Hooray! Gogrinder on the Move.

For years I have been using the gogrinder application on my computer to study go problems and basic corner shapes. I have found it an extremely useful application, so I was thrilled to find out that gogrinder now has been released for the iphone / ipod touch.

 

It works easily and intuitively and I have enjoyed using it. It comes with two problem collections, but it is very easy to add your own problem collections via an application called ggbundler. This can be found on the iphone gogrinder web site. I timed myself and it took me less than 10 minutes to find out how to upload my own problem collections, download the application, and start using it. I now can study whatever problems I want on my ipod touch.

 

The program has less options than the computer version, but I didn't find that to be a big issue. I would like to be able to order my problems in whatever order I like (like on the computer) but I can live with the iphone order. What I like better on the iphone is that I can ask for a hint and it will show me the next move, while on the computer I have to go back to the start of the problem to do so.

 

It is sometimes hard to hit the right stone location on the iphone, even with the cool magnifying glass, but that is more an ipod issue than a gogrinder issue. It hasn't interfered with my go studies.

 

For a mere $2.99 you can take all your go problems with you in the bus, in waiting rooms, during boring meetings, anywhere and increase the size of your go muscles. I am very happy with it.

L Plus 2

I have been playing on wbaduk, and have had some interesting life and death situations. Maybe more death situations than I would like to admit but that is another story. For now want to share this L+2 group followup.

In this game I was white and had a beautiful L+2 group, totally surrounded by black, but as we all know, healthy and alive.

We were in endgame and I had played one hane to the outside and felt comfortable leaving my group for perceived bigger moves.

 

He hane-ed from the other side, which I read as not sente, since if he extended I could just atari and connect and I would still be alive.

 

I played tenuki and he extended his hane stone. I was all prepared, atari-ed, expecting him to connect. Only he didn't! I can't believe he didn't just play the move I wanted him to play! Instead he counter atari-ed at A.

 

After I took, he played kosumi and we ended up in a seki (side note: even although I didn't add black stones to the left of the group, there were a lot, so couldn't really do anything there to increase liberties on that P1 stone. )

 

Hmmm, interesting. I looked at it later and could find no way to not end in seki but instead live with points. I clearly didn't read deeply enough when I decided to ignore his initial hane, since the seki made that move a lot bigger than it was otherwise. And here I thought I knew 'everything' about L+2 groups...