Kirby's Study Journal

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Wed May 29, 2019 6:07 pm

Saw inseong's review of this last game.

What stuck out to me the most was his surprise with my move here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . | $$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O X . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . | $$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X . . . . . . O O . O . . . . . . | $$ | O . O X . . . . . X X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . O X . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . X . . . X . . . . | $$ | . O X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

He said he was really surprised that I didn't just take points like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O X . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . | $$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X . . . . . . O O . O . . . . . . | $$ | O . O X . . . . . X X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . O X . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . X . . . X . . . . | $$ | . O X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I had the chance to make some definite points "without blood", as he put it, but I opted not to.

Why did I make that choice? Thinking back, the only think I can think of is that I wanted to exploit his double atari. Maybe some technical details make me overlook simple ways to get profit, sometimes?

I dunno.

Uberdude · Post by **Uberdude** » Thu May 30, 2019 2:34 am

Kirby, where would you play now?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O X . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . | $$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X . . . . . . O O . O . . . . . . | $$ | O . O X . . . . . X X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . O X . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . X . . . X . . . . | $$ | . O X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Thu May 30, 2019 4:28 am

I guess I should block, but I’m concerned about the growing shape on top..

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . O X O X . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . | $$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O X . . . . . . O O . O . . . . . . | $$ | O . O X . . . . . X X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . O X . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . X . . . X . . . . | $$ | . O X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

spook · Post by **spook** » Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:07 am

Kirby wrote:I reviewed this game with Elf, ...

Which viewer or tool do you use for your Elf reviews?
I should do some more research about this.

I run a website called https://www.zbaduk.com - but it only supports LeeLa Zero so far.
Would love to expand it a little.

PS: since you are so fluent in Korean. You wouldn't be interested, (or know somebody) to translate some keywords of my website to korean ?
Would love to make a Korean version of it.

Uberdude · Post by **Uberdude** » Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:18 am

I presume Kirby means he reviewed with the converted Elf networks running on the LeelaZero engine with Lizzie/Sabaki/GoReviewPartner as the interface. As the Elf network is only 20 blocks it's faster than 40-block LZ networks so could make a nice addition to ZBaduk; here is the Elfv2 weights converted for use in LZ:
http://zero.sjeng.org/networks/05d10f27 ... ef399df.gz

Facebook have released the native Elf engine but the package is over 1 GB and windows only. I installed it and played a few moves against it. I guess it uses gtp behind the scenes so you could get move suggestions out of it, but am not aware of any review functionality/interface like the gtp analyze extensions Lizzie uses with LZ. So I just went back to using the Elf converted weights in Lizzie's nice interface and accepted that LZ-Elf (which I and many others just call Elf for brevity) might be a bit weaker/more blindspotty/different from real native engine Elf.

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Thu Jun 06, 2019 4:26 am

Yup, when I say Elf, I mean the weights, like Uberdude mentioned.

As for your site, yeah, I can translate stuff to Korean if you want. I'm doing a lot of remodeling at my house these days, though, so free time is limited (just did more tiles last night, and I'm building a pantry this weekend). As a result, it could take more time than usual to translate something for you. But I'd still be happy to do it.

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:03 pm

Well, it's the Monday after the US Go Congress, and it's hard to believe that the week is already over. I attended last week, and had a great time.

In the weeks coming up the the US Go Congress, I experienced a great deal of stress for a few reasons:
1. Outside of my weekly AYD game, my go study was severely lacking. Simply put, I hadn't been studying go, and didn't feel prepared for the US Open. I like to be in sharp state before tournaments, and I could tell that I simply wasn't there.
2. Despite this concern, I've had a lot of pressure to finish remodeling projects at my house. We don't really like contractors, and my in-laws are coming to stay with us in September - so there's a good deal of pressure to finish things up before they arrive. Combined with #1, above, this led to a good deal of internal conflict ("I should prepare for the tournament, but I can't... But I should...").
3. Aggressive deadlines at my work added to the mix, though, the atmosphere is somewhat laid back there. This added a bit to the tension, but wasn't that significant.

---

Despite these concerns, I wrapped up the tasks I was working on at work the Friday before the Go Congress, and headed out to the airport to go to Madison on Saturday, July 13th. Following, is my account of those days.

Saturday
My flight was around 8:30am, so I woke up around 6:30 to drive to the airport. I considered taking an Uber, but airport parking is pretty convenient, so I opted for that. I drove about 30 minutes to the airport, parked, and waited at the gate. I realized when I got there that I didn't have a seat, yet, but fortunately, I got one despite the full flight. I was a bit drowsy from lack of sleep, but soon became more alert when I realized that long-time go fan and volunteer at the National Go Center, Gurujeet Khalsa, was assigned to sit next to me - Josh Lee was also on the same plane. We chat about go-related topics for the duration of the flight, until we arrived at Madison.

After getting out of the airport at Madison, the first thing I noticed was the humidity. The good thing, though, was that it the weather was sunny and, overall, quite nice. We ordered an Uber, and arrived at the Union Building where the Go Congress would be held at around 9:30am... But nobody was there for registration, because registration didn't open until noon. The good thing was, we could check into the dorms to drop off our bags. The dorms were about 3 blocks away - about 5 minutes by walk. After dropping off my bags, I met up with Josh Lee, and we had a snack at the nearby coffee shop. We chat about his role as the TD for the Masters tournament. Josh had done this once before, so now he felt pretty comfortable in organizing the tournament. When it got closer to noon, we headed back to the Union building, and went through the registration process. I registered for the US Open, and chat with various folks that were arriving. I met several familiar faces from earlier congresses, and introduced myself to folks I hadn't met before. And for the first time in person, I met dfan from the L19 forums.

The playing area was held on the 4th floor of the Union building, but registration was on the 2nd floor. Since the social aspect is one of the reasons I attend the US Go Congress, I would wander now and then between the two floors to try to maximize interaction with different folks at that were attending. On the 4th floor, among others, I said hello to HKA and we chat briefly about the Transatlantic Go Championship.

Then, to my surprise, I saw Matt, one of my classmates from about 15 years ago. I hadn't seen him in some time, but meeting him held some personal significance to me. When I learned about go in college, I got into learning the rules, studying, and trying to play games... But there was nobody to play with in person. Then one day, someone in my dorm told me about somebody watching Hikaru no Go in another building. I tracked him down and found out that he was 8k - he could win against me with 9 stones! We started playing regularly, and he became my first rival. We shared an internship one summer, and would play every day at lunch. Handicap stones reduced until one day, I beat him in an even game - I descended on the first line with a previously captured stone, and he couldn't approach due to shortage of liberties! Anyway, Matt played a huge role in my pursuit of go after first having learned the rules, and it was nice to see him again after 15 years.

We chat for awhile, and then I returned to the second floor to see if anybody else had shown up. Inseong had arrived! I was happy to see him. Due to lack of preparation, I was considering skipping the US Go Congress, but was convinced to attend after an email from Inseong. We chat about various things, and welcomed other folks that started to trickle into the registration area. Inseong was hungry, so we went to a nearby restaurant to have a snack. He also had a root beer, because apparently, there's a variety of root beer variants available in the states, which aren't that popular in France. I told him that I wasn't well-studied for the US Open, and wasn't really ready. We agreed that it might be good to try to play the game in a way that focused on my strengths.

As it got closer to mealtime, Inseong and others went to the second floor eating area. I didn't go with them, because I didn't buy the meal plan. But dfan from L19 also didn't get the mealplan, so we went outside to find a place to eat around campus. We had a nice meal, chatting about go along the way. It got closer to 7:00pm when the awards ceremony would start, so we headed to the playing area where the ceremony would be held. I found Tony Cha, a 4d who's also in the AYD. I met his wife, and he agreed to play a game while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin.

It was at this point, that I started to strategize what I should do for the upcoming US Open. I hadn't practiced, and I wasn't sharp, so I knew there was a good chance I'd be losing throughout the week. So what should I do? My opponents would be well-studied and prepared, but I wouldn't.

Inseong has told me time and time again in reviews, that I often look for complications. I don't play territorially, and try to lead the game to a crush-or-be-crushed situation. This is a problem of mine that I should fix. But for a tournament, his advice was to optimize for what I was good at. So I decided that I should look for an aggressive opening to play as black. Here's what it looks like:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bcm1 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . 4 . . . . 7 , . . . . . , 8 . . | $$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

My idea behind this was two-fold:
1. The opening can lead to something kind of complicated at the beginning - which may be more suited toward what I like.
2. Opponents who are well-studied in the opening may not be prepared. So at least we'd be on semi-equal footing.

Now, this doesn't really help that much, because someone who can outread me can probably win the game anyway... But I don't think I have time to improve my reading in just a couple of days. Anyway, I played this opening against Tony during the opening ceremony. We got into a big fight, and I ended up capturing one of his groups. So I had a small success in practicing this opening at least once before the US Opening. I wasn't an expert on it, but I'd give it a try.

The opening ceremony went on while we were playing, but I was focused on the game, so I have no idea what they talked about.

I'll continue with Day 2 of the congress in the next post.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:35 pm

The opening ceremony went on while we were playing, but I was focused on the game, so I have no idea what they talked about.

Re: post #8

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 7:31 am

End of Day 1
One thing that I forgot to mention in my last post was that I signed up to get a random roommate when I registered for the go congress. Since we got to the dorms so early on Saturday, when I got there, I still didn't know who my roommate was - I was the first to arrive. I opted to take the bed by the window, and went about my day.

But later in the evening, after the opening ceremony, I met my roommate for the first time. His name was Christian, and he had travelled all the way from Germany (I believe Frankfurt). Christian was quite friendly, and we chat about European and American go. He wasn't going to participate in the US Open, but was sightseeing across the US. After the congress, he'd travel to LA and then to San Francisco. He told me that he wasn't into studying go these days, but that he was a decently strong European 3d. He was also quite good at chess.

I enjoyed our conversation, but was also anxious to get to bed. I hadn't studied for the tournament much, so my best chances for a good result in my first game was to get some rest. But, it was also fun to chat with Christian, so we chat until a bit past midnight. That still gave me about 8 hours to get some rest before the first game of the US Open at 9am.

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 8:31 am

Day 2
I soon realized that opting for the bed by the window may not have been the best choice. Cars were noisy and construction sounds could be heard from outside, which woke me up around 6am. This was about 2 hours earlier than I had anticipated waking up, so I tried to go back to sleep... But that didn't work that well.

Since sleep wasn't working, I thought I could do another means of preparing for the first game: life and death problems. I have many life and death books, but in order to avoid too much luggage, I brought only two books: one with easy problems and one with more challenging problems. As a warmup, I began with some of the easy problems.

After a few minutes, I became a little bit worried: my brain seemed to be less efficient than usual, and these "easy" problems seemed more difficult than they usually are. Maybe it was due to lack of sleep, or maybe it's just because I was out of practice. But nonetheless, I was worried. It definitely made me realize that I was not prepared for the tournament. I spent about an hour going through problems in the book. My pace picked up a little bit, but it was still slightly unsettling how the easy problems were taking me longer than usual - I didn't even get to solving any hard problems from my other book.

Anyway, I decided to remain optimistic, and headed to the dining area near the dorms. I hadn't bought the meal plan, but because I was staying in a dorm, breakfast was free - kind of like a buffet where you can choose the foods that you like. I opted for eggs, bacon, a slice of toast, and coffee. I noticed that the toaster took awhile, so going forward, I'd try to start the toast first before getting the rest of my meal. After getting all of my food, I scanned the tables in the dining area to find someone to socialize with. I quickly noticed Inseong and Kim Yoonyoung. I went to sit with them, and we chat about things happening in our lives. Around 8:20, I figured it was getting close to time to attend the tournament, so I told them that I'd head to the playing area - and so, I did.

Given that it was the first game of the US Open, I was a little nervous. On one hand, I hadn't prepared for the tournament much, so it was hard to expect a good result. On the other hand, I was playing as 2d, so maybe I'd have a chance - at the last Cotsen, I played as 3d, so it might be easier than that time. But then again, I had a bad result at the Cotsen, which is why my rank dropped from 3d to 2d... Only time would tell if I'd be able to compete at this level in my current unstudied state.

A bit before 9am, pairings were posted, and I checked my opponent. I was black, so I'd be able to use the new opening I'd tried the day before against Tony Cha. I didn't recognize my opponent, but it looked like a Chinese name. I paced around a bit, grabbed some water, and tried to focus. I grabbed a coffee, too.

At 9am, games began, and I invoked my new opening. The only time I'd actually played this opening was the day before, but it seemed to work out then. Unfortunately, I quickly found myself in a tough situation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W tough situation $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . O . X O . O O . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . X . . O X O O O . X . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . O X X X X . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

(I was black)

At this point, it was clear that my intentions had been spoiled: the intent was to attack my opponent, but instead, I was pressed down on the second line, just trying to live... Not a good result. Since I was a little flustered, I got up to walk around. I went to the restroom, refilled on water, and tried to calm down a little bit.

I came back to the game, and we played out a few more moves. I got to a point where I felt somewhat comfortable with the game, once I captured these 3 stones (upon later reviewing with Inseong, capturing the 3 stones may have been the smaller target - I should have aimed at the larger group):

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 60 to 62 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . 1 . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . 3 2 . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . X . O . . . X . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O . X . . . . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The game proceeded naturally, and I aimed to get points. I figured that the capture in the center prevented white from getting too much there, so if I got more points on the corners and side, I'd have a good chance. Things went alright until I aimed at killing the group on the right here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Moves 125 to 125 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X . X X . . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | . X O O O O . . . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . , . . O O . , . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . . O . X X O . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . O X X O X X . . . . . . X . 1 . | $$ | . . . . X . O . . . X X O . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

After the sequence that followed, I realized I was too weak on the outside. Furthermore, despite how silly it was, I didn't defend the top right corner. As a result, if I wanted to keep sente, it left white with the clamp in the top right to greatly reduce the corner territory. I felt behind. White had great potential on the left, and it seemed like I was losing now.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 140 to 140 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X . X X . . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | . X O O O O . . . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O X | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O O 1 | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . . . , . . O O . , . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . . O . X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . . O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . . . X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I was a little sad to end my first game this way, so I invaded deeply into the left like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Moves 141 to 150 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X . X X . . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | . X O O O O 1 . . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | . O O . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O X | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O O O | $$ | . . O 6 . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . 5 . 3 . . . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . . . , 7 4 O O . , . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . B O 8 X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . . O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . 0 9 X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

but it seemed difficult to make two eyes with all of the white stones all around. Fortunately for me, it seems that my opponent made an overplay with this move:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 168 to 168 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X . X X . . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | . X O O O O X . . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | . O O . . . O O X . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | . X X O . . X . 1 . . . . . X X X O X | $$ | . O . . . . . X X O . . . . X O O O O | $$ | . . O O X . X O O . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . X . X . X . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . . . , X O O O . O . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . X O O X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . O O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . O X X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

As a result, this sequence followed:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Moves 169 to 178 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X 9 X X 0 . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | . X O O O O X 4 . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | . O O . 6 3 O O X . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | . X X O . 7 X 1 O 2 . . . . X X X O X | $$ | . O . . . 5 . X X O . . . . X O O O O | $$ | . . O O X . X O O . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . X . X 8 X . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . . . , X O O O . O . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . X O O X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . O O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . O X X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Moves 179 to 188 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X X X X O . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | 5 X O O O O X O . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | 1 O O . O X O O X . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | 3 X X O 6 X X X O O . . . . X X X O X | $$ | 4 O 2 8 7 X . X X O . . . . X O O O O | $$ | . . O O X . X O O . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . 9 X 0 X O X . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . . . , X O O O . O . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . X O O X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . O O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . O X X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Moves 189 to 198 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X X X X O . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | X X O O O O X O . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | X O O . O X O O X . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | X X X O O X X X O O . . . . X X X O X | $$ | O O O O X X . X X O . . . . X O O O O | $$ | . 5 O O X . X O O . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | 4 X X O X O X . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . 2 3 1 X O O O . O . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . X O O X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . O O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . O X X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

And I won the game. Whew! It was a game that I "won", but not one that I won well. If it hadn't been for my opponent's overplay, I can't imagine how I would have recovered. But anyway, it was a fun game, and after recording the result, I headed downstairs to the 2nd floor, where I saw Inseong.

Inseong was happy to review our games, and soon, a crew of AYD members started to show up. In total, about 30 AYD members came to the US Go Congress, so quite a crowd started to build up. We decided that this room on the 2nd floor would be the de facto AYD review room: after playing our games, we could review them with Inseong there.

After reviewing AYD games for awhile, I headed to one of Kim Yoonyoung's lectures. It was held in a different building, but it wasn't too difficult to find. The topic of the lecture was capturing races, and the format was very straightforward: she had a bunch of problems, and she'd ask us to solve them by saying answers out loud. I liked this format, because:
1.) I like solving problems.
2.) I personally made it a game to try to quickly solve problems, faster than others in the room. It was like a race to get the right answer.
We drilled for a couple of hours on capturing race problems, and that concluded the lecture.

After the lecture, I noticed that Inseong had sent an email about an AYD gathering on the terrace, which was going to be held in the evening. I socialized with folks for a little while, and then met up with the AYD crew to have our gathering. Kim Yoonyoung is not part of the AYD, but she was invited by Inseong, so she came anyway. On the way to the terrace, she complimented me on my problem solving for capturing races.

When we got to the terrace, we pulled together about 8 tables to accommodate everybody. Inseong ordered several pitchers of beer (about 10?), and we all drank and chat together. Up until this time, my interaction with everybody had been in English. But sometimes when I drink, I'm inclined to speak in other languages (namely, Korean or Japanese, depending on who's there). So I struck up conversation with Kim Yoonyoung in Korean. She was pretty surprised, and was happy to chat with me. She told me that, for the remainder of the congress, I should speak to her in Korean instead of English for better practice.

We talked about various topics ranging from go to family. Typically, I speak with Inseong in English, but I started chatting with him in Korean, too. I was having a lot of fun practicing speaking, so that continued for several hours. AYD members gradually started leaving until it was just a few of us left. Inseong wanted to take a picture of all of the empty pitchers, and then we started heading back to the dorms. On the way, Inseong told me about some sort of buddhist youtube channel he watches sometimes, and something about the fact that someone that's too drunk doesn't admit that they're drunk. I think he was indirectly telling me that I had drank too much.

Since I'm somewhat honest, I told Inseong at that time that I hadn't joined the AYD to improve at go this time. I told him that being in the AYD and going to go congresses, rather, reminded me of good times - like in 2015 when I was studying go well, and before my son got sick. I'm not sure if he understood what I was trying to express, but it was nice to chat again like old times.

We soon arrived back at the dorms, and I went to my room. Christian was still up, and we chat for awhile. Around 1am, I went to bed, to at least get some sleep before game 2 the next day.

Fedya · Post by **Fedya** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:02 pm

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Moves 141 to 150 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . | $$ | . X X X . X X . . . . X O O X . . . . | $$ | . X O O O O 1 . . O . O . O . X . . . | $$ | . O O . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O X | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O O O | $$ | . . O 6 . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . 5 . 3 . . . . . . . . . . X O . O | $$ | . . . , 7 4 O O . , . . . . X O O . . | $$ | . . B O 8 X X O . . . . . . . X O O O | $$ | . . a O X X O X X . . . . . . X O X . | $$ | . . 0 9 X . O . . . X X O . . . X X . | $$ | . . O . . . O X X X O O . O . X . . . | $$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O X O . . . X . | $$ | . . O O . X O O O O . . O X X X X O X | $$ | . X X O . X O O O X O O O O X O O O . | $$ | . . . X X . X O X X X X X X O O . . . | $$ | . . . . . X O O X . . . . X . . O . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Did you omit a stone in this diagram? I would have thought

at a would be obvious here.

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:32 pm

11 is the marked black stone, but I didn’t want to make a separate diagram for it.

Fedya · Post by **Fedya** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:43 pm

Oh.

I should have known I was missing something obvious.

Kirby · Post by **Kirby** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 11:46 am

Day 3

I woke up in the morning a little groggy - maybe a bit of a hangover from the night before. Again, I woke up around 6am from the noise outside. I actually woke up a couple of other times throughout the night, and got up to get water - probably from too much drinking. So I was a little tired. But just like the day before, it was hard to sleep again, so I did a few go problems. Despite being tired, compared to the day before, I felt like I could solve the problems more easily. I felt a bit sharper. Maybe I was getting into tournament mode.

After taking a shower and cleaning up a bit, I headed over to the dining hall around 7:30am. The toaster takes awhile to cook, so I started toast, then got the rest of my food, along with a coffee. Then, I scanned the dining hall for somebody to chat with. I ended up finding Stephen Hu, who's been pretty active in the broadcasting scene, lately. I sat down at the table and struck up a conversation. Stephen had a lot to say about broadcasting, and we chat about the recent Transatlantic Go controvery. I let him know that I sometimes play the devil's advocate on the L19 forums, so the views that I write don't necessarily represent my exact feelings

He was pretty cheerful about the whole matter, and considered the event to be a success. We also chat about his study abroad in Germany, his life in Europe, and how he'll be returning for his senior year in college this fall.

When it came close to time for the tournament, I headed over to the hall, again. As usual in the mornings, folks were wandering in and about the playing hall, and I ran into Brady from the "Brady's Blunder's" YouTube channel. "We're playing," he told me, to my surprise. I hadn't played Brady before, but in past congresses, he's been pretty friendly to me, inviting me to social activities that folks were involved in. Most of the time, I play strangers in tournaments, so playing someone I knew would be an important match. It wasn't time to start, yet, and Brady joked to some of his friends that he was going down in rank, and I was going up, so we'd be meeting in the middle. He was just playing around, but I felt a little bit more pressure about the upcoming match.

It came time to play, and we sat down to begin the match. My opening pattern hadn't worked that well for me the day before, so I had been contemplating whether to play something I was more familiar with, like the mini-Chinese. But this time, I was white, so I wouldn't have to worry about the opening strategy as much - I'd adapt to how Brady decided to play.

And after a few moves, I had to chuckle to myself about Brady's choice of opening:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Brady's Choice $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , 7 . . . . 2 . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . 1 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Well, what do you know? It was the same opening that I had prepared for yesterday's game. It was somewhat amusing to me that Brady opted to play this opening, after I had studied it - albeit just a little bit.

I considered the variations I was familiar with in this opening, and thought about the one that I liked the least as black. I decided that I didn't like variations where black got a moyo, because the strategy was unclear as to how to make use of it. At that point, it'd come down to middle game, and it'd be harder for black to take advantage of some sort of an opening strategy.

So I played the 3-3, and the shape ended up like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 16 to 16 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

OK, so far so good. I have solid territory, and black has a moyo with an undefined value. I'd focus on reducing that later in the middle game.

Then, Brady defended here, which seemed pretty good:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 16 to 16 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . | $$ | . . . X . . d . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . B . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Thinking about big points on the board, a~d come to mind. I had solid points in the top left, black had a decent position on the bottom, and a good moyo on the top. During the game, I remember thinking that the biggest point was to defend on or around 'a'. And I still believe that to be the case...

But, I didn't play there, because I wanted to try out a move that I had seen played by both LZ and Elf. Namely, I wanted to try out this variation, because I had seen it on my computer a few days before, but hadn't played it yet:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . a . . O 3 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Normally, in the position above, I see white play at 'a' or 'b'. But interestingly, I've seen both LZ and Elf choose this variation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . 1 . 2 . 4 . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . 5 . . . 3 O X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I don't know if it's good on this board position or not, but I wanted to try it out, because I had never played

, above, before.

So, I opted to play in the top right corner instead, in preparation for this. Besides, it'd reduce the effect of black's moyo, too, since it leaves a followup on top:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 16 to 16 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Well, as luck may have it, Brady didn't play according to my plans, and played here instead:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 16 to 16 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Bummer. So basically:
1. I played in a slower area
2. I didn't get to practice the variation I wanted to, anyway

So I felt a bit of a loss. To make it up, I thought I should try to get sente here, and then play in the bottom left. But unfortunately, I lost sente:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 20 to 29 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . 0 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 X 7 . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , 1 9 . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . 3 . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

As soon as Brady played

, above, I could tell that I had "lost" the opening. The left seemed a lot bigger than what I played, and black was a lot faster.

Despite this, I should have endured, and maybe bumped at 'a' or something. But I freaked out, misread, and fell further behind:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 30 to 39 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . . , X . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . 5 4 X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . 7 O 1 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . 6 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X 3 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . | $$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , O O . | $$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . O . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

What a disaster.

Anyway, the game didn't feel good, but I thought I'd still have a chance if I capitalized on making points. I had a good amount of points in 3 corners, and maybe I could catch up.

That's the strategy I adopted for the next several moves. Here's the board position a little while later:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 60 to 69 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . X O . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . X X X O . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X . X . . . X O O . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . O X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O O O X . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . | $$ | . 2 X . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . | $$ | . . O X X . . . . , . X X . . , O O . | $$ | . 1 . O . X . . . . . . O O . O . . . | $$ | . . 5 . 3 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Alright, I had a good amount of points, but black had nice center potential. I set about trying to reduce it here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Moves 66 to 68 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . X O . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . X X X O . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X 2 X . . . X O O . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . O X X 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . O O O X . . . . . X . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . | $$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . | $$ | . . O X X . . . . , . X X . . , O O . | $$ | . O . O . X . . . . . . O O . O . . . | $$ | . . O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The rest of the game became an effort for me to reduce black's shape in the center. Later, the board position became like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$ last that I remember $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O . X . . . . X O . . X . . . . . | $$ | . . . O X . . . X X X O . . . O . . . | $$ | . . O X X X . . . X O O . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . O X X O . . . . . . . O . . . . . . | $$ | . O O O X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O X X X X O . . . . . X . . O . . | $$ | . . X O O X X X . , . . . O X , . . . | $$ | . . O O X O X O . X . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . X O O . O . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . . X X O . . X . . O . . X O O . | $$ | . . O O X O X O . . O X X . . X . X . | $$ | X X X . . . X . . . . . . . . X X O . | $$ | . O O X X . . . . O . X X O . , O O . | $$ | . O . O . X . . . . . X O O . O . . . | $$ | . . O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I don't record my games as I play - instead, I try to remember them, and play them out after the game is finished. When I try to record on a device as I play, I can't concentrate enough. Unfortunately, this was about as far as I could remember in the game record. Why don't I remember the rest of the moves? I guess I didn't put enough thought behind them.

By this point in the game, I had been in my last period of byo-yomi for quite some time, so I didn't have a lot of time to think for each move. So I don't remember exactly what I played, or exactly how Brady responded.

But the result was this:
1. Somehow, by miracle, I created a ko for the group in the center. I think Brady had chance to kill everything, but we were both in byo-yomi, so meh.
2. As a result of the ko in the center, I was able to keep about half of the group - he killed the other half.
3. In the end, I lost by a half point.

Greg, Brady's friend, was watching the game. He told me I got a lot back in the endgame, but there was one final chance for me to turn the game around: on the left side, I played an endgame move that gained nothing for me, but gave black a 1-point sente move. He said that pretty much playing any other endgame move would have been better, and I would have gotten the 1 extra point I needed to win the game.

That's interesting to know, but I should also note that the only reason it became close to begin with was because I was lucky in getting a ko. I shouldn't have played so slow, so overall, I think I played several other mistakes that made me undeserving of winning this game.

Still, it was painful:
1. I don't like losing.
2. It hurts more for me to lose against someone that I know.
3. It hurts even more to lose against someone that I know, the first time that we play.

I felt pretty depressed. Now, there was no chance for me to win all of the games, and I overall felt sad.

I thanked Brady for the game, and headed to the 2nd floor to show Inseong the game. He explained some of the slow moves that I made, and noted that this game wasn't according to my typical playing style: usually, I don't go for territory, and think more about strength/weakness of stones.

I lamented my loss to others that I saw, and went to grab something to eat. I hadn't prepared much for this congress, so it was unreasonable for me to expect to win all of my games. But I still felt pretty down in the dumps. I went to another one of Kim Yoonyoung's lectures, and then chat with some other folks.

During that time, I got another email from Inseong saying that they'd go out to the terrace to drink again, but that it'd be more "casual" - whatever that meant. I like hanging out with Inseong, so when it got to be around 7pm, I headed over to the terrace. There were fewer people at the gathering this time, but overall, I just didn't feel like chatting as much. The night before, I was happy to chat for as long as anybody else, but today, I just felt down in the dumps about losing. I was pretty quiet, and decided to head in around 9:30pm. Inseong noted that I hadn't talked much, and I mumbled something about being tired, and sadly walked back to the dorms.

Christian was there playing some sort of computer game, so I chat briefly, and then went to bed. It was a sad day compared to the day before.

mhlepore · Post by **mhlepore** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:41 pm

Hi Brian,

I think you've transposed the colors in the first diagram (of Game 2).

My game finished a little early that day, and I remember catching glimpses of your game with Brady as his massive center came into focus. I wondered how you were going to reduce it enough, and you almost did. Nothing to hang your head over.

Life In 19x19

Kirby's Study Journal

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Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal

Re: Kirby's Study Journal