Thoughts on KGS Insei League

This post is a little late, but it has to be done.

Last month I decided to play as much go as I could have, because I knew that I would soon (currently) be in school. I should probably mention my goal of shodan by euro congress, more specifically KGS shodan. Anyway to help motivate myself to play and study I joined Dinerschtien's league.

I managed to play 12 games in the league, another 25 or so on KGS and another 30 or so in person. While its not exactly as much as I could have, its still about 2 games a day. I did not utilize all of the resources of the league as I could have, but I did play the minimum required amount of games, and I did watch 3 or 4 lectures by Alex.

I found the lectures very interesting, and by far the best part of the league, the sgf game reviews were not as helpful. The main point of the league was motivation to play and it definitley did that for me. I was able to play much more seriously than I could previously, and I managed to bring my KGS level from almost 5kyu to the cusp of 2kyu. I might not have actually become stronger per-se but I learned a bit of self control.

The league would definitely benefit from having sections based on Time zones. Not having opponents who slept and worked at similar hours to me was by far the greatest inconvenience.

My school has started now and I noticed that between work, school, and Karate there is very little time for Go. As sad as this is I promise, (If you guys care at all ^^) that I will play at least one game a week so as not to forget the rules.

Oh and of course life and death on the train.

League Game #9 vs.TD282

It feels like I a getting stronger. Or maybe I am just starting to understand the Chinese opening. For the past month every time I played black I used chinese opening.

League Game #7 vs Vlom

Hard fought game, but Vlom, he played better.

League Game #6 vs MZ500

This was a very close, and tough game for me.

In the beginning I was doing well but for some reason I played c7 at move 65, and made the game at least twice as hard as it had to be...

I got lucky when my opponent left a weakness at D13, After that I managed to stay ahead

League Game#5 VS Imagine

I played this game rather well I think, but I found it rather boring. I did not push very hard. In the end I only won by a relatively small margin. I should be more careful in end game, even If I am ahead....

League Game #4 VS MZ500

This game I played a bit better than the others, but I lost to my greed in the end. (please note I am now 3K)

League Game #3 vs.TD282

Another win, this time due to luck...

League Game #2 VS Grumbles

Even though I won, I cannot say it was satisfying, I played some really bad moves...

VS. Illya Shikshin 4 stones League Simul 1

This is the first game I played against the teachers, I have included some basic commentary.

I am pretty happy with how the game started but I made a few mistakes in the middle, mostly shape related.

All comments are welcome

League Game 1 vs. Vlom

This is my first league game played at 5 in the morning. I played too quickly in the begining and ended up behind a lot. Though I tried to catch up, I failed to. It was a fun and Bloody game. Enjoy and comments are welcome

KGS Insei League

So, keeping with my push forward attitude that I recently adopted (embodied with an all powerful, and very meaningful OSU!) I registered for Breakfast's (Alex Dinerchtien 3p) KGS insei league.

I am genuinely very excited about this, and I believe I am starting tomorrow. For the next month I will post all games that I play in the league here, I hope I can improve a lot. I will not have so much time once school starts in March.

My current goal in Go is to get my teacher Vincent Liu down to 5 stones. If I do this he will aknowledge me as 1d, but until I can get him to 4 stones, I won't call myself that.

Also, check out www.baduk.pro, its kind of like facebook for Go players

Breakfast's Insei League!

A few weeks ago Alexander Dinerschtien announced the opening of the "KGS Insei League"

It is basicly an online league/tournament/study group that imitates the style of the Korean younguseng (insei) leagues held by the Hanguk Kiwon (Korean Go Association)

Participants of the league will be broken up into several groups where they play games against themselves and the teachers.

This league starts in the New Year. It will cost $95 USD to participate each month.

There will be prizes as well, to give aditional incentive for the players.

A group: 1-place: 200$, 2-place: 100$, 3-place: 50$

B, C, D groups: 1-place: 100$, 2-place: 50$

Currently there are 40 people registered.

At the end of the year the person with the best record gets $1000 grant money to study in Korea.

Full information is here

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Honestly, I really recommend this league for anyone who wants to get better at go quickly, its not by any means a shortcut, as far as I know there are none, but its a the best way to improve that i know of. If you couple it with daily life and death of course.

Though its fun, this will be a time consuming league, prepare to devote a lot of your time to this if you seriously want to get the most benefit from it. It costs close to a hundred bucks but its a great deal. You will be getting your games reviewed by a Professional player/Go instructor as well as light commentary on your league games, teaching games, and audio lectures.

This is how we studied when i was in Korea, this is how the younguseng study. Pro's are a little different, but what they play can be called a whole other game...

Please go check it out, email backpast@gmail.com for more details