Wonderful Workshop

Last weekend I spent at a go workshop. It was a great experience.

 

We had lectures, tons of go, good friends, and a great location.

 

The Woodlands is an old boarding house and has lots of character. Many rooms, interesting passage ways, cool architecture, creaking wood, peeling paint, but an abundance of welccomeness.

 

We spent most of our time playing or reviewing, but there always is time for a daily walk around the pond or in the woods. It is a good balance between mind exercise and body exercise.

 

There were quite a lot of dan players which made me remember how I went here years ago, the runt of the litter, weaker than ANY of the kyu players around, and I would look up to the group of dan players and soooooooo long to be at the top of Mount Olympus with the dan gods. I knew that once I was there, the heavens would open with bright light, and every go secret would be revealed.

 

This time there I was. A dan player. But Mt Olympus from here looked more like a mole hill. Not a big one either. And the bright light and the go secrets? They are not quite here yet.

 

Maybe when I become a stronger dan player all those things will happen! ^^

 

I had some good games though, learned some interesting new things and feel all ready for a summer of study and getting stronger. Well, in between life that is.

 

The good news is that it looks like my ASR standing has not been hurt by this weekend away from home and I still am green and hopefully will promote to Alpha this time. Maybe that is where the real gods are!

 

One of the lessons of the workshop. 'Don't just play all sente! Often it is bad sente.' She even mentioned that FIFTY percent of all sente we played were bad sente. And she wasn't talking about the kyu group either, she definitely looked at the dans just as pointedly. Good reminder to preserve the aji instead of getting rid of it right away.

 

Now it is back to the normal life of children, dishes and bees nest in the dryer vent.

 

There will be another go workshop like this at Columbus Day though, so looking forward to that one already.