I just got back from the Japanese Embassy where I got a chance to meet and play Japanese pro Narumi Osawa (4p). Although the event went differently than I expected, it was a unique experience in that she mainly spoke Japanese and therefore I had to rely on translations and my best interpretations of what she was aiming at. Although I haven’t processed a lot of it yet, it feels like something else clicked tonight. Hard to say what, but although I’m quite tired, it was a great experience that I look forward to reflecting on. More on this Thursday…

For those of you who read my series of posts on the North American Go Convention, you might recall that on Day 2, there was a crew doing a special interview with Joanne Missingham. Guess who made the cut? I guess my play was so incredible they decided to feature me! Hahaha. Just kidding! Anyhow, I can’t seem to download the video from Facebook. So here is the link to the video and some screenshots below:

Joanne Missingham Interview

Fun times. xD

*Thanks to DeepSnow for seeing the scene at 8:10. I have no idea how I missed it.

Games

• KGS - 2 games ( 1 win : 1 loss )
• DGS - 6 ongoing games

Tsumego

• Go Game - Life and Death (iPad App) - Practice Phase 2 ( Class 11 - 17 )

Other

• Five Hundred and One Opening Problems - Page 1 - 54

Thoughts

It’s been a rather light week in terms of playing and studying, but hopefully the Study Group Kyu website will be up and running soon! In addition, starting tomorrow I will be releasing updates and revisions on previous equipment reviews and integrating new reviews as time goes on! So it was still a productive go week even though I didn’t get to play as much as I would’ve liked. Here’s to hoping my schedule will stabilize next week so I can play more ranked games!

So it seems that this week will definitely not be nearly as productive in regards to playing games as last week. Although it will be game light, here are some of the things I am working on:

1. Giving the Equipment section a complete makeover in order to improve the look and feel and to maximize its usefulness to anyone looking to purchase go equipment or books!
2. Designing the first layout for the new StudyGroupKyu website in preparation for the April tournament launch!
3. Continuing my study of all the go books I have so that I can add more books to the book review section!
   I’ll be sure to post updates when the new Equipment section are updated for your comments and critiques!

Games

• KGS - 8 game ( 6 win : 2 loss )
• DGS - 7 ongoing games

Tsumego

• Go Game - Life and Death (iPad App) - Practice Phase 2 ( Class 6 - 10 )

Other

• Elementary Go Series, Volume 5 - Attack and Defense - Page 21-57

Thoughts

Although it doesn’t feel like it, this week has actually been pretty active in regards to playing. As you can see, I have seven ongoing games on Dragon Go Server! And although this isn’t final or solid quite yet, my KGS account did manage to hit 5k this week! So we’ll see whether or not it sticks around. Haha.

Meanwhile, I find myself actually taking even more time to play games than I used to. I’m in this weird place where 30 minutes feels a bit too short but anything longer than that takes a long time and can be very tiring. Oh well, looks like I have two more things I need to improve: (1) Stamina & (2) My Brain’s Processing Speed. After all, I need to get myself competition ready! MD Open 2013 is only two months away!

Many thanks to the following people for taking the time to find me and play with me on DGS: Paul, Tilwen, Devin, Tyler, Andrew, Todd, and Gurujeet! I’m looking forward to seeing what you all play next!

Lately I’ve noticed that I seem to have trouble finding time to play ranked games. On the other hand, whenever a friend asks to play a game, I always manage to scrounge up the necessary time to play. After some thought, I believe it is for any of the following reasons:

1. With ranked games, I have this subconscious fear of not playing my best and losing.

2. When playing against friends, the burden of playing to win is lifted from my shoulders. As a result, even though the games take just as long as a ranked game normally would (or even longer), I’m at ease playing them because I don’t have a problem resigning the game if anything were to come up.

3. Continuing with that idea, I think part of me is fearful that I will be unable to complete a ranked game in its entirety. In my defense though, I have lost a game on time before because I was interrupted and needed to take care of some things. So the idea of losing a ranked game because of anything other than skill makes me shudder.

Also, I’m at this weird point in my growth where my abilities are directly proportional with how much time I spend thinking about a move. Although this may sound common sense to many, I have heard that there are a number of players who can think all day long but will still come up with the same types of moves regardless. An obvious example of this would be joseki. Some players play joseki faithfully by the book because it says that the result is even. For me, it seems that the longer I spend thinking about a move, the more likely it is a better move than what I thought of previously.

Recently, I have found myself spending more and more time in the opening trying to figure out how certain moves or potential responses will affect the game as a whole. As a result, I am finding myself in byoyomi even as early as the middle game sometimes. Since it’s such a new way of thinking for me, it is a very laborious and intensive process that takes a while for my brain to trudge through. Can’t wait till it becomes more innate and engrained into my go…

Thanks to Paul, it seems that I may never ever be in a playing slump ever again. Haha. I am now officially active on Dragon Go Server (DGS)!

The first time I tried playing on DGS, I never turned on the notifications feature and thus could not quite grasp the beauty of turn based go. Now that the feature has been turned on though, I find it pretty exciting when I get an email telling me it’s my turn to play.

For those who find that they are a bit short on time and can’t block out a couple hours for a good game of go, I completely agree with Paul in that this is a fantastic way to fill the void of not being able to play. In fact, I think there may be some validity in Paul’s sentiment of turn based go helping him to improve faster since “a subconcious piece of my mind [is] dwelling on board positions” as he goes about his day. As someone who is starting to play turn based go, I certainly hope he’s right!

Especially for those of you who are busy with school and can never find time to play a game with me, I definitely think DGS is the way to go. And to sweeten the deal, there is even a free Android (search for anDGS)/iPhone app (search for Dragon Go Client) so you can play on the go! My username is bengozen on there as well, so add me and send me an invite for a game! Looking forward to seeing you across the board!

Games

• KGS - 1 game ( 1 win : 0 loss )

Tsumego

• Essential Life & Death (Vol. 2) - Complete
• Go Game - Life and Death (iPad App) - Practice Phase 2 (Class 3 - 5)

Other

• Elementary Go Series, Volume 5 - Attack and Defense - Page 1 - 20
• Dictionary of Basic Joseki: Volume 1 - Page 16 - 32
• The Chinese Opening - Pages 50 - 63
• 36 Stratagems Applied to Go - Pages 1 - 9

Thoughts

Overall, it’s been a rather quiet week in terms of games. In the meanwhile though, I’ve had lots of little bits of free time that have allowed me to peruse various topics that I’ve had my eye on for some time. So in terms of learning new things, it’s been a rather enriching week. I still have a lot to sort through regarding lessons that I’ve had from frozensoul, zyoda, and Myung, but I’m hoping to get to them next week so I can really solidify what they’ve taught me.

It seems I’ve hit a bit of a playing slump recently. Every time I’m asked to play a game, I find myself turning down most games (except in rare cases where frozen or a friend asks for a game).

It’s not so much that I don’t like playing anymore, but each time I want to start a game, I have this nagging feeling that something else needs to be done or start feeling worried that I’ll be interrupted. After all, a full game of go for me can easily take anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours without skipping a beat. And frankly, life has not been too lenient in terms of giving me 2 hour blocks of time to play a game of go. As a result, I’ve been rather hesitant lately to play any ranked/tournament games for fear of needing to leave, resign, or rush the game.

For those who have been following, that is a recipe for disaster for my go. Odds are very good that I will end up regretting the game I played. So to avoid me possibly going on tilt or becoming frustrated, I’ve been doing a bit of reading, studying, watching, and reviewing other people’s games in order to get my go fix. Although I know it isn’t quite the same as playing the game, my little workaround will have to suffice until life eases up a bit.

Games

• KGS - 2 games ( 2 win : 0 loss )

Tsumego

• Essential Life & Death (Vol. 2) - Pages 87 - 110
• Go Game - Life and Death (iPad App) - Practice Phase 1 (Class 1-3) & Phase 2 (Class 1-2)

Other

• Elementary Go Series, Volume 3 - Tesuji - Pages 23 - 60
• The Chinese Opening - Pages 1 - 50

Thoughts

Although it seems like a rather light week in terms of playing, I’ve had a number of teaching games that have been quite eye opening. I haven’t yet processed a lot of what has been passed onto me this week, but I hope to take the weekend to look over the kifus and reinforce anything that I learned. On the upside, I’ve found some really interesting go books that I’m hell bent on trying to finish as soon as possible. More on this next week!