busy busy busy

The plan was to spend all my summer time on playing & studying Go, but someone decided that we should host the US Go Congress this summer.  So we in the MGA are busy getting ready for this 500 person event (or maybe even 600 -- we're on track to break the record attendance of 518).  I was recently put in charge of all the merchandise, so I'm busy preparing lots of swag with our logo on it.

There might also be some running chickens.

Meanwhile, I am still playing and studying.  I'm learning so much in EYD, but that means I'm trying out lots of new things and definitely not always doing them well.  Here's my most recent game:

(;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[bitzi]PB[greyhound]BR[2d]DT[2016-05-27]PC[The KGS Go Server at http://www.gokgs.com/]C[White + Res.]RE[W+Resign] ;B[pd]BL[2386.388] ;W[dp]WL[2397.957] ;B[qp]BL[2382.953] ;W[dc]WL[2394.824] ;B[oq]BL[2376.874] ;W[qf]WL[2391.32] ;B[nc]BL[2372.168] ;W[rd]WL[2388.69] ;B[qh]BL[2354.992] ;W[qc]WL[2385.877] ;B[qe]BL[2353.07] ;W[re]WL[2383.638] ;B[pf]BL[2350.779] ;W[pg]WL[2381.525] ;B[qg]BL[2349.129] ;W[rf]WL[2379.322] ;B[og]BL[2334.001] ;W[jp]WL[2374.847] (;B[ph]BL[2312.587]C[This was a huge mistake. It leaves the right side too open.] ;W[id]WL[2358.227] ;B[ci]BL[2294.261] ;W[cf]WL[2322.839] (;B[cm]BL[2269.832]C[This is a weird shape and a little slow.] ;W[co]WL[2302.724] ;B[dk]BL[2261.625]C[This is just too slow.] ;W[fq]WL[2288.377] ;B[lp]BL[2212.17] ;W[qo]WL[2210.391] ;B[rp]BL[2126.95] ;W[oo]WL[2151.126] ;B[pn]BL[2117.008] ;W[on]WL[2122.122] ;B[op]BL[2032.978] ;W[pm]WL[2101.416]C[This is too easy for White.] ;B[pk]BL[1912.621] ;W[nl]WL[1928.424] (;B[cc]BL[1807.908]C[In-seong has lectures on "three moves to become a high level player", which are peep, probe and sacrifice. So I'm trying to do these things more but, of course, I don't do them very well. Here I'm all proud of my probe, but In-seong says this one is not the best.] ;W[dd]WL[1848.496] ;B[kc]BL[1766.568] ;W[jc]WL[1802.216] ;B[kd]BL[1761.989] ;W[if]WL[1796.187] ;B[hp]BL[1708.34] ;W[hq]WL[1754.604] ;B[ln]BL[1464.508] ;W[qn]WL[1655.796] ;B[ql]BL[1423.604] ;W[ll]WL[1636.46] ;B[mk]BL[1390.668] ;W[ml]WL[1602.491] ;B[jo]BL[1382.629] ;W[ip]WL[1586.244] ;B[kj]BL[1298.926] ;W[jl]WL[1474.222] ;B[io]BL[1259.022] ;W[lj]WL[1401.921] ;B[kk]BL[1210.114] ;W[lk]WL[1394.579] ;B[kl]BL[1200.408] (;W[km]WL[1390.178] (;B[lm]BL[1195.773] ;W[ki]WL[1384.629] ;B[jj]BL[1183.836] ;W[lh]WL[1362.983] ;B[fg]BL[1033.719] ;W[ii]WL[1310.611] ;B[he]BL[989.815] ;W[ie]WL[1305.616] ;B[gd]BL[983.888] ;W[gf]WL[1115.635] ;B[cd]BL[909.802] ;W[de]WL[1105.659] ;B[db]BL[902.626] ;W[eb]WL[1099.479] ;B[bb]BL[783.399] ;W[fc]WL[1072.995] ;B[ca]BL[753.12]C[This is too slow. Black doesn't have time.] ;W[im]WL[1018.085] (;B[ff]BL[733.579] ;W[fe]WL[1005.82] ;B[gg]BL[730.055] ;W[hf]WL[999.353] ;B[ho]BL[453.466] ;W[ir]WL[939.33] ;B[pc]BL[435.451] ;W[qb]WL[927.03] ;B[bn]BL[415.025] ;W[bo]WL[915.924] ;B[kb]BL[406.308] ;W[jb]WL[900.158] ;B[hk]BL[388.282]C[For some reason, I had it in my head (without actually reading it) that Black could not save these stones, so I played here instead. But the reading is not hard. What's wrong with my brain?!?] ;W[ij]WL[871.895] ;B[kn]BL[375.623] ;W[jm]WL[868.595] ;B[kr]BL[355.511] ;W[gi]WL[849.039] ;B[ei]BL[266.953] ;W[bh]WL[787.933] ;B[bi]BL[257.891] ;W[be]WL[771.44] ;B[ao]BL[202.626] ;W[ap]WL[766.759] ;B[an]BL[200.576] ;W[bp]WL[761.668] ;B[bd]BL[186.297] ;W[dh]WL[661.523] ;B[eh]BL[160.846] ;W[le]WL[601.935] ;B[ke]BL[40.281] ;W[kf]WL[596.865] ;B[lf]BL[294.641]OB[14] ;W[mf]WL[579.822] ;B[lg]BL[246.306]OB[13] ;W[mg]WL[569.447] ;B[kg]BL[244.075]OB[12] ;W[jg]WL[567.674] ;B[jf]BL[240.4]OB[11] ;W[kh]WL[566.302] ;B[kf]BL[234.647]OB[10] ;W[md]WL[539.554] ;B[ja]BL[177.183]OB[9] ;W[ia]WL[534.173] ;B[ka]BL[175.618]OB[8] ;W[ib]WL[496.833] ;B[pb]BL[159.698]OB[7] ;W[pa]WL[489.19] ;B[oa]BL[156.681]OB[6] ;W[qa]WL[488.306] ;B[mc]BL[148.274]OB[5] ;W[si]WL[368.529] ;B[ce]BL[132.113]OB[4] ;W[dg]WL[356.812] ;B[ri]BL[111.114]OB[3] ;W[sh]WL[346.664] ;B[sj]BL[106.5]OB[2] ;W[rg]WL[343.142] ;B[rm]BL[97.173]OB[1] ;W[rn]WL[322.667] ;B[rh]BL[300]OB[15] ;W[sg]WL[320.166] ;B[sm]BL[280.695]OB[14] ;W[rj]WL[300.041]C[greyhound [2d?\]: Thanks for the game! greyhound [2d?\]: Nice job bitzi [-\]: thanks bitzi [-\]: see you around greyhound [2d?\]: bye ]) (;B[ij]C[Black must bring these stones out. ])) (;B[ki]C[And Black should come out.])) (;W[ki]C[White should play on this side.])) (;B[gd]C[He recommends playing here instead, to separate White and fight.])) (;B[cn] ;W[fq] ;B[bp] ;W[cq] ;B[dl]C[In-seong recommended this.])) (;B[pj]C[Black is supposed to play here.]))

I'm currently 1-1 in the B league. I lost the game shown above. The game before that I won because my opponent was having trouble with his computer repeatedly rebooting, so he resigned instead of finishing the game -- not exactly a glorious win for me. I was supposed to play game 3 yesterday, but my opponent was playing in a tournament this weekend, so I'll play 2 games this coming week (my regular game on Tuesday, and a make-up game later in the week).

In our dan-level class, attendance and preparation have been deteriorating.  Last time it was just Walther and me and I had done more preparation (even though he's running the class).  Actually, it was really nice because we could really go over things in a lot more detail, instead of having tons of people jumping all over the place.  We finished the series of games we started studying, so Walther said I could pick the next game(s).  On Guo Juan's recommendation, I selected the incredible run of wins by Nie Weiping in the Japan-China Supergo games.  He won eleven of these title matches in a row, securing wins for China in the first three of the Supermatches.  We're going to review the first of these wins this coming Thursday.