Saturday, May 19, 2007

Quote of the Day

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Replace day with game and this is very applicable to go.

Today, I played my first iwamoto game. I wasn't sure how well I would do, since I had some personal stress going on, but I managed to focus on the game enough to win. Feels good to start the series with a win, but there still are seven more rounds to go, so who knows what will happen.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Calmness

Calmness or lack thereof seems to be a recurring theme in my weiqi quest. I finally feel like I am starting to be able to reach some calmness when I play. I still have a long way to go, but I managed to do well against an opponent whose style usually is hard for me. I tried to play strong and calm moves, and mostly succeeded. I still made many mistakes, but feel good about my game overall.

It helped to get some peptalk before the game (thank you, flame ^^) and to just focus on the board and my breathing, not on the opponent.

It still is interesting to me how much of a difference state of mind makes in go. A huge difference.

The weather has been nice, so I have been taking my kids to the playground, bringing my goban to keep myself entertained while watching them. Works well.



Today, I am working through Cho Chikun l/d problems. A few weeks ago, I started using gogrinder, and I have found it a very useful study tool. I am determined to master all those shapes in Cho Chikun's encyclopedia of life and death, but it will take some time to do so. Good reading practice ^^

I signed up for the iwamoto tournament, looking forward to participating and hopefully playing good games.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Iwamoto Tournament 2007

There still is time to register for the Iwamoto Tournament 2007. This on line tournament is organized every year by Achgo and AAGO in honour of Iwamoto Kaoru Sensei. The tournament has eight rounds, and you are supposed to play one game per week.

I played in the 2005 edition and it was a lot of fun, I got some nice games in. If you like playing serious games, this is a good way to get them. The registration is open till May 15. Come on, go there and join!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Go and Emotions

I have more and more realized how much the emotions of the player do effect their game. I have not only seen it happen in my own games, but also in other people's games. If I start a game and I am not in a calm state of mind, my game will suffer. Helpful friends have pointed out to me that they could taste my state of mind in my game, and looking back at that game, I can see what they are saying. Interesting. I had no idea that they could even see my annoyance.

I mean, I knew that I play worse when I am tired (maybe I shouldn't have started a game last night at 3am ^^) and I know that my state of mind in the game does make a difference, but it is just even so much more noticeable than I thought it was.



Go is such a mind game, even more than I realized. Will have to make a more concentrated effort to calm my mind before important games. And I will play less games when I know I won't be able to pay enough attention to the game, since the game quality will suffer too much. At least, I'll try to ^^ Sometimes I can't resist a game, even if it's not the best timing.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Online Go Server

Mike helpfully pointed out a new site to play turn based go: OGS, or Online Go Server.



Their FAQ states: "What we are trying to do with OGS is to create a site with a heavy focus on organised tournament and competitive play, with a fully integrated coaching and game reviewing system coming in the next few months to help players improve their ability. We also have some features that are unique to our Go server such as "conditional moves" (the ability to set up pre-programmed responses to your opponent's moves, thus speeding up the flow of the game)."

I started playing a few days ago, but haven't played in any tournament games yet, or on 19x19 boards for that matter. Seems like there is a tendency towards small boards. It is working fine so far, will be interesting to see how it develops.

If you like turn-based go, check out this new server.