Saturday, December 31, 2011

So You Want to Play Go? Level 4

I am working on level four of the series, and I'm doing it in conjunction with Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p who has been more than kind enough to review it.  I've been really excited to do it as I felt that there is so little out there for dan level players.  It kind of feels like you're pretty much left to study Go on your own after 1 dan.  Sure, they tell you to do more tsumego and to review more professional games, but I thought it'd be fun if there was something else you could do besides the same-old same-old.  I started on it right when I got back from South Korea.  I had spent about 6 months or so training at the Yu Changhyuk Baduk Dojang.  I had time to go on the weekends, and it was a great experience.  If you're new to the blog, I have plenty of stuff on my experiences there.

What I wanted to do with level 4 is simulate being at the Go Dojo because I know many people will not have the means to go.  I try to teach Go the way my teacher taught me.  Essentially, you play lots of games, get them reviewed by stronger players, go over many professional games, do tons of tsumego, and learn new joseki.  I was surrounded by people who were working very hard to become professionals, and that is essentially what they did everyday for hours.  I am not a kid, so I don't have the mental agility and pure open mind that they possessed, but I stuck with the program as best as I could.  Level 4 will have new joseki, analyzed professional games, positional judgement, and mistakes for dan level players.  I know, it's an ambitious project, but I felt that it'd be fun to finish the series off right. It's not quite finished, so if you have any last minute suggestions of things you'd like to see, let me know!
comments