Journal Entry: #08

Thanks to Gurujeet for this photo!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the NOVA Pumpkin Classic Tournament and seeing many friends there. And though I originally planned on playing in the tournament that day, I ended up being on call for work and thus planned on only attending to see friends and show my support.

Upon arrival though, I got convinced to play in the first round since we had even numbers. And while I would have liked to have played for more rounds, it was simply not possible for me to do so with a possible work call coming at any moment.

On the upside, I did get to play a round against an opponent I had played against in the Baduk Open Championship. I had decided to self-promote to 1k this time and was giving her a 2 stone handicap. The following is the game record (which I will be sure to review in a future Monday Go Meditation).

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Monday Go Meditation: Game 68

For this week’s meditation, we are going to be reviewing my first professional simul game from Go Congress - Day 1! Through this game, you’ll get to witness the enduring strength of professionals in simul games. Even though the game looks overwhelmingly in Black’s advantage for a good portion of the game, it is in the middle game where their precise analysis becomes extremely evident.

In case there are those wondering though, Dahye’s felt that I played well for most of the game; but as you’ll see in the game, an oversight on the security of my own groups was the ultimate reason for my demise. Hope that you enjoy the game!

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Weekly Progress Report: #06

Overview

As I continue into the second stretch of non-stop hammering of work and attempts to sustain consistency, I’m happy to report that while I feel pretty winded, I don’t feel anything close to burnout yet. On top of that, I’ve actually come to realize that executing my routines first thing in the morning seem to work out pretty well for me. On days that I didn’t manage to do so usually resulted in a last minute scramble to get it done at the end of the night, but I’m hanging on as best I can.

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Journal Entry: #07

The only way I can describe the past few days is that it has been a flurry of work and attempts to straighten out other aspects of my life (like working out more consistently and waking up early). On the upside though, I’ve been rather successful at those things and have actually found that doing my training regimen early in the morning is actually quite effective. There’s definitely something about knocking out four pages of problems and playing a game of 9x9 first thing in the morning that really makes for a good start during my day. I’ll be sure to report more later on this week on how it goes.

Monday Go Meditation: Game 67

For this week’s meditation, we are turning back the clock to my first game at the Go Congress 2014 — Prelude! For those who need a refresher, this game was from the day I arrived in New York and was asked to play a match while we were waiting for people to arrive. It’s a fun game that shows just how you can find the opportunity to reverse a game if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and complicate things. Hope you enjoy this game!

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Book Review: The Road Map to Shodan, Volume 2

The Basic Principles of the Opening and the Middle Game

Description: “In this book, 20 basic principles are presented. Each principle is accompanied by numerous examples and each section is followed by problems in which the application of these principles is required to solve them. The intuition of the novice player who studies the principles, examples, and problems presented in this book will quickly rise to the level of an expert go player.”

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Weekly Progress Report: #05

Overview

As predicted, I really am in the thick of things this week. In the midst of all this work though, I’ve managed to barely cling on to my training regimen (though it was rather difficult to do as each day went on). I’m currently testing different things to make the training more consistent (i.e., getting it done first thing in the morning). I’ll let you know when I discover my own magical formula for it.

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Journal Entry: #06

I have to say that my training is really starting to be tested this week. I nearly messed up my streak a couple days ago after getting caught up in work and the rest of life. Thankfully I’m good for now, but it’s certainly becoming difficult as I’m adjusting to a higher pressure situation.

For anyone who used to play turn based go with me, I’ve added Online Go Server (OGS) back into circulation. Hopefully I’ll get around to adding Dragon Go Server in the future, but for now I’m just keeping track of KGS and OGS.

Other than that, I’ll just keep on working to keep my head above water as the tides rushes in. Hope that everyone else is doing well with their own training. Hope to see you on dry land soon!

Monday Go Meditation: Game 66

As the weeks have passed, one of the major factors in me starting to play go again has been the numerous friends who have been kind enough to take time out of their day and ask me to play. Just like last week’s MGM, this week’s MGM features teafree. It’s an exciting one that is chocked full of ko battles and exciting exchanges. I hope that it keeps you on the edge of your seat as we navigate through the treacherous waters of this kifu! Enjoy!

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Weekly Progress Report: #04

Overview

Whew. I’m hitting the one month milestone in my training and I’m proud to say that things are still going well. Granted, there are times where I almost skipped out on my regimen, but my past self was smart enough to keep it at a manageable level where the task was easy enough that it wasn’t onerous to complete.

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