2009-06-22

I saw a Swedish star!

I saw a Swedish star! Or as we say in Sweden "Jag mötte Lassie". It was on the Stockholm Arlanda airport and I just picked up my suitcase from the luggage band. I started to walk away with my suitcase when I looked over to my right and saw this blond girl standing a couple of meters away and looking me straight into my eyes.

I was thinking "She is cute... She looks very familiar, how do I know her?". Then I realized "It is Amanda Jensen"! I like her a lot and I think that she is a very good artist. She seem to be a fun and nice person in private. I also read that she likes cats a lot, just like me. Many points to people that likes cats!

After a few seconds I realized that it is not nice to stare at people so I looked away and a couple of steps later I looked back at her and I was surprised to see that she was still looking at me. Maybe she recognized me as somebody else and believed that she knew me too.

Too bad I didn't go over there to take a picture of her and ask for an autograph. That would have been nice to have. Maybe I will get another chance later in my life. We will see...

2009-06-14

Stockholm Open 2009 - Day 2

So the second day of Stockholm Open weiqi tournament is over. How did it go? Very well I must say. After two losses and one win in the first day, I managed to get two wins in the second day, leading up to a total of three wins out of five! This was my goal and I am happy to have achieved it.

My losses both came from two 3 kyu players and my wins came from a 4 kyu and two 5 kyu players. This clearly shows that I am stable at my 4 kyu for the moment, which is kind of a relief.

The first game of today was not very interesting. My main worry was my opponents large potential territory. I made some invasions and one was quite successful but I played wrong which could have led to a ten thousand year ko but I played wrong again and it became a regular ko. But my opponent ignored my first ko threat so it ended quite soon. Instead I could play two moves in a row to make life in another corner. In the end I made quite a lot of territory in the middle of the board and I won by 19,5 points.

The second game was much more interesting. I opened as black with a chinese opening. White started direct with an invasion of the upper left and left some stones there without a base. I left them too, waiting for a good opportunity to attack. Next to this group I had a not so secure group myself. Halfway in the game my stones got cut of but I managed to get enough space for eyes. After some preparations I managed to cut of the group of white stones that I had my eyes on for such a long time and I captured eight stones. You can see the hole after them in the upper left in the picture. As a price I had to pay with the stones in the top middle. Then white made some small attacking moves around the board and then I realize that the whole center is white. Oh... I must get in to the center... now! So I put a stone quite deep with hope of easy escape. It turned out to not be so easy. As you see in the picture, they are not free yet. For a moment I believed that I was safe and I forgot to think of my stones... we played a bounch of stones until I wake up and realized that I was not connected with the outside. Oh no... I have to capture something! Lucky for me I had the liberties on my side and my opponent was forced to resign. An interesting game with a very nice opponent (Chibisai).

Yes... how did it go for Girlwing? She won the whole tournament! All five games! :D

Before the tournament I promised her a boat cruise if she won the tournament... So sometime during the summer you might see some blog entries from that adventure. So far I only know that she want to go with a big, new and fancy boat. I guess there are not so many of that kind but we'll see what we'll find.

Stockholm Open 2009 - Day 1

2009-06-13

Stockholm Open 2009 - Day 1

The first day of Stockholm Open 2009 is now over. At the moment Girlwing is in the lead after three wins. I didn't play so good and is below the middle in the result list after the first day.

The first game I played against Chili. At first it looked OK for me but then I made a really stupid mistake in the opening which ruined most of my big corner/side territory and made my group split in two. Later I made another mistake on the other side of the board reducing the territory a lot. So I lost quite big...

The second game you can see in the picture. The lover right corner was totally black (mine... all mine... my precious...). White in the middle, top and right was not secure and I just had to attack and gain more points. But I wasted everything and for a while my groups was in danger. In the end I had taken his territory and he had taken mine. So strange game... but I won by 2.5 points.

The third game was another loss. I made a couple of big mistakes and my opponent did not. He thinks a lot and don't do anything hasty and then think some more. I was a bit restless and that is probably why I make mistakes like that.

Tomorrow we play the last two games. Lets see how it goes... I want two wins! Let me be strong!

Stockholm Open 2009 - Day 2

2009-06-12

Stockholm Open 2009

Tomorrow it is time for the 2009 version of Stockholm Open weiqi tournament. I have not been playing or practicing as I should. I am a bit worried that I will not play at the level of 4 kyu. I will do my best and hopefully I get three wins out of five. I want two wins of three tomorrow. That would feel good.... and then at least one win on Sunday.

Girlwing will be in the top group fighting for the top three places. She didn't either practice as she should before the tournament. Hopefully she have enough knowledge stored away in her weiqi brain. We'll see...

Anyway, we will both do our best and have some fun. The most important is to spend some time with our weiqi buddies. See you tomorrow! :)

Stockholm Open 2009 - Day 1