Playing Correspondence Games on OGS

I am continuing with revealing what is new in my go in the past five years.

One of the things that I have added to my go routine is playing on OGS, the Online Go Server. I do not play live games there though. I have taken a liking to correspondence games. I usually have up to ten games going at a time on the server. The reason I limit myself to ten games is because I like that the games are shown as thumbnails of the board positions. Beyond ten the games they are shown as a list, which does not display well on my iPad. Edit: Based on a comment to this post, which you can read in full,  I was informed that I can adjust a setting for the number of thumbnails that will display. I have increased that number to 20.

What I like about correspondence play is that there is nearly a limitless amount of time to consider each move. This makes it more likely that I will consider alternate moves before playing. That is a habit I need to develop in my live games on KGS.

Another thing I like about correspondence play is that every time I come back to a game I have to come back to it with fresh eyes because I have been playing nine other games simultaneously. Sometimes I even have to check to see what color I am playing.

Playing correspondence games reduce the likelihood that I will be caught up in the rhythm of the fast play of my opponent. Admittedly, this has happened on occasion when my opponent and I have been on the server at the same time, and have alternated play at a relatively fast pace.

Having ten games going at once increases the likelihood that you will be able to log on during a busy period and spend an hour making moves in multiple games with players who are online also. The first time this happened to me I thought, "This is as close as I am ever going to get to playing simul games like a pro." Funny thought. I had to laugh.

Correspondence games allow you to step back from a difficult situation and gain some psychic distance, but one can just as easily become obsessed with resolving a situation and stay up too late waiting for your opponent's next move. The game above is a case in point. I am white. I have killed the surrounded black group near the bottom of the board, but not until I struggled with it during the course of the day, and way too late into the evening. Then I lost a significant amount of sleep because I could not wind down.

This morning I woke thinking first thing of this game, and the fact that winning it is not a sure thing by any means. My opponent is stronger than I,  and she is tricky too. I see a corner in the lower right that can be invaded. I see a potential cut at o13. I worry a bit over the atari at g8, and wonder if it might cause trouble. That is probably not the case though. I need to do some reading about it; reading that I would not have time to do in a live game.

Gentle readers, please to not give me any hints. I want to win this one on my own.

My name on OGS is buzzsaw. If you play there, and you want a correspondence game, please message me and tell me that you have read my blog.

My next post will be about my new group lessons.