i have, while playing chess, set a goal for each game i play since i play 7 day games most time against 1000 plus players, so winning is never a option, i have set it to making it to 30 moves with my queen intact or 40 moves if i lose the queen early - this seems to keep me modivated to keep me playing. a small goal each time , at first i set it at 25 moves with the queen intact, then i moved up one move, each week i played. my question is what kind of goal should set for playing go that is reasonable for me to reach each game what benchmark should i set to get to, so i feel i am working towards a set upward movement â any suggestions?
Few ideas:
- Spend at least 30 seconds for each move
- Consider at least 3 different moves on every turn
- Tenuki as much possible
- Keep all of your stones connected
- Win without capturing any stones
- Aim for half-point win/loss
- All of the above ^____^
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Play in a way that tries to enclose potential which can eventually turn into territory rather than trying to capture stones
How?
I wrote a long set of instructions HERE
Instead of trying to capture stones, creating cutting points, and having your stones captured, try to focus on creating enclosures and building. This will work better in a 13x13 or 19x19 game.
Also, you might want to consider
- stop playing so many games at once - focus on just 1 or 2 games at a time
- play with time controls that allow you to think for a long time between moves - like at least 2 or 3 minutes PER MOVE
- if the settings of the game allow it, hit the >> button at the bottom of the screen to go into Analyze Mode, and try to predict what moves your opponent might play in response to your next move, and try to think more than 1 move ahead
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I had a funny one more: make at least one sacrifice
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Worse than useless. Itâs actively harmful, losing a point (as well as sente).
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Try to play beautiful shapes.
Play 3 (and more) tesuji in 1 game
If you, @dokbohm , can understand that, great; if you cannot, even after thinking about it, there are plenty of other things you could improve first. The problem with this move is that it is in an area which was already 100% under your control: even if you do not make that move, you can capture any stone that black plays there. If you do not see that, set it up on a physical board and play around with it.
I fear this will not help. We see shapes as beautiful because they provide or imply elegant solutions to possible problems. That only helps once you start understanding how they work, but he is not there yet.
Honestly? I think that is way too ambitious for now.
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My target for you: beat one of the bots, e.g. Agapanthus [25k] â or some otherš, 3 times in a row while taking an n-stone handicap on a 9Ă9 board. Start with n=5, and reduce by 1 when you win 3 in a row. If you lose 2 in a row, increase by 1.
When you get n down to 2 or 3, do the same on 13Ă13, starting with 9 stones. When you get that to 4 or 3 or 2 stones you will do a lot better than now against humans!
Most people say you should play humans rather than bots, and usually I would agree, but bots are infinitely patient, fairly consistent and almost always available, and can help you practise spotting the sort of traps you miss too much now.
My advice as to how to go about this:
- Play only one game at a time.
- â
Play with time settings that allow you time to play thoughtfully, as in the points below.
- I suggest 30 minutes and 5 1-minute periods â see how you go!
- You can specify that under âShow Custom Settingsâ, under the list of bots.
- Before each move you make, guess how your opponent will answer, and think of an answer to that
- You may not often be able to guess their move, but the attitude will help.
- If their move catches you out in any way, stop to think how that happened.
- â
Play the game all the way to the end.
- The sort of shapes you need to recognise in the endgame is different, and there are booby-traps, so you need practice in all phases.
- After the game, check the points where the score (not win%) graph shows the biggest losses, to see if you can understand why.
P.S. Edits (marked with â )
- š I just tried playing Agapanthus, and it plays so badly that you may get more benefit from a somewhat stronger bot.
- Try how it goes, and switch to a stronger one if things get too easy.
- Because it is so weak, maybe 2 or 3 stones against Agapanthus on 13Ă13 is too unambitious as a long-term target. See how you feel, and play humans now and then to test your progress.
- Also, do not copy its style of play: thatâs what human opponents really are better for! Bots are weakened by mixing in some really bad moves, which can make them weird to play and bad to copy.
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PJTraill your input was really great a step by step way to improve not just platitudes as others have given here thank-you i will try your method cutting way back on games and maybe as others have said, playing bots for more of control and i donât feel i have let my opponent down that way either- again thanks
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I am glad it seems helpful, and I hope it works for you. I have just revisited my post to add a couple of important points, marked with â .
⌠and 1 more update: â which bot, â play to end, â time settings.
- Donât play a stone that can be captured immediately (later there will be exceptions to this rule).
- Donât die in gote
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I saw you played at least one game against Agapanthus a little while ago (maybe more private games) without any handicap and still had a close tussle until move 126, where you missed a chance to keep your group alive by capturing at B9 instead of B10. Well done! That really does seem as though you need a tougher opponent, such as Amaranthus (18k) or even stronger. I would look for one that can give you about 5 stones on 9Ă9, then try to gradually beat it down.
Did you just decide to play level to see how it went, or not find the handicap setting? You need to click âShow Custom Settingsâ at the bottom, then pick a handicap from the drop-down list.
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P.S. (to my previous post here) I see you did not play that game against Agapanthus to then end. Do remember to do that, as that part of the game needs practice too and you are never wasting the time of a bot! You could also treat the margin by which you lose as a goal. Play fewer games, but resign less often!
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Play through the tutorial. Donât overdo it, just do a little bit every single day. If you get stuck ask for some help on the forums.
Based on the game I saw you play, Iâd suggest following (ps- on 13x13 or 19x19 boards):
- Make your first 2 moves to two corner star points (or close to it) rather than center
- Try to own the two corner areas you started from at the end of game.
- Next you can try to develop on that aim (e.g. one move each at left upper corner left lower corner left side up side as opening, then try to stay alive at each area. Or trying the same against stronger bots/opponents)
- As you practiced it you will realise instead of overfocusing in each area you can try to steal away more area from opponent, though it takes time.
As a seperate focus Iâd try to learn not connecting 2 groups immediately if enemy cannot cut them. (That can be an advanced topic but what I mean is for more basic situations like at the screenshot of 5th post)
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uzaya i thank you for your input. Very good points to remember all, but the playing till the end and as others have pointed out till the corners are filled, but i donât see what this accomplishes as most times i have nowhere to move and only just defending lost positions anyways - but all your other points i will take under advisement and again thank-you for you help