A Lot of Close Losses

I now have a new record for longest losing streak: 6 games. 3 of these games were close: I lost by 4.5, 1.5, and 3.5. The last game was misscored, but it turns out it didn't matter: correct scoring just turned a 19.5 point loss into a 3.5 point loss. Sorry I haven't posted for a while, and that this entry is so short. I don't feel like analyzing any of the games right now.

Back at School.....and Gorging on Food

Today was move-in day, which went rather well- certainly better than moving out last May did. Unfortunately classes do not start until Tuesday, September 2nd, meaning I have a week ahead of me with no classes. It doesn't make very much sense to me to schedule move-in day so far in advance of the start of classes, and I really wish the retreat was this coming weekend and not the next one. I will probably go on a Go marathon sometime this week; hopefully it will coincide with a long winning streak, and a rank advancement.

Today I went to a restaurant called Grand Sichuan for dinner- the food was excellent, but I underestimated the size of the portions and ordered enough for two people. While I was hungry, I had eaten a fairly large lunch (Vietnamese noodles) earlier, so this was a bad idea. I wolfed down the first half or so of the food quickly, along with a lot of water (since this was a Sichuan restaurant, after all- the food was spicy).

I have had an instinctive compulsion, from a fairly young age, to finish whatever (good) food is on my plate (or in this case, 3 plates), and I tend to eat very quickly when by myself and not doing anything else. So I continued gorging down the food, until I was physically unable to eat more- that is, I felt I was going to throw up. It was only at this point that I finally did the sensible thing and called for my check and had the remaining food packaged so I could take it home with me. It is a little surprising to me that my instinctive response to finish my food was strong enough to get me continue eating for several minutes, despite my feeling very very full and my knowing that the food wouldn't be wasted because I could take it home.

Actually, in retrospect, perhaps I can eat that much food in one meal, but not with 3 glasses of water also. Of course, I can't eat hot, spicy, food very quickly without consuming copious amounts of water (or non-spicy food, but I didn't order any). In total, I think I consumed around 3000 calories in the span of 20 or so minutes- I've eaten that much in a meal before, but not in such a short time-but I can't really help eating fast when I'm at a restaurant by myself. For today, I'd guess I've had 5000-6000 calories, which is substantially higher than my usual. Since I'm trying to gain weight, I suppose that counts as a good thing (the total calorie intake, not the eating very fast part).

KGS Statistics

First, it appears that I will be leaving on Friday, after all. My Dad says his work is mostly done, so he doesn't need the extra day. But I wouldn't be too surprised if this changed again sometime in the next 2 days.

I was about to post about my KGS Statistics next, but.......NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED! This means we're (probably) getting a bracket tonight! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, onto KGS Statistics then, while we wait for hopefully the first "traditional" bracket in 4 years: one-on-one matches, no gimmicks, and Link, Cloud, Sephiroth, etc. back in the main bracket.

My stats for August so far (all these stats are from the site kgs.gosquares.net, by the way):

Win Loss Percentage
All 19 14 58%
Black 6 5 55%
White 13 9 59%
Higher 4 3 57%
Even 9 7 56%
Lower 5 4 56%

If you're wondering why the numbers don't add up, it's because I played 1 game with Zifan when he made a new account and still had a ? mark rank. ? isn't higher, even, or lower, but it does count in "all."

I am currently on pace for around 50 games in August. This is higher than July's record low of 43, but well below the average of 93. The average is that high in large part because I played a lot of games when I first started- most of the games were fast, allowing me to play many games. Since January, the number of games played per month has mostly been between 60 and 90, with February and July being lower. I doubt I will ever get close to September 2007's 199 again.

My winning percentage in August so far is around the same as my overall winning percentage of 59%. This is much better than the record low I set in July of 51%. The shocking thing about this month's stats is that I have played more games against lower ranked than higher ranked players. If this holds until the end of August, this would be the first time this has ever happened. I think it might be related to my only 30% of games against higher ranked players in July- this percentage is usually around 50%, and so 30% was shockingly bad. Perhaps those losses scared me into challenging 2k players less. This month, I have a winning record against 2ks, though.

In July I also had an abysmal winning percentage of 38% playing as black; that is the first time I have won less than 50% as black since September 2007. Worse, I had a winning percentage of 48% in ranked games, and was only able to salvage an overall winning percentage of 51% by going 3-0 in free games. Now that I've checked, it appears those 3 games were 9x9 games, so...yeah, I had a bad month in July, with regards to Go. Interestingly enough, I won 64% of games with white in July, about the same as my overall record, but I underperformed my overall average with black by 18%. This month my numbers in the various categories are much closer, all within 4%, actually.

My Overall Stats:

Win Loss Percentage Total
All 636 438 59% 1074
Black 345 267 56% 612
White 291 171 63% 462
Higher 190 187 50% 377
Even 306 160 66% 466
Lower 133 85 61% 228

Remember than most games against higher ranked players are against players 1 rank higher- they typically take white, no komi. Most games against lower ranked players are against players 1 rank lower- I take white, no komi.

Winning Streak

Immediately after ending the 5-game losing streak, I went on a 9 game winning streak, which ended last night. I am slightly disappointed in that this is the 4th or 5th 9 game winning streak I've had, and I was again unable to extend it to 10 games. But any 9 game winning streak is a great thing! Such a streak typically signifies real improvement; it means I am playing on a 2k level (at least during the streak) and hopefully will reach 2k soon. Improvement typically comes in bursts, at least for me....there are periods of very slow or no improvement followed by shorter periods of fast improvement. The lastest improvement for me I think has come from a better understanding of thickness, of staying connected, and separating your opponent's groups, as mentioned in the last post.

Now some non-Go stuff: I passed the Series 65 exam for investment adviser representatives that I've been studying for all summer. That lifts a lot of stress from me! I'm not sure if I'll actually use this though.....we'll see.

Also, it appears I'll be going back to school on Saturday, not Friday, so I will be at church this Friday.

Stay Connected

I broke the 5-game losing streak and won 3 games; I consider them all to be good games in quality for me. I feel I won all three of these by having fewer groups on the board than my opponents- that is, my groups were more connected, and theirs were cut apart. When a group is cut off, it must make life by itself- it must make two eyes. Moves spent defending a group and making life are moves that are not attacking or gaining territory or influence, and so the player falls behind.

This is the final position of probably the best game out of the 3; my opponent (white) resigned here. Notice that white has 6 groups here- 7 if black can play next near the center of the board cutting the white groups apart. The proverb goes, "the fifth group might live but the sixth will die," and here the white group on the lower side died, prompting the resignation. However, I think it may have been a little early for white to resign- I think it may be worthwhile for white to start a fight in the upper left corner. What do you think?

This is the position after move 27 of my latest game- I am white. Notice that my opponent has a lot more territory, but my stones are much better connected, and I have much greater central influence. My previous move had been f9, building my center and aiming at a sharp attack on the bottom left. Black ignored it to enter and disrupt my rapidly growing central framework (which is a very reasonable play- you do not want the center to become absolutely huge, as one more move would have made it). Therefore, I followed up on my previous move, and used my central strength to invade at d6. In the resulting battle, I took the bottom left corner, and black was left with a relatively weak group in the center left and a low group on the bottom.

This is the position at the end of the fight started by white d6. Notice that I have gained a lot of territory in the corner without playing for territory- it has come as a result of the earlier influence and power. The loose whole board connection that white had earlier is gone- but all the white groups are individually strong, and there are only 3 white groups, compared to 4 black groups, one of which can be called a weak group.

This is the final position, where black resigned- I have 3 groups, while black has 5 groups, one of which has died. Of course, having fewer groups does not guarantee victory, but it is a fairly good heuristic.

Losing Streak

Well, over the past 2 days I have lost 5 games in a row. If I remember correctly, this ties my record for longest losing streak; I think this is the 4th time this has happened. My longest winning streak is 9 games; this has occurred 4 times also, I think. The last game was a very interesting, hard-fought game, with a lot of complicated positions and exchanges. Unfortunately, I made a couple of misreads, leading to my resignation.

Here is the position after move 67. Black has just played the circled stone. In the game I played a6, which allows black to c7, after which I played d7. Then black played b10, trapping the three white stones, and I captured the black stone on e7 to connect to my center group. The problem is that the black group on the left is no longer under pressure, and white has not built enough territory/thickness/influence to compensate. The black group in the center is still under attack, but considering I gave my opponent the bottom left corner earlier in exchange for outside influence and thickness, this is not quite enough.

If I played a7, I would have been able to capture the two black stones on the left, and made life for my group there in the process...black could have prevented me from connecting with the center group, but one weak group wedged between two weak groups is really a strong group. This position was really quite an easy one to read out...but I suppose I tend to make these kinds of blunders when I am on losing streaks. I had an advantage earlier, however, so after this, I feel I still had a small advantage.

I had a nice wall on the bottom, so I set to attacking sharply the bottom right corner. After move 81, this position looked like this:

This looks a lot like the avalanche, which I could play into by playing on p3. That would give me an advantage locally compared to the standard avalanche, because I'd have an extra stone on o3, but I decided that wasn't good enough, so I played more agressively.......and played on r3, the 3-3 point! The result? After some fighting, the position reached this point after move 112.

The 3-3 point looks like a good play! The circled white stone is the last one played, and it cuts the two black groups apart. Unfortunately, this may have been an overplay, as black proceeded to utilize his stones in the middle of the white "territory" skillfully, resulting in this position after move 125.

The result is that black has gained some of white's territory, and cut off the white stones in the center from the group at the bottom, but has not connected or made 2 eyes. I, however, then blundered badly, connecting at L7 instead of sacrificing that stone. Black proceeded to play a sacrifice at m8, and all the white stones there cannot escape; in addition, black connects his groups and gets massive amounts of influence on the right side. Black now has the advantage, but it is not overwhelming yet, at least not at the 3k level, so I made another try, playing aggressively at c12. This, however, turned out to be overplay, and I soon had to resign.

Welcome

Hopefully, here I will chronicle my advancement in the game of Go to the rank of 1d (shodan) and beyond. I started playing online on KGS at the end of last August, and I am currently at 3k, so my previous goal of attaining 1d in a year now looks impossible. My progress up to 11k was very fast, and I improved about a rank a month from 11k to 4k, but there I hit a wall, and it took over 2 and a half months to scale it. Thus, my new goal is to reach 1d by Christmas this year. This will require a somewhat faster pace than I have had since April, as it took very long to get past 4k, and after 5 weeks or so at 3k, I am still less than halfway to 2k.

If you're curious about the picture in the heading, it contains 4 peaks at the center of the Teton Range. From left to right, they are Middle Teton, Grand Teton, Mt. Owen, and Teewinot. I took the photo two thursdays ago from a turnout on the road east of the Snake River, in Grand Teton National Park. I found the mountains were very hard to photograph; the grandeur of the scene that you see when you are there is easily lost in photos. This photo came out quite well, especially when cropped, leaving it much wider than tall.

Nominations have opened for the 2008 Gamefaqs Character Contest, and once the bracket comes out, you can probably expect a lot of posts related to the contest. Go should remain the main subject of this blog, however.