Go Profile: InSente

Hey guys! A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of getting on the phone with Michael Gallucci, known as InSente on YouTube, and discussing some of the ins and outs of being a Go player, YouTuber and Twitch streamer. He has over 800 subscribers and I definitely recommend subscribing to him. I have found his content to be very helpful and educating. 

Michael Galluci

Michael has currently just finished his first year in grad school for chemical engineering. One of the things he said about himself is that he likes to explore deeply, and it's exciting for him to find something new and learn all the little details about it. I found that quite interesting because I'm pretty much the same way. In talking to him, I realized that he's very much a friendly person and easy to talk to, and as a result, communicates his content extremely well in his videos. Another thing I noticed about him is that his thoughts are very articulated which I would accredit to his deep sense of thought and understanding.


He learned about Go in high school when he was an avid reader of many Shonen Jump mangas. Hikaru No Go was one of the ones he came across and decided to learn the game. At the time, he wasn't able to get very far in the game because the only way he could play was the Yahoo games Go server. Of course, there's not much of a Go community there so he lost interest quite quickly, though he remained interested. Then, in his senior year of college, some of his friends got him back into the game and that summer he realized that he really wanted to learn about the game.

One of the things that he is known for is achieving the rank of 1 dan in one year. Personally, this is not only very intriguing but very inspiring. I have come across multiple players online and in person that have just never progressed from their ranks. Part of the reason for a lot of them is that there is no will to improve; it's all in good fun. That's actually how I used to be and that's perfectly fine. However, there are other players that continue to work and practice but never improve. The reason for this is the way that they are practicing; either it's not an effective method of training or it's not a consistent method of training.

Because of this, when I got a chance to talk to Michael, one of the things that I talked to him about was how he actually trained to become a better player. He gave me multiple tips that have helped me personally (though I haven't been able to put them all into practice) but also taught me very much about how to operate while playing the game. He shared many tips with me that I'll be making a separate post about in order to do them justice.

The last thing Michael and I talked about was what his goal actually was. He told me that he will finally be comfortable with his level when he has achieved around about 5 dan. He said that he would like to be able to teach people and play competitively so he can really enjoy what the spirit of the game is and not have to worry about the details.

Michael's streaming set-up!

Michael's videos are probably some of my favorite on all of YouTube. The reason for this, as he told me, is because he aims for shorter videos. On average, a Go video on YouTube will be anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half long. That's just because that's how in-depth the game actually is and there is no real way around that without sacrificing the content. What Michael does is he creates bit-sized videos about tesuji or small points in the game that are important keeping in mind how consumable they are. He calls them "tech skills"and they're actually quite neat. He also has a whole playlist on the Psychology of the Game if you'd like to check that out. Overall, his content is great all around the board and you will always learn, no matter how much of them you watch.

Once again, definitely go over to his channel and subscribe to him for more content. I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you have any comments or questions, definitely leave them down below :) You can contact me at my email (alireyns@gmail.com) and find me on Twitter/KGS/OGS @alireyns. Look forward to seeing you all across the board someday!