Wednesday, March 13, 2024
32 Games Played in the Western Server Challenge.
Sunday, March 03, 2024
Let's Go Baduk School - My Husband Tries Go
For forty-two years I have been trying to get my husband to learn how to play go. I started off when we first met. I tried to teach him on a 19x19 board with nine stones of handicap because I knew no other way at the time. That didn't go well. He's told me that he isn't wired to play go. I've tried over and over again to get him to play with no success.
Recently I think I have convinced him that he and I could have more quality time together if he would become a part of my world and embrace the go community with me. I am actually hoping that I can eventually get him to join the BenKyo League.
But how do I get him interested?
Recently I found an iPad app designed to teach children how to play go. I have convinced my husband to watch one chapter at a time and to play through the problems at the end of each chapter. Today we completed Chapter One of the Korean Academy's App called Let's Go Baduk School.
Here is my husband answering questions.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Go Magic League and The Surgeon Blade Award
My first game in the new season of the Go Magic League turned out to be a 0.5 victory. It will qualify for The Surgeon Blade Award which is one of the special awards that will be granted at the end of the season.
From the Go Magic Leago site:
I won this award in a previous season of the Go Magic League, and I received quite a nice prize in the form of a sizable discount code. I applied it to the extension of my membership for a year.
My Go Magic membership is active now through mid 2031.
If you are interested in playing in the Go Magic League you can actually join mid season because of the method they are using for pairings, which is McMahon. You can join and they will slot you in for the next round. It is a free league, so consider joining.
You can find details on the Go Magic Leago Page including a list of the other prizes offered
Now for my usual Go Activities content:
Sunday, February 18, 2024
2024 Western Server Challenge
I have chosen to play again this year in the Western Server Challenge on OGS this March. The challenge is in its third year, and is run by Clossius who is one of my go teachers.
I participated in the WSC last year and also the year before. I have the Achievements on OGS to prove it.
At the end of the challenge last year my rank had fallen to 9 kyu and I decided not to play rated since that time, so there is a bit of a flat line on my OGS profile graph if you set it for time. The graph below shows that I was at the 7k level shortly before the challenge began. Notice the flat line after the challenge ended.
Saturday, February 10, 2024
The Hand of God
Saturday, February 03, 2024
My Go Teacher: Michael Sherman
This is the sixth and final entry in my series of posts about my go teachers. Well, it is the last assuming I don't add a new go teacher, but that is a distinct possibility.
I first heard about Michael Sherman, AKA Mikito, through his involvement with the MGA Discord.
Mikito has been teaching a DDK class for the MGA for quite a while now on Monday evenings. Don't let the DDK category keep you away from the class if you are SDK. About half of the people who attend, including myself, are actually SDK. The class is free and open to anyone who wants to attend. It occurs at 6:00 PM EST on zoom, and you will find the zoom link for the class posted in the classes channel of the MGA Discord shortly before the class begins.
Recently Mikito has expanded his DDK class offerings to Tuesday evenings as well. Those classes also occur on zoom. The Tuesday classes are a part of the MGA virtual go club meeting that takes place every Tuesday night. David Kahn, who organizes that meeting, has hopes of expanding the meetings to the point where they become a 24/7 virtual go club with face-to-face discussions and breakout rooms for small group participation. NAOL participants who play their games at the default time of Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST are welcome to play in a breakout room with their opponent.
Mikito offers a structured class on Tuesday nights where he takes some games of players who usually attend. He creates multiple choice questions about positions in those games. He usually offers three choices for the next move. He will select about three to five positions per game and cycle through the participants asking them to say the best move from among the choices and to explain why is the best choice. Sometimes he asks for the worst move.
On Mondays Michael offers a less structured class where students can suggest videos to watch together and discuss. Sometimes we will look at a game someone brings to show.
I've told Mikito that he can stalk my OGS profile for class material whenever he wants, and he often brings forth one of my games with multiple choice questions for the Tuesday night DDK class.
In addition to the work that Michael does teaching for the MGA he also offers private lessons. If you are interested in private lessons please contact him on the MGA Discord where he is Mikito.
Mikito is shown below playing go. He is on the left in the front.
Now for my usual Go Content:
Saturday, January 27, 2024
My Go Teacher: BenKyo Baduk
This is the fifth entry in my series of posts about my go teachers.
Today's post is about Ben Mantle better known as BenKyo Baduk.
About a year into my lessons with Clossius I became aware of BenKyo Baduk. A good friend of mine from AYD was taking lessons with Ben and spoke very highly of him. I wanted to learn about Ben's style of teaching and considered starting lessons with him, However, by the time I tried to do so I found out that the only way to get lessons with Ben was to sign up to one of his Patreon Tiers with lessons, and so I carefully looked at all of his tiers.
I cautiously started with a membership to the BenKyo League. The league largely functions on Ben's Discord Server with games played on OGS, the Online Go Server. I also started to watch Ben's Twitch Stream.
I was dipping my toes very carefully into the water with Ben before committing to a higher level Patreon Tier. I was cautious only because I tend to keep my teachers once I employ them. I don't like to fire anyone, and I was already paying Clossius for four one hour lessons per month, subscribed to The Internet Go School, and making regular payments for membership in The American Yunguseng Dojang. It wasn't a small thing to consider another regularly occurring go expense for Private Lessons I would get at the higher tiers of Ben's Patreon.
In spite of my caution, it didn't take me long to fall in love with Ben's community and with Ben himself. I mention the community first because I've never seen a go community as active and supportive as the one that Ben offers through the BenKyo League. It is hard to explain how good it is because words just don't do it justice.
I upgraded to a Patreon Tier with one private 90 minute lesson per month very shortly after joining BenKyo League. Within a month after that I upgraded to the next level Tier with two 90 minute private lessons per month, and there I remain. My tier also includes three 30 minute Semi-Private Lessons per month, bi-yearly reports, the benefits of the Study Group which comes with three interactive Group Classes per month and an extensive library of class videos. Of course, it includes the league I initially signed up for. I consider Ben's Discord Server to be my go home.
Ben and I finally met at the 2023 U.S. Go Congress at Kent State in Ohio. Here we are cropped out of the photo I recently posted of AYD students in my post about In-seong Hwang. Ben is right above me and I am the elderly woman with the gray hair near the bottom left of the picture. The AGA, President Gurujeet Khalsa, is pictured on the far right.
I enjoy Ben's style of teaching. I always feel comfortable telling him anything and asking him anything. He never makes me feel stupid, and he's never made me cry. I can't say for all of my go teachers. He is always patient and takes the time to rephrase things if I am not understanding something. I consider my Private Lessons with Ben as much Go Therapy as Go Learning, and have heard other students say that they feel the same way. Ben is my Go Psychologist. He respects my recent decision to focus on fun and community rather than seeking improvement. He and I are currently working on a trick joseki which I am playing primarily for fun. It might lead to improvement in the process, but that isn't the goal.
Back to the value of the BKL community... Because games are not played on a regular schedule members are often able to watch the games of other and add comments and variations as the games take place. It is not unusual to find a number of players kibitzing active games and providing variations. It is an ideal environment for the weakest players because they can get a lot of attention from the stronger players in the league who are very generous with their time.
You owe it to yourself to at least join Ben's Discord where you can access many free channels. You also owe it to yourself to take a look at the promotional page for the BenKyo League which is a great value for $25.00 a month. We have players from 4d to 15k in the league. You can join at any time. There is no need to wait for the end of a month or a season to join. In fact, the ideal time to join is probably about ten days before the end of a month so you can be properly placed into the BKL Rating System in time for the beginning of the next month. You will be ready to play in the Main League and the Title Tournament at your newly achieved BKL rank for the whole month.
If you decide to join BenKyo League please Tell Ben that buzzsaw sent you. We have a generous referral program which provides me with a free 30 minute Semi-Private Lesson with Ben if I bring in a new member at the league level or above.