I’d be interested in playing some games on Tuesday if anyone’s available. I’ve never played before, though.
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Hi, I’m the designer of Tumbleweed. Glad to see the game discussed here! I’d gladly play against anyone willing to give it a shot. Also the igGC bot is quite a good learning tool for beginners.
We recently saw an influx of Go players, and it seems like it’s fairly easy for a strong Go player to get good in Tumbleweed once they realize the basics.
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Yeah the IGbot is killing me 
@shinuito , I looked up two of your games against the IGbot (the ones that are public).
One immediate suggestion I have is that you generally shouldn’t set up a symmetric pie offer. The Red player has a natural advantage of tempo, so a good setup should have a White stone in a better position than the Red stone. It is usually achieved with having the Red stone’s expansion inhibited by the neutral central stone, and the White stone in a nice, open position.
Another quick piece of advice is that reinforcing a piece is a very “slow” move. You should only make it if it’s absolutely necccessary. In move 26 of your first game, you chose to reinforce, but the piece you defended wasn’t really directly threatened: yes, it was a 1-stack and it had 2 enemy lines of sight on it, but you had 3 lines of sight on it yourself. So if the enemy chose to capture, you could’ve recaptured it immediately. There’s no ko in Tumbleweed!
Other than that, at first glance it seems like you’ve been playing soundly for a beginner. Of course it takes some time to pick up on all the nuances. We’re currently working on a brief strategy guide, it should be published within two months.
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That sounds pretty cool.
That also seems to make sense 
Yeah I can feel that. I think I’m still in the Go equivalent of recognising atari as well.
I am starting to see that as well. I suppose I’ll play a few more games to see if I can pick up some more ideas.
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The igBot’s strength is adjusted to the level of its opponent – it’s supposed to play worse against beginners. Arty Sandler of igGC has recently decreased its entry level strength while keeping its strength against those rated 1600+ intact – so right now the bot should be a more feasible challenge to newcommers, while more experienced players can still enjoy the challenge.
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author: shinuito
Red / White to capture
author: shinuito
Red to live in the corner
author: shinuito
Red to live
author: shinuito
Red to live in the corner
author: le_4tc
Red to play and win the endgame
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L19’s off-topic category really is dead.
Alek’s Tumbleweed thread there’s been up for a week with no replies, yet it’s only bumped down twice.
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Oh well. I’m very happy with the influx of players from this forum though, we’ve seen some excellent discussions – especially on handicapped setups, which weren’t really a thing before.
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The balance of igBot has ben adjusted – again. Like before, the change is meant to hopefully make it more approachable to beginners while keeping the challenge level for more experienced players roughly the same.
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A pretty and useful diagram by @le_4TC demonstrating lines of sight.
Also, we have a #streaming channel on the discord now, if anyone is interested in TW streams.
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Hey don’t credit me with such a useless diagram
Here’s a puzzle to redeem myself:
(Red to play and win by 1 point, click image for interactive board)
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I would post your puzzles, but I’m still too weak to appreciate them…
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I’m in the same boat.
This most recent one I think I get though based off the explanation to another puzzle 
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Alek’s streaming:
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We’ve decided to organize another open Tumbleweed tournament this September. The exact format and schedule will be announced once we know the number of participants, but it’ll most likely be a Swiss tournament consisting of 4 rounds, with players having a full week to schedule a game witht their opponent.
This tournament is meant as a fairly casual event, so all are welcome. If you want to participate, simply DM me your igGC nick. Joining Tumbleweed Discord is recommended for scheduling.
I’m also proud to announce that the first “official” Tumbleweed Championship will take place this November. It will be a double round robin featuring six highest rated players. The list of participants and other details will be announced in October, once the open tournament concludes.
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Polina Kameneva made a video about basic defence strategies. I think it might be helpful for beginners!
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It is a very interesting game, but I think it needs a better name to take off.
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