A couple of nights ago I had the pleasure of playing a game online with my friend Sam (Mishkin). I enjoy my games with Sam in large part because he plays carefully and creatively and pushes me to play my best.
Our game last night was played under standard IGS settings of 25 moves in 10 minutes with an initial time of 1 minute.
Typically, Sam and I will spend time after the game to review and try to learn from our mistakes. This time, we finished rather late and so decided to comment then game separately.
In this game Sam (Mishkin) played white and Tom (RazorBrain) played black. Result was B+R.
View the commented game here >>>
As I solve tsumego I find problems that are particularly fun (probably because I got them correct, LOL). As I am able, I will post problems and their solutions with my commentary.
The value add to doing this will be for players my strength and weaker, as I will try to explain in extra depth some of the things that authors of go books take for granted. A beginner to a professional go player and author seems to be anyone weaker than shodan. Ha!
Eventually, I will even post walkthroughs of easier problems as well. But for today, I’m posting a walkthrough of some of the problems I’m working currently.
White to Kill . . .
See if you can spot the vital point or points and try to read out the possible variations until you find one that is rock solid for white. Then, view the video below to see to solution and hear my comments.
Warning!
Don’t scroll down unless you are ready to view the answer to the problem!
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I’d love to hear what you think about this walk through. Please leave a comment.
Click here to access the Tsumego Archive page.
My 2" table board doubles as a functional floor board with the addition of a $10 Wal-Mart stool
I was reading a thread on Go Discussions today where the original poster asked if anyone had ideas for how to use a table board near a computer when there is no room on the desk itself. (Read that thread here >>>)
The route I took is somewhat different than ChiyoDad’s, but in the same vein. Instead of a higher stool or table near my desk I decided to to for a faux floor board.
Frankly, this has advantages and disadvantages. It’s difficult to use with a computer (to replay games or work through joseki) unless you use a laptop. But it is nice to play on the floor. Since I am no where nearly as flexible as the now aging Yoda Norimoto who still manages to kneel for his official matches, I will use a beanbag chair if I’m going settle in for a serious session on the floor.
My inexpensive, yet very workable alternative to a $1,000+ floor board ;-)
For replaying games I use SmartGo Touch on the iPhone or my archived IGS games via Tetsuki. The stool itself was an inexpensive piece I found at Wal-Mart. It was inexpensive enough that I had to add some Gorilla Glue to help it hold up after my children decided to test it for strength, hehehehe. It failed. however, it is plenty strong for holding my 2″ table board.
The other advantage to a faux floor board is that when I’m done, my board gos back on top of my cabinet in my study and the stool goes in the corner. I’m not sure how I would effectively protect an expensive floor board. Oh well, this will have to do for now.
Filed under: Go Technology, Product/Book Reviews | Tags: IGS, Internet Go, iPhone, Tetsuki
Any time, Any place - Tetsuki mobilizes go players
Ain’t technology the greatest? WooHoo, this go geek is happy now. I’ve been happy with my iPhone from day one, but when I saw Kris Van Bael’s Tetsuki on the iTunes App Store I was intrigued. After installing it, I grew more excited, and now that version 2.0 is out with full chat capabilities, I’m happier than ever.
The full board is easy to see and other controls are intuitive and easily accessible.
I struggle to find time to play as much go as I would like. Now with Tetsuki, I can play at times and in places that were not possible before. For example, I’m downstairs in my study and one of my children wants the computer. No problem, I’m playing on my iPhone. I’ll just go upstairs, pausing along the way to make a move after I hear a click indicating that my opponent has just moved.
You might think that even with this type of mobility, that a bigger screen and full mouse would be desired and that the scenario above just wouldn’t happen that often. Not true for me. Mr. Van Bael’s interface makes using Tetsuki as easy to use as any traditional program. When the weather warms up, I’m going to be playing go at the park on the internet!
Obviously, I’m a fan of Tetsuki. Let me tell you a bit about some of the features it includes. First the graphics are high quality and that is important. If you can’t feel the stones and wood, you should at least get some eye candy.
Game information, such as captured stones, komi, etc. is available via a button in the top right of the screen. Chat and zoom capabilities are easy to get to in the control bar just below the board.
Figure 2 - Tetsuki's auto-zoom-in and auto-zoom-out feature preserves my mental flow.
One of the things I like most about the interface is that as you are playing, auto-zoom-in and auto-zoom-out feature doesn’t require any thought on the players part. The game flows easily and I am able to concentrate on the game, not the interface.
Your opponent’s moves are easy to spot and when it’s your turn you can easily scan the entire board and choose your move. Then to actually place your stone, you simply touch the general area that you want to move in and the display zooms in (see Figure 2) and you’re can then easily touch the correct spot to place your stone. (I actually make fewer ‘mis-clicks’ with Tetsuki than I do with the KGS interface when I fat-finger my mouse.) Then after you place your stone the display smoothly zooms back out giving you a full view of the board. This allows you to again study the board while waiting for your opponent without breaking your mental stride by having to remember to zoom out or scroll.
When I make Dragon Go Server (DGS) moves using the Safari browser on the iPhone, I find it annoying to have to constantly focus on zooming in and out. For this reason, I only make moves on DGS from the iPhone when I have to.
Figure 3 - The Tetsuki Players screen makes it easy to see the status of who is online.
Just as with other internet go clients, you can observe games, invite others to play, and of course accept invitations as well. The Players screen (see Figure 3 (follow the ‘More’ link )) is easy to navigate thanks to the powerful iPhone touch-screen interface and Tetsuki’s competent programming. You can view all players or only those available for matches. Symbols next to each player’s name show if they are accepting games, looking for a game, refusing games, or already playing. (It would be nice to be able to see if someone is observing a game, as well, so that one can avoid inviting people engaged in watching another match.)
Setting up your IGS account settings is a piece of cake, as is adjusting your status, thanks to an easy to use settings screen (see Figure 4 – (follow the ‘More’ link)). You can login with multiple IGS accounts, but there is no way to store multiple user account information, as there is with the multi-user version of Panda. While this would be nice to have, it is just that, a nice-to-have. (more…)
Jim (Left) and David (right) two of the club's stronger players discuss their finished game, while Leonard observes.
Last night I made it to my local go club’s weekly meeting. Unfortunately, it’s been a few months since I taken a Thursday night and just played.
Turn out this week was light with only six players. Apparently, last week the numbers were double or triple that.
I had the pleasure of playing David, one of the club’s dans. Both games were handicapped at 9 stones. The first games resulted in B+6 with David pointing out that I had played too conservatively in several instances.
The second game resulted in W+12. My error was in trying to save a group of three stones. I over invested in this attempt not once but twice.
David as also kind enough to spend another 30 minutes walking though some opening sequences with me.
Finally, I met Ryan, a new member of the club who is about 14 kyu. I’ll look forward to getting to know him better and to playing some go!
Overall a pleasant evening devoid of stress and overblown expectations. I’m learning.
If you’re in Colorado Springs, polease join us. Here’s directions to where we meet >>>
