Tournament was a blast!

So today at 12:00 noon the epic-ness that is the Ann Arbor Go Tournament for the United Way commenced.  Thousands of players from around the globe met at the Killodrome to have at it in a winner take all go competition.  Actually, about 14 people from around the Southeast Michigan area (and Ohio!) came to a small corner of the Michigan Union to play for the United Way.  I went 3-1.  I lost my first game to the 7 dan monster as you can see in the picture below:

Scary isn't he?  I think all Eyeglass stores in Korea sell only one style.

I lost the power cord to my camera so I couldn't charge it up to take pictures so I only have a few taken by Bryan, the tournament director.  Notice the fight that's taking place in the upper right corner.  Every time I play this infernal move I always get owned.  I love it because it's a fighting move but it never ends well for me.  I saw it in a professional game and the professional (of course) made use of it.  Here's what I'm talking about.

You only play Black twelve when you have more stones in the area (which i do), and you have a stone at 8 already in place.  If White seals Black in you push and cut and wait for the big bucks to roll in.  Problem is this is never what happens for me.  

The continuation could go like this where Black leaves an opening for White at A but in exchange splits White in half.  My problem was that I played at A instead of 2 which is totally wrong.

Here was the game.  Yeah, I know, Black dies.  I'm also certain that 28 is a mistake too.  It was one of those mistakes you immediately recognize when you play it.  If anything it should be one over to the right.  After I died the game became an orgy of insanity where I just attacked wildly.  I almost did it but then my empire crumbled before my very eyes.

Over the next few days I'll go over a few more of my games.  It gives me a chance to do some game review which I really need to do more of.

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More tournament training

Today I hit the books although I did have some spurts of laziness.  I kind of ... well not kind of, I totally broke my diet two days ago when I went out to Dinner at Denny's.  I had like fries, a milkshake, a buffalo chicken burger with an entire appetizer platter, the antithesis of the Dukan Diet.  That means for the next two days I'm going to be on what's called the "attack phase", which means eating just protein.  Anyhoo, Go!

First off, I'm going to start recording some free lectures to be put up here and on the main Sundaygolessons.com site.  I'd love some suggestions as to what kind of topics you guys would want to see.  It could be tesujis, professional games, game reviews, etc. so let me know.

Today I went through some of my joseki books to freshen up. I usually forget joseki 10 minutes after I've learned it so I review them a lot to make certain that I understand them.  The one I came across today was fun.

Black 1 through White 6 I'm sure you've seen before.  It's like the first joseki everybody learns.  There is a nice move for Black if White plays elsewhere that he can try (among others) and that's the move at 9.

It probably looks like it should die to you.  Well, Black might get captured but it depends on what White does.  Good thing being captured isn't everything.

The idea here is that if Black directly plays 11 then he can sacrifice for some forcing moves on the outside.  But, Black has a better move than just directly doing this.

Black should probe first at 11 and see what White does.  Like this White is split in half.

I'm learning this variation right now and it's taking me awhile to figure it all out.  Maybe I'll get to use it at the tournament, who knows :P

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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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