Boston Spring Open

We had the Boston Spring Open at the Microsoft NERD Center yesterday.  It was a great tournament, run by our intrepid organizer, Chun:

(My apologies for the blurriness -- I was hurriedly trying to take a few photos before the round started.)

I went 2-2 overall.  (Chun said that, in all my games, I was not aggressive enough, that I did not attack when I had the opportunity.)  I only managed to record fragments of my games, choosing, instead, to spend my time between matches playing Chinese hacky sack (courtesy of Audrey):

It was a great way to loosen up both mind and body between rounds -- a chance to forget the last game and head into the next with a clear head.

My first game was with Andrew.

(Obviously, I was not focussed on photography.)  He had a better opening, but I killed a big group and ended up winning this one.  We briefly reviewed our game afterward, so I was able to record enough to give the gist of what happened:

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-03-19a]PW[Andrew]PB[Becci]DT[2016-03-19]EV[CPL]PC[Cambridge]C[Black+time] ;B[pd] ;W[dp] ;B[qp] ;W[dd] ;B[oq] ;W[qj] ;B[fc] ;W[cf] ;B[jd] ;W[qf] ;B[nd] ;W[dj] ;B[fq] ;W[dn] ;B[ql] ;W[oj] ;B[ip] ;W[qc] ;B[qd] ;W[rd] ;B[re] ;W[rc] ;B[qe] ;W[ob] ;B[nb] ;W[oc] ;B[nc] ;W[pc] ;B[pf] ;W[pm] ;B[qm] ;W[pl] ;B[pn] ;W[on] ;B[po] ;W[kp] ;B[mp] ;W[kn] ;B[in] ;W[dr] ;B[fe] ;W[db] ;B[ch] ;W[cj] ;B[mn] ;W[mm] ;B[nm] ;W[nn] ;B[lm] ;W[mo] ;B[ml] ;W[ln] ;B[no] ;W[mm] ;B[dm] ;W[cm] ;B[mn] ;W[lo] ;B[mm] ;W[km] ;B[il] ;W[kk] ;B[mj] ;W[rf] ;B[se] ;W[pk] ;B[om] ;W[qh] ;B[ij] ;W[jq] ;B[iq] ;W[np] ;B[oo] ;W[mq] ;B[nq] ;W[lp] ;B[jr] ;W[kr] ;B[jp] ;W[kq] ;B[ir] ;W[lr] ;B[pg] ;W[ph] ;B[nh] ;W[jk] ;B[ki] ;W[nr] ;B[or] ;W[os] ;B[ps] ;W[ns] ;B[ri] ;W[rh] ;B[rj] ;W[si] ;B[rk] ;W[ik] ;B[hl] ;W[ho] ;B[gn] ;W[hk] ;B[gl] ;W[hc] ;B[hd] ;W[fb] ;B[gc] ;W[gb] ;B[ec] ;W[eb] ;B[ic])

My second game was with Gus Heck.  (I didn't even get a blurry picture of Gus.)  I made a huge 5k mistake early on.  I did manage to attack and come close to killing a group of his later in the game, but I misread that, too.  It was not a good game for me.  But he did a great job of punishing my mistakes!  You can see my big goof-up here:

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-03-19b]PW[Becci]PB[Gus Heck]DT[2016-03-19]EV[CPL]PC[Cambridge]C[Black+resign] ;B[dp] ;W[pd] ;B[dd] ;W[pq] ;B[dj] ;W[fc] ;B[ee] ;W[jc] ;B[jp] ;W[lq] ;B[lo] ;W[pj] ;B[qc] ;W[qd] ;B[pc] ;W[oc] ;B[ob] ;W[nb]LB[pj:A]C[Oops! This doesn't work when A is high. I used to know that...] ;B[rd] ;W[re] ;B[qe] ;W[pe] ;B[rc] ;W[qf] ;B[nc] ;W[mb] ;B[od]C[Ugh.] ;W[cn] ;B[co] ;W[dn] ;B[fp] ;W[dl] ;B[ck] ;W[cl] ;B[fj] ;W[gm] ;B[hd] ;W[cc] ;B[dc] ;W[db] ;B[eb] ;W[cb] ;B[cd] ;W[ec] ;B[ie] ;W[ig] ;B[gb] ;W[fb])

My third game was with a little Chinese kid, Chengyou Zhong.   I talked to his parents after the game (his dad goes by George, but I didn't catch his mom's name).  They recently moved to the states and said Chengyou has been playing for about 3 years.  I talked to them about our regular meetups, and it sounds like they'll try to come to the Saturday meetups at the library.  The little kids tend to be formidable opponents, so I was happy to win this game.  He played in a very classical, territory-oriented style.  But it was obvious he liked his territory a little too much, and he let me get all the big end game moves.  He also didn't count the game until I had already won.  He'll improve another stone or two just by counting earlier and fighting back in the end game a bit harder.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-03-19c]PW[Becci]PB[Chengyou Zhou]DT[2016-03-19]EV[CPL]PC[Cambridge]C[White+~5] ;B[dc] ;W[pd] ;B[cp] ;W[pq] ;B[eq] ;W[cj] ;B[ce] ;W[nc] ;B[po] ;W[qo] ;B[qn] ;W[qp] ;B[pn] ;W[nq] ;B[qj] ;W[qh] ;B[oj] ;W[ic] ;B[gc] ;W[kd] ;B[cm] ;W[cg] ;B[qd] ;W[qc] ;B[qe] ;W[rc] ;B[pe] ;W[oh] ;B[od] ;W[pc] ;B[me] ;W[nd] ;B[ne] ;W[mh] ;B[kf] ;W[kh] ;B[if] ;W[jq] ;B[he] ;W[ih] ;B[hq] ;W[lp] ;B[dk] ;W[dj] ;B[ck] ;W[ek] ;B[el] ;W[fl] ;B[fm] ;W[fk] ;B[em] ;W[gb] ;B[fb] ;W[hb] ;B[hc] ;W[bf] ;B[be] ;W[gm] ;B[gn] ;W[hm] ;B[hn] ;W[mk] ;B[nl] ;W[ml] ;B[nm] ;W[bj] ;B[bk] ;W[ak] ;B[al] ;W[aj] ;B[bm] ;W[ir] ;B[hr] ;W[in] ;B[io])

Here's a photo of Chengyou, with Jason on the left:

By my last game, I was literally barely able to focus. Four tournament games in one day is just too much for me. But it was a good game nonetheless.  My opponent's name was Deren.  Here's a blurry photo of him:

He had really great timing in our game, and definitely controlled the game.  I managed to stay in the game enough to count it.  I was ahead on the board, but not by nearly enough to overcome the 7.5 komi.  At the end of the game, I passed and handed him a stone (AGA rules) and he moved to start counting.  I pointed out that he needs to pass and hand me a stone in turn, and he said, "But White is supposed to play last."  After a bit more confused back and forth he realized, "Oh!  I'm White!"  Clearly he was tired out by the end of the day too.  :)

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[7.50] GN[2016-03-20b]PW[Deren]PB[Becci]DT[2016-03-20]EV[CPL]PC[Cambridge]C[White+~5] ;B[pd] ;W[dd] ;B[qp] ;W[cq]C[I always have trouble handling the 3-3. I never really know how to approach it, and my opponent always seems to end up with a huge territory, even though the 3-3 is so low. ] ;B[oq] ;W[qf] ;B[nc] ;W[rd] (;B[qc] ;W[qi] ;B[cn] ;W[ep] ;B[cf] ;W[di] ;B[ef]TR[cn]C[I probably should have chosen a different joseki. I know the follow-up to this, and I knew he would play that and then attack the marked stone. Why do I play things that I know are wrong?] ;W[fc] ;B[bd] ;W[cc] ;B[bi] ;W[iq] ;B[qm] ;W[mq] ;B[hc] ;W[dg] ;B[df] ;W[bh] ;B[ch] ;W[ci] ;B[bg] ;W[bj] ;B[ah] ;W[ck] ;B[en] ;W[go] ;B[el] ;W[fj] ;B[gm] ;W[bc] ;B[kd] ;W[in] ;B[gk] ;W[gj] ;B[hk] ;W[ii] ;B[bq] ;W[cp] ;B[bp] ;W[br] ;B[co] ;W[no] ;B[lo]) (;B[qh]C[Walther suggested this move in this position, which is probably even better with White having the 3-3, but I chickened out. ]))

Updates:  I forgot to mention before that Andy Liu (1p) played in our tournament!  (Of course he won.)  How many American tournaments have professionals playing in them?  Also, Chun posted a full report and much better photos than mine.