Correspondence vs. Live - Which helps you improve

I know you must play games with longer time settings (at least 30 minutes+) to improve.

This makes sense as you get to think more about your moves.

But I am finding it a bit hard to sit down for 1-2 hours for a serious game + review.

So I am starting to play more correspondence games, which allows much better time management.

This leaves me wondering though whether playing correspondence actually helps improve my skills in a live game though.

Do people find correspondence games good for getting better?

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I find absolutes a surefire way to impede progress in most things.

Taking general guidelines and setting them in stone is, in my humble opinion, not the best way to improve.

I think, if you focus on what you’re getting from each game (reading, intuition, different opponent strategies and tactics) and not on whether the game has these or those settings, you’ll get the most out of all your games.

Also, try to have some fun playing if possible.

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Life would be simpler if we knew for sure what’s the best way to improve.

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Can someone explain this ‘improve’ concept to me?

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I think correspondence are not helpful to improve for beginners as the feedback loop is too long between mistakes and seeing their effect.
For stronger players such as myself I would say correspondence improved my theory and strategy, but only a little my strength in real-life live games because it did little to improve my reading and to reduce my blunder rate, and that’s what decides most of them.

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To improve on what exactly?

This is the first step you need to do, decide what you want to improve.
Then the answer may be different.

If you want to improve your intuition and speed and ability to play solid/good moves while reading the board or the situation, then shorter time settings are needed, since you want to improve speed, as well as those qualities.

If you want to improve your reading and fighting abilities and sense of direction and explore different variations and potential ideas for each move without any care for speed, then longer time settings are needed.

As a primarily correspondence player (I begun playing in DGS which is correspondence only) I can say that I enjoy the slow deliberation of sitting down and exploring the variations and ideas for each move and then picking whichever branch seems better at the time. That is the process that helped me learn, combined with my penchant of challenging opponents that were 3+ ranks above me and seeing what works and how they deal with my ideas.

The enjoyment part is crucial. You need to find your “style” of time settings that you enjoy. After all who wants to improve on something they do not enjoy? :wink:

The same applies about the aspects of the game. I do not enjoy tsumego, which is why I’ve never really aimed to improve at them and thus I usually miss some good opportunities or good moves or saves. But I do not really care because I like to learn those things by failing at them.

It does, but you will probably time out a lot during the process of trying to make your skill translate into a more speedy setting.

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A while ago I played about 10 correspondence games with the same opening. It ingrained some good insight into possible middle-game continuations and points to consider. Others might study openings, but that’s too boring for me, so combining theory into a real game works better. But considering Go is a lot about being flexible with the situation, I think you gain much more from a short feedback loop to learn to avoid blunders like Uberdude said.

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I’m guessing it’s the same as any other time setting, but a different timescale.

If you play lots of correspondence, and you improve reading by looking at lots of variations, then correspondence is like doing a lot of puzzle over a long time. If you’re like me, and you blitz out a correspondence move, then it’s unclear if that’s helpful. It’s more like I make a move, and a week later we resume the game :slight_smile:

Blitz can be good for sharpening intuition, and playing lots of games. If you just want to see where your instinct is are wrong, misread liberties, didn’t value weakness of groups and so on I’m sure it’s helpful, and lots of exposure. Or if you want to practice managing time and quick reading.

Live just has a bit of everything, but it takes longer. You manage time, you can do deep reading like correspondence, or you can play fast and manage time in byo yomi, learn when to play safe and so on.

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There could still be a confusing magic that you will think that because you have a lot of time you ll be able to be more careful on your moves. That could be sometimes true but I am far from being sure that this is the way how players use their time piling up games.
There is another misunderstanding coming from old ranking on OGS which was tougher as now.

I’m not saying one doesn’t improve by playing correspondance, it still a go activity anyway. All depends how seriously you take it. And each activity has its pros and cons.