BABYL OPTIONS: Version: 5 Labels: Note: This is the header of an rmail file. Note: If you are seeing it in rmail, Note: it means the file has no messages in it.  1,, Received: from ATHENA-AS-WELL.MIT.EDU by po7.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA24344; Wed, 26 May 93 11:48:30 EDT Received: from thor.INS.CWRU.Edu by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA15575; Wed, 26 May 93 11:48:26 EDT Received: by thor.INS.CWRU.Edu (5.65b+ida+/CWRU-1.5.3-freenet) id AA12064; Wed, 26 May 93 11:48:16 -0400 (from smg6 for kkkken@athena.mit.edu) Message-Id: <9305261548.AA12064@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> Date: Wed, 26 May 93 11:48:16 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: kkkken@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: Go dojo 1. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) *** EOOH *** Date: Wed, 26 May 93 11:48:16 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: kkkken@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: Go dojo 1. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) Hi -- Sorry to take so long to get this "Go dojo" started. The delay was caused by school, a heart attack (not mine), and various family matters -- you know, the usual. Most of these distrac- tions have been taken care of, so I should be able to devote at least two or three hours a day to the group if required. Originally, I'd hoped to find three or four opponents for Email games over the summer, but the response to the posting was so overwhelming that playing one-on-one with everybody may not be possible (at least at the same time). So far, we have about thirty people whose strengths range roughly as follows: three weaker than 10-kyu; eight between 10- and 6- kyu; two around 5-kyu; six strong kyu players; and two low-dan players. Eight people didn't mention their Go strength, and about ten wrote to say that the Go dojo was a great idea but didn't say anything about joining. This is rather a larger group than expected, but there's still room to give students individual attention. Here are some ideas that should help (my thanks to the people who suggested them): - Because of the break around 5-kyu, it would be enormously helpful if the players stronger than that would play two or three instructional games with those who are weaker (Email or IGS); then, if you wish, I could comment on the games (either running or summary commentary) and on the original commentary (if included). - As an incentive, I'd play Email games (1) with the stronger instructors as long as they continued teaching and (2) with people who might be helping me translate stuff or type in Go diagrams; - So as not to leave anyone out, I'd play teaching games with all the other students a few at a time. By staggering these games, I hope to play individually with everyone at least once every month or two. I know this doesn't seem like much, but I should be poking my nose into most of the other games that are being played. - Another possibility would be to divide into teams that would play each other. The two captains would exchange moves after most of their teams had agreed on them. I really like this idea, though it would be a good bit of work for the captains. - I'd also like to send out problems on a regular basis, allow a few days for you to discuss the ideas behind the problems among yourselves, then send out a rough translation of the answers given in the Japanese Go books where I found them, and try to explain/rationalize in a discussion what the book said. - I'd like to see you studying professional games regardless of your strength -- everybody gets something out of reading through a pro game. Unfortunately, typing them in would be a real pain though mailing them out conventionally would be possible, but I'd rather not be stuck paying the postage and copying charges. Anyone willing to do a lot of typing? Thanks for all your suggestions and comments. They've been very helpful, but keep them coming! I'll need all the help I can get if the Go dojo is going to be a success. I may not be able to acknowledge everybody's letter, but I do read them carefully so please don't feel ignored if I don't reply personally for a while (actually, I still have Email from two months ago waiting to be answered!). Planned followups to this message: - A list of the weaker players will be sent to the stronger ones, so they can start their own games together. - A short discussion of the Japanese Go curriculum and why proper instruction should be able to bring relative begin- ners to shodan level in a year or two (no guarantees, though 8^). - Other stuff that I can't quite remember right now. Sorry! Bye, Max.  1,, Received: from ATHENA-AS-WELL.MIT.EDU by po7.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA08655; Fri, 28 May 93 09:13:10 EDT Received: from thor.INS.CWRU.Edu by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA02522; Fri, 28 May 93 09:13:08 EDT Received: by thor.INS.CWRU.Edu (5.65b+ida+/CWRU-1.5.3-freenet) id AA14451; Fri, 28 May 93 09:12:55 -0400 (from smg6 for kkkken@athena.mit.edu) Message-Id: <9305281312.AA14451@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> Date: Fri, 28 May 93 09:12:55 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: jones@reed.edu, li@draco.bison.mb.ca, blakeno@ivy.isc.com, kkkken@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: Go dojo 2. Cc: garyb@ultima.enet.dec.com, derek@AU-BON-PAIN.LCS.MIT.EDU, shodan@indirect.com Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) *** EOOH *** Date: Fri, 28 May 93 09:12:55 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: jones@reed.edu, li@draco.bison.mb.ca, blakeno@ivy.isc.com, kkkken@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: Go dojo 2. Cc: garyb@ultima.enet.dec.com, derek@AU-BON-PAIN.LCS.MIT.EDU, shodan@indirect.com Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) Go dojo 2 (205 lines). Hi -- I'd like to thank all the people who have offered to help with the Go dojo. It's the generosity of people like you that will make this group a success. At this point, I don't have a clear picture of exactly what needs to be done, but your encouragement is really appreciated (as are any suggestions you might have). (I am sure that there will be plenty of work for anyone who wants to take it on. 8-) So far, only one other strong dan player has offered his services but he is _strong_. He's a college professor visiting Cornell, who takes two stones from professionals (and wins on occasion!). I don't know how much time he'll be able to spend with us or what he's interested in doing, but many of the good ideas that you see implemented here will be his. It's been five years since I've been in Japan, but I seem to re- member that people who get hooked on Go usually advance from be- ginner to shodan in a year or two. This presupposes a _lot_ of book study and the availability of strong-dan players who know how to teach and are willing to. I doubt that we can match this sort of progress, but I'm sure we can get some pretty impressive results if you're willing to invest the time and effort necessary (if you can't, because of work or family or something, you're wel- come to lurk in the shadows). So how are we going to do this? (1) By working a lot of problems: - To develop positional judgement; - To learn basic shapes and patterns thoroughly -- * Joseki, fuseki, and tesuji. (2) By playing a lot of serious games and trying to put the new knowledge to use: - To make simple, strong moves to build strong positions that can be used to attack; - To evaluate the relative strength/weakness of stones as a guide in setting up attacks. (3) By studying professional games: - To see how pro's put it all together; - To see when pro's make an exception to a rule. WORKING A LOT OF PROBLEMS Studying Go is a lot like being an engineer: to be successful, you have to work a lot of problems and learn the basic concepts behind them by heart. Each idea must be mastered before you can build on it effectively -- rushing ahead with a weak foundation is just asking for trouble later. Fortunately, I brought back about 2500 pounds of Go books and magazines from Japan, so there is plenty of source material. The only problem is locating what I want -- if it's not in the four shelves of my favorite Go books, then I have to go hunting through the boxes in the basement. I strongly recommend working on the problems that I'll be sending out. The correct answer will frequently come almost as a matter of enlightenment, rather than through long, troublesome reading. I tend to favor positional judgement problems for the opening and middle game, where the reader has to improve his perception of the game rather than the ability to remember joseki variations or read out fights. Many of these problems will also expose you to standard techniques and shapes that have to be learned. If you want to develop real Go strength, we just can't get around it. For example, a player has to be able to look at a standard corner position and know whether there is a successful invasion there (and whether any such life is sente or gote). The time lost by reading out posi- tions that should be clear at a glance is time that can be better spent elsewhere -- and it hurts one's perception of the game. This doesn't mean that getting stronger is a matter of memorizing countless openings and middle-game joseki, though. For instance, it's far better to spend the time learning one simple joseki in- side and out than it is to memorize half a dozen of them for a superficial understanding that will get you into deep trouble oc- casionally. (What's that saying? Something like "There's nothing more dangerous than a person with a little knowledge.") Because it's so popular, I'll probably start with the two-space high pincer. We can go over how to put the pincered stone in mo- tion, considering the whole board, then cover the basic variations. After the joseki comes to a halt, there are standard followup moves that need to be watched. With the help of pro games, we can examine the timing for these post-joseki sequences. I see us starting with quite simple stuff and building on it, layer upon layer, rather like the way an onion grows. If you have an extra loose-leaf notebook, you might want to punch holes in hard copies of our discussions and organize them there. The most interesting and useful part of joseki study, I think, is the way that a "finished" joseki interacts with the rest of the board in the middle game. Also, quite a few josekis have endgame aji that you should be aware of, at least in passing, when you play them. PLAYING A LOT OF SERIOUS GAMES Team Games and Game Commentaries Working problems and reflecting on the nature of the Go stones is important, but you have to practice putting your new knowledge to work, too. Everybody should play as much serious Go as possible to integrate the new patterns with all the old Go knowledge already there. (Don't be surprised if you lose a lot of games while you're integrating the new knowledge.) If you have a record of a reasonable game that you want me to go over, send it to me and I'll see what I can do. Please include the names of both players, their ranks at the time, and any ideas you have about the game. I'll send the game and commentary to the mailing list when I'm done, and we can all discuss it. There seems to be some interest in team games, though it's not overwhelming. If you want to form or join a team, please let me know. Playing Strong, Simple Moves One thing you notice is that professionals play a lot of simple- looking moves. Another is that they seem to take a long time to attack enemy positions and invade. There is a lesson to be learned here. When someone plays aggressively, he overextends his position -- this is axiomatic. Aggressive play may be good (and is often the only correct way to play) if it obtains something real in compen- sation for the weakness in the position; but if it doesn't, the aggressor has to "wimp out" his opponent or start an attack that he can turn (unreasonably) to his advantage. If he's aware of the overplays, there's a question of intellectual honesty here, too. On the other hand, strengthening your own position before attack- ing often makes your attack considerably more effective when it comes. It also reduces your opponent's ability to come back later and reclaim some of what was lost (or maybe even grab more than was lost). In addition, attacking something will make it stronger (unless the other player plays lightly and discards the stones temporarily). Never strengthen your opponent unless you get something in return -- that's just common sense. When you go after a group, you must be able to do at least one of three things: (1) kill it (read out the sequence before you start), (2) make territory of your own, or (3) make thickness that you're sure is adequate compensation. If your attack doesn't accomplish one of these, grab an oba or some territory instead. The idea of playing simple moves and using strong positions to attack the opponent is more a matter of point of view than a spe- cific technique, so it has to be learned through experience and studying professional games, which I hope we'll be doing a lot of. THAT'S ALL FOLKS. . . . I apologize for rambling on like this. When we have enough ma- terial to rewrite into a FAQ, I'll cut out the excessive musings/ reminiscences and tighten the prose. To summarize -- (1) send in games for commentary if you wish, and (2) let me know if you want to play team Go (and whether you'd be willing to be a cap- tain). Also, I'd like to send out a list of members so you can get more games going among you. Please send the following information if you want to be included on this list: - Name and approximate rank; - Whether you prefer Email or IGS; - Whether you have time now for another game; - Anything else you may wish prospective partners to know, such as -- * Preferences regarding your opponent's strength, * Teaching game (also, teach with handicap stones or without; running commentary, commentary at end) or serious game, * Play only opening and middle game (or maybe the first X moves), then discuss, * Etc. If you can't get to the IGS, you might consider playing only the first part of your Email games before turning in a game record for commentary because it takes so long to play a full game (usually months). Well, I guess that's it for this time around. Bye, Max.   1,, Received: from ATHENA-AS-WELL.MIT.EDU by po7.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA08925; Fri, 28 May 93 09:23:17 EDT Received: from thor.INS.CWRU.Edu by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA02908; Fri, 28 May 93 09:23:15 EDT Received: by thor.INS.CWRU.Edu (5.65b+ida+/CWRU-1.5.3-freenet) id AA16307; Fri, 28 May 93 09:23:02 -0400 (from smg6 for kkkken@athena.mit.edu) Message-Id: <9305281323.AA16307@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> Date: Fri, 28 May 93 09:23:02 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: smg6@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu Subject: Max's Go history. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) *** EOOH *** Date: Fri, 28 May 93 09:23:02 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: smg6@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu Subject: Max's Go history. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) Hi -- A couple of people have suggested that we write about our exper- iences with Go, our progress through the ranks, and so forth. I suppose I'll start, since some of you must be wondering whether my game commentaries will be coming from a 5-dan or a 20-kyu (or maybe wondering whether I know how to play Go at all 8^). If any- one else wants to send something to me, I'll mail it out to our membership (provided it's in good taste, of course :-). So, what does Max Golem have to offer, I hear you ask? Well, I learned the basics of Go on the last day of finals in my senior year of high school (1970) then learned a little more at the Cleveland Go Club (Roger White showed me the tsukenobi joseki in 1971). About 1973, after transferring to Ohio State, I started the OSU Go Club which survives to this day. Go addiction kept me from going to my classes regularly, so I decided to drop out and go to Japan to study Go properly and get it out of my system. I had been playing as an American 3-dan in 1978 before I moved to Tokyo, but had to drop to shodan to play at the serious Go clubs there. Soon, I was invited to Iwamoto-Sensei's study group, where I got to play every Wednesday with the Kobayashi brothers, Magari (then 8-dan), and other pro's and insei whose names I don't remem- ber. Iwamoto was my sponsor until he left to teach Go in Brazil and Europe, which was about 1983, so I got to play a _lot_ of teaching games with him (maybe five a week). About this time, I'd earned a 4-dan diploma from the Nihon Kiin (that was when promo- tions were one rank at a time, starting from 1-kyu, and the compe- tition was quite tough -- I'm told that the Kiin has very much re- laxed the requirements and that their Go diplomas aren't worth much any more; that's too bad). After Iwamoto left, I started going to the Takadanobaba Go Club and taking lessons from the club instructor, Hata-Sensei, who called himself amateur 7-dan but played professionals on two stones and had a fair chance of winning. He allowed me to just take Black against him (I firmly believe that this is the best way to teach Go), and I continued to take lessons from him until I left Japan in 1988. By that time, I was calling myself 5-dan and was winning perhaps 70 or 80% of the time (and had no real problems playing that way against any of the Europeans, except the Dutch). After returning to the US, I played in one AGA tournament as a 5-dan, threw away two won games and still came out with an AGA rating of 612 (weak 6-dan). But this was five years ago; since then, I haven't taken any lessons or continued my careful study of the Go literature, so I am rather weak these days. About three months ago, I took black in an Email game with the other strong-dan player in our group and I fell behind little by little until I had clearly lost the game; he said that I was down to 4.5-dan and asked whether I'd mind taking two stones next time. (Well, if you don't use it, you lose it!) If he doesn't mind, I'll send out that game with his comments. These days, I content myself by petting my cats and reading from my Go library (about 2500 pounds of books and magazines I brought with me from Japan). I haven't been interested in competitive play for over five years -- these days, I only play Go to teach and have fun with friends (usually with a beer in hand). Bye, Max.  1,, Received: from ATHENA-AS-WELL.MIT.EDU by po7.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA12484; Fri, 28 May 93 10:50:35 EDT Received: from thor.INS.CWRU.Edu by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA07535; Fri, 28 May 93 10:50:34 EDT Received: by thor.INS.CWRU.Edu (5.65b+ida+/CWRU-1.5.3-freenet) id AA00804; Fri, 28 May 93 10:50:15 -0400 (from smg6 for kkkken@athena.mit.edu) Message-Id: <9305281450.AA00804@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> Date: Fri, 28 May 93 10:50:15 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: smg6@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu Subject: Mr. Yang's Go History. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) *** EOOH *** Date: Fri, 28 May 93 10:50:15 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: smg6@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu Subject: Mr. Yang's Go History. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) Hi -- Huayong Yang just sent me his Go story. I'm sure you'll find it as interesting as I did. BEGIN ENCLOSURE------------------------------------------------------- Max's Go history is interesting. Here is mine: I learned Go in my junior year of high school (1985) when I secured an entrance to university. I remember the first two Go books I read are: Kato Masao's Techniques In Attack And Defense and Shan1 Nei4 Ya3 Nan2's Introduction to Go. (both books are written by Japanese, translated into Chinese. Now I translate the titles into English.:-) By the way, anyone knows the Japanese word for Shan1 Nei4 Ya3 Nan2?) I didn't have formal training, which might be the major reason I advanced slowly. Another major reason might be, in contrast to Max's experience, I attached more importance to my coursework than I did to Go playing. I essentially quit studying Go in my undergraduate years, only occasionally played Go with friends for fun. This is still the case, since I am a graduate student. As a 1k* , I play roughly 3 games a week on IGS (more than I did in undergraduate). I used to have two dozens of Go books. Unfortunately I didn't bring them with me to USA. If I ask something that could be found in standard Go literature, please forgive me. The most important thing I learned on Go, I think, is being patient. I play much more patiently than I did in my high school. Perhaps one becomes more patient when he is older. OK, that's all. Please forgive me for my poor English. Huayong (bn 1k* on IGS) END ENCLOSURE -----------------------------------------------------------  1,, Received: from ATHENA-AS-WELL.MIT.EDU by po7.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA04030; Tue, 1 Jun 93 13:30:32 EDT Received: from thor.INS.CWRU.Edu by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA28174; Tue, 1 Jun 93 13:30:30 EDT Received: by thor.INS.CWRU.Edu (5.65b+ida+/CWRU-1.5.3-freenet) id AA19194; Tue, 1 Jun 93 13:30:11 -0400 (from smg6 for kkkken@athena.mit.edu) Message-Id: <9306011730.AA19194@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> Date: Tue, 1 Jun 93 13:30:11 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: smg6@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu Subject: Mailing list, first draft. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Max Golem) *** EOOH *** Date: Tue, 1 Jun 93 13:30:11 -0400 From: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Stanley M. Golem) To: smg6@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu Subject: Mailing list, first draft. Reply-To: smg6@po.CWRU.Edu (Max Golem) Hi -- Most of you have indicated that you like the idea of team Go, and the preferred medium is clearly IGS using two channels (which makes captains almost unnecessary). I like the idea, since a game might be played in a single day, rather than taking months. Unfortunately, there are some players who don't have access to the IGS (me and a couple others). While I'm sure I can get IGS game records from someone and give a commentary later, that leaves a few people out in the cold. Any IGS person also willing to play a team game by Email? I guess this means that there will be a couple of team Go games on IGS whenever we can get people together (probably a weekend), and an Email game. So, two questions -- (1) Does anyone know how to set up a two-channel Go game, and are you willing to do so? (2) How many people should be on each team? Too few and it's not really team Go, too many and we've got our own little beaurocracy with the slowness of response/agreement usually attendant thereto. Thanks to the people who have sent me copies of their games. I've just gotten mgt23 downloaded correctly, and will read the documentation tonight (I hope). I'll start mailing out commen- taries in the order that I receive the games. Here are the "Go resumes" that people have sent in so far. If I've missed anybody's, please send it to me again. I've done a little editing, removing quotations of the questions I asked and the like, but if I've inadvertently changed anything or if you want to change/add something, drop me a line. randyk@wv.MENTORG.COM (Randy King) Randy King, shodan prefer Email limited time is available now, but will probably make any time that is needed. I don't believe people should select partners (too often) based upon strengths. I don't like giving more that about 4 or 5 stones though, but if that is insufficient to account for the strength difference I will turn it into a teaching game. During teaching games, I usually will discuss the moves during the game after a critical point is reached. ----------------------------------------------------------------- yang@titan.ucs.umass.edu (Huayong Yang) Here is some information about me: Real Name: Huayong Yang, 1-kyu IGS login name: bn Prefer playing on IGS. I don't feel comfortable to play teaching games with more that four handicap stones, however, anyone is welcome to play with me. Other than these, I don't have much strong preference. ----------------------------------------------------------------- adrian@u.washington.edu (Adrian Mariano) Adrian Mariano, about 9-kyu I prefer IGS, but email is ok assuming that we use the 'mailgo' program. Bare, unassisted email is not ok. I am finishing up my last two weeks of my undergraduate degree and won't have much free time until I graduate. After June 14 I'll be on summer vacation with LOTS of time. I can add email games now without problem, but probably won't want to play any IGS games until after graduation. Teaching games would be interesting. I'm willing to do whatever the teacher thinks would be the most useful -- definitely com- mented, though. I played a series of about 20 interactive games with a high-dan amateur over the net. Afterwards, he went through and commented on them with variations and such. This was a tre- mendous help. ----------------------------------------------------------------- John.Tromp@cwi.nl John Tromp, 4-kyu Prefer IGS. Have time in the evenings (which translates to mornings in the US) and on the weekend. The closer in strength the better, but I certainly don't mind playing with/against large handicaps. Willing to give running commentaries. I guess once I got started on a game, there will be this great urge to finish it too... ----------------------------------------------------------------- junger@mtn.er.usgs.gov (John Unger) John Unger, 13-kyu Because my access to IGS is only at my workplace, it is hard for me to block out a 1-2 hour period for playing go during the work day on a regular basis. But given enough warning I can usually stretch out my lunch time for a game. I have never played using email, but it is something that I would consider if we could play 30 or so moves per day. I guess like most people I would prefer to play stronger opponents to maximize my learning potential, but I am certainly willing to play equal or slightly weaker opponents, too. I would like to play handicap "teaching" games with a stronger opponent from time to time where we could carry on a running commentary as the game progresses or where I can ask questions or explanations of moves when I feel the need. ----------------------------------------------------------------- creare!creare.com!inb@Dartmouth.EDU (Ian Brown) Ian Brown, 3- to 5-kyu (Haven't played in a rated tournament in a while; the last time I did, I was around a 5 or 6, however, other people in the Go club that I'm part of have been rated, so this is probably fairly accurate.) Prefer Email, at least for now. I may gain IGS access some time in June, but I don't know that for sure. At one or two moves a day, I'd be happy to play several games. My preferences would be stronger (dan rank) or weaker (10kyu or less), mostly because most of the people in my Go club are in the 1-dan to 6- or 7-kyu range. However, I will play anyone who wants a game. Both handicap or without (either as teacher or student for teaching games.) I don't know how good my running commentary would be, but, hey, I'll give it a shot. I'm flexible on how far out to play a game. While I'd rather finish games, the amount of time it takes to play an email game makes turning games over for group commentary in the middle game a good idea. ----------------------------------------------------------------- chapmand@chdasic.sps.mot.com (David Chapman) David Chapman, 9-kyu, age 30. Irish nationality, moved to US Jan 1990, started Go early 1991. I'm getting married next April -- so this is my last chance to get in some serious intensive Go. I want to be shodan before the wedding ;-) IGS pogmohon. I just acquired a home computer so I'm trying to play 1 to 2 games a day on IGS. Every Wednesday 7 - 10 and every other Saturday 2 - 5, I play Go across the board at the local club (ASU). I rarely play across the board outside the club. I prefer even games - there are a number of low kyu players at my club who give me even games every week instead of 5 - 6 stones. My ideal opponent is 2 stones stronger than me. For teaching games, I would think it best just to play out the fuseki/ early middle game (30 - 50 moves). I love life and death problems - I have Maeda's first two volumes.] My lifetime Go ambition - to represent Ireland at the World Amateur Go championships. The current Irish #1 is about 2 dan so this is a very feasible goal - 1996-1997? ----------------------------------------------------------------- blakeno@ivy.isc.com (Blake Noah) blake noah, 3K AGA Prefer IGS. Time now for another game -- marginal. ----------------------------------------------------------------- jones@reed.edu (Albyn Jones) albyn jones, approx. 2-3 kyu aka jones (IGS) I have time to play on IGS during the summer months. I am will- ing to be on either end of a teaching game, at any handicap, and provide commentary if I am the teacher. I often watch strong players play on IGS, and follow the kibitzes, asking questions when I don't understand what is going on. The kibitzes become part of the game record, which I occasionally mail to myself for later review. This group might be able to make use of the kibitz facility of IGS. I like the idea of playing the first "n" moves of a game, fol- lowed by discussion. I have done this on occasion with a friend who is a very strong player, and find that it is a good way to experiment and become comfortable with new joseki/fuseki situations. My friend has advised me that I should solve 5-10 *easy* prob- lems every day. I believe this is good advice: I improved about from about 6k to 4k in the course of working through the first two volumes of the "graded go problems" books with my children, while doing no other studying, and no regular playing, except with my children on a 13*13 board. I am relatively weak in the endgame. ----------------------------------------------------------------- mikew@cs.washington.edu Mike Williamson, presently 5 kyu on IGS, but haven't played there for a month or so. I wouldn't mind playing either IGS or Email games, although I don't have much time to put into IGS right now... I would enjoy playing on a team, although I don't have time to captain one. I would be happy to get some games in. I don't mind playing handicap games (either giving or taking) up to about 6 stones. I also like playing just the opening and middle game, and then lapsing into discussion. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew.Robinson@anu.edu.au (Andrew Robinson) Andrew Robinson, 10-kyu IGS name: andrewr Either Email or IGS is OK. Any strength is fine. I'm willing to teach (for what it's worth!) Prefer commentary at end, perhaps in Smart-Go format. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Carlos_Costa@mindlink.bc.ca (Carlos Costa) Carlos Costa, 10-kyu Either IGS or email is OK. IGS name: carlos I don't have any preferences re how teaching games should be done, since I've never been given a teaching game before! ----------------------------------------------------------------- wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz Bill Taylor, 1-kyu Prefer IGS (but am in a bad time-zone). Not really time for a full game right now. Always interested in 9x9 or 13x13. Very keen to discuss matters at the time, or straight afterwards. I would be very interested in team Go. I would hope in-game discussions might be a possibility, at least in some form. (Perhaps with the supervisor only?) -----------------------------------------------------------------