Introduction — Round 1 — Round 2 — Round 3 — Round 4 — Conclusion

My opponent made his first move: upper left star.

I stared at the board as I recalled memories of playing with my friend Nate: the various approaches I tried before, the numerous times he gave me advice as to how he tries to play as white, and how I should try to play as black. I wasn’t sure what was in store for me, because this was not going to be a fun casual Monday night game. This was a game that neither of us wanted to lose. After all, I’m sure that neither of us wanted to start the tournament off with a loss. Nonetheless, only one of us would come out a victor…

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Just played against a 6k with a 6 stone handicap (which should have been 8 might I add) and lost due to a misclick. hangs head in shame Words can barely describe how blown I feel right now…. so incredibly blown… On the upside though, this may be one of my more interesting games since I managed to hang in there even though I was supposed to given two more stones. Check out the kifu to see my epic fail.

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So I just played against an 11k? and I have to say it was quite an unusual game. He essentially did four 3-3 invasions, and then attempted to stir fights. Now I don’t know if it’s simply because my estimated strength on KGS is no longer accurate, but I really felt like I should’ve been giving him 4 stones. He failed to make life for his groups three out of four times. I think that’s highly irregular for someone who’s potentially in the 11kyu range. I also checked out his rank graph, and it looks NUTS! I don’t get the progression considering the number of games he played. It’s not like he dominated every opponent.

Anyhow, here’s my game. Some moves are admittedly slow and not quite efficient, but I was happy to play a very solid game where I minimized cutting points and maximized on his. He essentially waited till the end and resigned. >.< The score would have been +253.5 in my favor. sigh… In terms of overall reading, I think I did alright this time. Nothing glaring that I particularly regret. That being said… knock on wood…. enjoy the game.

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I’m back and excited to be back. So I played my first game on KGS this morning. I have to say it’s quite an ugly game. I despise a number of my moves and misreads. So just keep that in mind when you look at it. In terms of why I’m posting it, it’s to just serve as a reminder to myself and others how different application of principles in your play is different than practicing. One thing is for sure though, I did not let myself lose my composure when I made those mistakes. And since that was one of my main goals, I’m glad I could play well enough to come out with a half point komi win. =D

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So I think I’ll start summarizing my games with one word synopsis to describe the what I believe to be the ultimate aura and ambiance of the game. Today’s choice of word: slaughtered. In other words, like a lamb being led to the slaughter, I let a 12 kyu draw me into fighting situations where my (already poor) reading ability ruined any chance I had of beating him in the game. Let me run a few off my hand…. misreading capturing races, missing shortage of liberties, blatantly trying to save a group that was in atari which missed my reading. I do think I should have won. My strategy was far more solid overall, but I got drawn back into focusing on the fighting. There’s a little guy in my head right now yelling, “TERRITORY YOU IDIOT! THIS IS NOT FIRST CAPTURE!” Sigh… Enjoy the following horrific game that I am so ashamed to call my own.

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So here’s the game that broke my miserable resignation streak from last night. It was a game against a 9k. We played with a proper handicap this time (one guy tried to give me less stones earlier and as the idiot I accepted… let’s just say it didn’t go so well).

Overall, I definitely have come to see the game in a different light. As someone who was told that life and death is my first priority, it’s easy to get caught up in old habits and just simply try to kill the opponent’s stones the whole time. This game was a clear illustration of my growth from that mindset. At least I hope it is…

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