LG - brute force is my friend!

tanes256

Hey, guys! LG is my best section but I rely a lot on brute force. Do you guys think it's more beneficial to time myself doing an entire LG section, or doing one game at a time? I think doing one game at a time encourages brute forcing for me because I know I have 8 mins for each game. Each game doesn't necessarily take 8 mins and some may take 11 mins. I always try to split boards and make inferences during BR but I panic and move on after my initial board when doing a PT and end up drawing many boards along the way and brute forcing. What do you guys think? I normally finish with ~ 1 min left but I'm still not - 0.

BinghamtonDave

For me personally, brute force is the last resort. I believe finessing the questions and knowing where strategically to start testing answer choices should come before brute force. If I lack that skill before implementing brute force, then I have to come to terms in my review with the fact that I have missed something key to how that particular game operates. I never want to come off as theoretical because I don't think that is a particularly helpful way to communicate ideas clearly so I will provide an example:

For instance, if a game has several really open ended questions like: which one of the follow MBT and that question is followed by another open ended question and I am having a hard time with these questions, I have probably missed something that would make my job (getting a -0/-1 on the section) a whole lot easier. I believe the best example of this I can think of off the top of my head is PT 35 Game 4. Not completing a single step in our set up will push this game from a very doable 4-5.5 minutes to a nightmarish 11 minutes (which is what this game first took me to complete.) If we can do everything correct on this game during our initial set up, we go into the questions placing 1 single game piece onto the board. Placing 1 game is so astonishingly easy that this game becomes something much different. I'm reminded here of what the blacksmith says in McCarthy's "Child of God" about the steps of making an ax: "It's like a lot of things, said the smith. Do the least part of it wrong and ye'd just as well to do it all wrong."

I mention this to illustrate the point that if we find ourselves brute forcing on a section, during our review we should be asking: was the brute force necessary? For the above mentioned game brute force is not necessary. Our job in our review on this subject should be to locate what we have missed and correct it for future games.

In conclusion, brute force can sometimes be useful, but only to supplement our approach in my estimation. My recommendation would be to be doing 3-5 timed LG sections per week and supplementing the rest with review of game types, try to avoid brute force unless it is absolutely necessary.

David

tanes256

@BinghamtonDave I absolutely agree. I'm trying to determine what's the best method for studying go fwd. Should I time myself on each game or continue timing myself on the whole section? I think when I'm doing the whole section I tend to brute force because I "know" each game isn't going to take 8 mins and I can "borrow" that time from another game. If I'm just testing on that one game I don't have anything else to rely on and I absolutely must finish in those 8 mins or whatever the suggested time is for that game. Get what I mean?

btate87

Like @BinghamtonDave said, it should be a last resort. Even if JY demonstrates brute forcing a question in an explanation, there very often some shortcut you could find that could avoid brute forcing (that being said, most of those we just aren't going to find under time pressure so the brute forcing explanations are super vital). So definitely make sure you are BR'ing in a way that teaches you how to minimize the use of brute force.

As for your timing question, do both! For instance, I'm currently working through games in the 40's and 50's. I just did PT 45 (I had to kind of brute force the very last question of the section, but I had 10 minutes left and figured better safe than sorry). Even though I missed 1 (not the brute force question), I'm going to go through all 4 games again tomorrow where I will time each game individually and watch JY's explanation after each. Later in the week I'll redo every game in 45 a third time, and then time 46 as a section. This way I'm constantly getting practice with timing individual games and the section as a whole.

Hope that helps!

OlamHafuch

There is probably never a case where you have to brute force. LSAC could not care less whether you have brute forcing skills. They want to see whether you can make inferences. That's why the games are designed so that it's really hard to finish them in the allotted time if you resort to too much brute forcing.

tanes256

Guys, I understand that brute force is not ideal and should be a last resort. That’s what I’m working on. My question is which way do you guys think would be better to work on not brute forcing? Timed individual games or timing an entire section? I don’t brute force during BR because BR would be pointless. When the clock starts running I go back to brute forcing.

btate87

@tanes256 I tried to answer your question in my second paragraph. Sorry for rehashing the don't brute Force point in the first half

Kayyyyyyy

I think definitely time yourself in the whole section rather than just individual games. Part of the strategy for LG that I have found helpful is to not do games in order. I look at all 4 games and then do any seemingly obvious sequence games and try to rush through them and any other games I feel really confident and comfortable with. Usually, this is 2 of the games. Depends on the PT and the specific gsmes, but ideally I try to get through in 10-12 minutes at most, sometimes in 7 or 8. That leaves me feeling calmer knowing I have much more time to tackle the last 2. Brute forcing is a last option, but knowing the abundance (sort of) of time I have left gives me a calmer, clearer mind to set up the harder games and see the connections. If after a minute I am still stuck, I'll brute force, but then at least I still have more time to do it so I'm not so rushed and am more likely to be getting the correct answers/have time to check!

Alex

I have found a mix of doing both individual games and sections both helpful. If a have an issue with a particular game in a section, I then fool proof that one by itself.