Solving go problems

As a beginner, the best way to become better at playing go is to solve many relatively simple problems. Any problem should be so simple so that you can solve it in under half a minute. The better you become, the more difficult problems you can solve within the same time frame. You do not get better faster by trying to solve harder problems than suits your level, rather the contrary.

I would say that 90% of the players strength comes from how good one can correctly "read" a number of moves forward. A good way to practice this skill is to play many games of go but it's even better is to solve lots of go problems. As a beginner, you can barely manage to read one move ahead, but with a little practice, you can soon read ahead 2-3 moves correctly and with a lot of practice 10 moves or more.

When you have solved a problem, you should be so sure that it is the right solution so that you do not need to look at the correct answer. Therefore some problem books are lacking a section with solutions. So you have to have read out the entire problem with all possible variations before deciding to look at the answer. Sometimes you are still wrong and then it is important to try to understand why it was wrong and why the correct answer is right.

You do not have to spend hours on end to solve problems, but it is perfectly OK to solve one problem here and one there. Eg when sitting in the subway, before going to sleep, sitting on the toilet, waiting in line, when there are commercials on TV, etc. So buy / borrow some problems books, spread them out in your home and always have one with you wherever you go. ;)

On the internet, there are some problems collections to come by and the best is undoubtedly goproblems.com. There you can easily start with the problem that suits your personal level and then advance. There are currently 8035 problems, of which I've made three.

Life and death, 6 kyu

Life and death, 3 kyu

Tesuji, 8 dan (?)

There are also some "apps" for smart phones (Android / iOS), which has many go problems. I have yet to find any that is easy to use and that I think is good for beginners, but I have not been looking so hard. Those that cost money are probably also the ones that are best. Please tell me if you find a good app.

Tenth game at EGC 2011

The final round of the EGC in Bordeaux. There is both sadness and relief in knowing that EGC is over for this time. It has been two weeks of fun and serious games but it will be nice to have some rest from the competition. Before it is all over I have to play another French player. Because of my previous wins I have moved up again to play against a 6 kyu. My opponent has already won five games before this game and among them one against a 4 kyu so he will probably be of my strength. I will probably have a chance to win my last game of the tournament. Let's do our best!

My opponent plays as black and I as white. The opening went quite well except for a reading mistake by me on the upper side that was quite big. After the white invasion on the left side I felt I had to do the same on the right side.

(;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 Main Tournament Round 10]PW[Boywing]PB[French guy]WR[4k]BR[6k]DT[2011-08-06]EV[EGC 2011]RO[Round 10]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[Sweden]BT[France]RE[B+Resign]
;B[dp]
;W[pd]
;B[qp]
;W[cd]
;B[qf]
;W[nc]
;B[pj]
;W[op]
;B[mq]
;W[no]
(;B[qm]LB[qh:A][qk:B]C[Possible to invade at A or B]
(;W[lp]
;B[pq]
(;W[oq]
;B[fq]LB[kq:A]C[Black can later play at A]
;W[cj]
;B[ed]
;W[gc]
;B[fe]
;W[df]
;B[cc]
;W[bc]
;B[dc]
;W[bb]
;B[hd]
(;W[hc]
;B[id]
(;W[jc]C[Bad jump]
;B[ic]
;W[ib]
(;B[jb]C[Block from wrong side]
;W[kb]
;B[hb]
;W[ja]
;B[gb]
;W[gd]
;B[ge]
;W[cn]
;B[bp]
;W[hq]
(;B[cl]C[White have several options]
(;W[bl]
;B[bm]
;W[cm]
;B[bk]
;W[dl]
;B[ck]
;W[dk]
;B[bj]
;W[ci]
(;B[fo]LB[bh:A]
(;W[bi]
;B[al]
;W[qh]
;B[ph]
;W[pi]
;B[qi]
;W[oi]
;B[rh]
;W[qj]
;B[ri]
;W[pk]
;B[rd]
;W[qc]
;B[or]
;W[nr]
;B[pr]
;W[nq]
;B[ko]
;W[kp]
(;B[oj]C[Ladder does not work for black.]
(;W[ok]C[Bad move]
;B[nj]
;W[oh]
;B[pg]
;W[mh]
;B[og]
;W[mi]
;B[qk]
;W[ql]
;B[rk]
;W[pm]
;B[rl]
(;W[pl]
;B[qn]
;W[fm]
;B[lk]
;W[nf]
;B[ng]
;W[mg]
;B[on]
;W[ml]
;B[mk]
;W[nm]
(;B[oo]
;W[nn]
;B[gr]
;W[hr]
;B[jf]
(;W[lf]
;B[bn]
;W[fg]
;B[rc]
;W[ih]
;B[gg]
;W[gh]
;B[fh]
;W[eg]
;B[jk]
;W[hk]
;B[jo]
;W[ip]
;B[ij]
;W[hj]
;B[hh]
;W[gi]
;B[hg]
;W[ea]
;B[eb]
;W[da]
;B[fa]
;W[fn]
;B[ai]
;W[ah]
;B[aj]
;W[bh]
;B[hs]
;W[is]
;B[gs]
;W[jr]
;B[qb]
;W[pb]
;B[qd]
;W[pc]
;B[rb]
;W[je]
;B[ie]
;W[jd]
;B[ig]
;W[im]
;B[jm])
(;W[bn]
;B[aj]
;W[ao]
;B[am]
;W[ap]CR[cq][dq][eq][cr][dr][er][cs][ds][es][fs]C[White will reduce a lot of points]))
(;B[om]C[Black can do better]
;W[ol]
;B[pn]
;W[nl]
;B[nn]C[Painful for white]))
(;W[ml]C[White should leave his stone in atari]))
(;W[nj]
;B[ok]
;W[ol]
;B[nk]
;W[mk]
;B[nl]
;W[nm]
;B[ml]
;W[ll]
;B[mm]
;W[mn]
;B[lm]
;W[km]
;B[ln]
;W[lo]
;B[kn]
;W[jn])
(;W[ql]
;B[nj]
;W[pm]))
(;B[jo]
;W[jp]
;B[oj]
;W[nj]
;B[ok]
;W[ol]
;B[nk]
;W[mk]
;B[nl]
;W[nm]
;B[ml]
;W[ll]
;B[mm]
;W[mn]
;B[lm]
;W[km]
;B[ln]
;W[lo]
;B[kn]
;W[io]
;B[jn]
;W[jm]))
(;W[bn]C[White should start from this side]
;B[al]
;W[bi]
;B[aj]
;W[ao]
;B[am]
;W[ap]LB[bi:A][aj:B][am:D][bn:C]C[A-B and C-D exchange is good for white]))
(;B[bn]C[Huge move]))
(;W[co]
;B[cp]
;W[dm]LB[bn:A]
;B[dj]
;W[ci]
;B[dl]
;W[el]
;B[ek]
;W[fm]
;B[gk])
(;W[ep]
;B[eq]
;W[do]
;B[cp]
;W[bm]
;B[bl]
;W[ej]
;B[el]
;W[fn]))
(;B[qc]C[Black should play here]))
(;B[hb]
;W[jb]
;B[gb]))
(;W[ic]
;B[jd]
;W[kc]
;B[eg]
;W[ch]
;B[oe]C[Better for black]))
(;W[ic]C[White should play here]
;B[hc]
;W[hb]
;B[gd]
;W[cn]))
(;W[lq]
;B[oq]
(;W[kn])
(;W[mr]
;B[nq]
;W[kn])))
(;W[qh]
;B[ph]
;W[pi]
(;B[qi]
;W[oi]
;B[rh]
;W[qj]
;B[ri]
;W[pk]
;B[oj]
;W[ql])
(;B[oi]
;W[qi]
;B[pg]
;W[qj]
;B[qk]
;W[rk]
;B[pk]
;W[rl]))
(;W[qk]
(;B[qj]
;W[rj]
;B[ri]
;W[pk]
;B[ok]
;W[pl])
(;B[pk]
;W[ql]
;B[pl]
;W[rm]
;B[qn]
;W[ri]))
(;W[qq]
;B[rq]
;W[pq]
;B[kp]
;W[ro]
;B[rp]
;W[qo]
;B[po]
;W[pp]
;B[qn]
;W[pn]
;B[so]
;W[oo]
;B[rn]
;W[kn]))
(;B[pn]C[Black should play here]))

I played a sequence on the right side that captured a stone in a ladder. Black soon played a ladder breaker and then pulled out his stone from the ladder. The problem was that the ladder breaker didn't work and neither I or my opponent read it out, we just assumed it worked. So instead we started to fight for a couple of moves and now black is ahead in the game.

I didn't really find anything to attack so it is more or less game over for me. We still played it to the end and I lost.

At the same time Girlwing played against a 6 dan again. It was a close game but she played a steady game and never gave her opponent a chance. In the end she won by 2.5 points.

So now totally Girlwing have seven wins I won three games out of ten. As I mentioned in my first post about EGC I didn't expect to win much in the first week but was hoping for better results in the second week. It was so true, but I didn't expect to play so many under ranked French players. I played against five French players the first week and I lost all five games. I feel I should have won one or two of these games. In the second week I won three out of five games, which is an OK result. Before next time I go to EGC I must do some practice before the tournament so I am warmed up and can be sure of my level.

The top two tables where the strong Koreans play.

Cristian Pop 7D and Dmitriy Surin 5D.

A lot of the players standing outside the playing venue for a group picture.

Price giving ceremony.

Dinner with the Finnish players and a couple of British as well.

Ninth game at EGC

It's friday and only two games left to play in the EGC. Today I played a Korean lady of 7 kyu. She didn't speak any English so we nodded and I placed my first black stone on the board.

She played her first four stones on the same side of the board, while I spread them out to occupy a larger territory. Her fifth stone she approched my lower right corner and there she must have played wrong because I closed her in directly.

I left my corner with some aji and secured some territory in the upper right. Directly she attached to my 4-4 stone and I played a hane. In the sequence that follows I build a wall that is building a large moyo.

She then turns to invade my lower side and I jump in to her lower left corner at san-san. She block from the wrong side and I get a good result and her D6 stone is too close to her D4 group, making an inefficient shape.

(;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 Main Tournament Round 9]PW[Korean lady]PB[Boywing]WR[7k]BR[4k]DT[2011-08-05]EV[EGC 2011]RO[Round 9]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[Korea]BT[Sweden]RE[B+5.50]
;B[pd]
;W[dp]
;B[pq]
;W[dc]
;B[fq]
;W[dn]
;B[jp]
;W[ci]
;B[jc]
;W[po]
(;B[ql]
;W[qq]
;B[qr]
;W[rr]
;B[qp]
;W[rq]
;B[pp]
;W[rp]
;B[qo]
;W[pr]
;B[or]
;W[qs]
(;B[pf]
;W[pc]
;B[qc]
;W[oc]
;B[qb]
;W[lc]
;B[gc]
;W[de]
;B[od]
;W[nd]
;B[ne]
;W[md]
;B[me]
;W[le]
;B[kb]
;W[lb]
;B[je]
;W[lf]
;B[mg]
;W[jf]
;B[ie]
;W[kh]
;B[li]
;W[hq]
;B[cq]
;W[cp]
;B[dq]
;W[ep]
;B[eq]
;W[ho]
;B[jn]
;W[fi]
(;B[hm]
;W[fp]
;B[fk]
(;W[dk]
;B[ej]
;W[di]
;B[dl]
;W[el]
;B[ek]
;W[dj]
;B[em]
;W[cl]
;B[dm]
;W[cm]
;B[en]
;W[lq]
;B[mp]
;W[gq]
;B[bq]
;W[bp]
;B[jq]
;W[gr]
;B[fr]
;W[aq]
;B[ar]
;W[ap]
;B[bs]
;W[nr]
(;B[os]
;W[ro]
;B[qn]
;W[ki]
;B[lj]
;W[hk]
;B[hl]
;W[ik]
;B[jl]
(;W[ge]
(;B[he]
;W[gd]
;B[hc]
;W[hd]
;B[id]
;W[ib]
;B[hb]
;W[ka]
(;B[ic]
;W[ja]
;B[kd]
;W[ld]
;B[ha]
;W[la]
;B[eb]
;W[db]
;B[ec]
;W[ed]
;B[da]
;W[ca]
;B[ea]
;W[cc]
;B[qi]
;W[kk]
;B[ll]
;W[kl]
;B[km]
;W[lk]
;B[mk]
;W[mh]
;B[lh]
;W[lg]
(;B[nh]
;W[ml]
;B[lm]
;W[mj]
;B[nk]
;W[mi]
;B[nj]
;W[kj]
;B[ni]
;W[ng]
;B[og]
;W[nf]
;B[of]
;W[mf]
;B[oe]
;W[js]
;B[kr]
;W[ks]
;B[ls]
;W[ir]
;B[jr]
;W[is]
;B[lr]
;W[ei]
;B[hg]
;W[gf]
;B[ig]
;W[eo]
;B[gg]
;W[fg]
;B[ob]
;W[nb]
;B[pb]
;W[nc]
;B[rn]
;W[sn]
;B[sm]
;W[so]
;B[rm]
;W[gh]
;B[gk]
;W[gj]
;B[ii]
;W[jk]
;B[hn]
;W[io]
;B[jo]
;W[fs]
;B[es]
;W[gs]
;B[hi]
;W[fn]
;B[fm]
;W[gn]
;B[gm]
;W[ip]
;B[fd]
;W[fe]
;B[fc]
;W[jg]
;B[ke]
;W[kf]
;B[na]
;W[ma]
;B[oa]
;W[il]
;B[jm]
;W[ps]
;B[nq]
;W[gi]
;B[jb]
;W[ia]
;B[im]
;W[ji]
;B[ij]
;W[hj]
;B[ih]
;W[hf]
;B[if]
;W[ef]
;B[iq]
;W[go]
;B[in]
;W[fj]
;B[hh]
;W[kc]
;B[jh]
;W[jj])
(;B[mi]
;W[mf]
;B[ng]
;W[nf]
;B[of]
;W[oe]
;B[pe]))
(;B[ja]))
(;B[eb]))
(;W[kk]
;B[ml]))
(;B[nq]
;W[os]
;B[oq]
;W[mr]
;B[ro]))
(;W[hk]
;B[gl]
;W[jl]))
(;B[jj]))
(;B[nq]))
(;B[pl]))

My H7 move is not so good. It should be better at K10. My F9 is even worse and makes a counter attack at H9 possible. The E10 move I regretted the second after I put it on the board. So I just pretended it didn't exist and I tried something else. The problem is that I removed some aji in the upper right.

Whites M3 made me some worries but I decided to defend my moyo and played N4. I was later told that this was a very good move. My opponent didn't answer so I got the possibility to capture the M3 stone.

A couple of moves later white attacked my upper group with G15. The best response to live is E18, but I wanted to be able to jump out in whites middle area so I played H15. That gave me some problems when I played wrong a couple of times and I barely survived thanks to my opponent to make as many mistakes as me.

By now I felt I was ahead and didn't want any bad surprises so I played inside my own territory at R11. Then came L9 and I felt like crying. I read out as far as I could and there are so many cutting points and it was hard to find any way to play a sequence where I can keep all my stones. So I played a sequence to give away three stones and am able to close off my territory. Then again I didn't expect the next move at O13. Well now it should really be closed.

We played all the way through endgame and to fill all the dames to count the points. I won by 5.5 points. Yay! So now I have three wins totally and all of them in the second week. Tomorrow I will meet a French 6 kyu. I think he both lost and won against 4k and 5k so he should be at my strength. It will be a challenge!

Girlwing won today against her Japanese 6 dan opponent. Tomorrow she will play another 6 dan who has played well this tournament. Let's hope for the best and that Girlwing wins her seventh victory.

Go players solving weiqi problems together under a tree.

Morino Setsuo 9P is reviewing the game between Alexandr Dinershteyn 7D and Catalin Taranu 7D.

Players looking at the results of today and the new pairing of tomorrow.

To farewell drink is served tonight.

Players enjoying the farewell drink.

Eighth game at EGC

For my eighth game I am paired against a French lady of 9 kyu. She won her first six games and then lost a game yesterday. I know for sure that French players are much stronger than their rank so I was expecting 4 kyu competition regardless of her rank.

She started with securing her lower left side and I played one stone under the star point on the left side and on the upper side. That made her the possibility to build a small moyo on the upper left corner before I was able to secure my left side. Directly she approached my stone on my lower right and I played an OK joseki but she was  not aggressive enough and secured her stones in a heavy shape. That gave me the possibility to play a strong shape.

Then she left her stones and approached my upper right corner. There I probably should had played a pincer instead of the kick-jump. But at least I got the chance to jump out with my middle stone and threaten her lower group. Now I got the time to play a sequence to threaten that group until it lived with only two one point eyes. Ending in sente I was able to invade the upper left moyo as well. She played wrong and I got a great result after cutting of a stone and adding that to my left side territory.

About here my phone rang (without a signal) and I hung up directly but when the kifu came back it was totally empty. I then tried to load the autosave-file but that one was empty as well. U guess the autosave had saved the empty board over the one I had entered the moves. So it was totally blank and I turned off my smartphone. So a note to the author of Gobandroid. Please fix that bug! And a note to me, turn the phone in to flight mode when you play tournament games! So all of the kifu is made from memory. There are 100% chance that the moves are in the wrong order.

(;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 8]PW[Boywing]PB[French lady]WR[4k]BR[9k]DT[2011-08-04]EV[EGC Main Tournament]RO[Round 8]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[Sweden]BT[France]RE[W+22.50]
;B[cp]
;W[pd]
;B[dc]
;W[pq]
;B[eq]
;W[cj]
;B[cf]
;W[jc]
;B[hc]
;W[je]
;B[he]
;W[cm]
;B[po]
;W[ql]
;B[qq]
;W[qr]
;B[qp]
;W[or]
;B[qn]
;W[np]
;B[qf]
;W[qe]
;B[pf]
;W[nd]
;B[qj]
;W[ol]
;B[oj]
;W[ml]
;B[nn]
;W[lo]
;B[iq]
;W[kq]
;B[io]
;W[pm]
;B[pn]
;W[rm]
;B[ro]
;W[rr]
;B[rq]
;W[rn]
;B[pp]
;W[op]
;B[sp]
;W[fc]
;B[gd]
;W[ed]
;B[dd]
;W[ef]
;B[fd]
;W[de]
;B[ec]
;W[ce]
;B[bd]
;W[be]
;B[nm]
;W[nl]
;B[ln]
;W[lm]
;B[kn]
;W[re]
;B[rf]
;W[nf]
;B[nh]
;W[og]
;B[ph]
;W[rj]
;B[ri]
;W[rk]
;B[pk]
;W[pl]
;B[oc]
;W[pb]
;B[od]
;W[oe]
;B[pe]
;W[pc]
;B[lc]
;W[ld]
;B[kc]
;W[kd]
;B[jb]
;W[mc]
;B[ic]
;W[jd]
;B[se]
;W[gg]
;B[hg]
;W[hh]
;B[ig]
;W[ih]
;B[of]
;W[ne]
;B[ng]
;W[go]
;B[gq]
;W[gm]
;B[en]
;W[el]
;B[cn]
;W[bm]
;B[bn]
;W[an]
;B[bo]
;W[jl]
;B[im]
;W[il]
;B[hm]
;W[gl]
;B[hl]
;W[hk]
;B[dm]
;W[dl]
;B[gk]
;W[em]
;B[dn]
;W[fn]
;B[km]
;W[kl]
;B[ee]
;W[df]
;B[ff]
;W[fg]
;B[gf]
;W[bc]
;B[cd]
;W[ad]
;B[bb]
;W[mb]
;B[kb]
;W[jr]
;B[lp]
;W[lq]
;B[mo]
;W[gs]
;B[fr]
;W[si]
;B[rh]
;W[eo]
;B[cc]
;W[rd]
;B[sd]
;W[sc]
;B[sf]
;W[rc]
;B[ac]
;W[ae]
;B[ie]
;W[jg]
;B[jf]
;W[kf]
;B[if]
;W[li]
;B[mi]
;W[mg]
;B[lk]
;W[ll]
;B[mk]
;W[kk]
;B[oi]
;W[lj]
;B[sh]
;W[sj]
;B[ao]
;W[am]
;B[do]
;W[fp]
;B[ep]
;W[fo]
;B[qk]
;W[hn]
;B[in]
;W[mh]
;B[ir]
;W[is]
;B[fs]
;W[hs]
;B[jq]
;W[kr]
;B[mp]
;W[mq])

Anyway, soon she invaded my upper side. I did my best to defend and I should be able to kill her stones but I let her connect with some of them to her upper left side. I managed to seal off the middle and got a lot of points there. In the end my opponent invaded my middle and I have a lot of weakness and cutting points and it is absolutely possible to capture some of my stones. I had to give up some of them and I chose the four at B7. It was still not enough for her and I won in the end by 22.5. So that was my second win so far and tomorrow I'll meet a Korean 7k. Expect a lot of fighting and bad shape!

Girlwing played another 4 dan and she won. Tomorrow she will play against a Japanese 6 dan. Lets hope she wins so she can continue to play strong players. 4 dans she can play against in Sweden. :)

After our games we went in to town for some leisure time and sightseeing. Girlwing was very close to buying a Lancel handbag for €400. I told her not to because she already have a fancy handbag that is only one year old. She painfully left the handbag and cursed me for several blocks while we was walking. Women... ;)

We went in to a big church called Cathédrale st.Andre. I was not able to walk very far in to the church before I was told to take of my cap. I think only women and the priests are allowed to wear anything on their heads. I am not sure what the practical reason for that is. But I didn't mind, there was no sun in there anyway.

 A really nice big church.

 This is where the priest usually stands and brainwash the simple people.

The great church organ.

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.

Sixth game at EGC

The second week of EGC just started and the sixth game has been played. I feared that I had to play another French guy and this time it could have been a 9 kyu player. But when I looked at the pairing I was happy to see that I was about to play against a 6 kyu player from Spain.

I was sitting closest to the window where the strong sun was shining directly in to the room. I pulled the curtains so I didn't get the sun in my face. That didn't help much from the warmth the sun gave to the room. It was almost hard to breathe. I was just hoping this warm room would affect my opponent more than me. But Spanish people should be used to warm conditions compared to a Swede like me.

I started with a Chinese opening as black. My opponent invaded directly and I answered with a standard variation. Soon I started to play strange and my attack was not so affective.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]TM[5400]OT[15/300 Canadian]
GN[EGC Round 6]PW[Spanish guy]PB[Boywing]WR[6k]BR[4k]DT[2011-08-01]EV[EGC 2011]RO[6]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[Spain]BT[Sweden]RE[B+Resign]
;B[pd]
;W[dp]
;B[pq]
;W[dc]
;B[ql]
;W[po]
;B[np]
;W[qq]
;B[qr]
;W[qp]
;B[rr]
;W[pm]
;B[pl]
;W[om]
(;B[nk]
;W[mm]
;B[nn]
;W[nm]
;B[lk]
;W[oq]
;B[op]
;W[pp]
;B[pr]
;W[nq]
;B[mq]
;W[mp]
(;B[lp]
;W[mo]
;B[nr]
;W[lq]
;B[mr]
;W[no]
(;B[kq]
;W[oo]
(;B[jc]
;W[qf]
;B[qe]
;W[pf]
;B[nd]
;W[pj]
;B[ok]
;W[rj]
;B[ph]
;W[qh]
;B[ce]
;W[hc]
;B[je]
;W[de]
;B[df]
;W[cd]
;B[ee]
;W[dd]
;B[ef]
;W[cj]
;B[fq]
;W[dn]
(;B[dr]
;W[cq]
;B[fo]
;W[ej]
;B[of]
;W[oh]
;B[og]
;W[pg]
;B[nh]
;W[oi]
;B[ni]
;W[qk]
;B[rf]
;W[rd]
;B[pe]
;W[qg]
;B[re]
;W[qc]
;B[pc]
;W[rb]
;B[pb]
;W[he]
;B[ch]
;W[cf]
;B[cg]
;W[be]
(;B[gd]
;W[gc]
;B[fd]
;W[fc]
;B[hd]
;W[eh]
;B[eg]
;W[dh]
;B[gh]
;W[hh]
;B[hi]
;W[ii]
;B[hj]
;W[ij]
;B[ik]
;W[jk]
;B[jl]
;W[il]
;B[hk]
;W[kl]
;B[jj]
;W[jm]
;B[kj]
;W[fh]
;B[gg]
;W[hq]
(;B[ip]
;W[hp]
;B[ho]
;W[io]
;B[iq]
;W[go]
;B[hn]
;W[gn]
;B[gp]
;W[hr]
;B[ir]
;W[hm]
;B[in]
;W[jo]
(;B[gm]
;W[fn]
;B[en]
;W[fm]
;B[em]
;W[fl]
;B[eo]
;W[cm]
;B[cl]
;W[cr]
;B[bm]
;W[bn]
;B[dm]
;W[cn]
;B[bk]
;W[bj]
;B[el]
;W[fk]
;B[dk]
;W[dj]
;B[gr]
;W[hs]
;B[gq]
;W[jn]
;B[ep]
;W[er]
;B[eq]
;W[dq]
;B[ck]C[White resign])
(;B[hs]
;W[jn]
;B[gr]
;W[im]
;B[gq]
;W[ho]))
(;B[hp]
;W[ip]
;B[ho]))
(;B[eh]))
(;B[cq]))
(;B[pf]
;W[jc]))
(;B[or]
;W[kp]
;B[cf]))
(;B[nr]))
(;B[rn]
;W[ol]
;B[pj]))

Soon my opponent invaded the upper right side and I made it too easy for him to live. At least I got sente and I approached his upper left corner stone. White played the wrong joseki but I didn't find a good way to continue from it so I left my stones and approached the lover left instead. A better way should be to invade that corner directly to take away his points.

After some luck and not so great play from my opponent I managed to close off the right side and now it started to look good with the balance of territory. My opponent invaded my upper right corner and both I and him played wrong so his stones did in the end and I kept my corner territory.

Next I managed to close off the center even more and then my opponent thought it was time to invade. Sadly for him he didn't manage at all and just helped me to close it completely. He got a ponnuki instead but that is not worth so much this late in the game. It gives some strength to his next invasion.

So he invaded the lower side at H3. I believed that this was not possible so I answered in the strongest way I could imagine. It didn't go as I planned. I misread as usual. But as you can see in the variation it was still possible for me to connect my stones. I didn't see that so I started my hunt for two eyes. At this point I didn't believe that could be able to win any more, but I have to try and do my best.

I run out into his territory and after a lot of reading and playing threatening moves, I managed to get two eyes for my group and my opponent resigned. So I won my first game in the main tournament. That was about time! I just hope that I will keep playing more players at my level and that I don't make so many big mistakes.

In the evening there were rengo and rapid tournaments. Girlwing and I didn't participate in any of them. Instead we walked around and talked to people and looked at games.

In the middle of the tournament the fire alarm went off again and everybody had to go out to the grass field. This is the second time this happened. I do not know if there are people smoking inside or if there is a glitch in the alarm system.

4th and 5th game

The forth game is against another French guy. This time he is supposed to be 7 kyu. The game started well and I felt good after the opening. I got a big corner while my opponent didn't get much influence in exchange. Then I started to play too fast and didn't settle my groups before I moved to the next big points on the board.

My opponent invaded my side and I played a little strange but with and OK result. I was still ahead in the game. Then I did a stupid invasion of the lover right corner. I ended in gote of course and my  opponent was able to close of the right side and now that area looked huge. So I had to invade and either try to capture some stones or live in the center.

The only problem was that I had a weak group at the bottom that got really hurt by my center invasion and I my opponent had a joyful time to attack them both. At the end I did a desperate attempt to enclose the white group at the top but I failed and my stones died. So I had to resign.

The next day I had yet another French guy to play. He was 8 kyu but by now I have realized that French ratings are not to trust at the kyu level. I was told that French players can not decide their own rank as soon as they become 12 kyu. They must prove their strength in a tournament and the competition for the ranking points are very tough. It is hard for them to get a higher ranking because all players are improving and keep losing games against each others. I hope winning against me will give them a higher rank.

My opponent of today played black and choose to play the chinese opening. I answered by a stone halfway to his side and directly he invaded my corner. I felt it was too early for an invasion and I didn't know how to answer so I defended. That was of course wrong and I should have let him take the corner. My tactic was to only give him one eye at the side so I could chase his group over the board to build strength and territory. You see his group in the upper side.

I was doing quite OK until he invaded my right side and I got two weak groups again. I had my chance to make the left one alive while still having the possibility to save the one in the middle. I should have played where the marked black stone is, but I didn't. Instead black played there and the stones god captured. Then I did some desperate attempts to capture the black cutting stones in the middle but failed and more of my stones died.  I lost again.

So now I have played five games against French players and I lost them all. When I got home and looked at the result list I saw that all of my five opponents have won all of their games. If you look at the results you can see a lot of great results for French players who are around 5 kyu. That can be of some consolation for me. Maybe I don't totally suck. Maybe my opponents are stronger than their rank say.

I put some hope in the next weeks games, but you can expect me to lose games when I play the French.

Third game at EGC

The day after the pair go I was tired and this time it was me who was late by fifteen minutes and my opponent was waiting for me. This game I was playing a 6kyu player that had won both his earlier games. Let's hope for better luck this time.

At the same time Girlwing was playing the talented Cristian Pop 7D. She was not hoping for much success but she would try and play her usual game and then we see how far that will take her.

My opponent started as black and played the Chinese opening. I played wrong a couple of times and my opponent soon had a territorial lead. When Girlwing later looked at my game she said that he is stronger than me and have good sense of shape. I hardly understand the concept of good shape so he punished me and played at my weak spots to take advantage of my bad shape. That is quite painful in the game of go.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]TM[5400]OT[15/300 Canadian]
GN[EGC Round 3]PW[Boywing]PB[French guy]WR[4k]BR[6k]DT[2011-07-26]EV[EGC]RO[3]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[Sweden]BT[France]RE[B+5.50]
;B[dp]
;W[pp]
;B[dc]
;W[pc]
;B[ci]
;W[jq]
;B[jd]
;W[de]
;B[fd]
;W[cc]
;B[cb]
;W[cd]
;B[bb]
;W[cg]
;B[ff]
;W[eg]
;B[ef]
;W[df]
;B[dh]
;W[dg]
;B[cm]
;W[fq]
;B[dq]
;W[qi]
;B[bh]
;W[eh]
;B[ei]
;W[fi]
;B[ej]
;W[hh]
;B[fj]
;W[gi]
;B[fo]
;W[hp]
;B[mc]
;W[pe]
;B[qn]
;W[ql]
;B[np]
;W[no]
;B[mo]
;W[oo]
;B[qq]
;W[qp]
;B[pq]
;W[pn]
;B[op]
;W[mn]
;B[rp]
;W[me]
;B[pm]
;W[ol]
;B[qm]
;W[om]
;B[pl]
;W[pk]
;B[qk]
;W[qj]
;B[rl]
;W[oj]
;B[hk]
;W[hn]
;B[gm]
;W[kc]
;B[kd]
;W[lc]
;B[ld]
;W[mb]
;B[md]
;W[jc]
;B[ic]
;W[ib]
;B[hc]
;W[hb]
;B[gc]
;W[mq]
;B[mp]
;W[nq]
;B[oq]
;W[lp]
;B[lo]
;W[mg]
;B[nb]
;W[lb]
;B[oc]
;W[pb]
;B[od]
;W[oe]
;B[gb]
;W[ja]
;B[rj]
;W[ri]
;B[si]
;W[sh]
;B[sj]
;W[rg]
;B[ii]
;W[ih]
;B[ji]
;W[jh]
;B[ki]
;W[kg]
;B[hi]
;W[ie]
;B[id]
;W[er]
;B[dr]
;W[ds]
;B[cs]
;W[es]
;B[lq]
;W[lr]
;B[kp]
;W[kr]
;B[cr]
;W[ga]
;B[fa]
;W[ha]
;B[eb]
;W[bg]
;B[bi]
;W[bc]
;B[mi]
;W[ni]
;B[or]
;W[ms]
;B[ns]
;W[mr]
;B[ln]
;W[mm]
;B[kl]
;W[gj]
;B[gk]
;W[gn]
;B[fn]
;W[hm]
;B[gl]
;W[mh]
;B[eq]
;W[gr]
;B[fp]
;W[gp]
;B[nk]
;W[ok]
;B[mj]
;W[il]
;B[qo]
;W[po]
;B[ob]
;W[pa]
;B[pd]
;W[qd]
;B[he]
;W[if])

I managed to invade the upper side and to secure some points but I was never able to catch up entirely and in the end I lost by around five points. So now I have three losses in a row and no wins. It will become very hard to reach my EGC2008 record of seven wins out of ten games, But as I wrote in an earlier post I expect to lose many games the first week and hope for more in the second week. I am very happy if I manage to get five wins totally, but we'll see about that.

After my game I went to see Girlwings game. It was very exciting but as I counted Girlwing was behind by ten points. She invaded the side and captured nine stones but at the same time giving up many stones in the center. They say she gained in that exchange. In the last moves I counted a win for Girlwing by 1.5 points, but when they counted she had lost by 0.5 points. Anyway, good game Girlwing!

Second game and pair go

The second day people seem to have fallen in to the French time schedule and a lot of people were showing up very late for their games. Both Girlwing and I had to wait for half an hour until or opponents showed up. I played another 5k and Girlwing had to play against a 4D.

My game started quite OK but soon I got too much territory in the centre and not enough solid territory on the sides. I only had one corner. So I tried to go all in and secure what I had and try to reduce for my opponent. I failed badly. I almost didn't get any territory in the middle and in the end I lost a lot of stones there, so I ended up losing the game.

Girlwing played her game very fast and was sitting and reading while I played my game. It seemed like she had an easy game today. Now when she have two wins we hope she will play someone in the top boards.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]
GN[egc game 2]PW[Boywing]PB[French guy]WR[4k]BR[5k]DT[2011-07-25]EV[EGC 2011]RO[2]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[Sweden]BT[France]RE[W+Resign]SW[19]
;B[dd]
;W[pp]
;B[pd]
;W[cp]
;B[jd]
;W[qi]
;B[nq]
;W[lp]
;B[qq]
;W[pq]
;B[qp]
;W[po]
;B[pr]
;W[or]
;B[qr]
;W[oq]
;B[qn]
;W[pn]
;B[qm]
;W[qf]
;B[qe]
;W[pf]
;B[nd]
;W[cf]
;B[ch]
;W[ef]
;B[fd]
;W[di]
;B[ci]
;W[dj]
;B[dh]
;W[eh]
;B[cj]
;W[dk]
;B[cl]
;W[ck]
;B[bk]
;W[dl]
;B[cm]
;W[dm]
;B[cn]
;W[do]
;B[hq]
;W[fq]
;B[jq]
;W[jo]
;B[lq]
;W[np]
;B[kp]
;W[lo]
;B[ko]
;W[kn]
;B[jn]
;W[io]
;B[fr]
;W[er]
;B[gr]
;W[fp]
;B[ho]
;W[hn]
;B[go]
;W[gn]
;B[cd]
;W[lc]
;B[jc]
;W[le]
;B[qc]
;W[jf]
;B[ke]
;W[kf]
;B[ld]
;W[md]
;B[kd]
;W[me]
;B[nc]
;W[he]
;B[pl]
;W[nl]
;B[ok]
;W[nk]
;B[ff]
;W[gg]
;B[fg]
;W[fh]
;B[km]
;W[ln]
;B[in]
;W[il]
;B[jm]
;W[hc]
;B[mc]
;W[fb]
;B[eg]
;W[fc]
;B[gd]
;W[hd]
;B[kk]
;W[jj]
;B[jk]
;W[ik]
;B[kj]
;W[ki]
;B[oi]
;W[qk]
;B[om]
;W[nm]
;B[pm]
;W[oj]
;B[of]
;W[oe]
;B[ne]
;W[nf]
;B[pj]
;W[nj]
;B[pk]
;W[pi]
;B[mf]
;W[ng]
;B[lf]
;W[lg]
;B[ij]
;W[ji]
;B[hm]
;W[gl])

The pair go tournament started in the afternoon at 15:30. Girlwing and I played as a pair of course. She is 5D and I am 4k and our rankings are a little bit too far from each others for us to be able to play a good game. The weaker player will usually not be able to follow up the stronger players intentions.

Our first opponents were a 3D and a 18k. They were expecting handicap and were quite disappointed when they realised they wouldn't get any. The 18k played very well and didn't do any big mistakes, only a couple of slow moves. We got a big lead in territory and there was not much they could do so they resigned.

The second round in the pair go was half an hour late and this time we met a 3D and a 2D. Just when they sat down Girlwing told me "Now we lose, they are both strong". Ahh, what the heck, it is just for fun. We played really well and was ahead in territory. After a lot of fighting we managed to cut and kill a large group and the game was over.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50]
PW[3D-2D]PB[Girlwing-Boywing]DT[2011-07-25]C[Pair-Go EGC 2011. Round 3 Girlwing-Boywing against a German guy 2D and his wife a korean girl 3D

Sequence:
Girlwing-Korean girl-Boywing-German guy]RE[B+Resign]
;B[pd]
;W[dp]
;B[pp]
;W[dc]
;B[de]
;W[dh]
;B[fe]
;W[fc]
;B[cc]
;W[cb]
;B[cd]
;W[eb]
;B[cj]
;W[nq]
;B[qn]
;W[ei]
;B[cn]
;W[cl]
;B[dl]
;W[dk]
;B[ck]
;W[dm]
;B[bl]
;W[el]
;B[cm]
;W[jp]
;B[fq]
;W[fp]
;B[gp]
;W[fo]
;B[dq]
;W[eq]
;B[er]
;W[ep]
;B[gr]
;W[cq]
;B[dr]
;W[hq]
;B[gq]
;W[qf]
;B[qh]
;W[qc]
;B[qd]
;W[pc]
;B[oc]
;W[rc]
;B[od]
;W[rd]
;B[kc]
;W[ge]
;B[ff]
;W[qj]
;B[ql]
;W[qq]
;B[pq]
;W[pr]
;B[or]
;W[qr]
;B[oq]
;W[ro]
;B[rn]
;W[qo]
;B[po]
;W[qp]
;B[np]
;W[ic]
;B[rf]
;W[rg]
;B[qg]
;W[re]
;B[rh]
;W[sf]
;B[pf]
;W[cf]
;B[gf]
;W[he]
;B[hf]
;W[mp]
;B[mo]
;W[lo]
;B[lp]
;W[mq]
;B[lq]
;W[mn]
;B[no]
;W[ko]
;B[go]
;W[kd]
;B[ld]
;W[ke]
;B[jc]
;W[jd]
;B[ib]
;W[hc]
;B[hi]
;W[lc]
;B[lb]
;W[mc]
;B[mb]
;W[md]
;B[le]
;W[bm]
;B[bn]
;W[me]
;B[lf]
;W[mf]
;B[lg]
;W[mg]
;B[mh]
;W[nh]
;B[lh]
;W[og]
;B[pg]
;W[nb]
;B[ob]
;W[ma]
;B[kb]
;W[nc]
;B[ja]
;W[qe]
;B[of]
;W[oi]
;B[pi]
;W[pj]
;B[oj]
;W[mi]
;B[ok]
;W[li]
;B[jh]
;W[jj]
;B[ik]
;W[ih]
;B[ii]
;W[ji]
;B[jf]
;W[hh]
;B[gh]
;W[jg]
;B[kh]
;W[ij]
;B[hj]
;W[hk]
;B[kf]
;W[gi]
;B[gj]
;W[gk]
;B[fj]
;W[fi]
;B[ig]
;W[jk]
;B[il]
;W[hm]
;B[ki]
;W[lk]
;B[kj]
;W[kk]
;B[lj]
;W[mj]
;B[mk]
;W[nk]
;B[ml]
;W[nl]
;B[nj]
;W[ni]
;B[ll]
;W[pl]
;B[ol]
;W[nm]
;B[pk]C[Black win by resign])

Again the next round was very late but finally the pairing was up and we saw we would play against a 7D and a 1D. This game was much harder and we got behind in territory. Girlwing tried some smart sequences and I managed to follow even tough I didn't really understand the game but in the end of the last sequence I played wrong and all hope was gone. After that we never found any chance to catch up so we had to resign the game.

The final round were supposed to start at 22:00 but the pairing came at 23:00. At that time people were tired and annoyed by all the waiting. I looked at the pairing and saw that we got paired with the same opponents as previous round, so we had to complain. The same happened to another couple. After some confusion and organizers running around they switched the pairing for a couple of boards. We sat down and waited for our opponent that never showed up. A lot of pairs never came to their games and I understand them. It was late. So we had to sit and wait for half an hour until our opponents time ran out so we could get our win.

The next day I saw on the results that we waited in vain. Only pairs with four wins will continue to the qualifying rounds. A disturbing thing is that a lot of pairs had four wins but only eight of them will play the qualifying rounds. It seems like they didn't use any pairing algorithm, only manual random pairing. The strongest pairs never played each others I was told. We have to look at the results later. Not that it matters for us but I would like to understand what people complain about.

First game at EGC

 Ahhh today is the first day of the main tournament games. Big expectation and anticipation for the worlds largest go event. Almost a thousand amateur go players from all around the world is gathered and a lot of go professionals as well.

The first round was supposed to start at 09:30 in the morning but of course there were delays. For some time it was a bit chaotic and one of the organizers announced that there will be no games today. We didn't take that too seriously because that is unthinkable, so we continued to wait. One hour late the pairing was up and we could find our table and our opponent.

There were a lot of small tables in each room and there was not a lot of space. The go boards hardly fit on the table but there were no real problem to play. As we say in Sweden "If there is room for our hearts, there is room for our butts".

I played against a 5k French player. It was an even battle but in the end I was ahead but short of time. My opponent then threaten to kill some stones in a complicatedly shaped group of mine. I was too stressed to be able to read it out so I took the safe way and sacrificed a stone and a couple of points. That was my last mistake that changed the outcome of the game and I lost by two points. At least Girlwing won her game against a 4D player. I hope for better luck tomorrow.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]
GN[Round 1]PW[French guy]PB[Boywing]WR[5k]BR[4k]DT[2011-07-24]EV[EGC 2011]RO[1]PC[Bordeaux, France]WT[France]BT[Sweden]RE[W+2.50]
;B[pd]
;W[cp]
;B[pq]
;W[dd]
;B[ql]
;W[nc]
;B[pf]
;W[jd]
;B[ep]
;W[gq]
;B[fo]
;W[jq]
;B[co]
;W[er]
;B[dr]
;W[eq]
;B[dq]
;W[dp]
;B[do]
;W[cq]
;B[gp]
;W[hq]
;B[cf]
;W[en]
;B[eo]
;W[di]
;B[cc]
;W[cd]
;B[dc]
;W[ed]
;B[ec]
;W[fd]
;B[bd]
;W[be]
;B[bc]
;W[ce]
;B[ck]
;W[cj]
;B[dk]
;W[fi]
;B[lp]
;W[qh]
;B[qj]
;W[po]
;B[pp]
;W[qo]
;B[rp]
;W[qp]
;B[qq]
;W[ro]
;B[rq]
;W[no]
;B[np]
;W[ol]
;B[ok]
;W[mo]
;B[oo]
;W[on]
;B[op]
;W[kn]
;B[ko]
;W[ln]
;B[nk]
;W[nn]
;B[me]
;W[ne]
;B[nf]
;W[oe]
;B[of]
;W[qc]
;B[qd]
;W[pc]
;B[od]
;W[mc]
;B[gb]
;W[fc]
;B[fb]
;W[ib]
;B[hi]
;W[jg]
;B[ld]
;W[hh]
;B[lc]
;W[oc]
;B[lh]
;W[lg]
;B[mg]
;W[kh]
;B[lf]
;W[kg]
;B[jc]
;W[ic]
;B[je]
;W[ie]
;B[kd]
;W[id]
;B[ae]
;W[af]
;B[ad]
;W[bf]
;B[rc]
;W[rb]
;B[rd]
;W[li]
;B[sb]
;W[ra]
;B[mb]
;W[nb]
;B[lb]
;W[pa]
;B[mh]
;W[mr]
;B[mq]
;W[lr]
;B[nr]
;W[fk]
;B[ej]
;W[gi]
;B[fj]
;W[gj]
;B[gk]
;W[hk]
;B[gl]
;W[hl]
;B[gm]
;W[lk]
;B[hm]
;W[hj])

After the games we went out to find a supermarket. In Sweden I am used to that the supermarkets are open all days in the week, but not in France. Here they close at lunch time if they are open at all. So now we are running low on food, but I think we have enough for breakfast tomorrow morning. Otherwise we can buy some potato chips in the playing venue.

After the game we also went to listen to a 9p Chinese commenting the top boards games.

For dinner I ate a American French pizza. The most fat pizza I ever ate!

A church outside the pizza place.

This girl sat on the wall of an old building we passed on our way to the closed supermarket.

Trip to EGC 2011

Early in the morning the 22nd we got up and went to the airport. We are going to Bordeaux in France for the European Go Congress. First we took a plane to Paris and then another one directly to Bordeaux. Once we got there we took the bus a couple of stops and they jumped of to take a bus on another line. There we had to wait for 30 minutes for the buss to show up. If we knew that we would have taken the taxi instead. The time was 20:00 before we came to the hotel so it took us the whole day for the trip.

Our next challenge was to find somewhere to eat dinner and find a supermarket so we can buy breakfast for tomorrow morning. We picked a random direction and started walking. We saw nothing at all. Not a pub, not a restaudant or store. But then suddenly after 10-15 minutes of walking I see the so familiar sign of Mc Donalds. Yay! We will get something for dinner al least. Next to the restaurant we also see an advertisement of a supermarket so we keep on walking for a while of hopes to see the actual building where the supermarket is. We didn't find it but we found a mini supermarket that had what we needed for breakfast.

Then we directly went to Mc Donalds for a burger. Also bless the restaurant for their Wi-Fi so we could download the google maps of Bordeaux to our mobile phones. Those maps with the phone GPS is a life saver when you are lost in an old french city!

The next day we went to the playing venue for the registration. There was a long queue for payment and to get the badges. It was the paying part that made the queue so long, so because we already had payed I tried to walk up to them and showed the paper where it said that we had already payed and they took care of it directly and I got my badge and was a happy man.

By this time it was time for lunch so we took the tram to Hotel de Ville to find a restaurant. We sat down at the first place we found and I ordered a burger and a glass of their most expensive red wine. They asked me how I wanted my meat done and I said medium. Directly after he wrote that down and left I started to regret myself. I had a feeling that medium done meat in France is not the same as it is in Sweden and when I got my food I saw directly that my feeling was right. The meat was raw! They had just put it in the frying pan for a couple of seconds to get a brown surface and the rest was totally raw. I was quite ok with this but was a little bit worried about the restaurants hygiene. The burger tasted good anyway and the wine was just great!

After some sightseeing around Hotel de Ville and some more shopping in a supermarket we went back to the playing venue for the opeing ceremony. All important people and presidents of all organizations held short speeches. When it was time for the main sponsors speach they only was able to speak for a short while when the fire alarm went off. The sponsors seemed stressed while the organizers tried to cover the alarm so it shouldn't make so much sound. They shouted that there was no fire and all was ok, but not all was so sure about that. After a short while everybody was told to go out the nearest exit and out on the grass while the firemen searched the building for any fire. After around 15 minutes we were allowed to enter the building again and the sponsors were able to make their speech. This was the last speech and now it was time for a short movie that was supposed to last for one minute, but they were never able to get the movie started even tough we waited for ten minutes for it. So there were some problems but everybody seemed happy anyway. We are all having a good time!

We met some people we know and talked for a while before we went home to rest before the games start tomorrow.

European Go Congress 2011

During two weeks in the summer of 2011 the 55th European Go Congress (EGC 2011) will be held in Bordeaux, France. It is very exciting because both Girlwing and I will be there to play in the tournament.

We've only participated in an EGC once before and that was when it was held in Leksand, Sweden in 2008. In 2008 it was the largest EGC ever and this year Bordeaux seem to break that record. In 2008 there were 718 players in the tournament and this year it seem to be at least 726 players. Some might drop off and other might sign up late so we will see the exact number when it is all over.

As usual in the EGC we will have no tournament games on Wednesdays so we will make plans for some sightseeing on those days. This year we have also decided to not play in the weekend tournament and instead use the weekend for relaxation and seeing old houses and stuff.

We will of course play all games in the main tournament and probably participate in the pair go tournament, but we will probably not play any small boards or blitz games.

We have both been very lazy and have not been practicing anything. For Girlwing it will probably not be a big problem because she is so strong that she have her mad elite skills deeply burned into her bone. It is far worse for me but I hope I get warmed up in the second week so I at least can defend the honor of my current rank of 4 kyu.

Weiqi pro in Sweden

We managed to get a Korean go pro to Stockholm. She came a couple of weeks ago and the plan is that she will stay for a year.

The pro will come to the Stockholm go club twice a week to hold lectures and review our games. She is also arranging an insei style league for us. It is also planned that the Korean pro will be present in all Swedish go tournaments during the year.

I hope many swedes will get inspired and work hard to get stronger. I will at least visit the go club more frequently. See you there!

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European Go Tournaments and Rating

As I discussion today about rank differences between countries it made me think of a problem I had before.

The discussion about rank differences between countries comes now and then and in the end of the discussion most people agree the solution is that people need to travel around and play in tournaments against players from other countries.

Yes that would be perfect, in theory. Not so many can afford to do that. But if you are really interested in go and are prepared to spend money and time to travel to other countries to play in tournaments then you can do it.

So I started thinking about it. I can combine a vacation with a tournamenet. Pick out nice cities in the world, look up what tournaments they have and book the tickets. Maybe take one or two days vacation from work to get some extra time for sightseeing. If I make some friends there then I can maybe save some hotel money and sleep on a couch for free and later return the favor when that person visits my city for a tournament.

Then came the next problem, how do I find a list of all the tournaments? First I looked at eurogofed and there I found a link to EuropeanGoTournamentCalendar and http://www.eurogofed.org/eurocup/calendar.htm and http://www.eurogofed.org/calendar/calendar.htm. It is quite obvious that there are a lot more tournaments played than this. So how do I find the rest?  I asked online at lifein19x19.com.

Soon I got a lot of links. So many that someone created a new wiki-page at Sensei's Library called NationalTournamentCalenders. Great stuff! So many places to look at. It would be great to have some central place for all this information. Like a web page where you can search and sort by date or country and city. Such a web page would be easy to create but hard to maintain. How would we get all organizers to use such a tool? And if they use it would the players find it useful? Would it encourage players to go to tournaments in other countries? Maybe, maybe not. It might be worth a try, but this page should probably be hosted by EGF. They should see an interest in such a project.

Another thing to try to solve the rank difference problem in Europe could be to arrange online Internet tournaments that get reported to the European rating database (EGD). With such tournaments we have the problem of cheating. You can let some strong player do the playing for you. Yes there is a risk for that and I don't have a clever idea how to prevent it. The best way is probably to avoid any prizes and only let the players compete for the fun and honor. I have been thinking of creating such a tournament myself and if I am allowed to report the results to EGD I might even go through with it.

Suji

After three years of vacation, the downloadable PDF go magazine Suji is back with its fourth issue.

Now they aim at an international audience instead of just players from Switzerland. This is probably a smart move because it will be easier to get people to contribute with material and the magazine will get more readers.

It is a well designed magazine consisting of totally 19 pages including the covers. There are plenty of images and colors on most pages. I believe this magazine can have a nice future and I look forward to the next issue in the end of March. I expect the following issues to have more pages but I would be happy even with less. I think it is more important to keep a steady release cycle than to have a perfect magazine and many pages.

In this issue we can find:

• Editors note
• iPhone/iPad commercial (no mention of alternative platforms like webOS or Android)
• Game review
• Go theory lecture, Solid openings
• Go problems
• A cry for help
• Letters from the readers

I hope they find the inspiration to keep creating many more new issues in the future.

New Go Books

Every time I go to China I want to buy some weiqi books. The two main reasons are that it is so damn cheap and that there are so many of them to find.

This time the main reason was to find a beginners book for kids that I can give to my sisters kids. We went to the major bookshop in down town Shanghai and went to the weiqi section. There they have a wall filled with all kinds of weiqi books.  After some search we found this one. ErTong WeiQi RuMen (Go for beginner kids). The book starts with really basic things like counting liberties moving on to capturing stones and to end with medium level problems. Totally 219 pages, almost A4 sizes. The only problem with the book is that you need to know how to read Chinese, but Girlwing promised to translate the book to Swedish for the kids.

For myself I found some books as well. They are two problem books in the level 5 to 1 kyu and one book 1 kyu to dan level. The books are filled with problems. One consist of life and death and the other of tesuiji problems.

First Girlwing didn't want to let me buy the more difficult of the problem books but after some begging she allowed me to buy it if I promised not to read it until I became 1 kyu. I wonder how long time it will take me until I can start to read that one...

Also, when we came to Shanghai we had a couple of "The world of Weiqi" (围棋 天地) waiting that Girlwings father had bought for us. Those are mostly for Girlwing to read but I can find some fun in watching the pictures and trying to solve the problems in them. I can also replay the pro games with interesting variations. We have been thinking of subscribing for the magazine but then we probably have to subscribe for several copies at a time. Anyone interested in subscribing with us? It will probably be at least 50 yuan per issue.

European Professional Go League

Now the first step has been taken to start an European Professional Go Organization. These are exciting times and I wish them all the luck in the hard work it will take to make this a success.

Every year they will take the 12 strongest European players that want to compete in a European professional league. If you are not strong enough you will loose your pro status and be replaced with some stronger player. This is quite different from how it works in Asia where you keep your pro status for life, no matter if your strength decline.

Personally I think this is a bit strange and I think they instead should allow one, two or zero new players each year depending on their strength. Maybe the aspiring players need to play five pros and win at least two of the games. If several players manage this then they play against each others to decide who will get the pro status this year. If none of them are strong enough then none of them will become pro.

In the beginning the new European pro organization will have a hard time to find any sponsors and it is very uncertain how they will manage to get any games played unless they play online. Maybe they will play the games when they are participating other regular amateur tournaments in Europe?

No matter how hard it will be for the organization, they must keep working hard and build relationships with media and potential sponsoring companies. They must get popularity and interest from the go playing community and most crucial of all, they must work hard in spreading the knowledge and interest of go in the general population in Europe to get the broad customer base that they are lacking today.

So far the information available is quite vague so maybe they are not talking about real pro status, but just a new league with strong players. That is not as exciting but can be very interesting as well. Such a league might push strong players to become even stronger so that they can participate one year and compete for the honour and money of the first price.

I have hoped for an European professional Organization for a while. I am aware that such an organization will not be as strong as the Asian ones, but it doesn't have to be. But it will need to have a core of really strong players who are really dedicated to the game and have a strong passion to spread the interest of the game to as many as possible. I believe that such a core team of strong European professionals is the only thing that can make this happen and I really hope that they exist.