Breaking news

Hi !

I've been a bit lazy these days.
But not completely. I have some good news.

From the statistics I get for this blog, I am apparently read and followed by a majority of french players. This is really good to see that my english reviews are appreciated, even by french players.

So here are the "breaking news". Since yesterday, I was granted a "Teacher" account on KGS, so I am likely to use audio more from now on, online for a start. And maybe later, when I get used to it, I'll start recording my teaching games in audio/video too. I certainly need to get used to it - avoid switching from a window to another when recording... I did a test yesterday, and it was harder than expected.

I played a game against a 5k, recording my comments in audio and video. But it is REALLY tough to explain things without showing any variations. You have to be crystal clear, or the listener might not fully understand what important point you are trying to explain. It's a good exercise.

I used to listen to dsaun a lot when he was still stronger than me. And it was awesome, but I never thought how difficult it was to use "voice" during reviews. That's a high 5 for dsaun (and all teachers who are used to teaching with audio)
Expect to see some videos soon :)

Another good news. I started teaching for the "Go On" community (Rooms > Social > Forum Go On). The community here is mostly french, but their forum is GREAT, really. It's full of lectures, resources, tips for kyu players, and I can only welcome the english speakers to join . Their forum also has an english-speaking subforum already- a bit empty at the moment, and that's a pity.

If they created this english section, I assume they are willing to expand and share their knowledge with a world-wide community. Not so many of the french players can speak english fluently, unfortunately. But a few certainly can. I am one of them (and feel more comfortable in english than french, to be honest). For now, they have gathered no less than hundreds of lectures (in video, sgf, topics and so on) and they are only in french. On the long run, I intend to translate them all and share them in the english-subforum.

As far as I know, there are plenty of small social french rooms on KGS. This one is basically the only one where I'm staying. If I had to make a comparison, it would be that they are as influent as the english "ASR" room. They don't run a ladder (maybe one day ?), but their system is help and lectures-oriented and I strongly recommend you to join if you are willing to learn. The more demand there will be for english lectures, the faster they will come, that's for sure.

So, hurry and join, introduce yourself, and ask for more in the forum :)
Even for english players, whereas Lifein19x19 is full of "blabla", the "Go On" has the sole purpose of teaching, sharing knowledge, helping others. That's another good reason to join.

Pericles

ASR Series Game 2 and 3

Hi !

I received 2 games from the ASR this week. So I reviewed them both (instead of the previously announced 1 game per week)

First game below is between klaas 6k and GreyGhost, about 4k (Gamma class)

The second one is between Greenbean 1k vs Compgo74 1k (Alpha class)

Greenbean and Compgo74 played the micro chinese fuseki, which I commented upon here . Feel free to take a look for more variations and details.

Also, another good website for that fuseki (and others) is Cho Hye Yeon's blog.

I strongly recommend reading her website. Cho Hye Yeon is a female 9dan professionnal. Her reviews and explanations are always insightful. She is one of the very few pros dedicated to teaching amateurs via a blog, sharing new trends, new variations. If you haven't done so yet, her site is certainly worth bookmarking.

Klaas and greyhost went through the game for review already. And I' m glad I was sent the SGF that contains their questions and variations. That helped me a lot to know what questions SDK are asking or what they are unsure of.

For the next times, it would be wonderful if you could do the same. If there is a particular pattern you are uncertain about, if there is anything that you want me to focus upon, when reviewing, just write it on the SGF.

Hope you'll enjoy the reviews !

Pericles

Xia Chenkun to rule the Chinese Mingren !

Hi !

It's been a few days since I last published a game, I've been quite busy with the week-end.

So now, there are plenty of outstanding games to watch, and some "new" pros to discover.
The game I'm showing you today is a game played by Xia Chenkun (aka Xia Jiankun). He is not so famous yet, I must say - he is not even listed on the official list of chinese professionnal players, though he has been a pro for a couple of years.
There is not much of an history about him yet as he didn't play so many tournaments or didn't win any major titles YET.
You will see, however, that he certainly has the ability to win them.

Xia Chenkun (left) / Kong Jie (right)


Last year, he was eliminated as early as the first prelim round. But he is back this year, and faced Chang Hao 9p, for the first prelim round, whom he eliminated ! Unfortunately, I couldn't find the game yet. (I certainly will, though)
For the second round of the Mingren, he was paired with Yu Bin (another top 9p), and he won that game as well ! You can see the game here

So, he qualified for the main tournament. And until now, he defeated Dang Yifei, 4p,  Shi Yue, 9p, and Kong Jie 9p.

He won them all. And he qualified for the semifinals in which he will be playing Zhou Ruiyang, 9p (the other semifinals game will be between Jiang Weije 9p and Lian Xiao 7p)

His records in this tournament is really impressive, as he defeated four experienced 9p straight. The game I'm showing here is his game versus Kong Jie, which gave him access to the semifinals. Enjoy the show !

Self atari in the Finals of the Female Kuksu - Game 3 of 3 !

Hey,

 I created this blog a bit less than two weeks ago, and it will be reaching 1000 hits by the end of the day already. It's really a pleasure to see that you all enjoy the reviews and the Go News (thank you all for your feedback !)

 A strange thing happened yesterday, in a pro game, I'm not even sure I should review it here : A self atari. Again ? yes. This time it was in a Title game tough. The game was between Kim Jaeyoung 1p and Park Jieun 9p, it was the last in the best-of-3 Finals of the Female Kuksu, in Korea. The record was 1-1 before that...

 The game was really beautiful (you can find the Final series below, uncommented)The flow of the game was very natural, since the early fuseki, and in the end, Park Jieun would win by 2,5 points, achieveing the Kuksu with a score of 2-1. If only she hadn't self-atari'ed. After 6 hours of play, she was probably losing focus, having counted multiple times that there was nothing left for her opponent to catch up, and she finalled filled a ko, which happened to put herself in a capturable position.

Park Jieun 9p (left)
Kim Youngjae 1p (right)











This is definitely not the first time we've seen such a sad ending, in a pro game. But as far as I recall, this is the first it happened in a Title Game, more especially, in a "last of the last" Finals game. A pity, really.

 Another interesting news. Gu Li was defeated at Round 1, in the 27th Mingren (chinese Meijin), by Jiang Weije, completely outread from the early beginning, thanks to a brilliant play by Jiang that Gu Li had probably overlooked (the descent on first line, on the right side - see the game below too). 

 Also, I'm preparing a lecture, which will be an interactive one, hopefully. For that purpose I prepared you a sample of "Irisxww" 's games, a strong 9d on tygem who always plays unusual moves (and surely unexpected). This will be the topic of the lecture. "How to react against an unseen-before move?". 

What would be great is that : 

1/ you take a look at the sgf (you can even download it) 

2/ Use your own records in which you had to face really strange, unexpected moves or variations, to add some more samples to the sgf (or create anther sgf) 

3/ Write down your thoughts about those moves, yes, all your thoughts. From the "omfg what the hell is that?" and the next thoughts. This will help me see if your "thinking process" is correct, and will make it easier for me to help you correct it. 

 This is sort of a homework, yes. Play the game, take 30 minutes to remember unexpected joseki variations, seemingly bad-moves, anything odd. And take 5 minutes for each to explain how you'd react, why / why not, how and so on. And if you don't remember seeing those kind of moves in your on games, use the sample materials in the sgf below. This way, when we'll be organizing the live lectures, it will be easier for all of us, to be prepared efficiently. Hope you'll do it :)

Send me your "homeworks" by email : Periclesbaduk[at]gmail.com or load them on KGS so I can save them :)

 Here is the small archive containing Gu Li's game, and the 3 games of the Female Kuksu Finals 

And click here to download the sgf about "unexpected moves"

Pericles

 

ASR's alpha male of the month !

Hi Go-fellows,

The poll up here is ending in a couple of days. The results shown are quite significant already. It's almost a draw between reviewing pro games (I have enough of them to make one review/day for the next 50 years), lectures by topic (I will start organising those very soon - they certainly will take place in KGS Teaching Ladder) and reviews of amateur games. I have plenty of those, but they are either played by top amateur players (EGC, American Go Congress, and the likes) and I realized I don't have that many DDK or SDK games that were worth being reviewed (mainly because they are blitz).

So, as of today, I'll be having a partnership with the ASR League on KGS, a league whose system is perfect to find slow games, which is the perfect material I need to review kyu games. (and believe me, slow kyu games are not easy to find). I will review 4 games /month for the ASR (roughly 1/week). If you have a particularly interesting game to submit, please contact "climu" on KGS, who is in charge of the ASR awards, or contact me on KGS directly.

As this is the official annoucement for the project, I picked one game (quite) at random from the ASR results' table. The players are "drgoplayer" and "darkpoet". I picked this one, because, first, I enjoyed watching it, and because there are a lot of missed opportunities for both players. Also, among other reasons, Drgoplayer is currently #1 in the Alpha class (and for sure, you're all willing to take his seat, aren't you? ), and he was also #2 in Beta last month.
His opponent, darkpoet, has been in Alpha since early March, scoring an honorable result of 19,75.

Let's hope this review will help everybody improve. This is what they are meant for.
For any thorough questions, please contact me or Climu.

If you're interested in joining the ASR, please click here.

Pericles

Oops, the folder doesn't exist, try again...

Hey...



Yesterday, I was frustrated. It has been years since I started playing Go on Wbaduk, Tygem and other asians servers. And during those years, I had to cope with the "Fonts" issue, which displayed asian characters as ?./..%¨£µ%%.

So I decided to change that, found some apparently good tutos on the internet to change my computer language and activates asian fonts so that it would recognize them on tygem. And I did manage to change the fonts. After that, my computer asked "Please reboot to apply the changes". Alriiiight" I thought.

During the reboot, I was asked my password, as usual. But it didn't match, as I had switched my "natural" computer language to chinese. So I used the virtual french keyboard. Fail also. After a few (a dozen in fact) attempts, I capitulated and had to format my damn Windows.

I lost all my datas. And spent all night and today until now, trying to retrieve them on various websites.
( ~400,000 sgf / 500 e-books and dozens of gigabytes of videos)

As I write those lines, I probably retrieved about half of what I've lost. And this is so time-consuming that I won't have enough free time today for a complete review.

So instead, I thought I'd share with you a list of good video go lectures that you will likely enjoy watching in the meantime. It's quite easy to share (it was written a few months ago for my go friends on FB) and less time-consuming.

Here it is, pick the one you think would help you most and enjoy ! They are among the best live teachers you can find in videos, especially Nick Sibicky for whom I have the most utter respect, his quality of teaching being so AMAZING !

See you here tomorrow for a great commented game ! I'll be back on the tracks by then.
(I'm sorry I didn't have time to link them correctly yet, you have to copy/paste the links manually into your browser)

 Nick Sibicky's :

#1 Game Review 5k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eOZjn0xQdo

#2 Game Review 4k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYu2aAOJ4VA

#3 Game Review - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaqSN_E-GLc

#4 Game Review - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZYZ6sS-j8

#5 Game Review 3k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVgWE1qzMio

#6 Must-know Joseki 4*4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lPfWGwVOHI

#7 Invasions - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JcB785NVXE

     Invasions - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmPSIGxlVvk

#8 Game Review 8k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU3VDzoCbFU

#9 Lee Sedol's ladder game-  Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHgI839eZAo

     Lee Sedol's ladder game - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luw28vVQ3mE

     Lee Sedol's ladder game - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7VAubhhq_o

#10 Fuseki - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJGR8vfLGmA

       Fuseki - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcDCbNUPSN4

       Fuseki - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACpN4alYaTc

       Fuseki - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcZSwSnlhdE

#11 Attachments - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWNWKsFXLUk

       Attachments - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOPaJpZ_9RI

       Attachments - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSH0qXANJc4

#12 Monkey Jump & Double Hane - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAAuY9-nf54

       Monkey Jump & Double Hane - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNnc7iCjQVw

#13 Game Review 18k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnusDXZGioU

#14 KILL KILL KILL !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2birSbsSkg

#15 One life to live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhM43UJJRcY

#16 5*4 Josekis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqvAgL2mHp4

#17 3 stones game review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLdSEt-WtNU

#18 More game reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESeosqxYlWU

#19 Opening Workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC09kERkRj0

#20 Must Know 3*4 High approach Josekis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sXaUNluIpU

#21 Must know 3*4 Low approach Josekis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BxToud-Wek

#22 Must Know 5*3 Josekis (including Taisha) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F-MzmNqbWA

#23 Utilizing Thickness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKeVgSjJ3LA

#24 Lessons from a 7p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkofJ4I-LFg

#25 Battle of the Dans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FyfUxRilo

#26 Invasions Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW3tpUNUZI8

#27 Invasions Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoE4OiN8alA

#28 What I really like about Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRveBqnPJKg

#29 More lessons from a 7p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aO4PbHNqRI

#30 More game Reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ_LKxx2mOg

#31 Endgame Tesuji Workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcM25zHrc-4

#32 W-team vs B-team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99dMAykKNq4

#33 The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (shapes) - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyzIaWkLSIc

#34 The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (shapes) - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE8U4AFf21Q

#35 Responses to 4*4 low approach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT9Sq7QSbRo

#36 Attack ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ1lJJrSEGE

#37 Special Guest : Narumi Osawa 4p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsHK-btcpPM

#38 Fujisawa Shuko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mgi6pT7WEY

#39 The most famous move http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOs5CIt07qA

#40 Game Reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S52xWyrSZZY

#41 Big vs Urgent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpDZedq_bLM

#42 Traditional Opening theory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-td9ah-cM2k

#43 Entering the middle game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2kxXurC4I8

#44 Bent4, 10k year -ko, carpenter's square http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsq_6Q0ArC8

#45 Nick Sibicky Go NON-Lecture - A New Game? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ-w4miXWss

#46 Dan level showdown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuWuXj2V6Rk

#47 Fighting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtPtonZGnJY

#48 Invasions and reductions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDv4H3EIb88

#49 3*4 joseki low approach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqe60GkcT1E

#50 Team vs Team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl7Ikmrk_gc

#51 Goos shape workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOyvTaBgPs

#52 Where to play in the opening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvB5Yns4JwY

#53 Opening workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzpxgHAl7o0

#54 9p - Lee Chang Ho vs Chang Hao http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt_BqvgyjuQ

Joshua Lee's :

#1 Attacking weak stones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTjo507583M

#2 3*3 invasion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gSzPlOFCM

#3 Whole board thinking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdRD-ushCYk

#4 Game Review 5k vs 4k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BldHFeH982M

#5 Refuting trickplays http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUZAhbuYxI

#6 Double Approach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFNeOktyGuw

#7 Basics of endgame - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLWIckT7dqg

#8 Counting in endgame - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcCr6yBos1M

#9 3*4 formation invasions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKN9lLAe_zU

#10 Double Hane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waDwFOevhtw

#11 Playing Handicap Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi3rPV6ZLS0

#12 After Joseki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk6ANJUPBJw

#13 Advanced yose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnL68AAOef4

#14 Estimating territory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAn6WzE8Iew

#15 Midgame Fighting Techniques http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfpmN9_jWXo

#16 New opening Moves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJGWDZdaZDg

#17 Lee Sedol vs Lee Chang Ho LG Cup 2003 - Review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3iqbxnCDsA

#18 Common Tesuji http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dn5PVuWYYM

#19 Choosing Fuseki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hucTkz4sFhA

tokinonagare27's : (all are Shusaku games Reviews)

#1 vs Ito Showa - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM3e2hJEbFY

     vs Ito Showa - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X0AWCloKIs

     vs Ito Showa - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWB9r5xxutc

     vs Ito Showa - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mwbo77wvKM

     vs Ito Showa - Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ekKpyQ2R84

#2 vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mv45kQxR-g

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xgMXHU8DX4

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4biBdhYbK9o

#3 vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9XIIZvKfe0

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRGwfWQ8ShQ

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AdDVeSX0RE

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYr58G3T3eE

#4 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mnus9NWi30

#5 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQNchkXyzaM

#6 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI7hFi_KhRo

#7 vs Yasui Sanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD_m9weJpsc

#8 vs Kadono Tadazaemon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmBMFhQtrME

#9 vs Kishimoto Saichiro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qx0IvCW4FY

#10 vs Mizutani Junsaku http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R8bvhYI5nw

#11 vs Ito Showa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0nCcrkWLO8

#12 vs Ito Showa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8hhlq4X7s

#13 vs Ito Showa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeCQiGUWm8g

#14 vs Gennan Inseki, 2-stones handicap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iu-PkkUFE4

#15 vs Gennan Inseki, ear-reddening game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3MmTlK5WY

#16 vs Gennan Inseki, Game 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH0Wqdw2bpI

#17 vs Gennan Inseki, Game 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVRiJdLlxIs

#18 vs Honinbo Shuwa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF1ogp8t7RY

#19 vs Jowa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntzFHG3bNg

#20 vs Takegawa Yasaburo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Zs10x0DNw

#21 vs Yasui Sanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3-4iLCjEig

#22 vs Honinbo Shuwa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZwAolQC8y8

#23 vs Yasui Sanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirlgCeKMh8

#24 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6TuATWsJns

#25 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkGl1tX3nKM

#26 vs Yasui Sanchi, Castle Game N°1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLuq-dinL_Y

#27 vs Sakaguchi Sentoku, Castel Game N°2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoWgXHZQrww

#28 vs Sakaguchi Sentoku, Castle Game N°3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPjC7P0Jmv4

#29 vs Ito Showa, Castle Game N°4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FtWEdoqaJ8

#30 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcqIc2XY-Tw

#31 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swzlBdcs_3E

#32 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYBI9Vp74qA

#33 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPk7LNk9e0M

Commented Game - Kids take over.

Hello !

Last night, a few games from the 26th Mingren were relayed on the net. Mingren is the chinese Meijin. No need to say it's an important tournament, and that a lot of the top professionnals partipate.
This year, 64 players have signed up for it (and that number doesn't include the automatically-qualified players from last year, thanks to their good achievements).
Out of those 64 players, one woman only (born 1965). She doesn't need to be introduced anymore : Rui Naiwei, 9p.
Every go player has surely, at least, already heard about her. She has been winning a lot of the most prestigious tournaments since the early 90's.  Women's Kuksu, Women's Myeongin, Hungchang Cup, to only name a few.
I may be wrong about this, but I believe she is the first woman to have reached a 9d pro rank. (promoted 1p in 1985, 7p the same year !)
Last night, she was playing Zhang Li, 6p, (born 1987). Quite a kid, in comparison.
Yet, the kid beat her badly. Rui resigned after losing one extremely big dragon. It happens.

Another interesting fact, in the 26th Mingren, is the participation of He Tianning, an amateur. I searched in most players database, and found no occurence of his name anywhere, probably there are many versions for his name ? I don't know. Anyway, he was eliminated by Ke Jie, 4p. It was truly a nice game. Watch it if you get the chance.

Read more about Rui's here.

Zhang Li (right) / Rui Naiwei (Below)











Also played today : (click for download)
26th Mingren (Prelims)
Yan Zaimin 2p vs Bai Baoxiang 1p
Yan Huan 6p vs Piao Wenyao 9p
He Tianning (He Tianyi?) Amateur vs Ke Jie 4p

15th Maxim Cup (Semifinals) :
                                                                   Park Junghwan 9p vs Park Jungsang 9p
                                                                 





And the game ! Have fun !