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October 29, 2004

Lesson 7 Part 2 coming this weekend

If you enjoyed the first part of lesson 7, part II is coming up this weekend. Stay tuned.

Also, thanks to the comment from Paul about BitTorrent. Seems like a good solution. Not sure I'll have it ready by this weekend, but will continue to look into it.

Posted by wayofgo at 06:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 25, 2004

Free: Go Lesson Videos

From the time I was about 1-kyu till the time I was 5-dan, I videotaped my lessons with Paul Hu, the AGA champ. I will post bits of the lessons that show my progress from 1-kyu to 5-dan.

The snippets are in Windows Media Format and are weighty downloads. Therefore, I have split up the file to make downloading easier.

Enjoy!

http://www.wayofgo.com/mkgofwog/Lesson7pt-1a.wmv
http://www.wayofgo.com/mkgofwog/Lesson7pt-1b.wmv
http://www.wayofgo.com/mkgofwog/Lesson7pt-1c.wmv
The Lesson 7 Part 1 SGF file

p.s., if you can suggest another place to host files larger than 5MB or ways to reduce the size of the file (without sacrificing visual quality), please let me know.

Posted by wayofgo at 04:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 15, 2004

The Strategy Rule Book

Strategy is a natural phenomenon. When people compete, make big decisions, or decide to quit something, a little strategy can make the difference between a good choice and a bad choice.

In Go, you learn very early that knowing some rules of thumb can really help your game. Not surprisingly, these same rules of thumb, at an abstract level, also apply in business, politics, sports, martial arts, cooking, war and dating, to mention a few.

The Way of Go provides an organization of these rules so that you can get a complete picture of what's going on strategically. Much of the book is quick to point out that looking at only one side of the proverbial two-sided strategic coin is dangerous business. They are summarized in the acronym: GO'S RULES

G - Global Local
O - Owe Save
S - Slack Taut
R - Reverse Forward
U - Us Them
L - Lead Follow
E - Expand Focus
S - Sorry, there are no rules

Take two common rules: "stay away from strength" and "press the competitor's strength before attacking." Both are valid rules in certain situations, but both are dangerously wrong in others. What the Way of Go suggests you do is look at both sides and then, with your experience, make an educated choice of how best to proceed.

Posted by wayofgo at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 06, 2004

Bill Gates and The Game of Go

There are a number of references to Bill Gates playing Go:

In this interview, Bill confesses his former desire to be the world's Go champ.

In this book, we find Bill besting his classmates in high school.

Not sure what he's up to, if anything, on Go currently.

Posted by wayofgo at 03:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack