Fridays with xhu98 (Cornel Burzo special coming up!)

Almost finishing up on my second puzzle collection! :sunny: :fist:

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#Alright. So it’s finally here.

Once again, here’s the link to the first problem of the collection: http://online-go.com/puzzle/1409. Enjoy the journey as you work your way through the 62 problems…Most of them really good practice if you want to become a dan! :smile:

So I started this project about a month ago, and finished it after 5 weeks of hard work. :sunny: I must say that continuing a project is very, very difficult; starting it might be easy, and one might even be motivated through the first 20% on Day 1. :fist: That sense of novelty fades quickly, however; especially with those hard tsumegos, I sometimes felt like David slaying Goliath. :laughing:

I know that this is not the fastest, the biggest, or the most viewed puzzle collection…There are many brilliant authors out there; @Françisa, @mark5000 and @flowing, just to name a few. :hearts: My puzzles in this collection aren’t the most appropriate ones for total beginners, and let’s face it - sometimes it takes a long, long time to figure out the most optimal answer. I ask high of the solvers: if there is an unconditional kill, then ko kills will be considered “wrong;” if the endgame outcome is not maximally beneficial, then the variations will also fall into the red category.

I did not have a fully-narrated pro solution packet of the puzzles; other than the one or two original solution branches, I played out everything: the failure variations, and alternates by myself. (This also applies to my first translated collection, The Book of Pure Pleasure and Forgotten Worries.) Yeah, I had never seen any of the problems before; so instead of copying the trees in the SGF files, I always strove for perfection.

One of the problems, #41, for example, had a false original solution that was never debated before. The original solution overlooked a refutation, as I discovered when playing the moves out, but instead the correct outcome for both should be a ko. Here, I would like to offer thanks to @mark5000 and @Mikasa, for helping me confirm the findings. This has NEVER BEEN MENTIONED before anywhere…perhaps people really ignored it, perhaps our conclusion could be wrong.

(A similar scenario would be in the first collection, which contained a failed problem as we realized. We changed the position of a stone and reached a working solution.)

And yeah, there are many occasions where one’s hardest work could be wrong: I’ve worked as an OGS mod and a Q&A host, and I know that sometimes it seems that we are far from perfect, or even far from good. Sometimes, the task that lies ahead of us could be that Goliath, and we ourselves could be that David.

But I’m glad to see that, on OGS we are working as a team.

I am most thankful for everyone who has shot me site emails of puzzle feedback. They are pages of gold, and some of the pointed-out errors were really nice catches, I have to say :wink: Also, for many of you who have supported me all the way since the start of these two projects, your applause is priceless to me (and these works!)

That was a lot of text… :laughing: So just to wrap up, I will be starting a third project tomorrow on the puzzle collection, so please send me your ideas of what it shall be. :smile: I believe that together, as OGS, our strive for perfection will never stop. And finally, I give my thanks here to all OGSers for making our stuff better and better. :smile: :heart_eyes: :snowman:

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##Issue #19, to be held on Friday, November 28 @ 20:00-22:00 UTC (15:00-17:00 EST)

Special guest: Yunxuan Li (yx123), AGA 6d and Tygem 9d :thumbsup:

Yunxuan will join me in the live session and answer any questions you may have! We hope to see you (and your curiosity) there! :wink:

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##Third Puzzle Collection: Kubomatsu’s Pamphlet! :smile:

Link: http://online-go.com/puzzle/1980

Hey guys! My third puzzle collection, which consists of 17 problems, is now complete and available in the puzzle section! Feel free to rate 5-stars and send me puzzle feedback! :blush: :hearts: Good luck solving the problems! :four_leaf_clover:

This collection is a celebration of Katsukiyo Kubomatsu (1894-1941), a Japanese professional Go player also nicknamed as the “Great Amateur.” These 17 problems are found from his works :smiley: Most of them are not that hard, so give it a try!

Our next puzzle collection will be an OGS adaptation of “Tsumego from Games”, a brilliant series on Sensei’s Library with all questions excerpted from actual games!!! :wink: I have acquired permission from the main authors of the series, Dieter Verhofstadt and Herman Hiddema (our very own @herminator :clap:) to reproduce their contributions for learning/teaching purposes.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy Black Friday and my Q&A show tomorrow! :smile:

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Thanks for coming to the show today! We had a lot of fun tackling the low Chinese opening and doing a corner tsumego workshop :smile:

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R.I.P. Go Seigen, the greatest Go player of all time.

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Fridays with xhu98 #20 will be held on Friday, December 5 @ 21:00-22:30 UTC! Looking forward to another awesome live session! :smiley:

EDIT: Today’s session was fantastic! :smile: THANKS FOR COMING GUYS! Season 2 of Fridays with xhu98 is now complete, so turn up for Season 3!

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Resuming work on my puzzle collection tonight! :thumbsup:

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Awesome! :hearts:

#Season 3!!!

The 21th weekly show of Fridays with xhu98 will take place on Friday, December 12, 21:00-22:30 UTC (16:00-17:30 EST!)

More awesome things are on their way. Stay tuned. :smile:

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Audio teaching in 4.2!!! This means you guys will literally hear from me in the future shows. :blush:

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Here are some questions from a recently-finished game:

In this game: http://online-go.com/game/1138295 the play from move 3 got weird and convoluted, and I’m not sure B did the most to build thickness. Black worked to do a splitting attack at move 36, and the attack let Black establish bases, but ultimately W got a huge wall that could have done big damage. Was the initial attack in bad taste, or were there bad continuations of the attack? Also, W got ambitious in move 62, but I’m not sure whether B played the best responses. How would you respond to such ambitious aggression? (many other bad moves by both sides happen after that, but would have been a different game if those early choices had been wiser :P)

Also, in this game: http://online-go.com/game/1096654 I played B and won, but I’m pretty sure I got lucky. Looking back, it was such a strange game, I don’t even know where to start. Once the fight in the upper left was going, were there moves W could have taken to more cleanly simplify the game?

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@Forensicator: Thanks for the questions. We’ll talk about them at the start of this Friday’s show. :smile:

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#First (long-awaited) OGS show with AUDIO!

Fridays with xhu98 #22 will hit OGS on Friday, December 19 @ 20:00-22:00 UTC (15:00-17:00 EST.) I will use audio in the show! :smile: Please note that WebRTC audio only supports modern browsers (e.g. Chrome or Firefox), so please make sure that your browser will support the functionality.

See…um, HEAR you guys on Friday! :blush: :clap:

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Amazing!!!

Thanks everyone! The first audio show was a blast! :smile:

To announce in advance, my next show will be on Friday, December 26 at 20:00-22:00 UTC. I will feature a game between our fellow friend @mlopezviedma, and his brother, @spiridon! Also, we’ll tackle some fun Christmas tree puzzles (more to announce on that.)

See you until then! Happy holidays and merry Christmas! :christmas_tree: :heart:

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Worked all day (with @Mikasa) and finished website for The Nova League! Feel free to check it out and sign up using the form on the page! :smile:

http://www.peanutgo.org/tnl

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Signed up. Great work! :sunny:

Merry Christmas/Hanukkah everyone! :christmas_tree: :smile:

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Thanks so much for coming to the 23rd show, everyone! We had an amazing time and even though the show experienced technical difficulties (initially) with audio, it went pretty well. Kudos to all the supporters out there! :smile:

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