Kitani Style Jujube Bowls

Overall Rating: 10 / 10 Ponnuki

Highlights

• This is my favorite style of bowls for holding go stones since they remind me of the ones on Hikaru No Go.
• They have a nice finish to them that makes them very beautiful to look at.
• Since the lid is also made of wood without any rubber coating, do not expect the lid to stay securely shut in the event the bowls tip over.

Product Details

• Two Kitani style jujube wood Yunzi stone holders that measure 5” W x 4” H (12.7cm x 10cm)

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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!

Weekly Go Wednesday, Issue #21

Winning and losing. Two basic concepts that what makes much of the world go round and round. After all, if every game ended with no conclusive result, who would want to play that game? People like the feeling of a conclusion, even if it is only a speck of dust in the scheme of things. So, of course, how does this apply to go?

As I discussed last week, one of the methods I recommended to avoid going “on tilt” was to let go of the emotional attachment to winning and losing. Most of you will scoff and me and say, “Ben. That is impossible! Even the infamous Stone Buddha has been known to lose composure in games! How could you expect us amateurs to do better than he?” Well, it starts with a detour into a more fundamental philosophical question: Where does your happiness come from?

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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…

Weekly Go Wednesday #20

For those who are not familiar with the realm of poker (or gambling in general), going on tilt refers to a emotionally wild state where a player is prone to make irrational decisions and often ends in their unfortunate demise.

To illustrate, imagine that you have a straight flush (5-6-7-8-9), which happens to be second best hand that a player can have in the game. Mathematically speaking, the odds of your opponents having the royal flush (which is the best hand) is so slim that it’s practically not worth mentioning. To sweeten the deal, none of your opponents have any idea that you have this amazing hand and you’ve reeled them in for a ton of money. When time comes to show the cards, you find out that the impossible has happened: one of your opponents has the royal flush and cleans you out.

In a fit of rage and frustration, you go to get more cash and start to play wildly and bet aggressively in an attempt to win back what “should have” been yours. Over the next few hours, not only do you fail to win any money back, but now you are in a bit of debt and in the most terrible of moods. That is what going “on tilt” is. And it is no different with go.

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For those who are on the East Coast or have plans to be in the area during Memorial Weekend, be sure to try and come out for the 40th Maryland Open Go Tournament! Here is a basic rundown of the event for those who are curious:

• When? May 25th and 26th, 2013 (Saturday and Sunday)
• Where? 501 N. Rolling Road, Catonsville, MD 21228 (near Baltimore)
• What? 5 Round AGA Rated Tournament (3 Rounds on Saturday & 2 Rounds on Sunday)
• Why? As if playing go in person was not enough incentive, there will be prizes in all sections (dan and kyu) from Yellow Mountain Imports and cash prizes for the open section!

For more information or to sign up, please be sure to visit their site here: Maryland Open 2013. Hope to see you there!