Monthly Archives: October 2014

Go resource review #2: Baduk-TV

Review: Baduk TV

1. Baduk tv according to gogameguru:

 

In Korea, the game of Go is called Baduk.

And Baduk TV is a television station that broadcasts programs exclusively about Go.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Live games with commentary, game reviews and the highest quality lessons on all aspects of Go.

Unfortunately though, Baduk TV has never been easily accessible outside of Korea.

At least, it wasn’t…

Baduk TV on demand with English subtitles

Go Game Guru teamed up with Baduk TV to create a product we call Baduk TV English.

Baduk TV already produces the best Go videos available anywhere in the world. The presenters are professional Go players and the production values are as high as you’d expect from a serious TV channel.

So how do you make something like that even better?

We took the best of Baduk TV, assembled a team who are not only native speakers of Korean or English, but also top amateur or professional level Go players, and got them to work together to translate the videos into fluent English for you.

 

2. About the reviewer:

 

I’m a EGF 9k who recently re-discovered go.

I don’t get anything in return for this review, but gogameguru will sponsor the Brussels go tournament so it would be nice to give some feedback about baduk-tv to the participants of the Brussels tournament.

 

3. Review:

 

A Why did I subscribe to baduk tv:

 

I was curious. Like every go-player in Europe I had heard about how in Korea and Japan they have tv-channels where they show go programs nonstop. I was already a fan of gogameguru (arguably the best news site about professional go) and the reviews of professional games they post. One evening I just decided I’d give it a try.

B Experience

 

The content on Baduk TV English seems to be divided into lectures and game reviews. The Lectures are either based on level (becoming x-kyu, or lever up to x-kyu) or are topic basic (ex: attacking vitamins). The game reviews are either historical or are recent pro-games.

I’ve been a subscriber for roughly a month and I watched about 70 video’s.

 

Lectures:

 

I started with the “becoming 5-kyu” series. The presenter is Shim Wooseop 7 dan. His style of teaching is different from anything I had seen so far. Here (Belgium) I have heard not to study fuseki or joseki until I was 5kyu, but Shim (or Wooseop?) takes a totally different approach. Every lecture lasts +- 15 minutes, which he divides into “opening, invasion and life and death”. The invasions that he discusses are invasions that can happen in the opening he discussed in the first half of the lecture and the life and death situations are always very practical. His pace is just about right for someone who isn’t 5kyu but he manages to put a lot of information in the lectures.

He also always starts his lecture with what I started calling a “Shimism”, which is a statement intended to whet your go-appetite. After watching a couple of lectures from Shim, I found myself eagerly awaiting his next Shimism. As it is difficult to explain what exactly I’m talking about I’ll give an example:

Hello everyone, welcome to ‘Becoming 5 Kyu’. I’m Shim Wooseop 7d.
Many Go players in Korea enjoy drinking.
They say they drink to blow off steam after losing a game.
But I think that’s just an excuse. They actually just want to spend more time with their Go friends.
And they keep talking about Go, even while they’re drinking.
Lots of useful information about Go is discussed and learned on such occasions.
I miss those days with my Go friends and hope that you’ll become one of my Go friends too.

Now I’m watching the “level up to 3-kyu” series. The information is already more advanced and the pace is quicker. The teacher doesn’t use Shimisms.

Game reviews:

The game reviews are always reviewed in pairs, a pro player and another player who seems to be asking the questions the viewer wants to asks. It’s fun, I won’t say that at my level I have learned a lot, but it really gives an impression of the playing strength of the pro’s.

One of the game reviews I saw was a review of a game which was reviewed live. At one point the players started a game-deciding ko and the game reviewers were counting ko threats. It was fun to hear the amazement in the commentators voice as the players found more and more ko threats (Is that also a Ko threat? That means he has 4 more!)

The quality of the video’s and translations is very good, I would say I haven’t seen anything like it. I can only compare with video’s that can be found on youtube.

 

4 Conclusion:

 

So far I have nothing bad to say about baduk tv. It’s a lot of fun for $ 20 (+- € 15). The lectures are useful and it’s great to have a tool that allows you to take a better look into the world of the pro’s. I’ll end this review with a Shimism:

Some people say “I’ve been 5 kyu for 20 years.”
Others also say “I’ve been for 7 kyu for 30 years and only started improving recently.”
Everyone shares the desire to improve their Go abilities.
I have a solution.
When we’re sick, we need to go to see a doctor and get a prescription.
Similarly, we can view not improving for a long time as an illness.
This kind of Go player should see a better player.
And get a ‘Go prescription’. Then, they should follow it.

Maybe Baduk tv is your prescription to improve your Go abilities or to get more fun out of playing Go. 🙂

Go resource review #1: Nordic Go Academy

Hi everyone,

I’ll review some go – resources I use in my attempts to become a better go player. The first I”ll review is the Nordic Go Academy, they are also a sponsor of the Brussels go tournament.

Review: Nordic Go Academy (from now on: NGA)

 

1. The NGA about the NGA:

Website: http://www.nordicgoacademy.com/

Information about the NGA as written on the website:

Nordic Go Academy is a go school on KGS for 7 kyu to 5 dan players that operates on a monthly basis. Our students play weekly league matches against each other, all of which get reviewed in high quality by our top level amateur teachers.

How much does it cost?

We are doing our best to be the most affordable go learning program on KGS. Our students can choose from two participation options (with an optional coaching option) or a spectator option. Here is an one of the participation options is as an example. For more information, check the Payment Details page!

Participation option 1, for 30€.

4 league games with reviews,

8 lectures,

tsumego homework packages,

chance to compete for prizes.

 

2. About the reviewer:

 

I’m a EGF 9kyu and a KGS 7kyu player who likes go, and wants to improve.
I don’t receive anything in axchange forthis reviewpersonally, the NGA will sponsor the Brussels go tournament, so it would is nice to give some feedback about the NGA to players (participants or competors) of (in) the Brussels tournament.

 

3. Review:

 

A Why did I join the NGA:

 

I think “serious” games are the most interesting and the most fun. With serious game I mean a game where you not only try to win, but also think  seriously about each move and try to learn something or try to put in use something you have learned. A serious game involves an opponent who is also serious about the game. At my local go club I have the opportunity to play one serious game/ month, and that’s not enough to satisfy my go appetite.

Don’t get me wrong, I also like casual games but a casual game online (for me anyway) has a tendency to become frustrating because I usually start them when I’m not concentrated, which leads to careless moves when I’m clearly winning and suicidal moves when I’m losing.  I’ve found it difficult to play a good game online because even if I’m concentrated, maybe my opponent is not.

I also like to get my games reviewed to know what I’m still doing wrong and where I need to improve. The offer from the NGA seemed to fit the bill.

 

B Games:

 

In the NGA you play games in their monthly tournament (KO), if you get knocked out of the tournament they say which opponent you should play the next week.

I started playing in August 2014. So far I played 7 games.

I’m happy with the quality of the games I play. It’s always a good feeling when a game is finished and you have the feeling (regardless of the result) that you played a game to the best of your abilities. It’s also easy to schedule the games, so far I’ve had no problems.

 

C Reviews:

 

So far I’ve had reviews (3) from Juri Kuronen, EGF 6dan (Nami as that is his KGS nick) ,Anti Tormanen (3)(EGF 7 dan and insei in Japan, (KGS nick Ten) and Jeff (1)(KGS nick Finnish8d).

I find the reviews helpful and after every review I have the impression to have learned something. I’ll go a bit more in depth about the different reviewers:

 

Nami’s reviews are filled with information: tactical errors are shown and so are better alternatives. He points out wrong shape moves but sometimes it’s difficult to understand why the shape he suggests is better. In every game he reviews he picks out one “topic” and talks about it in depth. In one of my games he explained about moyo’s and where to invade / reduce and how to deal with these invasions. Another review went more in depth about which stones are useful and which are not (and can be scarified). I find these explanations extremely useful and they are also what I remember most and try to use in my next games.

His enthusiasms really shows in every review, which makes up for the fact that after I go through his review the first time I always think: “did I just played the worst game ever or what?” He always compliments one of my moves in each game, like an oasis of skill in an otherwise  barren dessert of clumsiness. :-).

I was very amused when one of my games went in the endgame phase and he commented “I’ll only point out the biggest mistakes from now on” and ended up commenting on nearly all moves played.

 

Ten’s reviews are a bit easier to digest. He uses the KGS interface better then Nami, so it’s easier to follow his comments. The biggest difference is he doesn’t play out the variations but rather numbers points on the board: like “this move is not necessary, playing at 1 guarantees an eye with the sequence 1-10”. It forces you to read the sequence while keeping the position on the board where you “erred”. He also explains shape moves better, pointing out where the weakness of each shape is. He doesn’t start the occasional lecture like Nami does, too bad J. I would say he gives a bit less info / variations but it’s easier to remember. He also ends the review with a little summary of the game, I like that.

 

Jeff reviewed one of my games. It was the shortest game and worst game. (although I won it). Basically I created a moyo, my opponent invaded very deep and I killed his group à resignation. The review was useful and Jeff seems to be (based on one review ) most focused on pointing out areas in which you need to improve to play a better game. I’ll update this review when I get some more reviews from Jeff.

 

The coaching program:

 

For  € 10 the NGA gives supplies a coaching program where(according to NGA: )

Personal coaching (Optional): +10€ to the subscription fee.

Students with the coaching option receive personalized coaching from Jeff on how their play in general is going, and what systematic errors they are making. For example:

Good and bad parts of your games.

Your main problems at the current stage and how to solve them.

What you should do in the next period of time to improve as efficiently as possible.

 

My experience:

I took this option out of curiosity, not knowing what to expect. So far I had one coaching sessions, it lasted 45 minutes. Jeff doesn’t only focus on technical aspects (for example, he said my fuseki was sub-par and made suggestions to improve), and also commented on my attitude during the game. When he does this he uses colorful comparisons, which is fun and makes them easy to remember 🙂

 

Example: he at one point compared a go game with two people trying to make as much money (territory) as possible during one week. If after five days it becomes obvious that you are making a lot less money  than your competitor, what do you do? I would say, try to work really hard (make overplays)  and try to catch up. Not so according to Jeff. What you should do is just take your money, buy a gun (strengthen your groups) and try to rob a bank (start attacking after your groups are strong enough).

 

This advice was already useful in a game, I was the leading and I saw my opponent working very hard. Instead of panicking about the big fight that erupted on the board I noticed which groups he neglected to strengthen and made good use of that. Just knowing that my opponent was using the wrong strategy helped me use the right strategy in dealing with his overplays.

 

The lectures:

 

The lectures are held at a time I can’t participate (perhaps sat the time). The lecture material is stored on the website as sgf so I skim through them when I have the time. They are (for me) interesting when a kyu game from the tournament is analyzed. Some are too advanced for me. I haven’t really looked at all the reviews so I can’t really comment in depth about the content of these lectures. The lectures are with written commentary instead of sound/ spoken, which makes communication too tedious, this seems like an area that could beimproved.

They also provide Tsumego homework. If you get the best score you get a €10 discount.

 

Possible improvements:

 

1. Sound during the lectures.
2. The tournament format used.

The NGA uses a knock-out formula for its tournament. If you get knocked out of the tournament in the first round you get assigned games outside of this tournament. This means that it’s possible to play the same opponent twice in one month  and it makes the non-tournament  games somehow seem less important, this should be avoided.

Maybe a system where you divide the players in groups of 5 and the first two get promoted to a higher group and the last two get demoted to a lower group would be a solution for this problem. It also means that you get to play each opponent at most once a month and next month you’ll be playing other players.

 

Conclusion:

 

I like playing / studying in the NGA. I really like the games and think the reviews are good & helpful. € 30 seems (to me) good value for what I get in return. So I get enough fun out of it for € 30. Did I also get better? I can’t say for sure, I did win a game against a EGF 7 kyu for the first time after one month of participation and I feel stronger.

. I’ll just list a few things that I can buy “in real life” and see how they stand up to the NGA:

+- 20 liters of diesel, a big box of diapers, 2 small take away sushi meals, 10 Belgian trappist beers,  half a golf club, 25% of a pair of LEVI’s jeans, a cab ride of 500meters, I’ll help your child pass their math’s exam (in high school) for € 30 / hour, …

Only the 10 Belgian trappist beers are a serious contender for best value offered, but hey, you can get both for only €60!