Seventh game at EGC

For the seventh game I was paired against a French player again. This time a 5 kyu that was not playing in the first week. So this is his second game and he lost the first one. I didn't know that when the game started and was kind of expecting to get crushed by another French sandbagger.

It was cloudy and a bit chilly in the morning so I wore jeans to the playing venue. Halfway into the game the sun started to shine and I regretted my decision to wear jeans and wished I had my shorts. It became very warm and the air was heavy and humid. Later in the afternoon the sky opened with heavy rain and thunder. I was lucky to be home before that happened.

In the game I play black and start with a Chinese opening. I need to study that opening some more because I don't manage to play effective moves. It feels a bit too slow. My opponent had a better start and soon he had a big moyo in the lower right and a large territory at the top.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]TM[5400]OT[3x30 byo-yomi]
GN[EGC round 7]PW[French guy]PB[Boywing]WR[5k]BR[4k]DT[2011-08-02]EV[EGC 2011]RO[7]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[France]BT[Sweden]RE[W+12.50]
;B[pd]
;W[dp]
;B[pq]
;W[dd]
;B[ql]
;W[nc]
;B[pf]
;W[jd]
;B[cf]
;W[dj]
;B[ch]
;W[ce]
;B[df]
;W[fd]
;B[cj]
;W[ck]
;B[dk]
;W[cl]
;B[bj]
;W[jp]
;B[lp]
;W[jn]
;B[cq]
;W[dq]
;B[cp]
;W[co]
;B[dr]
;W[er]
;B[cr]
;W[do]
;B[bo]
;W[ek]
;B[di]
;W[ej]
;B[bn]
;W[po]
;B[np]
;W[qq]
;B[qr]
;W[pm]
;B[pl]
;W[mn]
;B[jq]
;W[iq]
;B[kp]
;W[ip]
;B[nl]
;W[om]
;B[ol]
;W[oh]
;B[ph]
;W[oe]
;B[pe]
;W[of]
;B[og]
;W[ng]
;B[pg]
;W[nh]
;B[nn]
;W[nm]
;B[mm]
;W[lm]
;B[ml]
;W[no]
;B[ln]
;W[mo]
;B[lo]
;W[op]
;B[nq]
;W[on]
;B[qn]
;W[oq]
;B[or]
;W[pp]
;B[pr]
;W[pn]
;B[jl]
;W[ff]
;B[jm]
;W[ji]
;B[fh]
;W[gh]
;B[jc]
;W[ic]
;B[kc]
;W[ib]
;B[nd]
;W[md]
;B[ne]
;W[me]
;B[od]
;W[mc]
;B[li]
;W[lh]
;B[kh]
;W[ki]
;B[jh]
;W[ii]
;B[kd]
;W[je]
;B[lg]
;W[mh]
;B[mf]
;W[nf]
;B[le]
;W[lb]
;B[mi]
;W[kg]
;B[jg]
;W[kf]
;B[jf]
;W[ke]
;B[oi]
;W[lf]
;B[ni]
;W[mg]
;B[cc]
;W[dc]
;B[be]
;W[cb]
;B[cd]
;W[qc]
;B[pc]
;W[pb]
;B[qd]
;W[rb]
;B[rc]
;W[hm]
;B[hl]
;W[gm]
;B[gl]
;W[im]
;B[gi]
;W[hh]
;B[fg]
;W[gf]
;B[cm]
;W[dm]
;B[jr]
;W[ir]
;B[is]
;W[hs]
;B[js]
;W[gr]
;B[em]
;W[el]
;B[qb]
;W[qa]
;B[ob])

I invaded the lower left corner directly and I am not so sure I should have done that. He became strong and it will be hard for me to invade or reduce later. When the sequence was over he answered by invading my lower right. For a log time I was reading how to cut his stones there and as soon as I got sente I played the cut. I was hoping for a kill but white managed to live quite easily.

Next I try to invade the upper side. I read out a great sequence but in my excitement I read wrong and I didn't gain much from the sequence. That was kind of my last hope. In the endgame I managed to reduce a little bit more but in the end I lost the game with 12.5 points including the 7.5 points komi for white.


When I was about to leave I saw that there was a blind player in the room. He uses a special board where you place stones on raised intersections and the stones are cut out so they fit on the intersections and doesn't slide around. The black stones have a small spike on the top and the white stones are smooth. Every time the young woman placed a stone the blind man was feeling with his fingers in the played area. Then he feel the stones in another area and plays a stone. It is quite amazing that he can do that, he kind of have to remember most of the board in his mind and without ever being able to look at the board.

After my game I went to see Girlwing play. She played against a 5 dan who lives in Spain. Girlwing was stressed and her opponent acted very calm. I never counted the points because there were a lot of unplayed areas on the board, but it looked like Girlwing was leading. That's why I got surprised when Girlwing resigned some moves later. She was sad and angry that she played so bad. She was ahead after the opening but made mistakes so some of her stones died after the opponent had invaded her territory.

Tomorrow we play no games but instead we will see the great sand dunes.