will someone kindly please explain to me why every go pro, single digit kyu, and the rest of the go world is hung up on tsumengos as a teaching tool?
i have seen them and sure they sovle a problem, however, the flaw i see in these puzzles is this:
everything is from black’s perspective, name me one person who has played black every single time. In true teaching both sides get attention so one can be a competent player with both colors.
So for me why bother? when the situation only reflects a scenario 50% of the time? also it they show the opposite how to defeat the situation or at the very least minimize damage.
thus in my opinion, they are not an effective teaching tool.
Because of chunking theory. Solving tsumegos helps to store chunks of patterns in your long time memory so that you recognize them while playing and can analyze a greater part of the board positions when you do not have to fill up your short term memory with individual stones but rather can recognize patterns that are stored in your long term memory
That’s part of the deal although life and death problems are many times a bit tricky on this side, to push you to read for real and not just guess from usual shapes.
My favorite tsumegos are those which do not say “black to live” or “white to kill”, i think its part of the challenge to figure out whats asked to do ^___^
Tsumegos are great for recognizing corner patterns, understanding life & death situations in groups, and improving your reading abilities in fights—skills that are crucial on your journey to the top. It doesn’t matter whether you play as black or white, the patterns are the same
That said, it’s entirely possible to reach dan rank without ever doing a single tsumego. You can learn and improve through other methods, such as simply playing and analyzing your mistakes.
Ultimately, improvement might not be your primary goal. If you just want to enjoy the game, that’s perfectly fine too. You can play for the sheer joy of it and confidently ask, “Why bother?”
I’m around 10k, and only play 9x9 games. I have found go puzzles to be the best preparation for winning games. Yes, they are frustrating, because I have difficulty reading ahead. But when I see a “trick” for winning in a particular situation, such as snap-back, it helps my game significantly. I own 25 go books, and I have always found reading them useless, since I cannot read ahead, and cannot see the board after each move when I look at a game represented by numbered stones. But tsumego boil a situation down to simpler local tactics, which I’ve found useful for improving my game.
For me, Tsumego helped reach 10k, but to push down SDK farther, I had to do some serious readings. Those solutions you find in Tsumego boils down to some fundamental principles that are necessary to solve complex problems, like for example, counting liberties (inside liberties, outside liberties, eye vs no eye, etc.)
in 19x19, Tsumego are important, but vision of the board and direction of play are as important.
That’s just my opinion.
