Fun!

Friday night, we took the four hours trip to the workshop location, and what else would you do in the car but talk about go and play. J played blind go, while I played against him on a magnetic board. Don't worry, neither of us was driving. I made a bad joseki mistake, and then did not play aggressively enough when he invaded my moyo. I ended up resigning, he was way ahead by then.

At the workshop location, I found myself a 1k and a 2d to play, much fun. We also had a lecture on mini chinese, very interesting.

Saturday was a play and review game. I played two 4k's , won one, lost one, and made tons of mistakes in both games. It's amazing how I have mastered the skill of making bad moves. At night I played some friendly games.

Sunday, I played against 9H and tried to play correctly instead of my usual bullying and overplay.My teacher's handicap advice is

1. Play fast, but play correct moves. Don't make moves which you know are bad in the hope your opponent will reply incorrectly. You will not learn anything if you play that way.
2. Don't make your opponent strong, don't resolve anything.
3. Don't make low moves, try to control the center.

Let's just say that I still have a lot to learn before I can play handicap games like that.

Sunday was also the day when I got myself suckered into this 'easy hike' which ended up being six hours over a mountain ridge. Amazing views, but too much of the trail was vertical. Did I mention I was wearing flipflops? I soon took them off and just hiked barefoot most of the way. Was nice to get some physical exercise to balance all the sitting on my butt and eating good food though.

Sunday night we played Survivor Go. We got divided into two teams, and played team against team (like rengo but with more players) If your move was bad, you got kicked out. I got kicked out on my second move.

Monday arrived too fast and brought us a simul. My teacher and Jean Michel took turns making moves against the sixteen of us. Pretty wild. I took 5H, but they easily wiped me off the board anyway. It must be so hard to play simul with two people playing, can't follow through on your own plans. Simul kibbitz included remarks like 'The hunted becomes the hunter' and 'What once was a moyo is now desperately trying to make two eyes.'

Too bad that it was time to go home, but we did get another game of go in in the car (again, blind go for j, normal for me)