The "thinking game" and the "feeling game"

So far it works fine with having 2 accounts, one for short games in between and one for long serious games. But often i found my self playing fast (and sometimes stupid) moves even when i still have long thinking time.
This  has to do something with my personality and it makes a good example on how you can learn about your self - and maybe work on some bad habbits- through playing Go!

Sometimes it feels to me like that there are 2 different games ... the one where you can follow your intuition, where you "feel" your next move and ... the one where you really think through variations and possible answers of your opponent. But there aren`t 2 games!
There are, even in games with long thinking time, a lot of situations where you can`t think it through, go allways has both aspects... the right brain thing and the left brain thing! :-)
This reminds me of a book i once read "Zone Press Park" from O Meien ... he talks about finite and non-finite Go.

Here a quote from Senseis Library  

O Meien discusses the concepts he calls "infinite" vs. "finite" go. A position in go is "finite" if it's possible for the player to find the best move through reading. It's when the game is constrained and the possibilities are limited. It is clear he doesn't like this, and his technique of the "zone press" (a term borrowed from Japanese soccer) is designed to avoid it, and push the game into a state he calls "infinite," meaning a position where it is not clear to either player what the best move is, but there is nevertheless a pressure for his opponent to do something to reduce the dominance of his "number one zone", which is the area with the most potential on the board. 

Howsoever... i think i make good progress and the most important thing:
i enjoy playing again very much. And few weeks ago i realised something very very simple and very very important:
I have to be good at solving Life&Death problems  in order to become a stronger player one day! 
It is that simple and you can read about this in many books or on the internet ... and go teachers will point out as well ... but when i remeber a few months ago i really did not like to solve L&D ... i hate it because i was not good at it. But as soon as i fully accepted that in order to become a dan player one day ... i have to incrase my reading ability somehow ... i started to see solving L&D as a challenge to overcome myself and to learn how to fully concentrate.
There are only 3 possibilities:
1. Learn how to solve hard L&D and (maybe!)
become a dan player one day.
2. Don`t learn and stay a kgs 6 kyu.
3. Don`t learn and stop playing.

By the way i will not continue with posting every long game here... but some of them.
I`m sorry if my english is not very good  :-) 
Have a nice game!

 “Competition and faith are my life-long vocations. Like water and fire, I depend on both. When I couldn’t outrank the others, it was time for me to leave. There are two things in my life, truth and Go.” Go Seigen

Like Water and Fire

Here something for all fans of Go Seigen aka. Wu Qingyuan ... maybe the strongest Go player of all time... 
At this Italian Go blog: http://goigoweiqibaduk.blogspot.com/ i found pictures from some of Go Seigens Jubangos  ... i think they are very beautiful. Enjoy! 

 Go Seigen vs.   Kitani Minoru  

Fujisawa Hosai vs. Go Seigen 

Go Seigen vs. Fujisawa Hosai 

Go Seigen vs. Fujisawa Hosai 

Go Seigen vs.  Iwamoto Kaoru

Sakata Eio vs. Go Seigen 

Go Seigen vs.  Takagawa Kaku

 Hashimoto Utaro vs. Go Seigen

Update: And in addition i just found this video with Go Seigen himself  from Japanese television via twitter!




“Competition and faith are my life-long vocations. Like water and fire, I depend on both. When I couldn’t outrank the others, it was time for me to leave. There are two things in my life, truth and Go.”
Go Seigen

Don`t Think - Just Use The Force | On Seriousness

(Why am i writing in English? I love to write in english because it is a nice feeling that by using english one can connect with Go players all over the world ... but i`m not a native speaker and my abilities to write in english are not very good ... maybe you enjoy my writing here anyway...)


It is still semester break time here in Germany (Stuttgart), so there was much time to play some Go again!

Each time when i don`t play for a couple of months, i wonder how i could live without it!? But a break from time to time, might be good to improve one's play. If i don`t play for a while ... i always come back with a fresh perspective and the way i look upon the board is changing.
Besides that, if i play every day for a long time, Go, even if it is still a lot of fun then, looses a bit of it`s "magic" ... i mean this special feeling and excitement about the game itself, which i had especially when i first started to learn the rules: That was one weak after seeing the movie "PI" (Older post with youtube links ) again, a great film by Darren Aronofsky - with some wonderfull go scenes.

At the moment i`m a 6 Kyu on kgs and still a 17 (yes seventeen) Kyu at wbaduk.

As i mentioned before in a older post, ("Loosing at Wbaduk is Fun" ) 
i guess the players at Wbaduk (mostly koreans, chinese and japanese people) are playing a much different style compared to the average KGS user. I don`t bellive that the Kyu-ranks are actually really differing more than 50%, but somehow for me it is still hard to win against Wbaduk players ... there might be several reasons for this ... one of course is the psychological aspect ... if you want something too badly this "wanting" may work as a strong blockade.

Anyway ... after this breaks of several month, i clearly see my other, most important problem ... whether i play at Kgs, Wbaduk, or on the real board:

The disability to play "serious"!

In all my games, regardless if i won or loose, i play several (mostly in important moments) moves, like Go was a game game of luck...
But Go is not a game of luck, it has nothing to do with luck - or better - ... it should not have to do something with luck.
For example, it is your opponents turn and you suddenly see a move which would be very damaging for you, but your opponent was not able to see it ... why am i happy in this situation?
I started to reject that ... now , i think ... "this is maybe your best move, please play it, or play a better one" ... i think it is not about winning, it is about playing good and intensive games ...

The other aspect of treating Go like a game of luck is connected with ones own moves ... not thinking, like playing roulette.
Of course, from time to time, i do read out sequences and life and death problems ... sometimes very hardly, and i misread them, or can`t read any further ... that`s no problem for me, in this case, this reading, is ones own true strength...

But very often i don`t do it, then i don`t read at all and play like a car driver with closed eyes ... because i`m too lazy ... and because i do like this "just use the force thing" where you rely totally on your intuition. It`s not like i could not do it ... it is just this laziness which holds me back.


What would Yodas advice be? :-)

If it`s not fun & interesting to read sequences as hard and as long as i can - why then is there this desire to become a stronger Go player?
Maybe i should ask myself this question the next time i suddenly want to play somewhere without thinking about the consequences.

This attitude to play without thinking is not what Takemiya Masaki means when he says "you have to play wherever you want" ... as i understand his advice it is connected with thinking ... if you think this move, even if it maybe looks unusual or risky, or you can`t read it out ... is the best ... you should always play it ... what i mean is just this attitude of "playing like in a blitz game", when you actually have much time to think.

In the movie "PI" , which i mentioned above, the professor, and stronger player, is telling the other guy "don`t think, just feel, use your intuition"! (youtube) Of course intuition is very important as well  ... but i think it`s in the script because it sounds cool.  ;-)
I believe a very good go player or teacher would  always say quite the contrary: "Think! Read out this sequence, read out this live and death problem!" 
I think i have to ask myself , if i really want to become, not a better, but a serious Go player... if i really like to play ... to really play ... Go.

Being serious means being thoughtful - in life and in Go.





“You should look at the board and play wherever you want to. This is the way to get stronger.” Takemiya Masaki

TAO TE CHING & GO

With a little bit fantasy we might can read the following chapter from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" as advice for becoming a better Go player!

"Being over bold and confident is deadly.
The wise use of caution will keep you alive.

One is the way to death,
and the other is the way to preserve your life.
Who can understand the workings of Heaven?

The Tao of the universe
does not compete, yet wins;
does not speak, yet responds;
does not command, yet is obeyed;
and does act, but is good at directing.

The nets of Heaven are wide,
but nothing escapes its grasp."

TAO TE CHING , Chapter: 73 , Translator: J. H. McDonald 

(Do you see the 2 Go players?)

 

NO FIXED PLANS

"A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light."

老子 Lǎozǐ; Tao Te Ching

•••

THE POPCORN GAME


THE WASTE LAND GAME

(Me = TaoTeaKing)

Fighting Spirit Is Important In Go!

Maybe following quotes can give us some insight ... FIGHTING - SPIRIT - INSIGHT ;-)

Enjoy!

•••

“Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.”

Miyamoto Musashi

•••

“Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”

Miyamoto Musashi

•••

“You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.”

Miyamoto Musashi

•••

"The weekest things in the world can overmatch the stongest things in the world.

Nothing in the world can be compared to water for its weak and yielding nature; yet in attacking the hard and the strong nothing proves better than it. For there is no alternative to it.

The weak can overcome the strong and the yielding can overcome the hard.

This all the world knows but does not practice."

Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu

•••

"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now put water into a cup, it becomes a cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, it becomes a teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friend."

Bruce Lee

•••

"Go is a game of chance where the strong player is he who renders circumstances favorable with tricks."

Audouard, Pierre

•••

"He who chases around after many rabbits ends hungry."

Okinawan Proverb

•••

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking we were at when we created them."

Albert Einstein

•••

"Fall down seven times, get up eight."

Japanese Proverb

•••

"Rule number one: Don't let them scare you."

Unknown

•••

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."

Yoda

•••

"Five Secrets of Japanese Goju Ryu:

Move quickly
Sound, calm mind
Be light in body
Have a clever mind
Master the basics"

Gogen Yamaguchi

•••

“Do nothing which is of no use.”

Miyamoto Musashi

•••

Remember...

... it takes two eyes to become immortal !  ;-) 

"Whenever you advise a ruler in the way of Tao, 
Counsel him not to use force to conquer the universe.
For this would only cause resistance.
Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed.
Lean years follow in the wake of a great war.
Just do what needs to be done.
Never take advantage of power.
Achieve results,
But never glory in them.
Achieve results,
But never boast.
Achieve results,
But never be proud.
Achieve results,
Because this is the natural way.
Achieve results,
But not through violence.



Force is followed by loss of strength.
This is not the way of Tao.
That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end."

Tao Te Ching ; Chapter 30 , Jane English & Gia-fu Feng

Go Seigen

"Wu Qingyuan (born May 19, 1914), generally known in the West by his Japanese name Go Seigen, is considered by many players to be the greatest player of the game of Go in the 20th century and probably the greatest of all time." Wikipedia








If you want to know more about Go Seigen, you should visit:

http://www.scoop.it/t/go-seigen