Kirby's Study Journal
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Kirby
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Thanks, Mike. I updated the diagram. Also, I agree that it was an interesting game, and I don't feel as bad about it now. I'm trying to capture my feeling during that day, though, and throughout Monday, I was definitely disappointed.
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Kirby
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Day 4
I 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: 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: 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: 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:
It seemed pretty big, so I continued: 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: I gained some points by pressuring his group, and also some influence in the center:
And before long, I had made a decent shape in the center: 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:
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:
Seemed fine to me. But he recommended jumping here, and then invading the 3-3 on the bottom left to make it less valuable: 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:
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.
I 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: 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: 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: 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:
It seemed pretty big, so I continued: 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: I gained some points by pressuring his group, and also some influence in the center:
And before long, I had made a decent shape in the center: 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:
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:
Seemed fine to me. But he recommended jumping here, and then invading the 3-3 on the bottom left to make it less valuable: 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:
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.
be immersed
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Bill Spight
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Isn't this better for White than crawling?
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins
Visualize whirled peas.
Everything with love. Stay safe.
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins
Visualize whirled peas.
Everything with love. Stay safe.
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Kirby
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dfan
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
I hope you believed me when I told you later that it wasn't a big deal!Kirby wrote: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.
By that time I had realized that the way to play against a 6d/6k rengo pair, if you are just a single player on your side, is to play ko threats against the 6d and the "real game" against the 6k. In addition to the fact that it increased my chance of winning, it also frustrated Josh the 6d, which was a nice side effect.
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SoDesuNe
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Kirby wrote: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:
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Kirby
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Looks like better shape than what I played in the game. Does the book have a follow up for the hane?
My gut instinct is to crosscut, but not sure.
My gut instinct is to crosscut, but not sure.
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Kirby
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Totally! For these posts, I’m trying to convey the thoughts I had at that point in the week, at least how I recall them.dfan wrote:I hope you believed me when I told you later that it wasn't a big deal!Kirby wrote: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’m glad we could chat later throughout the week.
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mhlepore
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
I don't have that Go Seigen book (or at least I can't find it, but these two games may be of interest:Kirby wrote:Does the book have a follow up for the hane?
http://ps.waltheri.net/database/game/25058/ (basically the top half of the board is identical to your game)
http://ps.waltheri.net/database/game/26697/ (looks at the followup you ask about)
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Uberdude
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
About Go Seigen's attachment ladder maker, it's certainly a fun move that wins kudos points, but I'm not sure it's actually that good. I used to like it (I don't play b14 joseki anymore so no longer reach opportunities for it) and I've played it a few times, I remember one time against Andrew Kay 4d in a tournament, he fixed the ladder, let me bust through but in a review Jeff Chang 6d said it was bad for me as the profit from breaking through at d13 isn't so big. This was with just a white 4-4 in lower left so white can just knight's move there to reduce black profit (usually the colours are other way round so I gave black lower right shimari). It's worth noting that in the first pro game posted that was a black corner so breaking through was building something decent for black. In Kirby's game it's even worse for black as white has already reduced that area with c6.
Losing that game against Andrew Kay made me chicken out of playing it in one of our title match games so I just extended instead of wedging. I thought I'd heard Korean pros with their love of territory thought that was ok for white, but Go says it's bad plus I heard after our game Yoonyoung Kim 4p thought it was bad for me too (Guo Juan 5p did a commentary on that game: https://internetgoschool.com/lesson.vhtml?ls_id=950).
I get the feeling that in his 21st century go books written after his playing career Go Seigen has the luxury of being able to suggest interesting moves without having to prove their effectiveness against top pros trying to show he is wrong (I think a lot of what he says is probably right, and the way he foreshadowed many AI ideas is extra impressive, but I wouldn't assume everything he suggests is best). Iirc Jeff reported something like Chinese pros had studied the attachment and decided it wasn't actually so great. I wonder what strong bots think of it, sucking at ladders would make their anaylsis less valid.
About white's resisting with hane, you have to be very careful with those pending ladders. I remember another time I used the attachment in the Pandanet European team league. My opponent tried to resist the attachment but I outread him with another ladder using the aji of the wedge invasion:
Maybe white just takes the stone, although you can then ladder did you lose too much for it? For 7 black faces a bit of a conundrum: you'd really like to atari at l18 and make white connect, but white might not be so kind and fight the big ko at j17 and then those bad exchanges you made to make the ladder work were for nothing. And if you directly ladder then white likes having the k18 option to make that group stronger. Or 5 could be e14 atari and break through for another trade.
So as white didn't connect just cut the knight move like you threatened to if white tenuki:
Losing that game against Andrew Kay made me chicken out of playing it in one of our title match games so I just extended instead of wedging. I thought I'd heard Korean pros with their love of territory thought that was ok for white, but Go says it's bad plus I heard after our game Yoonyoung Kim 4p thought it was bad for me too (Guo Juan 5p did a commentary on that game: https://internetgoschool.com/lesson.vhtml?ls_id=950).
I get the feeling that in his 21st century go books written after his playing career Go Seigen has the luxury of being able to suggest interesting moves without having to prove their effectiveness against top pros trying to show he is wrong (I think a lot of what he says is probably right, and the way he foreshadowed many AI ideas is extra impressive, but I wouldn't assume everything he suggests is best). Iirc Jeff reported something like Chinese pros had studied the attachment and decided it wasn't actually so great. I wonder what strong bots think of it, sucking at ladders would make their anaylsis less valid.
About white's resisting with hane, you have to be very careful with those pending ladders. I remember another time I used the attachment in the Pandanet European team league. My opponent tried to resist the attachment but I outread him with another ladder using the aji of the wedge invasion:
Maybe white just takes the stone, although you can then ladder did you lose too much for it? For 7 black faces a bit of a conundrum: you'd really like to atari at l18 and make white connect, but white might not be so kind and fight the big ko at j17 and then those bad exchanges you made to make the ladder work were for nothing. And if you directly ladder then white likes having the k18 option to make that group stronger. Or 5 could be e14 atari and break through for another trade.
So as white didn't connect just cut the knight move like you threatened to if white tenuki:
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Kirby
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Kirby
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Day 5
I woke up with a bit of a headache - I felt a little groggy from the night before. I glanced at my iPod - it was around 8am - today was the first day I slept in past the usual 6 in the morning.
I had chat with Andy Olson the morning before about potentially participating in the Diehard Tournament (Andy is the TD)... But yeah, that wasn't happening. I cleaned up a little bit - showered, brushed my teeth, and shaved. I saw Josh Lee in the hallway as I walked to the dining hall for breakfast - I said hello, and continued to the dining hall.
Soon after I sat down for breakfast, Steve Stringfellow sat down next to me. I've seen Steve before in tournaments, and we weren't that far from each other when I lived in Seattle. Steve brought up my activity on L19, and I quickly assured him that I often play the devil's advocate on the forums - the opinions I express so strongly are not necessarily my own, and that I try to bring balance to discussions where I think they are leaning too much toward a particular viewpoint. Steve brought up the Transatlantic Go Championship arguments, and I agreed that this was one of those cases. We continued to have an amicable conversation ranging from go to my experiences with childhood cancer with my son. Steve had some background in the area as a doctor. I chat very openly about the experiences our family had gone through.
At some point, we realized that it was getting very close to 9am. Steve was participating in the diehard tournament, so he had to rush to his game. I was more laxed, since I didn't feel like participating today.
After leisurely finishing up my coffee, I headed to the playing area to check out some of the diehard go players. I saw one of my AYD friends (I think he's 4k) in a tough opening situation - he couldn't capture stones in a ladder, and it looked like his opponent would escape. But I noticed that he could solidify some stones, forcing his opponent to avoid a ladder, and then it became a ko on the bottom - it'd be a good result for him, but I couldn't mention anything. He didn't end up playing the sequence I imagined, but when I chat with him later, it seems that he won the game anyway - so that ladder/ko fun wasn't necessary.
After some time, I decided that it was time to go downtown. Inseong and others were participating in a baseball game, but I hadn't signed up for any of these activities. Instead, I wanted to get my wife and kids some souvenirs from a local gift shop. I checked out a map, and found that there was a gift shop about a 30-minute walk away. I scanned the directions (I don't have a smartphone, so I had to memorize them), and headed out. I got slightly lost on the way, but found that a farmer's market was on that street. I bought some cheese curds, because I heard that Wisonsin was famous for them. Eventually, I also found my way to a gift shop, and bought a few souvenirs for my wife and kids.
On the way back to the campus, I stopped by a game shop and also a bookstore, but didn't end up buying anything. Finally, I made my way back to my dorm room, and put some of the items I had just purchased into the refrigerator...
Now what?
I didn't have much else to do, so I decided to take a nap. I slept for a couple of hours, and it felt good to be refreshed. Then, I headed back to the playing area, watched a couple of games, and waited for folks to return from their Wednesday activities... For lack of anything better to do, I bought an affogato (coffee/ice cream thing). I've had affogatos before, but when I ordered them on campus, the dish I ended up getting was huge - lots of ice cream, lots of whipped cream, and so much coffee that I spilled some and had to clean it up. Anyway, eating ice cream was a way to pass time while I waited... Kind of a boring day.
Eventually, I ran into some folks from the Seattle Go Center, and they invited me to come with them to an Escape Room. Nick Sibicky, another Nick, Cat, and others from the Seattle area would be coming. Solomon, a long-time Go Congress attendee, would also come. I agreed, happy for something to do.
We split two Ubers, and made it to the Escape Room venue. There were about 10 of us in total, which made for an interesting experience. I'd done an escape room once in the past, but at that time, it was just me and my two sons - i.e. I was solving all of the puzzles. This time, we all could work together, which was both a hinderance, and helpful - probably more helpful overall, since everyone could work in parallel.
We solved all of the puzzles except for the last one, which was kind of a trap. We had about 15 minutes to spare, and suspected that the code we were going to enter might not be the right one. But we had only one chance, and we were getting hungry... And it was the wrong code. So we kind of got to the end, and kind of lost, since that last puzzle had the wrong code. I guess we could have spent more time trying to solve it since we still had 15 minutes, but oh well.
We took Ubers back to the campus area, and Solomon mentioned that he'd be eating at a poke restaurant nearby. That sounded tasty, so everyone in our Uber headed over to have poke. The meal was delicious, and we chat about various go related topics. A couple of the Korean pros happened to stop by the same restaurant, so I said hello. And then, we headed back to the campus. It was getting close to 7:30pm, when Inseong's lecture would be starting. Inseong's lecture was the only go lecture scheduled for the day.
I attended the lecture, and more than improving my go ability, it was just an interesting lecture. He talked about famous tesujis throughout go history, and gave some nice background on the history of go. It was a fun lecture to attend.
After the lecture, I headed back to the playing area. I saw Tony Cha and his wife, who was participating in the 13x13 tournament. Tony's wife is somewhat new to go, but it seemed that she was enjoying it.
Then, I happened to see Inseong in the hall, who invited me to go drink and chat with Korean pros. I enjoy practicing Korean, and I like hanging out with Inseong, so of course I agreed.
We ordered some drinks, and sat down at one of the tables there. It was Inseong, Kim Yoonyoung, Kim Hyunghwan, and Kim Hyunghwan's wife. It seems that Kim Hyunghwan's wife wasn't a native Korean speaker (she speaks Chinese natively, I think), but she was still pretty good at communicating in Korean. It was also interesting to find out that Kim Hyunghwan studied with Inseong when they were younger, though, Inseong is a little bit older than Kim Hyunghwan. Anyway, we chat about various topics - I mostly listened, and soon, the discussion came to be about the stuff that happened between Diana Koszegi and Kim Seongryong. There was the basic conversation about the event, but then also how there was some conflict/division within the Hanguk Kiwon that wasn't present before. Korean laws are somewhat lax, probably, compared to American laws in this area, and there were also financial aspects regarding how much money Kim Seongryong had brought in before all of this happened. Then of course, there's the general disgust for what happened.
This conversation went on for probably around an hour, and I concentrated to follow the conversation. Some of the lingo was a little hard for me to follow, though. I think I got the basic idea of what was being discussed, but I started missing some details with some of the specialized vocabulary they were using.
Then at some point in the conversation, they asked me about America's views on the #MeToo movement. I wasn't sure how to respond to this in English, let alone in Korean. I mean, people generally support the #MeToo movement, and they don't want people to be assaulted or abused. But those things seem obvious, don't they? I tried clarifying the question, to get a better idea of what they meant, "Are you asking me if I lean more toward Diana's side or Kim Seongryong's side?", but they just ended up laughing, because they were asking more generally about #MeToo. Kim Hyunghwan's wife mentioned something along the lines of people being killed for this kind of stuff in China.
Eventually the conversation moved on, and we talked about Inseong's go school, and compared participants of the US Go Congress and the European Go Congress. It was a fun discussion, and it was good practice for Korean.
After some time, it was getting late, again approaching around midnight. I headed back to the dorms, and saw that Christian was still up. He seemed particularly happy, so I asked him about his day. Apparently, he went on some sort of cruise on the water, and very much enjoyed it. I could tell by the expression on his face that he seemed pretty satisfied with his day.
I was tired, and figured that I'd better get some rest before Thursday, because the next game was coming up - we'd be back to tournament play tomorrow. So I said goodnight to Christian, and quickly fell asleep.
I woke up with a bit of a headache - I felt a little groggy from the night before. I glanced at my iPod - it was around 8am - today was the first day I slept in past the usual 6 in the morning.
I had chat with Andy Olson the morning before about potentially participating in the Diehard Tournament (Andy is the TD)... But yeah, that wasn't happening. I cleaned up a little bit - showered, brushed my teeth, and shaved. I saw Josh Lee in the hallway as I walked to the dining hall for breakfast - I said hello, and continued to the dining hall.
Soon after I sat down for breakfast, Steve Stringfellow sat down next to me. I've seen Steve before in tournaments, and we weren't that far from each other when I lived in Seattle. Steve brought up my activity on L19, and I quickly assured him that I often play the devil's advocate on the forums - the opinions I express so strongly are not necessarily my own, and that I try to bring balance to discussions where I think they are leaning too much toward a particular viewpoint. Steve brought up the Transatlantic Go Championship arguments, and I agreed that this was one of those cases. We continued to have an amicable conversation ranging from go to my experiences with childhood cancer with my son. Steve had some background in the area as a doctor. I chat very openly about the experiences our family had gone through.
At some point, we realized that it was getting very close to 9am. Steve was participating in the diehard tournament, so he had to rush to his game. I was more laxed, since I didn't feel like participating today.
After leisurely finishing up my coffee, I headed to the playing area to check out some of the diehard go players. I saw one of my AYD friends (I think he's 4k) in a tough opening situation - he couldn't capture stones in a ladder, and it looked like his opponent would escape. But I noticed that he could solidify some stones, forcing his opponent to avoid a ladder, and then it became a ko on the bottom - it'd be a good result for him, but I couldn't mention anything. He didn't end up playing the sequence I imagined, but when I chat with him later, it seems that he won the game anyway - so that ladder/ko fun wasn't necessary.
After some time, I decided that it was time to go downtown. Inseong and others were participating in a baseball game, but I hadn't signed up for any of these activities. Instead, I wanted to get my wife and kids some souvenirs from a local gift shop. I checked out a map, and found that there was a gift shop about a 30-minute walk away. I scanned the directions (I don't have a smartphone, so I had to memorize them), and headed out. I got slightly lost on the way, but found that a farmer's market was on that street. I bought some cheese curds, because I heard that Wisonsin was famous for them. Eventually, I also found my way to a gift shop, and bought a few souvenirs for my wife and kids.
On the way back to the campus, I stopped by a game shop and also a bookstore, but didn't end up buying anything. Finally, I made my way back to my dorm room, and put some of the items I had just purchased into the refrigerator...
Now what?
I didn't have much else to do, so I decided to take a nap. I slept for a couple of hours, and it felt good to be refreshed. Then, I headed back to the playing area, watched a couple of games, and waited for folks to return from their Wednesday activities... For lack of anything better to do, I bought an affogato (coffee/ice cream thing). I've had affogatos before, but when I ordered them on campus, the dish I ended up getting was huge - lots of ice cream, lots of whipped cream, and so much coffee that I spilled some and had to clean it up. Anyway, eating ice cream was a way to pass time while I waited... Kind of a boring day.
Eventually, I ran into some folks from the Seattle Go Center, and they invited me to come with them to an Escape Room. Nick Sibicky, another Nick, Cat, and others from the Seattle area would be coming. Solomon, a long-time Go Congress attendee, would also come. I agreed, happy for something to do.
We split two Ubers, and made it to the Escape Room venue. There were about 10 of us in total, which made for an interesting experience. I'd done an escape room once in the past, but at that time, it was just me and my two sons - i.e. I was solving all of the puzzles. This time, we all could work together, which was both a hinderance, and helpful - probably more helpful overall, since everyone could work in parallel.
We solved all of the puzzles except for the last one, which was kind of a trap. We had about 15 minutes to spare, and suspected that the code we were going to enter might not be the right one. But we had only one chance, and we were getting hungry... And it was the wrong code. So we kind of got to the end, and kind of lost, since that last puzzle had the wrong code. I guess we could have spent more time trying to solve it since we still had 15 minutes, but oh well.
We took Ubers back to the campus area, and Solomon mentioned that he'd be eating at a poke restaurant nearby. That sounded tasty, so everyone in our Uber headed over to have poke. The meal was delicious, and we chat about various go related topics. A couple of the Korean pros happened to stop by the same restaurant, so I said hello. And then, we headed back to the campus. It was getting close to 7:30pm, when Inseong's lecture would be starting. Inseong's lecture was the only go lecture scheduled for the day.
I attended the lecture, and more than improving my go ability, it was just an interesting lecture. He talked about famous tesujis throughout go history, and gave some nice background on the history of go. It was a fun lecture to attend.
After the lecture, I headed back to the playing area. I saw Tony Cha and his wife, who was participating in the 13x13 tournament. Tony's wife is somewhat new to go, but it seemed that she was enjoying it.
Then, I happened to see Inseong in the hall, who invited me to go drink and chat with Korean pros. I enjoy practicing Korean, and I like hanging out with Inseong, so of course I agreed.
We ordered some drinks, and sat down at one of the tables there. It was Inseong, Kim Yoonyoung, Kim Hyunghwan, and Kim Hyunghwan's wife. It seems that Kim Hyunghwan's wife wasn't a native Korean speaker (she speaks Chinese natively, I think), but she was still pretty good at communicating in Korean. It was also interesting to find out that Kim Hyunghwan studied with Inseong when they were younger, though, Inseong is a little bit older than Kim Hyunghwan. Anyway, we chat about various topics - I mostly listened, and soon, the discussion came to be about the stuff that happened between Diana Koszegi and Kim Seongryong. There was the basic conversation about the event, but then also how there was some conflict/division within the Hanguk Kiwon that wasn't present before. Korean laws are somewhat lax, probably, compared to American laws in this area, and there were also financial aspects regarding how much money Kim Seongryong had brought in before all of this happened. Then of course, there's the general disgust for what happened.
This conversation went on for probably around an hour, and I concentrated to follow the conversation. Some of the lingo was a little hard for me to follow, though. I think I got the basic idea of what was being discussed, but I started missing some details with some of the specialized vocabulary they were using.
Then at some point in the conversation, they asked me about America's views on the #MeToo movement. I wasn't sure how to respond to this in English, let alone in Korean. I mean, people generally support the #MeToo movement, and they don't want people to be assaulted or abused. But those things seem obvious, don't they? I tried clarifying the question, to get a better idea of what they meant, "Are you asking me if I lean more toward Diana's side or Kim Seongryong's side?", but they just ended up laughing, because they were asking more generally about #MeToo. Kim Hyunghwan's wife mentioned something along the lines of people being killed for this kind of stuff in China.
Eventually the conversation moved on, and we talked about Inseong's go school, and compared participants of the US Go Congress and the European Go Congress. It was a fun discussion, and it was good practice for Korean.
After some time, it was getting late, again approaching around midnight. I headed back to the dorms, and saw that Christian was still up. He seemed particularly happy, so I asked him about his day. Apparently, he went on some sort of cruise on the water, and very much enjoyed it. I could tell by the expression on his face that he seemed pretty satisfied with his day.
I was tired, and figured that I'd better get some rest before Thursday, because the next game was coming up - we'd be back to tournament play tomorrow. So I said goodnight to Christian, and quickly fell asleep.
be immersed
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Kirby
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Day 6
I woke up at the usual 6am to the usual sound of construction. I felt somewhat refreshed - I had gotten a decent amount of sleep, considering my nap from yesterday. I did drink a little bit the night before, but not much compared to earlier in the week. So I felt pretty good, overall.
Today would be the day that Inseong would be leaving. It was Thursday, and he had to make the trek to Brussels for the European Go Congress, which was coming up on Saturday. Around January of this year, Inseong spent some time training in Korea. I didn't know it at the time, but he said later that this was in preparation to participate in the 2019 US Go Congress Masters' Tournament. But later in the year, he was asked to be one of the main instructors at the European Go Congress, so he opted to do that instead. As a result, it meant that he had to leave a couple of days early from the US Go Congress, in order to make it on time. Inseong said that he'd be participating in the Master's tournament at the US Go Congress in 2020. Time will tell if that actually happens - it'd be fun to see him play.
Anyway, since it was the last day he'd be staying at the Go Congress, I met up with Inseong for breakfast at the dining hall. We sat off to the side where fewer people were eating, and we chat for a little while. We talked about the tournament, and I told him that I'd do my best to win the next few games. We chat about this and that, and eventually, it was time to prepare for the tournament. Inseong said he'd be leaving around 1:00, so I could see him off before he left. I said I'd try to make it, depending on how long my game went.
It was time to head back to the playing area, so after eating, I got ready, and headed over. A lot of people were already there, since it was almost 9am, and I checked the pairings. To my surprise, I was paired with Nick Sibicky. For those who don't know, Nick is a popular YouTuber, but I also know him from the Seattle Go Center. Shortly before I moved to Seattle, Nick started teaching a double digit kyu class at the Seattle Go Center, and he would tape his lectures. As time went on, he started publishing them on YouTube. His channel grew in popularity, probably because of his teaching style, and as a result, a lot of people have come to know about go. Probably partially due to this, Nick won the AGA's teacher-of-the-year award this year.
Up until now, even though I had lived in Seattle for about 5 years, regularly frequenting the Seattle Go Center, I had never played Nick in an even game. That's because Nick is an AGA 4d, and I've never reached that level. I've reached 3d in the past, but due to poor results at last year's Cotsen, this year at the US Go Congress, I was playing as an AGA 2d. So I was a little bit intimidated by this. Nick seemed to be a solid player, and I can't say that I'm in good shape this week - I haven't been sharp, and I've messed up a lot. Even the games I won were somewhat sloppy.
I made my way over to Nick, who was standing among some other people, and apparently, he had already seen the pairings. He told me, "Don't get too excited - they are redoing the pairings. MAYBE we'll play each other, but we don't know, yet." So I calmed down a little bit, curious about who I would actually end up playing.
Up until today, pairings had gone pretty smoothly, but for whatever reason, there seemed to be issues today. It was almost 9:30, and pairings still weren't up. I was getting kind of anxious, so I went to buy a coffee. I saw my old rival from college, Matt, and we chat for a little bit about our games up until now.
After that, I headed back up to the playing area, and saw that the real pairings were up, now. I went over and scanned for my name. Who would my opponent be...? Still, Nick Sibicky.
So I wandered over to the table where we'd be playing, and said hello to Nick. I was very nervous because of his rank. Technically, I had beaten Tony Cha in a casual game earlier in the week, and Tony is also AGA 4d. But that was kind of a fluke, and again, I haven't been in good shape this week.
Anyway, the game began, with me as white. Things started out in a usual way, and I felt pretty comfortable. Upon reviewing the game, I don't feel that there were many major issues, up until this point:
Black had approached the upper left white stone, and I ignored to approach his 3-4 stone. I think it's a reasonable idea. But given that a double approach on the 4-4 is somewhat painful, I think I should be more concerned about getting sente.
Given this, I think something like the following would be reasonable: Given some of the other threads, black might ignore, but this leaves a stronger follow-up for me at 'a'. And if white decides to answer, I think this progression is very reasonable:
Then I don't get the double approach. Black can attack the marked white stones, but it seems hard to be that severe. I think it'd be a reasonable opening for me.
But I was more casual than that, and I allowed the double approach:
It didn't seem that bad for me at the time, but I realized that I don't know the variation that I played that well.
At this point, I know that playing a move like 'a' is OK - I've seen this kind of shape before in pro games. But I kept being kind of worried about the cut at 'b'. What do I do in that case?
In the game, I didn't really know. And that's why I ended up playing this weird mistake:
My idea with
was to protect the cut in sente. But upon review, I realized that this is just making black stronger:
1. The cut isn't a bit deal, because my upper left white stones can live even after being cut.
2. If I keep pressure on the black stones, then even if white cuts, my cut stones in the center aren't that weak.
Given these points, I think it's better for me to just keep pressure on the two (still weak) black stones:
Something like, above, keeps the two black stones weak, and also helps the marked white stone on top. Simply put, I think it's a stronger move.
At this point, I was starting to kind of freak out, so I spent quite a long time on moves. I felt a little bit behind, and my opponent was Nick Sibicky, famous YouTuber and 4d. In retrospect, I think I freaked myself out a bit too much, because even this early in the game, I was getting close to being in byo-yomi.
With all of the middle game and endgame to go, I don't think being in byo-yomi so early is the best of strategies. Nonetheless, I was freaking out and using too much time.
The moves that followed seemed a little passive by black, so I felt like I had gotten a little bit back into the game:
My attackable corner group was getting stronger, and now it was black who was low on the left.
Maybe that feeling of confidence was what led me to overplay here: Somehow, I misread here, even though I spent a lot of time. I read various ladder variations, and it seemed that I could escape with ladders on the outside, despite the weaknesses. If that were true, then I could kill the black stones on the left.
That would make me feel a bit more comfortable about this game!
But as the case may be, this was a misread, and Nick simply captured me in a net:
Uh oh. My fealing of failure returned, and I again feared losing the game:
1. I had failed to kill black on the left.
2. My group in the top left could be pressured.
3. It wasn't like I was really leading on points.
4. Living in the top left in gote seemed so... blah.
5. How can I make up this deficit?
So, I adopted a new strategy:
1. Try to get sente to make big points on the board.
2. As Inseong might say, play my moves in a way that say, "Catch me if you can" to Nick.
That's why I aimed to play these point taking moves in the top and bottom right: In retrospect, if my strategy were really to take a lot of points, maybe, above, should be the 3-3. If I'm going all in on that strategy, I might as well maximize it. In the game, I thought the 3-3 would damage the point potential on the right side. While that may be true, I get the points in the corner, and black still doesn't have a base if I play the 3-3.
Anyway, my thought was that I gained a bit on points - now just don't lose that much when Nick attacks me.
And so the attack began.
Suddenly, I saw some semblance of a chance: the black stones were weak - if I could capture them somehow, then I could avoid the pains of living in gote in the top left.
So it came down to a do-or-die fight: I capture his stones or break out to avoid living in gote in the top left - or I live in gote and he wins the game.
As the game progressed, I played very direct moves, which was probably a problem: since those moves are kind of aji-keshi, they strengthen black, and take away my potential.
I ended up driving black into the right side, making my own stones weak. It became possible to get a seki, or to die myself. My chances of killing him faded away:
Later, I reviewed the game with Tyler Okawa, and he pointed out that I didn't always need to play in such a direct way.
For example, earlier in the game, instead of the direct hane, maybe I could play away a bit: In the game I played the tight move at 'a', which gave black more forcing potential. Maybe playing further would have given me a better chance. I don't know if there's a way to definitely catch black, but Tyler's suggestion falls more aligned with Inseong's advice about not trying to "catch a fish with your hands" - if I want to get the group, I should play back more, maybe.
In any case, I lost the game. I played two stones on the board to resign, and thanked Nick for playing. We briefly reviewed the game there, which seemed OK, since we were the last players playing in that area. Then, I checked the time - it was past 1:00pm, which meant that Inseong was already gone. Shoot - I didn't get to say goodbye. And furthermore, I had lost this game.
Nonetheless, compared to my game against Brady earlier in the week, I felt OK about this game. I had some misreads, and I handled the double approach in the top left poorly. But it was a fun game to play. Besides, a 6-0 record was no longer on the line, so I didn't feel so bad.
After reviewing the game with Nick, I went to have lunch, and then decided to attend one of Yilun Yang's lectures on joseki. It was a fun lecture. As he typically does, he gave some general principles about making choises in joseki. We went over several 3-4 joseki variations with pincers, and talked about the principles behind choosing what move to play.
I headed back to the playing area, and quickly checked out the go bookstore. I scanned the selection they had - I don't have all of the books they offer, but I already own all of the ones that I'm interested in. So, I didn't buy any books.
After that, I recalled the thoughts I had earlier in the week about BIBA. Through the AYD and doing problems on my own, I already can have a lot of what BIBA has to offer. But one thing was still missing: games against stronger players. So i signed up to play in a simultaneous game against a pro. I don't usually do this, because it seems hard to win against pros, and they're often just handicap games. But maybe this lack of playing is something that's hindered my progress. So I played this game:
At this point, a Chinese translator told me that the pro wanted to stop playing: it was already about 4:50pm, and they had to leave by 5:00pm. I agreed, and cleaned up the board. I asked for some tips, and through the translator, she said that I played well, but there was some aji in the bottom left - I knew about the aji already, but was still thankful for the game.
I found dfan, again, from the L19 forums. We chat for a little while. Like me, dfan often spends awhile on his games, so I had seen the end portion of a number of his games throughout the week. We were able to chat about that a little bit.
It seemed that dfan had plans already for dinner with his friend - I think Dave - from the Boston area. They were going out to a restaurant by car with Dave's wife. They let me tag along, and we walked to the hotel where Dave and his wife were staying (they had opted not to stay in the dorms). The valet pulled out Dave's car, and we all got in. I sat in the back with dfan, and Dave and his wife sat in front. We had some technical difficulties with the car - somehow, the key wouldn't turn. Dave checked the owner's manual, and figured out how to get the car started, and then we were off to the restaurant.
Dave was a friendly guy, and nice to talk to. His wife is from Taiwan, I think, and they had plans to travel there next week. Apparently, everyone there except for me had known one another through music in the Boston area. I was in band in high school, but that's the last time I played a musical instrument, so I didn't have much to contribute to the discussion. We had a nice dinner together, though, the waitress gave me the wrong drink. It turned out OK, because she gave me a new one for free, and I handed it off to dfan.
Dave is vegan, and we talked about being a vegan in Taiwan. Apparently, things have gotten a lot more accommodating toward vegans in recent years, which is good, I suppose, if you're vegan.
Eventually, we headed back to the playing area, and I chat with folks around there. Inseong wasn't around, so I didn't have any real plans for the evening. I tried to find folks who were doing something, but didn't have that much success.
I headed back to the dorms, chat with Christian a bit, and went to bed.
I woke up at the usual 6am to the usual sound of construction. I felt somewhat refreshed - I had gotten a decent amount of sleep, considering my nap from yesterday. I did drink a little bit the night before, but not much compared to earlier in the week. So I felt pretty good, overall.
Today would be the day that Inseong would be leaving. It was Thursday, and he had to make the trek to Brussels for the European Go Congress, which was coming up on Saturday. Around January of this year, Inseong spent some time training in Korea. I didn't know it at the time, but he said later that this was in preparation to participate in the 2019 US Go Congress Masters' Tournament. But later in the year, he was asked to be one of the main instructors at the European Go Congress, so he opted to do that instead. As a result, it meant that he had to leave a couple of days early from the US Go Congress, in order to make it on time. Inseong said that he'd be participating in the Master's tournament at the US Go Congress in 2020. Time will tell if that actually happens - it'd be fun to see him play.
Anyway, since it was the last day he'd be staying at the Go Congress, I met up with Inseong for breakfast at the dining hall. We sat off to the side where fewer people were eating, and we chat for a little while. We talked about the tournament, and I told him that I'd do my best to win the next few games. We chat about this and that, and eventually, it was time to prepare for the tournament. Inseong said he'd be leaving around 1:00, so I could see him off before he left. I said I'd try to make it, depending on how long my game went.
It was time to head back to the playing area, so after eating, I got ready, and headed over. A lot of people were already there, since it was almost 9am, and I checked the pairings. To my surprise, I was paired with Nick Sibicky. For those who don't know, Nick is a popular YouTuber, but I also know him from the Seattle Go Center. Shortly before I moved to Seattle, Nick started teaching a double digit kyu class at the Seattle Go Center, and he would tape his lectures. As time went on, he started publishing them on YouTube. His channel grew in popularity, probably because of his teaching style, and as a result, a lot of people have come to know about go. Probably partially due to this, Nick won the AGA's teacher-of-the-year award this year.
Up until now, even though I had lived in Seattle for about 5 years, regularly frequenting the Seattle Go Center, I had never played Nick in an even game. That's because Nick is an AGA 4d, and I've never reached that level. I've reached 3d in the past, but due to poor results at last year's Cotsen, this year at the US Go Congress, I was playing as an AGA 2d. So I was a little bit intimidated by this. Nick seemed to be a solid player, and I can't say that I'm in good shape this week - I haven't been sharp, and I've messed up a lot. Even the games I won were somewhat sloppy.
I made my way over to Nick, who was standing among some other people, and apparently, he had already seen the pairings. He told me, "Don't get too excited - they are redoing the pairings. MAYBE we'll play each other, but we don't know, yet." So I calmed down a little bit, curious about who I would actually end up playing.
Up until today, pairings had gone pretty smoothly, but for whatever reason, there seemed to be issues today. It was almost 9:30, and pairings still weren't up. I was getting kind of anxious, so I went to buy a coffee. I saw my old rival from college, Matt, and we chat for a little bit about our games up until now.
After that, I headed back up to the playing area, and saw that the real pairings were up, now. I went over and scanned for my name. Who would my opponent be...? Still, Nick Sibicky.
So I wandered over to the table where we'd be playing, and said hello to Nick. I was very nervous because of his rank. Technically, I had beaten Tony Cha in a casual game earlier in the week, and Tony is also AGA 4d. But that was kind of a fluke, and again, I haven't been in good shape this week.
Anyway, the game began, with me as white. Things started out in a usual way, and I felt pretty comfortable. Upon reviewing the game, I don't feel that there were many major issues, up until this point:
Black had approached the upper left white stone, and I ignored to approach his 3-4 stone. I think it's a reasonable idea. But given that a double approach on the 4-4 is somewhat painful, I think I should be more concerned about getting sente.
Given this, I think something like the following would be reasonable: Given some of the other threads, black might ignore, but this leaves a stronger follow-up for me at 'a'. And if white decides to answer, I think this progression is very reasonable:
Then I don't get the double approach. Black can attack the marked white stones, but it seems hard to be that severe. I think it'd be a reasonable opening for me.
But I was more casual than that, and I allowed the double approach:
It didn't seem that bad for me at the time, but I realized that I don't know the variation that I played that well.
At this point, I know that playing a move like 'a' is OK - I've seen this kind of shape before in pro games. But I kept being kind of worried about the cut at 'b'. What do I do in that case?
In the game, I didn't really know. And that's why I ended up playing this weird mistake:
My idea with
was to protect the cut in sente. But upon review, I realized that this is just making black stronger:1. The cut isn't a bit deal, because my upper left white stones can live even after being cut.
2. If I keep pressure on the black stones, then even if white cuts, my cut stones in the center aren't that weak.
Given these points, I think it's better for me to just keep pressure on the two (still weak) black stones:
Something like
, above, keeps the two black stones weak, and also helps the marked white stone on top. Simply put, I think it's a stronger move.At this point, I was starting to kind of freak out, so I spent quite a long time on moves. I felt a little bit behind, and my opponent was Nick Sibicky, famous YouTuber and 4d. In retrospect, I think I freaked myself out a bit too much, because even this early in the game, I was getting close to being in byo-yomi.
With all of the middle game and endgame to go, I don't think being in byo-yomi so early is the best of strategies. Nonetheless, I was freaking out and using too much time.
The moves that followed seemed a little passive by black, so I felt like I had gotten a little bit back into the game:
My attackable corner group was getting stronger, and now it was black who was low on the left.
Maybe that feeling of confidence was what led me to overplay here: Somehow, I misread here, even though I spent a lot of time. I read various ladder variations, and it seemed that I could escape with ladders on the outside, despite the weaknesses. If that were true, then I could kill the black stones on the left.
That would make me feel a bit more comfortable about this game!
But as the case may be, this was a misread, and Nick simply captured me in a net:
Uh oh. My fealing of failure returned, and I again feared losing the game:
1. I had failed to kill black on the left.
2. My group in the top left could be pressured.
3. It wasn't like I was really leading on points.
4. Living in the top left in gote seemed so... blah.
5. How can I make up this deficit?
So, I adopted a new strategy:
1. Try to get sente to make big points on the board.
2. As Inseong might say, play my moves in a way that say, "Catch me if you can" to Nick.
That's why I aimed to play these point taking moves in the top and bottom right: In retrospect, if my strategy were really to take a lot of points, maybe
, above, should be the 3-3. If I'm going all in on that strategy, I might as well maximize it. In the game, I thought the 3-3 would damage the point potential on the right side. While that may be true, I get the points in the corner, and black still doesn't have a base if I play the 3-3.Anyway, my thought was that I gained a bit on points - now just don't lose that much when Nick attacks me.
And so the attack began.
Suddenly, I saw some semblance of a chance: the black stones were weak - if I could capture them somehow, then I could avoid the pains of living in gote in the top left.
So it came down to a do-or-die fight: I capture his stones or break out to avoid living in gote in the top left - or I live in gote and he wins the game.
As the game progressed, I played very direct moves, which was probably a problem: since those moves are kind of aji-keshi, they strengthen black, and take away my potential.
I ended up driving black into the right side, making my own stones weak. It became possible to get a seki, or to die myself. My chances of killing him faded away:
Later, I reviewed the game with Tyler Okawa, and he pointed out that I didn't always need to play in such a direct way.
For example, earlier in the game, instead of the direct hane, maybe I could play away a bit: In the game I played the tight move at 'a', which gave black more forcing potential. Maybe playing further would have given me a better chance. I don't know if there's a way to definitely catch black, but Tyler's suggestion falls more aligned with Inseong's advice about not trying to "catch a fish with your hands" - if I want to get the group, I should play back more, maybe.
In any case, I lost the game. I played two stones on the board to resign, and thanked Nick for playing. We briefly reviewed the game there, which seemed OK, since we were the last players playing in that area. Then, I checked the time - it was past 1:00pm, which meant that Inseong was already gone. Shoot - I didn't get to say goodbye. And furthermore, I had lost this game.
Nonetheless, compared to my game against Brady earlier in the week, I felt OK about this game. I had some misreads, and I handled the double approach in the top left poorly. But it was a fun game to play. Besides, a 6-0 record was no longer on the line, so I didn't feel so bad.
After reviewing the game with Nick, I went to have lunch, and then decided to attend one of Yilun Yang's lectures on joseki. It was a fun lecture. As he typically does, he gave some general principles about making choises in joseki. We went over several 3-4 joseki variations with pincers, and talked about the principles behind choosing what move to play.
I headed back to the playing area, and quickly checked out the go bookstore. I scanned the selection they had - I don't have all of the books they offer, but I already own all of the ones that I'm interested in. So, I didn't buy any books.
After that, I recalled the thoughts I had earlier in the week about BIBA. Through the AYD and doing problems on my own, I already can have a lot of what BIBA has to offer. But one thing was still missing: games against stronger players. So i signed up to play in a simultaneous game against a pro. I don't usually do this, because it seems hard to win against pros, and they're often just handicap games. But maybe this lack of playing is something that's hindered my progress. So I played this game:
At this point, a Chinese translator told me that the pro wanted to stop playing: it was already about 4:50pm, and they had to leave by 5:00pm. I agreed, and cleaned up the board. I asked for some tips, and through the translator, she said that I played well, but there was some aji in the bottom left - I knew about the aji already, but was still thankful for the game.
I found dfan, again, from the L19 forums. We chat for a little while. Like me, dfan often spends awhile on his games, so I had seen the end portion of a number of his games throughout the week. We were able to chat about that a little bit.
It seemed that dfan had plans already for dinner with his friend - I think Dave - from the Boston area. They were going out to a restaurant by car with Dave's wife. They let me tag along, and we walked to the hotel where Dave and his wife were staying (they had opted not to stay in the dorms). The valet pulled out Dave's car, and we all got in. I sat in the back with dfan, and Dave and his wife sat in front. We had some technical difficulties with the car - somehow, the key wouldn't turn. Dave checked the owner's manual, and figured out how to get the car started, and then we were off to the restaurant.
Dave was a friendly guy, and nice to talk to. His wife is from Taiwan, I think, and they had plans to travel there next week. Apparently, everyone there except for me had known one another through music in the Boston area. I was in band in high school, but that's the last time I played a musical instrument, so I didn't have much to contribute to the discussion. We had a nice dinner together, though, the waitress gave me the wrong drink. It turned out OK, because she gave me a new one for free, and I handed it off to dfan.
Dave is vegan, and we talked about being a vegan in Taiwan. Apparently, things have gotten a lot more accommodating toward vegans in recent years, which is good, I suppose, if you're vegan.
Eventually, we headed back to the playing area, and I chat with folks around there. Inseong wasn't around, so I didn't have any real plans for the evening. I tried to find folks who were doing something, but didn't have that much success.
I headed back to the dorms, chat with Christian a bit, and went to bed.
be immersed
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SoDesuNe
- Gosei
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
Full disclosure, Go Seigen talks about this position:Kirby wrote:Looks like better shape than what I played in the game. Does the book have a follow up for the hane?
My gut instinct is to crosscut, but not sure.
He does not give any variation for the hane but points to two explanations why he thinks the following result is good for Black.
First of all, White's territory is not small but it is concentrated in one area. It is also painful for White to see her marked stone "go bad".
Furthermore,
is a probe, making miai between 'a' (for White, Black would like to play fourth line here) and looking at the aji at 'b'. So Black will either get fast development (the four stones at the top are light) while White defends her one area or Black will poke around and "give [White] an eerie feeling".-
Bill Spight
- Honinbo
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Re: Kirby's Study Journal
I found a tesuji for W102.
I would not have found it in a game. I would probably have played at a.
connects at 
White has a strong attack.
Black has to scramble in the top right, and the Black center group has not made two eyes yet.
I would not have found it in a game. I would probably have played at a.
connects at White has a strong attack.
Black has to scramble in the top right, and the Black center group has not made two eyes yet.
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins
Visualize whirled peas.
Everything with love. Stay safe.
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins
Visualize whirled peas.
Everything with love. Stay safe.