disaster streak
Xenafan
steadily at go for a long while. This year I got to what is now called
3k* on IGS and was progressing toward 2k*. Then, a couple of weeks
ago, when on the borderline of promotion, my game simply imploded. I
have tried everything under the sun: changing my style, my tactics,
taking a break, but I keep losing one game after another. If I get a
won position, I find ways to throw it away. Constantly I find myself
slapping my head after making one elementary mistake after another.
Currently I am on a 12+ game losing streak!
I am determined not to give up and will keep trying, but this is
incredibly dispiriting. Have any of you been through anything like
this? Is there anything I can do? Is there any hope?
I have been quite poorly recently and am quite distracted by other
matters, but usually I find go is a form of escape, so I can't use
that for an excuse. Perhaps this is part of some learning process? I
usually have a good idea what to do in most situations, but for some
reason I feel drawn to bad strategies almost like a moth drawn to a
lightbulb -- I know that I am being greedy, unreasonable, timid,
whatever, but I can't seem to help choosing the suicidal option.
Any advice you can give me would be greatly welcomed.
Many thanks in advance,
Xenafan ("Xena" on IGS and dashn)
--
Ted S.
news:4edb64d3.02063...@posting.google.com:
> Please can somebody help me or reassure me?
Ditto for me! :-)
> I have been improving
> steadily at go for a long while. This year I got to what is now called
> 3k* on IGS and was progressing toward 2k*. Then, a couple of weeks
> ago, when on the borderline of promotion, my game simply imploded. I
> have tried everything under the sun: changing my style, my tactics,
> taking a break, but I keep losing one game after another. If I get a
> won position, I find ways to throw it away.
Consider yourself lucky. :-) I find myself falling badly behind early in
the game and having to try to catch up....
> Constantly I find myself
> slapping my head after making one elementary mistake after another.
> Currently I am on a 12+ game losing streak!
>
> I am determined not to give up and will keep trying, but this is
> incredibly dispiriting. Have any of you been through anything like
> this?
Yes. It took me about a year to get to 13k. Since then, it took me six
months to get to 12 kyu, and I'm still stuck there two months on, with it
looking like it's going to take another few months to get to 11k. I was
hoping to get to single-digit kyu by the end of the year, but that's
looking unlikely.
> Is there anything I can do? Is there any hope?
--
Ted S.: change .spam to .net to reply by e-mail
Homer Simpson: I'm sorry Marge, but sometimes I think we're the worst
family in town.
Marge: Maybe we should move to a larger community.
Oliver Richman
quickly - the server can't keep up. At one point I won 20 straight games in
1 day (only 14 were rated).
I am poor too, in fact I don't have any money at all, so let us say it is by
a miracle of technology that I am here today. But I find that when I am
depressed I can't play very well, so I just play one or two games and then
stop. But when I am winning (and feeling better about myself), I play as
many games as possible to reinforce that. Just don't play when in a bad
mood.
I notice that I can have losing streaks now too, but when I have a loosing
streak of 1 or 2 games, I just stop playing for a while until I feel better.
-frl
"Xenafan" <xen...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:4edb64d3.02063...@posting.google.com...
ro...@telus.net
>Please can somebody help me or reassure me? I have been improving
>steadily at go for a long while. This year I got to what is now called
>3k* on IGS and was progressing toward 2k*. Then, a couple of weeks
>ago, when on the borderline of promotion, my game simply imploded. I
>have tried everything under the sun: changing my style, my tactics,
>taking a break,
??? A break would be, like, a couple of months.
>but I keep losing one game after another. If I get a
>won position, I find ways to throw it away. Constantly I find myself
>slapping my head after making one elementary mistake after another.
>Currently I am on a 12+ game losing streak!
Come on. 12 games is nothing. Even 9-dans have had worse streaks
than that.
>I am determined not to give up and will keep trying, but this is
>incredibly dispiriting. Have any of you been through anything like
>this? Is there anything I can do? Is there any hope?
We've all been through it. I remember a bad stretch when I was on the
verge of making 1K AGA, and my rating traced all the way back to 4K.
Now I'm 5D. Don't sweat it.
>I have been quite poorly recently and am quite distracted by other
>matters, but usually I find go is a form of escape, so I can't use
>that for an excuse.
??? It's not an excuse. It's likely the _reason_. If you have job
trouble or family trouble or romantic trouble, it can absolutely kill
your game.
>Perhaps this is part of some learning process?
Could well be.
>I usually have a good idea what to do in most situations, but for some
>reason I feel drawn to bad strategies almost like a moth drawn to a
>lightbulb -- I know that I am being greedy, unreasonable, timid,
>whatever, but I can't seem to help choosing the suicidal option.
Sounds very much like a bad life situation bleeding onto the board.
-- Roy L
mindspring.com
"Oliver Richman" wrote:
>I am poor too, in fact I don't have any money at all, . . .
:-)
Justin O. Wyss-Gallifent
: Currently I am on a 12+ game losing streak!
Only 12? This is not a big deal at all!
-Justin
BHaber
win streak. I went from winning 13 of 15 to losing 13 of my last 15 over the
last 3-week period.
It's happened before. I usually mentally just "quit" go for a week or two, then
ease back into it despite myself, then get it back. But I am stuck at 4k* for
the last year, and have no hope of ever improving my game. That's the way it
goes.
b
Patrick G. Bridges
b> But I am stuck at 4k* for the last year, and have no hope
b> of ever improving my game. That's the way it goes.
Why do you say that you have no hope of ever improving your game?
Never is a very long time. Personally, I'd like to think that the
right teacher could help you through your current
difficulties. Perhaps I'm just an optimist, though. :)
-Patrick
--
-Patrick Bridges bri...@cs.arizona.edu GPG Key ID = CB074C71
GPG Key fingerprint = FEEA ECFF 1E23 148C 2804 FDD9 DB63 6993 CB07 4C71
"Anyone that can't make money on Sports Night should get out of the
money-making business" - Calvin, on the last episode of Sports Night
Anonymous
> steadily at go for a long while. This year I got to what is now called
> 3k* on IGS and was progressing toward 2k*. Then, a couple of weeks
> ago, when on the borderline of promotion, my game simply imploded. I
> have tried everything under the sun: changing my style, my tactics,
> taking a break, but I keep losing one game after another. If I get a
> won position, I find ways to throw it away. Constantly I find myself
> slapping my head after making one elementary mistake after another.
> Currently I am on a 12+ game losing streak!
I was stuck in a 29 game losing streak once. Can't expect to win 'em all.
> Many thanks in advance,
> Xenafan ("Xena" on IGS and dashn)
>
> --
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BHaber
I'm just expressing the state of MIND that occurs during these periods where
any attempt at improving, such as lessons, hard study, etc., leads to a
fantastic worsening of one's game, as evidenced by losing many games through
dead groups that would have never died before, constricted play that would have
been unconsiderable weeks before, the pointless allowing of the opponent's dead
groups to come to life, etc. Initiating tactical sequences that result in huge
losses... all the fun stuff you thought you gave up ten ranks ago.
And then what do you get for it? No improvement or sudden jump, as per the
stories, but just a gradual return to where you were 6 months ago. Repeat for
two years and a net gain of one rank, which you know see slipping away.
I know I could improve. Just during phases of intense worsification there is no
HOPE of improving. Big difference : )
The danger of these periods is the realization that go can make you feel bad,
and that the bad feelings are more intense than the good ones. That, I suspect,
is when other people quit.
b
mullens
If this is your first plateau, then you can improve until you reach another plateau !
Try going to a different club maybe.
Richard
Xenafan
particular. I hope nobody thought I was whining: I was quite
distressed and wanted help, but guessed that others would probably
benefit from reading about mine and other people's experiences.
I think I know what has been going wrong now. I was ill with
food-posioning, and that sapped a great deal of energy; I am also
worried about my career and some personal stuff. These things probably
have had a negative impact. Normally I don't like excuses, because
I've often found people make excuses to avoid facing the truth (it's
sometimes much easier to say to oneself "I lost that game because I
was worried about x" than to admit one was beaten fair and square). On
the other hand, as royls pointed out, sometimes external factors are
not excuses, but real reasons. Thinking it over, my whole approach was
self-defeating: one, I would play lots and lots of games if I lost,
trying to "put right" the losing streak but really just pushing myself
into a worse and worse frame of mind; two, I would play too quickly;
three, I would try and win outright early on, going for traps,
overplays and so on (i.e., being unreasonable); four, I stopped
studying.
I have decided on a plan. First, I reset my win/loss counter on IGS to
zero, in order to give myself a fresh start. Second, I am going to
make myself use my squeeze ball or Chinese health balls to keep my
itchy mousefinger under control, so that I at least delay myself and,
hopefully, think a bit before making a move. Third, if I lose two
straight games, I shall make myself stop playing until I have
recovered a good mood - since nobody obliges me to play on IGS, why
should I force myself to? Fourth, if I lose three straight games in a
day, then I should quit playing for the day, since it clearly isn't
going to be my day.
Anyway, I played a couple of games this morning. I lost the first one,
and rematched my opponent. All the way through I felt as if I was
being pushed around, but I kept on trying and playing the best I
could. He got a large number of very big yose plays, and I was
beginning to despair. But, then, I counted the position and found to
my delight that I had an unshakable lead: clearly the big yose points
were his compensation for my having built up large moyos early on. I
supppose the moral of the story is that one should never give up, even
if every move the opponent makes feels like a kick in the teeth --
sometimes one has to suffer a little for the lot one has gained
elsewhere. I'm pleased to say that I won the game and finally brought
my disaster streak to an end.
Thanks again to you all for offering your advice. I appreciated it.
-- Xenafan
Xenafan
Joachim Beggerow
Xenafan <xen...@btinternet.com> wrote:
: Please can somebody help me or reassure me? I have been improving
: steadily at go for a long while. This year I got to what is now called
: 3k* on IGS and was progressing toward 2k*. Then, a couple of weeks
: ago, when on the borderline of promotion, my game simply imploded.
This is quite common. Especially around this strength.
For example have a look at the progression of three players at our club.
http://www.gobs.de/plots/MSP.ps
http://www.gobs.de/plots/TBA.ps
http://www.gobs.de/plots/THS.ps
The first one is the best fitting example. ;-)
The grades are roughly european ones. After the resent IGS adjustment
i think it is +/- one grade compared to an IGS rating.
If I remember that times, I guess this is one of the plateaus
were one has to learn a new concept of the game. This takes some
time. Either in terms of time or of number of games.
Joachim
--
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