player Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/406631508 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/404755480.html Tue, 02 Sep 2014 14:40:56 +0900 In my commentary, I often state the following:EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: In the opening and in the middle game you should avoid a fight in a place where you're outnumbered. Instead you should try to fight in a place where you outnumber an oppon.. ]]>
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: In the opening and in the middle game you should avoid a fight in a place where you're outnumbered. Instead you should try to fight in a place where you outnumber an opponent's stones.

Yet, many people invade an opponent’s moyo or territory first, which is unnecessarily. And then their invading stone gets attacked; they give an opponent’s a chance to get an advantage.

I understand that "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." But you have to overcome this.

If you get Black, you always have one stone ahead. So in many cases it is White who has to invade first. If you are Black and make a moyo by making the three-star point opening or the Chinese opening, it is definitely White who has to invade. This means that Black will attack a white group.

If you have a chance to attack a weak group, you will have various opportunities to attain an ideal attack such as the following:

1. You attack a weak group while increasing your territory.
2. You attack a weak group while expanding your moyo.
3. You attack a weak group while erasing an opponent’s moyo.
4. You attack a weak group while reducing an opponent's territory.
5. You attack two or more than two weak groups at the same time by making a splitting attack. (I’ll elaborate on this below.)

As you can see 3. and 4., you should let an opponent invade, attack an invading stone, follow it, and then invade an opponent’s moyo. You usually follow a weak group and get an influence in the center, so your invasion becomes safer and easier.

If you invade first, you will get attacked and let an opponent invade your moyo or your territory more easily, and that’s not good.

So if you play Black, especially if you make a moyo, a person who has to invade is White, not Black.

In fact, even if you have White, this strategy works.

If you are White and make a moyo by making the three-star point opening or the Chinese opening, and if you keep expanding your moyo, most people as Black will invade your moyo because we all have “green-eyed monster” in our mind.

So if you see an opponent’s invasion, your strategy works. But that’s not enough.

The question is how to attack an opponent’s invading stone. If you attack incorrectly, then you will not attain an ideal attack above.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Before you attack, you should look at the entire board, find where you can make the most profit, and then consider which sequence of moves will lead you to an ideal attack.

As I have stated above, making profit can either make a bigger territory, expand your moyo, erase opponent’s moyo, or reduce an opponent's territory.

But you can also make a splitting attack (A splitting attack is attacking two or more of the opponent’s groups at the same time.)

An ideal splitting attack is to separate two group right before they are about to connect.
(This is why ‘Romeo-and-Juliet shape’ is really effective because they split two stones right in the middle, right before they are about to connect. If you haven’t received ‘Romeo-and-Juliet shape” yet, please ask Kaz to send problems in the near future.)

All ideal attacks are not easy to achieve. You will have to learn how to attack an weak group. But at least you will know that in many cases you don't have to invade frist and put yourself in danger first.

BTW, if you read this blog and follow my advice, and if a game didn’t go as well as I explained here, please you MUST tell me that. I’ll find out why your strategy didn’t work or where you made mistakes. ]]> How to achieve a high winning percentage Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/404755480 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/403026823.html Fri, 01 Aug 2014 15:58:24 +0900 If you play a very bad move, you may get angry or feel depressed.　　If you have a tendency to become like that, then you have a very hard time turning around a game.In fact, the more angry or depressed you become, the more you make a bigger .. ]]> If you have a tendency to become like that, then you have a very hard time turning around a game.

In fact, the more angry or depressed you become, the more you make a bigger mistake, and you lose more stones. Then you will get even more angry or depressed, and you will make a even bigger mistake. It’s a vicious cycle.

If you do that, you will never learn anything from that kind of emotional game.

Believe me. I’ve experienced it many times when I was an apprentice.

In my case I tried to study at least 10 hours, often 15 hours every day, Monday through Sunday, for 365 days without going to high school. Then I lost often for almost 3 years. Can you imagine how angry and depressed I was?

If you think you made a terrible mistake and lost a game, feel free to resign a game. Then watch a movie, walk outside, or do anything to refresh your mind. If you think you calm down, then you can review your game. If you don’t want to review it, then study a Go book.

Your main goal is to become strong. So don’t let your emotions control you. You have to manage yourself to control your emotions.

People who don’t care about their mistakes and / or people who are optimistic, tend to have a higher winning ratio in general. So it’s important for you not to get angry or depressed.

My first Go teacher was really good. He taught me that when he played a mistake, he naturally got mad at himself. But then he closed his eyes and counted 10 seconds. Then he often calmed down. When he opened his eyes, he could often find a move to minimize the loss or find a move to turn around a bad situation.

So you might want to write that down, put the note on your computer before a game, and when you make a big mistake, you should read it, close your eyes, and count 10.

Also you should keep in mind the following:

1. Regardless of how strong you become, you will always experience making a mistake or a flop. We are all humans, so we all make mistakes. So you might want to live with that. Even top pros make a serious blunder. A top pro couldn’t resign a game and resulted in 35 point loss. Pros usually resign a game when they are losing 10 points or so. So counting a 35-point loss was such a shame. I guess this pro really lost his mind during a game. In fact, he did it more than once. Later he never lost his mind during a game and won more than 50 titles.

2. You may think you make mistakes more than your opponent, but that may not be true. Your opponent also makes lots of mistakes, maybe more than you do. But people tend to feel that you always make mistakes more than an opponent. When I look at my students’ games, their opponents often make more mistakes or bigger mistakes. But I don’t pay much attention to it because they are not my students.

3. You may think that you made a mistake, but it can often be a good move. I have had experience like this many times. I thought I really played badly. But when my first Go teacher reviewed it, he told me that my moves were good. When I review my students’ games, the moves they thought were bad, were not necessarily bad. Some moves are good. So be optimistic.

A state of mind can make you two stones weaker very easily, sometimes four stones weaker. I've experienced it many times. So the psychological effect is really big.

As long as you’re my students, I’ll help you. So be optimistic. So be optimistic, then you may very well increase your winning ratio.
]]> How to achieve a high winning percentage Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/403026823 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/403004419.html Fri, 01 Aug 2014 09:38:28 +0900 Those Go players who are very passionate and eager to learn new things tend to rush to try hard probems, often over their heads. Or some of them overlook the importance of solving easy problems. Many of them think they know that stuff (so.. ]]>
So some people think that some of my problems are too easy and dissatisfactory. I hope you don’t feel that way. But if you do, then I’d like to explain why I do that.

First it takes time to learn new things.

Learning one tesuji can often take a month. “I know this problem” is not good enough. You have to be able to do that in your real game regardless of how complicated a situation is. Even if you’re drunk, you should be able to play that without thinking. (I’m not suggesting that you should get drunk and play Go. You shouldn’t. ) If you didn’t play that in my lesson or in your game, that means you lack basics. If you think my problems are easy, I have to ask you to be patient. If you cannot patiently solve easy problems, you will not be able to solve harder problems. I could give you a 6dan problem relating to a tesuji, but you won’t learn it because of the following reason.

Second you have to learn things step by step.

I know most Go teachers teach 6dan tesuji or pro level tesuji to kyu players, even 15 kyu or 20 kyu players. But that’s not a good way to teach. In fact, it’s impossible to learn a 6dan tesuji and to be able to play 6dan moves continously without learning 4 kyu tesuji, 1 dan tesuji, 3 dan tesuji, and 5 dan tesuji. You have to learn these things step by step. You also improve the ability to read many moves.

If you’re a 6dan, I expect you to learn at least 20 moves easily. I also expect you to know lots of 6dan tesuji and shapes. If you cannot read 20 moves easily, and if you do not know 6dan tesuji and shapes, you cannot see a danger ahead of you. Then it’s really dangerous to try a 6dan tesuji. It’s like flying a jumbo jet even though you just started learning how to fly..

I explained the importance of learning things step by step on my blog; http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/396285189.html

The other day, I was commenting on a 4dan student in his mid-20s, who started playing Go at the age of 16. He is much, much stronger than most of my Go students. But he made some mistakes about not hitting the head of the two stones. He knows “hitting the head of the two stones”, and he knows how important this tesuji is. Yet, he couldn’t see them in two of his games in the middle of a game. In the first game a situation was rather simple, and in the second game a situation was very complicated.

People often don’t see an important tesuji especially when there are many stones and things are very complicated. Even if you’re a 4 dan or a 5dan players, it’s still not easy.


Why?

Answer: They haven’t practiced basic problems a lot.



How are they able to see that?

Answer: Learning basic problems once or twice is not good enough You have to solve them repeatedly with regard to that tesuji. Then they can try harder problems and solve them repeatedly.

( I sometimes suggest an opening in which that tesuji comes up often. But this doesn’t work for all tesuji. But the fact is that the more he plays that tesuji in a real game, the more easily the tesuji will become part of him. )

Only then will they recognize a particular tesuji even in a complicated situation.

I can present a 6dan tesuji, for example a 6dan Indiana Jones tesuji, but that will only be harmful to you. So I won’t do that.

The good news is that you don't have to learn 4dan or 6dan tesuji if you want to become a 1dan or 2dan. ]]> Solving easy igo problems repeatedly helps you get the fundamentals of iGo! Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/403004419 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/399124503.html Tue, 10 Jun 2014 10:59:26 +0900 Many of my students take my lessons in order to get strong as well as to have a high winning percentage.Recently I’ve noticed that some people are missing a chance to have a higher winning percentage. Let me point that out, and then I’d li.. ]]>
Recently I’ve noticed that some people are missing a chance to have a higher winning percentage. Let me point that out, and then I’d like to make some suggestions.

Some of my students often do the following during a game:

"Some Go players chat during a game."

When I see a chat even once or twice briefly in a game, I wonder how destructive that is for a player. A chat is not only very rude, but will prevent you from improving your Go.

I’ve taught hundreds, probably a thousand of people. Those who improve have something in common. When they play a game, they concentrate on a game from the beginning to the end.

Those who don’t improve also have something in common. They don’t look at their game until the end. They often look around and see other players’ games, not just once, but many times. They have a short attention span.

During a game, you must avoid any destruction, including a chat. To do so, here is what I suggest.

Before a game, you should turn off your cell phone and even a landline if possible. You should go to a bathroom, too, before a game. You should ask your family member not to disturb you (Of course, I’m assuming that you don’t have any children. If you have a child, that’s probably impossible. )

You might want to look at top pros’ games or the World Amateur champion’s game if they play a game at a U.S. or European Go Congress or on the internet. They never chat. Not even once. It’s because they are concentrating on a game. They want to concentrate and hate any destruction that would lose their concentration.

If I played a tournament on KGS, I would never chat with an opponent or anyone. If an opponent tries to chat with me during a game, I think that’s very rude. I would not respond because that would be very destructive to my concentration.

Think about this.

If you look at a chat, read it, think about a response, and type it. It may take you a few seconds or a minute at the maximum. You may think that it takes only little time.

To me, that’s a matter of life-and-death. Once you lose your concentration, it may take more time to get back to a high concentration level. That means that I would lose more than a couple of minutes. If you get a chat more than twice, and if you have only 30 minutes, that can be lethal. You should expect that you could lose a game.

In each game, your time is very limited.

Many people play a game with 30 minute-time and then 30 second-byoyomi or 1-minute-byoyomi. This means that you literally have no time to chat. Even for me, that’s very little time. Even if I had an hour, that’s still very little time. That means that you never have time to chat or look at something else. Every second counts.

During a game, you have so many things to think about.

When stones are attached, you have to read. If you’re an adult, you should pay attention to the shortage of liberties throughout a game. You also have to look at a situation globally, think about an attack, defense, invasion, etc. You also have to think about territory to see who is winning and losing. If you’re losing, you have to find a move to upset or turn around a game. It takes a lot of time to find a move like that.

Since both players have very little time, whoever has a higher concentration usually wins a game and improve fast. There is no time for chatting.

If someone constantly chats, I doubt that he or she is not interested in improving his or her Go. During your game, if a viewer tries to chat with you, I think he or she doesn’t know a manner. It doesn’t matter how strong they are. It’s very rude to chat with someone who is playing a game.

I was an insei (Go apprentice, like a Jedi knight) and recorded many games and watched hundreds of pros’ games.

There were pros who chatted very briefly during a game once or twice. But those pros never became a top pro or title holder.

Top pros, especially title holders like Cho Chikun 9dan and Kobayshi Koichi 9dan, never chatted. The late Sakata Eio never chatted with anyone during a game. Never. From the morning to the mid-night, his concentration was always amazing (He always had the eye of the tiger). He stayed at the top even when he was over 60 years old.

If you want to have a high winning percentage, there is no time or no room for chatting because that will destroy your concentration.

there is no time or no room for chatting, You need to improve your concentration. This is crucial. (I talked about how important it is to improve the ability to concentrate in my blog below: )
http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/106130085.html
http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/category/5477443-1.html

Yes. I assume that you might think “Hey, come on! We are not top pros or amateurs. We play Go for fun. We don’t want to lose Go friends.”

Yes. I understand that. It’s definitely good to be friendly to fellow Go players. But you can be friendly after a game or a before game.

If someone interrupts your game often and prevents you from improving your Go, do you think he or she can be a good friend for a long time? There are many people who never interrupt your games. You might want to make friends with them.

So if your opponent often chats with you even once during a game, this is what I suggest.

Before you play a game, you might want to tell your opponent why you want to avoid any chat during a game. Please feel free to show this blog. Then your opponent will blame me, not you.

Also you might want to play a game “private”, so no one can enter your game. In order to make your game “private”, this is how you do it.

When you can click “Custom Game”, please take a look at the top. In the middle, there is “private? “. Please click that. Then, during a game, no one can enter unless you allow them to enter.

If someone tries to chat with you during a game, please copy this “Sorry, I’m playing now and need to concentrate. I cannot answer this right now.” After a game, you should leave the same message. Then, eventually no one will chat with you during a game.

Please remember that trying to chat with someone is very rude when he or she is playing a serious game. Please also remember that whoever has a higher concentration usually wins a game and improve fast.
]]> How to achieve a high winning percentage Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/399124503 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/398594890.html Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:36:17 +0900 Now the summer vacation is coming, and many of you may travel. When you travel, please do not make a $100 mistake below in terms of Go. I’ll show you how to prevent that, too. When you review my materials or study a Go book, you should no.. ]]>
When you review my materials or study a Go book, you should not copy just sentences.

I've met many Japanese adult players who copy only commentaries (sentences) and don’t copy diagrams probably because copying sentences is faster and easier. They mistakenly assume that learning commentaries (sentences) will help them.

Unfortunately, many of them do not realize the fact that without understanding a shape, memorizing a sentence is not at all helpful, but can be harmful.

( I state “shape”. This can mean, a good shape, a tesuji, a life-and-death problem, etc. It can mean anything. )

Why is it harmful? Here is the reason.

There are so many diagrams that look the same or very similar to amateurs. But even if two different diagrams seem to show almost the same in the eyes of amateurs, they are often completely different in the eyes of pros or top amateurs.

In most case if there is a subtle difference, a correct move can be completely different, and the results are totally and utterly different.

For example, for native English speakers, the words “memo” and “nemo” are completely different. But for English speaking beginners, they look very similar.

The words “evidence” and “evince” do not the same meaning. The word “basic” and “basis” are not exactly the same. The words “different” and “deferred” are not the same. ( I wish I could come up with better examples in terms of English words.)

For some Americans, Cambodia and Laos may look the same. For some Asians, Canada and the U.S.A may look the same. (Maybe these are extreme examples… But Go beginners make that kind of mistakes. )

There are so many misunderstandings in Go because of similar shapes.

Every game is different, and every situation can be different. The stronger you become, the more you will sharpen your ability to see the differences. To do so, you must understand shapes and differences of shapes. (BTW, this is why I try to make problems that show differences sometimes.)

Many talented children can become very strong very quickly. In less than a year, a 1dan talented child becomes a 7dan amateur and then becomes a pro because they never forget shapes.

But adults cannot remember many diagrams at once. So some adults try to rely on words, but that’s not a good idea because of the reason above. So please be careful.

Now the summer vacation is coming, and many of you may travel. When you travel, please do not make a $100 mistake by copying only sentences. You must copy your diagrams, too.

If you have iPad, all you have to do is to transfer my texts to the iPad.

One of my students sent me the following info. I don’t have iPad, nor have I ever used it, so all I can do is just copy his sentence below…

Here's the process in case you wanted to share it with other students:

1. Create a zip file of all problems on computer

2. Buy Easygo app

3. Connect iPad to computer, open iTunes in computer, go to "iPad -> Apps -> EasyGo" and Add.. to EasyGo the zip file you created in 1.

4. Open EasyGo on iPad

5. Create new folder ("Kaz Problems") and click on Import button - this should open the File Manager and you should see the zip file from 3.

6. Last note - view problems in Edit mode otherwise you will miss some comments on some moves.

On December 18th, a student of mine posted a video to show how you can see the view of iPad if you tranfer my texts to iPad. Please take a look: https://vimeo.com/114771936

On December 17th, another student sent me the following informatoin:

You can view Kaz Go texts on an iPhone using an app called SmartGo Kifu to save and open the sgf files. That will let you look at them.

If I find out more about a different way to reivew my problems, I'll keep adding here.

Thank you for reading this and good luck to you! ]]> Common amateur iGo players' syndromes Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/398594890 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/398181786.html Thu, 29 May 2014 10:56:34 +0900 I teach Go in a very unique way. For example, I send various problems after each lesson; as far as I know I’m the only Go teacher who sends problems after a lesson. I make and send problems because of the following reasons: http://kazsens.. ]]> http://kazsensei.com/teaching/#problems

Using the following criteria is one of other unique teaching methods (As far as I know, I'm the only Go teacher who has made the criteria. Before I made these, I had to teach hundreds, perhaps a thousand adult players, to analyze their mistakes, and to understand the level of their mistakes. So it took me many years to make the following criteria:

☆I often comment like "$30 common mistake." See below:

$100 mistake = With this mistake, you can lose a game instantly. So you must avoid it.
$ 90 mistake = Excruciatingly bad,
$ 80 mistake = Excessively bad. It’s so bad that you may not forget it for a week.
$ 70 mistake = It’s so bad that you may not forget it for the next day,
$ 60 mistake = It’s so bad that you may not forget it for the next an hour,
$ 50 mistake = Very bad,
$ 40 mistake = Bad,
$ 30 mistake = No good,
$ 20 mistake = Not so good,
$ 10 mistake = It’s a light mistake and not so important for kyu players.
$ 5 mistake =A small mistake; 1 and 2 dan players don’t have to worry about it.


BTW, the other day one of the students asked me why a top pro
did play a certain move. I couldn’t answer that.

Here is what I wrote in the email:

With regard to top pros’ moves, I'm sorry, I'm afraid, but I couldn’t answer that.

Top pros’ moves are beyond my understanding. Even if I spend many
hours, days, or months, I could only guess what each move means.
They could read a hundred moves in a flash according to some pros.

If I understood the meaning of each move, I would be getting pros' titles today.

BTW, I believe that in order to become strong as fast as possible,
I recommend studying the following way: http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/396285189.html

Of course, playing top pros' games is a lot of fun, and their moves, tesuji,
and shapes are beautiful. It’s really great to spend some time and appreciate
their games.

If you review pros' games, I strongly recommend that you buy a book with showing a
commentary. Consequently, you will understand some of the moves and appreciate their games.

So if you like to review pros' games, you should by all means do that.

Thank you very much for reading this blog again out of your busy life.

Kaz ]]> Latest News! (about Go, Igo, Wei Chi, Baduk) Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/398181786 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/396285189.html Mon, 05 May 2014 09:46:53 +0900 Many people try to study very advanced things. Some kyu adults try to memorize 4dan, 5dan, and 6dan joseki variations. This could work for talented kyu children who could become a 1dan and then a 7 dan within a year or two years. But tha.. ]]>
This could work for talented kyu children who could become a 1dan and then a 7 dan within a year or two years. But that doesn’t happen to adults. Also children will never forget what they learn. Adults can forget lessons much more easily.

In the years of teaching hundreds of kyu players, I’m convinced that you should study things at your level..

If you’re a 10 kyu player, you should study tesuji, life-and-death, joseki at 10 kyu levels, and I can tell you why.

Please think about it this way.

Suppose you learn a ski jump. As a sky jump 10 kyu player, would you go up to the top of a take-off ramp from 100m above the ground like top amateur ski players do?

No!

If you tried to slide and fly from the 100m top ramp, you could die or at
least end up with broken bones.

You probably start with learning how to jump from a 50-cm hill,
and then 1m-hill, and then 2m-hill, and so on down the line.

But kyu players often try to learn 4dan, 5dan, 6dan, 7dan things. For example even if they successfully play a 4dan joseki, they should keep playing 4dan moves in order to maximize the joseki. But that’s probably impossible for kyu players.

What often happens is that many of their stones often end up with dead or broken bone stones in the middle of the game when they play with a bit stronger player.

This is why you should learn basic things at your level. Otherwise, your stones
will keep facing dead stones or a lot of broken stones, and you will only lose confidence.

Also if you study at your level, you will understand things much more
easily. Then you can retain them and apply them. Further, you probably enjoy
learning them because you can understand them.

When I give a private lesson, I examine my student’s games (10 or 20 games at first) to learn how much they understand things because every key player has a different understanding. (Ideally I should examine 100 games, but I don’t have time.) Then I start commenting on their games.

After commenting on their games, I try to choose problems at their levels. If you’re interested in my private lesson, please take a look at my website (which will be updated sometime very soon. So please wait. I’d appreciate your understanding. )

I hope you find this advice useful.




]]> 5 conditions to be a stronger Go, Igo, Weiqi, Baduk player Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/396285189 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/396281507.html Mon, 05 May 2014 08:43:39 +0900 More and more I'm convinced that one of the most effective ways to study Go is to learn tesuji than joseki. I’m sure I have already reiterated some advice before, but many of them are new. (I'm not saying that learning joseki doesn't help y.. ]]>
(I'm not saying that learning joseki doesn't help you. It does help you become strong. But I believe it's better to spend more time on learning tesuji than joseki, and I'm giving the reasons below. )

1. Learning tesuji helps you not only in the opening, but also the middle game as well as the endgame.

2. Some joseki variations become out of date, but tesuji never gets old or uncommon.

3. One of the hardest things to learn about Go is the shortage of liberties especially for adults. Often adults lose a winning game because the shortage of liberties often makes you lose stones.

Tesuji problems often contain a lot of shortage of liberty problems. So the more you learn tesuji, the more likely that you will be able to spot that.

4. When you learn tesuji, you not only learn tesuji, but also learn good shapes. It's always good to make good shapes than bad shapes, so you can fight better.

5. The more you know tesuji and good shapes, the more you can understand the meaning of joseki moves. But just memorizing joseki will not make you understand tesuji and good shapes, especially for adults.

It’s partly because many joseki variations contain 5dan, 6dan, or 7dan tesujis. If you’re a kyu player, when do you expect to understand 5dan, 6dan, and 7dan tesujis and learn them

Keep in mind that all pros were talented when they were children and easily memorized hundreds of josekis as a children. They also got from a kyu player to 1dan and then 7dan within a year or two years. So all the joseki moves would make sense quickly. But this doesn’t happen to adults.

For adutls, it’s much better to understand the meaning of each joseki move so that you can remember joseki moves more easily. To do so, learning tesuji is probably the best way. Also I think for most people it’s more fun to understand the meaning of moves than pure memorization.

I’ve taught hundreds of adult kyu players and helped them learn long, complicated joseki variations. But they will eventually forget them if they don’t keep playing it. Pure memorization doesn’t work for adult kyu playres.

Moreover, some joseki variations contain exception moves, which can be bad in ordinary situations.

For example the Chinese opening has many exception moves rather than basic moves. So I don’t like to recommend it to the people who haven’t solidified the basic foundations. Unfortunately joseki books don’t explain which moves are exceptions and why.

6. The more you know tesuji, the more you are able to respond correctly to new joseki moves and an opponent's incorrect joseki moves. I’d like to explain this further.

You can't learn thousands of josekis as well as all new josekis. New josekis come out everyday, especially in South Korea and China, and even Japanese top pros can't keep up with everything.

Moreover, regardless of how many josekis you memorize, you always meet an opponent’s moves deviating from a correct joseki move. (Keep in mind that not everyone studies joseki extensively.) When that happen, your joseki knowledge no longer helps you. What helps you is the knowledge of tesuji, which also helps you find good shape as I’ve already stated.

This is why I’d like to recommend that you learn tesuji more than joseki.
]]> Solving easy igo problems repeatedly helps you get the fundamentals of iGo! Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/396281507 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/252401123.html Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:18:02 +0900 You don't have to learn the latest joseki or a newly developed opening (fuseki). If you like to learn them more than three meals, then please do so. But you don't have to. Your goal is to become a strong Go player, not a master of a new jos.. ]]> developed opening (fuseki). If you like to learn them more than
three meals, then please do so.
But you don't have to.

Your goal is to become a strong Go player,
not a master of a new joseki or a new opening.

Do you know that Cho U 9dan (張栩 九段), who achieved the grand slam has
gotten more titles than most top Japanese pros,
never studied some opening variations, which would not
appear in his games since he was an insei.

He only kept examining his favorite fuseki and tried
to be a master of it.

Amateur players don't have time to study all kinds
of joseki and opening variations. When your opponent
tries a new joseki or fuseki, almost always you have
a way to avoid it.

Otake Hideo 9 dan (大竹英雄) doesn’t like an
"avalanche" joseki and almost always avoids it; he has still
won many games.

I always think that new joseki and new opening variations
are like fashion. They can come and go. Keep in mind
that pros come up with a new joseki every day.

Even pros in Japan have a hard time keeping up with new
josekis in South Korea and China. Japanese top pros once
avoided playing an "avalanche" joseki with Korean and
Chinese pros. When it comes to an "avalanche", if when
you make one mistake, you lose a game immediately.

I recommend that you learn basic josekis, which have been
around for the 30 or 40 years. You could find them in
my website ( http://www.kazsensei.com/ ).

For example the attach-and-extend joseki has been around
more than 50 year, and is likely to remain as joseki for
the next 30, 40 or more years.

The attach-and-extend joseki is good because it is applicable
to so many situations. That's because it's so basic and
important.

That's a classic example of a basic joseki, and I think that's
what you should learn.

One of the reasons you should learn joseki is to acquire
basic tesuji and good shape, so you can apply to ohter
situations.

Also if you learn the meaning of each move of a joseki,
you can remember the joseki for a long time. (my website
explains the meaning of each move, tesuji, and shape of
some basic josekis as well as how you can apply them
to other situations.)

I also have to mention that a new joseki or a new opening
may not exist in the next decade. No one really knows
which new joseki and opening are going to stay for the next 10 years.

Another important thing is that many amateur Go players may not
be able to study Go continuously.

When you get maried and have a child or children, and / or when you
get promoted in a higher position in company, you will probably
have no time to play Go for some years.

After a few years, you will find time to play Go again.
But some joseki and some opening that were once the most popular
may not be played anymore.

So your effort to learn new joseki or new opening may not
be paid off. Thus unless you're a pro or a top amateur,
you don't have to study the latest joseki or fuseki.

Instead you should learn basic stuff such as life-and-death,
tesuji, and shape because they have never changed for a few
hundred years, so they will very likely remain for the next
a few hundred yeras.

Moreover, they will also help you face a new joseki or a new opening.

It's because whether you know new joseki or new fuseki variations,
you always have to face a new fight. And when it comes to fight,
the more you know tesuji and shape, the better you can fight.
And the more you know life-and-death problems, the more likely
you make life or kill the enemy groups.

Learning or memorizing a new joseki or a new opening, on the
other hand, may not help you fight well if you encounter a
completely new joseki or a new opening.

When I get to 6dan, I could understand the meaning of each move
in josekis.

This is why I state that unless you're a pro or a top amateur,
you don't have to learn them.

To conclude I recommend learning the most basic joseki, which
have been around for many years.

I’d like to tell you my experience, too.

I went to America to go to university. I stayed in the US
more than 5 years and never studied or played go seriously.

After I went back to Japan, I played the 4 major amateur
Tokyo tournaments, and without knowing the most fashionable
josekis, I could still get about 85% winning ratio.

When my opponent tried a new joseki, I just avoided it.
When my opponent tried to make the Chinese fuseki or the
Kobayashi fuseki, I played White 4 approaching Black 3
to avoid it. After that, my opponent and I had to face a new
situation, and whoever stronger was going to win. ]]> The year 2012 latest Go (Weiqi, Baduk) advice Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/252401123 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/252393977.html Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:58:15 +0900 I often recommend that you have your favorite opening. The reason is:1. You can learn neither all josekis nor all opening variations. If you try to learn as many openings as possible, you may not be good at any opening. Keep in min.. ]]> opening.

The reason is:

1. You can learn neither all josekis nor all
opening variations. If you try to learn as
many openings as possible, you may not be
good at any opening. Keep in mind that
Takemiya Masaki 9-dan(武宮正樹), known as the
famous "cosmic style" of Go, has been playing
the 3 star point oepning for many decades
and still plays different games.

2. If you have your favorite opening and keep
playing it, you can get better at it. So the
possibility of winning ratios may very well increase.

I've recently read a book written by Cho U Kisei
(張栩 棋聖, 王座 in 2012). In the book he says he never
studied the opening which would not appear in his games.

(Come to think of it, Cho U pro often came up with
a new opening. I assume that he created them intenationally.)
It's better to play an opening, which he knows very well,
and his opponents don't know much about it. When he takes
the lead in the opening, he could more likely win a game.
You can apply his strategy to your games.

3. If you keep playing the same opening, you often play
the same or similar joseki. This means that you may
very well retain josek and build more. It's hard to
retain joseki if you don't use them. Use it or lose it.

4. Even if you stop playing Go for a while, as long as you
studied one fuseki deeply, you may very well get them back
rather easily.

I need to explain 4. more.
Amateurs often stop playing Go for a while because they
get very busy working, taking care of the family, starting
other hobbies and activities, etc.

I’ve met many people who stopped playing Go for a year,
five, years, or even twenty years. They used to be an avid
Go players, so they eventually come back to play Go.

But if they had studied many opening and joseki variations,
then the chances are that they don’t remember any of them.

Ideally, though, you never stop studying Go.

Regardless of how busy you're, as long as you keep studying
Go even for 5 or 10 minutes the chances are that you may
not forget a lot of what you have learned.

How do you do that? For example you could leave your Go books
in a bathroom and read it once or twice a day.

The reason I say this is that one day I realize the following:

Rather than studying Go intensively for 6 months and not
studying for another 6 months, it seems better to study
for a year continuously even if the study is not intensive.

Some of my language talented friends have told me that
there are similarities between learning Go and languages.
And I have read some books and articles written by language
specialists who can speak several languages.

They all say that you should learn a language for a certain
period of time continuously. If you try to learn it
intensively in a short time and stop using it, it will
escape from you very quickly.

A person who speaks six languages once told me that
human brains work in such a way that brains tend to
forget things if a person stops learning or playing.

This means that if you stop playing Go, then your
brain thinks that the brain doesn’t have to retain
your Go knowledge and experience and starts inputting
new information in your head. It makes a lot of sense to me.

(This topic “Learn your favorite opening, master it,
and keep learning move!” relates to the next topic
“You don’t have to learn the latest joseki or the
latest fuseki (opening)".
]]> The year 2012 latest Go (Weiqi, Baduk) advice Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/252393977 https://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/252367179.html Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:33:48 +0900 As is known, concentration is a key to learning quickly as well as to playing a good game. By the way, generally speaking, how long how long is it possible for humans to concentrate at maximum? The answer is probably 3 hours. As an insei, I.. ]]> quickly as well as to playing a good game.

By the way, generally speaking, how long how long
is it possible for humans to concentrate at maximum?

The answer is probably 3 hours.

As an insei, I learned this number from a book
written by Serizawa Hirobumi (芹澤博文) 9 dan Shogi
pro (Shogi (将棋) is Japnaese chess game) and also
a 5 dan amateur Go player.

Serizawa and Fujisawa Hideyuki (藤沢秀行, Shuko
is also known as his name) both loved drinking, and they
drank together often; they were like brothers. (I have
an intriguingstory of them at the end.)

Serizawa Hirobumi wrote in his book that once he
thought of a move for a long time and played it.
When he saw the time, he spent 3 hours for that move.
Then he felt that natured called him; he went to pee,
and pee and blood came out. He concluded that a human
being could continue concentration 3 hours at maximum.

(I also read the same kind of story somewhere; someone
concentrated for 3 hours and peed with blood. But I don’t
remember which story that was... Sorry! But I do remember
the number “3 hours”. )

Later I learned that Fujisawa Hideyuki Kisei(棋聖)
also thought of one move for 2 hours and 57 minutes
and played an unbelievable killing move against
Kato Masao (加藤正夫) 9 dan in the 5th game of
the 2nd Kisei best-of-seven title match.

Kato challenged Fujisawa’s Kisei title and won
three games and lost one game. All he needed was win
just one more game to get the Kisei title.

But Fujisawa’s tenacity to kill the group in the
5th game overcame Kato. After this game, Fujisawa
was completely and utterly exhausted and couldn’t
move for a while.

But because of this winning, Fujisawa revived!

He won the 6th and 7th game and defended his Kisei
title. (This 5th game is shown in my website:
http://www.kazsensei.com/ ).

So this means that you can improve your concentration
up to 3 hours. (I haven’t. :(

Whoever concentrates his/her study can learn quickly.
And whoever concentrates a game better than the opponent
is likely to win.

Pros often say in a Go magazine that“I lost my
concentration momentarily and made a mistake,
which turned out to be the losing move.”

So concentration IS important in order to win.

Pros are usually an expert at concentration.

They have built the ability to concentrate for a long
time. But this ability didn’t come overnight. Years
of training as a childhood has made them build such
an incredible concentration.

Amateurs can improve Go as well as concentration if
they don't have one, yet. They just need some training.

The problem is that unlike children, many adults don’t
have much time to study Go; they have to work and
take care of the family, etc.

So even if you have only 15-minute study time every day,
I think it’s a good idea to create an environment in
which you could completely absorb yourself in Go.

Using a timer is one way to improve your concentration
when you solve Go problems. You may think that
"studying only 15 minutes" doesn’t help me much.

But in fact concentrating 15 minutes is not an easy thing,
I think. Being able to concentrate for 15 minutes anytime
anywhere is not easy, either. I mean can you concentrate
your study or work in an ear-splitting construction site?

But if you could do that, you could learn Go anywhere
anytime. So you could become stronger faster than other
people.

If you have trouble concentrating even for 15 minutes,
that’s a good start. When you get used to it, then
you can increase the time little by little.

If you really want to become a strong Go player,
you should use your time efficiently as well.

For example many people watch games on the internet
and on TV Go program in Japan. It's fun, a lot of fun.
But are they really concentrating? Are they thinking
about next moves and reading moves as much as you
play a serious game? If the answer is "no", then
you may have to find a better way to study Go.

I also sometimes think that watching a strong player's
game on the internet may not be the best use of time.

Let me give you an example.

Suppose you're a 10 kyu player. Does watching a game
between 5 dan amateur players help you learn?
I'm not sure if that's helpful.

1. How do you know that those strong players have
solid basic foundations? If they are full of
common amateur mistakes, then the chances are
that you're learning common amateur mistakes.

2. Suppose those two 5 dan amateur players have built
solid basic foundations. In that case you can learn
something.

But what if they started playing an "avalanche" joseki?
Is it going to be very useful for 10 kyu players?
Isn't it better for them to learn at their own level?
It’s very likely that they are learning
something way advanced, which may take you 3 or 4
years or possibly longer to understand.

If you're a 10 kyu player, you can't tell how easy
or difficult a game is. Is it better to solve
life-and-death problems at 10 kyu level than
watch a an "avalanche" joseki? It's up to you to
decide.

By the say, I have already written on my blog that
it is important to "Find a book or problems at your own level"
( http://kazsensei.seesaa.net/article/251502535.html).

I must say that my advice is often for adults, especially
those in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, since a more than
half of my Go students are at those ages.

If you’re a child or a teenager, then you could become
5 dan from 10 kyu in a few years if you study hard;
in that case learning an “avalanche” joseki may by okay.

But for adults I think it's wise to know that you could
avoid an “avalanche” joseki and can still become a strong
player. To become a storng Go player, you need to build
basics foundations, not an "avalanche" joseki.

Pros have developed an incredible concentration when
they were teenagers.

This is one of the biggest reasons that many pros
often learn other subjects, different from Go, very
quickly and become good at it.

For example cosmic style Takemiya Masaki(武宮正樹) 9dan
is known as an expert in golf, backgammon, mah-jong,
and singing. He even made a record debut once as a singer.
He also won a backgammon title once.

By the way, here is an intriguing stroy about Serizawa
Hirobumi (芹澤博文) 9 dan Shogi pro and Fujisawa Hideyuki
(藤沢秀行, Shuko 9 dan.

Suppose a god of Go knows Go 100. How much do you know of Go?

Fujisawa and Serizawa once drank and talked about it.
They decided to write down on a piece of paper and handed
it in. Fujisawa’s answer was 6, and Srizawa’s was 7.
Fujisawa liked his answer, and Serizawa was embarrassed
by his answer because his number was higher than Fujisawa.

(Serizawa, by the way, was a talented shogi player,
but never got a major title.)
]]> The year 2012 latest Go (Weiqi, Baduk) advice Kaz blog:https://blog.seesaa.jp,kazsensei/252367179