Which part of your character reflects most in the way you play Go?

For me, I’d say my reluctance to assess the whole board before making a move.

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For me it might be trying to get stuff done quickly. I just don’t luck at the downsides to a move or what they tried to do everytime which can put me in a bad position. This oddly happens more in correspondence games then in live games. Sometimes in blitz though if I don’t have enough time. That is not really me not looking, it is me trying not to timeout.

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Well, my play in go is a large part of why I usually describe myself as “impulsive”. I tend to play moves quickly based on heuristics without reading ahead, and sometimes it’s not really based on what I know about the game but more “what if I…”

But when I do take the time to do things like that, think through my moves and calm down some, I play substantially better.

so if anything it’s another reminder of how I am often a bigger obstacle to my victory than my opponent (not to be mean to my opponents, getting to SDK can be pretty hard)

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I start out well but lose my attention towards the end, so I lose in yose because I neglect my many weakpoints.

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I procrastinate and waste wisely spend a lot of time in these forums, when I should instead be focusing on my games and other things.

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My weak spots are

  • I am impatient and I play moves like I’m trying to win the game quickly
  • I do a good job of staking out potential in the opening and midgame and maybe even grabbing a lead, but then I play too loosely, create cut points, and end up in trouble in the midgame/endgame transition
  • I’ve gotten better at playing urgent moves to prevent my opponent from grabbing a big moyo at the beginning of midgame but - again - I try to rush those stones back to my base on the other side of the board, rather than slowly and securely interfere with my opponent where the stones are.
  • I overestimate how secure my groups are, get invaded/reduced, etc

So yeah, my current goal is to play solid/secure moves regardless of where my stones are, while maintaining that same eye for big/urgent opportunities. If I need to cross the board, I need to do it slowly and securely rather than my usual “peep + knight’s move back towards my base stones” method.

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not a close one here… its my inability to decide between multiple options if i cant clearly see which is best… without time pressure i can spend hours paralized, thinking things to death, not getting closer to a solution/decision even by a µ.
though, in the recent past, i think i have gotten much better at it. in life and in go :slight_smile:.

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Many years ago, I wrote an essay on classicism versus romanticism and how they are manifested in life. I lean strongly to the classical, a preference for simplicity, order, and control. I prefer a Greek temple over a Gothic cathedral, and Mozart over Listz. I used to plan my road trips meticulously. A classical mindset even influenced my mineral hobby, where I prefer form over color. I began by specializing in minerals with a radial habit and later settled on pseudomorphs; and calcite, with more than 700 forms, is my favorite mineral. A friend, commenting on my essay, said that I even played poker with a classical style, by playing the odds and settling for a marginal success. (The only outlier is my love of science fiction and some fantasy over, for example, Henry James.)

So how does this apply to go? I think I lean classical in go as well. I would like to play as well as I can and carefully consider moves, and I don’t want to win or lose based on a reading mistake, hence my strong preference for correspondence games. I prefer a peaceful game with an outcome based on overall strategy rather than depending on fighting (now everyone is going to start fights with me and complicate things, eh?). As well described by @kickaha above, I have great difficulty deciding moves when I can’t figure out which is better, especially in the opening (i.e., lack of control). I often experience indecisiveness in go, which does tend to gnaw at the psyche. This is why I find go tremendously interesting, but not really fun as I understand the word.

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Some people do (well), some people don’t.
As always, I am stuck in the middle.

Better than the average (including all those that don’t even know the game), never will be one of those that are actually good at it (at least shodan).

It’s the same with music, painting, woodworking or whatever: my friends think that I am clever, clever people know that I am not. :slightly_smiling_face:

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That hurt. Because it’s true for me as well.

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The style I want to play and would reflect the part of my character I want on the board would be total mayhem and going around left and right and giving stones away so I could get sente and gain more points elsewhere. But I am not good enough to play that way, so my gamestyle lacks quite a bit of fervor in that regard and I revert to some of my more mild characteristics ( which is why I like slow correspondence games hehehe )

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so… you are clever? :upside_down_face:
seriously though, i can relate to that too.

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I am the opposite of a completer-finisher (belbin’s team roles). I enjoy starting new things and want to do well, get sucked into theory and study on how to improve but then get bored and want to move on to a new thing. This manifests in a game in that I feel I can do ok in the beginning and concentrate for a bit but I stop paying attention at some point and often lose.

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that is an awesome way to look at it :slight_smile:. the part of it being about control is most strikingly true for me. i am aware, that being in control is always circumstantial and mostly an illusion anyway, but its the feeling that counts. getting myself to act, when not knowing the consequences is one of my struggles in life (and in go). i live in my head sometimes because of that.
my exception has always been movement/sports. its the part of me i feel most confident about, where i can rely on my intuition, trust that my body knows best and let go. i also prefer creative/intuitive things in this regard (ie ball sports over weight lifting etc). exercising/being physically active has always been my main outlet and method of choice when dealing with stress.
i believe, the greater a persons expertise in any field is, the more comfortable they are moving freely in it, exploring it, surrendering control and getting creative. at least thats my experience, maybe other classicist types :wink: agree. on the other hand knowing very little is freeing too. it seems to be the middle-ground, where we know some things and are woefully ignorant of others, where we feel trapped.
there are also plenty of people, who seem to have no problem in this regard whatsoever, something i cant cease to admire.

in go, this shows probably most clearly in the aversion to fighting of many double digit kyu players (and sdk players too). to them fighting means playing an exhausting game, in which they cant read ahead/have to give up on plans they made and often cant see, what outcome the game is heading towards. i used to dislike fighting a lot, i was a builder :slight_smile:, but found that with my rank climbing, i have grown more fond of it and accepted complications as a, dare i say fun, part of go.

couldnt agree more :slight_smile:.

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I think if you said this to the average friend, they’d say “no, we never thought you were clever” :stuck_out_tongue: :wink: :smiley:

You can’t pass up that retort.

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I think games should be fun, so I play moves I think are fun.

I also prefer to take things nice and easy and I prefer to worry as little as possible, and so my moves are often “honte”.

I enjoy the strategic side of go, so I studied the opening.

I dislike heated competition and so I never put much effort into fighting or deep reading.

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