My game... and my play is too timid

Teaching Teaching games
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Hi there… whenever i play a game of go i immediatly feel any sense of confidence leaving the game and i feel myself becone timid… the onky way i can describe it is that the fight has gone out of me and that i just cant win… i shoukd be about an 11kyu player or even a 12 kyu player… but emrescently i play at around the 14kyu mark…and i just cant seem to pick it back up… its like im stuck in a hole and cant get out and its getting deeper.

I dont want to sound melodramatic or anything but i need some advice and i want to gt some confidence back in my game… and i want to coninue getting better like i had been dong. Before this slump… not to mention that if i could learn to be more aggresive with my play that would helo my passive play in general…

I guess what i need is a sort of mentor…or teacher or something but i cant pay for a teacher… im kinda poor. Story of my life here.

Anyways anyadvice would be great.

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This should help a lot if you haven’t already watched it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f5-vAZ3Jik

In the videos the streamer batts isn’t really all that aggressive in his moves. As for confidence not much I can personally help with there.

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Hi @DanielLordSpoonJones
This feeling will likely come again and again. Unfortunately it doesn’t magically stop after 12k, 10k or 8k
Here are two options that helped me with it though:

  1. create a new account, either here or on another server. Since it feels like that other one is more ‘anonymous’, it’s not your main account after all it’s often easier to forget about having to win every single game. Just try new strategies in that second account.
  2. try out correspondence games. Not everyone’s thing but I like that if I hit a difficult spot in a game I can think about it almost as long as I want without a clock running down.
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Just follow your dp Saitama for the secret to success:
100 Tsumego everyday
100 pages of book reading everyday
100 non-tsumego problems everyday
Run 10km everyday just for the heck of it

You will be stronger than Alphago but lose all your hair.

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I suggest playing a few handicap games where you give the handicap. That should force you to play a more active game in order to catch up to your opponent.

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Being timid is a problem that haunts many of us, of course including me. My suggestion for you is to stop and think about every move. If you want to be more aggressive in your games, you should, after every single move, ask yourself: Do i have to answer? Seek opportunities! I would venture and say, that in most cases aggression=initiative. Just take it whenever you can and each time play a move that requires a response.
Not only will this make you feel aggressive, you will also be in control. It is a great antidote to being timid.

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That made me laugh too much… thank you i needed that…

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That helps a great deal i think. Thank you very very much. Perhaps i should play some slower games and give myself more time

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This is also an idea that i think might help… thank you.

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I think i moght try playing on another server… see what results that may yeild. Thank you for the advice.

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Thank you i shall indeed check this out.

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To all those who responded here… i actually ended up taking a lot of advice from this thread way back last year. Im currentky playing at around a 8kyu level but im in a bit of a slump again. But i feel like im on the cusp of understanding someting to do with the game that will help me a lot. But id not be able to be here were it not for some of the advice on this thread.

I thought it would be nice to update.

Hell if anyone has ideas on how to get better at around 8kyu im still open for ideas!!!

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This excellent post by Issho (and others in the thread) might be of interest to you:

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Thank you… that was a great read.

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@Lord_o_o_Spoon
Just forget about rank. You play for play not for rank. And at ddk aven sdk ranks vary wildly, on OGS especially. I am an established 4 kyu for decades, and here got as low as 8, or lose at a 10 k. And more, a friend 3 dan for decades is here some 3 or 2k

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