My Own Spaced Repetition Problems on AI-Senei

I have come to recognize the value of Spaced Repetition Problems. They are used on the web site for Guo Juan’s Internet Go School. The problems help me to remember what I learn there, especially joseki, and the new AI variations that I have found difficult to digest.

Not long ago AI-Sensei added the ability to create Spaced Repetition Problems using your own games. At first the problems were based only on the moves that Ai-Sensei suggested. Recently though, the ability to create your own problems was added. You use the Trial Board to set up a correct answer to a problem in your game. You then create a problem from that position. I do not know if the free version of the web site supports the creation of problems. I subscribe to the Basic level of the service.

Last week I played an AYD game with a comment from In-Seong that I wanted seared into my memory. It seemed like the right time to give the Spaced Repetition Problems feature on AI-Sensei a try.

I found the process to be very intuitive. I navigated to the place in the game record where the correct answer would have been an alternative next move to my incorrect response. I clicked on the Trial Board. I played the alternative move. Then I clicked on “Add Problem” and my problem was created. It was as simple as that.

It was so simple that I decided to watch the entire video review of my game so I could create some more problems for it. I made all but one of the problems viewed from my side of the game. I could have made more problems from White’s perspective. That might actually help me view games from the perspective of my opponent, which is something I have difficulty doing.

After creating a number of problems for my game with Rhett23 I started a review session. There were a few additional problems in the review session from a time when I was playing around with creating problems based on the suggestions of AI-Sensei.

Below are all of the problems from my game with Rhett23.

Above is the suggested move that gave me the idea to create my own problems. In-Seong was quite surprised that I had not considered the cut at L4. It is my “special problem” not to see obvious moves like this. I am working on getting better about this.

Above is a recommendation to create the Dog Face position. In-Seong also suggested adding a move at o8 afterwards for additional good shape. 

Above In-Seong expected me to help my side group with g10 rather than playing at k13. I like how the problem shows the actual move in red.

Above it was suggested that e9 would have offered better help to my group than the move I chose at 75. The bad move opened my group up to attack from White. I made a problem for White using the suggested attack.

White should attack at d10 rather than playing f6.

Last, there was a suggestion that s8 is the way to continue rather than playing at  t7.

I could have added more problems for White, and may go back to do so at some point in the future.

It is my plan to revisit my review videos from my earlier games in Yunguseng Dojang, and to create a few problems for each one. I have quite a few games in AYD alone. In EYD I have 15 additional games. 

Each dot in the graph above represents an AYD game with an accompanying video review. If I can create five problems from each review that will be a lot of problems. Adding in the EYD games I have 89 videos to review. That is potentially 445 problems I can create. I can also go over my lessons with Clossius looking for problems in the games we have reviewed.

If I really want to go crazy I have 14 years of lessons with Yilun Yang with lots of potential for problem creation.

Those interested in the Yunguseng Dojang should get on the waiting list for the next season. You can choose between the American Dojang and the European Dojang. The main difference is the time of day the games and reviews take place, though I think it is fair to say that the Europeans are stronger.  

We are currently in the second week of the third cycle of Season 29. Season 30 will be starting at the beginning of April. Come and join us. I am especially keen on seeing more 12k to 8k members join in the fun. My only complaint about YD is that the ratings spread in the lowest league is too large. We can fix that with more members in the lower ranks.

If you are 12k, then you are not too weak to benefit from joining YD and learning with us.

My Week of Go Activities

 

There is a new Go Machine in the house.

I finally pulled the trigger on updating my laptop. I replaced a seven year old MacBook Pro with a brand new MacBook Pro with an M1 chip. I maxed it out in every way but storage. I stopped at 1T. 2T seemed excessive to me. I am thinking that I may try setting up access to the Fox go server on my Mac, and perhaps Tygem as well.

I spent nearly 33 hours on Go Activities this week. Live Play again came in at first place even without the addition of time spent on Tygem, where I played two games. I played ten games this week.

My win/loss ratio is 6:4

I’m happy with the amount of time spent on Essential Go Activities. I am also happy with 33 hours as a moderate amount of time to spend on go study. When I top 40 hours I feel like I have no life. I like that the  Essential Go Activities percentages are nearly 50%, 25%, and 25%. That just feels right to me.

I am streamlining my Go Activities post now because my spreadsheet seems to be functioning as a good launchpad for game review in my lessons with Clossius. I am also not convinced that anyone is actually clicking through the games I am linking in the post.  I will continue to make mid week blog posts about interesting games and other topics. If you are reading I thank you.

Failure to Kill: I Need a Go Psychologist

For years now it has been the consensus that I need to play more aggressively and see my opponent’s weaknesses. In-Seong and Shawn Ray both agree on this point. Yilun Yang once referred to my inability to see an obvious attacking move (that everyone else would be able to see) as my “special weakness”.

I am beginning to make progress on this issue, In a recent game, however, I failed to clinch the deal on what should have been a beautiful kill.

I had a Free League game with a YD friend this week. Earlier in the day I had a lesson with Clossius. I had been advised by him, that I should not be showing losses by large numbers in my games list. If I am obviously losing I should make a last ditch effort to turn the game around. If that fails I should resign. 

During my Free League game I kept this in mind. I attempted to be more aggressive, and I tried to kill white’s group at the top of the board. I reduced from the outside along the top edge. Then I considered a placement at g17 on move 153. I did not see the full continuation, but I believe now that once white made his next move the continuation would have become obvious. I should have trusted my instincts. Instead I played elsewhere.

Neither player realized that the group needed to be killed, or saved on the next move, depending on our own perspective.

I knew I was behind. I counted about 50 points for myself. I counted 50 points for my opponent with many more points to be counted plus komi. So I resigned.

But I forgot to make the last ditch effort. Here is the final board position.

It turns out that Score Estimator, which is notoriously wrong much of the time, thought that white’s group along the top of the board was dead.

My opponent and I do not put much stock in Score Estimator, but we decided to briefly look at it. I remembered my desire to play g17, and it became painfully clear that it worked regardless of what white might to do to counter it. A throw in at g16 will eventually take place.

Edit: The diagram above is the correct continuation after the block below the placement. I had mistakenly posted a diagram that could have resulted in seki. This was pointed out to me, and I have made the correction.

Up to this point I had reached my conclusions without the help of AI.

There was a point during our review after the game where I believe an alternative move for white was considered at h19 rather than h18, but that does not appear to work either.

The vital point shifts upwards one line.

Later I took a look at the game in AI-Sensei. Setting the app to look at only mistakes in excess of 20 points, a hilarious graph emerged.

I decided to navigate to the point just before the kill became inevitable, if I were to have actually played at g17. I can’t remember if my opponent and I had considered the move at A during our review or not, but we did later discuss it on Discord.

White was taunted with his fatal mistake. White should have played at A.

Black was then immediately taunted with her fatal mistake. She should have killed with A.

My first thought after this game was shame at failing to follow through with a kill I was obviously attempting to make. I should have seen it. I obsessed over it that night.  I replayed what should have happened again and again. I dreamed about it.  

Then I woke up determined to see the good in this situation. It is a beautiful problem actually. It requires three separate sacrifices on the part of black:

1. The placement g17
2. The addition of another stone at g16
3. The throw in at g16

I managed to see all of that without the help of AI. The fact that I could see it is something to be happy about.

My opponent and I looked at the game afterward rather than rushing off to look at it with AI. We even discussed it further on Discord a day or two later. That is something to be happy about.

I feel that I will be more likely to be able to identify a problem like this in the future. That is also something to be happy about.

I feel as if I am on the way to becoming stronger. I am definitely having more fun.

My glass is half full.

My Week of Go Activities

 

I spent about 35 hours on go activities this week. YD Game Reviews came in at the number one spot at a little over six hours. I’m trying to catch up on unwatched reviews. Combined Live Play came in just five minutes short of that in second place. Clossius Go Lessons came in third at over five hours. I spent considerable time reviewing two of my lessons this week and taking notes. Watching Others Play is also up this week at over four hours. YD players cheer each other on in our games. I’ve been watching C group games on Thursdays because a few of my friends are now in the C League.

Saturday’s Activities

Clossius and I had discussed doing the Connection Problems on 101weiqi during our last lesson. He asked me how long it takes me to go all the way through the set.  I had never thought about that because I never go all the way through a set in one sitting. I estimated 15 seconds per problem. I decided to start the Connection Problems fresh on Saturday to satisfy my curiosity on this point. It took me approximately one hour and three minutes to complete the set. I did this in five sessions throughout the day. It turns out that my estimate of 15 second per problem was correct within a couple of decimal places. Time includes the load time for problems as well as the reload time for missed problems which I attempt again. I’m still missing a few of them.

Games List:

Games List Closely Cropped

4    5    6    8    9

Above is a screen capture of my games list spreadsheet. It is a little hard to read. If you click on it you will be able to see it better because it will open up larger. The row of numbers is composed of live links to games available for review.

Gray rows are unavailable for review either because they are AYD games (two this week), or because they were played on Tygem, and an sgf file is unavailable to me.

I have to admit that I was a little afraid to play this week. I had a lot to process from my lesson, and I was starting to worry about appearances. It was a great lesson. He was appropriately tough on me. I am being called on my lack of reading, and lack of attacking. It is just a lot to process.  The Tygem games were fun and interesting, but it bothers me that I am unable to offer them for review during my lesson, yet they are sitting there as losses effecting my win/loss ratio. I may still play on Tygem and count the time, but not factor the wins and losses into my ratio. It is good game experience to play on Tygem. I think I would like to warm up with a Tygem game each day.

Once I finally started to play again I managed to get four wins under my belt. Unfortunately, out of five games available for review, only one of them is a loss. It happens to be a handicap game, and I really don’t think that there is much to gain from looking at it.

Even though Clossius will not want to review my latest AYD game, I might ask him to click through it to get a feel for how it went. Then perhaps something can be gained from looking at the Free League Game with the same player two days later, which I won. There were many mistakes in that game. I missed an end game tesuji. It is one I have used. I know it, but I played reflexively. 

I missed the right next move. I played reflexively. I should not have missed this.

But that is nothing compared to my failure to mark dead stones in an auto match game on KGS which I lost by 1.5, but should have won by 5.5. My opponent did not answer me when I asked him if he had noticed. Single stones snuggled in very tight areas are easy to overlook.

Woops

I Am Stuck in D3: I Need a Go Psychologist

 

I am a member of AYD, the American Yunguseng Dojang. The lowest league in AYD currently is D3. All tables have been cropped to remove the real names of the participants. The names you see above are KGS user names. Mine is buzzsaw. 

My initial placement in the final cycle of the season is third place because two members were demoted from D2. As a result they are placed above me. One’s placement in the 2nd and 3rd cycle of a season is based on wins and losses rather than on one’s rating. Even though I am the highest rated player in the league I am in third place on the table. This is fair to the players coming down from D2. Initial placement carries with it a tie breaking advantage, or disadvantage, which does not apply to the third cycle because no one moves up or down after the third cycle. 

Each AYD season is composed of three cycles (months). At the start of the current season I was in D2 based on my rating. At the beginning of each new season one’s placement is determined by rank alone, not by how well one has performed in the previous cycle. Usually some new players join AYD at the beginning of a new season. They will be interspersed into the leagues based on their reported starting ranks.  

Wins and losses in a third cycle will not effect initial placement in the first cycle of a new season except insofar as the wins and losses result in ratings adjustments. Ratings will be used to determine placement in the new season. Sometimes In-seong will give a ratings adjustment based on fast improvement, so that sometimes effects placement at the beginning of a season.

The table above represents my placement at the end of the first cycle of the current season. My rating alone had managed to land me in the D2 group. My performance had me slated to drop to the top position in D3 for the 2nd cycle.

The table above represents my placement at the end of the second cycle of the season. I had high hopes of being promoted along with Drewch for the 3rd cycle. I was initially placed at the top location on the chart which means that I would have won any tie break. I started the cycle with three wins against the bottom three players in the league. I had two more games to play, but I really only needed one more win to go up. Even if another player had five wins I would still go up with four in second place. If there were three players will four wins I would have won both tie breaks, and the player with the lowest initial placement would have been left behind.

I knew that the system was set up for the player with the highest initial placement to face her toughest competition in reverse order. My first games would be the easiest. The last two games would be the toughest. Having gone 3-0 in the first three games was no guarantee of promotion at the end of the cycle. I needed that fourth win, or I needed a three way tie.

Though I had beaten Drewch twice before, I regarded him as my stiffest competition. Based on observing the games of Meithras, I did not discount him as an opponent either. His KGS rating is 11k, but I think it was 15k a month previous. I, therefore, put no stock in his KGS rating.

It turns out that I lost my game with Meithras by 3.5.

Buzzsaw-Meithras

Losing to Meithras put me in a position where it would have been necessary to beat Drewch in order to advance, and he would have gone up with me. It would have been a tall order to beat Drewch, but I was ready to try.

I tried really hard in my game with Drewch, but victory was not to be mine. I lost that game by resignation.  Yes. I can read four moves ahead. I resigned.

Drewch-buzzsaw

Drewch was really nice and spent a good deal of time reviewing the game with me after it was over. He is a good go friend. It is a shame we could not have traveled back up together to D2 for the final cycle of this season.

I was feeling pretty depressed about my failure to promote. I realize that my disappointment is quite selfish given the fact that I have promoted a few times, whereas some of my fellow YD players, and friends, have not had that experience yet. I am sorry to be thinking of myself, and I do appreciate their disappointment too. 

By the way, the way that the ratings points are adjusted can really work against the more highly rated player in a league, especially when there is a large difference in the ratings of the players. My wins in the past month did very little to move my rating up, but my losses were devastating. You can see that in the table below. Three wins netted me 18 positive points, whereas two losses netted me 20 negative points. 

We actually need more players in the AYD leagues between 700 and 500 to solve this problem. There is more than 300 points separating the weakest and strongest D3 players in the upcoming cycle. There should be no more than a 100 point spread in a league. Maybe 150 in the bottom league out of necessity, but 300 is too much. Refer to the first table in the post for reference.

I’m starting to feel self conscious about my 6k rating on KGS. If I am playing true to rank, I should be a formidable opponent, yet I lose League games to 8k players, and even to 11k players. What is up with that? I was thinking that maybe I should go NR with buzzsaw to lessen my embarrassment. Then the solution came to me. Take buzzsaw down.

I decided Saturday morning to play a rated auto match game on KGS and perhaps put buzzsaw in her place on the way down to 7k, and then perhaps even to 8k where she may actually belong. It was not to be. I won a match with a 6k by 0.5 points. Funny. I actually laughed about it.

That same Saturday evening, two days after our fateful League Game, Drewch and I played a Free League Game with very different results. It was going to be a small win for me in the neighborhood of  7.5 points, which would have been nice enough. However, this time I was the one rewarded with a resignation. I read a cut.

Drewch-buzzsaw

I managed to find a Trouble Master problem in the upper left. I thought that it was going to be seen by white because I had to fill two dame at d18 and d17 in order to pull it off. Why would I fill dame in a Japanese game unless I was trying something? (This, by the way, is why I prefer AGA rules.) By the time I had cut at c13 white needed to atari at d13 to prevent a HUGE loss, and accept a smaller one. The three stones along the edge would have been lost. There were actually two other opportunities that I missed in this game in the lower right quadrant. I won’t go into detail. I actually should have lost this game, and would have, if white had completed his attack on my s7 stones successfully. All can be seen in the sgf file if anyone is interested. 

So why do I need a go psychologist? It comes down to tournament anxiety. I know that League Games are not tournament games, but they carry with them all of the same pressure. More Free League Games with YD Opponents might help me to overcome this. 

I really enjoyed taking my time with this free league game. An hour and a half was spent on the game. My opponent was in byo yomi for quite a while, and I was getting close. I think I had a little over three minutes left on my clock at the end of the game. I was glad to have enough time to find and execute the Trouble Master Problem. Perhaps my opponent did not have enough time to adequately evaluate it in byo yomi.

Speaking of the Free League, I am in 2nd place. Those losses really add up :-). 

I still have fighting spirit.

My Week of Go Activities

 

I have sliced and diced my categories to the extent that the resulting pie chart has come to resemble a Baduk Beach Ball.

I put in over 40 hours on go activities this week. Live Play on Western Go Servers came in at over 6 hours. It is the number one activity again. I played 13 games this week, not all of them on Western Go Severs. There was a handful of small board games that contributed to the recorded time, but they do not appear in the Games List.

Clossius suggested during my last lesson that I play some games on Tygem because there are crazy fighters there. I have created a new category of Live Play devoted to time spent on Tygem. Adding my  two Live Play categories together Live Play comes to over eight hours.

I created the new category because play on Tygem has been a very mixed bag, and I wanted to separate it out to keep an eye on how much time I am spending there. 

I discovered that I had created an account back in 2011 with the user name buzzsaw. I am nothing if not consistent. I registered as an 18 kyu at that time, and played three games spread out over 2011 and 2012. The rating seems low, but I think it may be right for the server.

I played a 9x9 there against an opponent who had clearly lost. He then held me prisoner while he played nearly every legal move left on the board. He finally ran out of time when there were four legal moves left, and he could not find one of them in time. I am black.

I played a 19x19 game against a player who repeatedly asked to score the game while the edges of territories remained unresolved. He passed quite a few times. He did not seem to know how to end the game.

I played a 19x19 game against a player that trounced me. I an white.

I notice players at 18k on Tygem with over a hundred wins and no losses. Could they be premium subscribers using AI? 

I’ve been getting my money’s worth out of my lessons with Clossius as you can see from the highlighted beach ball slice above. I spend a significant amount of time reviewing my lessons later in the week and taking notes. At some point I may do a post with specifics about how I am using Evernote to enhance my go study.

Essential Go Activities:     

14:55 (hours : minutes)

About 1/3 of total time spent.

8:09        53%       Live Play

3:27        24%       Tsumego

3:19        23%       Game Review

Something new this week is a spreadsheet that I developed in Google Sheets to serve as a launch pad for game review during my lessons with Clossius. During our last lesson he asked if I could color code the wins and losses. I think I did a pretty good job of it. Below is a screen capture.

I know it is hard to see, so here is a crop of the list of games.

Numbers below are live links to games on OGS

1     2     3     4     5     6     7     12

Gray rows are unavailable for review because they have already been reviewed, or because they are Tygem games. I have not yet figured out how to harvest the sgf files from Tygem games to upload them to OGS.

Reds are losses. Greens are wins. Darker colors are larger margins. Lighter colors are smaller margins.

I’m going to try to figure out a way to share my spreadsheet with Clossius so he can use it as a launch pad. In the mean time I have provided links via the row of numbers. This way the blog can still function as a launch pad during lessons. Plus anyone who is reading this blog can still view most of my games if they are interested.

I Hate Handicap Go: I Need a Go Psychologist

 

A psychologist go playing friend of mine enjoyed my recent post titled Change Is Hard: I Need a Go Psychologist. He said that it is his favorite blog post of mine so far because it is so vulnerable and “so me”.

I’ve decided to continue to show my soft underbelly for the amusement of my go psychologist friend. I am continuing a series I will call  “I Need a Go Psychologist”. Why not lay myself bare? My go life has been an open book so far.  

I will take time away from actual go study today to share my feelings about yesterday’s tournament while the wounds are still raw, and the fruits of self reflection are clear to me.

The image provided for this post is a game I played today with a YD friend. That game actually made me feel better. I was white. I’ll go into detail about the purpose of this game.

First I want to talk about the tournament. Let me begin by saying that it was the most efficiently run online tournament in which I have had the pleasure to play. It was the South Central Go Tournament. Bart Jacob deserves kudos for everything involved with the tournament. He vetted ranks to the best of his ability. He provided a live document with all the information we needed to participate in the tournament. He had us muted by default on Zoom during tournament play, which cut down considerably on disturbances. He provided breakout rooms for players who wanted to review games later. He offered a tip on how to include your KGS handle as part of your Zoom name to help identify your opponents in case you wanted to pin them in Zoom to watch them during the game. It was all great, and I really enjoyed it, except for one thing.

I ended up playing white five times out of six. That was bad enough, but in day two I had to give handicaps of 2 stones, 4 stones, and 5 stones in my games. I felt like a sacrificial lamb. This may have been unavoidable. I may have been on the edge of a ratings gap that forced the pairings program to select me to provide handicaps to those below who needed them. If that was the case, and there was no way around it, then too bad for me, and I’d need to deal with it.  There was a part of me, however, that thought it would be a good idea to avoid choosing the same person three times in a row. Perhaps the program could have found someone else for at least one of those games. I tried to keep a positive attitude through games 4 and 5. After predictably losing both of those games I considered requesting a bye for Round 6. However, I am not a quitter. So I pulled up my big girl pants again, and I decided to play that 6th round, and to do the best that I could.

I looked at those 5 handicap stones, and for one brief moment, I considered being a total dick and hitting the resign button. It was not ever really an option to do that though. I could never do that. I played the game, and struggled for as long as was reasonable to try to turn this game into something of which I could be unashamed. I had actually played out rounds 4 and 5 to their conclusions. I did resign round 6 after move 116, however.

My first thought was, “Look for the positive in this.” I gave this guy pleasure. It is a positive that I could be a source of such obvious joy for another human being.  I remembered that my goal in playing go is to make friends, so I proceeded to chat up my opponent and make a friend. I discovered that I was playing a fellow teacher. He is seven years into the profession. I am a retired teacher and 14 years into retirement. We bonded over our love of learning. We discussed our OGS accounts and ratings. I came to learn that we are actually three stones apart, which made me feel a little better about the game. I had used the same bonding approach with my four stone loss earlier in the day.

The tournament was over. I was drained, and I thought I was safe. 

However, feelings of despair started to wash over me immediately. After a few minutes of confusion I actually started to cry. I identified the reason quickly. It was because this tournament was so reminiscent of my very disturbing first tournament. That experience is at the root of my long standing tournament anxiety. I went 1-5 in my first tournament (a Go Congress) due to registering too high at the suggestion of friends, including the assessment of a professional player. After five losses I had requested a bye, and only played the final round because the TD begged me to give four stones to a player whose opponent had not shown up that morning. I won that game to earn my first AGA  rating of 19 kyu. Yesterday’s tournament brought back all of the negative feelings associated with my first tournament experience.  I even revisited the time I spent crying in the ladies room after losing round 5 to a sandbagging 8 year old who claimed to be 26 kyu.

I knew it was irrational to even care about yesterday’s results because I never play handicap go. So how could I be expected to have a chance to win the four stone or the five stone game? I might have gotten lucky with the two stone game if I was really two ranks better than my opponent, and if I played reasonably well, but the high handicap games were simply not games I could be expected to win.

It was irrational to care about going 1:5 in that tournament, and I had already identified my past experience as my trigger, so what was going on?

It took some digging to figure it out. I never really studied or played seriously before. I got to 9k enjoying pro lessons as a social event and feeling the same way about tournament play and workshops. I am now, however, investing about 40 hours in go study per week and I am expecting results. I really do not want to bother to devote any of that time to handicap go. There may be positives to playing handicap go for me, but tournament play is not one of them. For the past ten years I have played only at the Go Congress in the U. S. Open. All of my tournament games are even. At 9 kyu I never have to give handicap in a tournament. I avoid the Die Hard where I might have to give handicap. I mostly avoid the Die Hard because the time limits are about half of the 90 minutes that I get of basic time in the Open tournament. I’m training to use my time with YD games that provide 40 minutes of basic time. If I am unlikely to ever give handicap stones in the one go event in which I actually play, why study handicap at all?

One might suggest that I should embrace handicap go as a means of encouraging new players in face to face clubs. Covid aside, I doubt that I have attended a club meeting in over ten years. Even if I were to find myself in a club situation I could provide encouragement by playing handicap go poorly. That would provide even more encouragement, and would not effect my AGA rating. In fairness, these tournament games from yesterday did not count toward AGA ratings, but if I was attending a small face to face tournament in the future, then handicap games such as these would effect my AGA rating.

With only one go event on my calendar per year, even pre Covid, and with my focus on doing well in even games at that one event, I have little interest in handicap go. 

What I love about YD is that all games are even. One expects to lose to stronger players in the league, and hopes to win against weaker players. The emphasis is on doing one’s best with normal play in normal openings and benefit from review. Winning and losing are not important except for league movement. Handicap is nonexistent.

I started to think of how hard I am now studying, and the future that lies ahead. If I am phenomenally lucky I may have twenty Go Congresses to attend before I die. That is 20 tournaments in my future. If I defy all statistical odds I might have twenty five more Go Congresses to attend.

So it all comes down to how I am going to spend the last go study hours and years of my life. That reminds me that I am mortal. That fills me with regret over how I have spent my time in the past. I’ve taken lessons with a pro. When I did that I wasn’t serious about playing or about advancement. I just wanted to have fun. Now I am serious about studying and playing, and I am hopeful that a modest amount of advancement may still be possible before it is too late.

About the board position at the top of the post? That is a game of Kill All played with another YD player. We used nigiri to decide who would play black. Black places 17 handicap stones using free placement. The goal of the game is to kill all the white stones. We decided that the game would end if white made a living group. I played white. There was a ladder that did not work, but it helped me. Black resigned. We will do this again. I’ll take black next time.