I think I peaked around 11-kyu on pandanet, but I rarely play anymore as I think alphago ruined the game. But I also don’t like playing online because I don’t want to stare at a screen and I don’t like playing at my local club, so it’s not purely some noble anti-tech sacrifice. I had this idea that I’d get a proper honkaya board (used of course), retreat from the world, and just study Sakata Eio games, but that hasn’t happened yet. I have a crappy beech veneer goban and cracked glass stones; it doesn’t have the same romance to it. I started playing in 2017.
I picked up shogi around the same time and still play for social reasons, I have a friend I play correspondence games with on lishogi, but I’m still in the early beginner stages. I’ve played maybe five games on 81dojo and can make the mino castle and that’s the extent of my knowledge.
I no longer remember why I picked them up. I’ve been playing chess for 12 years so at some point I thought I should pick up weiqi and shogi to round things out for some reason.
