Yep, I've been slackin'... Not playing *or* studying go as much as I'd like to. I had a plan of going through 30 days of pro games. I feel like, if it's not go problems, I don't take study seriously. So it's a lot easier to say, "I'll skip out on studying that right now - it's just flipping through a game, anyway". So it's been hard to do the experiment I had with going through pro games. I should believe in the process more...
In other news, my in-laws are still over. So my routine is not the same as it typically is. I also had a 5k running race last Saturday for an organization called "Chad Tough". Basically, the organization came about because of a young child that died from a type of brain cancer. He got a lot of publicity, because he was related to some famous football coach. They started this "Chad Tough" organization to promote research into pediatric brain tumors. I like the cause, since I can relate to the medical problems, and also, i wanted to test myself for the office 5k race coming up in November. Long story short, I ran a 20:48. I wanted to get under 20 minutes, but I feel OK about the time. First, I had some energy left at the end, so I think there's still room for psychological improvement. Second, I participated with my family, so we started off toward the back. Once I got across the starting line, there were lots of folks that were going slow or walking. Weaving through all of those folks took some energy that I probably won't have to spend in November. So I feel relatively confident that I can get under 20 minutes. My last few race times went from 23:02 to 21:22 to this 20:48. There may be something to be said about diminishing returns, but still - I feel confident that I can at least break 20 minutes. I've also been coaching soccer... So it's been pretty busy, lately, and my routine is a bit screwed up.
But anyway, despite not playing a lot of go, I still have commitment to the AYD, so I played my first league game in the top A1 league yesterday. Since I'm at the bottom of that league, I played the top player - he's been undefeated in the AYD to date. According to the AGA ratings database, he's about 5.74, so between 5 and 6d AGA. Needless to say, I was intimidated.
Here is the game:
Miraculously, I won the game by 3.5 points. I haven't had time to review with a bot yet, but even after reviewing the game with my opponent, we had a hard time finding a turning point.
At move 65, I definitely feel that white has the edge:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Move 65
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . O X . O X O O O O . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . X , X . O X X X X . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , B . O . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X X X O . . X . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O X . X O . . , . O O O O , . . . |
$$ | . . O O X X O . . . X X . X X X . . . |
$$ | . X X X O O O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
White's potential on the right is great, and I don't have many points - a lot of my potential on the top has been ruined. My only real consolation here is that white's group is somewhat weak on the bottom, but nonetheless, I prefer white. Anyway, as the game progressed, somehow or another, things started to feel a bit close, and then later in the game, I counted that I may actually be ahead!
I don't know how it happened - I guess I was just very lucky this time. More than winning this game, what I am most proud of is that I've been working with Inseong to try to calm myself down - I usually get impatient and try some sort of tactical thing in my opponent's area when I feel behind. In this game, at move 65, for example, I might have some inclination to start something. I don't know exactly what the old Kirby would have done - maybe something like this:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Move 65
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . O X . O X O O O O . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . X , X . O X X X X . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . O . . , B . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X X X O . . X . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O X . X O . . , . O O O O , . . . |
$$ | . . O O X X O . . . X X . X X X . . . |
$$ | . X X X O O O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Not really sure. Inseong's point is that these types of moves are not necessarily bad in all cases, but that I play them too much. And when I'm behind, I should just be patient - try to get a couple point gain here and there, until I get caught up or have an obvious chance.
So I'm happy about that, though, I should get back to studying more. We are going to Niagara Falls this weekend with my in-laws, though, so I am not sure if much study will happen this weekend. I also got a Nintendo Switch, so that's been a bit of a distraction - that Zelda game is addicting! I haven't played video games a lot since college, but we bought a few games for my son's birthday, which was last week (forgot to mention that).
---
Speaking of good luck, I had another bout with good fortune, somehow. I'm a big fan of Ryan Li's youtube channel for the NY Go Center. I like the way he clearly explains things - he has a very logical thinking process. Anyway, they decided that they'd do a drawing where 10 folks can do simultaneous games with him and Stephanie Yin. There were around 70 folks that signed up, so each person had a 1/7 chance of getting to play, I suppose.
You can see the drama here, at exactly 30 minutes into the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkXinJ-ijE#t=30m0sI was chosen as the number 5 player, so I was happy about that. I mentioned that I had no preference in the registration, because I assumed it'd improve my odds of being selected. Now, I see that it didn't really matter, and that I should have specified a preference. I'd prefer to play Ryan, so I hope it turns out that way, but either way, I feel very lucky to have been chosen, so I'm happy to play Stephanie, too...
That's about it with me for now. Taking the day off of work tomorrow to go on a field trip with my son - we'll have cider and donuts. Hopefully, I can squeeze some go study back into my routine soon.