Why Baduk is so Amazing 3

The stones are all the same, but the roles they play are all very different.

Tsumego #072

(;GM[1]FF[4]AP[Drago:4.21]SZ[19]CA[UTF-8]AB[ab][ac][ad][ae][bf][bg][ch][dg][eg][fg][fe][fd][fc][fb][fa][da] [db]AW[ea][eb][ec][ed][de][df][cc][bc][bd][be])

★★★
Black to kill.

Black will need some magic in order to kill this group.



Recently I found out this nice website called EidoGoTweet. Basically this website allows you to play out variations and send them out as links for others to see. I think this is quite useful and I shall use it here as well. The link to the above Tsumego is here:

http://gokifu.net/e.php?s=9181364799923962

So from now on, instead of answering in coordinates, you can answer by sending diagrams using this website. Just click on the above link, input your variations, and click "Get URL" button below. After that just copy and paste the URL to whomever you want to show the variation to :)

Tsumego #071

(;GM[1]FF[4]AP[Drago:4.21]SZ[19]CA[UTF-8]AW[bp][cp][cn][cm][cl][cj][ck]AB[bq][cq][dq][do][dp][dn][em][el][dk][dj][di][ci][cf][ap]TR[ap])

★★★★★★★ (Unknown)
White to live

My very first original problem! Saw this in a game during a competition. In the actual game, black played hane at A4, and white actually died!! Is there a way for white to live? Feel free to discuss~

Why Baduk Is So Amazing 2

The stones have only 2 colours: Black and White. And yet the number of possibilities are limitless.

Why Baduk is so Amazing 1

My friend Lee Hajin wrote many posts about "Why you should play Baduk", and I think it is very interesting. You can take a look at the posts here:

http://starbaduk.com/Talk

So I also decided to start a similar one and I will be posting frequently.

Here is the first post.



Why Baduk is so Amazing

1. Having almost 5000 years of history, there isn't a single game that is identical.

My Weaknesses

Once again I lost the chance to represent Singapore for World Amateur Go Championship.

Either I really have no fate with this tournament, or I am just not strong enough.

Feeling sad about the result, I decided to list down my weaknesses so far, and I will try to work on it this year so that I can try to go for WAGC next year.

And my weaknesses are…

1. stubborn fuseki

In fuseki I only play out moves that pros play and I don't play moves that I thought of on my own. That's why I always think very long when a new fuseki appears.

2. very weak reading, hence weak middle game

This is very obvious. During middle game I always look for the easiest way out and try to avoid complicated situations. I don't really like fights and like to win the game naturally. Sometimes it's not that I don't want to read, but just that I'm lazy. Therefore the number of moves I read in an average game is really not a lot, and I tend to lose because of that.

3. very weak yose

Another major weakness. I can count the value of simple yose moves, but when it comes to real games I can't be bothered to count it. Most of the time I play by feel. I play wherever I think is big. This didn't really affect my games because most of my games involves big win or big loss, but it's still a major problem.

4. weak estimation and judgement

I always get it wrong when judging whether the situation is good for white or black. I always make mistakes especially when counting territory. In my deciding game during the selection, I thought that I was leading, but only nearing end game I realized that I was losing by more than 20 points.

5. time usage and byo-yomi

I always freak out when I'm in byo-yomi. And I still cannot manage my time properly. Using too much time in early game and not having enough time to read in middle game is what always happens.

6. Too few serious games

Not sure whether this is considered a weakness but I play really very few serious games. I have accounts in almost all the servers out there, but the number of serious games I play is very little. I realized this is a very serious problem because playing games is really important.

7. No time to study baduk

Just as what it says.

So basically, I'm weak in all areas.

To solve the problem, I've decided to do the following:

1. try to be more creative in fuseki

2. do tsumego every day without looking at the answer and forcing myself to solve it

3. do yose problems and calculate more in real games

4. this is difficult… I guess I just need more practice

5. try to spend more time in middle and end game rather than fuseki. tsumego also helps

6. play more serious games, if possible every day

7. delegate time for some baduk studying

These will be my goals for 2013.

Tsumego #070

(;GM[1]FF[4]AP[Drago:4.21]SZ[19]CA[UTF-8]AB[bq][bp][cp][dp][eq][ep][er]AW[cq][dq][ap][bo][bn][co][do][eo][fo][fp][fq][fr][fs])

★★
White to kill.

Quite a famous problem.

Monotone

Recently these is this new group called the "Monotone" in Japan.

They are formed 3 Japanese professional players, namely the famous female champion Shieh Yi-Min (6P), Takanashi Seiken (8P) who is famous for his advice on love, and the handsome and young Seto Taiki (7P).

The name of the song is called "i★GO" and it is being released today (17/12).

They even shot a promotional video and you can find it here:

The video is actually a short drama and their acting is surprisingly good.

The scene from 4.42 onwards especially is very well made, even though it is a bit exaggerating.

Having real pros to act out playing a game certainly looks different from using actors who don't know Baduk at all.

I believe the song that runs at the end of the video is their song, but I can't find a better sample of it anywhere else so I do not know whether it is nice.

But I think this is really a good way to promote Baduk/Go.

The song can extend to people who don't know Go and instill their interest.

According to my knowledge this is the first time professional players actually got together to make an official music release.

If I were in Japan I would definitely buy this single to support them.

This is their official website.

You can find them on facebook and twitter as well.

Do check them out and support them if you can!

First Post

"This is sente because black is Lee Sedol" -An Younggil

Best explanation of a move I've ever seen. XD


The whole commentary can be found here.

Tumblr.

Ok, I've decided to move all my personal posts and non-baduk stuffs to my new tumblr. blog:

http://sadaharu89.tumblr.com

Just realised tumblr is really clean and simple.

Just my style.

I will not delete the posts here since they will be part of my memories.

But from now on, all personal grumblings and other random stuff will be posted on my tumblr.

And this blog would mainly be on posts related to Go/Baduk.

Maybe I would create a language blog in the future... Who knows.

I also removed the background music because I know some people (like myself) would find it annoying to hear music whenever you enter somebody's blog.

I'm not sure when will my next post here be.

Probably it will be about my recent competitions.

Until then, goodbye.