Doing tsumego

So this weekend there is a tournament and I've been getting myself ready by doing tons and tons 'o tsumego.  In fact I probably do more tsumego than look at professional games or really anything else because I always feel "charged up" after doing a ton.  A year ago I actually sat down and did some 3,500 problems or so (mostly easy ones) just because usually after I do a ton my playing strength gets a nice boost.  I think I'll go back to hardcore training in December.

Btw, try out this problem for size:

Black to play

Hint: Think shortage of liberties.

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Again, still not dead

So I was supposed to report back on the glory that was the Heartland Go Tournament in Peoria Illinois, regaling you with my tales of mingling with the common go players and showing off all of my new found Korean knowledge.  Well, that story will never be told :)  I did awful at the tournament, and because of stupid things.  I would've felt better had it been because my opponents outplayed me.  I would've felt okay if it had been because ... well because of anything.  The first game I missed atari in the endgame (I was so focussed on something else) and my second game I miscounted a capturing race, but not one with a lot of liberties, I simply missed one and assumed I had lost the race.  Before I blundered I had a commanding lead of like 20 points.

I won the next two handily and the last one I did lose but the guy was strong and I made a Ko out of nothingness so it was okay.  So a 2-3 record.  I was bummed, I'm not going to lie, but I will press on.  The next tournament is Dec. 4 and I'll be damned if I miss atari for no reason again :p  Speaking of which, if you live near ann arbor or can make the trek to Michigan you should come to the Ann Arbor Go Tournament.  It's for charity, here's a link:

http://www.umich.edu/~goclub/

The United Way is a great charity and there are plenty of prizes so it's worth the drive.  I will be studying hardcore so that I am in shape for it and will not have another upset :p.

Also, I'm starting a diet today.  I'm way too fat, I gained tons of weight in Korea and after being winded waiting on tables today I have to lose some weight.  The diet worked for my friend who has lost over 30 lbs over the past month or so so I'm going to follow suit.  Wish me luck, it's not an easy one :)

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I'm still alive

In case you guys were wondering :)  I've been hard at work, translating for Wbaduk.com as well as helping my mom get her books ready for publication.  First off, some exciting news. Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p has done a review of Level 3 of the So You Want to Play Go? series which you can see on the Life in 19 x 19 thread here:

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=585.

He has agreed to play the role of expert in upcoming publications, so he'll be working with me for Level 4 of the SYWtPG series, the dan level book, as well as some more ideas I have for future publications (a man has gotta have his secrets).

Secondly, I'll be heading to Peoria for the Heartland Harvest Go tournament on October 30th.  I'm pretty pumped since it's my first Go tournament in....a long time.  The last time I've sat down and played a real game was at my friend Eric's place a few weeks ago, so I hope I'm not too rusty.  I've started with a regimen of doing tsumego problems in between translations, so like I'll translate five problems and then do a few problems from one of my pocket tsumego books.  I know, sounds kind of weird to study problems after translating them but I figure why not?  Gotta cram it in beforehand.

Anyways I'll post some more stuff as time goes on, don't worry, I have some big developments coming and they just require time :p  In any case, you'll see pictures of the tournaments and hopefully I can remember my games to give a good review. comments

Quick update

So I've been sick this past week and whatever I brought with me is pretty bad.  My mom got sick for 3 days and I've seen anyone blow there nose so much in my entire life.  I got a couple of my friends sick after our "Welcome home Jon!" party so I decided to stay in until it blew over.

So right now I'm job hunting, maybe looking into relocating, so the go stuff will be still in the pipeline but maybe at a slower pace.  My studying ground to a halt but I'm busy translating problems for the Korean Ministry of Culture.  They have a problem series they want on their website and they hired me to translate!  

Also, the problem books will be out sometime in mid-end of October, so keep any eye out.  If you haven't, check out the facebook group and hit like, and hit it 1,000 times so facebook realizes how awesome you think Sunday Go is :)  Anyhoo, expect an update soon.

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Good to be back

So I'm back in the good ol' U.S. of A but I have no car so I'm currently stuck in Southfield :)  I got to see my friends and they all took me out for the greasiest, sloppiest, cheesiest American food we could find, and it felt good to be welcomed back.  I'm basically going to take it easy for the month of September, in fact the first few days I got back I just played World of Warcraft and sat on my butt.  Now I'm feeling like I gotta somewhat get back to work, so today's post would be a good way of doing that!  Let's do game review for today's lesson.

I've been playing on Tygem more and more ever since I got to Korea as it's usually faster to get a game there than it is KGS.  As for the style, most people think of Tygem as this awesome fighting server where everyone plays crazy moves but to me it's....normal.  Maybe playing the kids at the dojo makes me think that, because sometimes I'll play someone and I'll think they're a kid given their play style and the speed of their moves.  Lately, Tygem 4d is easy.  Not so easy I don't have to think but I win without having to push really hard to do so.    The reason this is is mainly because of the fact I got much better in center fighting.

I'm Black.  The opening fight was rather interesting because I did it not necessarily because I thought I'd have a great position but more so to see what happens when Black cuts.  I think Black 17 should be at 19 because it feels like better shape.  If White directly plays 20 instead of the bad push at 18 then I have to defend the corner differently.  In the game I just make living shape in the corner and have a two stone fighting force on the outside.  This position isn't great for either player but I feel if White had played 22 at A he'd have a better position because his right side group would be stable.  With Black 7 in a high position that group is screaming "attack me".

Instead of pushing and cutting I could just play the plain Jane joseki at 9 and just make points.  I usually like to push one more time at 11 instead of jumping immediately but that's just personal preference.  I pictured the opening would proceed similar to this.  7 is in an awkward position but I feel since 4 is not useful we're even.

I thought about playing 1 but it kind of ends up being pretty similar to the game.  I just feel overall both players are foiling the other's plan so it ends up being halfway playable.

As I said before, White is just screaming "Attack me!" so I obliged.  This will help my center group be more than stones that just sit there because while he defends I'll build a wall.  When I come out at 31 White has a choice, he could let his bottom group be sealed in facing my 3-4 stone in the lower left, meaning a good sized area for Black, or he could prevent that, which is the option he went for.  Black 33 is a must have move, no question.  We continue the pushing fight out into the center, and again, Black 39 is another of those must have moves.  White 40 is an okay move but that group is really strong and even if he was going to play from there he should've played low to take the territory solidly.  He was probably worried if he directly approached the lower left 3-4 Black stone he'd be counterattacked because of my thickness. White probes with 42 and 44 which I thought were good moves but I do not understand 46 at all.  It's heavy, the follow up move isn't a concern for Black, and it leaves a group open to be attacked later.  In cases like these, just ignore your opponent and find a big point elsewhere on the board.  Find the shiniest point possi...Oh look, a point that covers White's eyeless group from the center!  

Here's why fighting is important.  This is like the climax of an action move, where the hero has chased the bad guy from rooftop to rooftop.  The police who were helping the hero have all fallen by the wayside and now the bad guy is cornered on top of a building and he and the hero have to duke it out in a do or die brawl. The movie could end with the hero lying on the ground, having been beaten to a pulp by the physically superior bad guy, only to win by a stroke of luck.  This fight felt like that.  White thought that he had to attack my lone stone on the right as it's far from it's friends and he has a big wall.  This is the right idea but the execution is off because instead of capturing/neutralizing my stone and saving his group, he instead allowed me to build a wall facing his weak group as I throw away stones I don't care about.  This fight could go a lot of ways.

I expected White to play 4 and then 6 which are the standard moves for this shape.  Black 9 is the key point as it protects the cut and keeps White separated.  

A trade is possible but I don't see how it ends up being fair to White at all.  The center stones do have some aji if White attaches and tries to come out so that's a plus, but after 11 Black will end up with sente after White kills off 7, so Black will play to enlarge the top and White coming out with those stones is painful in just about any scenario.

This move isn't glamorous but I think given that Black is ahead in the center and directly fighting Black doesn't lead to a good result it's better to play the calm move of 48, make this group alive and then move to the left side of the board and make the lower left forcing moves useful.  

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Looking Back

One week from today at 8 a.m. I will get on a plane and head back to the good ol' U.S. of A.  One year passes by pretty fast doesn't it?  All in all, I enjoyed my time here and today I had a lot of time to think about it (being sick will do that to you) and even though I didn't necessarily accomplish all of my original goals I have new goals and a lot of new knowledge.  Just goes to show you that what you may think you want or what you think is best for you is actually not.  I came here to be like 6-7 dan and even though I haven't accomplished that I have come much closer and I know how to get there if I want to.  What have I really learned then, if my main goal wasn't realized?

I learned that it makes much more sense to spend the time you are given in the pursuit of enjoying yourself or working towards enjoying yourself.  The kids taught me that.  Their parents pressure them into learning English.  Of course some parents do it more so than others but with the amount of money they pay to go to ECC they really want their children to learn.  What do the kids do in the face of all this pressure, of going to a school where the teachers don't speak their language?   They try their best but they do it in their own way.  They try to have fun with whatever they're doing.  If that means they have to take their storybook and make a hat out of it then that's what has to be done.  As a teacher it makes me nervous that they're not learning anything when they spend their time in class drawing themselves in a helicopter, gunning me down in my own home, but then again they turn around and bust out a perfect English sentence.

I learned that everybody is different and it's perfectly alright to not blend in a group but that if you put forth even the slightest amount of effort you can get along with a lot of people.  Everyone is not going to be your best friend but some people could be if you just give them a chance.  How did I learn this?  From other expats.  There are tons here, and a lot of people here might not have spent time to get to know me at all if we were in the U.S., but since we gotta stick together out here it makes you more open to working with people and being more flexible with whom you associate with.  This also leads to meeting more cool people who have tons of things to offer if you just open your ears and listen.

Self pity is a waste of time.  I won't go too much into detail here, but I had a long, LONG conversation with someone whose life experience was a lot like mine.  We both grew up with no father although his father was around for the first part of his life where mine wasn't.  That having been said, I don't know which is worse, knowing your father and then having him say "Bye" as opposed to never having met him.  I always rejected the "someone else has it worse" than you thing that people always say.  "It could be worse!" but I always thought "Well, it could be better too!" but actually there's no point in even thinking any of that.  Other people have things in their life that hurt them and you have things in your life that hurt you.  It's all about how you look at it.  In many ways, my life could've been a LOT worse with my father in the picture, so I could be lucky and should focus on that rather than being negative for no reason.

Don't care what people think about you.  This one comes from being stared at constantly.  I know I need a haircut when Koreans start staring at me and middle aged Korean women go wild eyed when I get on the bus.  The afro confuses the crap out of them.  I get stared at by children that don't go to hagwons (it's a tell tale sign) and I get stared at by old people when I speak English on a bus and they feel uncomfortable because they don't understand what's going on.  With all this staring going on, I just got to the point where I was like "I can't satisfy you no matter what I do so I'm just going to carry on with my life and you'll just have to re-order yours or continue staring practice."

All in all, it was totally worth it to make the trek out here and I'll be back.  While I'm in the U.S., I'll be working to promote my book series, write the next few books, do some Korean-English translations and just having a blast. comments

Day 222 - Eat Mexican Food in Korea (made by Koreans)

Hello all you loyal 365 Brand New Days Readers.  Your entry for today has been outsourced to our offices in Suji, South Korea.   I, Jonathan Hop, will be taking over for Kristen's new thing of the day, and let me tell you, a lot of my plans fell through :)  This project is harder than it looks.  At first I wanted to do a Nore-Bang, which is a karaoke place, but then no one wanted to go and I remembered I did go once before (I just suppressed the memories).  In fact, being a work night it was pretty difficult to get people to do anything,  but I was determined. I've been in Korea for about a year so I've done a ton of new things already so trying to find a new thing was a challenge.  But, I had a plan.  My co-worker Matthew and I were going to go to Lotte World, a huge indoor amusement park with a roller coaster and everything.  We were going to drop down from some 15 story tower and scream our heads off.  I'd never been to an amusement park so it was high on the list.  Which brings me to one of the lessons we learned that day.

Never trust Jon Hop to read directions.  Ever.

The directions started from Seoul Station, but I read it as "Go to Seoul Station and then go to Jamshil", and then my mind moved Jamshil from its original position close to Jon Hop to beneath Seoul Station.  Here, I'll translate.  Jon Hop thought Lotte World was on the other side of Seoul, like 40 minutes or so, when actually it was right next to him and he went across Seoul anyway.

'Nuff said.

So, no Norebang.  No Lotte World.  No cooking troupe cuz they're playing on another day.  Matthew and I were both feeling dejected, sitting in the PC cafe sitting next to some Korean guy with blonde hair that looked like he walked out of an anime convention.  What were we going to do?  Then we saw a sign from God.  Well, actually from Dos Tacos. See, unlike back home, Mexican food is NOT popular here.  They have T.G.I. Fridays, Bennigan's, McDonald's, Coldstone, you name it, but Mexican food is not the thing.  They just opened up the first Taco Bell in the country a few weeks ago and that created a huge buzz.  They sold out of food the first day, as in the restaurant didn't have a packet of hot sauce for anyone.  So, we were both starving and thought to ourselves, "Hey we haven't eaten Mexican food in Korea."

Imagine this.  You are dropped from a plane into the middle of the Sahara desert with a half full canteen and little to no hope.  You crawl your away across hot desert sands, the blistering heat sapping away your strength as you realize all you have left in your canteen is sand.  You see a mirage in the distance, a hazy apparition seemingly from nowhere that forms.  You miraculously gain enough strength to inch your way forward.  A beautiful, cool lake of crystal clear blue water shimmers before your very eyes.  After having spent a year eating Korean food, quesadillas looked like this:

                                      

Yo quiero Taco Bell.

Nachos never tasted so good, and Guacamole was never more delicious as it was at Dos Tacos located in Seoul Square plaza.  Now you can say "Well you've eaten Mexican food before."  Well, that part is true but it was my first time at Seoul Station and my first time at Seoul Square.  ALSO, in no way shape or form did I expect to come across a billboard for a Mexican restaurant let alone find one where the waitress speaks perfect English and I can enjoy quesadillas and nachos with a bottle of Dos Equis half the world away.  I also figure I can use up all the new stuff I've been doing all year, from high fiving an 85 year old woman who pushes a cart full of cardboard to the dump every morning to convincing my students that if they didn't behave the Terminator would be their teacher and mow them down.  So I offer up my plethora of experiences to the novelty Gods and ask them to accept my sacrifice of enjoying the best damn burritos in the land of Kimchi.  Also, no Mexicans were involved in the making of said Mexican food.  

Normally Kristen ends with a Jerry Springer style after thought, reminding us of what lesson we've learned that day and how our lives are the better for it.  I could probably talk about globalization or something where we're all learning each others culture and whatnot, I could even babble on about some of the lessons I've learned in Korea.  Instead, I'm just going to close with the fact that on the train today, I saw a young 20-something girl with the word "Gangbang" emblazoned across her chest.  Dictionaries, for the love of god.

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