Friday, November 23, 2018
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
The Go Adventures of Randie Ch. 4
Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter of Randie. This one turned out a little longer then I expected, though it was exciting to write. If you like reading this series, then please comment and share! This series is nothing but a small hobby I did when I had some free time, so your comments and support give me the energy and motivation to continue it. Without that, I will probably get bored and scrap this as something I did for fun one time. So let me know that this is actually being read and what you guys think!
As for Randie, I am finding it fun to see things through his eyes. I sometimes forget what it is like being a brand new player to the game and things that I see at a glance is something a new player could taking minutes pondering over. It is also fun to see how excited Randie gets every time he learns a new shape or tactic and gets to apply it. Something as simple as a ladder becomes the most advanced strategy when seen through a beginner's eyes. So while we may know many shapes and strategies, I find it enjoyable to learn them again with Randie. I hope you guys feel the same way!
Please ignore grammer! I am not proof reading this, nor do I intend to. This is nothing but something I am doing for fun when I feel like it. Proof reading just makes it feel like work, and I don't want this to become work or I'll never get it very far. If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, that's fine. Just don't expect this to be professional quality. ^.^
Chapter 4: First Win
Several days had passed since my first Go lesson. Every day I went to the after school Go club and
played capture Go. I also received more and more homework each day before leaving. I had only
managed to get all the answers on a sheet right once. After that, Mr. Tom noticed my enthusiasm
about getting the problems done so he started to give me multiple Go problem sheets to take home.
After doing so many problems, I also learned a few new shapes and tactics. The first one I learned
was the net, apparently there are some shapes where you don’t have to take the liberties directly. But
rather it is better to play a move that blocks all the exits so the stone cannot run out. Mr. Tom said it’s
called a net since it’s like a fishing net. You place the stone down to surround the other stones and
block their escape paths, just as if you scratched out a net to catch fish by blocking the fish’s escape
path.
Another tactic was reviewing what I had learned by watching Tommy and Molly play. Pushing the
stones to the edge was a good way to capture them. Mr. Tom had given me several problems where I
had to push the stones in the right direction or they would escape. Most of the time they were to the
edge, but you have to make sure your own liberties are fine as well when you try it. I had one played
a wrong variation because I put my own stone into atari while trying to capture my opponents.
I was about to leave class to head to Go club when a classmate had stopped me and asked me why I
had been skipping out on Kickball. When I explained to him that I had been playing Go, and what Go
was, he had given me a weird look. Apparently I didn’t sound convincing when I explained how Go
worked. Because in his eyes, I had just described the most boring game ever, a wooden board with
black and white rocks. Perhaps you have to play the game before you truly realize how fun it is.
Upon arriving at the Go club, I noticed Tommy and Molly were already playing. Seeing them, I
quietly approached their board and started to watch. I had been informed that it was considered rude
to talk to people while they were playing the game, so I waited to greet them. Though Tommy had
looked up and me and smiled briefly before returning his attention to the board. After I sat down, I
started counting liberties and seeing how many stones had been captured. Molly had one and Tommy
had three. So tommy was ahead in captures. Looking at the moves on the board, it seemed Tommy
was about to capture two more of Molly’s stones. If he captured them he would win. After I had just
realized that though, Molly’s hand came down placing a stone on the board, connecting them and
gaining another liberty. Tommy seemed to have expected this though and placed his stone right
above her’s. She followed up by placing another stone, with much less though this time. Apparently,
she had already considered how this was going to play out before placing that first move to save her
two stones. Tommy once again placed another stone to take her liberties, and then Molly’s final stone
came down.
It was a cut that took black’s liberties. Although black could try to capture her now, he would self
atari in doing so. Therefor, he couldn’t capture her. At the same time her cut had split Tommy’s
stones off from connecting. Now they were going to be forced to run, except he had no where to go
except the edge of the board. Tommy had also realized this so he lowered his head and resigned. This
means he declared he had lost without playing the rest of the game.
“That was close.” Said Molly. “I thought I was about to lose until I noticed that I could cut after
extending.”
Yea,” replied Tommy. “I didn’t see that cut at all. I thought I was about to win, but when you played
it I couldn’t find a way out.”
“That was a nice cut Molly.” I said. “Do you do a lot of Go problems too?” I asked, thinking that
she had done lots since she was able to see such a cool cut.
“I used to.” She said. “When I first arrived I did the problems daily. But after a while I started to
become busy with my school homework and didn’t feel like it afterwords.”
“I know the feeling.” Said Tommy. “I also don’t like doing problems after homework. It just feels
like even more work, you know?”
“Really?” I responded. “It doesn’t feel like homework at all to me.”
“Yea, you’re a bit crazy with those problems.” Said Molly. “How many sheets do you take home
every day?”
“I started taking home four sheets after Go club now.” I answered.
“Four?!” Said Tommy, shocked. “I’ll bet your reading is really good!”
“Want to test it?” I asked challenging Tommy to a game.
“Sure.” He said, rising to the challenge.
“Let’s play five stone capture Go.” I said. I had been playing capture Go all week, while I had yet to
win, (even though I’ve come close several times) I wanted to try some new ideas.
“Are you sure about that?” Asked Tommy. He was concerned since I hadn’t won any games yet.
“Sure.” I answered with confidence. I had been recently thinking about how Tommy tends to focus
on one area too much and loses focus on the rest of the board. That is how Molly won many times.
She would let Tommy capture one or two stones while she attacked several more.
After taking Molly’s place in front of the Go board, I took a black stone and placed my first move in
the center of the board. I was informed recently that the middle dot in the center is called Tengen. It
apparently means the center of the universe. I like the idea since that means I would start in the center
of the universe and go whichever direction I wanted.
Tommy took his white stone and attached to mine. Taking a liberty and starting a fight. I placed a
stone next to his leaving a cut, which he of course took advantage of. We then played out the next
couple of moves threatening the ladder on each other’s stones. The shape that resulted was the
windmill shape that I had learned on my first day here. It had only been a few days, but already my
game had improved quite a bit. It was then that the real fight started. Tommy started to try and
surround two of my stones without directly touching them. This had been some advice Mr. Tom had
mentioned earlier this week, sometime just surrounding is the best attack. Because while a touching
move does take your opponent’s liberty, it also takes one of your own. When that happens your
opponent may counter attack. Therefor it is sometimes not good to touch a group of stones without
good preparation.
It was then I decided to put my plan into action. I started to counter attack his other stones while he
attacked mine. I wasn’t sure if he noticed my plan or not, but he kept attacking my two stones while I
attacked his. After he had finally captured mine, I had completely surrounded his, though I didn’t
take all the liberties yet. When he had finished with my stones he started to defend his. However, I
had already surrounded him. It was too late for him to save them now, he should just give them up
and go play somewhere else. After all, as Mr. Tom said, once the stones are dead you shouldn’t add
to them. Otherwise you may lose a game you still have a chance at winning.
Then Tommy’s next move came down. It put my stone into atari. Somehow I had missed that move.
It didn’t directly connect to his own stone to increase his liberties, but if I tried to cut, I would only
have one liberty. I would be putting myself into atari. At the same time, if I extend with the stone that
he just put into atari, he would walk out of my surrounding shape. I had failed. I thought he was
surrounded, but he found a way to break out. Now not only do I not have him surrounded, but I don’t
have any captures and he has two. I am completely losing this game.
I stopped myself then. Mr. Tom had told me when I find myself in a bad position, or realized that I
had made a mistake, I should calm down a reanalyze the board. “You can’t win a game of Go without
a calm and collected mind.” He had said. So I took a deep breath and recounted all the liberties on all
the stone. I was in atari, sure. But that was only one stone. If I give it up, he would have three stones
and I would be losing by a lot. But it wouldn’t be game over. I continued with that thought and stared
at the bored with as much focus as I could. It was then that I noticed something odd about the shape
that I was staring at. It seemed as if there was a Go problem here. If there was, then surely I could
solve it. After all I did four pages of Go problems every night now.
A couple minutes had passed and Tommy had started to look at me in wonder. He was likely
wondering why I was taking so long. But this shape, this position, looked strange. I just felt like there
was something here. It was then that I saw it. A brilliant play that combined many tactics that I had
learned. Once I saw it, a smile had appeared across my face. Tommy’s eyes grew wide and he saw it,
and Molly also seemed to notice and had a similar face of confusion as Tommy. But I payed them no
mind and picked up my stone and placed it on the board.
It had put his stones into atari, but it also was a self atari. He seemed surprised that I played such a
move. To him it must look like I am throwing away the game since I just gave him a stone to capture.
With a concerned look on his face he placed his stone and captured mine. While it may have seemed
like a terrible move to him, I know all too well what I am doing. I then placed my next stone. Once
again forcing him into atari. He now had three captured stones, and I had another one in atari on the
board. But even if he took it, I wouldn’t lose just yet. Additionally, if he did, he would be ignoring
the three stones that I just put into atari. But that was the trap. If he takes my one stone, I will take
three. Tommy would still be ahead by one capture, but I would be back in the game with a fighting
chance. However, Tommy knows this, thus he will likely consider preventing that. But if he does my
trap will activate.
Not expecting my plan, Tommy had done just that. He connected his three stones to his other two
white stones in an effort to not let me capture. Right after he did that, his eyes grew wide. Molly’s did
as well, because neither of them expected that after white connected his liberties would still only be
at one. While it’s true I had self-ataried a stone, that stone had forced white to place a white stone
next to my own in order to capture it. This meant that white had one less liberty than before when he
connect. Also, since my black stone that is in atari, until Tommy captures it, it is still on the board
taking a liberty. When all of this came together, Tommy had connected into a shape where not only
his three stones, but his other two stones with in atari along with the stone he just placed. Now he has
SIX stones in atari, and it was my turn. I then placed my stone down and captured all six of his
stones, winning my very first game of Go. Molly and Tommy both looked up at me in surprise.
Apparently, neither of them had seen or expected my trap that I had just played. Behind me though,
someone else had seen exactly what I saw. He wasn’t the least bit surprised at my moves…
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
The Go Adventures of Randie Ch. 3
Chapter 3: Professional Go Players
“Ah, I totally missed this cut here!” Cried Tommy.
“Yea,” replied Molly. “This cut was dangerous so you should have fixed it instead of attacking me over here.” She stated while pointing to the black move that was played prior to her cut. “Once I cut you though you were trapped along the edge with now way out.”
It was then that Mr. Tom showed up and started commenting on the game.
“Yes, I happened to see that part for myself when I glanced over here.” He said. “This shape here is like the ladder, once your trapped against the edge there is no way out. Rather than run with this like you did in the game you should have realized you were trapped and gave it up. Then you wouldn’t have lost the entire game immediately but only fell behind. From there you could work your way back up to try and take the advantage again.”
“Oh I see.” Replied Tommy. “I’ll have to remember that shape for next time.”
“Correct. “Said Mr. Tom. “Remember, it is better to give up something that can’t be saved rather than adding more stone to it to get captured.”
“Right.” Said Molly in agreement. Apparently she had already learned this concept. I made sure to remember it. I felt like this would be an important concept for me to learn if I wanted to improve to beat Tommy some day. Who knows, maybe I could even duke it out with Molly in a territory game as well.
Mr. Tom noticed I was watching intently and started speaking to me as well.
“How are you liking Go so far?” He asked.
“I think it’s pretty interesting.” I replied. “There’s a lot of cool tactics involved which I’m only starting to understand.”
“That’s correct.” He said. “While Go is a simple game to learn, it takes a life time to master every single tactic and even today, new ideas are being brought up in the professional world.”
“A lifetime?!” I said, shocked.”Exactly how long does it take to improve?”
“Well…” he started. “For me, I’m only 7dan amateur level and I have been playing for more than ten years.”
“Ten years?!” I shouted.
“Yes.” He began again. “In Asia, which is on the other side of the world and where this game originated, they have kids studying every day in a dojo or training school to study and master this game. Talented players take around 5-10 years to become a professional player, and some take even longer. Other spend decades trying but never reach that level.”
“Wow…” I said. “That’s amazing! You can study for so long and never become a professional Go player?”
“That’s correct.” He said. “Because many people work hard to attain it, you have to work extra hard to beat everyone else. Since there is only a certain number of players allowed to become pro every year, it is very difficult.”
“How do you become a pro Go player?” I asked.
“You have to win a qualifier tournament against that countries strongest players. Here in America we also have a qualifier tournament, but since we don’t have as many players it is not as difficult. But it is still a tough competition to say the least.”
“Are you trying to become pro?” I asked him.
He laughed an replied, “Well, I compete in the tournaments, but I haven’t won them yet. The furthest I’ve gotten is only around the top eight.”
“That’s pretty close then isn’t it?” Said Molly.
“Maybe, but it is still hard to win.” He said. “In the top eight you are facing the best eight amateur players in the country. Each round the best players move up so it gets harder and harder with every win. So it may seem close, but every round gets tougher and tougher so I’ve still got a ways to go.”
“That sounds so cool!” I thought out loud. Tommy and Molly seemed to be in complete agreement.
“Are professional Go players the top level?” Asked Tommy.
“Actually,” Mr. Tom replied. “For those wanting to compete with the worlds best, becoming a professional Go player is only the first step. After that they start competing with all the other pro players out there and compete to become the best of the best. They also compete in international tournaments to become recognized as the top players in the world. But that is extremely hard to do.”
All three of our eyes lit up in excitement. If I hadn’t been willing to learn Go yet, I definitely was then. I knew it would be a long time before I ever got close to being a top amateur dan player, much less a pro Go player. But the dream of competing with the top players world wide was so thrilling, it had driven me to learn to play this game and put some real effort into improving. It wasn’t for a while after that that I realized I had forgotten my passion for kickball. It seems this strange board game became its replacement.
We played several more capture Go games after that and I lost every single one. However, Tommy was able to beat Molly once after playing around five games. Though the Go club’s time limit was only 90 minutes, we were able to get a lot of games in. I guess that’s another reason why playing on a small board is good for beginners. You get lots of practice very quickly. If this was a big board, it make take the whole 90 minutes to finish one game.
Before leaving, Mr. Tom handed me some problem work sheets to take home. The sheets basically contained pre-setup positions where you either had to capture white or save black. They all seemed to be black’s turn for convenience. But apparently there positions bother colors have a chance of being in. He told me to mark the first three moves and bring them back to him to check if I was right or wrong. I planned to get them all right, but that was probably too optimistic. I realized after a little thinking that this was basically homework, (which I despise) but since it was for Go which is a game, it kind of had a different feeling to it. I was able to do all the problems in the same night without issue. Maybe I was getting a little too attached to this game. After all, if I start liking homework, then I don’t think I’ll be able to recognize myself…
Monday, August 17, 2015
The Go Adventures of Randie Ch. 2
Chapter 2: Molly the Go Player
As I stared at the board dumbfounded, I realized I was supposed to say thanks for the game. I had totally forgotten since I was so confused as to how he just did that. Quickly I corrected myself and thanked him for the game and gave a slight bow of the head.
“How did you do that?!” I immediately asked him. “There was no way I could have escaped that!”
“Yea,” He said. “That was called a ladder. It is one of the techniques in Go. This one is not possible to get out of once you trap your opponent in it. Mostly you have to see it before it happens.”
“How could I have seen it before it happens. I couldn’t even see it until I was already trapped in it.” I explained.
“Actually, I had difficulty seeing it for a while too. I still miss it sometimes. But according to Mr. Tom, you have to recognize the shape before it happens.” He then set up a position on the board with black being in atari and white almost surrounding him but the last stone was a little off to the side. “In this position, you can see black is in atari. But when he extends out, he only has two liberties thanks to this white stone.” He then point at the fourth stone on the board that is blocking one of the liberties of the most recent black stone. “Normally when you extend out, you have two more liberties then you started with. But with this white stone you only have one more. Once you are in this shape, I can do the ladder sequence you saw in the game. After you are trapped in the ladder, there is no way out.”
“I think I get it now.” I said. “But how can I prevent it. Once the ladder happens I lose no matter what.”
“Right.” He replied energetically. He seemed pretty happy that I was so interested in learning about Go. He probably thought I would be too upset to want to learn after that but honestly, I was more confused than upset. This trick had come out of no where and caught me completely off guard. I didn’t ever get the chance to be upset. “So in order to prevent this from happening, you have to see it coming before hand.”
He then set up a position to right before black goes into atari and get trapped in the ladder.
“Here,” Said Tommy, “This is the shape you have to look out for. If you see this shape you are one step away from being trapped in a ladder. You can think of this as being semi in atari. Though you have two liberties, there is no way out.”
I analyzed the position carefully while trying to memorize it. I really didn’t want to fall for that trap again and maybe I could use it sometime.
“There is a couple of exceptions to the ladder though.” He started. “For example, if you have a stone out the outside lowering my liberties then when you play out the ladder like so, I end up in atari along the way.” He explained while playing out the ladder with an additional stone next to his own. I noticed it to as he explained it. While black was running away with a bunch of ataries, white also was pushed down to one liberty. “Here you can see white must fix himself instead of continuing the ladder, and then black escapes. So this is called a “Broken Ladder,” or a ladder that gets broken when you try to use it.”
I just nodded is amazement. If this had happened in the game, the situation could have been much different. Though I guessed Tommy likely has many more of these tricks up his sleeve to use. I’ll have to learn them all one by one if I want to beat him.
“You always have to watch the surrounding stone and be wary of which direction the ladder will run to before playing it. According to Mr. Tom, a broken ladder is a ver dangerous position and we should always avoid it. ‘Never play a ladder that doesn’t work.’” He quoted in his best Mr. Tom voice. I didn’t think it was that good, but I still took the words to heart.
Hearing us talking, another girl in the class approached our desk.
“Are you teaching him about ladders?” She asked.
“Yes,” replied Tommy. “This is my friend Randie. He is new to the Go club.”
“Hello Randie,” she said. “My name is Molly. I’m just started not to long ago myself.”
“Nice to meet you.” I said, “What’s your level?”
“My level is 25kyu.” She replied. That means she is a bit stronger than Tommy.
“Would you like to watch us play a game Randie?” Asked Tommy. He probably thinks the last game wore me out. He isn’t completely wrong, but I was already eager to play another one to try out the ladder. But I guess watching them play would also help me learn a thing or two, and watching Tommy get beat should also be entertaining.
“Sound good to me.” Said Molly, “Is it Capture Go or Territory Go?”
Territory Go?” I asked confused.
“Ah, Capture Go.” Replied Tommy. “He doesn’t know territory Go yet.”
“So what is it?” I asked curiously.
“Basically…” Molly began. “Territory is where you play with the capture rule, but the game doesn’t end when you capture a stone.”
“Then how do you win?” I inquired.
“Whoever surrounds the most area.” She replied. “Each player tried to surround area on the board while trying not to get surrounded and captured themselves. You can think of it as sticking fence post in the ground and surrounding land with it. The difficult part is making sure it isn’t too small and letting your opponent get more, and also making sure that it isn’t too wide that your opponent can just jump in and escape.”
“That sounds difficult…” I said.
“It’s easier than it sounds.” Said Tommy, “But once you get the gist of it, the amount of tactics for invading, reducing, developing, attacking, and defending becomes very large. That’s why we play on smaller board to make it easier to make territory without so much risk.”
“I think I kind of understand.” I said doubtful that I actually did. “I probably will have to learn a bit more before I’m ready for that.”
Molly giggled and agreed, “Yea, it does take some getting used to. But once you get the hang of it, it becomes really fun.” Tommy agreed happily.
“So I guess you two are going to play?” I asked, eager to see how experienced players play.
“Sure.” Said Tommy.
“Of course.” Said Molly. “Should we play ‘Five Stone Capture Go?’”
Again I had a confused looked. So Tommy explained.
“Five stone capture Go is the same thing as capture Go except you have to capture 5 stones before you win. You can capture five single stones or a five stone group. Both are okay, but you have to have five or more before victory is decided.”
“Oh that makes sense.” I said feeling dumb for not figuring that one out.
“Normally after you get the hang of capture Go you move up to Mulitstone Capture Go.” Said Molly. “After one stone come three, and then five. Once you get the hang of five, you start playing territory Go. From there lots of fun stuff start happening.”
“Sounds great!” I said eagerly awaiting the day I can play territory Go. “First master capture Go.” I thought to myself and then I can take it step by step from there. Although this was only my first day at the Go club, I think I will probably become a regular here. Go seemed pretty interesting for now. Though once I master it, I wondered if i would get bored. I just pushed that thought to the back of my mind. I’d cross that drive when I came to it. After all, I’m sure Go wasn’t so easy I could master it in a few days. But I’ll probably get the hang of it by the end of the school year. I wondered if I’d find something like this again next year. Or maybe I’d be playing the teacher next year. That would be funny.
After explaining territory and multi capture Go to me, the two sat across from each other and started to play. Molly took the white stones since she was a higher rank than Tommy. Both told he other to have a good game and tommy placed the first move.
His first move was in the center of the board, same as mine. “well at least I had the fist move right…” I though to myself. Molly then placed her’s right next to Tommy’s. It was the exact same strategy that Tommy used against me. I was excited to see how Tommy would counter his own moves. I found out in the next second when he placed a stone next to his own to extend forward. His two stones were now connect so they shared liberties and now had five liberties open since white was blocking the sixth. Molly didn’t seemed phased at all by his move. She merely picked up another white stone and placed it on the end of his to take another liberty. Since it was diagonal of her own stone, her stones didn’t share liberties. But I guessed if bother played stayed connected the entire time, neither one would win.
Tommy noticing her stone weren’t connect placed his black stone on the spot where should could connect hers with another move. He successfully split her stones apart and reduced the liberties of both of her stones down to two. It was then I noticed that she was about to be trapped in a ladder shape. Tommy’s first move was apparently to set this up. It was quite interesting to see him using the ladder so readily right off the bat. Of course Molly didn’t fall for it though. Unlike me she’s played several games and knows about the ladder already. She placed her white stone next to her stone on the board that was about to get trapped and extended it away to gain two liberties. I also noticed that she had just put Tommy’s cutting stone in the exact same shape he had put her in and was setting up for another ladder.
“These guys are ridiculous!” I thought to myself. Both of the knew the ladder concept and both were easily using it to their own advantage. Right as I thought Tommy was putting her in a ladder, she countered by extending and threatening to put him in one. It’s a defensive move as well as an attack! Tommy though wasn’t surprised. I guess he knew that she was too good of an opponent to be tricked so easily. Until I learn more about this game, I realized I would be crushed be these two in just a few moves.
Tommy then placed his next stone, extending out and threatening her second group in a ladder again. Molly of course saw this and extended one more time and now all the ladders had been fixed in a simple manner. Both players had two groups of two stones on the board each facing their own direction. It was later that I found out this shape was called a “Windmill.” Mostly because it looked like one.
It seemed as if the opening phase was done and so both players start to attack each other aggressively throughout the board. It was an exciting game to watch but after many moves later Tommy had finally lost. Molly had finally captured five stones where as Tommy was only able to capture three. I had thought the fighting on both sides had been great and I could just barley follow it at all with my beginner’s understanding, but it seemed as if Molly had finally gotten the upper hand near the end by surrounded a stone of Tommy’s and pushing it to the edge. It seems that when you get trapped along the edge, you’re almost done for since you run out of liberties fast. After thanking each other for the game both players began to discuss it.
Friday, August 14, 2015
The Go Adventures of Randie Ch.1 "Go"
Authors Note:
Sorry about the lack of paragraph indenting and spacing. I wrote this on my computers writing program and it didn't convert when I copied pasted it.
Don't judge my grammar or tense changes! I tried to keep it in the same tense but I kept messing up. Unless you want to go proofread and fix the whole thing for me, then don't complain. It's a story for fun anyway. :P
Lastly, yes I know many words are in here that a nine year old doesn't know but...come on...who really cares?
This was inspired because I was bored and I will be teaching a class of kids around this age group to play Go. So I thought it would be cool to write a story from their perspective. I know I'm not 7dan!! But I think if I ever continue this it would be good for the plot to have a 7dan play in top tournaments to inspire the kids. (I also would like to be 7dan someday so maybe one day it'll be true. ^.~)
Lastly, the names...I didn't really put to much thought into it. I used whatever popped into my head. Mr. Tom is short for Thomas or Thomson. (Thomas is my middle name.) Tommy is inspired from a 90's cartoon that is also short for Thomas. Randie...well I have no idea where it came from. It just popped into my head. Rodgers just fit so I went with it. You guys want names in the story, feel free to post them below.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Go
Today day was just like any other. I’min school and going through my classes in the usual way. For your information, I’m in the fourth grade, 9 years old. I’ll turn 10 this year and it’s a big year since I’ll hit the double digits! But that’s besides the point. My name is Randie Rogers. (Yes, I know you usually give your name first, but I’m excited about turning 10!) I’m an average boy in elementary school. My hobbies are writing in my journal and kick ball. I never thought writing in my journal would be interesting, but our English teacher said it would be good practice so she made us do it. (Who knew I would like writing down my thoughts.) As for kick ball, I consider myself the ace of the team. I mean, I can’t kick it very far, but I can aim it pretty well. As for why today is special, well today is when I discovered “Go.”
Let’s start from the beginning. At lunch my friend suggested I check out the Go club. At the time I thought it was an after school club that went places, but he corrected me and told me it was a club to play a board game called Go. It sounded pretty stupid at first, but this particular friend happens to be my next door neighbor and has been my friend for a long time now. I consider him the second best of the kick ball team. If it was anyone else who asked, I probably wouldn’t have gone. But since it was him, I decided to go take a look.
Oh, I should mention that his name is Tommy. I don’t know his last name because I don’t really care. He is also 9 years old. (I introduced his name first this time…happy?) Our parents are considering having a join Birthday party for the two of us this summer. Though I’m technically a month older than he is, they want us to turn 10 together. Anyway, his hobbies are kick ball, and apparently playing this Go game.
My class had just ended so I was heading to the computer lab where the club meets. Upon entering I was greeted by an older guy who looks like he is in his twenties. He was professionally dressed so I guess he worked there.
“Hello there.” He said. “Are you here for the Go class?”
I nodded to him and looked around to find Tommy. It was then that Tommy saw me.
“Randie!” He shouted as he ran over to me. “Mr. Tom, this is my friend Randie I told you about.”
Apparently they had talked about me in the past. According to Tommy, he originally invited me because his teacher said it was better to have a friend to learn and play with rather that just learn by yourself.
“I see. So your name is Randie? I am Mr. Tom, the Go instructor. It’s nice to meet you.” He said while sticking out his hand. I found it strange that an adult wanted to shake hands with me, but I shook his hand anyway and felt a little older. (I’m feeling that ten age already!) “Do you happen to know how to play?”
I shook my head no. This morning I didn’t even know what Go was. But after taking a look around I saw a couple kids playing a game on the computer. It looked like a grid board with black and white dots all over it.
“This is his first time playing Go.” Said Tommy eagerly.
“Hey…” I said, “I thought it was a board game. Why are those kids playing on a computer?”
“Ah,” replied My. Tom. “That is because you gain play stronger opponents online. While the game is originally played on a board face to face, to level up, many kids practice on an online Go server.”
Tommy nodded alongside the teacher. Apparently he knew this already and it was nothing knew to him. Well, if you can play it on the computer, maybe this game isn’t so bad after all. I like to play video games at home, but my parents won’t let me until after my homework is done. If I can just come here and play games, then I can just push homework until later. The club sounded better by the minute.
“Do you mind if I use a board to teach hime how to play?” Asked Tommy.
“Certainly,” replied Mr. Tom. “That is perfectly fine. After all, learning from a friend is much more fun than learning from an adult right?” He said half jokingly. Though I couldn’t argue. Adults can be intimidating at times.
“Great!” Shouted Tommy, “Randie, over here.” He said as he guided me to a desk with a small sized board on it. The board seem to be a 9x9 grid. As I glanced over at the kids on the computers I noticed that they were playing on a bigger grid.
“Why is this board smaller than theirs?” I asked while pointing at the other kids.
“That’s because it is easier to learn on a smaller board and work your way up to the big board.” Replied Tommy. “Right now I’m only 27kyu so I don’t think I’m ready for that size board yet. That’s why I am still on a 13x13.”
“Huh?” Was all I could muster to say. I didn’t understand a thing he just said.
“Ah, let me explain.” He said. “Kyu is a level that reflects your strength. 30kyu is the lowest and is someone who only knows the rules of the game. Then it goes up to 1kyu. After that is 1dan, which is like a black belt in Karate.” I only nodded since I was barley keeping up with him. “The maximum amateur rank is 9dan. Then you have to take a test to become a pro.” He then point to the teacher who is helping other kids. “Our teacher is currently 7dan, so he is really strong. No one in the whole class has beaten him yet. Even with the maximum handicap.”
“Not a single person?!” I replied shocked. Tommy merely nodded and then continued.
“The official board size is 19x19. But Mr. Tom said it was too big for beginner’s as they tend to get overwhelmed. So normally, you start on a 9x9 and then move up to a 13x13. After that when you feel ready, you can play on the 19x19. Though I tried it once and it was very confusing.” He said that last bit with a bit of a sad expression. I’m guessing he really wants to play on the big board but just lacks the confidence or skill to do so.
“Okay, well I don’t really care much about all that right now. Since I’m hear, can you just teach me the rules so we can play? Is it difficult?” I asked impatiently.
“Actually,” he said. “The rules are really easy. But since you have so many option it is a bit confusing.” I didn’t really get what he meant so I just waited for him to explain the rules. I just wanted to play, not hear a lecture. “So to start off, both players will get one set of stones. One player will play black, and the other plays white. Since I’m the stronger player right now, I will take white and let you have black. Black always goes first and has a little advantage.” I take the black stones from him and I was expecting rocks, but they are plastic little pieces that remind me of Mentos candy. Though I guess it would be bad to try and eat them. I’m sure they taste horrible.
I started to think to myself how funny it would be if I won on the very first game. He said black has an advantage, so it’s possible. But maybe I would feel bad if that happened. (Or maybe not.) I had no idea how wrong I was thinking that I actually had a chance…
“So the stones are played on the intersections of the grid. You can place your stone on any intersection including the borders and the corners. But it is not recommended.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because each stone you place on the board has “Liberties.” Liberties are like your life lines. The lines connected to your stones are called liberties. If your stone has zero liberties, then it is considered a dead stone and taken off the board.”
“Oh I see!” I said, “So if I placed it on the edge I would have less liberties since there are no lined outside the border. Even less so in the corner.”
“Exactly!” He exclaimed. I think he was happy that I was catching on since earlier it seemed like he really wanted me to like Go. “So if I place a stone in the center here, how many liberties does it have?” He asked while placing a stone on the center of the board.
“1..2..3…4. Four!” I said.
“Correct! Now if I connect a stone to it, the stones share their liberties. But stones are only connected through the lines. So if stones are diagonal from each other, they don’t share liberties. So if I have two stones connected in a row like this…” He said as he set up two stones next to each other. “How many liberties do they have?”
I debated for a few seconds and then said “Six!”
“Correct!” He said again. “You’re picking this up pretty fast.” I smiled getting excited that this was coming easy to me. The game looked boring and confusing at first, but maybe it wasn’t so bad. “So now that you know about liberties, let’s try playing a game of ‘Capture Go.’”
“Capture Go?” I asked.
“Basically in Capture Go, the first player to capture a stone or multiple stones wins. This uses half the rules in the real Go game.”
“Only half? So You’re saying I learned half the rules already?” I said to him dubiously.
“Yup.” Was all he replied. If this is half the rules, then this game is surprisingly simple. I bet I’ll catch up to him in no time at this rate. After that he explained to me some simple courtesies about the game. Apparently, it is respectful to wish your opponent a good game at the start and to thank your opponent for the game afterwords, even if you win or lose. He also said the teacher will get upset if we don’t clean up our mess when we finished, so we had to make sure not to forget.
Then we started to play. I had black and since black always goes first, I had the first move. Since this game was to capture your opponent and not get captured yourself, then just placing it anywhere other than the sides or corners should be fine. So I place my first stone in the center. After that, it was his turn to move and place a stone. It went on like this until someone captures someone. I was a little worried that if neither player got captured, then we would go on forever. But Tommy reassured me that it would not last forever because we eventually ran out of moves. So I simply took his word for it.
After seeing my move, Tommy picked up his first stone and placed it right next to mine, filling a liberty. Thus our battle on the board started. I picked up my next stone and place it right next to his. Now I had two stones filling his liberties which left him with only two left. Both of my stones had three. I had only played two moves but I was already at an advantage…or so I’d thought.
His next move came down in a unexpected place. I had expected him to extend his stone to gain liberties, but instead he played a diagonal move from his which was also in-between mine. Now he has two stones down to two liberties and they were not connected. He had just told me that stones do not share liberties unless they connect through the lines, but here he was playing a diagonal move. No wonder he wasn’t on the 19x19 board yet, he was killing himself!
I wasn’t about to let up there though just because he was playing a mistake. I was in this to win. Therefore my next move was to take another of his liberties. Afterwords, I was informed this situation was an “Atari.” To put someone into atari means to reduce them down to one liberty. So now one of his white stones was in atari and about to be captured. I was only one step away from winning if he didn’t see it. Thankfully for him though, he did and he extended out by placing a stone next to his. Now his stone had three liberties, so it became more difficult to attack. So I turned my attention to the other stone that one had two liberties and repeated the same sequence. I put him into atari and then he extended. Now both of his two groups of stones had three liberties. It was no matter to me though. I simply placed another stone to take a liberty of one of his two groups.
It was here that I saw a smile cross his face. He then picked up a stone and put my first stone that I placed into atari while extending his own group to gain liberties. I had forgotten about that stone and now it only had one liberty left. Thankfully I noticed it then so I extending to gain another liberty. But I was right next to his second group so I still only had two liberties instead of having three if he didn’t have stones there. He then placed a stone around mine again and reduced it down to one. So with no other move, I extended again. But he repeated the process, reducing down to one on the other side. I was confused as to what he was doing since I could still escape. So I extended again in the other direction. But the smile never left his face…
Once again he placed a stone from the first side, putting me once again into atari. It was then I started to notice a pattern. My group was starting to form a step ladder like shape. I was in atari so once again I had no choice but to extend. If I lost these stones then I would lose the game. I had no choice but to extend. But once I did, he would repeat the process and place on the other side I was running. It was a never ending pattern. I ran one direction, he blocked. I ran the other, he blocked the other. I had no way out. I just kept extending and extending and then finally I was forced to the edge of the board.
After I placed my stone on the edge, trying to escape his grasp and gain another liberty, I noticed that even after I had extended, I only had one liberty. I was still in atari with no where left to run. He pushed me all the way from the center of the board to the edge with every single move he played. I couldn’t believe how he’d done that. I tried to think back, but there was no way out. Every move I was about to be captured. Every move was about to be game over. How could I have escaped?!
It was then that he placed his stone down, capturing all of mine that had now become a large connected line of stones. Picking them up with a smile on his face he declared “Looks like I win.” He then bowed his head slightly and thanked me for the game while I just stared at him with a dumbfounded look on my face.
“What just happened?!” I thought to myself. This had concluded my first game of this mysterious game Go.
Today day was just like any other. I’min school and going through my classes in the usual way. For your information, I’m in the fourth grade, 9 years old. I’ll turn 10 this year and it’s a big year since I’ll hit the double digits! But that’s besides the point. My name is Randie Rogers. (Yes, I know you usually give your name first, but I’m excited about turning 10!) I’m an average boy in elementary school. My hobbies are writing in my journal and kick ball. I never thought writing in my journal would be interesting, but our English teacher said it would be good practice so she made us do it. (Who knew I would like writing down my thoughts.) As for kick ball, I consider myself the ace of the team. I mean, I can’t kick it very far, but I can aim it pretty well. As for why today is special, well today is when I discovered “Go.”
Let’s start from the beginning. At lunch my friend suggested I check out the Go club. At the time I thought it was an after school club that went places, but he corrected me and told me it was a club to play a board game called Go. It sounded pretty stupid at first, but this particular friend happens to be my next door neighbor and has been my friend for a long time now. I consider him the second best of the kick ball team. If it was anyone else who asked, I probably wouldn’t have gone. But since it was him, I decided to go take a look.
Oh, I should mention that his name is Tommy. I don’t know his last name because I don’t really care. He is also 9 years old. (I introduced his name first this time…happy?) Our parents are considering having a join Birthday party for the two of us this summer. Though I’m technically a month older than he is, they want us to turn 10 together. Anyway, his hobbies are kick ball, and apparently playing this Go game.
My class had just ended so I was heading to the computer lab where the club meets. Upon entering I was greeted by an older guy who looks like he is in his twenties. He was professionally dressed so I guess he worked there.
“Hello there.” He said. “Are you here for the Go class?”
I nodded to him and looked around to find Tommy. It was then that Tommy saw me.
“Randie!” He shouted as he ran over to me. “Mr. Tom, this is my friend Randie I told you about.”
Apparently they had talked about me in the past. According to Tommy, he originally invited me because his teacher said it was better to have a friend to learn and play with rather that just learn by yourself.
“I see. So your name is Randie? I am Mr. Tom, the Go instructor. It’s nice to meet you.” He said while sticking out his hand. I found it strange that an adult wanted to shake hands with me, but I shook his hand anyway and felt a little older. (I’m feeling that ten age already!) “Do you happen to know how to play?”
I shook my head no. This morning I didn’t even know what Go was. But after taking a look around I saw a couple kids playing a game on the computer. It looked like a grid board with black and white dots all over it.
“This is his first time playing Go.” Said Tommy eagerly.
“Hey…” I said, “I thought it was a board game. Why are those kids playing on a computer?”
“Ah,” replied My. Tom. “That is because you gain play stronger opponents online. While the game is originally played on a board face to face, to level up, many kids practice on an online Go server.”
Tommy nodded alongside the teacher. Apparently he knew this already and it was nothing knew to him. Well, if you can play it on the computer, maybe this game isn’t so bad after all. I like to play video games at home, but my parents won’t let me until after my homework is done. If I can just come here and play games, then I can just push homework until later. The club sounded better by the minute.
“Do you mind if I use a board to teach hime how to play?” Asked Tommy.
“Certainly,” replied Mr. Tom. “That is perfectly fine. After all, learning from a friend is much more fun than learning from an adult right?” He said half jokingly. Though I couldn’t argue. Adults can be intimidating at times.
“Great!” Shouted Tommy, “Randie, over here.” He said as he guided me to a desk with a small sized board on it. The board seem to be a 9x9 grid. As I glanced over at the kids on the computers I noticed that they were playing on a bigger grid.
“Why is this board smaller than theirs?” I asked while pointing at the other kids.
“That’s because it is easier to learn on a smaller board and work your way up to the big board.” Replied Tommy. “Right now I’m only 27kyu so I don’t think I’m ready for that size board yet. That’s why I am still on a 13x13.”
“Huh?” Was all I could muster to say. I didn’t understand a thing he just said.
“Ah, let me explain.” He said. “Kyu is a level that reflects your strength. 30kyu is the lowest and is someone who only knows the rules of the game. Then it goes up to 1kyu. After that is 1dan, which is like a black belt in Karate.” I only nodded since I was barley keeping up with him. “The maximum amateur rank is 9dan. Then you have to take a test to become a pro.” He then point to the teacher who is helping other kids. “Our teacher is currently 7dan, so he is really strong. No one in the whole class has beaten him yet. Even with the maximum handicap.”
“Not a single person?!” I replied shocked. Tommy merely nodded and then continued.
“The official board size is 19x19. But Mr. Tom said it was too big for beginner’s as they tend to get overwhelmed. So normally, you start on a 9x9 and then move up to a 13x13. After that when you feel ready, you can play on the 19x19. Though I tried it once and it was very confusing.” He said that last bit with a bit of a sad expression. I’m guessing he really wants to play on the big board but just lacks the confidence or skill to do so.
“Okay, well I don’t really care much about all that right now. Since I’m hear, can you just teach me the rules so we can play? Is it difficult?” I asked impatiently.
“Actually,” he said. “The rules are really easy. But since you have so many option it is a bit confusing.” I didn’t really get what he meant so I just waited for him to explain the rules. I just wanted to play, not hear a lecture. “So to start off, both players will get one set of stones. One player will play black, and the other plays white. Since I’m the stronger player right now, I will take white and let you have black. Black always goes first and has a little advantage.” I take the black stones from him and I was expecting rocks, but they are plastic little pieces that remind me of Mentos candy. Though I guess it would be bad to try and eat them. I’m sure they taste horrible.
I started to think to myself how funny it would be if I won on the very first game. He said black has an advantage, so it’s possible. But maybe I would feel bad if that happened. (Or maybe not.) I had no idea how wrong I was thinking that I actually had a chance…
“So the stones are played on the intersections of the grid. You can place your stone on any intersection including the borders and the corners. But it is not recommended.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because each stone you place on the board has “Liberties.” Liberties are like your life lines. The lines connected to your stones are called liberties. If your stone has zero liberties, then it is considered a dead stone and taken off the board.”
“Oh I see!” I said, “So if I placed it on the edge I would have less liberties since there are no lined outside the border. Even less so in the corner.”
“Exactly!” He exclaimed. I think he was happy that I was catching on since earlier it seemed like he really wanted me to like Go. “So if I place a stone in the center here, how many liberties does it have?” He asked while placing a stone on the center of the board.
“1..2..3…4. Four!” I said.
“Correct! Now if I connect a stone to it, the stones share their liberties. But stones are only connected through the lines. So if stones are diagonal from each other, they don’t share liberties. So if I have two stones connected in a row like this…” He said as he set up two stones next to each other. “How many liberties do they have?”
I debated for a few seconds and then said “Six!”
“Correct!” He said again. “You’re picking this up pretty fast.” I smiled getting excited that this was coming easy to me. The game looked boring and confusing at first, but maybe it wasn’t so bad. “So now that you know about liberties, let’s try playing a game of ‘Capture Go.’”
“Capture Go?” I asked.
“Basically in Capture Go, the first player to capture a stone or multiple stones wins. This uses half the rules in the real Go game.”
“Only half? So You’re saying I learned half the rules already?” I said to him dubiously.
“Yup.” Was all he replied. If this is half the rules, then this game is surprisingly simple. I bet I’ll catch up to him in no time at this rate. After that he explained to me some simple courtesies about the game. Apparently, it is respectful to wish your opponent a good game at the start and to thank your opponent for the game afterwords, even if you win or lose. He also said the teacher will get upset if we don’t clean up our mess when we finished, so we had to make sure not to forget.
Then we started to play. I had black and since black always goes first, I had the first move. Since this game was to capture your opponent and not get captured yourself, then just placing it anywhere other than the sides or corners should be fine. So I place my first stone in the center. After that, it was his turn to move and place a stone. It went on like this until someone captures someone. I was a little worried that if neither player got captured, then we would go on forever. But Tommy reassured me that it would not last forever because we eventually ran out of moves. So I simply took his word for it.
After seeing my move, Tommy picked up his first stone and placed it right next to mine, filling a liberty. Thus our battle on the board started. I picked up my next stone and place it right next to his. Now I had two stones filling his liberties which left him with only two left. Both of my stones had three. I had only played two moves but I was already at an advantage…or so I’d thought.
His next move came down in a unexpected place. I had expected him to extend his stone to gain liberties, but instead he played a diagonal move from his which was also in-between mine. Now he has two stones down to two liberties and they were not connected. He had just told me that stones do not share liberties unless they connect through the lines, but here he was playing a diagonal move. No wonder he wasn’t on the 19x19 board yet, he was killing himself!
I wasn’t about to let up there though just because he was playing a mistake. I was in this to win. Therefore my next move was to take another of his liberties. Afterwords, I was informed this situation was an “Atari.” To put someone into atari means to reduce them down to one liberty. So now one of his white stones was in atari and about to be captured. I was only one step away from winning if he didn’t see it. Thankfully for him though, he did and he extended out by placing a stone next to his. Now his stone had three liberties, so it became more difficult to attack. So I turned my attention to the other stone that one had two liberties and repeated the same sequence. I put him into atari and then he extended. Now both of his two groups of stones had three liberties. It was no matter to me though. I simply placed another stone to take a liberty of one of his two groups.
It was here that I saw a smile cross his face. He then picked up a stone and put my first stone that I placed into atari while extending his own group to gain liberties. I had forgotten about that stone and now it only had one liberty left. Thankfully I noticed it then so I extending to gain another liberty. But I was right next to his second group so I still only had two liberties instead of having three if he didn’t have stones there. He then placed a stone around mine again and reduced it down to one. So with no other move, I extended again. But he repeated the process, reducing down to one on the other side. I was confused as to what he was doing since I could still escape. So I extended again in the other direction. But the smile never left his face…
Once again he placed a stone from the first side, putting me once again into atari. It was then I started to notice a pattern. My group was starting to form a step ladder like shape. I was in atari so once again I had no choice but to extend. If I lost these stones then I would lose the game. I had no choice but to extend. But once I did, he would repeat the process and place on the other side I was running. It was a never ending pattern. I ran one direction, he blocked. I ran the other, he blocked the other. I had no way out. I just kept extending and extending and then finally I was forced to the edge of the board.
After I placed my stone on the edge, trying to escape his grasp and gain another liberty, I noticed that even after I had extended, I only had one liberty. I was still in atari with no where left to run. He pushed me all the way from the center of the board to the edge with every single move he played. I couldn’t believe how he’d done that. I tried to think back, but there was no way out. Every move I was about to be captured. Every move was about to be game over. How could I have escaped?!
It was then that he placed his stone down, capturing all of mine that had now become a large connected line of stones. Picking them up with a smile on his face he declared “Looks like I win.” He then bowed his head slightly and thanked me for the game while I just stared at him with a dumbfounded look on my face.
“What just happened?!” I thought to myself. This had concluded my first game of this mysterious game Go.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
To Give Or Not To Give A Life For Go
To Give or Not to Give is a title I thought up since that is basically what this post is about. I am at a dilemma in my life. For years I have played Go and found great joy in it. It was my dream for a while now to become a Professional Go Instructor. Even if I never gained the skill to play at Professional level, or ever get that P next to my name instead of a D for amateur Dan, I really wanted to find a way to make a living teaching Go. I knew how unlikely it was going in, I knew that it was nearly impossible for a westerner to ever make a living playing or teaching Go. The fact that it was a dream I wanted so desperately to turn into reality is what kept me going.
Now as it turns out, just maybe there is a chance for that dream to become reality. Many people know that I have a youtube channel with over 2k subscribers and 285,000+ views at youtube.com/clossius. I have loved hearing over the years that my videos were how some people learned how to play Go. Recently I also started to get into Twitch streaming. Although starting off slow, it is slowly building to where I have 100+ subscribers, and I average 15-20 live viewers per session. Lastly, with the Patreon website, I have started to earn a little income. But this isn't enough for me to survive...I have now come to a life decision making point. On the one hand I pursue computer science fully, give up on teaching Go as anything more than a hobby I barely have time for and get a normal job in society and start planning for a future family that I may get, get a house, and save for retirement. The average person's expected life. Or I can invest my entire life to go to Myongji University in South Korea on a fully payed scholarship for Baduk Studies, graduate, and dedicate my entire life to spreading and teaching Go over the internet, conventions, schools, and wherever else I can get.
Financially speaking, the computer Science is far more sound, I'm not bad at it, but it won't be my dream job of course. The expected pay out is starting 20k Salary up to 60k in a couple decades with possible 100k salary end plans. With a Bachelor's degree in Baduk studies, I will plan to teach online mostly, and teach English in Asia during the school season's on a 30k+ starting salary, and work my way up to a 50k Salary. Above that will be difficult to achieve, but with the help of the Go community, and a tight budget, I plan to use what I make to travel as many places as possible to teach Go whenever and wherever I can. I would be living my dream, but also walking a tight rope. Both are realistic results, and both are possibilities that will determine how I live the rest of my life. But I only get one life right??
I will be completely honest, this decision is scaring me so much, it is terrifying since I don't want to mess it up or regret it later. I honestly do want to pursue my dreams and work my hardest at it, but will I end up in a position where I can't even afford a decent living and become unable to care for myself, much less a future family? Or do I take the more secure rout and always wonder, what if I had followed my dreams? This is likely one of the scariest choices I'll ever have to make...but this is my life right? Why can I not devote myself to pursuing the thing I want to do so bad in life that I'm willing to risk my entire future on it? Why can I not find a way to live in this society while also living a dream I've had for nearly a decade?
That is how I have come to the conclusion that I did. I'm an adult, and I have bills. I owe car payments, school loans, and credit card bills. Not to mention I owe many others for the help they have given me to go to Korea before. I refuse not to pay off what I owe. I'm not a person who takes and doesn't return what he owes. But I want to pursue my dream. I want to so bad I can't stand it. So I am going to dedicate the next half year to raise my donations and Patreon account to $1,000 a month. That is a bare minimum required to pay my debt and keep the absolute minimum living expenses. If I reach my goal, I plan to attend Myongji University and dedicate the rest of my life to teaching English for minimum income and travel expenses, and travel teaching Go as far and as wide as I can for as long as I can.
If I cannot even make the bare minimum goal, I plan to face reality and focus on computer science and plan for retirement 40 or 50 years from now, and save up to get a house. I will likely teach Go, but it will become nothing more than a hobby in my free time when I am not programming.
I will admit, this is an extremely difficult goal to reach for any Go player. But there are thousands upon thousand of Go players around the world. There are over 15,000 English speaking Go players. If even half of those donated $1 a month to help support me become an amateur Go player but Professional Go instructor, I would make $7.5k a month. That is $90,000 a year, one of the best salaries an average person can ask for. If %50 of all Go players donated $10 a month, I would make nearly a million dollars a year. Of course this is nothing but a optimistic dream, but dream become reality only through hard work, firm conviction, and unwavering faith.
Thus, I am aiming to gain to support from less than %10 of the entire English speaking community, this is but a very small percent of the entire Go population in the world. If I can reach my goal, I will live what life I have to and work to get the rest I need in order to live a life dedicated to teaching Go.
If you would like to support my choice to try and pursue this life style, then visit https://www.patreon.com/clossius and donate whatever you think I'm worth, and then spread this article as far as possible and re-share it later. If you think I am out of my mind, that is completely fine too. Don't donate, and if I don't reach my goal, I will pursue a normal life in society and live the way I am expected for my future. I truly don't know what the right choice is, but I cannot give up my life's dream without first at least trying.
Thanks to everyone who has supported my so far, and to all those who support me in the future. I am truly blessed to have found Go, and this is my first step to dedicating the rest of my life to living it.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/shawn.ray.7777
http://www.youtube.com/Clossius
https://www.patreon.com/clossius
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ShawnRay/posts
Now as it turns out, just maybe there is a chance for that dream to become reality. Many people know that I have a youtube channel with over 2k subscribers and 285,000+ views at youtube.com/clossius. I have loved hearing over the years that my videos were how some people learned how to play Go. Recently I also started to get into Twitch streaming. Although starting off slow, it is slowly building to where I have 100+ subscribers, and I average 15-20 live viewers per session. Lastly, with the Patreon website, I have started to earn a little income. But this isn't enough for me to survive...I have now come to a life decision making point. On the one hand I pursue computer science fully, give up on teaching Go as anything more than a hobby I barely have time for and get a normal job in society and start planning for a future family that I may get, get a house, and save for retirement. The average person's expected life. Or I can invest my entire life to go to Myongji University in South Korea on a fully payed scholarship for Baduk Studies, graduate, and dedicate my entire life to spreading and teaching Go over the internet, conventions, schools, and wherever else I can get.
Financially speaking, the computer Science is far more sound, I'm not bad at it, but it won't be my dream job of course. The expected pay out is starting 20k Salary up to 60k in a couple decades with possible 100k salary end plans. With a Bachelor's degree in Baduk studies, I will plan to teach online mostly, and teach English in Asia during the school season's on a 30k+ starting salary, and work my way up to a 50k Salary. Above that will be difficult to achieve, but with the help of the Go community, and a tight budget, I plan to use what I make to travel as many places as possible to teach Go whenever and wherever I can. I would be living my dream, but also walking a tight rope. Both are realistic results, and both are possibilities that will determine how I live the rest of my life. But I only get one life right??
I will be completely honest, this decision is scaring me so much, it is terrifying since I don't want to mess it up or regret it later. I honestly do want to pursue my dreams and work my hardest at it, but will I end up in a position where I can't even afford a decent living and become unable to care for myself, much less a future family? Or do I take the more secure rout and always wonder, what if I had followed my dreams? This is likely one of the scariest choices I'll ever have to make...but this is my life right? Why can I not devote myself to pursuing the thing I want to do so bad in life that I'm willing to risk my entire future on it? Why can I not find a way to live in this society while also living a dream I've had for nearly a decade?
That is how I have come to the conclusion that I did. I'm an adult, and I have bills. I owe car payments, school loans, and credit card bills. Not to mention I owe many others for the help they have given me to go to Korea before. I refuse not to pay off what I owe. I'm not a person who takes and doesn't return what he owes. But I want to pursue my dream. I want to so bad I can't stand it. So I am going to dedicate the next half year to raise my donations and Patreon account to $1,000 a month. That is a bare minimum required to pay my debt and keep the absolute minimum living expenses. If I reach my goal, I plan to attend Myongji University and dedicate the rest of my life to teaching English for minimum income and travel expenses, and travel teaching Go as far and as wide as I can for as long as I can.
If I cannot even make the bare minimum goal, I plan to face reality and focus on computer science and plan for retirement 40 or 50 years from now, and save up to get a house. I will likely teach Go, but it will become nothing more than a hobby in my free time when I am not programming.
I will admit, this is an extremely difficult goal to reach for any Go player. But there are thousands upon thousand of Go players around the world. There are over 15,000 English speaking Go players. If even half of those donated $1 a month to help support me become an amateur Go player but Professional Go instructor, I would make $7.5k a month. That is $90,000 a year, one of the best salaries an average person can ask for. If %50 of all Go players donated $10 a month, I would make nearly a million dollars a year. Of course this is nothing but a optimistic dream, but dream become reality only through hard work, firm conviction, and unwavering faith.
Thus, I am aiming to gain to support from less than %10 of the entire English speaking community, this is but a very small percent of the entire Go population in the world. If I can reach my goal, I will live what life I have to and work to get the rest I need in order to live a life dedicated to teaching Go.
If you would like to support my choice to try and pursue this life style, then visit https://www.patreon.com/clossius and donate whatever you think I'm worth, and then spread this article as far as possible and re-share it later. If you think I am out of my mind, that is completely fine too. Don't donate, and if I don't reach my goal, I will pursue a normal life in society and live the way I am expected for my future. I truly don't know what the right choice is, but I cannot give up my life's dream without first at least trying.
Thanks to everyone who has supported my so far, and to all those who support me in the future. I am truly blessed to have found Go, and this is my first step to dedicating the rest of my life to living it.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/shawn.ray.7777
http://www.youtube.com/Clossius
https://www.patreon.com/clossius
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ShawnRay/posts
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