It's Official!

Took long enough, but after Boston, I finally made it into the official ranks of AGA danhood. Barely so, but I'll take it. I am 1.00839 now, so I'd better play well next time and increase that a bit.



Boston somehow motivated me to get back into being obsessed with baduk (well, as much as I can be with all the stuff in my life going on at the moment) Decided that reading novels will be out for a while, it's go problem books all the way. And I am studying Appreciating Famous Games, although it's slow going. Very enjoyable though.

Quote of the Day

Just a reminder of something we should know, but not always easy to remember.



"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Of course, this means that full effort is required, which I have to admit is not always happening in my online games. Something to work at!

Quick Boston Update

Game 1: against 2k, giving 2H, won by 8.5 points.
Game 2: against 2d, i took black, no komi, lost by 2.5 points because of sloppy yose in byo yomi.
Game 3: against 3k, giving 3H, lost by resign when I was 10-15 points behind still and not enough end game left.
Game 4: against 4k, giving 4H, lost by resign when I couldn't find any more chances and I was too much behind.

More later, sleep first.

Boston Go Tournament Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, Boston Spring Tournament!

Will be interesting, I haven't been playing as much as usual. I guess I will either play well and win many games, or play horrible, and lose many. Both ways, I will learn many things, I am sure. Wish me luck! Or maybe just calmness and focus.

Guardian of the Goban

Bonus points if you recognize the game.

Oza Game Six: The Shame!

This game was ...

bad.



I could come up with many excuses, about being tired, about trying too hard, about it being the last game. But the story is, that I just played some bad moves without enough thinking. Or without thinking at all.



My favorite review quote: "White A is just unthinkable. If I were white, I wouldn't be able to sleep that night, full of anger, having played this humiliating move"



This summarizes the game, it mostly teaches me to take a deep breath, focus and be present. Not just play the first likely move. Or unlikely move. This game is more about lack of discipline than about lack of go knowledge.



The good news is that I had a great time at the oza, meeting many people I had only met on line before. On Monday, we did some sightseeing of Baltimore, which was fun in itself. And I learned lots from all my games, now I just need to apply it.

Oza Game Five: Moyo Madness

Yes, I know, I have not been posting. Got kind of distracted by kicking out my husband. Which was good decision, but had me pay less attention to go for a few weeks. Life is good now though, the lack of negative energy in the house is amazing, and I hope my go will reflect that. Some day ^^



I almost decided to skip my Oza game 5 and 6, but I want to add them for completeness. I'll keep it pretty short though.



Game five story in a nutshell: he made big moyo, I tried to stay calm and not panic. The important word being 'tried' Somehow, it didn't quite work out that way ^^ Here is one of the positions.



The calm thing to do would be to play at A, get thick and attack the B group. Sendol showed this:



Not quite what happened in the game. I guess this is where I lost my calmness, and things kind of detoriated. I ended up losing by 6.5 points. I will share my sendol review of the game. It has many interesting variations. Too bad I didn't find them during the game. Enjoy!