A Go Player

One man's fascination with the world's best game

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

I made 16K!

It may only be a passing fancy, but I finally made 16kyu ranking on KGS.

As I wrote previously, I am beginning to realize that I have to learn some sequences. Not necessarily "joseki", but what is likely to happen if I play in "this" spot as opposed to "that" spot.

It's called reading, I believe, but the problem with just trying to read out a sequence is that I can only read at my level. Does that make sense? I can read several moves ahead, but only at a 16kyu level. Thus I am entirely unaware of what move a 10kyu or 5ky player would be likely to make. Not that I'm playing them very frequently. :)

The other thing is that I am beginning to sense what it means to actually sketch out territory. This last game, the one that put me over the top, was extremely close - I won by 3.5 moku. And due to my ineptness at sketching out territory, what I had to do was invade, then sacrifice a few stones to cover my retreat.

Of course, that's a valid method of play, one of any number of styles I have seen. I'm not sure what my style is yet, but I'm beginning to gain one.

I also think I need to take lessons. It would be very beneficial to my game to have an expert helping me understand the why and what-for of the moves.

And one last nice thing about this game? Well, I have been playing in a very center-moyo-oriented style lately, so I was very proud of myself for taking three corners. :)

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