As I’ve started to ramp things up again, I am noticing that I’m entering that dangerous zone of treading the line between being productive or becoming so busy I eventually enter burnout. In order to temper that, I’ve been keeping better track of my time so that I don’t lose myself in my endeavors too much. It seems to be moderately successful so far, but I’ll need to keep close watch as the weeks progress.

Meanwhile, I’ve been happy to reintegrate reviewing games into my schedule. Though this might come to no surprise for most, it still astounds me much you can pick up by reviewing your own games (especially if you can maintain an objective view on the game). I’m still in the process of finding the right balance of commenting on them, but it’s one of those things that I just have to get a feel for over time.

And last but not least, I am happy to announce that I will be releasing a new book review soon: The Road Map to Shodan (Volume 2): The Basic Principles of the Opening and Middle Game. So be on the lookout for that as I make my return to reviewing go books and other products!

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

Simul Games

Here is a summary of all the professional simuls I played in at Go Congress:

1. Day 1 - Dahye Lee, 4p
2. Day 2 - Ho Yuu, 6p
3. Day 2 - Jungsang Park, 9p
4. Day 3 - Bo Ding, 5p
5. Day 3 - Mariko Deguchi, 1p
6. Day 3 - Yuhong Zhao, 5p
7. Day 5 - Jennie Shen, 2p
8. Day 5 - Shirley Lin, 1p
9. Day 6 - Francis Meyers, 1p

My goal was to play the strongest professionals that I could while experiencing as many brutal defeats from as many styles as I possibly could. In addition, while I am happy with my collection of 9 simul games, I must admit that I was aiming to hit double digits. Haha.

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Overview

Three weeks and counting! I am feeling like I am starting to make some real progress as I continue to adhere to my training regimen. Though I thought about upping my problem solving regimen, I think it’s at a good place where I am making decent progress while the task is relatively easy to accomplish. And as you’ll notice, I also added a playing regimen as well which is very easily supported via the GoQuest app I talked about in my journal entry earlier this week.

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

When I woke up, I realized that today was the last day of Congress. Man, where had all the time gone? It seemed like just yesterday I boarded the train with my brother to embark on an epic journey to New York.

The morning consisted of grabbing breakfast and checking out this cool place called The High Line that Anders recommended the night before. Luckily for us, it was still beautiful weather so we had a great time exploring the sights.

Around lunch, I got a call from Myung letting me know that Jung, Evan, Mark, and him wanted to try a steakhouse in NY before they left. So after meeting up with them at the hotel, we went off to look for one. We found one not too far: Wolfgang Steakhouse.

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

The next morning we woke up and headed off to get breakfast at a popular bagel place called Brooklyn Bagels.

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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.

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.

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