Hong Kong

Since last two weeks, I am in hong kong on a business trip. Like my list trip here, I spent most of my weekend here at Hong Kong Go Association center, taking full opportunity to play on real Go boards.
Check out some photographs of HKGA.

Race to 5K

Eden from KGS and I have decided to reach 5Kyu before end of year 2007. For me its about 1 Kyu a month and almost same for Eden. Healthy competition is always helpful :)

Eden started playing Go almost at the same time as me and we have been climbing up the DDK ladder almost together. Suddenly, Eden disappeared from KGS. In his post here he mentioned that he was suffering through online go anxiety and that is why took a month off from online go. When he came back he almost rose by 3 stones and is now solid 10K.

ChiyoDad is also on GO sabbatical and thinks of it as a good thing for his game.

I wonder if I should also take a break from playing Go online and just stick to studying Go. I do have lots of book to read and lots of problem to solve.

World Amateur Go Championship is started yesterday and Mandish Singh (1 Dan) from Delhi is representing India. Good luck to him.

GoSphere

GoSphere

Google is powerful and so is every product based on its search capabilities.

Using Google's custom search, I have created GoSphere, which gives priority to Go related web pages more than any other non-Go related web pages in search results.

Here is the link to search homepage.
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=003689800377035475723%3Aonktbhnjace


Try searching using GoSphere search box given below

I have obviously included many GO sites, but I would appreciate if people can contribute by giving list of go related websites.

Opening Theory: Principle 1

I have started reading the book "Opening theory made easy" by Hideo Otake(9-dan)
It's the book suggested by my friends on GD as well HumbleCow on KGS.

I started reading the book when I was 19kyu. I saw the results immediately and am 17kyu now :).

In this series I will try to bring out my learnings from games where I apply these principles..

Corner enclosure aim at side extensions

First and formost thing I learned was to form one corner enclosure as soon as possible. So invariably I have following position.



Whatever happens next is crucial in the game. The principle stats that corner enclosures aim at side extensions. So I usually consider two choices in this situation.

In his book Hideo sensei states that 1 is biggest move in this situation. Thanks to black's solid base in the corner, there is a strong possiblity that the area between the corner enclosure and the extension will become black territory. With Black move 3, the area inside the territory now begins to look like black territory.












As 1 is very big move for black, white can opt to play at C10 instead of E16 here. Black can respond to this by playing at E8 which is a bit narrow extension but more solid and easier to convert into territory.



Black 1 here is extremely huge move as it transforms bottom into large moyo.



The important point to keep in mind during opening game is that you shouldn't attack prematurely. Creating large territorial/influential moves in beginning game is extremely important. Avoiding pre-mature attacks and playing non-local moves in early game will help you a lot.

Valentine's day problem!

Rover @ GD posted this problem from Sensei's library . Quite interesting I must say.