MGA Spring Handicap Tournament 2017

I played in a tournament!  I missed the Boston Spring Open (too busy with work).  But this one was right at the start of spring break for me, so it was perfect timing.  I actually played all four games too!

• Game 1: played white, no komi vs. Karen and won on time
• Game 2: took five (five) stones from Ethan (7 dan high schooler from Philly) and lost by 1.5...  yeesh!  The time setting is just too fast for me.  Basically the whole game was on my clock.
• Game 3: It was such a beautiful day, so Shawn and I went outside to eat lunch...  and came back late for round 3.  I lost 5 minutes on my clock, and lost by resignation to Cam (black, no komi).
• Game 4: Gave three stones to Charlie and won by about 15 points.  It was so nice to see him again!  Apparently he played in the Boston Spring Open a few weeks ago, but he hasn't been around much lately.  Even so, I think he's gotten stronger.  He's counting and doing a better job of taking sente.  He'll be stronger than me in no time.

I think the best part of the tournament was our new out-of-towners.  Ethan has been playing Go his whole life, but only recently learned of our American organization, and was happy to travel up here on his spring break to play with us.  We tried to emphasize all the great colleges in the Boston area.

We also had a contingent of new players from a high school Go club in New Hampshire:

They've only been playing for about a year, and this was their first tournament.  It was really fun to have them join us.  Their visit sparked some discussion about how we can get more high schools in the area to do this.  The AGF starter kit is fantastic, but you need someone at the high school to take the lead.  

I'm on spring break for the week and it feels like summer: warm weather and unscheduled days ready to be filled with Go study & play.