This weekend has been pretty crazy and busy, but I thought I would let you guys know about something my friend azural found in his perusing of a go forum: PlayMoreGo.com.

The purpose of this short film (i.e. movie trailer) is to try and find a way to tackle the issue of how to explain the game of go in an exciting way. Not everyone has the time nor ability to watch something like Hikaru No Go and get bitten by the go bug, so this is something that I think would really help to further spread the word of go. After all, just because someone doesn’t like chess doesn’t mean they won’t be smitten by how amazing go is. =D

Based on the their website, I think they have the potential to make something incredible. So if you would like to support them, be sure to visit their page at IndieGoGo (an equivalent to Kickstarter) to do so! In case you don’t know what Kickstarter is, the group only receives the funding if they reach their target goal. If they fall short of their goal, everyone gets their money refunded. It’s a win win situation!

They only have a month to go and still need to raise a bit of money. So if you can, please donate what you can! I already have! =D

After an awesome discussion with Feather , I’ve been inspired to start another weekly series in order to give you a glimpse into my world of go. It will be a high level overview of my progress every week and will be released every Friday at 5:00 PM. Let me know what you think and I can always update the format if people want!

Games

• KGS - 9 games (4 wins : 5 losses)
• Tygem - 1 game (0 wins : 1 loss)

Tsumego

• 1001 Life and Death Problems - #851 - 1001
• Essential Life & Death (Vol. 1) - Pages 1-33

Other

• Commented Games by Lee Sedol - Game #1 - Part 1
• Shape Up! - Introduction & Chapters 1 - 3

Thoughts

Overall, it’s been a rather eventful week since the ASR League was wrapping up and the final points were being tallied. The good news is that I managed to get promoted to Alpha!!! Woot woot! I know that some people will say, “It’s easy to get to Alpha. Just play a lot of games.” To you I say that may be true if you actually win some of your games, but otherwise it’s near impossible since your points rack up so slowly compared to people who win a majority of their games.

Since February is going to be a short month, it seems I will be going on another ranked game sabbatical since I will have my hands full trying to stay in Alpha class and also keeping up with my study schedule for the month. Not to mention that North American Go Convention is this month as well, and that will take out four days of studying/playing. So lots to do this month, and very little time. Something’s got to give right? =) Here’s to the start of a crazy month! Ikuzo!

Last night I had the opportunity to play my first game of rengo ever! For those wondering what rengo is, it is pair go! You essentially alternate turns with your teammates. Obviously, the trickiest part is trying to make sure your strategy is not conflicting with your opponents.

As I look back on it, it was a lot of fun. It’s very interesting to see the game through so many different perspectives. Thinking as a collective mind and trying to understand the minds of your opponents makes the game on a much more global level than local fights. At least that’s how I felt when I played. (^.^) For the game record, see the end of the post.

Definitely something I would recommend players to experience (if they can find a partner that they feel comfortable with). It is a lot of fun and definitely helps you avoid being one track minded about things.

On another note, tomorrow will be the official start of my Korean Style Study. For those curious as to what I’m planning on doing, here’s the outline:

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