Japan!

It's official!  I registered for the 2017 Osaka Go Camp!

I'm only on Unit 1, Chapter 5 of my Japanese lessons on Mango.  And I've had a very slack fall Go-wise.  Time for some New Year's resolutions...

Chun's Recommendation #6 or, Hawk Hike

I skipped the MGA Handicap Tournament this past Sunday in favor of Chun's Recommendation #6 (meditation), in the form of a Hawk Hike.  Mt Tom in western Massachusetts is supposed to be one of the best places to see the hawk migration.  Unfortunately, on Sunday we were also getting the fringes of Hurricane Matthew, so it was rainy and cloudy and windy and the hawks chose to stay put for the day.

I waited out most of the rain, and then hiked out to Mt Tom in the eerie fog.  It was beautiful.  

At one point, I heard music nearby and some sort of cabin loomed up out of the fog, just off the trail.  I heard voices but never encountered the people.  It felt straight out of Heart of Darkness.  

By the time I got back to the lookout tower at Goat Peak, the fog had cleared, so I had some hope of seeing hawks.  They did not seem to be migrating, but they were definitely hanging out.  I'd look north through my binoculars, wait a beat or two, and see a hawk circling above the trees.

When that hawk landed or flew too far away, I'd turn and look south.

Pause...  then, yep!  Another hawk.  Wait until they fly behind the hill and turn north...  and another!  Often a second would fly into view as I watched.

I don't know hawks well enough to identify them specifically, but I know enough to tell that they were definitely hawks of some sort and (having watched more hours of the Cornell hawk cam than I care to admit) almost definitely not red-tailed hawks.

Yunguseng fan!

I got my official Yunguseng fan in the mail!

Year 2: Off to a rough start

Ugh! 0-6 in AYD for this month! The middle of the week evening time is really hard for me, but two of those games I played in the afternoon on the weekend. And my opponents are all playing evening games too, so it seems I should win occasionally, right?

 I think part of what's happening here is this opposite of visualizing success thing that sometimes takes over me. Star athletes are said to use a technique of visualizing success: if you can see yourself making that perfect olympic dive, it will happen. I sometimes end up doing the opposite: I visualize failure in my games and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's not quite conscious, or I would simply stop. I think it is, at least in part, a gender thing. I noticed this same exact phenomenon in one of my student's exams last year. She had failed the exam and brought it to office hours to go over it. The first question on the exam had 4 or 5 parts to it, all of which were variations on basically the same thing (maybe taking derivatives of functions or something like that). Each part was testing slightly different things but, for the most part, if you knew how to do them, you knew how to do all of them. But, looking at my student's exam, she nailed the first few and then bombed the rest. I said to her, "I know what happened here!" and described what happens to me in my Go games. She said, "Yes! That's exactly what happened to me here." Steele doesn't quite address this issue in Whistling Vivaldi, but he talks about similar things. Go is certainly an area in which there is a stereotype of women not doing well, so it makes sense that it would affect me. It's really hard to snap out of that mindset. I don't really have any techniques for doing so, other than waiting for it to go away.

 So, I'm off to D league for October. The bright side of that is that it frees me up for Tuesday music jamming nights. :)

Meanwhile, I utterly failed to meet my goal of 25 games for September, clocking in at a measly 14. Maybe that has something to do with my abysmal performance in AYD too.

On a brighter note, I've started something new! In my 15 years of playing and studying Go, I've never managed to regularly keep up with the latest professional games. I'm a creature of habit, so it needs to be part of my routine or it's not going to happen. So what I've started doing is this: after I read while eating my breakfast in the morning, I take just a few minutes to go through the most recent game posted on go4go.net. It's not the same as keeping up with the latest big tournaments, but it means I get to see lots of very recent pro games. I'm hoping it will help give me new ideas, but it's also fun and inspiring. I think this counts as #5 on Chun's list of recommendations: "Watch games, just watch, download wbaduk app or daily professional games app, Do it when you have 5 minutes free time, on the bus, waiting for coffee etc." (Maybe #6 would help with the visualizing failure problem too...)

Not just me

My goal is to reach 5 dan in 5 years (well, 4 years now).  But not just me -- I want the rest of my club (those who are not already there) to reach 5 dan with me.  We have a lot of low-dan and SDK players in our club.  I'm hoping we can all push each other and climb together.

This is kind of the opposite of what a student of ours said last year.  When getting ready for our exam, this student wanted to be able to bring graph paper.  I pointed out that I couldn't allow that, because then I would have to let everyone do that, and then we'd have to check that the paper everyone brought in didn't have any writing on it and it would take forever.   This student (completely serious) said, "No, not everyone -- just me."

Meanwhile, I'm hurtling toward D league in AYD.  I've lost all three of the games I've played so far.  (Ugh!  I just can't get my head in the game after working all day and with a full day following.)  My first game actually wasn't too bad:

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-09-06a]PW[Michel Babany]PB[Becci]DT[2016-09-06]EV[AYD ]PC[Toronto]CH[1] ;B[pd]C[White: Michel Babany Black: Becci ]N[Michel Babany vs Becci] ;W[dc] ;B[pq] ;W[dq] ;B[co] ;W[cl] (;B[dn]C[This is not the proper move.] ;W[gq] ;B[bq] ;W[nc] ;B[lc] ;W[qc] ;B[pc] ;W[qd] ;B[pe] ;W[pb] ;B[ob] ;W[qb] ;B[oc] ;W[qf] ;B[ic] ;W[ci] ;B[qo] ;W[oq]C[Michel and I both thought this was a good move, but In-seong says it just helps Black.] ;B[op] ;W[nq] ;B[pr] ;W[np] ;B[oo] ;W[jp]C[Black gets a strong shape and sente to play the right side.] ;B[qh] (;W[rf] ;B[og] ;W[gd] ;B[ce] ;W[cd] (;B[ch] ;W[de] ;B[di] ;W[cj] ;B[dh] ;W[ek] ;B[gh] ;W[id] ;B[jd] ;W[ie] ;B[hc] ;W[ih] ;B[gj] ;W[bn] ;B[bo] ;W[gl] ;B[gf] ;W[ge] ;B[ig] (;W[jg] ;B[if] ;W[jf] ;B[je]C[This cut is good for Black.] ;W[jh] ;B[hk] ;W[jk] ;B[hl] ;W[jm] ;B[gm] ;W[fl] ;B[im] ;W[fn] ;B[gn] ;W[en] ;B[jj] (;W[kj] ;B[ij] ;W[ki] (;B[jn] ;W[km] ;B[kn] ;W[lm] ;B[ip] ;W[iq] ;B[hp] ;W[hq] ;B[kp] ;W[jo] ;B[ko] ;W[io] ;B[ho] ;W[jq] ;B[in] ;W[kq] ;B[mo] ;W[nn] ;B[no] ;W[ke] ;B[kd] ;W[le] ;B[lg]C[This is painful for White.] ;W[nb] ;B[na] ;W[ma] ;B[oa] ;W[md] ;B[mb] ;W[qj] ;B[mh] ;W[kf] (;B[ql] ;W[nj] (;B[ol] ;W[rh] ;B[qi] ;W[ri] ;B[pj] ;W[hi] ;B[gi] ;W[hj] (;B[gk]C[This move is a mistake. Black had a chance to kill the large White group in the center. ] ;W[ik]C[But after White cuts, game is ok for White.] ;B[fb] ;W[cr] ;B[br] ;W[cn] (;B[do]C[This is a mistake. ] ;W[bs] ;B[ep] ;W[fp] ;B[eq] ;W[er] ;B[fq] ;W[fr] ;B[dp] (;W[fo] ;B[dl] ;W[dk] ;B[cm] ;W[bm] ;B[dm] ;W[bk] ;B[fm] ;W[el] ;B[em] ;W[pk] ;B[qk] ;W[rj] ;B[oj] ;W[nk] ;B[ok] ;W[sm] ;B[mr] ;W[mq] ;B[rm] ;W[sl] ;B[sk] ;W[rk] ;B[sn] ;W[rl] ;B[qn] ;W[nr] ;B[be] ;W[bd] ;B[ff] ;W[eb] ;B[fc] ;W[ed] ;B[jl] ;W[kl] ;B[il] ;W[kk] ;B[cq] ;W[dr] ;B[hh] ;W[ii] ;B[nl] ;W[ml] ;B[mj] ;W[ni] ;B[lj] ;W[mi] ;B[li] ;W[lk] ;B[lh] ;W[mk] ;B[gp] ;W[df] (;B[bh] ;W[oh] ;B[pg] ;W[nh] ;B[ng] ;W[bf] (;B[bi]C[Black missed a chance here.] ;W[al] ;B[bj] ;W[an] ;B[ef] ;W[fd] ;B[dg] ;W[cf] ;B[mn] ;W[fa] ;B[gb] ;W[os] ;B[ps] ;W[mc] ;B[la] ;W[ld] ;B[ga] ;W[kc]) (;B[aj]C[Black can kill by playing here.])) (;B[bi] ;W[bj] ;B[bg] ;W[dj] ;B[ad] ;W[ac] ;B[ae] ;W[bb]C[This way, the game is good for Black.])) (;W[dm]C[White can kill by playing here.])) (;B[cq]C[Black can live by playing here.])) (;B[hh] ;W[ii] ;B[ik] ;W[gk]C[Black is afraid of this cut, ] ;B[fg]C[But Black should be able to live here. Then White is in trouble.])) (;B[mj]C[Black should look for a strong move for separating White.])) (;B[mj]C[Black can jump here -- the whole White group is so weak.] ;W[lk] ;B[nl]TR[qj]C[Black can capture the marked White stone as a bonus after attacking the whole White group.])) (;B[kk]C[Black should cut directly.])) (;W[ij]C[Again, White should hane inside.])) (;W[hg]C[White should hane this side.])) (;B[de]C[Black MUST nobi here -- just can't give White that awesome tiger's mouth. (I'm learning how to use these attachments, and still not doing very well.) ] ;W[ed] ;B[dh] ;W[ch] ;B[cg] ;W[bg] ;B[bf] ;W[dg] ;B[eg] ;W[cf] ;B[df] ;W[cg] ;B[bd] ;W[bc] ;B[ff]C[Looks fine for Black.])) (;W[qg]C[This is the proper move for White.] ;B[ph] ;W[pj]LB[og:A]C[Later, this is the place for White to invade. White aims at A.])) (;B[eo] ;W[fp]C[If Black jumps out, the two Black stones become a burden (with any pincer).]) (;B[gq]C[So Black should consider this counter-pincer.] ;W[ep] ;B[jp]C[If White comes out, Black should just give it away. ] ;W[dn]C[Even if White comes back, Black can still do something in the corner.] ;B[qk]C[So Black can leave it and play for the right side.]))

In the review of my second game, in which I lost to someone whose username is "shtfrbrns", In-seong basically said that sometimes I play well and sometimes I play like crap (this is not quite the way he phrased it) and he didn't really know what to say. It's totally true, and I don't have an answer for it either.

One year down, four to Go

I'm now one year in to my 5 Years to 5 Dan plan!  That means it's time to look both back and forward.

Looking back:  I went 4-2 as 2 dan at the Canadian Open, and my AGA rank is officially 2 dan (for now, at least).  I think that's pretty good for the first year (having started at 1 dan last year).  If I continue at this rate, I'll meet my goal.  :)

I did not meet my goal of 357 games for the year.  I clocked in at 285, which is 80% of my goal.  (Actually, I stopped counting at the end of August, so this was short of a full year by 2 weeks, though I certainly have not come anywhere near meeting that goal in the past two weeks.)  But my summer got congressed, which was a huge contributing factor to not meeting those goals.

Looking forward:  My next medium term goal is to be 3 dan by this time next year.  I'll consider that goal met if I get to AGA 3 dan and/or I play with at least an even record as 3 dan in some kind of significant tournament.  (That means I'll need to be playing in tournaments...)

I have a lot of things working in my favor.  I'm doing AYD during the academic year, which is totally insane.  I'm having a really hard time playing decent games at night after a long day of work (more on my particular games coming soon).  But I'm playing and getting games reviewed, as well as getting lectures to go along with them.  So that's great.  I have An Huang in my department, so I'm getting regular games with a 6 dan.  It's clear that I have a lot to learn from him, so I'm really happy about that.  I'm so lucky to have him there.  And, of course, I have the best club in the country, full of strong and fun players to learn with and from.  :)

So I have all of that during the academic year to get ready for next summer, when I plan to go to the Osaka Go camp.  To that end, I'm starting to learn a tiny bit of Japanese, using Mango through my library, combined with making flashcards for Anki.  Sukoshi nihongo o hanashimasu!

Returning to regular play

Our club's recovery from Congress is slow, but we are recovering.

In particular...  Walther's back!  I played him at Diesel on Thursday.  I resigned when a group of mine died, but it was so nice to have him back and to get to play with him again.  And we have our next dan level class scheduled.  On September 15th, we'll study (at Mr. Park's suggestion) this  game between Ma Xiaochun (b) and Yi Chang-ho (w) from 1997:

(;GM[1]FF[4]SZ[19]AP[SmartGo Kifu:4.2]CA[utf-8] GN[1997-10-09a] PW[Yi Ch'ang-ho]WR[9d] PB[Ma Xiaochun]BR[9d] EV[2nd Samsung Cup]RO[Semi-final] DT[1997-10-09] PC[Silla Hotel, Seoul] KM[5.5] RE[W+0.5] CP[GoGoD Collection Copyright © 2001-2015 John Fairbairn. All rights reserved.] CH[1];B[pd];W[dd];B[qp];W[dq];B[do];W[co];B[dp];W[cp];B[eq];W[cn];B[dn];W[dm] ;B[cq];W[dr];B[bq];W[cr];B[cm];W[cl];B[br];W[er];B[bm];W[bn];B[bl];W[bp] ;B[fq];W[fo];B[en];W[dl];B[ap];W[ao];B[fr];W[bk];B[cs];W[fm];B[np];W[jd] ;B[cc];W[cd];B[dc];W[fc];B[fb];W[qj];B[gc];W[fd];B[hb];W[gd];B[hd];W[he] ;B[hh];W[id];B[hc];W[fh];B[hf];W[ge];B[bd];W[be];B[bc];W[cf];B[jf];W[nc] ;B[qg];W[qm];B[pc];W[ne];B[lf];W[ld];B[ri];W[oq];B[op];W[qq];B[pq];W[pr] ;B[pp];W[rr];B[or];W[rp];B[ro];W[nq];B[ps];W[qr];B[nr];W[mq];B[mr];W[mp] ;B[kq];W[mo];B[pn];W[sq];B[pm];W[ko];B[so];W[sp];B[kc];W[kd];B[ng];W[qi] ;B[rj];W[qh];B[rh];W[pg];B[qf];W[nh];B[mh];W[mi];B[li];W[ni];B[qk];W[lj] ;B[lh];W[kj];B[ii];W[kg];B[kf];W[mg];B[lg];W[nf];B[fi];W[iq];B[jp];W[hp] ;B[jo];W[jn];B[in];W[io];B[kn];W[jm];B[km];W[jl];B[gh];W[ln];B[kp];W[hj] ;B[fg];W[eh];B[gf];W[ff];B[eg];W[dg];B[ef];W[ee];B[lo];W[df];B[fe];W[qo] ;B[ei];W[qn];B[dh];W[mm];B[ip];W[ho];B[hq];W[pk];B[ql];W[pl];B[rm];W[rn] ;B[ec];W[ed];B[bh];W[ie];B[ob];W[lm];B[pj];W[oj];B[kl];W[ll];B[gp];W[go] ;B[lq];W[jb];B[hm];W[kk];B[gl];W[ep];B[ij];W[nb];B[ib];W[ko];B[jc];W[kb] ;B[lb];W[lc];B[ic];W[lp];B[kr];W[hk];B[bj];W[fn];B[es];W[em];B[ds];W[ak] ;B[fk];W[hl];B[mb];W[ma];B[ja];W[ek];B[ik];W[il];B[cj];W[ck];B[bg];W[mc] ;B[ka];W[pf];B[ph];W[qb];B[pb];W[qe];B[pe];W[re];B[mf];W[rc];B[rf];W[se] ;B[of];W[me];B[bf];W[ce];B[oe];W[od];B[pi];W[gk];B[fj];W[fl];B[ok];W[ol] ;B[nk];W[nl];B[oi];W[nj];B[rl];W[ki];B[kh];W[ae];B[ji];W[dj];B[di];W[aq] ;B[na];W[oa];B[pa];W[qa];B[na];W[ad];B[ac];W[oa];B[sr];W[ss];B[na];W[if] ;B[ig];W[oa];B[sf];W[qd];B[na];W[dq];B[dr];W[oa];B[sb];W[rb];B[na];W[eo] ;B[dq];W[oa];B[sc];W[sd];B[na];W[ks] (;B[gq];W[oa];B[oh];W[mk];B[na];W[jr];B[ir];W[oa];B[sm];W[sn];B[na];W[ls] ;B[lr];W[oa];B[qc];W[sa];B[na];W[hr];B[jq];W[oa] (;B[sc] (;W[sb];B[na];W[ci];B[bi];W[oa];B[ar];W[cg];B[ch];W[na];B[la];W[oc];B[og] ;W[qs];B[os];W[ej];B[aj];W[af];B[ag];W[ap];B[hi];W[gj];B[ff]) (;W[rq])) (;B[so])) (;B[la];W[hr];B[gq];W[jr] (;B[is];W[js];B[ls];W[hs];B[lr];W[os];B[ns]) (;B[lr];W[os];B[ns];W[ls];B[is];W[js];B[jq];W[ir];B[gr])))

When Chun returns, I will declare Congress a success.  (Are you reading this Chun?  I said "when", not "if".)

We also had a special guest appearance from Devin Fraze on Thursday!

And I played my first game against An Huang, our newest tenure-track hire in the Brandeis math department on Friday -- he's probably about 6 dan!  I'm so lucky!  We didn't finish our game because we left to go to a Women in Science Initiative beginning-of-the-year event (free beer).

I'm planning to buy some more Go sets for the math department because we have a few grad students who are interested in playing, and we might be able to get Dave Hampton from the neuroscience department to come by (he stopped by briefly on Friday) and, while he's still at Brandeis, Neil, of course!  If we can get some regular play happening, I'll also invite the Brandeis club to join us.

Classes started on Thursday, so the craziness of the semester is picking up.  I'm trying to set aside my Go time from the beginning of the semester, in hopes of doing a better job of defending it.

Break the limit!

I received my first personal report from In-Seong for my first EYD season!

In the upper left corner, you can see my string of defeats as I travelled to play in the Canadian Open while simultaneously coping with the impending Congress.  My EYD games definitely got short shrift during that time.

For those who know my game, what do you think?  Is his assessment accurate?  I probably would have given myself lower scores in game experience and technique.  And intuition seems high.  I think he's right that my knowledge and life & death knowledge are better than my strategy.  And I think he's absolutely right that I lean toward the calm side on the aggressive/calm scale.  I think I've already come a long way toward the balanced middle, but I'm not there yet.

The big question is what do I do to improve my strategy and mind control?  It would be much easier to improve endgame or knowledge or life & death.  His study plan recommendation doesn't appear to be directly related...  maybe it falls in the experimental games category?  Maybe better local technique will help me improve my strategy (new ideas, etc.)?  

Meanwhile, I played my first game since before Congress last night!  I'm trying to return to actually being a Go player (instead of just hosting Go players) before classes start (two weeks from yesterday).

Congress!!

What a whirlwind! I was running around so much all week, I lost almost 5 lbs!

We had such an amazing team.  Everyone was working so hard, and we had about 50 people volunteering, with about 15-20 core folks.  I think if you picked any other group of people on the planet and put them through what we went through, they would all have been at each other's throats by day 3.  But throughout the whole event, I just wanted to hug everyone on our team.  They're awesome.

With Matthew's late nights and excellent handling of the US Open, we actually started our 400+ person tournament on time every day.  One day, we were even ready to go an hour early.  Matthew squeezed in a half hour of sleep every once in a while, while Walther kept us all going (even encouraging our napping):

On Friday morning, when we came in, Matthew warned us that the playing room would be a disaster because they had Pair Go there last night.  We walked in and it was pristene:

Andrew and his team had put everything back in place the night before.  (Mostly because Andrew didn't trust us to do it right.)

We had some catastrophic equipment failures.  I bought a new phone and new laptop on Tuesday because my aged machines just couldn't keep up with the pace.  Andrew's shoes died, so he repaired them while waiting for his emergency replacement pair to arrive:

I didn't play any Go all week, except a few partial games at the bar.  The exact number, like AlphaGo's future plans, is under discussion.  This is about what Jason looked like to me each night as we recovered at the bar:

Matthew and Audrey definitely won the Pair Go tournament.  Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

Ritter 1 and Ritter 2 got the unenviable task of desperately trying not to miss any of the millions of people who should be on our thank-you list.  But they were definitely the right people for the job because they had a significant group of their friends who helped out who don't even play Go.

It was absolutely impossible to get everyone to stop working long enough to get together for a picture, but here is a small subset of our team:

credit: James Pinkerton/American Go E-Journal

EYD -> AYD

My last month of the EYD season was basically atrocious.  I was traveling a lot, including going to the Canadian Open, in the middle of it, so I had to reschedule almost all of my games.  I did manage to do that, but my head was full of Congress and travel, and my play was definitely not at my best.  I finished up with a 1-4 record for July.  If we had another month, I would have been bumped back to the C league.  But our season ended.  The next season starts in September, which means school will be back in full swing by then.  I was originally planning on just being a spectator in EYD during the academic year because I can't really play in the middle of the work day with EYD and AYD is too late at night for me (games start at 9 pm and reviews start at 11!).  But if this 5 Years to 5 Dan plan is going to get anywhere, I have to push myself.  So I asked In-seong to put me in AYD for the next season.  It'll be tough!

Meanwhile, I'm going to try to catch up on posting the rest of my EYD games from this past season.  In both of these games here, I played a mistake or two early on and then my opponents played well and I never got a chance to catch up.  This is why it's so important to play strong players to get better.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50]TM[2400]OT[15/300 Canadian] PW[greyhound]PB[bkorbe]WR[2d]BR[2d]DT[2016-07-07]EV[Yunguseng League July 2016]RO[3]PC[The KGS Go Server at http://www.gokgs.com/]SO[http://www.yunguseng.com]RE[B+Resign] ;B[pd]BL[2377.928]C[White: greyhound Black: bkorbe Result: B+Resign ]N[greyhound vs bkorbe] ;W[dp]WL[2391.744] ;B[pq]BL[2359.384] ;W[qo]WL[2373.981] ;B[op]BL[2341.489] ;W[dc]WL[2359.317] ;B[pn]BL[2328.496] ;W[nc]WL[2313.29] ;B[qf]BL[2293.283] ;W[kd]WL[2261.065] ;B[fq]BL[2279.483] ;W[ip]WL[2237.17] ;B[cq]BL[2209.392] ;W[dq]WL[2232.125] ;B[cp]BL[2203.98] ;W[do]WL[2230.236] ;B[dr]BL[2200.908] ;W[er]WL[2228.56] ;B[cr]BL[2198.807] ;W[eq]WL[2226.825] ;B[cn]BL[2195.805] (;W[fp]WL[2224.809]TR[ip][hq][iq]SQ[jp]C[This move is too slow. White doesn't need it. If the White triangle move is at any of the triangle spaces, White doesn't need to answer. If White is 3 spaces away (at the square), White does need an answer, because Black can separate completely.] ;B[de]BL[2128.331]C[Black gets to play here.] ;W[ce]WL[2188.985] ;B[dd]BL[2070.187] ;W[cd]WL[2185.675] ;B[ec]BL[2066.329] ;W[cc]WL[2184.023] ;B[df]BL[2063.261] ;W[cg]WL[2182.297] (;B[db]BL[2027.256]C[Black doesn't really have time to play here.] (;W[cb]WL[2168.23]C[This response is too slow for White.] ;B[ic]BL[2018.754] ;W[jc]WL[2151.51] ;B[id]BL[2009.777]C[Now the game is good for Black, and Black continued to play good moves, so White never really got a chance to catch up.] ;W[pb]WL[2149.558] ;B[qc]BL[1979.185] ;W[qm]WL[2135.263] ;B[kq]BL[1956.696]TR[fp]C[Black gets a chance to play this one, again because the marked move was too slow. Good for Black.] ;W[jr]WL[2096.61] ;B[qp]BL[1888.676] ;W[qj]WL[2087.943] ;B[qn]BL[1870.791] ;W[qh]WL[2068.819] ;B[qb]BL[1857.227] ;W[ne]WL[2040.597] (;B[of]BL[1809.953]C[This Black jump is unnecessary.] ;W[rm]WL[2036.733]C[This is so big.] ;B[jq]BL[1744.961] ;W[iq]WL[2029.02] ;B[kr]BL[1741.858] ;W[cl]WL[2019.39] ;B[cm]BL[1736.416] ;W[dl]WL[2013.486] ;B[eh]BL[1722.272] ;W[ch]WL[1972.545] ;B[eb]BL[1708.963] ;W[ro]WL[1883.332]C[White even gets this one, threatening to jump in at S3.] (;B[rn]BL[1700.088] ;W[sn]WL[1881.015] ;B[po]BL[1670.261] (;W[rg]WL[1839.417]C[This move is not very big because Black is already alive.] ;B[ke]BL[1583.681]C[This attach is good.] ;W[le]WL[1830.44] (;B[jd]BL[1562.409]C[This exchange was not good for Black.] ;W[kc]WL[1789.106] ;B[kf]BL[1520.446] ;W[ih]WL[1775.97]C[White tries to reduce, ] ;B[ij]BL[1465.638]C[But Black's attack to build points on the bottom is good.] ;W[kh]WL[1754.716] ;B[lf]BL[1433.209] ;W[nf]WL[1695.839] ;B[lh]BL[1385.828] ;W[ki]WL[1585.749] ;B[jk]BL[1324.493] ;W[lj]WL[1523.317] ;B[lk]BL[1179.644] ;W[kk]WL[1358.79] ;B[kl]BL[1160.283] ;W[kj]WL[1357.204] ;B[jm]BL[1136.221] ;W[re]WL[1305.702]C[Black can live, so this attack is not doing much.] ;B[rf]BL[1125.473] ;W[sf]WL[1303.43] ;B[ob]BL[1116.737] ;W[nb]WL[1300.863] ;B[pc]BL[1113.912] ;W[sb]WL[1149.199] ;B[og]BL[936.238] ;W[ng]WL[971.403] ;B[qg]BL[903.696] ;W[ri]WL[943.173] ;B[nh]BL[843.101] ;W[oh]WL[924.781] ;B[ph]BL[821.707] ;W[oi]WL[921.876] ;B[pi]BL[743.691] ;W[oj]WL[795.515] ;B[pj]BL[569.355] ;W[pk]WL[714.837] ;B[qe]BL[420.623] ;W[rd]WL[693.256] ;B[pg]BL[369.474] (;W[mh]WL[620.476]C[White doesn't have time to connect here. ] ;B[qi]BL[319.66] ;W[rh]WL[604.206] ;B[qk]BL[245.705] ;W[rj]WL[568.978] ;B[pl]BL[238.229] ;W[ok]WL[555.068] ;B[ql]BL[230.186] ;W[pm]WL[320.121] ;B[om]BL[220.204]) (;W[ok]C[Even if White plays here to fix the weakness, it is still a good game for Black.])) (;B[je]C[Black should just pull back. This is a typical thing that happens in Go -- if you have to connect afterwards anyway, you often don't want to play the atari or other forcing move. Just protect yourself, force your opponent to protect, and then you get to take sente.])) (;W[rq]C[White should just play here right away. ] ;B[rp] ;W[sp] ;B[rr] ;W[sr] ;B[qr]C[Make a few exchanges and play elsewhere. ])) (;B[rp]C[Probably Black should block this side.])) (;B[rm]C[Much bigger.])) (;W[fc]C[White should clamp to give Black pressure.] (;B[ed] ;W[fb] ;B[eb] ;W[hd]) (;B[eb] ;W[fd] ;B[ed] ;W[ff]C[Quite ok for White.]))) (;B[ic]C[Black should just extend directly.])) (;W[lq]TR[pn]C[White should play this way. Black plays the marked cover for big influence, but if White plays this way it looks ok for White.]) (;W[] (;B[fr]C[If Black plays down, ] ;W[fp] ;B[hr] ;W[gq]C[White just lets Black crawl on the bottom.]) (;B[fo]C[If Black jumps, ] ;W[dn] ;B[cm] ;W[gp] ;B[fp] ;W[gr]C[White pushes, peeps and connects under. I've been studying these on the GJ site, but until it comes up in a game, it's academic.])))

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50]TM[2400]OT[15/300 Canadian] PW[greyhound]PB[feiyang]WR[2d]DT[2016-06-28]EV[Yunguseng League June 2016]RO[4]PC[The KGS Go Server at http://www.gokgs.com/]SO[http://www.yunguseng.com]RE[B+Resign] ;B[pd]BL[2388.272]C[White: greyhound Black: feiyang Result: B+Resign ]N[greyhound vs feiyang] ;W[dp]WL[2383.491] ;B[pq]BL[2373.371] ;W[qo]WL[2372.072] ;B[cd]BL[2365.28] ;W[qf]WL[2360.602] ;B[nc]BL[2342.265] ;W[op]WL[2349.856] ;B[oq]BL[2330.672] ;W[np]WL[2344.209] ;B[nq]BL[1982.367] ;W[mp]WL[2340.769] ;B[lq]BL[1978.365] (;W[pi]WL[2313.748]C[This is the losing move. (Yes, move 14.)] (;B[cn]BL[1934.795]C[Since Black didn't come in right away, White has a chance...] (;W[cl]WL[2298.304] (;B[cq]BL[1928.302] ;W[cp]WL[2286.511] ;B[dq]BL[1912.959] ;W[ep]WL[2284.054] ;B[bp]BL[1911.09] ;W[bo]WL[2282.079] ;B[bq]BL[1902.382] ;W[co]WL[2279.832] ;B[fq]BL[1899.807]C[Black ends up very low on the bottom.] (;W[ec]WL[2230.026]SQ[cl][ep]C[White's influence needs an extension.] ;B[df]BL[1824.855] (;W[cb]WL[2011.574] ;B[ci]BL[1811.65]C[Black takes the extension from White's influence. This is good for Black.] (;W[hc]WL[1971.285]C[White doesn't have time to play here.] ;B[pk]BL[1795.063]C[There is no good way to attack Black.] (;W[nk]WL[1867.869]C[White covers, ] ;B[oj]BL[1787.553] ;W[mi]WL[1817.446] ;B[oi]BL[1782.6] ;W[ph]WL[1810.158] ;B[nh]BL[1776.713]TR[qf][ph]C[but Black just comes out. And White's marked stones become a weak group, so Black has no trouble.] ;W[of]WL[1742.53] ;B[mh]BL[1743.912] ;W[li]WL[1732.732] ;B[rd]BL[1703.736] ;W[mf]WL[1695.32] ;B[lh]BL[1695.867] ;W[ki]WL[1686.34] ;B[lf]BL[1689.417] ;W[me]WL[1603.779] ;B[jg]BL[1662.664] ;W[lp]WL[1547.785] ;B[kq]BL[1656.98] ;W[pl]WL[1531.355]C[This is a nice idea, but...] ;B[ql]BL[1624.393] ;W[pm]WL[1508.792] ;B[qm]BL[1614.283] ;W[qn]WL[1481.97] ;B[qj]BL[1585.455] (;W[mc]WL[1456.214]C[This group is weak, so White has to come out.] ;B[mb]BL[1567.497] ;W[nd]WL[1431.014] ;B[oc]BL[1537.798] ;W[lc]WL[1425.459] ;B[jo]BL[1528.587]C[Black gets to play this side.] ;W[hg]WL[1284.356] ;B[ih]BL[1478.249] ;W[ij]WL[1253.263] ;B[hh]BL[1449.888] ;W[bc]WL[1231.538] ;B[bd]BL[1447.066] ;W[bj]WL[1210.992] ;B[bi]BL[1376.362] ;W[go]WL[1199.3] ;B[kn]BL[1370.912] ;W[gq]WL[1182.984] ;B[fr]BL[1366.587] ;W[iq]WL[1147.265] ;B[jp]BL[1344.7] ;W[rq]WL[1143.456] ;B[fp]BL[1334.327] ;W[hn]WL[1103.037] ;B[bn]BL[1308.183] ;W[an]WL[1056.272] ;B[am]BL[1297.033] ;W[ao]WL[1045.681] ;B[bl]BL[1293.491] ;W[dn]WL[1043.397] ;B[bk]BL[1288.486] ;W[dm]WL[998.773] ;B[qr]BL[1256.049] ;W[rr]WL[981.351] ;B[lb]BL[1202.122] ;W[jr]WL[971.432] ;B[kr]BL[1185.156] ;W[qq]WL[931.941] ;B[ps]BL[1172.935] ;W[kc]WL[915.578] ;B[kb]BL[1161.03] ;W[jb]WL[833.876] ;B[ck]BL[1139.111] ;W[re]WL[824.473] ;B[qc]BL[1076.378] ;W[ek]WL[806.093] ;B[fo]BL[1064.252] ;W[fn]WL[803.535] ;B[gj]BL[1051.387] ;W[dj]WL[774.078] ;B[cj]BL[1047.309] ;W[gi]WL[764.873] ;B[gh]BL[1036.121] ;W[fi]WL[760.253] ;B[hj]BL[967.94] ;W[hi]WL[741.715] ;B[ik]BL[953.633] ;W[jl]WL[676.131] ;B[jk]BL[936.802] ;W[jj]WL[653.75] ;B[kl]BL[922.836] ;W[jm]WL[572.861] ;B[lk]BL[559.443] ;W[km]WL[530.275] ;B[lm]BL[555.781] ;W[ln]WL[527.955] ;B[im]BL[550.803] ;W[jn]WL[511.771] ;B[in]BL[548.248] ;W[ko]WL[505.036] ;B[il]BL[541.872] ;W[kn]WL[502.313] ;B[io]BL[534.676] ;W[gp]WL[475.751] ;B[mm]BL[525.109] ;W[mn]WL[413.609] ;B[nm]BL[483.909] ;W[nn]WL[325.993] ;B[ii]BL[451.801] ;W[ol]WL[13.123] ;B[gm]BL[431.492] ;W[gn]WL[297.008]OW[14] ;B[nj]BL[425.552] ;W[ee]WL[217.663]OW[13] ;B[ef]BL[399.492] ;W[de]WL[206.752]OW[12] ;B[cf]BL[383.987] ;W[di]WL[205.254]OW[11] ;B[rh]BL[320.396] ;W[rn]WL[162.836]OW[10] ;B[rl]BL[300.665] ;W[je]WL[133.214]OW[9] ;B[if]BL[273.08] ;W[he]WL[81.33]OW[8] ;B[ie]BL[248.454] ;W[id]WL[78.356]OW[7] ;B[fh]BL[213.865] ;W[fj]WL[57.804]OW[6] ;B[fl]BL[178.869] ;W[el]WL[52.981]OW[5] ;B[fm]BL[167.761] ;W[bm]WL[46.499]OW[4] ;B[en]BL[161.963] ;W[em]WL[41.932]OW[3] ;B[eo]BL[146.603] ;W[gk]WL[37.895]OW[2] ;B[hk]BL[143.223] ;W[hm]WL[32.005]OW[1] ;B[hl]BL[140.364] ;W[fk]WL[300]OW[15] ;B[gl]BL[138.475]) (;W[jo]C[White doesn't have time to play here,])) (;W[qq]C[White's best (not good) option is probably to play indirectly like this.] (;B[pp] ;W[po] ;B[qp] ;W[rp] ;B[rq] ;W[mq] ;B[mr] ;W[ro] ;B[nk]C[If Black comes out,] ;W[lr] ;B[nr] ;W[kq]C[White can try something like this.]) (;B[qr]C[If Black plays this way, ] ;W[rq] ;B[nk] ;W[rr]C[White can take the corner and just little by little chase it. This still doesn't look good, but better than the game.]))) (;W[pk]C[White must defend. This is the last chance.])) (;W[ch]C[White can play here now to get an extension from the influence.])) (;W[ci]C[White can play here right away, or after exchanging the next two moves, but White needs to play on this side.])) (;B[fp]C[Instead of jumping into the corner, Black can play here to get a more balanced shape on the bottom. In-seong talked about this in his lecture.])) (;W[qq]C[White should attach here to make territory on the side.] ;B[pp] ;W[po] ;B[qp] ;W[rp] ;B[rq] ;W[mq] ;B[mr] ;W[ro] ;B[lr]C[Black needs to play another move to protect the cut.] ;W[nj]C[So White can play to take guaranteed points.])) (;B[pk]C[Black should just invade immediately. What can White do? There's no good way to attack Black, so White gets nothing.])) (;W[pj]C[White should play here.]))

Use unencrypted URL to view games

Blogger informs me that the https settings have changed. It seems that if you visit the blog using the encrypted url https://5yearsto5dan.blogspot.com/ (and it might automatically forward you there) you will not be able to see the rendered version of games I post.  With the https version of the url, you'll see the plain sgf, looking something like this:

 

If you prefer to see the rendered games, you'll need to use the non-encrypted url (http version, as opposed to https), i.e., you should go to http://5yearsto5dan.blogspot.com/  With this url, you should see the games rendered, i.e., the above will look like this:

What I'm doing instead of playing Go

Instead of playing Go, I'm working on merchandise and prizes for the 2016 US Go Congress. Today I went to QRST's to do a press check. The shirts & totes look great!


Screen for the front of the shirt:



Screen for the back of the shirt:



Printing machine:



This is Ben, working on our shirts:



Back of shirt with white and grey, but no black yet:






Inking the back:



Fully printed back of shirt:



Drying the shirt at 950 degrees!



Completed front:



Completed back:

Inked screen for tote:



Lots of paint:



Lots of other screens:

Completed tote:

Montreal

After the Canadian Open in Toronto, I went to Montreal to visit Guo Juan.

We looked out over the city from Mont Royal:


We zipped through the Old Harbor:


And we visited the Go-themed tea house Senthé:


Here I am with the owner Lydia:


The bookshelves remind me of those at Gojo and the merchandise reminds me of Tokai. In other words, it's perfect. Every city needs at least one.


Darrell and I got a chance for a rematch there:

Canadian Open 2016

I ended up with a 4-2 record (playing as 2d) in the Canadian Open! I really love the Canadian Open. There are lots of good people and lots of strong players. I always feel like part of their family by the time I leave. I also met the designer of the best Go logo ever.

I was particularly happy with my result given my inauspicious start to the trip. I left Boston on June 30, with a flight scheduled for 2:45 pm -- plenty of time to arrive and settle in before Pair Go on Canada Day (July 1). I arrived at Logan airport early, since they warned of long lines and delays, but zipped right through security and waited patiently for my flight. We boarded the plane on time. Then they announced that something wasn't quite right and they needed to shut down the plane and turn it back on. (That's right -- their solution is the same as for any other electronic device: reboot.) Then we did it again. And again. After two hours, they cancelled our flight entirely and had us all get off the plane. We waited in long, slow lines to reschedule our travel. When I finally got to the counter, the guy told me I should just give up and fly tomorrow, but I could wait on standby if I wanted. I figured I'd give standby a try, so I went back to the waiting area. Eventually they announced that they had brought a new part and our flight was reinstated, departing at 9:30 pm. We get back on the plane and taxi out toward the runway. Then they tell us they need to reboot again. I start singing to myself, "gotta know when to fold 'em..." But we eventually got off the ground around 10:45 pm. By the time I arrived in Toronto, my rental car company has closed for the night. I gave up on renting and took a cab to my hotel, getting in around 1:30 am.

So I skipped the first round of Pair Go and slept in, abandoning Pete, who drove up a day early to play with me. He left the Pair Go tournament before I got there, so I played with a local player for the latter 2 rounds. We won one game and lost one. Not bad, under the circumstances.

On day 1 of the main tournament, I went 1-2, winning my middle game of the day.

In Round 1, I played black against William Guo, 1D:

I got to play the Yunguseng move in my first game! This was also the start of the lessons I received in the weaknesses of this way of playing... I lost by resignation.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-07-02a]PW[William]PB[Becci]DT[2016-07-02]EV[Canadian Open 2016]PC[Toronto]C[White + Res.] ;B[pd] ;W[dc] ;B[pq] ;W[dp] ;B[fq] ;W[cn] ;B[ip] ;W[po] ;B[np] ;W[qq] ;B[qr] ;W[qp] ;B[pl]C[Yunguseng move!] ;W[oq] ;B[or] ;W[nq] ;B[op] ;W[pp] ;B[pr] ;W[mq] ;B[mp] ;W[lq] ;B[rq] ;W[rp] ;B[rr] ;W[lp] ;B[on] ;W[pm] (;B[mn] ;W[om] ;B[ko] ;W[ir] ;B[iq] ;W[jq] ;B[hr] ;W[lo] ;B[ln] ;W[jo] ;B[jp] ;W[kp] ;B[kn] ;W[kr] ;B[is] ;W[jr] ;B[ql] ;W[pn] (;B[nm]C[GJ didn't like this move either.] ;W[ol] (;B[pi] ;W[mk] (;B[im]C[I thought this protected my weakness but I was SO wrong. ] ;W[rm] ;B[rl] ;W[ok] ;B[qi] ;W[nc] ;B[pc] ;W[kd] ;B[de] ;W[cg] ;B[cc] ;W[cd] ;B[dd] ;W[ce] ;B[cf] ;W[bf] ;B[ec] ;W[db] ;B[df] ;W[cb] ;B[bg] ;W[be] ;B[ch] ;W[hc] (;B[ni] ;W[kk] ;B[lj] ;W[lk] (;B[ki]C[Again, wrong direction.] ;W[ik] ;B[dg] ;W[ji] (;B[jh]C[This move helps White.] ;W[ii] ;B[ne] ;W[me] ;B[mf] ;W[nd] (;B[oe] ;W[lf] (;B[lg] ;W[mg] ;B[nf] ;W[kf] ;B[kg] ;W[ed]C[GJ: "is he crazy?!?"] (;B[ob] ;W[nb] ;B[jf] ;W[ke] ;B[kj] ;W[jk] ;B[hd] ;W[gc] ;B[id] ;W[ic] ;B[fd] ;W[gd] (;B[eb] ;W[ge] ;B[dr] ;W[cq] ;B[cl] ;W[cr] ;B[fg] ;W[ig] ;B[ih] ;W[hh] (;B[jg] ;W[gh] ;B[bm] ;W[bn] ;B[ga] ;W[fa] ;B[fb] ;W[ha] ;B[gb] ;W[dk] ;B[ck] ;W[dj] ;B[cj] ;W[io]C[Game over. (End of commentary)] ;B[hn] ;W[ho] ;B[go] ;W[hq] ;B[gp] ;W[hp] ;B[gl] ;W[em] ;B[fm] ;W[jm] ;B[el] ;W[fk] ;B[dl] ;W[en] ;B[gk] ;W[fn] ;B[gn] ;W[fl] ;B[gm] ;W[fj] ;B[gj] ;W[fi] ;B[jn] ;W[in] ;B[jl] ;W[il] ;B[km] ;W[hl] ;B[hm] ;W[hi] ;B[fr] ;W[dq]) (;B[hg]C[Black should cut.])) (;B[ge]C[Black should cover.])) (;B[gc]C[Apparently this is the local move. I did not know.])) (;B[le]C[Atari!])) (;B[le]C[Atari!])) (;B[jj]C[Black should play here instead. (!!) I did not see this AT ALL. ])) (;B[ij]C[Still, Black should play from this direction.])) (;B[nj] ;W[nk] ;B[kk]C[Black should play from this directtion to fix the weakness, protect the ladder and drive White toward the top.])) (;B[in]C[Black should just kill the stone.])) (;B[pj]C[Black should play here, so that P9 is not sente.])) (;B[nk]C[I think GJ wanted me to play in this direction, but I'm not 100% sure.])) (;B[om]C[GJ said just cover it. (I had a feeling this is what I should do, but I was afraid I had too many weaknesses.)]))

In Round 2, I played white against Bob Campbell 2D:

He's such a nice guy! He does this sweet thing where you play and he'll shake his head in amazement, saying, "that's a really nice move." He managed to get some large territories, but we fought this ko fight and I played a ko threat, not even realizing quite what the move did. We both realized at the same time that he was in bigger trouble. I took some stones, which ate into his big territory on the bottom, and he resigned.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-07-02b]PW[Becci]PB[Bob Campbell]DT[2016-07-02]EV[Canadian Open 2016]PC[Toronto]C[White + Res.] ;B[dp] ;W[pd] ;B[cd] ;W[pq] ;B[ec] ;W[cj] ;B[qo] ;W[pl] ;B[om]C[I didn't know what to do against this.] ;W[qp] ;B[op] ;W[oq] ;B[rp] ;W[rq] ;B[pp] ;W[qq] ;B[np] ;W[mq]C[GJ said that, since I didn't know what to do, what I did was fine.] ;B[lo] ;W[lq]C[This is slow. White does not need to respond here.] ;B[kp] ;W[cn]C[Taking sente now is also good.] ;B[fq] ;W[bp] ;B[bq]C[This is a typical mistake.] ;W[cq] ;B[cp] ;W[br] ;B[bo] ;W[aq] ;B[co] ;W[cg]C[White gets the corner *and* gets to play in front of the shimari. ] ;B[nc]C[Black should approach from the other side, since the top is not interesting (too low).] ;W[qf] ;B[jd] ;W[pb] ;B[qh] ;W[pi] ;B[qc] ;W[pc] ;B[qe]C[This doesn't work. Luckily for me, this came up in one of my pair go games the day before. I got scared then and chickened out, but my opponents showed me that it just doesn't work, so I was able to play confidently in this game.] ;W[pe] ;B[re] ;W[rf] ;B[pf] ;W[pg] ;B[of] ;W[qg] ;B[qb] ;W[qd] ;B[rd] ;W[rb] ;B[rc]C[Black is short of liberties.] ;W[qa] ;B[og] ;W[ph] ;B[oe]C[This is not sente.] (;W[hd] ;B[he] ;W[ge] ;B[ie] ;W[fc]C[Good move.] ;B[hc] ;W[gc] ;B[ic] (;W[eb] ;B[db] (;W[ed] ;B[dc] (;W[gb]C[This is not important. (End of commentary)] ;B[gf] ;W[ff] ;B[fg] ;W[gg] ;B[hf] ;W[ef] ;B[cf] ;W[bg] ;B[bf] ;W[gh] ;B[df] ;W[dg] ;B[hi] ;W[mi] ;B[ni] ;W[nj] ;B[nh] ;W[mk] ;B[cl] ;W[dk] ;B[dl] ;W[kq] ;B[fj] ;W[ei] ;B[lj] ;W[mj] ;B[jq] ;W[mn] ;B[mo] ;W[km] ;B[ll] ;W[lk] ;B[kl] ;W[kk] ;B[jl] ;W[jr] ;B[iq] ;W[ek] ;B[el] ;W[fk] ;B[fl] ;W[gk] ;B[mm] ;W[gl] ;B[gm]) (;W[gg]C[White should come out.])) (;W[dc]C[White should atari this side.])) (;W[dc]C[White should clamp here.])) (;W[hc]C[White should go deeper. Plenty of room to live or escape.]))

I didn't have any access to caffeine, so the afternoon was rough. In Round 3, I played white against Liam Hinzman, 3D.


I lost this game. This one was reviewed by a Korean pro, Dongeun Choi 1P.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-07-03a]PW[Becci]PB[Liam Hinzman]DT[2016-07-03]EV[Canadian Open 2016]PC[Toronto]C[Black won.] ;B[dp] ;W[pd] ;B[dd] ;W[pq] ;B[dj] ;W[fc] ;B[hc] ;W[cf]C[White should not double approach here.] (;B[fd] ;W[gd] ;B[gc] ;W[cc] ;B[ec] ;W[cd]C[This result is good for White.] ;B[jp]C[This feels a little slow, since White got a better result in the upper left. Black should think about approaching one of the White corners for a faster way of playing.] ;W[fb] ;B[eb] ;W[fe] ;B[ed] ;W[cq] ;B[dq] ;W[cp] ;B[co] ;W[bo] ;B[cn] ;W[bn] ;B[cm] ;W[dr] ;B[er] ;W[cr] ;B[fq] ;W[qo] ;B[jj]C[This is slow.] (;W[lq] ;B[qf] ;W[nc] ;B[rd] ;W[qc] ;B[qi] ;W[lo] ;B[jn] (;W[gj]C[This is too deep. ] ;B[gg]C[This is strange. Black's shape is weird.] (;W[jl] ;B[kl] ;W[kk] ;B[jk] ;W[km] ;B[il] ;W[ll] (;B[dh] ;W[qk]C[This is good.] ;B[lc] ;W[rc] ;B[kh] ;W[jr] ;B[iq] (;W[ph] ;B[qh] ;W[pf] (;B[le] ;W[qe] ;B[pg] ;W[og] ;B[qg] ;W[re] ;B[oh] (;W[oi]C[This doesn't work.] ;B[nh] ;W[pi] ;B[ni] ;W[nf] ;B[pk]C[This is a nice move. Now Black moves into White's territory.] ;W[oj] ;B[ql] ;W[lf] ;B[kf] ;W[ke] ;B[mf] ;W[ld] ;B[lg] ;W[me] ;B[kd] ;W[lf] ;B[je] ;W[le] ;B[jd] ;W[mc] (;B[kb]C[Black probably shouldn't respond here at all at this point,] ;W[eg] ;B[dg] ;W[df] ;B[ef] ;W[ee] ;B[ff] ;W[gf] ;B[fg] ;W[de] ;B[hf] ;W[rm] ;B[rl] ;W[ok] ;B[pl] ;W[qn] ;B[nm] ;W[on] ;B[ol] ;W[mk] ;B[mn] ;W[jm] ;B[im] ;W[kn] ;B[ko] ;W[kp] ;B[jo] ;W[ln] ;B[rf] ;W[mo] ;B[bg] ;W[bf] ;B[bm]C[Black got both moves on this side (these should have been White's!), and Black wins.]) (;B[lb]C[But if Black does respond, this is better.])) (;W[ng] ;B[oi] ;W[pj] ;B[pi]C[Protecting the territory would be better for White.])) (;B[qe]C[Black should respond.])) (;W[ld]C[White should just attach.])) (;B[dg]C[This is better.])) (;W[ei]C[White should break Black's shape.])) (;W[qk]C[White can think about extending on this side, ]) (;W[fh]C[Or just playing something like this. White has more points.])) (;W[lp]C[White should think about playing high to balance all Black's high stones.]) (;W[nc]C[Or White can think about simply taking the other corner.])) (;B[cc]C[Black should fight, since Black has friends in the neighborhood.]))

The next day, GJ, Darrell and I decided to walk from the hotel to the tournament. We left around 9:20/9:30, with plenty of time to arrive for the first round at 10 am. As we walked in the building, we checked the clock: 9:50, good timing. Walking through the corridor into the tournament room, we see a few people playing casual games. Upon seeing us, they jumped up, telling us the first round had started at 9! We had no idea. They had generously waited a long time before starting our clocks, so we still had 1/2 hour open time (normal is 1 hour). In spite of being down on time, Darrell and I both won our first round games. I played black against Nick Prince, 2D and got to play my Yunguseng move again! (Different version this time.)

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-07-03b]PW[Nick Prince]PB[Becci]DT[2016-07-03]EV[Canadian Open 2016]PC[Toronto]C[Black+res.] ;B[pd] ;W[dp] ;B[pq] ;W[dd] ;B[fq] ;W[cn] ;B[ip] ;W[qn] ;B[po] ;W[rp] ;B[pl] ;W[pn] ;B[on] ;W[om] ;B[nn] ;W[qq] ;B[pr] ;W[pm] ;B[ql] ;W[qo] ;B[pp] ;W[nm] ;B[mn] ;W[pi] ;B[oj] ;W[nk] ;B[oi] ;W[qf] ;B[ph] ;W[qh] (;B[qi]C[This sequence helps White to fix the problem.] ;W[pg] ;B[pj] ;W[rd] ;B[qc] ;W[rc] (;B[lc]C[Now Black has a problem around P17.] ;W[rh] ;B[cf] ;W[ch] ;B[fd] ;W[df] ;B[dg] ;W[cg] ;B[dc] ;W[ce] ;B[cc] ;W[ng] (;B[li]C[This has weaknesses.] ;W[ll] ;B[kn] ;W[lg] ;B[bf] ;W[be] ;B[ef] ;W[de] ;B[of] ;W[og] ;B[mf]LB[oc:A][mi:B]C[These peeps do not fix Black's shape. Black still has a problem around A, and Black has made the cut around B even worse.] ;W[mg] ;B[mj] ;W[jl] ;B[jj] ;W[rm] ;B[jh] ;W[jo] ;B[kp] ;W[jp] ;B[jq] ;W[ko] ;B[lp] ;W[lo] ;B[mo]LB[hc:A]C[Both players should be looking to play in the A area. ] ;W[jf]C[This move is empty.] (;B[cq]C[Wrong direction.] ;W[dq] ;B[dr] ;W[cp] ;B[br] ;W[bq] ;B[cr] ;W[dh]C[Slow.] ;B[io] (;W[ii] ;B[ij] ;W[hi] ;B[ri] (;W[rl] ;B[rk] ;W[ok] ;B[oh]C[White helps Black to live.] ;W[hj] ;B[il]C[Wrong direction. Black can't actually kill the White group.] ;W[hl] ;B[im] ;W[em] ;B[rr] ;W[sk] ;B[rj] (;W[qr]C[This is a mistake.] ;B[rq]C[This kills White.] ;W[qp] ;B[qs] ;W[jk] ;B[ik] ;W[mk] ;B[mm] ;W[lj] ;B[ol] ;W[nl] ;B[kj] ;W[nj] ;B[mi] ;W[ni] ;B[nh]) (;W[rq]C[White must play here.])) (;W[kj] ;B[ki] ;W[lj] ;B[ji] ;W[ni] ;B[nj] ;W[mi]C[Black can die this way!])) (;W[hc]C[White should invade.])) (;B[id]C[Black needs to play this side, not just for points, but because White can invade the top left. If White plays here first, the top left can die or at least have all points erased.])) (;B[mi]C[Black can only come out to here.])) (;B[ri]C[Black should descend to make eye space and take away White's.])) (;B[pg]C[Black should press White down and gain outside strength.]))

In Round 5, I played Darrell! He played as 1k in the tournament and won the kyu division! Guo Juan said he now has to play 1d at the US Open. Here we are dressed as Vikings (accessories courtesy of some professional Viking reenactors who were heading to a ship festival as part of some Canada Day celebrations).

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50] GN[2016-07-03a]PW[Darrell Malick]PB[Becci Torrey]BR[2d]DT[2016-07-03]C[Black won] ;B[qd] ;W[dp] ;B[pq] ;W[dc] ;B[nc]C[I had, just that morning, reviewed my probe/invasion sequences for the small knight's move enclosure, and he goes and plays the large knight's move enclosure!] ;W[qj] ;B[qh] ;W[po] (;B[qi] (;W[qq] ;B[pj] ;W[pp] ;B[oq] ;W[qr] ;B[lq] (;W[jq] ;B[qm]C[This is huge.] ;W[rn] ;B[lo] ;W[jd] ;B[hd] ;W[fc] ;B[gc] ;W[fd] ;B[hf] ;W[jf] ;B[ke] ;W[je] ;B[hh] ;W[jh] ;B[ij] ;W[jj] ;B[jk] ;W[kj] ;B[ce] ;W[cd] ;B[bd] ;W[bc] ;B[dd] ;W[cc] ;B[ch] ;W[he]C[This does not work.] ;B[ge] ;W[ie] ;B[gd] ;W[ii]C[White should not push here. Just cut directly.] ;B[hi] ;W[ik] ;B[hj] ;W[ll] (;B[jo] (;W[hq] ;B[ir] ;W[iq] ;B[jr] ;W[hr] ;B[kq] ;W[cn] ;B[cl] ;W[qc] ;B[pc] (;W[pb] ;B[oc] ;W[rc] ;B[rd] ;W[rb] ;B[ob] ;W[pa] ;B[fo] (;W[fp] ;B[cp] ;W[cq] ;B[dq] ;W[co] ;B[ep] ;W[bp] ;B[fq] ;W[gp] ;B[en] ;W[dr] ;B[er] ;W[eq] ;B[oa] (;W[qa]C[Not big enough!] ;B[dq] ;W[fe] ;B[eq] ;W[gf] ;B[gg] ;W[ff] ;B[jb] ;W[ic] ;B[ib] ;W[gb] ;B[hb] ;W[hc] ;B[kd] ;W[jc] ;B[kc] ;W[il]C[It's about time!!] ;B[hn] ;W[mg] ;B[rm] ;W[hm] ;B[gm] ;W[gl] ;B[fm] ;W[in] ;B[io] ;W[ho] ;B[gn] ;W[do]C[This is very dangerous for White. White does not need to play here. If Black does not answer, then White loses sente. Watch out!!] ;B[eo] ;W[fl] ;B[el] ;W[eh] (;B[ei] ;W[fi] ;B[fh] ;W[di] ;B[ej] ;W[dh] ;B[dj] ;W[ci] ;B[fj] ;W[cj] ;B[nf] ;W[dm] ;B[em] ;W[dl] ;B[dk] ;W[ck] ;B[ng]) (;B[jm]C[Black should peep here. It prevents White's cutting off the H10 stones.])) (;W[eo]C[White is now huge and strong.])) (;W[eq]C[White should just answer here. ])) (;W[rd]C[White should play this side.])) (;W[il]C[This move is huge. Both players neglected it for a long time, but it affects the strength and weakness of everything on the board.])) (;B[jl]C[This move is huge. Both players neglected it for a long time, but it affects the strength and weakness of everything on the board.])) (;W[qk]C[White should play around here now.])) (;W[pj]C[White should just answer.] ;B[qo] ;W[qn] ;B[qp] ;W[pn] ;B[nq]C[Now White does *not* owe another move, and can take sente.])) (;B[qo] ;W[qn] ;B[qp] ;W[pn] ;B[nq]C[Black should be happy to play this way, because now Black R12 is in the perfect place, and White owes another move at P10.]))

For my last round, Round 6, I played Andrew Olders, 3d:
He was in the same club as Nick Prince and they had talked a bit about my Yunguseng move, but Andrew let me play it again anyway. I won this game to end with a 4-2 record overall, winning a handshake from James Sedgewick.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50] PW[Andrew Olders]PB[Becci Torrey]DT[2016-07-03]C[Black won.] ;B[dp] ;W[pd] ;B[dc] ;W[pp] ;B[nc] ;W[qf] ;B[kd] ;W[cf] ;B[de] ;W[bd] ;B[dh] ;W[df] ;B[ef] ;W[eg] ;B[ff] ;W[dg] ;B[ch] ;W[cc] ;B[db] ;W[cb] (;B[cl] ;W[fq] ;B[dq] ;W[jp] ;B[qn] ;W[np] ;B[rp] ;W[ql] ;B[qq] ;W[qo] ;B[ro] ;W[pn] ;B[pm] ;W[qm] ;B[rn] ;W[on] ;B[hq] ;W[hp] ;B[iq] ;W[ip] ;B[gq] ;W[gp] ;B[fr] ;W[fp] ;B[er] ;W[kf] ;B[ie] ;W[oc] ;B[nd] ;W[nf] ;B[pk] ;W[pl] ;B[of] ;W[og] ;B[ng] ;W[oe] ;B[oh] ;W[pf] ;B[ni] ;W[mg] ;B[nk] ;W[lj] (;B[ph] ;W[qk] ;B[pj] ;W[ml] ;B[mh] ;W[lg] ;B[mj] ;W[li] ;B[mk] ;W[ll] ;B[nl] ;W[nm] ;B[ol] ;W[om] (;B[dl]C[Too slow.] ;W[oj] ;B[qi] ;W[fl] ;B[en] ;W[ej] ;B[gn] ;W[cj] ;B[bj] ;W[ig] ;B[hf] ;W[lb]C[Black still has problems. This Yunguseng opening seems intimidating, but it's a strange shape and hard to handle.] ;B[lc] ;W[jd] ;B[je] ;W[kb] ;B[mb] ;W[hc] (;B[kc] (;W[jc] ;B[ib] ;W[jb] ;B[hb] ;W[ed] ;B[dd] ;W[ge] ;B[gf] ;W[gc] ;B[gb] ;W[fb] ;B[eb] ;W[fc] ;B[ic] ;W[id] ;B[fa] ;W[ke] ;B[he] ;W[ob] ;B[la] ;W[ka] ;B[ma] ;W[ga] ;B[hd]C[Black wins this local fight and the game (though I think Black should have lost both). (End of commentary)] ;W[ea] ;B[da] ;W[ee] ;B[fd] ;W[ec] ;B[fe] ;W[hm] ;B[gm] ;W[gl] ;B[hn] ;W[in] ;B[gh] ;W[hi] ;B[gi] ;W[hj] ;B[hh] ;W[ih] ;B[or] ;W[nr] ;B[oq] ;W[eo] ;B[dn] ;W[bk] ;B[dj] ;W[bi] ;B[bl] ;W[ci] ;B[di] ;W[bh] ;B[kr] ;W[kq] ;B[lr] ;W[nq] ;B[lq] ;W[lp] ;B[pq] ;W[rh] ;B[oi] ;W[ri] ;B[qj] ;W[rj] ;B[gj] ;W[jq] ;B[jr] ;W[ca] ;B[gd] ;W[do] ;B[co] ;W[em] ;B[fo] ;W[ep] ;B[ek] ;W[dm] ;B[cm] ;W[eh] ;B[ei] ;W[hl] ;B[cg] ;W[bg] ;B[oa] ;W[pa] ;B[na] ;W[pb] ;B[lk] ;W[kk] ;B[op] ;W[oo] ;B[al] ;W[aj] ;B[qg] ;W[rg] ;B[le] ;W[me] ;B[jf] ;W[jg] ;B[lf] ;W[kg] ;B[md] ;W[rm] ;B[gk] ;W[fk] ;B[fj] ;W[hk] ;B[lh] ;W[nh] ;B[kh] ;W[kj] ;B[mi] ;W[ji] ;B[mq] ;W[mp] ;B[ms] ;W[ns] ;B[os] ;W[mr] ;B[ls] ;W[sn] ;B[so] ;W[sm] ;B[ck] ;W[ak] ;B[ce] ;W[be] ;B[fa] ;W[fh] ;B[ho] ;W[io] ;B[fn] ;W[mf] ;B[ld] ;W[nb] ;B[ja] ;W[ng] ;B[pg]) (;W[fc]C[What if White plays here?])) (;B[fc]C[Black should play from this side to protect all the peeps and cuts.])) (;B[el]C[At least Black should play here.])) (;B[ol]C[Black should play here (and took much too long to get around to doing so).])) (;B[cn]C[Black should protect the corner, so White can't just jump in.] ;W[dk]C[If White tries to attack, ] ;B[ej]C[Black can still shoulder hit to come out and fight.]))