Is it meaningful to replay classic and professional game with Katrain to study, or is it better to replay them on your own (with, or without commentary)?
I noticed that Katrain also has ancient Chinese rules so it would be possible to replay the games of Shi Xiangxia, Fan Xiping, and Huang Longshi with AI.
How strong are you?
Maybe first you can learn one game by heart, not studying yet. When you can replay it it will be easier to study it in all the ways you wish, on your own, with AI, or with some other stronger player help.
I am currently replaying the games in The Celestial Arsenal (Xianji Wuku) of Lu Xuanyu, and feel that I learn stuff only by watching the games as a replay them, but I was thinking that perhaps one gets more out of them by replaying them in KataGo. The old games are in many ways easier to understand than modern professional games.
If your goal is to understand as much as possible in a pro game you can
When I was 5k I’ve done steps 1 and 2 for about 100 games, only up to move 100 or 150, and very rarely step 3. It didn’t help much to improve, maybe 1 stone max.
I find replaying games most enjoyable when they are commented by a professional.
I think commented games are also more educational than uncommented games. At my level (3d EGF) it can already be hard to understand the purpose of all moves of an uncommented professional game, and I imagine that to be a lot harder still at your level.
Using AI may help to understand uncommented pro games better, but I doubt it helps much for someone of your level. I have seen some players 7 stones stronger than you misinterpret AI reviews and walk away with wrong conclusions. So I wouldn’t really recommend it unless you have some way of checking your conclusions with a stronger human player.
I not only replay the games for studying, but also because I enjoy watching the game, so I think that using an AI to replay the game would take the fun away without bringing any benefit at my level.
Some things that I do recommend when replaying pro games (especially particularly noteworthy games): Replay them on a physical board instead of just clicking through them on a computer screen, and take your time replaying it.
I only replay games on a physical board at the moment. I have recently realized that the experience is completely different when actually replaying the game on a board from only reading a commented game in a book even if it only has a few moves per diagram.
I loved to watch commented games but sometimes I go into doubts. I mean they say it’s because of that move that lalala. Well maybe but. I like to see different perspective from both players and dilemmas. Commentaries at times look instead shortsighted. Games look many times much more like a balanced mess as just he failed here that’s what happened.
I remember an advice to not care that much on commentaries in fact.
