Maryland Open 2013

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when I pulled up to the Maryland Open in Catonsville, Maryland. Though I was a little nervous for what was waiting for me at this tournament, I was excited at the prospect of seeing friends and having a day filled with go.

After registering (as AGA 5k) and catching up with a few people, I noticed that a girl (whom I’d never seen before) come up to the registration table to purchase the books she had in hand (two Elementary Go Series books).

Wait. There are go books on sale here?!

Credit to Tumblr

When I found the section of go books for sale, I couldn’t believe my eyes as I stared at possibly the largest collection and variety of go books I had ever seen all in one place… It was like I was a kid in a candy store.

Credit to Tumblr

It’s safe to say that I spent the next 20 minutes or so perusing over just about every book I’d ever been remotely interested in. Granted, I’m trying to be better about spending money on go; but all of that went to hell when I found books that were out of print. With some restraint, I ended up only purchasing:

  1. Improve Your Intuition, Volume 3
  2. The ABC’s of Attack and Defense
  3. Cosmic Go (Not out of print but I liked the writing style and decided to get it to further my study of handicap go)

Once I was finished buying my books, I returned to socializing with my friends since I knew that spending any more time in the book section would probably result in me buying more books. Shortly after though, the pairings were up and it was time the first round of the day.

As my opponent and I sat across from one another, I saw him pull out his Bose headphones in preparation for the game. In the past, I had never considered listening to music while playing go; but I decided right there and then that I would give it a shot as well. Here’s the game from the first round.

After that intense match, we all headed out for lunch at a nearby Korean supermarket. I got sushi and enjoyed someone’s miso soup while we talked all sorts of interesting topics (e.g., Steven’s experience in Japan with shabu-shabu, the metro station in Japan, etc.). Before I knew it though, it was time for the second round. The only problem was that my opponent was nowhere to be found.

At this time, I was actually quite comfortable with the idea of my opponent not showing. The first round had given me a lot to think about and I was happy to simply watch other games instead of playing. Sure enough though, about ten minutes later my opponent came in ready to play. Here is the game record for the second round.

Unfortunately, I was unable to stay in the third round or attend the second day of the tournament, so my story ends here. However, even though I would have been curious to see how I would have done in the tournament, it was a fun filled day where I got to meet a lot of great people and play some great go. No regrets on my part. =)

Big shoutout to Eulerstotl, Yuki, Steven, Gurujeet, Todd, Keith, Josh and Justin! It was great seeing you all there!