Today I was unable to purchase KGS Plus, since my phone bill for the moment has lessened my budget significantly. What I did do was check out one the free audio lectures from Guo Juan's Go School. (note: only a small portion of Guo's audio lectures are free, the rest costing about $1.50 USD each to view for a month, for more details see this post.) I had a small amount of difficulty getting it to work, and found a problem that I felt I should warn people about: Some anti-virus software prevents the java client needed to play the lectures from starting. The simple solution is to just turn off your anti-virus for the duration of your listen. So, if you've tried listening to the free lectures only to be turned away by a blank screen, try again, but this time be sure to turn off your anti-virus!
Once I did get it to work, starting up the simple in browser java application yielded a very nice surprise! Expecting a simple audio player where you just sit back and listen, I was confronted with a go board looking exactly like the board from the KGS client, and as the commentary rolled, the board updated to follow the lecture. This makes the $1.50 price tag even more of a nice deal.
As for the lecture itself, I viewed this review of a professional game between OuYang ShaoYou and Csaba Mero. Guo Juan's commentary was very easy to understand and incredibly informative. This is actually the first time I've ever experienced this kind of a review of a professional game, so it was an extra treat for me. The game took on a whole new light, and it became very exciting to see the outcome.
Improvement
As for me, I feel that my previous anxieties about the opening and about my skill in general have begun to dissipate a little. I tried the advice from two posts ago again, taking my time in the opening, and found myself asking (and answering) vital questions about where to play next. In the single game I played today (Mondays are a busy time for me) I felt that my opening was a vast improvement from the previous games I have had.
On top of that, I was able to use some of the advice from Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go (by Toshiro Kageyama, 7d) in order to successfully use my outward influence to attack one of white's stones and secure a large amount of territory.
Where should black play in order to best utilize his outward influence on the top side?
Answer will be posted tomorrow.
ON TOP of that, I was able to (almost) successfully kill an invading group of white stones. I played it perfectly up to the final moments, and then botched it up in a totally thoughtless move.
I didn't feel too bad about it, though, because the fight was extremely exciting, and the resulting life and death problem I think was very interesting:
White just played the marked stone. Where should black play next?
Answer will be posted tomorrow.
Tomorrow I intend to try more lectures from Guo Juan's Go School, and further my study of Life and Death problems.
Until then,
-BuddytheRat
