Go-centric

I've been a bit go-centric of late, primarily because I have little to bitch about regarding the thesis. I sent through the first installment (6,000 words, 3/4 of an argument for my definition of the State) to my supervisor. This is what I got back:

This is really well done. Clear, thorough, revealing, empirically informed, and plausible.

You of course need to wrap up the discussion, i.e., tell the reader precisely where you stand on the role of force defining a state. And I've provided some critical comments for you to mull over as you see fit.

I very strongly recommend wrapping up these issues in the next couple weeks and moving on to write a new chapter. You're ready now to move on.

So all is good on that front, for a while.

On the go front, I haven't won a game for a while. Not too surprising since I've been lucky enough to play 7-Dan, 5-Dan, and 3-Dan players on incorrect handicaps. This has been extremely helpful. Handicap stones have often masked the failings in my game, especially the endgame. Without those stones (or less than I should have had), I've come to the conclusion, through actual play and post-game analysis, that my fuseki and joseki are acceptable, middle game strategy keeps me in it, but the endgame tactics let me down, over and over again. If I hadn't had the opportunity to test my game against strong opponents, I would've missed this--strategically strong, tactically weak. And that is why I'm still 1-kyu.