Monday, April 23, 2007

Boston Tournament

Yesterday, I played in the Boston tournament, was much fun. I met old friends and new friends and played games too!

I had been having my normal pre-tourney 'I am going to lose ALL my games' stress-out and had been whining my lack of self confidence. But thanks to the help of some wiser people, mostly got over it. Mostly ^^

It also helps that I spent most of Saturday outdoors, enjoying the sun, hiking, spending time with friends. Kept my mind of my suckiness at go :p

The tournament started off badly by losing my first game against a 1d. I messed up a local fight, badly so.

Second game, I had to give 2H to a 2k. I had been wondering whether I would be able to give stones, and it was hard, but not impossible. I managed to pull ahead till I ignored some aji in one of my groups and lost too many stones in the process. Lesson of the game 'When ahead, play thickly' Yes, I know, I have heard that before, this was a good reminder.

Still, even with the loss, I felt mostly good about my game and was more confident about the notion of giving stones. Good, because the next game, I gave 3H to a 3k. This didn't go as well, I was behind in territory. But he left weaknesses in his groups, which I could exploit and he resigned. Lesson of the game: 'When ahead, play thickly'.

At least I won one game now, so the last game didn't matter as much. I know it shouldn't matter at all, but I am afraid it still did. I played a 2d, I took B, no komi. I will have to study this game more, I feel I made too many mistakes and he managed to kill a small group of mine. Now I was behind by so much, I followed Guo Juan's advice 'When behind, look for something to kill'. I found it, and killed a bigger group of him right back at him and this was eventually enough to make him resign.

That last game was the only game I entered byo yomi, so I guess I am getting better at managing my time.

Looks like I can't deny AGA shodan rank any longer, I am happy on the one hand. But on the other hand, it is so ridiculously weak, that I realize even more how much I still have to learn.

Since this was origially a shodan challenge blog, will summarize my tourney time table for reaching shodan:

Jan 2005: Boston, 13k, went 1-3.
Apr 2005: Vermont, 11k, went 2-2
July 2005: Boston, 8k, went 2-2
Dec 2005: Massachusetts, 5k, went 2-1
March 2006: Vermont, 3k, went 1-3
Apr 2006: Massachusetts, 3k, went 2-2
May 2006: Boston, 3k, went 1-3
July 2006: UVGC, 4k, went 0-4
Dec 2006: Vermont, 2k, went 1-2
March 2007: Montreal, 1k, went 2-1
Apr 2007: Boston, 1d, went 2-2

Thanks to all the wonderful people who have helped me reach my original goal! I am amazed about how giving the go world has been, and fully intend to keep giving back to it. Now I am ready to start learning about go :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats! Killing a 2D's group must have been fun. :)

We didn't play, but Rob Ferguson introduced me to you. Nice to meet you!

- Chris.

Rafa de Castro said...

Congratulations for your shodan!

Unknown said...

Like love, the challenge is in the chase. Now enjoy the prize, be satisfied with the achievement that your study has brought. Your trials, tribulations and triumphs give hope and inspiration to all stone troopers who aim for a higher peak, whether it be SDK level or Shodan.
Congratulations!

li ang (lyonweiqi) said...

congrats sis get 1dan

Anonymous said...

You go, girl. :D - Jay

Tristen said...

Congrats on 1-dan, missed that. Congrats once again