December  Narumi OSAWA 3-dan Would you mind telling us some of your memories of the Ryokusei Igo Gakuen [Green Stars Go Academy, run by Kikuchi Yoshiro, amateur 8-dan; alumni include Yamashita Keigo)? The other day I played Pair Go for the first time and I experienced an interest different from ordinary go. I know that you play Pair Go in the professional Ricoh Cup tournament. What do you think are the interesting points of Pair Go? November  Keiko KATO Women's Saikyo I have heard that women players get stronger at go when they get married. Is this true? When I' m playing on the Net, I often get into losing streaks, so I immediately drop down 1 or 2 kyu. It' s takes a really long time to get back to my former rank. At such times, I really feel wretched. Do you ever suffer from a losing streak? Please tell me how one should cope mentally at such times. October  Akino IZAWA 4-dan I have been playing go for two years. I became able to play as 2-dan after a year by studying joseki, fuseki, life and death etc., but I' ve made virtually no progress since. My father plays as a 5-dan, and I' d like to be able to play my aged father on even while he is still healthy. What can I do to get over this barrier? Can you give me any advice? I can't remember many josekis. This is a real problem for me. Do you think that it's better to focus on mastering a few josekis rather than studying a large number in a shallow way? September  Kaori CHINEN 4-dan I am 3-kyu and I enjoy playing on Pandanet. I would like to improve to 1-dan in time for a tournament which will be held in six months' time. What would you recommend me to focus on in my study? When I review my game records after playing games, I gradually get discouraged from seeing my mistakes. Many of them come from a lack of thinking and so are obvious when I replay the game. I' m fond of go, but this makes me depressed. Can you tell me how to deal with these feelings? August  Kana MANNAMI 4-dan I have trouble handling players who set out to lay waste to a moyo immediately, regardless of their strength. I have a bad affinity with this kind of player, so I nearly always lose, even to players whose kyu rank is lower than mine. What should I do? Is there any way to overcome this problem? Do you sometimes lose concentration while playing? If so, at what times do you lose concentration? Also, is there anything you do to try to prevent this from happening? July  Izumi KOBAYASHI 6-dan how can one play at a stable level? Can you give me any hints? However, my winning percentage is not very good. Before I play a game, I always think to myself, “Today this is how I’m going to attack” or “Let’s play this kind of move.” When the game starts, however, I get pushed around by the opponent’s attack, and things don’t work out the way I planned. June  Ayumi SUZUKI Women's Saikyo I am dawdling around 7-kyu. Maybe one reason is that I am weak at contact fights. Even in games with 8- or 9-kyu opponents, if my opponent likes contact fights and so starts fighting early in the opening, I don’t do very well. I hear that in professional games the players read many moves ahead. I wonder if you could tell me just how many moves ahead professionals read. May  Tomoko KATO 5-dan I’ve managed to get back to 1-dan for a time, but then my level seems to fluctuate. I try to play an attacking game, but I can’t get up to 2-dan. I’m studying go night and day while thinking of various things, such as not attacking too much and not taking gote. Could you give me some advice on the most effective way to study go? I’ve joined PandaNet and I play as an 8-kyu. I’m starting to feel that I’d like to establish my own go style. I think it’s good to learn various things, but I wonder if there isn’t one particular topic that would really help one to improve.If you have any recommendations, please let me know. April  Kumiko YASHIRO 5-dan I always feel that players who set up large moyos are dan level. I’m bad at moyos; both at playing with them and against them. I’d be happy if this was just an illusion of mine. What do you think? Please excuse my abrupt question, but I would like to ask you what you think the essence of go is. Please also tell me about interesting positions you have encountered or games that are impressed on your memory. March  Mieko NAKAJIMA 1-dan I play go on PandaNet, but when I finally get up to 5-dan, I immediately fall back to 4-dan. I would like to believe that I have improved a little, but I don’t feel convinced. What I would like to consult you about is the problem that always perplexes amateurs: the best way to win one’s games. February  Akiko TSUKUDA 5-dan I also tend to lose my cool easily, so I sometimes panic. I’ve tried to study the basics of life and death. Do you think I can expect to improve playing like this? Have your ordinary life and your relationship with go changed on becoming a mother? January  Kaori AOBA 4-dan Do you do anything besides actually studying go to get stronger? Please give me some hints about how to study go. I’m about 1-kyu, and every day I play through the game records published in the newspapers. However, I don’t get any stronger. Does playing through games have no effect on one’s strength? > backnumber 2013 > backnumber 2012 > backnumber 2011 > backnumber 2010 > backnumber 2009 > backnumber 2008 > backnumber 2007 > backnumber 2006 > backnumber 2005