Spaced repetition

I've just been through the third chapter of "Tsumego" named "90 elementary tsumego". Over three days, I went over all of them and realized I wasn't really up to the "elementariness" of those problems.

That being said, it doesn't seem that much of a stretch for a certain number of them (found them with a hint but wouldn't have during a game). Those problems were selected to show a good range of tesuji in application to kill or live.

I'd like to try to learn from them through spaced repetition. Space repetition, also known as "flashcards" is a way to get through some knowledge through regular practice driven by trial and error. Let's assume you set each tsumego on a card. You go through the deck of cards by looking at each one:

• If you can solve it instantly or within a couple minutes, you place it in the "Easy" pile
• If you need a bit more time or you're unsure of your answer, you place it in the "Medium" pile
• If you don't have a clue or got the sequence wrong, you place it in the "Hard" pile

Every day, you go through your cards according to their pile : many "Hard", fewer "Medium", a couple "Easy" reevaluating each time their difficulty. When all cards end up in the "Easy" section, you've completed your study.

This works wonderfully for languages. Having it work for go means that not only you try your best to identify the answer at a glance but also that you make sure it works. It clearly helps more on the instinct aspect than on the calculation part but it's already something. 

Obviously, using cards is a bit dated. You have software available to do so. The most well known of those is Anki. It's perfectly suitable for go but it will take you some time to prep the cards. An alternative is available to the owner of an iPhone / iPad through the wonderful application Easygo.

You just have to create your problems, generate variations (stating if they are correct or incorrect) and the software will do just what I mentioned above with one nice twist : it will change randomly colors and orientations so to renew positions. I'll start right now with the problems I listed as "Hard" and I'll slowly incorporate the "Medium" one so to build a nice deck. 

Will let you know how it goes...