reach shodan in go

Unfortunately haven’t been able to make any time for study or live play since. May have dropped again. What little I do know seems to come natural, but that includes the bad habits. Need to squeeze in time to start progressing again. Next tournament is on the December 13th.

So I’ve been increasing my rank gradually through this summer, achieving 9k KGS in July; now is the time to push further.

I want to hit shodan by the next year, September 2009.

I’ve worked my way up to 2 kyu. Bouncing around between 1 & 2 at the tournaments. Got a 1 day tournament next Saturday and then the 2 day MD Open on Memorial Day weekend. I hold no illusions about making shodan by then. I would like to reach 1 kyu and hold it.

One thing I’ve figured out is that I’m not devoting enough time to this. Not much can be done about the exercise or work or other obligations, but I should be avoiding a lot of the other distractions. Internet arguments, hanging out w. people who won’t even remember me, random surfing, all take up precious time in this far too short life. The one key to excellence in all fields is time. I need to practice problems, go over pro games, and most of all play, play, play. I also need to go over games that I’ve played (perfect practice makes perfect).

Haha this completely failed to happen. Another push in a couple of years, I guess.

I am unstoppable. Except against 4 kyus.

...after a smashing victory against a 6 kyu opponent.

...to 7 kyu. But it’s all a learning experience, right?

...but I got there by beating an 8 kyu, so we’ll see if it holds.

Haven’t had as much time to play lately, but haven’t really lost any skills, which is good.

My performance in the last 3 tournaments has jumped me up from 5k to 3k (-5.3 to -3.8 I think). I’m feeling a bit daunted at the notion of playing as a 3k in the next tournament this coming Saturday. But challenging oneself is how one gets stronger.

Given that I’ve been weak about getting online, I attribute most of my progress lately to tsume go and tesuji problems every day.