Journal►Events

Go Congress 2014 - Day 5

Prelude - I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - Conclusion

With the tournament officially off my mind, I have to admit it was kind of refreshing waking up without the worry of getting there at a specific time. I still got up a bit early though, as I wanted to run on over to sign up for simuls before the spots filled up. After all, since I wasn’t playing in the tournament anymore, I decided to set a new goal for myself: get as many simul games with professionals as possible!

After putting myself down for two games, my girlfriend and I went off to try a popular breakfast place: Clinton St. Baking Company. And while there was a decently long wait (considering it was a Thursday morning), it was definitely well worth it.

Blueberry pancakes with maple butter syrup... It was INCREDIBLE!

It was so good I had to put a second picture. Haha.

By the time I got back to Congress, the match had already finished and people were getting ready for the pro events (i.e., lectures, game reviews, simuls, etc.). I would be playing Jennie Shen 2p, who was Michael’s teacher.

The following is the game record:

After the game was finished, I made a point to introduce myself to Jennie and told her that I was friends with Michael. Her face lit up with a smile as she recognized who I was referring to and we talked a bit before I excused myself since I didn’t want to take her away from the simul games any longer.

Since my game ended early, I went off with my camera to find Myung (9p), Jungsang (9p), and Dahye (4p) since they had essentially designated me their unofficial photographer for the Congress.

Here you can see Dahye providing game reviews to members of the audience who had questions about their own games.

2014GC-D05-08

In the next few shots, Myung and Jungsang were giving a lecture on recent developments in joseki that was apparently for dan players. However, I have to say that their explanations were easy to understand and I didn’t feel out of place as I listened to them.

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One of cool things about the Korean pro events that I forgot to mention is that they were giving out all sorts of prizes.* This included things like go related souvenirs (i.e., the go dice I talked about earlier in the week, miniature go board with Hikaru and Sai on it, etc.).

*Just to clarify, I am not saying that the other professionals didn’t have their own form of prizes and such, it’s just that I can only vouch for the Korean pro events since I didn’t get the chance to attend any of the other ones.

Here you can see one of the gifts that someone won at this lecture: a portable go set that the Korean Baduk Association had produced.

After the lecture concluded, I went upstairs to my final simul of the day against Shirley Lin, 1p. The following is the game record:

After my game, I went to see what everyone was up to but had a difficult time locating anyone. So with no one to hangout with or any concrete plans, I took my girlfriend out to a vegetarian kosher place (which was absolutely amazing).

This was their black-eyed pea cake, which was a phenomenal appetizer.

This was their special that night, which was similar to their braised seitan with spinach and mushrooms. It was delicious!

After dinner though, my memory is a bit hazy as to whether anything else of significance happened that night. I vaguely remember going back to Congress to talk with Myung, but I can’t remember much else happening. Haha. Nonetheless, it was a fun day that consisted of good food and go!

Prelude - I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - Conclusion