Since I am still having issues getting images onto my blog, today's post will be purely text. I enjoyed spending time with many people I could name, but I will refrain from including names since I don't know how people would feel about being named publicly in my blog. I do not name my U.S. Open Round Opponents either, though I supposed you can find them on Leago if you are interested.
Friday, July 24th
I flew in and arrived in the late afternoon. I met up with a BenKyo League member for dinner. We went to an upscale place where I got some nice seafood. After that I checked in at the Congress, unpacked, and got to bed at a decent hour.
Saturday, July 25th
Not much happens the first day of the Congress. People mostly travel and register, but I like to get on site early. I like meeting up with people I have seen at previous congresses, and trying to mask the fact that I can't recall some of their names. I remember all of their faces well, and their names equally well. I just have trouble putting them together, especially when there are so many. This comes with the territory of being an old fart, and never being good with names to begin with. As a teacher I depended heavily on my seating chart. There was a time, quite a while back, when I tried taking pictures of people at Congress with their name tags believing that I would study them later, and hoping that it would help. It kind of did, but I gave up on that strategy a long time ago.
I played two fun games. One of them was with the TD of the U.S. Open. In that game I lost a group in the middle game, but still had some hope. All hope was given up when I lost a second group. The interesting thing about the second death is that I saw it coming, and I was quite sure it was going to happen. I took a photo of it, but I am still having trouble with images in Blogger, so don't expect to see it for a while.
The second game was with the fellow BenKyo League member I had dinner with the night before. We played an even game for fun. We did it primarily to practice recording with Smart Go One, and to practice using the clock. While we were playing, a mature gentleman who I recognized from the 6th round of the Portland Open sat down to watch us play. He and my BKL friend then played a game which I enjoyed watching.
I was solo for dinner in the hotel bar, or I thought I was solo. I sat down at a table next to two Congress attendees I know well. We ended up joining our tables, and we were joined by another Congress attendee before long.
I considered playing in the 9x9 tournament. I had not done that since my first Congress in 1997. Maybe next year. Instead I was approached by a very young 3k who asked me to play a Baum game. The Baum tournament is fun games between children 15 years old or younger, played against adults at least 40 years older that the child. My perky gray hair will be a beacon to all of them. In Portland I played six games and got twenty bucks for it and an invitation to be in a group photo.
It turns out that I was asked for more Baum games later in the week, but the timing always happened to be inconvenient, so there were no more Baum games played.
The real action starts tomorrow.
Sunday, July 26th
I woke up at about 3:00 am and was unable to fall back to sleep. I guess I was nervous about my first rated game in two years. I missed the Austin Congress last year because of my husband's health issues.
I lost the first round of the Open. I had not played rated since two years ago at the Portand Congress. I was paired today with the same person that I played in round six in Portland. My opponent is technically adept. I was not at all surprised that he won. He happened to be the mature gentleman who played my BKL friend yesterday. I later came to find out from the information on Leago concerning the Baum tournament, that he is 89 years old. He is my new role model. I want to be 89 years old at a future Congress dominating the Baum tournament because everyone wants to play me.
After my Open game was over I watched another BKL member finish her game. It was the first time she had played in a tournament, and her opponent had recorded the game. The three of us went downstairs to The Skittles Room, which is where you can review games and talk about them. This keeps the main playing area quiet.
After that I got a "grab and go" lunch from the tables in the lobby and took some time to ping BKL folks about our dinner tonight. Then I took a nap. I woke up several times, but I probably got about two hours of interrupted sleep in the afternoon.
We had a crowd at the BenKyo League dinner. We had 16 people at the table that included a couple of spouses or friends.
It was a nice gathering.
Monday, July 27th
I lost my second game of the U.S. Open today. My opponent was a sweet young man. I did get a picture of him with his name tag. I believe he may have won first place in his division, but I have not been able to find a list of the winners.
Lunch was with two other BKL members at Whole Foods.
At 1:30 pm I attended a DDK Workshop with Shawn Ray. It was titled "The First 30 Moves: How Strong Go Games Begin. He had a good sized crowd and did a great job. I attended with two other BKL members.
At 3:00 pm I attended the "AGA Future Congress Directors Meeting". I have no intention of directing a Congress, but I like to keep my finger on the pulse of what is happening. It was very interesting. The Congress in Seattle in 2027 was heavily discussed. Other things were talked about, but there will be no spoilers from me here.
At 4:00 pm I attended "Real Control" by Michael Chen.
I had no plans for dinner, and it didn't look as if I was going to get an invite, so once again, I headed solo into the hotel restaurant bar. I sat down at a table and within a few minutes I made eye contact with a go playing stranger walking into the bar who was also solo. He asked if I was dining along, and I said, "Yes, but you are welcome to join me." We had a nice diner and conversation together. It is encouraging that on the two occasions so far that I thought I would be alone for dinner, that I ended up with company.
After three lectures earlier in the day, I was all lectured out. I knew I couldn't focus on an 8:00 PM lecture, so I headed back to my room and got to bed quite early.
Tuesday, July 28th
I woke up at 5:00 am, which was okay given that I had gotten at least seven hours of sleep. I learned how to use the coffee maker in my room and enjoyed the Congress mug, which is quite nice. It is now my morning coffee cup.
I went to breakfast alone, but found a BKL friend eating alone and joined him.
I finally won a game in the Open. It was round 3, and I ended up playing an 11k who had won her first two games. We had a nice game which I counted to be a 7.5 point victory for me. It turned out to be a 6.5 victory, so I thought I had missed the count by one point. However, I had to pass twice as white, so I had actually counted correctly.
I met up with another BKL member for lunch. We went to a place where we got sandwiches and had ice cream for dessert.
I attended the second DDK lecture given by Clossius. He did a really good job on it again. The title of the workshop was "Corner Patterns: Joseki Made Simple".
I attended a pro lecture at 3:00 PM, then I went back to my room to rest before dinner.
I went out for dinner with three friends, and we had the best sushi I had ever had.
Wednesday, July 29th
I went on a tour of MIT and Harvard.
I was so tired I spent the rest of the day resting. I even took a nap.
I think this might have been the night that I had dinner in the hotel bar alone. There was only one night when I didn't have company, and I believe that this must have been it.
I didn't look for activity in the evening, and I went to bed early to get a good night's sleep.
Thursday, July 30th
I won my Round 4 game today. I played someone who reminded me that we had played during one of the pandemic Congresses online. I had given him five stones at the time. I am now 2:2 in the Open. I am not planning to play rated games outside of the Open. There will be no Self Paired for me, nor the Seniors Tournament, nor Women's Tournament.
I attended a DDK workshop with Gabe Schwartz. The topic of the workshop was "When to Sacrifice vs. Save Stones".
I attended a lecture by Ryan Li. The title of the lecture was "Forged in Battle: Go Seigen's Dominance in the Jubango Era".
I had dinner with a BKL member in the hotel bar.
I played pair go with a member of the Princeton Go Club. He is 1 dan and I am 9k, so we were a 4.5 kyu pair.
We lost our first game and we won our second game. It was probably the highlight of my Congress. We made a really good team.
Friday, July 31st
I won my game in the Open. It was against a young person, but not an extreemly young person.
I made a number of big mistakes in the game, but I was far enough ahead that I maintained my lead. We finished fairly quickly. After it was over I watched the game of a fellow BKL member until it was over. The game was winding down as I approached their board.
I ran into Feng Yun, 9p in the lobby and she recognized me and remembered that I am from New Jersey. I reminded her that I had played her daughter at the Princeton Go Club many years ago. It was probably more than twenty years ago. It felt really good that she recognized me.
I had a grab and go lunch in the hotel lobby.
Then I attended a DDK Workshop titled "Introduction to Aji" by Nate Morse.
That was followed by "Ahead of the Century: Go Seigen's Harmony and Modern AI Echoes" by Ryan Li
I actually did quite a bit of admin work for the BenKyo League while I was at the Go Congress, especially on Friday. We have two new members in need of rank Placement for BKL, and we have a season wrapping up at midnight tonight.
Woops. I was so sure I was going to do my spaced repetition problems every day at the Congress, but I have lost four vacation days.
I attended the DDK Workshop "Basic Introduction to Aji" by Nate Morse.
I attended "Ahead of the Century: Go Seigens' Harmony and Modern AI Echoes" by Ryan Li.
I met up in the lobby with three other people, one of them BKL, and we decided to go out to a seafood place. I had a nice fried clam dinner.
I had planned to watch the streaming of the US Open Final round by Micheal Redmond online in my room. But it turned out that there was no commentary online at the time of the event. I headed downstairs to listen in the ballroom, but having washed my hair I was unable to put in my hearing aids, as a result I could hear very little, so I returned to my room and relaxed.
Saturday, August 1st
I lost the 6th round of the Open. It turned out that I could have won if I had seen that it was possible to turn the upper right corner into a seki. I did not see that. I learned a lesson. I am happy with my 3:3 record. I had stopped recording mid game because I felt as if something might have been off with the record, but it was okay. I had actually missed a critical move in the game, and should have taken time away from the board when I realized it, but I stopped recording and forged on at a much faster pace than I should have because I had stopped recording. Thanks to a kind players to my left I was able to benefit from the fact that his recording device was actually recording my board as well as his. There must have been some 360 degree thing going on with that recording device.
I attended the DDK Workshop "Basics of Middlegame - Attack and Defense" by Chris Sagner.
I attended the AGA Chapters Assembly. There was discussion of increasing dues, which passed and will begin as of September 1st. That includes an increase in the Lifetime Membership option from $1,000.00 to $1,500.00. So if you have ever considered Lifetime Membership, now is the time to pull the trigger on that. If you made it all the way to this point in my blog post you might be hearing about this before it is announced anywhere else. I suppose if you read this far, you deserve the heads up.
I encouraged members of BKL who did not have other plans to meet at the banquet. A number of them had already left, but we ended up with a few sitting together at the banquet.
I didn't hang out with anyone after the banquet was over, but rather, went back to the room to pack and get a good night's sleep.
I ended up waking up early and arriving quite early at the airport. I had a wait of over five hours for my flight. I spent my time online, and I am now working on this blog post in the air on the way back to New Jersey.
It was a great Congress.
I really like having the Congress at a hotel. It was great to have everything in one building. I liked the fact that they didn't have more than one lecture taking place at a time. I didn't feel as if I had to choose.
The only down side of having it at a hotel is that there is no meal plan, and social interaction is reduced because there is no place where everyone eats nearly every meal. Having such a location facilitates interraction. There was a food channel in the Congress Discord which could be used for recommendations and meeting up, but I didn't utilize it.
What would I have done differently? I should probably have tried to prepare a little more to meet up with people for meals rather than leaving it totally to chance. On the few occasions that I went into the hotel bar alone I met up with someone for dinner in all but on occasion. I think I ought to participate in the evening events and attend fewer pro lectures. I pretend to focus on the pro lectures, but I don't succeed in gaining much from them. I actually enjoy the DDK lectures. I should do a simul game next time. I am considering skipping the Open next year and playing in the Senior Tournament instead. If I skip the Open I would be able to position myself in the Skittles room to play Baum games starting at about 10:30 by which time most of the children would have finished their games.
I am very much looking forward to the Congress in Seattle next year. I am hoping that my participation at the Princeton Go Club will make me comfortable enough with over the board play to feel better about playing rated games at tournaments. I am also looking forward to observing the Princeton Go Club members taking advantage of the opportunity to play self paired rated games which will be submitted once a month through Leago. There is not yet a starting date for Self Paired through Leago. It is going to be great for people who don't get to tournaments often.
Well, that sums things up. It is off to the Princeton Club on Wednesday with a go clock which I am going to encourage people to use.
We have less than a year to wait until the next Congress.
