How to prepare for my first tournament?

[Simba]

tapir,

Yes, I realise now that I entered with the wrong rank. Next time I will minus 1 from whatever rank I have at the time.

Regarding your advice on resigning... Strange, because people mostly tell me never to resign (at my level). Usually I find it difficult to know who is winning a game so it's probably best to play the game out to the end?

Yes, unless you have a very good reason to do so, don't resign against anyone weaker than about 5k (they make too many serious mistakes for you to give up easily) . If you're obviously behind and you can tell, just try to mess the board up, make things complicated and fighty etc.

[daniel_the_smith]

When to resign is something of an art.

Too late, and your opponent will be annoyed.

Too early, and you may lose your chance.

In tournaments, people usually understand if you lean towards the "too late" side of things.

In my last tournament, one of the games had an 80+ point swing. Strange things can happen. Below 5k it's hard to expect which strange things are likely, so resign more late than early.

[tapir]

"If you don't see a way to win..." if you still see a way (even if it is hallucinated), well, then of course try, grasp the last straw you see to try to salvage something and if you don't know at all then sure you have to play it out. But don't play tiny, tiny moves hoping on a blunder or time out victory - even if blunders happen all the time. When behind you should play to catch up over the rest of the game not to lose by a little less points. I strongly believe people of the "never resign maybe he gives away the 50 point lead" school hurt themselves more than anything else, they spent so much time playing ridiculous stuff even when they themselves don't have a plan to turn the game into a win. This does leave a bitter trait with each game, try to think before the game is lost not afterwards, this isn't about other people (who cares?) but about your own game.

It is imho a much healthier attitude to be realistic about your abilities (initial rank), while trying hard to win, combined with the will to concede a loss where it is evident than to joke about how one will get a 1:4 in this tournament again but then to overstay in each lost game desperately trying to produce another victory. Even where I managed to turn such games into victories, I never felt satisfied. (This feels very different from a genuine comeback from behind, when you are behind but there is still potential in the game.)

[Uberdude]

Yes, unless you have a very good reason to do so, don't resign against anyone weaker than about 5k (they make too many serious mistakes for you to give up easily)

And dan players don't? Losing won games is one of my specialities.

[Simba]

Yeah, I'm not meaning do silly nonsense and just insult your opponent, simply opt for more complicated lines. I guess it's kind of related to the "if you're behind, you need to invade/do funky stuff rather than just casually and contently settle for what you already have." idea .

Yes, unless you have a very good reason to do so, don't resign against anyone weaker than about 5k (they make too many serious mistakes for you to give up easily)

And dan players don't? Losing won games is one of my specialities.

Well I'd fancy my chances more at complicated/fighty stuff against a 10k than a 1d . I guess it's a probability thing. Everyone is going to make mistakes, but some weaker players will do it more often and more severely than stronger ones.

[xed_over]

When to resign is something of an art.

Nakayama sensei tells a story in his book, The Treasure Chest Enigma, about a young pro hopeful who struggled to eventually win her game in an event, and when reviewed later by her master, she was scolded for not resigning such an ugly game.

[Ortho]

Game 3 - (The worst) Made a stupid mistake near the end and allowed his dead group to live. You should've seen the look on his face when I resigned because he was huffing and puffing like a little child when he thought he was losing the game, blowing his bad breath straight into my face. Very annoying opponent. Made me want to resign before middle-game even started. Maybe it's a tactic he uses. Maybe I should man up.

I'm not going to let this experience put me off playing go altogether, but I will definitely think twice about tournaments. The games were very long, and I could feel my attention disappearing towards the end of my games.

I played this person yesterday and think you are being a little hard on them. I felt that the heavy breathing was a physical malady that was getting exaggerated during hard thinking and never thought it was gamesmanship.

Sadly, I in one other respect we had the exact same experience. I also accidentally let him resurrect a dead group just before I resigned! It's not the breathing, it's the making a 40-stone dumpling to lure you in before the trap is sprung that you've got to watch out for!