1. Who is Kaz ? → Answer
2. Is Kaz a good Go teacher ? → Answer
3. What's his specialty as a Go teacher ? → Answer
4. What makes this website Go problems unique ? → Answer
5. I hear that you describe mistakes such as $100 mistake. Can you tell me the reason ? → Answer
6. I’m a 10 kyu. Are there problems for me ? → Answer
7. I’m a 1 dan. Should I start solving problems around the 80th problem or the 100th problem ? → Answer
8. Your ranking looks very inaccurate. Why can’t you make accurate ranking ? → Answer
9. What problems are there ? → Answer
10. How did you make problems ? Did you just copy books? Or do your problems come from pro games ? → Answer
11. Why do you use amateur mistakes ? → Answer
12. How many problems does this website provide for ? → Answer
13. 2500 problems ? ! That’s too many ! How can I find right problems for myself ? → Answer
14. I don’t like solving problems because I often get bored. Do you have anything to say to me ? → Answer
15. I like playing games. I believe that playing games is the best way to become strong. → Answer
16. Why do I have to solve so many problems ? → Answer
17. How many times should I solve the same problems? → Answer
18. Do you have pro games in your website ? I like reviewing pro games. → Answer
19. How did you collect common amateur mistakes ? → Answer
20. I want to learn the latest joseki. Do you have the latest joseki ? → Answer
21. How long does it take to make a problem ? → Answer
22. Why are you making this website? What’s your purpose ? → Answer
23. Can I copy your problems and use them somewhere else ? → Answer
24. Where is Kaz's business located ? → Answer

Additional FAQ about Kaz Website Service:.

　　　　★Kaz presents one big reason why adults have a hard time improving Go. Please click here!

　　　　★Kaz presents more advice for adults. Please click here!

　　　　★His 73 years-old Go student improved 2 stones in a half year.　This is how he did it 1
　　　　　This is how he did it 2
　　　　　(Note: His is an exceptional Go player, and I've never met such an amazing person. I don't expect
　　　　　anyone to be like him. But it may be informative to some people. I hope how he studied would be helpful.)

------------------------------------------------------------
If you're interested in becoming a member, please email me and tell me your Go ranking now.
So I (Kaz) will prepare for Go texts for you. Please don't forget to tell me your Go ranking. Please click here to email me now!
If you have any other questions, please email me now !!!
If you have many Go questions, please wait until the services begin !!!
------------------------------------------------------------

Q. 1. Who is Kaz?

Answer: I'm currently a full-time Go teacher in Japan and on KGS. I teach privately.

I was a Go apprentice (insei) and former Tokyo Go regional representative. I'm about amateur 8-dan...

At the age of 13, I decided to become a pro Go player and studied Go 5 〜7 hours everyday after
school and more than 10 hours on weekends, 365 days a year. I didn't go to high school (In Japan going to high school isn't compulsory even though most kids go.). Instead I became an insei (Go apprentice). When I became a Go apprentice, I tried to study Go at least 10 hours and sometimes 16 hours everyday, 365 days a year. Despite that, my Go became weak; I had a lot of problems with my family and my Go environments. My family was fighting all the time after my insei first year... The problem with the Go environments... I'd rather not say.

At the age of 18, I quit an inse. Then I placed second in the Tokyo tournament. In Tokyo tournaments, even an insei in A Class can't win easily.

After I gave up becoming a professional Go player, I decided to go to university in America and graduated from college in 4 years. ("College" in America is equivalent to 4-year university.)

I wrote "Get Strong at Joseki Volume 2 & Volume 3". The books say I'm not the author, but I did all the research and wrote everything alone. ("Research" means that I studied pros' new josekis. I memorized far more than 10,000 josekis way before I became an insei.)
(Note: At the top of page 28 in "Get Strong at Joseki 3", there's a "Failure" diagram. The first sentence of this diagram is correct, but the rest of the comments are not accurate. So please ignore this part. I'm sorry for the mistake.) At that time I was a good go teacher, but now I know that the things in the books are way advanced.

Now I can teach go at least 3 times better, especially kyu players.

Q. 2. Is Kaz a good Go teacher?

Answer: Please allow me to tell you about my experience. 
Once I worked at a Go school. Every week I was given a simultaneous teaching seat. At first I had very few students because nobody knew about me. But after a half year or so, I kept having about 15 students every
week and taught them simultaneously for 5 years. At maximum I taught 18 students simultaneously. During my stay at this Go school, my teaching ability had improved significantly.

Now I teach privately.

You can take a look at my blog, which shows my teaching experience and advice on how to study Go.
I also write about Go advice on facebook sometimes on my account Kazunari Furuyama.

Q. 3. What's his specialty as a Go teacher?

Answer: My specialties are:

• I know hundreds ofcommon adult mistakes (I've seen websites and books which show a few common mistakes,
  
  but not a hundred),

• I'm good at making problems to rectify one's common mistakes as well as to take advantage of those mistakes,

• I'm particularly good at teaching kyu players,

• When I teach my students, I can usually remember a game at least a week, often a month, sometimes more than
  
  a year. Because of that, I can spot a student's common mistakes easily,
  

• I can also remember my lectures at least a week, often a month, sometimes more than a year. Because of that,
  
  I can review my lessons in my head easily. ( When I was an insei, I often studied Go on a train in my head, so this
  
  is not at all hard to do.)
  

• I'm good at making various probems to help my students learn one topic. Because there are many problems,
  
  it is less likely that Go players get bored. It is also good to solve various problems because the problems show
  
  and explain each topic from diffenent angles, so you can deepen your understanding. And the more deeply
  
  you understand a tesuji, shape, etc., the more easily you can apply that to other situations.
  
  I'd like you add the following:
  　　　　
  Most of my students kept learning from me every week for an average of 5 years. Because I kept teaching　
  
  the same people for a long time, I could analyze why many adult Go players had a hard time improving Go.
  
  Please click here to find out about why.
  
  

• I'm good at remmebering pros' games as well. I can immediately recognize all pros' games, which I studied
  
  when I was an insei.

Q. 4. What makes this website Go problems unique?

Answer: Some fo the unique points are as follows:

• The most unique part is focusing on common adult mistakes from beginners to 6dan players. As far as I know, there are no Go websites and Go books that focus on common adult mistakes. (Some Go books show a few common amateur mistakes, but not hundreds.)
  
  I have collected hundreds and observed probably more than a thousand of amateur games and analyzed hundreds common amateur mistakes over the years. Moreover, I have made about 250 tesuji texts and 250 common adult mistake texts over the years, and I have a lot more in my head. Now making problems is not at all hard for me to do.

• One of the main purposes to create those problems is to correct your common adult mistakes.　I can say that you've never seen those problems anywhere in the world because you've never seen more than hundreds of common adult mistakes anywhere in the world.　When I teach privately or give commentary on a game, I always make homework problems to rectify his / her mistakes.　So the problems in this website come from the years of my experience to rectify my students' common mistakes.

• I'm presenting the most prevailing problems in amateur games.
  I do this because I want to satisfy my students' demand as much as possible. Many of my students always complained that problems in a book never or hardly appear in real games. So over the years, I have been making the most prevailing problems in amateur games.
  
  By the way, I think of teaching Go as the service industry. In Japan it's been said that "customers are gods." In the West "customers are always right." Because of that, I always feel obligated to meet my students' demand as much as possible. It's often not easy to meet their demand, but I'm detemined to keep trying. (Beginning in the fall, 2012, I'm going to start making important, but less prevailing problems. I could make at least 10,000 important problems, which are in my head.)
  

• I have made many easy problems along with tough ones. My students often asked me "I can't solve this problem." Then I realized that one life-and-death problem contained more than one tesuji. In order to make it easier, I broke down a problem into some problems, so my students could tackle each tesuji at a time. On this website, you may find a tough problem such as life-and-death, tesuji, etc., and if you can't solve it, you can try easier problems to tackle; that way you have a better understanding.　　　

• There are also other unique problems such as the "Godzilla defeating tesuji", "Indiana Jones tesuji", "onion tesuji", etc. In order to understand more about the problems, plrase read the rest of the answers.

( Warning: It's possible that somebody tries to copy my texts and distributes them. If that happens, please let me know. I'm going to take a punitive action promptly. Also if I find out who is copying my texts and distributes them without my permission, then I'll deprive of him / her membership permenantly. )


Q. 5. I hear that you describe mistakes such as $100 mistake. Can you
tell me the reason?

Answer: I made the following measurement in order to describe the gravity of amateur mistakes because pros’ mistakes may not be as significant as amateurs’. For instance top pros say “It was a big mistake”, and what they mean can be a 6 point mistake, but amateurs can play much bigger mistakes. I’ve made the measurement based on analyzing common adult mistakes over the years as follows:

• $100 mistake = With this mistake, you’ll lose a game instantly. The mistake is so bad that you may not forget
  
  it for a month.
• $ 90 mistake = Excruciatingly bad. After the game, you may still be very upset. Please drive carefully. 

• $ 80 mistake = Excessively bad. It’s so bad that you may not forget it for a week.

• $ 70 mistake = It’s so bad that you may not forget it for a couple of days.

• $ 60 mistake = You may not forget it for a half day.

• $ 50mistake = You may be very embarrassed and look around to see if anyone recognizes your mistake.

• $ 40 mistake = Very bad.

• $ 30 mistake = Bad.

• $ 20 mistake = Bad, but for kyu players it may be too much to ask.

• $ 10 mistake = Small mistake. 1 dan and 2 dan players should care about more important mistakes.
• $ 5 mistake = Minor mistake. Kyu players should worry about more important mistakes.

Q. 6. I’m a 10 kyu. Are there problems for me ?

Answer: I’ve been making problems from 29 kyu to 6 dan. If you learn ponnuki (how to capture a stone), you’re a 30 kyu in Japan. So all kyu players can be a member of my website. Here is the approximate rating system of my website:

• the 1st problem 〜 the 40th problem ＝ 29 kyu 〜 7 kyu

• the 41st problem 〜 the 80th problem ＝ 12 kyu 〜 1 dan 

• the 81st problem 〜 the 120th problem ＝ 3 kyu 〜 3 dan

• the 121st problem 〜 the 160th problem ＝ 1 dan 〜 4 dan
• the 161st problem 〜 the 200th problem ＝ 3 dan 〜 6 dan
  
  

Q. 7. I’m a 1 dan player. Should I start solving problems around the 80th problem or the 100th problem ?

Answer: I often suggest that adult players solve a problem that takes 1 minute. If a problem takes 3 minutes, it’s still good. If a problems takes more than 5 minutes, it must be way hard. Since there are 200 problems for each topic, you should be able to find right problems for you. (Note: this is my advice. Different teacher give you different advice. You should follow advice most suitable for you. )

Q. 8. Your rating system looks very inaccurate. Why can’t you make an accurate rating system?

Answer: Thanks for asking this question. In fact it’s not easy to measure the Go rating accurately.  For example when you solve 1 dan life-and-death problems, you may very well find very easy problems and very hard ones. Why does this happen? It’s partly because each amateur has different strengths and weaknesses.  It’s also because each book is written by a different pro, who has a measurement different from other pros.

In addition I can tell you how unreliable the rating system is. Before World War II (WWII), a Go organization in Japan reportedly didn’t give a 1-dan certificate easily. But after the war, the Go organization started giving a dan certificate far more easily up to 6 dan. Because of that, it’s been said that today’s certified 5-dan amateur in Japan is equivalent to a certified 1-dan before WWII. When I think about it, it’s really hard to determine the rating system. The South Korean Baduk Association gives a dan certificate based on more strict criteria, or so I’ve heard.


Q. 9. What problems are there?

Answer: I have made problems such as opening, life-and-death, tesuji, most basic joseki, fighting tesuji, how to respond to cross-cut, “good shape”, “good empty triangle” and “bad empty triangle”, “good peep” and “bad peep”, "endgame", and many more.

More specifically:

• Opening for Black: the winning opening, recommended to amateurs.
• Opening for White: 1. “how to counter the sanrensei”, 2. “how to counter the Chinese fuseki”, and
  
  3."how to counter the Kobayashi fuseki”.
  
  I’ve made those fuseki because many people have a hard time countering them. In fact I also had a
  
  hard time countering them. But now I have a way to stop Black from making the Chinese fuseki and
  
  Kobayashi fuseki. 

• Life-and-death problems that appear most commonly:
  
  (I have met many people who complained to me that life-and-death problems don’t come out in real games.  
  
  So I have made problems which appear in amateur games most frequently. I believe that studying life-and-death
  
  problems is the first and foremost if you want to become a strong Go player. Further advice → see my blog. 

• Fight : 1. Cross-cut, 2. Shoulder-hit, 3. Bad peep & good peep, 4. Bad empty triangle and good
  
  empty triangle, 5. Erasing moyo, etc. (Many people make mistakes in those situations. So I wanted to
  
  make problems to help them..)
• White’s invasion in the corner: (Many people are in agony because regardless of how well you defend
  
  the corner, White invades. I wanted to help them.)
• “Romeo-and-Juliet shape” problems, “Godzilla defeating tesuji” problems, “ Onion tesuji" problems
  
  are also going to be available.
• "Endgame" problems.
• “Pros' $100 mistakes” (Many Go players often sadly complain about their apparently easy mistake to lose a
  
  move. But pros do make such mistakes. And pros also make some moves against the rules such as capturing a ko
  
  without a ko threat. So please don't feel bad about whatever mistake you do!

(Warning: I've been making about 200 problems in each topic. But some topics may have fewer than 200 problemes; since it takes time to make problems, I may need a little more time to come up with more problems. Also some topics have 400 problems or more when they are very important. When you start solving problems on this website, and if you find a topic that doesn't have problems at your level, please email me and let me know. Thank you.)



Q. 10. How did you make problems? Did you just copy books? Or do your problems come from pro games?

Answer: 95% of my problems are my original problems. I have shown some of them on my AGA E-Journal article and on my KGS teaching. I have collected hundreds of amateur games over the years. Through examining those games, I have made 250 tesuji texts and 250 common adult mistake texts. I have a lot more texts in my head. Based on them, I have made problems for this website. But I have used some pro games to make problems.

Q. 11. Why do you use amateur mistakes?

Answer: The reason is that they come out in your games often. So you can use them probably very soon. I often tell my students use it or lose it”.

Q. 12. How many problems does this website provide for?

Answer: So far I have made about 2500 problems and have categorized various problems. Each problem sets contain 200 problems. I still have a lot more problems in my head. It will take me at least 3 years to make all the problems in my website. For now I’m presenting the most important and useful problems on this Kaz website.

Q. 13. 2500 problems?! That’s too many! How can I find right problems for
myself?

Answer: You can find right problems in the following ways:

• I’m going to make a list of problems and categorize problems on the website, so you should be able to easily find
  
  what you like.

• In my website I have presented some amateur games at different ratings from 14 kyu to 4 dan (I’m going to
  
  present more). In each game I have given comments and referred you to some problems. You can take a
  
  look at a game at your level, read comments, and find problems you’re interested in. For example if you’re a
  
  4 kyu, you can check a 4 kyu game.
  

• After the start of my website, I’m going to start a game commentary service. My plan is to give a commentary
  
  with $25〜$45 teaching fee (with regard to the fee, please read below). I’m also going to comment which
  
  problems of my website you should solve based on your mistakes in your game. If you’re interested in this
  
  service, please click here to check the detail.
  
  （Fees: I'm really not sure how much I'm going to charge.　It often takes at least 2 hours and often 2 and a half
  
  hours or longer to comment a game.　It is because I often give comments on both Black and White.　It's almost
  
  impossible to give only Black or White.　Black's good move comes from White's mistake, and vice versa.　
  
  So I have to comment on both sides more or less.　Sometimes I check with a pro friend.　Sometimes I rewrite
  
  some comments when I come up with a better idea later. So it takes time to write good comments. But at the
  
  same time I'd like to make the teaching fee as low as possible.　I hope I can come up with a deal which makes
  
  everyone happy.)　
  
  (Note: Eventually I'm going to make at least 10,000 problems and probably more. I have those problems in my
  
  head. I just need time to make them.)
  
  
  
  

Q. 14. I don’t like solving problems because I often get bored. Do you have anything to say to me?

Answer: Thanks for asking this. In order not to bore you, I have made interesting problems such as “Romeo-and-Juliet shape” problems, “Godzilla defeating tesuji” problems, “Indiana Jones tesuji” problems, and "onion tesuji" problems. You can try solving them and see if they are interesting.

I also have to mention something important.

When you buy a Go book and find it boring, there’s a possible reason; the book may be way advanced. The harder the book, the more difficult to understand, the less concentration you can endure, and the less enjoyable it is to read. In order to avoid that, I’m preparing for Go problems from 29 kyu to 6 dan. So you can try easy problems to adjust to your own level, so you won’t get bored. In fact if you find right problems, you can become strong very efficiently because you don’t have to look for right problems anymore. To look for right books reduces your time to study Go. There's more advice on my blog.

Q. 15. I like playing games. I believe that playing games is the best way to
become strong. I couldn’t careless about your problems.

Answer: I know that many people say that playing as many games as possible is the best way to become a strong go player. I'm sorry to say, but I see this differently. Would you mind telling you my experience?

I have met so many Go players in Tokyo, who have just played thousands of games for many, many years without ever learning basics. Unfortunately, they ended up with their own style, which is full of common amateur mistakes. When they started taking my lessons and start learning basics, it was extremely difficult to get rid of the commen mistakes because such mistakes are ingrained deep in their mind for a long, long time. After years of my teaching, many of them couldn't get rid of them. Based on my experience of teaching more than a hundred adult Go players, acquiring basic foundations come first and foremost, and basics don’t come from just playing. I have more advice on my blog. Please take a look.

I'd like to add the following. The most amazing Go student of mine was a 73 year-old Go player who improved from 2 kyu to 1 dan in a half year. He only played 2 games in a week. Her is how he studied Go. How he did it 1　How he did it 2


Q. 16. Why do I have to solve so many problems?

Answer: I’m sorry if I give you a wrong idea. Yes, there are so many problems. But I’m not trying to make you solve all those problems. It’s far more important to focus on some or a few problems and to solve them repeatedly rather than to solve 1000 problems. The reason is stated the answer to Q.17.　Please read below.


Q. 17. Q. How many times should I solve the same problems?

Answer: You should repeat solving the same problems until you could solve them correctly and accurately as second nature. Ideally you could solve them even if you were drunk.

(Of course, I'm not suggesting that you should get drunk and solve problems. It's just a way to describe how many times you need to practice. If you're a child living in Japan, please don't drink until you get to 20 years old, which is the drinking legal age in Japan. BTW, If pros got drunk and played a game, they could still play a relatively good game, because professional skills are ingrained in them.)

It’s not at all easy to get to the level of playing correcting as second nature. But the only way to reach that level is to keep solving them. Some people takes 2 months, and some 4 months. It also depends on how often you practice and on how long.

There’s no short-cut when it comes to improving Go.

But one thing is certain. The more repeatedly you solve the same problems, the more easily you can apply that without thinking. And the longer you solve the same problems, the longer they stay in you.

Practice makes perfect.

Also different people acquire Go skills at difference pace. So you should do it on your own pace.

I recommend that you make a note of how quickly you solved problems, how many times you solved them, and how many mistakes you made. Every time you make a mistake, you might want to make a note of it, too. If you keep making the same mistake, then you might want to write down the problem, so you can practice solving them again.

If solving the same life-and-death problems gets boring, you should use a timer to see how quickly and accurately you can solve them. Solving them fast is as important as accuracy. This learning method is not just for life-and-death problems, but also tesuji problems and others.

I have more advice on my blog topics below. Please take a look.　
"Importance of acquiring basic foundations of Go"
"The relations between Go and gymnastics"



Q. 18. Do you have pro games in your website? I like reviewing pro games.

Answer: I have made some pro games, which you can review. But the latest games on my website were one and a half years old. This is because of the copyright. Some Go websites show the latest Japanese, Chinese, and Korean pro games played only a week ago, but I don’t know how they solved the copyrights. I have found a well-known Japanese Go website, which show latest games one and a half years ago. So I thought showing the pro games a year and a half would not cause any problems with Nihon Kiin and Kansai Kiin. I have made some problems, which come from the latest pros’ games. But I only show a few moves, not the entire game.

I would also like to add the following. Reviewing a pro game is really exciting, stimulating, and fascinating. But it is also a good idea to study at your own level. I have written
advice on my blog, so please take a look.


Q. 19. How did you collect common amateur mistakes?

Answer: As a full-time Go teacher in Japan and on KGS, I have taught many amateur players from 29 kyu to 6 dan, from 7 years old to 78 years old for many years. During that time, I have collected many amateur games and examined common amateur mistakes. Based on them, I have made 250 texts to explain common mistakes and how to punish them as well as 250 tesuji texts. (I have a lot more problems in my head). In order to make those problems in my website, it will take me at least 3 years, and possibly 5 years.


Q. 20. I want to learn the latest joseki. Do you have the latest joseki?

Answer: To be honest with you, I don’t recommend the latest joseki. Here’s the reason on my blog:



Q. 21. How long does it take to make a problem?

Answer: It depends on a problem. When I come up with a good situation or see an amateur game which comes out often, then I can make many problems easily and quickly. But sometimes it takes time. Also I revise some problems to make them better. The longest time I spent on one problem was at least 8 hours. I revised it more than 10 times, which shows the combination of the onion tesuji and a ladder.


Q. 22. Why are you making this website? What’s your purpose?

Answer: I’m making this website based on what I have learned over the years from my teaching. Please allow me to explain how I got to make this website. I used to teach as many things as possible, and my adult students tried hard to learn everything I taught. Usually my students took lessons from me every week. The more they learned new things, the more they didn’t remember previous lessons. I taught too many things.

One day I realized that it would be easier for adult Go players to learn related things. Since then, I try to make a similar shape or a situation in a lesson. For example if the attach-and-extend joseki comes out at the beginning, I try to make up a situation where my students should play an application of the attach-and-extend joseki. But then, I started feeling the following disappointment. When the attach-and-extend joseki comes out, I wish I could teach the following related things:

1. The meaning of each move in the attach-and-extend joseki (If you understand the meaning,, you can apply those
   
   moves),
2. Some variations of the attach-and-extend joseki,
3. In what situation it’s appropriate to play this joseki,
4. How you can apply this joseki to other situations,
5. What’s the joseki after the joseki?
6. When you get to a 2 dan or 3 dan level, you can learn a more advanced way of using the attach-and-extend
   
   joseki. When you get to a 5 dan or 6 dan, you can learn even more advanced way to apply. (But for kyu players
   
   it’s very confusing, so you should stay away from advanced moves. BTW, children and teenagers may be different.
   
   They could absorb those things. So this is advice for adults.)
7. There are exceptions where the attach-and-extend-joseki shape doesn’t work.

All these things are very useful to learn because they come out in real games often. But it’s impossible to explain all those attach-and-extend joseki related matters in an hour or two hours. In order to help Go players learn these things, I’ve got to make problems in this website. It takes time to learn all these things; it takes especially adults at least a month, usually three months or possibly longer. They have to keep solving problems related to those topics repeatedly until the answers sink in. Since the website membership fee is low and available for 24 hours, they can study anytime.

Another big reason I'm making this website is that I can confidently say that this website is going to help adults improve their Go.　Let me tell you about my experience again.　Most of my students, who were adults, kept taking lessons from me every week for an average of 5 years. Because I could teach the same adults for a long time, I could analyze why it's hard to improve.

One big reason why many adults have a hard time improving Go is that they always tried to learn new things and didn't practice the previous lessons long enough to sink in.　Each topic takes time to sink in; it takes much longer time than most of my Go students imagined.　In general the longer you learn one topic repeatedly, the more postively you can acquire.　In other words, the shorter, the easier to forget.

In order to help Go players, especially adults, I'm making this website.　If you become a member, you can solve problems repeatedly at your own pace and as many times as you like. And in order not to get you bored, I'm presenting various problems. Those problems will show and explain each topic from diffenent angles, and this will help you deepen your understanding.　The more deeply you understand tesuji, shape, etc., the more easily you can apply that to other situations.　And I'm going to keep adding new problems as well; that way you may find something new every time you visit this website.　Even if you forget the answers, you can always come back and try the same problems again.

( In summer (maybe in June) or fall I'd like to start taking lessons again. More details are written blow.　 Please click here. )

(I have another reason why many adults have a hard time improving Go at the end. Please click here. )

Another reason that I’ve been making this problem is that in order to learn joseki, shape, tesuji, life-and-death, etc., I’ve found that solving problems is one of the very effective ways. When people read a Go book, in general they seem to pay less attention than solve problems. This is what most of my Go students told me. And I agree. It was easier for me to focus on problems when I read Go books.

I’ve heard that the reason Korean top pros have been defeating Japanese pros for more than a decade is that when they were young, they solved so many problems repeatedly.

I’d also like to emphasize that people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s who started learning Go as an adult often need extra care. For example I’ve met people, usually the elderly, who could read only 3 moves. I’ve also met people who can’t read a ladder accurately even if they are a 4 dan player. I’ve known people who often miss atari in the middle of a game. In order to help them, I gave them problems and found that problems are very helpful.

These are the main reasons that I've decided to make this website. (In this website I’ve been trying to present the most useful and most prevailing problems in amateur games. Then I’m going to incorporate other important, but less prevailing problems. It’ll take me at least 3 years and possibly 5 years to finish this.)

Q. 23. Can I copy your problems and use them somewhere else?

Answer: I'm sorry, I'm afraid, but I can't allow anyone to do that. The only people who could solve my problems are my members. Poeple pay money to be a member. So it's not fair for some people to solve my problems without charge. I have set the price $3, which costs much less than any Go books, and you can use them 24 hours everyday. I hope I'm not asking you too much.
Warning: It's possible that somebody tries to copy my texts and distributes them. If that happens, please let me know. I'm going to take a punitive action promptly. Also if I find out someone who is copying my texts and distributes them without my permission, then I'll deprive of him / her membership and my teaching permenantly.

Q. 24. Where is Kaz's business located?

Answer: The location of Kaz's business office:
Address: 48-6 Ooyamahigashi-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan 173-0014
Home Phone Number (from abroad): 813-3148-1650.
Skype: (50) 5532-6794
Name: Kazunari Furuyama
KGS User Name: "kaz"
KGS room: "Kaz teaching room"


★ Here is another reason why many adults have a hard time improving Go.
Many of them have a hard time memorizing shapes, so they try to memorize words and / or general concepts such as "Don't move from an alive group."　In order to get stronger, Go players have to memorize some shapes and understand them.　Words are only there to support your understanding.　
When it comes to Go, words are like supplements, and shape of stones is food. I wouldn't recommend having only supplements and not having any food.　

In fact smart adults and / or intelligent adutls often want to memorize words and abstract concepts. Unfortunately, this way of study doesn't work when it comes to Go.

You can't learn how to drive just memorizing a driving text book.　You have to drive a real car and learn how to drive safely on a street and how to park.　Go is the same thing.

Similarly some adults try to memorize Go proverbs without grasping the shape and how it works.　
Keep in mind that all pros say that when they were little, they didn't study Go proverbs.　They sometimes heard about Go proverbs as a child, but they continued to learn shapes along with the suoundings.　

Also keep in mind that pros never think about Go proverbs during their games; nor do they use Go proverbs while reviewing their games. When I was an insei, I watched hundreds of pros' reviewing games, but they almost never used Go proverbs because every situation is differernt, and they try to find the best move under the circimstances. Go proverbs won't help pros.

When pros give a commentary to amateur players, they use a Go proverb just to help amateurs learn a shape and a concept. But many amateurs have a hard time memorizing shapes, so they try to memorize words and general concepts. But the proper way to learn Go is that amateurs have to understand shapes and memorize some shapes in order to solidify your basic foundations. Words are only there to help you understand better. Words are like suppliments and secondary. Without words, you can beceome stronger. If you have time to memorize Go proverbs and abstract concepts, it's much better to study a very easy tesuji or solve very easy life-and-death problems repeatedly.

I'm sorry to say, but some adults ask Go questions as follows:
"The other day I was taught 'Don't move from an alive group.' But I don't understand, and I don't remember the situation"　If adults ask an abstract question like this, they may get abstract answers, and that doesn't help them.　You should always show an entire Go board when you ask a question.

This is particularly important because if a position of a stone differs one line from an original position, the answer usually becomes completely different. This is easy to understand if you think about a life-and-death problem; if you play a move that differs one line from the correct answer, your move is not the correct move.

Unlike adults, children can remember a game, show a situation, and ask a question about what to do when they get to a certain dan level

I know this is disappointing to adults.　But if you get used to recording a game, then you could ask questions much more easily.

Please remember that every situation is different. So it's better to record a question, show a concrete situation, and ask a question. If you can, record an entire board; it's always better to show a situation globally, not locally, since the entire situation is always related.

Like I said, smart adults and / or intelligent adutls often want to memorize words, Go proverbs, and abstract concepts.　But if you want to get stronger fast, you should learn easy tesuji and solve life-and-death problems repeatedly.　When you get to 3 dan or 4 dan, then you can start learning proverbs and abstract concepts.　You may be surprised with how easy it is to learn them.　By the way, even if you get to 4 dan, there are still more tesui and life-and-death problems to learn.
( I have already stated another reason why some adults have a hard time improving. Please click here.)

Some of my problems on this website also have a lot of explanations. But they are only there to help you understand the concept.　You have to keep solving them repeatedly until you can apply that to a real situation.　（ To be honest, now I try not to use Go proverbs much when I give Go lessons to adult Go players because of the reason above. ）


★ Kaz presents more advice for adult Go players.
Advice 1: Many adults players make the following mistake:

　　　It is an opponent's turn, and he/she is thinking about his/her next move without
　　　thinking about the opponent's move. When the opponent plays a move, he/she 　
　　　immediately plays without looking at the opponent's move.

This happens because they don't have a habit of thinking about an opponent's move. So I'd like to ask you, and beg you to think about an opponent's move and then your move. Many pros often advise that you think about 3 moves. I'd say you should think about 2 moves, an opponent's move and your move. If you can do this, your Go will change drastically and improve far more quickly.

Advice 2: Advice for the opening:
You should play on the fourth line when you can expect a moyo, especially when you play the 3-star point or the Chinese fuseki. However, many kyu players and even some dan players often play on the fourth line when there is no possibility of developoing a moyo. In that case you should play on the third line. I'm going to make examples of this on this website.

Advice 3: Advice for the Chinese fuseki:
I don't recommend the Chinese fuseki until you solidify strong and solid basic foundations. This is because the Chinese fuseki has many exception moves that are far from basic moves. I always advise that you solidify basic foundations when you are a kyu player. Unfortunately, though when I look at dan players' games, I mean 3 dan and 4 dan, many of them haven't solidify the basics, yet. When they learn Chinese fuseki exception moves, they often mistakenly use them in incorrect situations. So I'm very concerned...

(I'm gong to present more advice from now on. Please stay tuned.)
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Important: About my private teaching:
In summer (maybe in June) or fall I'd like to start taking lessons again, but there are two important things I'd like to tell you.

First when I start a lesson again, I think I'm going to give a game commentary rather than an hour online lesson.

There are at least 3 big reasons.　

First a game commentary allows me to write more detailed and well-thought ideas.　In fact, it is much easier for me to provide an hour online lesson; I just tell my students my comments.　Since the teaching time is usually an hour and very limited, my comments may not be well-thought.　After an hour online lesson, I sometimes realize that I said something incorrectly or I should've taught differently.　But when I give comments on a game at home alone, I have to analyze a game very carefully before I start writing.　Becuase I have time to think carefully, I can give better comments than an online teaching.　In fact it is much easier for me to teach online than to receive a game and give comments on it, and it takes me a much longer time to give comments than to teach online.　And it is better for my students to get better comments than to get a online lesson.

Second I found that giving commentary on a game would help my most students learn more than playing with me.　This is because a majority of adult players show their most natural self in a game when they play with a peer.　For example many Go players try to kill an opponent's stones during a game, so they keep playing overplays or improper moves.　When I see those moves, I can see their bad habits, and I'm really good at correcting them.　(By the way, trying to kill stones is a very bad habit.　In order to become a strong Go player as fast as possible, you should always think about playing proper moves.　If you try to kill an opponent's stones all the time, it's very possible that you are addicted to killing.　Keep in mind that pros and Go apprentices never play that way because they know that would be harmful to their Go rather than helpful.　Good Go teachers teach children to play proper moves so they naturally grow up with thinking about proper moves. )　But when it comes to a teaching game, those students don't play killing moves; they don't show their real self usually unconsciously.　Then I can't correct their worst habits.

Third I will probably accept a game commentary only once a month, at most once every two weeks.　This is because it takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to acquire one tesuji, for example one tesuji.　You can't learn one tesuji just overnight or just review it 10 times. You need a lot more practice.

In my teaching experience, one of the biggest reasons for adutls not improving Go is that they don't practice enugh.　Instead, they try to learn new things all that time.　It takes any players, especially adults, a lot of time to learn one topic.　In my teaching I'm going to present various topics and refer to a variety of problems on this website.　In order to learn them well, you have to solve my referred easy problems repeatedly.　Solving them repeatedly takes a lot of time, but you have to do that in order to acquire them and become part of you; otherwise, you could never apply them to your games in the future.　

If you're an adult, you must do this since it takes adults more time to learn things than children.　By the way, even children who practice repeatedly imporve Go much more quickly than children who don't practice much.

You could take a lesson from me every week, but you probably can't rememver everything, not to mention the fact that you can't apply them in your games.

I'd like to reiterate that it takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to acquire one thing, for example one tesuji.　You can't learn one tesuji just overnight or just review it 10 times.

For me giving you a lesson every week is far more profitable, but I have already stated above, I don't think that it will help you become strong.　

(In fact when I taught every week, often unwanted consequece ocurred.　Because I would receive money every week, I felt I needed to teach as many things as possible.　Like I said, that may be the best way or the most efficient way to learn because you can't learn 20 or 30 different topics in one lesson.　It takes time to aquire even one topic.　I think it's better to focus on a few topics rather than trying to learn 20 or 30 topics.　But when I had a lesson every week, I always worried about my students' feelings that "I had seen this lesson before; I want to learn somehting new".　Some students did complained about that, and I felt guilty.　When I felt guilty, I tried to teach 20 or 30 topics.　This means that if you get a lesson from me every week, and you may be taught many things, and you may forget them a month later, but you keep learning new things every weak; you would fall into a vicious cycle of not becoming strong.)

I strongly believe that solving easy problems repeatedly is one of the most efficient and effective ways to solidify the basic foundations, thus to become a strong Go player.　Besides, it is much cheaper for you to solve problems on my website since it cost only $3 a month whereas if you take a lesson from me, it costs somewhere around $25〜$45.　So this website is a low risk, high return way to learn Go.

（Fees: I'm really not sure how much I'm going to charge.　It often takes at least 2 hours and often 2 and a half hours or longer to comment a game.　It is because I often give comments on both Black and White.　It's almost impossible to give only Black or White.　Black's good move comes from White's mistake, and vice versa.　 So I have to comment on both sides more or less.　Sometimes I check with a pro friend.　Sometimes I rewrite some comments when I come up with a better idea later. So it takes time to write good comments. But at the same time I'd like to make the teaching fee as low as possible.　I hope I can come up with a deal which makes everyone happy.)　

Additionally I'd like to emphasize the importance to solving easy problems repeatedly to solidify the basic foundations.　I keep saying this because that's what I have learned from masters in various fields.　I happen to like to learn aboout how top Go players such as Cho U (張栩先生) 9 dan and top athletes such as Ichiro and Ai Miyazato practiced in the past and practices today.　I have read many books on them, and whenever there's a TV program on how they practiced as a child and how they practice now, I watch.　There is one thing in common about how they practiced and how they practice even today; that is that they repeat the same basic things tediously.

In the Go world, there seems to be a wide-spread misconception that playing as many games as possible is the best way to become strong.　But no masters teach me that.　And in the years of my teaching Go experience, no amateur Go players have become strong as a result of only playing games while having ignored solidifying basics.

By the way, I'd like to talk about my private teaching a bit more.　I do accept some exceptions, however.　There are cases where having private lessons from me is admissible or makes sense.　One of my students is really busy　working, taking care of family, having other activities, etc., and taking a lesson from me is the only time to learn Go, and my lessons give him the strongest motivation.　So I have accepted his regularly scheduled lessons.　

Each Go player has a different situation and a differnet way of learning.　So please consult with me. I'm going to announce when and how I'm going to offer lessons again on this website.

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If you're interested in becoming a member, please email me and tell me your ranting now.
So I (Kaz) will prepare for Go texts for you. Please don't forget to tell me your ranting. Please click here to email me now!
If you have any other questions, please email me now !!!
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Q. To be a member, do I have to give you my name, address, and phone number?
Answer:
No! The only things you need to register are your KGS user name and your rank.
I may ask something else, but I'll never ask you your personal infomation.


Q.What if Kaz tricks us? He might get money and disappear forever.
Answer:
I (Kaz) understand your concerns perfectly.
I've been writing some Go texts regularly to the AGA for some years.
So I think I've established some credibility.
Another way to show my credibility is to state my permanent address and
phone number:
The location of Kaz's business office:
Address: 48-6 Ooyamahigashi-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan 173-0014
Home Phone Number (from abroad): 813-3148-1650.
Skype: (50) 5532-6794
Name: Kazunari Furuyama
KGS User Name: "kaz"
KGS room: "Kaz teaching room"


Q. I don't know anything about Kaz. Am I going to waste any money on this membership services? How can I tell whether he's a good Go teacher?
Answer:
I understand your concerns. I'm going to teach on KGS regularly since
I have obtained teaching account "Kaz". You might find some of my teaching
games on KGS. You can also read my teaching style and Go blogs to
find out whether my teaching fits you:
Go, Igo, weiqi, baduk, Kaz's Go Advice (written in English only)


Q. How much is the membership fee? And how can I pay for it?
Answer:
The payment is through PayPal. You can pay in Amerian dollars, Euros, or the yen.　Later I'd like to add more. The payment fee is $3, 3 Euro, or ￥300 a month.　

But for some reason if you can neither use Paypal, nor pay the fees to me in dollars or Euro, then I have to find other ways. So far I don't have any other means.

For example, if you live in China or Korea, perhaps I'll open up a new back account in your country. In that case, please email me to let me know that. But I must say it might take a long time to do it since I'm not planning to go to those countries in the near future.

I think it's best for you to find out how to open up an account at Paypal, so you can have my teaching immediately. If you don't know how to open up an account at Paypal, you might want to ask someone on KGS. I'm sure many people are happy to help you out.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kaz regrets to inform you that Kaz's great Go text services will be delayed.
The services will start on May 1st, 201.
Kaz appreciates your patience and understanding.

If you're interested in becoming a member, please email me your rank now. So I (Kaz) will prepare for
Go texts for you. Please don't forget to tell me your rank. Please click here to email me now!

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