Sacrificing and Studying

Reported by Chris Garlock

December 1, 2003

"To get stronger you must learn to give up your stones," Yilun Yang told students at his workshop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Yang was referring to the tendency by amateur go players to try to save every stone, regardless of actual value.

Yang unveiled a wealth of stunning new material in the 4-day workshop, impressing even veteran Yang workshop attendees who struggled to absorb the lessons in marathon 18-hour days. At one point, when a student protested "If we try something and it doesn't work, it's just a pure loss," Yang shot back "No, it's not a pure loss: you learned something."

In an interview with the E-Journal, Yang recommended that go players who want to improve focus their efforts on playing, game review and problem-solving, in that order. "Studying is no good by itself," Yang said, "You must apply the lessons. Just playing is no good either, although it's a good way to get strong. But it has no long-term future as far as understanding the game."

Yang also says that instead of recording games while playing, "It's best to record after the game. If you can do this you will be very strong. You will find that the correct moves are obvious and easy to find." Interestingly, Yang does not recommend pro game study for kyu and low-dan players, who he says "won't understand the games and will get ideas they're not able to successfully implement." Instead, he favors peer review of games to develop a better sense of your strengths and weaknesses. Tsume-go and tesuji problem solving is the key to building reading strength and Yang says a solid third of the time should be focused on this area.

One of the most active teaching professionals in America, Yang maintains a grueling 14-16-hour-a-day schedule of lessons with his 50 students, as well as regular workshops around the country.

Back to Articles