Because It's There!

To Tenuki or Not To Tenuki

2012-01-23T20:50:00.000-05:00

I am playing a lot of games at the moment (for me that is) which results in interesting questions. Here is one question which came up when I played a 5-3 point as my first move. I was white. Black immediately invaded.

Hmmmm... Now what??? I wasn't sure whether to tenuki or not. I was tempted to do so, but I didn't like the idea of him coming out. I'd rather have him live small in the corner while I got the outside. Although my outside would face his hoshi, so maybe my move already was the wrong direction anyway.

I did reply locally, and I think I still stand by that decision but not with a very high confidence. What would you have done in this situation?

Midnight Games

2012-01-16T23:54:00.000-05:00

Note to self: midnight games can suffer from minor issues like missing a big atari. Oh well, I knew that midnight isn't my best playing time, but I hadn't played all day. That is a good excuse, no?

One of those 'If only I hadn't missed that atari I would have won!' games ^^

Maybe I should start sleeping at midnight :p

MGA Go Tournament

2012-01-16T14:38:00.000-05:00

After many months, I finally made it to a go tournament again. It was a good experience. I went 2-2.

My first game was against a 2d, I took black, no komi. I felt that all my playing on wbaduk helped me to see any weaknesses in his shape and take advantage. Won that game.
Next game against a 1k. This one didn't go as well, and I lost too much. Luckily it is really hard to win a won game, so I kept attacking and looking for weaknesses. Even although one of his groups ended up living, the bigger group passed away. Very regrettable. Another resignation.

It was nice to start the tournament with 2 wins, but things didn't go as smoothly in the next two games.

Third game against a 3d, so I got 2 handicap stones. It was a good game, I felt on top of things most of the time, but I failed to protect a weakness and one of my groups died a miserable death. Although it did go under in a fiery blaze of glory, it sure wasn't an easy game for him. I resigned when that group died.

Last game was even against 1d, and had a lot of interesting situations, but in the end I didn't have enough. Oh well.

Still, it was a good day and it was so nice to be playing serious games over the board.

The Evils of MultiTasking

2011-12-29T23:29:00.000-05:00

Today I was playing a game and doing quite well. I played thick moves, I didn't make a lot of stupid mistakes (just a few :p) and I knew I had this game won. At the same time, I was chatting with two friends in another window. Did I mention my kids were interrupting me a few times too to ask me things, so yes, I was multitasking as usual. But that was ok, because my game was so easy by now...

I had a corner group, an L+1 group. I have studied that group only two thousand times, so I know without thinking that it can live with A or B. I also know without thinking that A is superior, so in my 'I have a won game and I don't have to try so hard and I know so much better than my opponent' grandiose thinking, I played B...

As we all know, B is inferior because there is a gote seki to be made for white now. The worst thing was that I didn't even realize I had made this mistake. In my universe the trumpets were sounding to announce my victory and I blissfully worked on killing my group...

We got to endgame, and I stubbornly kept thinking that group was just fine, even after white had played a throw-in at A.

I happily filled up all my liberties, till I got a rude awakening when white went for the kill. By ko, but thanks to my filling up of my own liberties, I could not crush this shape but had to play the ko... How stupid! I started to realize that maybe I should hold off on those trumpets for a bit after all. And that next time I should live the RIGHT way with that group.

Things actually weren't too bad, the game was won enough that even without that group I still had a big lead. So I spent time trying to find the best ko threats. So much time that my byo yomi clock ran out and white won by time.

I guess next time I will turn off my chat programs when I play :D

New Book Store on the Block

2011-12-16T21:04:00.002-05:00

I was happy to find out that the excellent Go Game Guru blog now sells go books. They have a lot of the classics, Life and Death, Tesuji and more, and a bunch of new books I had not seen yet. I might have to find myself a Christmas present on their site ^^Go check them out at http://gogameguru.com/go-game-shop/category/buy-go-books/!And yes, I am still alive, just have been playing and studying a lot instead of blogging. Good excuse, right?

Unexpected Move

2011-10-27T08:59:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I had someone play this against me.

I had not seen it before and suspected it wasn't joseki, but the question is how to deal with it. If you want to see the game and how I dealt with it, click here.

Another interesting situation which came up in that game has to do with a capturing race starting at move 176. It is a simple capturing race according to the Hunter book (Counting Liberties and Winning Capturing Races). Still, I was as always surprised to see how much harder it is to read this out in a game, in 30 seconds byo yomi,than from the comfort of your arm chair in studying the Hunter book. Looking back I should have tenuki'ed from it much earlier I think.

Yet Another Go Tournament

2011-10-22T15:58:00.000-05:00

Two tournaments in one month. Such a miracle! This was in Boston and I won one game (out of four :D) The game I won surprisingly was the one in which I was giving handicap (2H to a 2k) which usually are my weakest games. Interesting.

Picture by John Uckele.

Butterfly Conclusion

2011-10-13T14:55:00.000-05:00

This position white can live, although depending on board situation, white might choose a ko anyway.

Here is David (from Go Game Guru)'s comment on it, which includes a link to a sensei's library page which is a good and thorough summary of this position.

As you and badge have said, white still can live, as shown at length here: http://senseis.xmp.net/?Butterfly

However, I've found in practise that it's often better to fight the ko as white. This is because it's a heavy ko for black and often you can force black to back down and let you live more comfortably.

Anyway, who wants to grovel for a small life when you can die gloriously in ko...

Interesting position, and thanks to my studying this, the last time it came up in a game, not only did I live, but I managed to 'cut black into pieces' like senseis library says. Ah, the sweet fruits of studying!

Don't worry, I'll find another position in which to die ^^

Butterfly Followup

2011-10-09T08:44:00.001-05:00

Thanks Badge, for your input. I had forgotten about the butterfly name. I do remember it is considered bad shape because of the sansan invasion. But when I invaded... It didn't end so well for me.

This was your proposal, which is basically correct apart from missing an atari on the way. Of course is easier to see on the board than when you type a sequence.

This is how I have learned the invasion (but without the extra okeima stone at N17. As you can see, black's hane at 13 looks weird and superfluous now. Just showing it here for completeness.

One day I was playing a black who agreed and instead of the O17 protection decided to atari me at A. For a few moments I was overconfident as always, because I knew that the punishment for that is to cut at P17. No problem, ha, I would kill him so badly!

Isn't it great how we can be totally overconfident in our games, even when it is not quite warranted. Soon after he played A, and I cut at P17, I found out that the stone at B was very significant indeed. And instead of the cut being a punishment for him, it actually got me into deeper trouble.

Ouch!

Random Study Subject: Invasions

2011-10-08T12:51:00.000-05:00

Since I am studying more again, I have been looking into invasions. This was one of my interesting ones that I didn't know yet before it jumped up and started attacking me.

When I played white in a game, I confidently invaded, because we all know that an okeima star point corner lives without any problems, right?

Well...

There was the tiny issue of the other okeima. But this was a nice and sunnny day and the birds were singing, so I was willing to pretend that other okeima wasn't there, since it was too far away to count anyway...

I bet you can predict what happened. Yes, indeed, I died a totally miserable death...

Reader input: What is status of this corner with TWO okeimas?

You Can't Get There from Here

2011-10-06T07:46:00.000-05:00

Finally, I played a real life tournament again. On Sunday I drove to Middlebury in Vermont and was amazed and shocked to see the damage hurricane Irene had wrought. Even our favorit snackbar in Woodstock has been mostly washed out.

Anyway I made it to Middlebury just in time for the start of the tournament.

I played 4 games.
Game 1: Even, no komi against a 1k, I won by resignation when one of his groups died an unexpected death.
Game 2: Against a 2d, even no komi again, but this time I had black. I lost that game by quite a lot of points.
Game 3: Against a 1d, even, I took black after choosing for colour. I lost by one point on the board, but he had komi too, so 7.5 altogether.
Game 4: Against another 1d. This one I won by resignation again.

End result 2-2, not bad, but not stellar either. I'll try to post some interesting positions of the games over the next few days. In my spare time that is, so don't hold your breath ^^

I loved playing serious games over the board again, I am happy I made the drive up to there.

Still in Gamma but No Time to Play

2011-09-03T23:06:00.000-05:00

Geez, story of my life. At least I got to play three games on the last day of August, but I haven't been able to get any games in since then. What is more serious is that I didn't even do any tsumego! Hoping next week will be more successful, did I mention I am an optimist?

Fighting My Way Back Up

2011-08-31T12:26:00.000-05:00

Hmmmm, was without internet for a while, had a lot of life, my handicap stones were home from school for the summer and I was trying to sell a house. Somehow I didn't get to play much go.

Not only did I manage to drop down to ASR League gamma this month, but in addition I am RED, which means that I will be demoted in a few hours unless a miracle happens.

Or if we are short on miracles, an opponent to play in my class in the next hour would be awesome too. My goal in September will be to promote from whatever class I find myself in, since my kids are BACK to school today! I might have one or two hours to play go once in a while. Maybe ^^

Best Thrift Store Find EVUH

2011-07-17T23:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, this is the first time I found a portable go set in the thrift store.

Life is crazy but happy. I just played my second ASR game of the month. I am selling a house, buying a house and having family visiting from overseas, not to mention that the rest of my life does not quite stop for trivialities like that. My goal for this month is to stay in Beta, since Alpha is too intense for my current level of interesting times. I guess the first step towards that would be to actually play four games

Haha, Back to Beta

2011-07-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

At least I got to play quite a few Alpha games, even if I lost most of them. But for this month Beta will be just fine since I am doing boring real life stuff like selling a house. Still, I have to admit that I am going to do my darndest best to get back to Alpha, just because I LIKED being in the top tier, even if I didn't manage to stay in.

I have all kinds of interesting moves and posts, so let's hope I manage to get some computer go time. For now I wanted to share the exciting news of yet another demotion. I am sure it will make me stronger in the end, right? Yes, I am an optimistic person ^^

New Opening Experiments

2011-06-25T21:04:00.000-05:00

I saw this opening in recent Lee Sedol games and I have been experimenting with it. I like the results I have been having.
First time I saw it was in Nongshim Cup Game 1 review on audiogolessons.

Two examples of my own game (reviewed by teacher sendol) can be found here and here.

Alpha class in ASR is BRUTAL! I need to play way more games than I have in any of my other classes and I am still in the demotion zone! Not sure whether I will be able to stay in alpha. Oh well, I am having fun anyway AND I am motivated to play so life is good.

Made it to The Top

2011-06-07T12:08:00.000-05:00

Happiness is making it to the top class of the ASR League! This month I am a proud Alpha ASRer.

Of course, I might not be able to play enough games and will bounce right back to Beta, but for now I am enjoying the view from 'the top'. It is nice to get to play a variety of strong opponents and have good games to review and learn from.

At the moment I am still in demotion zone, so I'd better get my act together and play, play, play.

Wonderful Workshop

2011-05-31T07:46:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I spent in the Catskills at a go workshop with Guo Juan 5p. 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.

ASR League Progress

2011-05-20T13:54:00.000-05:00

This month has been a good month for my Advanced Study Room League playing. It still isn't easy to find games, but I managed to play enough to get myself in the 'green' , meaning that as for now I would be set to promote to the Alpha class.

Of course, the reality is that I am barely green and might very well stay in Beta, but hey , that is progress overe last time I made it to Beta and demoted right away the next month.

My biggest issue still is finding time to play and I bet that's only going to get worse once summer hits. But then , who wants to be indoors playing go when you can be outdoors hiking and geocaching anyway?

Back to Beta!

2011-05-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

I did it! Got myself back to Beta class in the ASR League. Now I just need to try to get enough games to either stay put or maybe even promote to Alpha. It is nice to dream ^^

On the studying front, I am busy trying to understand capturing races. It wouldn't be so bad if they all were simple, count liberties and be done ones, but they always seem to have kos, approach moves, false eyes, weak eyes and all kinds of other complicating factors. It is fun but frustrating.

End of the Month ASR Games

2011-04-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

After demoting last month, I was luckier this month and managed to get in a bunch of games during the last weeks. I still think the hardest issue in ASR is getting a game. There have been many instances when I put up a game and no one takes it for hours. It is a great way to get go problems in while waiting or to do the dishes though ^^

The good news is that for now I am in the 'green' (promoting zone) and there is only a few hours left, so most likely I'll be back in Beta next month. Woohoo!

Of course, then the real work will start to try to make it to the top group Alpha instead of bouncing right back to Gamma.

Mind Game

2011-04-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

I was playing a game and created an L+1 group in the corner with two hanes. Yes, I know that is supposed to be dead but I so desperately wanted sente and I decided that most likely my opponent wouldn't know how to kill it anyway. I bet you can predict where this is going, can't you?

Well, I was right, he didn't know how to kill. BUT! In the game I totally messed up my reply to his wrong move. My mind was fatalistic 'Well, this is the punishment for that tenuki and I will die anyway so why try too hard?'. The next day I self reviewed the game and my mind noticed 'Oh! That is sooooooooooooo basic, of course that doesn't kill and why didn't I see that during the game???!'

I guess the big question is, how can I make my mind behave a bit more reasonable during my games?

Demoted!

2011-04-01T15:14:00.001-05:00

I did it!
Got myself from a Beta group in the ASR league demoted to a Gamma group. It is not always easy to get games when I had time and I had a lot less time than I did in February. Oh well.

I plan to be in Beta again next month. I like how the league motivates me to play more, even if that didn't quite work out this month.

Today is a snow day, all the kids at home but I still managed to get in my first ASR loss of the month ^^.

Don't Run With Scissors

2011-03-29T12:26:00.002-05:00

Haha, so much for my go playing. Much life is happening, much of it is good, but somehow it takes up a lot of time! I have been trying to get ASR games in the little bit of time I have left, but have not been very successful in meeting up with others in my group. I'd better get some more games in or I will go right back to gamma next month. Oh well.

Because I can't get ASR games I have been playing relaxed and reasonably fast games on wbaduk. Which would be wonderful if I didn't manage to keep getting killed in positions where I thought I would be fine.

Interesting playing style they have, tons of cutting and fighting. When I try to do it right back at them, I either get killed or I lose an arm or a leg or even more often, an eye.

If anything I am even more convinced of the value of studying capturing races more seriously. The easy ones are , well, easy but the more complicated ones mostly give me a head ache and a desire to take up chess.

Go for Broke

2011-03-06T13:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we drove through the Green Mountains of Vermont to the 'Go for Broke' tournament in Middlebury. It is a small tournament, but always an excellent atmosphere.

My first game I had to give 4 handicap stones to a 4k. Hmmmm. At the end of middle game I still was too much behind so decided on a shobute invasion in his 'too big and maybe too open' territory. It was a bloody and complicated fight and in the end we got into a complicated capturing race. I won by luck. Did I mention I am in the process of studying capturing races more thoroughly?

Second game was an even game in which all kinds of stuff went wrong early on and featured yet another capturing race. There was blood all over the place but in the end I won by a small margin. Just for the record. I HATE the ING talking clocks but they are more bearable if you put them in Chinese since it's easier to tune out a language I don't understand.

The last game was another even game against another player who had gone 2-0 so far. Ugly stuff happened and at the end of the middle game I was too far behind and no aji to explore so I resigned.

End result: 2-1 which was enough to get my into second place and a beautiful Japanese print poster. Thanks to Pete Schumer for organizing an always fun tourney.

It was a good tournament and I am looking forward to sitting down and reviewing my games. Not today though, today is cleaning day in which I try to uncover my kitchen table. Fancy that. There must be a table somewhere under that stack of dishes!

Unexpected Move

2011-02-04T18:18:00.000-05:00

I am really enjoying my more frequent playing and I get lots of opportunities to learn new things. Too bad I hadn't read Go Game's Guru article 5 Tips for Dealing with Unexpected Moves yet when I played this game. My opponent surprised me by playing A in reply to my pincer.

Even although I did stay calm (tip 1) I did not particularly respect my opponent ('This must be a mistake or a misclick or just no clue what he is doing'). I didn't really take my time to figure out his plan or read out everything. I just started playing in reply and hoping for the best. At first it seemed to be ok.

Until it wasn't ok anymore. Oops. This was a very bad not good result at all.

By now I have done some preliminary research and Kogo's says that this indeed is an existing move (who wouldave thunk!?) 'A special strategy, if White has something like the High Chinese Fuseki on the lower side..'

I also found the move in some pro games but haven't really figured out yet what to do next time. I guess it should be on my 'moves to study' list.

The game can be found here.

Promoted!

2011-02-01T08:16:00.000-05:00

In January I have been playing in the ASR league which is divided up in different layers: Super, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Every month the league promotes the top 4 players in a class and demotes the lowest 8 players.

I started out in Delta and first thought I would just play the minimum number of games to stay in my group (which is four games) and get enough points not to get demoted. Of course in the end my natural competitive instinct kicked in and I decided to try for promotion after all.

A few days before the end of the month I looked for a few more games and managed to get myself in the top 4 players.

This month I am a proud member of one of the Gamma groups. I bet promotion from this one is going to be harder though so we'll see what happens.

The Most Stupid Misread EVER!

2011-01-30T21:00:00.001-05:00

Today I played an ASR game on KGS and read the ladder which would catch my stone. I read it perfectly. No, does not hit his stone. I am fine.

He played it anyway.

Hmmmm, how can he misread such a simple ladder? Checked again. No he MUST be wrong. It is soooooo not hitting his stone. I play a few more ladder moves.

Well one of us MUST be wrong. It can't be me, can it? This is such a simple ladder. No of course it must be him.

I read it again.

No, it is not hitting his stone. It is hitting the edge of the board instead. Duh!!!! I am DOOMED!!!

The joys of misreading a 29k ladder ^^

Against All Odds: Playing Go!

2011-01-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

Still lots of life going on but surprisingly enough I actually have managed to fit go in way more than I did last year. I have been playing in the Advanced Study Room League although I need more games to promote to a higher group and the month is almost over.

I had been playing on wbaduk but got discouraged when there was a lot going on and somehow I lost all my games (go always reflects my state of mind.) Today I finally played there again and WON a game though so maybe there is hope. It can't have to do anything with the fact that I meditated earlier today, right?

I managed to play the Boston tournament a few weeks ago which was awesome to be able to devote a whole day to go.

This is a good start of the year. I hope it will continue like this!

Massachussets Go Association Tournament

2011-01-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we drove down to Boston to play in the MGA tournament.

I won 2 games and lost 2 games which means it was a perfect tournament, right? The funny thing is that I was confident about my even games but not so confident about giving handicap. Which was not reflected in my results.

First game against 1d: I lost;
Second game against a 2d: I lost;
Third game against a 2k, giving 2 handicap stones: I won;
Fourth game against a 3k, 3H: I won (close game though);

Hmmmm, I guess I am getting better at giving handicap. Or I just got lucky ^^

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T09:10:00.000-05:00

May your year be filled with love, happiness, good friends and sente.

I finally joined the Advanced Study Room League. It is an interesting system and I am looking forward to getting some good games in.

The League divides group of players into Layers

The league is made out of multiple layers; Super, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. The superclass floats above the league and is only available for 6d+ (link). The regular league works with the pyramid system. The pyramid means that for every layer you move down you double in size of classes. So Alpha splits into 2 Beta classes, Beta splits into 4 Gamma classes etc. Layer sizes might vary according to the number of entrants we have that month.

The layers are subdivided into Classes

A class consists of 14 players. The lowest layer in the league can have 20 players. This is done because often new players sign up but don’t play a lot. This way we can give new players the chance to still enjoy the league.

Every month we promote the top 3 players in a class and demote the lowest 6 players. The top 6 places in the league are always safe from demotion.

What I like most about the League is their focus on teaching and learning:

With a spread of ability in the majority of the classes, that there will always be stronger players to play that can be learned from, and weaker players that can be taught. At the end of each game, it is hoped that the stronger player will take the time to review the game for the weaker player. If the players are of even strength, much can be learned by reviewing the game together.

Every month is a new league and there are still many slots open for January. If you are interested log on to KGS, join the Advanced Study Room and sign up. It is for all level players so don't worry about being too weak, these games will help you get stronger.

The Rollercoaster of Online Games

2010-12-13T12:47:00.001-05:00

This morning no cats were around so I knew I could play a nice, focused game. Not sure who I was kidding but that was the mindset I had in the beginning.

I log on, find an opponent, and get black in our nigiri. We cruise along for a while. I make mistakes, he makes mistakes, life is fun. He makes his biggest mistake still and I manage to kill his group.

How regrettable for him. I relax into a 'I won the game' state of mind and stop paying attention to pesky details like white playing move A.

No reason to actually look at my opponent's moves, right, since I won the game already. I ignore his move and atari two of his stones at B.

He must have been very happy to bring his group back to life, I know I was laughing about the silliness of it all. So much for winning a won game. So much for certain victory. So much for 'black cannot lose now'. Gottalove reality checks.

My revenge came a few moves later when he did the exact same thing I did. I played A and he replied at B, giving me the game back. How generous of him.

I can't help but think that there is a life lesson in here somewhere, if only I could find it...

The whole sgf can be found here.

Now What?

2010-12-12T20:12:00.000-05:00

Today I played Chinese opening and black and at move 10 white surprised me. While I was thinking about the right reply, white resigned so I didn't get to try out anything.

What do you think would be best move for black now?

Lesson Learned

2010-12-07T11:48:00.000-05:00

Today I learned that I should NOT have my cat around when I play go. See, this cute fluffy cat. Looks like a little angel, doesn't she?

This morning I played an online game.
She started walking all over my keyboard.
I pushed her off.
She came back.
I pushed her off.
She came back again.
I glared at her.
She purred and made herself comfortable.
I pushed her off.
She managed to make a MOVE in my go game for me on her way off. YIKES! Not a very good move either. Heck, it was a really bad move.
To add insult to injury, she spilled my tea all over me.

Lesson learned: She is not allowed in the room anymore when I play go. At least not today. Tomorrow I might feel sorry for her again when she is lonely and start the whole thing over.

I won the game anyway, but only barely so. No thanks to her!

Hooray! Gogrinder on the Move.

2010-11-28T15:30:00.002-05:00

For years I have been using the gogrinder application on my computer to study go problems and basic corner shapes. I have found it an extremely useful application, so I was thrilled to find out that gogrinder now has been released for the iphone / ipod touch.

It works easily and intuitively and I have enjoyed using it. It comes with two problem collections, but it is very easy to add your own problem collections via an application called ggbundler. This can be found on the iphone gogrinder web site. I timed myself and it took me less than 10 minutes to find out how to upload my own problem collections, download the application, and start using it. I now can study whatever problems I want on my ipod touch.

The program has less options than the computer version, but I didn't find that to be a big issue. I would like to be able to order my problems in whatever order I like (like on the computer) but I can live with the iphone order. What I like better on the iphone is that I can ask for a hint and it will show me the next move, while on the computer I have to go back to the start of the problem to do so.

It is sometimes hard to hit the right stone location on the iphone, even with the cool magnifying glass, but that is more an ipod issue than a gogrinder issue. It hasn't interfered with my go studies.

For a mere $2.99 you can take all your go problems with you in the bus, in waiting rooms, during boring meetings, anywhere and increase the size of your go muscles. I am very happy with it.

L Plus 2

2010-11-04T11:15:00.001-05:00

I have been playing on wbaduk, and have had some interesting life and death situations. Maybe more death situations than I would like to admit but that is another story. For now want to share this L+2 group followup.

In this game I was white and had a beautiful L+2 group, totally surrounded by black, but as we all know, healthy and alive.

We were in endgame and I had played one hane to the outside and felt comfortable leaving my group for perceived bigger moves.

He hane-ed from the other side, which I read as not sente, since if he extended I could just atari and connect and I would still be alive.

I played tenuki and he extended his hane stone. I was all prepared, atari-ed, expecting him to connect. Only he didn't! I can't believe he didn't just play the move I wanted him to play! Instead he counter atari-ed at A.

After I took, he played kosumi and we ended up in a seki (side note: even although I didn't add black stones to the left of the group, there were a lot, so couldn't really do anything there to increase liberties on that P1 stone. )

Hmmm, interesting. I looked at it later and could find no way to not end in seki but instead live with points. I clearly didn't read deeply enough when I decided to ignore his initial hane, since the seki made that move a lot bigger than it was otherwise. And here I thought I knew 'everything' about L+2 groups...

Tea

2010-10-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Boston Tournament

2010-10-18T15:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I played in the quarterly MGA tournament.

Game 1: I played black against 1d, started an avalanche and a mess and won.
Game 2: I played black against another shodan, started a mess and lost.
Game 3: Gave 4H to a 4k, despaired, made a shobute mess and won.
Game 4: I gave 9H to a ddk, played steadily and won.

End result: three wins, one loss, fifth place.

The Woodlands: Porch and Simul

2010-10-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Apart from the abundance of go at The Woodlands, there is The Porch. Early morning, when you wake up, you wander to the porch to drink tea with other early birds. People will be playing go and it is the best place to eat pancakes with maple syrup.

Afternoon tea is much better on the porch than it is inside the building, especially with wonderful loose leaf tea.

On Monday Guo Juan gave a simul against all of us. You know, one of these games where you put down your handicap stones, start fighting, have this beautiful moyo. That moyo which 20 moves later is struggling to make two eyes, or at least one and a half so it might be able to win the capturing race... Or maybe you just fuond yourself a perfect place to resign.

She won all her games. Such power!

Back from The Woodlands

2010-10-15T08:46:00.000-05:00

This was yet another excellent workshop. I finally downloaded my pictures and hope to share many of them soon, after I do the 281 items on my 'Thing to do: Urgent!' list. Here is a quick preview.

We played games and Guo Juan would review them. Somehow her stones always move way more gracefully than our stones do.

When you spend a lot of time sitting and thinking, it is important to get some exercise and fresh air. Every day after lunch we would take a walk. This is our Saturday hike around the pond.

I bet we played at least a stone stronger after this walk to nourish our soul.

Playing

2010-10-06T12:54:00.000-05:00

Slowly getting back into playing, although life still somewhat interferes. Yesterday I was able to play two games on Cyberoro and lost both of them. Ouch. I like to blame my mindset of my lack of calmness or the cat, but in reality it was just me messing up.

Today was better. I studied on KGS with a friend for a while and then opened cyberoro for a game. I was calmer and more focused than yesterday and got less annoyed by 'unreasonable plays' of my opponent. This game I won.

Looking forward to another sendol lesson tomorrow and a whole weekend filled with go at the Woodlands in upstate New York.

Life is Good

2010-09-30T09:12:00.000-05:00

This morning I had my first lesson with sendol after many months of too much life and not enough chocolate. It feels good to be studying more seriously again.

He reviewed two of my games which is great timing since I will go to go club this afternoon. I can share some of the lesson with my friends there.

2010 Columbus Day Workshop with Guo Juan 5p

2010-09-24T17:02:00.002-05:00

Who wants to spend Columbus Day weekend in the beautiful Catskill Mountains, studying go, and having a good time?

There still are openings. Don't let this opportunity pass. Click here for info.

Overplay? III

2010-09-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

In my game white gave up one of his stones, but in review it turned out that white was just fine as long as he resists with W4.

Whatever black plays now, white is fine and white H4 actually was close enough to be helpful. Who would've thunk!?

Overplay? II : Whole Board Position

2010-08-29T14:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks all for the feedback. Here is the whole board position. I did 'punish' by playing b3, he answered b4, and I cut at e4. Little did I know. You are right David, the hane is playable in this position which was news to both of us. I will post more tomorrow.

Welcome back David and I am looking forward to visiting Go Game Guru.

Overplay?

2010-08-28T20:38:00.001-05:00

My second game of the summer supplied an interesting situation. Look at the following diagram. White 7 usually is an overplay so I was all ready to punish it.

But there is this extra white stone. Does that change White 7 from an overplay into a good move? Or does it not?

During the game I looked at it and said 'Nah, that stone is too far away, I will just punish.' Was that the right decision? Let me know what y'all think.

Back to Baduk and Studying

2010-08-17T00:16:00.000-05:00

This summer vacation has been totally insane, no time for baduk at all. I spent 48 % of my time driving my children around town, 29 % of my time from preventing my house to become too much of a disaster zone and 31 % of my time feeding the hungry hordes, which leaves me not much time for baduk.

I decided to give up on sleeping, freeing up 2 % of my time for baduk studies, yay!

For the last two weeks I have been studying life and death, haengma and even a recent pro game. Not only that but I managed to visit go club and hope to get there again this week. And I am looking forward to September when the children will be back into school and I will be able to PLAY!

The Joys of Losing Many Games

2010-05-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

I have been playing on wbaduk and have yet again discovered what a mind game go is. I can win if I actually focus on the game. But if I have to play in a hurry or am distracted or annoyed by my opponent's unreasonable play, I do make stupid mistakes.

As in misreading something obvious or messing up a joseki I know well enough. Or suiciding while trying to kill my opponent. Very frustrating. And very clear that calmness of the mind has a huge influence on my go game. As it does on my life, but that is another story.

Wbaduk Game

2010-04-12T11:24:00.003-05:00

I promised Jeff I would post this game. Finally getting around to doing so, which is the first time I am using eidogo after a long time so I hope it works. I am white.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[0.00]
PW[NannyOgg]DT[2010-03-25]PC[The KGS Go Server at http://www.gokgs.com/]B[pd]
;W[dp]
;B[qp]
;W[dc]
;B[cn]
;W[fq]
;B[bp]
;W[cq]
;B[ck]
(;W[op]
;B[oq]
;W[nq]
;B[pq]
(;W[mp]
(;B[jq]TR[jq]C[sendol [-\]: overplay
NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]
(;W[qo]
(;B[ro]
;W[pp]
(;B[rp]
;W[qn]
;B[rn]
;W[qm]C[sendol [-\]: now w successful
]
;B[nc]
;W[jo]TR[jo]C[sendol [-\]: good
]
;B[hp]
(;W[go]
;B[gp]
;W[fp]
;B[ho]
(;W[gn]
;B[hn]
;W[gm]
(;B[bq]TR[bq]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ok
sendol [-\]: greedy
]
(;W[br]TR[br]C[sendol [-\]: passive
]
;B[cp]
;W[dq]
;B[do]
(;W[eo]
;B[en]TR[en]C[sendol [-\]: wrong direction
sendol [-\]: big mistake
]
(;W[hm]
;B[jn]C[NannyOgg [-\]: yeah :(
]
(;W[ko]C[NannyOgg [-\]: very cool
]
;B[im]TR[im][jn]C[sendol [-\]: b good shape
sendol [-\]: w failed
]
;W[il]
;B[jl]
(;W[ik]C[NannyOgg [-\]: i see
]
(;B[em]
;W[jk]
;B[kl]
;W[hr]C[sendol [-\]: finally^^
]
;B[ir]
;W[hq]
;B[ip]
(;W[cf]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ^^
]
;B[ch]
(;W[jd]
;B[fc]
;W[de]
;B[ic]
;W[jc]
;B[id]
;W[ie]
;B[ib]
(;W[jb]
;B[he]
;W[hf]TR[hf]C[sendol [-\]: dangerous move
]
(;B[ge]
;W[if]
;B[qh]
;W[gf]
;B[fe]
;W[qd]
;B[qc]
(;W[rc]
(;B[qb]TR[qb]C[sendol [-\]: too passive
]
;W[qe]
;B[pe]
;W[qf]
;B[pf]
;W[qg]
;B[pg]
;W[rh]
;B[qi]
;W[ri]
;B[qj]
(;W[rj]
(;B[rb]
(;W[sd]TR[sd]C[sendol [-\]: too small
]
;B[kn]
;W[ln]
;B[lm]
;W[mn]
(;B[gk]TR[gk]C[sendol [-\]: wrong direction
]
(;W[gl]TR[gl]C[sendol [-\]: too passive
]
;B[fk]C[NannyOgg [-\]: :(
]
(;W[ff]TR[ff]C[sendol [-\]: wrong
]
;B[eb]
;W[db]
;B[da]
;W[ec]
;B[fb]
;W[ca]
;B[ea]
;W[bb]
;B[ke]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]
;W[je]
;B[kg]TR[ke][ff][kg]C[sendol [-\]: almost liberty
sendol [-\]: no b can counterattack
]
;W[qk]
(;B[pk]
;W[pl]
;B[ok]
;W[lc]
;B[ld]
;W[bg]C[sendol [-\]: good
]
;B[bh]
;W[nr]
(;B[or]
;W[os]
(;B[pr]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ^^
]
(;W[ps]
;B[qs]
;W[ns]
;B[rr]
;W[iq]
;B[jp]
;W[jr]
;B[kr]
;W[is]
;B[lq]
;W[ah]
;B[ai]
;W[ag]
;B[bj]
;W[md]
(;B[le]TR[ld][ke][le]C[NannyOgg [-\]: funny shape ^^
sendol [-\]: inefficient shape
]
;W[mc]
;B[me]
;W[nd]
(;B[ne]
;W[oc]
;B[pc]C[sendol [-\]: b loss
]
;W[li]
;B[kj]
;W[kk]
;B[lk]
;W[lj]
;B[ki]
(;W[kh]
;B[jh]
;W[lh]
;B[ji]
;W[mk]
;B[ll]
;W[nk]
;B[nl]
;W[ol]
;B[ml]
;W[oj]
;B[nj]
(;W[pj]
;B[mj]
;W[ok]
(;B[ni]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ^^
]
;W[nh]
;B[oi]
;W[oh]C[sendol [-\]: nice
]
;B[ph]
;W[pi]
;B[jg]
;W[lp]
;B[cg]
;W[bf]
;B[ef]
;W[df]
;B[dg]
;W[ee]
;B[eg]
;W[nb]
;B[ob]
;W[oa]
;B[pa]
;W[pb]
;B[gq]
;W[gr]
;B[ob]
;W[na]
;B[od]
;W[pb]
;B[hk]
;W[hl]
;B[ob]
;W[hd]
;B[hc]
;W[pb]
;B[fn]
;W[fo]
;B[ob]
;W[nc]
;B[kb]
;W[kc]
;B[ja]
;W[ka]
;B[la]
;W[lb]
;B[ka]
;W[ma]
;B[ia]
;W[hi]
;B[hh]
;W[gh]
;B[hg]
;W[fh]
;B[gi]
;W[gj]
;B[fi]
;W[ei]
;B[fj]
;W[ij]
;B[eh]
;W[lg]
;B[kf]
;W[fl]
;B[ek]
;W[el]
;B[dk]
;W[rm]
;B[ii]
;W[dl]
;B[cl]
;W[dm]
;B[dn]
;W[cm]
;B[bm]
;W[aq]
;B[ap]
;W[ar]
;B[sb]
;W[fd]
;B[gd]
;W[ed]
;B[hj]
;W[sn]
;B[so]
;W[sm]
;B[sc]
;W[rd]
;B[ng]
;W[mg]
;B[og]
;W[mi]
;B[mf]
;W[fm]
;B[bn]
;W[pb]
;B[qa])
(;B[mh]
;W[lg]
(;B[mg]
(;W[kf]
;B[jg]C[sendol [-\]: w dead
NannyOgg [-\]: ouch
])
(;W[jg]
;B[kf])
(;W[fi])
(;W[ph]C[sendol [-\]: but w enough
NannyOgg [-\]: ok
sendol [-\]: next game?
NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]))
(;B[jg]C[sendol [-\]: next w?
NannyOgg [-\]: o12
]
;W[nh])))
(;W[mj]
;B[pj]
;W[ni]
;B[ph]
;W[jg]
;B[hi]
;W[oi]
;B[mh]C[sendol [-\]: hi
]
;W[mg]
(;B[lg]
;W[ng]C[sendol [-\]: over
NannyOgg [-\]: nice
])
(;B[nh]
;W[kf])))
(;W[kp]
;B[kq]
;W[mk]
;B[ll]
;W[kh]
;B[jh]
;W[lh]
;B[ji]
;W[jg]
(;B[hi]
;W[lg]
;B[kf]
(;W[nk])
(;W[nl]
;B[mj]
;W[nj]
;B[mi]
;W[nh]
;B[nk]
;W[ml]
;B[ni]
;W[oi]
;B[oj]
;W[mh]
;B[nj]
(;W[ol]
;B[pj]
;W[ph]C[NannyOgg [-\]: sweet
sendol [-\]: over
])
(;W[ph])))
(;B[mj])
(;B[nl]TR[jh][ji][ki][kj]C[sendol [-\]: next w?
NannyOgg [-\]: hmmmm, not sure o9?
sendol [-\]: how to kill?
NannyOgg [-\]: j12
]
(;W[ih]
;B[ii]
;W[hi]
;B[hh]C[NannyOgg [-\]: j10
]
(;W[ig]
;B[hj]
;W[gi]
;B[ij]C[NannyOgg [-\]: oh
])
(;W[hj]
;B[ig]
;W[jf]
;B[gh]
;W[fi]
;B[fh]
;W[eh]
;B[ei]
;W[fj]
;B[eg]
;W[dh]C[NannyOgg [-\]: not good
]
;B[dg]
;W[di]
;B[ej]))
(;W[ii]
;B[ih]
;W[hh]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ah
sendol [-\]: not difficult
sendol [-\]: so, dont miss this variation
NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]
(;B[ij]
;W[hi]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]
;B[hj]
;W[jj])
(;B[hi]
;W[ij]
;B[hg]
;W[gh]
;B[ig]
;W[jf]C[sendol [-\]: net
])))))
(;B[oc]C[sendol [-\]: naturally
]))
(;B[me]
;W[mc]
;B[nd]C[sendol [-\]: naturally
]))
(;W[rr]C[NannyOgg [-\]: oh
NannyOgg [-\]: didn't even read that
NannyOgg [-\]: interesting
sendol [-\]: bad aji
])
(;W[qq]
;B[qr]
;W[rr]
(;B[rs]
;W[qs]
;B[rq]
;W[ss]C[sendol [-\]: b traped
NannyOgg [-\]: sweet!
])
(;B[rq]
;W[qs])
(;B[qs]TR[qs]C[sendol [-\]: correct answer
]
(;W[rq]
;B[rs]
(;W[sr]
;B[sp]
;W[rm]
;B[sq]C[sendol [-\]: b safety
])
(;W[sq]
;B[sp]C[sendol [-\]: nothing
]))
(;W[rs])))
(;W[qs]
(;B[rr]
;W[ps]
(;B[rs]C[sendol [-\]: normal now
])
(;B[lq]
;W[qr]
;B[qq]
;W[rs]
;B[sr]
;W[rm]
;B[sn]C[sendol [-\]: b painful
]))
(;B[qr]
;W[rr]C[sendol [-\]: b trapped
])))
(;B[qr]))
(;B[pr]C[sendol [-\]: or
])
(;B[qr]C[sendol [-\]: correct
]))
(;B[bg]
;W[bf]
;B[lq]
;W[mr]
;B[kr]TR[bg][lq][kr]C[sendol [-\]: b had better follow this way
]))
(;W[eb]C[sendol [-\]: big yose
]
;B[fb]
(;W[qk])
(;W[bg]
;B[bh]
;W[qk]LB[qk:A]TR[eb][bg]C[sendol [-\]: big yose
sendol [-\]: A is also big points
])))
(;W[eb]
;B[fb]
;W[qk]TR[qk]C[sendol [-\]: connection
]
;B[hl]
;W[gj]
;B[gl]
;W[hj]TR[gj][hj][ik][jk]C[sendol [-\]: b gained nothing
sendol [-\]: instaed w take some profit
]))
(;B[lj]C[sendol [-\]: natuarlly
]))
(;W[qk]C[sendol [-\]: connect
sendol [-\]: is much better
]))
(;B[kn]C[sendol [-\]: settle
]))
(;W[ml]TR[ml]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ah
sendol [-\]: now w also need to take care
sendol [-\]: take care as wellas attack
])
(;W[lk]
;B[kn]
;W[lo]
;B[mm]
;W[nl]C[NannyOgg [-\]: yeah ^^
sendol [-\]: slightly w thin
]))
(;B[qe]
;W[rd]
;B[pc]
;W[re]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]
;B[qf]
;W[qb]
;B[pb]
;W[qa]
;B[rf]
;W[sb]
;B[kn]C[sendol [-\]: if b settled this weak group, b hopeful
]))
(;W[qe]
;B[rc]
;W[pe]
;B[od]
;W[oe]
;B[ne]
;W[nf]
(;B[me]
;W[lk]
;B[kn]
;W[lo]
;B[mm]
;W[nl]
;B[]
;W[qj]TR[qh]C[sendol [-\]: at least wcan take this b
])
(;B[of]
;W[me]
;B[nd]
;W[og]
;B[pf]
;W[pg]
;B[qf]
;W[qg]
;B[rf]
;W[rg]
;B[re]
;W[lk]TR[lk]C[sendol [-\]: b gained small
sendol [-\]: vital point
])))
(;B[je]
;W[if]
;B[ke]
;W[ld]
;B[le]
;W[md]
;B[nf]C[sendol [-\]: complicated
]))
(;W[jf]
;B[jb]
;W[lk]
;B[kn]
;W[lo]
;B[mm]
;W[nl]C[sendol [-\]: even if b alive,
]
;B[]
;W[pg]TR[pg]C[sendol [-\]: if w can extend, w much ahead
]
;B[]))
(;W[lk]C[sendol [-\]: still
]))
(;W[lk]C[sendol [-\]: since w very thick
sendol [-\]: w can attack severely
]
;B[kn]
;W[lo]
;B[mm]
;W[nl]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ah
NannyOgg [-\]: i felt my attack wasn't very good
sendol [-\]: evem if b alive, w very successful
NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]))
(;B[gr]C[sendol [-\]: or
])
(;B[jk]C[sendol [-\]: run
]))
(;W[jk]C[sendol [-\]: kiai
]
;B[]
;W[hr]C[sendol [-\]: besides base
]
;B[hq]
;W[ir]
;B[jr]
;W[in]
(;B[io]
;W[iq]
;B[ip]
;W[jp]C[sendol [-\]: cut
]
;B[gr]
;W[gq])
(;B[iq]
;W[jm]
;B[lq]
;W[or]
;B[pr]
;W[mr]
;B[gr]
;W[fr]
;B[is]
;W[ks]
(;B[kr])
(;B[io]
;W[kn]
;B[jp]
;W[cf]C[sendol [-\]: alive but too poor
]))))
(;W[jp]LB[im:A][iq:B]C[sendol [-\]: miai
]
(;B[im]
;W[iq]
(;B[ip]
(;W[hr])
(;W[hq]C[sendol [-\]: big cash
]))
(;B[hr]
;W[ir]
;B[gr]
;W[dm]
;B[dn]
;W[cf]C[sendol [-\]: also w satgisfied
]))
(;B[ip]
;W[in]C[sendol [-\]: w can cut
]
;B[io]
;W[im]
(;B[ko]
;W[kp]
;B[lp]
;W[kq]
;B[kr]
;W[lq]C[NannyOgg [-\]: cool!
sendol [-\]: no ladder
])
(;B[kp]
;W[ko]
;B[lo]
;W[kn]
;B[ln]
;W[km]
;B[lp]
;W[qq]
;B[qr]
;W[iq]
;B[ir]
(;W[hq]
;B[hr]
;W[gq]
;B[kr]C[NannyOgg [-\]: sweet
]
;W[qk]C[sendol [-\]: w enough
])
(;W[kq]
;B[hq]
;W[kr]
;B[jr]
(;W[lq])
(;W[nr]
;B[gr]
;W[ml]C[sendol [-\]: big profit
]))))))
(;W[jm]C[sendol [-\]: still
]))
(;W[jm]C[sendol [-\]: still
]))
(;W[dn]
;B[cm]
;W[jm]TR[jm]C[sendol [-\]: w can surround
sendol [-\]: key move
NannyOgg [-\]: ic
sendol [-\]: even if b alive, w can take thick wall and take sente
]
(;B[lq]
;W[or]
;B[pr]
;W[kp]
;B[mr]
;W[kq]
;B[kr]
;W[iq]
(;B[ip]
;W[jr]
;B[jp]
;W[hr]C[sendol [-\]: b trapped
]
;B[nr]
;W[ko])
(;B[ir]
;W[jp]
;B[jr]
;W[hq]
(;B[gq]
;W[hr]
;B[gr]
;W[ip]
;B[hs]
;W[nr]C[sendol [-\]: deasd
])
(;B[nr]
;W[hr]C[sendol [-\]: w big profit
])))
(;B[hm]
;W[hl]
;B[il]
;W[im]
;B[gl]
;W[hk]
;B[fo]
;W[fl]C[sendol [-\]: nothing
])))
(;B[hm]
;W[gl]
;B[jm]C[sendol [-\]: should escape
]))
(;W[hr]C[sendol [-\]: base
]
;B[jp]
;W[ko]
;B[hm]
;W[dn]
;B[cm]
;W[ph]C[sendol [-\]: w enough
]))
(;W[dn]TR[dn]C[sendol [-\]: probe
]
;B[cm]
;W[go]
(;B[in]
;W[io]
;B[ho]
;W[hn]
;B[gn]
;W[hm]
;B[gp]
;W[fo]
;B[fp]
;W[ep]C[sendol [-\]: b in deep trouble
])
(;B[lq]
;W[or]
;B[pr]
;W[kp]
;B[mr]
;W[nr]
;B[gq]
;W[fr]
;B[kq]
;W[hr]
;B[ir]
;W[hq]
;B[iq]
;W[gp]
;B[kr]C[sendol [-\]: b can live but w getting very thick
]
;W[ph]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]))
(;W[hq]
;B[ip]
;W[dn]
(;B[cm]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ah
]
;W[hn]C[sendol [-\]: also good attack strategy
])
(;B[dm]
;W[en]
;B[hn]
;W[co]
;B[bn]
;W[em]
;B[dl]
;W[el]
;B[hl]
;W[bo]
;B[ao]
;W[dk]
;B[dj]
;W[ek]
(;B[cl]
;W[ch]C[sendol [-\]: w thick
])
(;B[cj]
;W[cl]
;B[cm]
;W[bl]
;B[bk]
;W[am]
;B[an]
;W[aq]
;B[bq]
;W[br]
;B[ak]
;W[cp]
;B[al]
;W[ap]
;B[bm]
;W[ce]TR[ce][ap][cp][aq][cq]C[sendol [-\]: w satisifed
sendol [-\]: w big profit
sendol [-\]: w take 2 big points
]))))
(;B[qq]
;W[qn]
;B[rn]
;W[qm]C[sendol [-\]: normal
]))
(;B[pp]
;W[po]
;B[oo]
;W[np]
;B[on]
;W[ro]
;B[rp]
;W[ql]
;B[mn]
;W[kp]
;B[gp]C[sendol [-\]: complicated fight
NannyOgg [-\]: messy ^^
sendol [-\]: so
]))
(;W[pn]TR[pn]C[sendol [-\]: solid
sendol [-\]: this is better
NannyOgg [-\]: ok
]))
(;B[qn]C[sendol [-\]: next w?
NannyOgg [-\]: c14
sendol [-\]: lower side?
NannyOgg [-\]: j3
]
(;W[cf]
;B[jp]
;W[nm])
(;W[iq])
(;W[jp]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ah
])))
(;W[cf]
;B[np]
;W[mq]
;B[no]
;W[jp]C[sendol [-\]: or
])
(;W[np]
;B[qn]
(;W[cf]C[sendol [-\]: positive idea
]
;B[jp]
;W[nm]C[NannyOgg [-\]: i see
])
(;W[jp]C[sendol [-\]: normal
sendol [-\]: slightly better
]
;B[ce]
;W[ed]
;B[jc]
;W[qf]C[sendol [-\]: flat opening
sendol [-\]: w insufficient
])))
(;W[cf]C[NannyOgg [-\]: ah
sendol [-\]: had better shimari
]))

This is a review by my teacher sendol

Thanks to Go for Life who put up a great explanation how to use eidogo for blogger.

Team Tournament

2010-04-01T20:39:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, three members of our go club drove down to Boston to play in a team tournament.

This was the first time I played in a team tournament.

We did not do particularly well (one win, three losses) but we had fun.

And I enjoyed the experience of playing go in a team, it was a different kind of energy.

Weiqi Weekend at the Woodlands

2010-03-25T09:28:00.000-05:00

It is time to sign up for the Memorial Day work shop at the Woodlands. The Woodlands is an old inn in upstate New York, and these go work shops always are excellent.

Guo Juan 5p is an great teacher and the nature around the Woodlands is beautiful.

To offset all the go, we take walks every day and soak up the sun.

If you want to spend Memorial Day weekend improving your game of go, sign up now!

When Ahead, Relax and Get Killed...

2010-03-24T13:15:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there was a go player who recently had started playing on cyberoro. Interesting playing style over there and she found herself losing a LOT more than winning. Mind you, she would like to pretend it was all because of the opponent needlessly complicating the game, not because of her lousy moves. But when she was honest with herself, she did realize that her own moves were just as much to blame as her opponent's moves.

Anyway, today, after many months of lost games, she logged on to cyberoro again to lose yet another game, figuring that the more games lost, the better the learning potential. Hmmmm, things weren't going so well till she killed a big group of her opponent. FINALLY! She got out the wine and cheese and crackers and started celebrating.

She was flying high on the wings of victory and laughed out loud when her opponent tried to complicate and kill something 'Ha! No way I am going to be killed! No way I need to play the thick (chicken?) move and connect my groups. I killed you, buster, I rock!'

Only of course I didn't. And I did get killed. And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and a vague memory of sayings like 'When ahead, play thickly.' and a sense of maybe ignoring that saying was not the right decision.

Gah.

So much for that victory dance.

I actually ended up winning the game anyway, even after losing that group, but I was very much not pleased with the way I almost managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Die and learn, indeed.

Studying Go in Korea

2010-03-18T12:06:00.002-05:00

Even although I cannot go myself at the present time, I found myself drooling over the new web site from Baduk World. Some day I will visit and meet my teacher sendol in person!

For now I manage to get myself killed on cyberoro much more often than I would like to admit.

Montreal Tournament

2010-03-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

I might not be playing as much as I should, but at least I am managing to go to tournaments.

Late February, we drove to Montreal on the same day that the Canadian ice hockey players defeated the Americans.

Beautiful location, great people, wonderful times.

Three slow games, I won the first one, lost the second one on sucky end game, and lost the third one on being too tired to care but had a great time during that game anyway.

First Tournament Game: Too Many Mistakes

2010-02-20T14:39:00.007-05:00

My first game in Middlebury was fun, but I made too many mistakes in byo yomi and even before byo yomi. I am black in this game. It started quite innocent with him playing two sansans and me wondering how to reply. The situation was 'boring' till he played 8 so close my komoku stone. I think an approach at F16 or F17 seemed to be more advisable for him because of my black 7 stone at D10.

A pincer seemed like a good idea and I felt black was not doing badly after the pincer.

His A and B group both were not making many points, and my left and my upper right corner both were getting big. I could almost taste the victory here.

This seemed as good a time as any to make my first big mistake. I decided to approach his lower right sansan with black 1 and he, not unexpectedly, pincered with white 2. Now if only I had studied any san san pincer joseki, but I haven't. Guess I now know one, after reviewing this game, but during the tournament, I made up my own. Not very successfully.

I found myself losing a lot in that corner and the game felt not as victorious after this. As in 'Bah humbug, I can't believe I did that' annoyed at myself.

On the other hand, afterwards I did learn the correct joseki here:

I am regarding this game as a learning opportunity, both in playing against sansan and in managing my time (I made too many stupid mistakes in byo yomi)

For whoever is interested, click here to download a review of this game by my teacher sendol. This is the first time I am using google docs for a go game, please let me know if anyone has problems. Or if you have better options for posting games, since I have not really been keeping up with go blogging during my time off.

Middlebury Tournament

2010-02-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Finally played a real life tournament again. Here are photos.

Vermont: From the Word Go Tournament February 13 2010

The short story:

Game 1: even against a shodan, I killed myself in byo yomi, oops.
Game 2: even against a shodan, I ate a lot of his stones, including a basic corner shape when he ignored the sente descent. Study paying off ^^
Game 3: giving 2 stones to a 2k, and he grew much bigger than I did, oh well.
Game 4: giving 4 stones to a 4k, feeling way behind, but finagling one of his corners into a carpenter's square which sadly passed away, so I won that game.

Summary 2-2 result which is ok at my current level of rustiness (is that even a word? ^^)

Chinese Opening

2010-01-06T21:41:00.000-05:00

It feels good to be playing again. Who needs a life anyway?

Yesterday I played Chinese opening as black, and met a move I hadn't seen before. White 6 is standard, black 7 is something I want to study more. I was afraid he would attach to my komoku stone and I would die a miserable death during the complications of that joseki, but no, he played an unexpected white 8.

I'll post the rest of this game in a few days, I am curious to hear what people would play now.

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

May sente be with you.

New year seems a great time for a new start on this blog. Last year was a bit hectic with getting divorced and single parenting seven kids, and although I did get some go in, it was less than I really wanted to. I mostly studied, didn't play as I should.

Time to play more and live less.

Or something like that anyway.

Time to Sign Up for Group Classes

2009-09-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

Only a few weeks till a new session of Guo Juan's Internet Go School Group Classes. These are very high quality classes, and I can very much recommend them. If you have the time and opportunity, click on the link and seriously consider joining them.

Class Levels

Group A: 1d - 5d
Group B: 1k - 10k
Group C: 20k - 11k
Group D: 21k - 30k

2009 term 3: October 3/4 to November 21/22 -> registration started
Group A and B meet on Saturdays, and Group C and D meet on Sundays. 1,5h each lesson, 8 lessons each term.

Class Content
1. Topics include opening, direction of play, middle game, joseki, and endgame, plus two question and answer classes. The number of classes on each topic will vary by group.
2. Internal competition - students play one game per week with another member of their class. These games will be reviewed (most important points) by the teacher. If you have questions on your games, you can ask during the question and answer classes.
3. Winners and second places of each group competition may play a simul teaching game (2 hour maximum) with teacher Wang Jiankun.
4. Homework will be assigned.
5. Three audio lectures, selected by teachers, watched outside of class.

Teachers
Guo Juan 5p (lessons and game reviews + organization)
Mingjiu Jiang 7p (lessons and game reviews)
Jennie Shen 2p (lessons and game reviews)
Wang Jiankun 7p (simul games for competition winners)

Bedtime Ladder Problem

2009-08-11T20:55:00.003-05:00

I haven't been playing much, but I have been doing pretty regular go problems. Tonight I finally managed to actually get a KGS game in. I played a guest and my 'capturing stones' problems sure did pay off.

I am white, he is black. It is not a particularly hard ladder to read, but it still made me feel good to see that I could capture those two triangle stones easily into a ladder. He didn't agree, so played out the ladder and escaped when he discovered that it failed for him. Oops ^^

Jack's Go Congress Blog and AGA's New Site

2009-08-05T21:08:00.000-05:00

Jack is a player from the Vermont Go Club who is attending the current American go congress. He is sharing his adventures with us by writing an excellent blog. Go Jack, go!

He posted a link to the new American Go Association Go Database, where one can look up so many more statistics than we ever were able to do on the old site. I am impressed!

Boston Results

2009-07-23T22:21:00.000-05:00

It was a good tournament. The disadvantage of a smaller tournament (26 people) though is that one ends up playing a lot of handicap games. In this case, I gave handicap twice out of four games.

I gave 3H and lost.
I gave 9H and lost.
I clearly have room for improvement in my handicap game skills.

Thankfully, the other two games were even and I won one and lost one. Perfect ^^

End result 1-3. Good enough for a rusty player and I am learning so much already from the game reviews. More details later.

Boston Go Tournament

2009-07-18T21:20:00.000-05:00

I kind of forgot that there was a go tournament in Boston this week, but luckily my friends helped me remember and pushed me to actually attend. Tomorrow the four of us will drive down to Boston and meet another member of the Upper Valley Go Club there.

Today I considered panicking that I wasn't ready and that I couldn't play, but instead I did many go problems and replayed a shusaku game twice. My five years old assisted me by excavating some dinosaur bones right next to me and by making fairy dust out of leaves, which somehow ended up all over my goban.

Guide dog in training Giant helped by making sure the cats wouldn't interrupt my studies.

It will be interesting to see how my games are tomorrow, I have been having a bit too much life and not enough go, but who cares. I will do the best I can.

Playing Go at Borders

2009-07-13T08:26:00.000-05:00

Once a month, our go club visits the cafe at our local Borders book store and plays a few games. We also are available to teach anyone who is interested and have the times publicized in our local newspaper 'activities calendar' so that people know about it.

Even although one would think that tons of people would show up for free go lessons, we tend to usually have only one or two on a good day. We still continue playing at Borders because we feel it is good public outreach to play in such a visible place and tell people about the game.

Last Saturday we played there and had a great time. Five of our members showed up and one new person joined us. He had played go in the past and was happy to get to play again, even if he was a bit rusty.

One little boy asked about the game, but he did not want to learn how to play. At least now he knows about the existence of go and maybe some day he will be interested to learn.

I wish I had more time to do more public outreach like this, maybe when things settle down after the move.

Resigning Free Games II

2009-07-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the reactions, I have pondered them all. I would like to highlight kirkmc's

"Apparently, your cat only pukes on your laundry when you play free games: if it were me, I'd only play ranked games then.

Seriously, though. Whether it's a free game or a ranked game, if something serious happens you'll have to stop playing. I don't think free games should be treated with such a flip attitiude. I sometimes play free games when I'm trying out new stuff, but I don't play any differently, other than, perhaps, taking more risks than I would in ranked games. I also know some people who only play free games, who don't have a rank on KGS.

You should respect your opponent no matter how you play, free or ranked, slow or blitz. Granted, you resign, rather than escaping, but it's still a strange attitude to think that such games are "throw-away" games."

I play free games, I play them seriously, but I am willing to resign and not worry about them if unexpected life happens. This is considered rude by some. Which I am willing to accept as their opinion even I personally do not consider it rude.

Kirkmc plays free games, takes more risks than in ranked games, which one could consider 'less serious', but he does not consider that rude to his opponent. I don't either, I am just having a hard time understanding why one can be considered rude, the other can't.

In my kgs play, I will continue to free games with the option of resigning occasionally. If my opponent resigns unexpectedly, fine. If he experiments, fine. My rule in life is to assume good intent and that's what I do in my games, and in my reaction to my opponent's choices.

Resigning Free Games

2009-07-08T15:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's post about playing free games on KGS so that I can resign if an unexpected happening comes up brought interesting reactions.

kirkmc said 'Wow, that's pretty disrespectful of your opponents. Just because they're free games doesn't mean people don't play seriously. I'll make sure to never play you on KGS: what's your name there?'

and

pmurk said 'With respect to resigning unrated games on KGS, I agree with kirkmc. This is why I play more on OGS than on KGS: I can walk away any second and just use some spare minutes in between.'

Hmmmm, that was a point of view which hadn't entered my mind. I never stated that I don't play a serious game. Usually the reason I play free games is that I can resign if I need to because of unforeseen circumstances. Which do happen occasionally in my life. Maybe more likely to happen to me than to the 'average KGS player' but who knows.

I think the mindset of a free game for me is 'Let's relax and have fun'. Sometimes it's a time for experimentation, but often it is just knowing that the reality of my life is that I do not always have an hour of uninterrupted time even if I think I will.

Yes, I could offer to continue the game at a later time, but my presence on KGS is very unpredictable and it seems better to say thank you and resign. I had not realized people would consider it rude, and I still think it is a very subjective matter. Thanks for making me think about this. I am interested in other people's reaction to this issue.

So readers, please tell me your opinion. Is it rude to resign a free game because the cat just puked all over the laundry, or any other life happenings? Or is it exercising my right to finish the game when I need to, as a friend stated when I asked him?

And kirk, my name on KGS is NannyOgg.

Five Ways I Fit Go Into My Life

2009-07-07T22:02:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about how to get as much go into my life as possible, while at the same time parenting seven kids, selling a house, buying a house, finding my garden (I think it is somewhere in those weeds over there), and baking bread.

A few ways which work for me:

1. Get up early. Even although I prefer to sleep in till 7, I can get in a lot of go if I get up at 6am instead. (Yawn...)

2. Take go problem books everywhere. Good study material during all those times I have to wait for people.

3. Play free games on KGS (use autoplay). This means I don't have to worry if I get interrupted and I can just resign without it having any effect on my rank.

4. Play turn based go on the dragon go server.

5. Do go problems before I check my email. (which I don't always do, but it is a noble goal, right? ^^)

How do you fit go into your life?

Success and Failure

2009-07-06T21:14:00.001-05:00

Success: I did my daily fifty easy go problems early this morning, and even pondered going to one hundred a day, since it is fast and good practice.

Failure: After I did my go problems, I had a few minutes left and played moves on the dragon go server, a turn based server. I went through my games fast. Click, submit, click, submit, click, submit. Notice how the thinking part got skipped? Which came back to haunt me as I clicked, submitted, and realized I just suicided my beautiful group and I watched it die right in front of my eyes, too late to do anything.

Playing, Go Problems, Life

2009-07-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

I had been hoping that I could get play more, but I was wrong. The good news is that even when I am not playing, I am still trying to do my go problems, mostly just many easy ones. I try to do fifty easy ones every day, and most days I make that.

My goal for the rest of July is to do those fifty problems every day and hopefully play every day if I can. But between my divorce, selling house, buying house, dealing with seven kids in ten different camps and the normal summer madness, the playing time might be hard to find.

Today I did ten go problems so far and played a teaching game with minue so life is not bad at all ^^

Teaching Go

2009-07-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

Last week, I taught go in a library in a small town in Vermont. They were focusing on Japan and Japan history for the summer, and were interested in covering some go in that program.

It was a very small group of people, I taught three adults and one kid. I brought my three young ones, so they could help me teach, which they did part of the time. The rest of the time they were playing with their friends and sometimes noisier than they should be in a library, but luckily it was the kids department of the library anyway. My hope was that seeing little kids play go would make it less overwhelming for the new adults. 'If this little one can play go, so should I!'

I started them off with capture go, which was a good way to learn about liberties before we went on to the rest of the rules. They enjoyed playing and got a good introduction to the game.

An interesting phenonema was the difficulty a chess player had with seeing liberties. I made a one space, one eyed group at the edge of the board, surrounded by enemy stones, to start talking about eyes. He kept insisting that this one eyed group had three liberties, so I clearly had not explained the concept well enough. I will have to ponder this for the next time I teach beginners. I hadn't had this particular issue before, usually they see the number of liberties by the time we get to this part of the introduction.

Four more people introduced to go!

More Woodlands Pictures

2009-06-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

Good go.

Good food.

Good walks.

The workshops at the Woodlands always are awesome.

Some day I will even post about the games. But today I will go geocaching first.

Balance

2009-05-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

We spent a lot of time playing go. Seriously considering our moves. Reading, or at least pretending to read. Trying to remember a certain joseki. Lots of thinking.

Wherever you looked, there were always people playing go. Outside, inside, everywhere.

To balance all that mental work, we took a nice walk every day. On Saturday we walked around a local pond. It is amazing how much better one can play after having been outside for a bit. Feeling the grass between one's toes. Watching the geese in the water. I am glad it is part of our Woodlands routine.

This island was quite relaxing. And the walk reinforced the concept of balance both in my go playing as well as in my real life.

I guess I'll go to bed before I go all philosophical on y'all.

Back from The Woodlands and The Joys of Focus

2009-05-28T18:23:00.001-05:00

We had an excellent workshop at the Woodlands. Four days filled with good friends, good food, and lots of go.

There are many stories and games which might or might not get posted, but for now just sharing some pictures.

Going to the Woodlands motivated me to get back into doing many go problems every day. Many easy go problems. Every day. No excuses. No bright and shiny distractions. Just the darned go problems.

And you know? I realize yet again that half of my issues aren't lack of reading, but lack of focus. Even while doing go problems. I will KNOW the answer and still click the wrong spot. Or click first and think later. Or make many other stupid focus related mistakes.

That was the wonderful thing about the Woodlands, I could actually FOCUS on my games, which was awesome. I will need to find that same inner calmness and focus at home. I am sure it is somewhere, and my game will improve just as much from improving my reading as it will from improving my focus.

So my new mantra 'Do many easy go problems and focus, focus, FOCUS.'

I Should Be Packing

2009-05-21T18:42:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I will be going to the Woodlands to play go all weekend.

I will be attending the Memorial Day Workshop with Guo Juan 5p. There will be lots of good food.

There will be walks and hikes to offset the sitting on our butts and playing all day.

There will be many good friends and there will be Survivor Go. In which I always hope to be voted out FAST so I can just relax without worrying about the pressure... Standing in front of the crowd, with a go stone in my hand, wondering where the heck I should put this stone to find the 'There is only ONE move!' location.

Anyway, I am off for the weekend and will come back tired, sun burnt and happy. And heck, I might even learn a thing or two about go!

Take Advantage of Your Opponent's Weird Moves

2009-05-05T22:20:00.006-05:00

Imagine me sitting down, ready for a nice relaxed game on KGS, a cup of tea in hand, waiting for my opponents move. Pondering the empty board, trying to get my mind in a state of calmness, and taking a deep breath. This move appears.

I see... Very interesting, and a bit puzzling. I wasn't sure what to do. I evaded the issue by taking some other corners first, but eventually had to come back to this corner.

According to Guo Juan, the triangle stone would have been a good move to take advantage of the weirdness of black's move.

If black approaches at R15...

Kick him and make him look really stupid.

If he approaces at O17, calmly make a shimari and wait for his reply.

Whatever black does, white will be ok.

Of course, I didn't quite play that move in the real game, and this is what happened. I played at R16 and he pincered. Now it is just like a 'normal game' in which the moves were played in this order.

White lost any advantage she could have gotten from black's weird move.

I guess the lesson is, try to take advantage of your opponent's weirdness and do not be content with reverting to normal game moves if you can avoid it.

Go and Calmness

2009-04-26T21:07:00.000-05:00

It is not like I don't KNOW this, but it still surprises me every single time. If I manage to get myself into a calm state of mind, I tend to play better on the goban. This week has had some focus on finding calmness, and I can clearly notice it in my game. I suspect that adding meditation to my daily to-do list would not be bad. In my spare time.

Anyway, this weekend I attended an iaido workshop and I could feel the calmness carrying over onto the goban. I might be able to get away with daily iaido instead of daily meditation, just because I am lazy like that. Yes, in my spare time also.

Some day I will learn how to play this game. And some day I will find my inner calmness whenever I want it.

Reading

2009-03-08T15:15:00.004-05:00

Yes, I am still trying to do many easy problems. Sorry for not posting a problem last time, Haz, here is a simple one.

Anyway, I am yet again realizing that reading just is Very Important. Yes, I know, that is news for everyone, right? No one ever told me before. Cough.

Not only that, but I have displayed too much lack of reading in my games. Gah.

So I am back to doing problems. Many of them.

Since I restudied L groups and variants, I decided to teach some to a friend. I started with L group and all was well. Then I went on to L+1 and all was well until she asked 'So what other ways can you kill this shape?' And I said 'There are many other ways.' And then I realized that I have no idea how many. Heck, I have no idea which ones work and which ones don't. I do know the 'official attack' but I have no idea which other attacks give ko / death / life. I KNOW NOTHING!

As in any crisis, I looked around for chocolate. But found tea instead. Which
was almost as good. And my brain exploded. Which wasn't so good.

By now I know the other killing moves for the L+1-groups, but am not always sure about the result of the other attacks. Some result in ko, some in unconditional life. Interesting, never looked at it this systematically.

Do Many Easy Problems

2009-03-04T00:37:00.000-05:00

Revisiting the L group and related shapes in my project of doing many easy problems.

I found out that I still have a long way to go before I master those darned shapes!

Tea House and Happiness

2009-02-22T00:28:00.000-05:00

Friday, I found myself in Burlington, Vermont, playing at a wonderful tea house (Dobra). Very quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Wonderful tea. Low tables, with pillows to sit on. Good food.

We played. Time stood still. A very weird, annoying, surreal, interesting, and fun game. My soul was nourished just as much as my body from spending time on a slow game in a calming environment.

Never mind the snow storm on the way back. Never mind the crazy traffic. My day was good.

Now I just need to study the taisha again, darn!

Large Avalanche

2009-02-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

Well, finally got some one on KGS to play large avalanche against me.

Till he escaped at move 50. Oh well. At least I got to learn a new variant ^^

The Joys of Meditating

2009-02-05T13:02:00.001-05:00

After talking to a random bee farmer, I decided that I should try to find the time to meditate before my daily game. It would do my game a lot of good, and I am sure it would do my mind a lot of good too. I was full of wonderful intentions.

Last night, I did meditate before my game. I decided to keep it short, just counted 50 breaths. I made it to 42 when my 4yo came down the stairs, crying that her siblings were mean to her. It didn't sound too serious, so I continued and she did NOT see me sitting on the floor. She ran off to complain to an older sibling instead ^^ One meditation crisis averted.

I had a nice game. I gave 3H to a guest, and was able to catch up territory wise. Felt good about the game till the three littles started fighting, during the endgame and I totally lost my focus. I mean, TOTALLY. As in losing 25 stones in an endgame stupid atari. Oh well, I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere AND I was feeling good about the first 3/4 of the game. But it was very amusing for sure.

Too much life, not enough chocolate, but at least I am playing Every Single Day. Against all odds, but I am doing it.

Playing!

2009-01-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

As usual, I have been having too much life, and not enough go.

But!

Goddess and my favorite bee farmer convinced me that I should stop making excuses and play already.

My new goal is at least one game a day (heck, usually one game a day is the total maximum I can manage in between my insanity anyway). Preferably I would meditate a short time before each game, but that hasn't quite happened ^^

Wednesday, I gave four stones handicap to someone at the Vermont Go Club in Burlington (Finally made it over again!). I lost.
Thursday, I taught go to a 5yo (I can count 9x9 games, no?) and played a partial game at our own go club.
Friday, I played an Indonesian friend on KGS. I won.
Saturday, I played Meepy! I lost miserably.
Sunday, I played a squirrel. I forgot how to read, and lost.
Monday, I played a random guest, who ground me into dogmeat.
Today, I haven't played yet, but will try to get a game in tonight to get myself to 7 out of 7 for the week.

Feels good to be playing again, even if I was half asleep by the time I played last night, and I spent the night dealing with puky kids. I did play!

Blast From The Past

2009-01-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

Today, my daughter was organizing my filing cabinet (stop laughing!), and she found this old newspaper proving that I indeed did play go in 1993. In the Netherlands. And made it into the newspaper.

The baby is my now 15yo, he was so cute back then ^^

Driveby Posting: Guo Juan Group Lessons

2009-01-14T23:50:00.002-05:00

Yes, I still live, I just am crazily busy as usual. I'll surface soon, I promise! For now, want to remind people there is still time to sign up for Guo Juan Internet Go School group lessons. They start on Saturday and are quite excellent. And your car won't get impounded!

http://internetgoschool.com/groupclasses.vhtml

Back to my Appreciating Famous Games study.

KGS Icon for Macs

2009-01-06T23:16:00.003-05:00

I don't have a Mac, but am posting this for a friend. He has made a file to replace the KGS icon which looks absolutely horrible on a Mac. All you have to do to install it is right click on the application (in finder, not on the dock) find the existing icon.ics file, and replace it with this one. If you have KGS in the dock, you'll need to take it out of the dock and put it back so that the icon refreshes there.

Screenshot of the new icon. Enjoy!

Too Much Aji and Not Enough Reading, or How I Got My Car Impounded

2009-01-01T23:32:00.011-05:00

First, happy New Year to all of you! Finally getting around to posting more about the Jennie Shen work shop and how we ended up at the impound lot. Yes, that included teacher Jennie. Nothing like showing her the top attractions of Philadelphia.

Did I mention the barbed wire? I thought not. Well, grab a cup of tea and get ready for the story of bad forcing moves. It was Saturday night, it was time for dinner. Since we had a Chinese teacher, it seemed an easy decision to go to Chinatown. We got into our cars and drove to Chinatown. I had Matt, Terri, and Jennie in my car. My rental car, because the Ogg Mobile was out of service for the week.

Everyone had told us how hard it is to park in Chinatown. So when we were almost there, and saw a few parking places open on the side of the road, we marked that in our minds as a possible parking location. We smugly talked about how we would get free parking, AND free exercise, while all the people parking in Chinatown were not as lucky and smart as we were. Always nice to feel superior.

We drove through Chinatown, didn't find parking, but we had our brilliant plan B and parked on one of the last few open spots alongside that road. Life was good, and we walked to the restaurant, happy about being with good friends and the prospect of excellent food. And free parking!

We ate, we chatted, we had a great time, but eventually it was time to get back to the car. This time Peter joined us. We walked back, me looking at my GPS, to make sure I could find my car. (Someone said 'You are the only person I know who marks her parking location with her GPS.' He clearly wasn't a geocacher.) We walked, I half looked at my GPS, we walked more and I stood still. Hmmmm. 'Did we just pass my car? What colour was it again? Why do all those rental cars look alike anyway?' Well, it shouldn't be hard to find, since it had a Maine license plate, and there weren't that many of those in Philly.

We walked back, getting a bit confused and worried. A car won't just disappear into thin air, would it? Peter helpfully spoke up 'You guys didn't park here, did you???!!! This is a no parking zone!' Oh...

Those signs weren't there when we parked, I swear. I mean, how could FOUR intelligent and smart people have missed a sign like that if it actually had been there? (Oh shush!)

Now what?

We flagged down a police car, explained to them that they had stolen our car, and how the heck could we get it back? They laughed at us, but did tell us that they did tow a bunch of cars from there about half an hour ago, and we could find our car at XXX Impound Lot. Maybe. If we were lucky.

Could we walk? Did we even want to walk in the cold? And the dark? And while feeling stupid? Getting a taxi seemed easier.

Right then, a taxi showed up and drove us all around the most seedy parts of town, to drop us off at the impound lot. Matt used the travel time to tell us stories about how he got his car impounded in Baltimore. When he arrived at the impound lot over there, they were closed, and he couldn't even get his car out that night.

We arrived at the impound lot, and phew, it was still open. We went in, and we started the lengthy process of getting my car back. The car of which I did not know the license plate, and of which the rental agreement was not on my person. Only thing I know is that it's a grey impala with a Maine license plate. Matt remarked that this is so much better than Baltimore already. To actually have someone there to talk to. Even if it takes quite a while before she figured out my car. But she did!

While we waited, I made fun of the ATM in the building. Matt continued his Baltimore story which involved a huge towing fee, only payable in cash. And no ATM nearby of course. AND his car windows smashed in when he finally got his car back. Which made the barbed wire here a bit more understandable, but I still thought it looked very unfriendly. Barbed wire, watch towers, people with guns. Well, maybe not the last two, but that was what the atmosphere felt like to me.

Turned out it is really really really hard to get a rental car released if you don't bring your own insurance information. Which was in my van in New Hampshire. Eventually he grudgingly released the van, saying 'My supervisor tells me I have to do it.' He clearly did not agree with his supervisor. We paid $125 towing fee, and then got handed a $31 ticket. Geez, thank you. What kind of number is that anyway? Feels like it should have been a more logical $30 or $35, but I decided not to point that out to them.

Welcome to Philadelphia! Home of the Philadelphia Parking Authority!

Anyway, we got to see the airport too, when it was not raining. And let's just say I am grateful my rental had unlimited miles, because I saw way too much of Philadelphia. Did I mention Philly signage sucks?

Moral of the story: always read before you make a move. And try not to have to carpool with me. Since you might have to spend your Saturday night at the impound lot.

There and Back Again!

2008-12-15T11:58:00.003-05:00

I did it! I drove all the way to Philadelphia and attended Jennie's work shop!

I had a wonderful time. I got valuable new insights, played fun games, realized I still know nothing about go, ate good food, and got my car impounded.

Last night I spent driving, so I am slightly short on sleep. Will write more once I get some rest in, which is not going to be easy today, since my life didn't quite stop to give me time to catch up.

I hate the signage around Philadelphia and New York. Or maybe I am just really good at getting lost!

Haha!

2008-12-11T22:32:00.003-05:00

Remember that Jennie Shen workshop? The one starting tomorrow? I had it all set up. I would leave early in morning, after getting my kids on the school bus. Drive my 6.5 hours during the day, and arrive in time for 6pm start.

Life is what happens when you make other plans.
- my van broke down
- there were unexpected school complications
- and the weather is sucky

"... Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 1 PM EST Friday...

Expect 3 to 5 inches of snow and sleet followed by freezing rain. One-half to one inch of ice accretion is expected.

Significant amounts of freezing rain sleet and snow are forecast that will make travel dangerous. Only travel in an emergency. If you must travel... keep an extra flashlight... food... and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency."

Life here is never boring ^^

I will still make it to the workshop, but very possibly will not make it to the Friday night part. Oh well, at least I'll be there Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait! Maybe I should finish packing instead of writing blog posts.

Jennie Shen Workshop!

2008-11-25T13:27:00.002-05:00

Thanks to goddess, I found out about the Jennie Shen, 2p Go Workshop. Hmmmmm, that sounded good, but the question was whether I could get logistics figured out?

I spent a few days planning and plotting and suckering friends into taking care of my Oggettes. Things were looking good. Yesterday I felt things had fallen into place enough that I could actually commit and officially sign up! Wow!

I just need to find myself a place to sleep over there still, but I am confident I will be able to do so.

Very much looking forward to it!

Quote of the Day

2008-11-23T08:16:00.002-05:00

You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day. -- Marian Wright Edelman

Tsumego of the Day

2008-11-22T23:54:00.001-05:00

Black to play and live. (from Gokyo Shumyo)

Dangerous Move

2008-11-12T08:39:00.006-05:00

Followup on the dangerous move. This was the board position, where A was an unexpectedly dangerous move. Well, unexpected by me, I am sure stronger players would have seen it before they played it.

White can probe:

If lower right corner wasn't there, this ladder would be quite disastrous:

To minimize damage, black has this sequence:

This is big profit for white. Ouch!
Just thought it was interesting position, during the game it seemed such an easy thing to hane at A, not really reading all the followups, but assuming white would submissively answer and follow me around. Bad bad bad bad habit.

Iron Man Review: Dangerous Move of the Day

2008-10-25T18:55:00.003-05:00

First iron man game: dangerous move A. Turned out ok because of the ladder breaker in the bottom right, but it was way more dangerous than I had imagined. Maybe some day I should try reading during my games.

Challenge for you guys to figure out why it is so dangerous.

To help you, this is the correct move for black:

The Joys of Ladders

2008-10-22T22:01:00.006-05:00

Today, played a night time fun game on KGS.

It started very innocently. I was black. I wanted mini Chinese, but he didn't give it to me.

I said 'Sure, I'll go for territory and we'll see about your potential, shall we?'
When he approached at 22, I wasn't sure about best play, but thought pincer would be fun. I chose one space low.

We played one of the 'boring' joseki, until he played 12 and I said 'Yeah, I guess he does have the ladder, doesn't he?' So we followed up.

Here, I stupidly forgot to play A, and played B instead.

He pounced, and tried to kill my stones.

But! He kind of must have forgotten to read this other ladder, starting at move 4, for which I had a really beautiful breaker stuck to his White wall.

He still didn't realize the trouble he was in and stubbornly played out the ladder. He even stopped a few times, presumably to read the ladder again, but kept convincing himself he was fine. Till the last move when he must have used not so choice words. And resigned.

I was a bit surprised that he didn't seem to be able to read this ladder. It is not a particularly hard read, I know it kept giving the same result for me every time I read it. And if opponent insists on playing it out, usually one would double check the results. Oh well, I had fun anyway ^^

First Iron Man Game: Big Mistake!

2008-10-17T07:21:00.010-05:00

I ended up playing only those three games, but hey, I did get to play and am having fun reviewing the games in between too much life.

First interesting big mistake in the first game:

I was Black, trying to play mini Chinese, but White did not not agree and played 6 instead of the expected C14, so I punished by playing 7 at C14 myself. White's reply at 8 was labeled 'big mistake' by sendol.

Black can play A or B now, what would be your choice?

I thought it would be best to play A now, but interestingly enough sendol recommended B.

White is quite painful now. This is interesting sequence:

Move 18 is needed to make the hane at 20 sente. If the hane at 20 is omitted, White owns a dead J group. With the hane, the J-group is alive. Quite an important difference.

Expected followup could be like this, and now Black has a severe move to attack the three White stones at the top.

One of the possible scenarios:

More can be found in the sendol review of this game.

Jumping Back In!

2008-10-13T08:03:00.005-05:00

Yes, I know, too much life, not enough go.

But this week, I couldn't resist registering for the KGS Iron Man tournament

The timing is all wrong and I have tons of stupid legal matters to attend to this week, but I figured playing some games, even if not perfect circumstances, is better than not playing at all.

Result so far:

Last night at 9pm, played a 2k, won when he suicided his cutting stones;
Woke up at 3am, played a 1d, panicked, cut when I shouldn't and lost this game;
Tried to play 9am game this morning, against a 2k, and resigned in disgust after I made stupid ko threat. Haven't reviewed the last two games yet, but I am sure I can learn much from them.

Anyway, don't think I can play anymore games today during the day, but happy I got those three games in, against all odds. It feels good to be playing again!

So Many Posts, So Little Time

2008-09-22T09:59:00.001-05:00

Gah, too much life, not enough go. But this picture needs to be shared.

Time to Sign up for Guo Jan's Online Group Lessons

2008-08-28T11:53:00.003-05:00

It is that time of the year again. Guo Juan's online group lessons will start a new semester on September 20th.

Class Content

Topics include opening, direction of play, middle game, joseki, and endgame, plus one question and answer classes. The number of classes on each topic will vary by group.
Internal competition - students play one game per week with another member of their class. These games will be reviewed (most important points) by the teacher. If you have questions on your games, you can ask during the question and answer class.
Winners and second places of each group competition may play a simul teaching game (2 hour maximum) with teacher Wang Jiankun.
Homework will be assigned.
3 audio lectures, selected by teachers, watched outside of class.

Teachers

Guo Juan 5p (lessons and game reviews + organization)
Mingjiu Jiang 7p (lessons and game reviews)
Jennie Shen 2p (lessons and game reviews)
Wang Jiankun 7p (simul games for competition winners)

Those group classes are an excellent way of getting pro lessons for a lot less money than individual instruction would cost you. Early this year, I took those classes, and I learned TONS. Heck, I could have learned a lot more if I had had more time to spend on them, there was a plethora of information and aha moments.

I enjoyed playing a serious competition game every week, which got reviewed by Guo Juan or one of the other teachers. We also got to watch the game reviews of the other students. We learned many things, and it was worth every single dollar of the class fee. If you are serious about your go, want to improve, and can afford this, go for it! The classes are on Saturday morning for North American time zone, Saturday afternoon for Europeans.

Signup instructions and more information can be found on this web page.

Hi There!

2008-08-09T11:22:00.002-05:00

This summer is moving along too fast. The kids have so many summer activities that I am not studying as much as I should and I want to. Still, I am doing some, and have many posts for this blog in my head. Just need to sit down and actually WRITE them. Sounds simple, eh?

Today go club at Borders. We usually have a few people ask us about the game, which is why we play there. Will be nice to focus on go for the afternoon. I might bring second game of this year's Honinbo final, since I was studying that this morning. Yes, I am a bit behind on recent pro games ^^

Oh Noes!!!

2008-07-26T22:42:00.002-05:00

Should I be worried?