Day 4I woke up around 6am for the third day in a row to the sound of traffic outside my window. In contrast to the last two days, though, I felt refreshed. Yes, I had drank a bit last night, but nothing compared to Sunday night. Furthermore, I had gotten plenty of sleep - even more that I typically get at home.
I glanced over at the other bed - Christian was still sleeping soundly. As I scanned the room, my eyes fell upon the Life & Death book that I had gone through each morning for the last couple of days. I briefly considered doing some problems, but as the thought entered my mind, a wave of melancholy swept over me, and I quickly lost any motivation to do problems - I had lost to Brady the day before, and I simply didn't feel in the mood to study.
I recounted the reasons I had come to the US Go Congress:
1. To play and study go
2. To socialize with go friends that I only see once a year
I thought to myself that goals of doing well in the tournament had been pretty much extinguished, but I could at least enjoy myself by socializing and finding folks to chat with. So I cleaned up a bit, and went to the dining hall early. Armed with a cup of coffee and a tray of food, I scanned the dining hall, and decided to sit next to Mike, mhlepore here on the L19 forums.
We chat for awhile, and I complained about my loss to Brady. Having seen the game, he offered encouragement, much like he did here on this forum. He told me that he may have been the subject of Brady's first "Brady's Blunders" video (he played a 5-4 joseki, if I recall). We chat about family, and somehow got to the topic of how Mike has stopped using social media. I found that fascinating, since I am prone to wasting a lot of time on Facebook. It was interesting enough that, after our discussion, I went ahead and deactivated my Facebook account - I didn't go as far as deleting it, because I have a number of photos stored there. But since that discussion, I haven't used the site, which has given me extra time to spend on other things throughout the day.
Eventually, I made my way to the playing hall, but I didn't have the same level of enthusiasm as I had before: I had lost to Brady. I embarrassed, disappointed, and sad all at the same time. Pairings came up, and I was paired with a guy named Harvey. I'd be playing black. At this point, I didn't want to try any sort of special strategy - I'd just go with the mini-Chinese, since I'm mostly familiar with it. I grabbed some coffee from downstairs, and then got some water. It was coming close to 9am, so I went and sat down at my board, where Harvey was already sitting.
At that point, I noticed Brady, who was standing near our board. He had kindly decided to come and wish me good luck on my game. It was probably a bit rude, but I was still sour from losing, so I kind of shrugged, and looked down at my lap. At that point, it was time to begin our games: the room quieted down, and we began.
I was lacking motivation to play, so I played the first several moves without thinking much, as if on autopilot:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 11 to 20
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 4 . . . . . . . 9 . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 O . . . . . O . 0 . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 7 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
But then, my autopilot came to a hault when I realized that I was playing a variation that required a ladder, which I didn't have:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 21 to 22
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . 2 X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . O 1 O . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
For the first time in the game, I paused to think. My thoughts were a little bit negative, "Jeez - you already screwed up the game," I thought to myself.
I decided that I'd try to get some benefit on the left by making some sort of ladder breaker. My thought was something like this:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 21 to 22
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . O X O . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 1 O 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
It'd be a loss on the left, but maybe I could recover the ladder mistake I made. Anyway, my opponent ignored my threat, and continued to take advantage of the ladder situation on top:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 25 to 26
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . O X O . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . 2 X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 1 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
It seemed pretty big, so I continued:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 25 to 34
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 6 O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . 8 5 O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . 9 O X O 4 . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 0 2 X 3 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . 7 . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 1 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 35 to 39
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . X O X O O . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . 2 O O X X a . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . 1 X . . . 3 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
The end shape wasn't great - and
probably should be at 'a', above (there are weaknesses in my shape). But It didn't seem like the end of the world - still a playable game, now.
He played some questionable moves on the right - and I probably shouldn't have wedged. But the result turned out relatively OK a little bit later:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W Moves 40 to 49
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . X O X O O . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . O O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . X X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 1 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 5 2 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 7 9 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
I gained some points by pressuring his group, and also some influence in the center:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W Moves 60 to 69
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . X O X O O . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . O O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . X X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . 4 5 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . 6 . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . 3 O 7 X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . 1 X 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . 0 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
And before long, I had made a decent shape in the center:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W Moves 80 to 89
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . X O X O O . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . 9 O O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . 8 X X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O X . |
$$ | . . 5 , . . . . . , . . . . O O X X . |
$$ | . . 7 6 . . . . 4 . . . . X . X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . X O O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . 2 X . X X O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O O . O O O X . . |
$$ | . . 0 . . X . . X O X . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 3 1 . . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
At this point in the game, I felt I had a decent number of points - the 3-3 areas seemed to be the last remaining places - fortunately, I was able to get them both:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W Moves 100 to 103
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X O X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . X O X O O . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . O O O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . X X X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . O X . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . X . . . . . . O X O X . |
$$ | . . O , . 1 . . . , . . . . O O X X . |
$$ | . . O X . 3 2 . X . . . . X . X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . X O O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . X X . X X O . X . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . X O O . O O O X . . |
$$ | . O X O . X . . X O X . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . X X X . . . . O O . . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
The game became comfortable, and I ended up winning. It wasn't a great game, and I can't say that I had the same level of effort as I had in previous games. But somehow, winning again had cheered me up a little bit - I guess I'm shallow with these types of things.
For the first two games, I had put a lot of thought into them - I was usually in byo-yomi relatively early on, and would play until 12:30 or 1:00pm. Today, though, I had been so apathetic, that the game had finished early - it was only about 10:40am - about 2 hours sooner than I usually finish.
So I watched some other games for a little bit, and then headed downstairs to the second floor. Inseong wasn't there, yet - he was doing his reviews at 3:00pm. But I saw Josh Lee, a good friend of mine. He'd been TD-ing the Masters' tournament, and I guess he had some free time. He's about 4d on KGS, and he's a pretty good reviewer. He asked to see the game from today, so I showed it to him. He brought up several good points, though, one interesting idea was in the opening, which I hadn't considered.
In my autopilot state, I went into the 3-3 automatically here:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 11 to 20
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 4 . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 O . . . . . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 7 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Seemed fine to me. But he recommended jumping here, and then invading the 3-3 on the bottom left to make it less valuable:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 11 to 20
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . 4 . . . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 1 . 3 . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 8 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 0 7 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Moves 11 to 20
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . O . . . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . X . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
I think his point was that a "normal" variation like this might make the marked white stone a little bit weird - maybe it means white won't play at
, and will extend instead. Anyway, it seemed like an interesting option. If nothing else, I hadn't considered it.
After chatting with Josh a little bit more, I was getting a little hungry. I don't like eating alone, though, so I went downstairs to the various restaurants and searched for go players. I found a couple of guys from Tennessee, one of whom (Anthony), I know from the AYD. He was there with his friend Jake.
What stuck out to me was Jake's rank - he was 4d. But just in 2017, I had done well against Jake in San Diego as a 1d. I was curious about his jump in 3 ranks, and I asked him about it. He attributed it solely to attending BIBA for about 3 months after we had played in 2017. That was pretty fascinating to me, so I asked him about various aspects of attending.
I decided to head back up to the playing area to socialize more. I chat again with my friend Matt, who had been my rival from around 15 years ago. He was having a 2:1 result as a 2k, and seemed to be having fun.
When it got to be around 3:00pm, Inseong showed up for reviews. He asked about my game result, and I told him that I had won. But today, he indicated that he'd be doing reviews for folks that hadn't had reviews on other days. I had already had my game reviewed earlier, so I just sat and watched as he reviewed other folks' games. In total, there were about 30 AYD-ers attending the US Go Congress, and a good portion of them showed up for the review there.
After the reviews, Inseong asked what I was doing for dinner. I told him that I'd just find a place. He said that he'd check out what was available, and then decide if he was going to eat according to the meal plan. He ended up eating from the meal plan. I didn't buy the meal plan, so I got together with dfan from L19, and we went out to the terrace to eat and chat. I had a burger and beer.
Later that evening, Inseong's lecture was scheduled for 7:00pm. I decided to attend - it was another edition of his Go Avengers lecture, and he talked about AlphaGo. It was somewhat interesting, and I enjoyed the content - I took a few notes, and kept them for reference.
After the lecture, I was wondering if somebody would be doing something in the evening. I had been depressed the night before, so I hadn't chat much when I was out with Inseong and other AYD-ers. I was in a much better mood today, so I was interested in socializing and hanging out. I decided I'd go back to the playing area, then check the terrace later to see if anybody was out there.
That was the plan, but as I entered the Union building, Josh Lee called out to me, "Brian! We're going to Hopcats! Come along - help me carry these stones". I helped him carry some stones, and he kept carrying the board that he had. After further inquiry, I realized that Josh, Andrew Hall, and a few other folks were going to the bar to drink and play go - it seemed like a good opportunity, since Wednesday was the day off. So I agreed to go with them. As we walked, whenever we saw go players, Josh would invite them to come - though, most folks declined.
When we arrived at the bar, I saw Max, a 6d player who was playing in the Masters' tournament. He was the only one there so far. We chat for a little bit, and talked about our regular lives. I wasn't particularly hungry, since I had been eating a lot, but we all ordered drinks.
A couple of other folks (dfan, Andrew Hall, and others) started to show up, and Max challenged me to a game. I accepted a game at 3-stones, and tried hard to win. The game was somewhat casual, and I don't remember the game record, but somehow - I won! I kept drinking throughout, and was starting to feel a little tipsy. Max wanted a "revenge match", so he challenged me again with the same handicap at 3 stones.
I have even less chance of remembering that game than the one before, because by this time, I had had quite a few drinks. But I recall massively screwing up this variation in the bottom left:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W screwup
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 X 7 6 . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 1 3 5 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W screwup
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 2 . 1 X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X O X . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
I don't remember what happened next exactly. I do remember that I lived, but he got some nice profit from it... And I ended up losing the game.
In contrast to my game against Brady, I felt (almost) no pain or disappointment. Maybe it was because Max was 6d. Maybe it was because I had already won a game. Or maybe it was because I had already downed several drinks. Whatever the case, I was having a good time.
By this time, I realized that dfan was playing a rengo-ish game against Josh Lee and a 6k. Josh and the 6k were alternativing moves, and dfan was playing all of the moves on his side. It was a little unsoliciated, but maybe because of my state of mind, I felt it upon myself to try to help dfan out. I tried suggesting moves, and we captured some of their stones. I felt good about the success, but I don't think dfan appreciated that I crashed his game.
I don't remember all of the other things that happened that night, but eventually, I headed back. I remember getting separated from the rest of the group, and I asked a nearby hotel for a map. Somehow, I made it back to the dormatory.
One thing that I haven't mentioned until now is that I don't have a smartphone. I do, however, have an iPod that works for messaging with a WiFi connection. Since I was back in the dormatory area, the WiFi was working, again. I realized that Inseong had left me a message that he and some of the Korean pros were getting together for the evening, and he invited me to join - it was from several hours earlier.
I was disappointed that I had missed out, but at the same time, I had fun out with Josh, dfan, and Andrew. I drank some water to try to get more hydrated, and quickly fell asleep.