Yesterday I instituted a plan to play more rated games on KGS.
My plan is to play a rated game at generous time limits every weekday at approximately 8:00 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time. I am posting my games requesting a rated game with up to four handicap stones in either direction.
Yesteday I played a rated game which took me from 7k? to 6k?.
Today I played a rated game which took me from 6k? to 5k?.
We shall see what Monday will bring. The goal is not so much to increase my rating as it is to discipline myself to play rated again.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Philadelphia Fall Open Tournament
Last weekend I played in the Philadelphia Fall Tournament in the handicap division. The playing field was a little sparse down at my level, 11 kyu. It was my first go event in Philadelphia since moving to Ewing, New Jersey. I was able to take a train directly from West Trenton to University City, which was about a three block walk to the playing area at the University of Pennsylvania.
Saturday I chose to play the first two games and bye out of the 3rd game so I could take the train home before dark. I didn't want to be traveling in the dark since it was my first time going into Philadelphia by train. My first game was with a 12 kyu who drew white. My opponent says that I won that game with my end game skills. My second game was with a 15 kyu. The tournament directors didn't seem to want to give handicap even in the handicap division, and I ended up as white in an even game and even got 7.5 komi on top of that. I would much rather have given four stones to my opponent since playing someone so underhandicapped put a lot of pressure on me to win to defend my rating. If I had lost a four stone game to the same opponent it would not have mattered much. And the win won't do anything for my rating since I would be expected to win under those conditions. I left before the 3rd round started and got home at about 5:30.
Sunday I went in by train again. My first game on Sunday was with 6 kyu and I got four handicap stones. I was surprised since this seemed to run counter to what had been happening the day before with handicap. This was the only game I lost at the tournament and was also the most exciting. My opponent was in byo yomi when I had at least 20 or 30 minutes left on my clock. But he eventually ran me into byo yomi as well, which was quite an experience for me since I think it was the first time in my ten year tournament career that I had been in byo yomi. I usually have a fair amount of time left on my clock by the end of the game. But I think I am actually trying to read more these days, and I am building up the stamina to do it, so it would make sense that I would be using my time. My second game of the day was with another 6 kyu, and once again I got four handicap stones. I managed to get a resignation when I was over 50 points ahead according to the score estimator when I loaded the game into cgoban later.
I recorded all four of my games on my tablet pc, and I will have them reviewed by strong players to see how I did. I already has Solaris review the game I lost. He did that during our group lesson yesterday on KGS.
My next tournament will be in Hoboken, New Jersey on October 14th.
Saturday I chose to play the first two games and bye out of the 3rd game so I could take the train home before dark. I didn't want to be traveling in the dark since it was my first time going into Philadelphia by train. My first game was with a 12 kyu who drew white. My opponent says that I won that game with my end game skills. My second game was with a 15 kyu. The tournament directors didn't seem to want to give handicap even in the handicap division, and I ended up as white in an even game and even got 7.5 komi on top of that. I would much rather have given four stones to my opponent since playing someone so underhandicapped put a lot of pressure on me to win to defend my rating. If I had lost a four stone game to the same opponent it would not have mattered much. And the win won't do anything for my rating since I would be expected to win under those conditions. I left before the 3rd round started and got home at about 5:30.
Sunday I went in by train again. My first game on Sunday was with 6 kyu and I got four handicap stones. I was surprised since this seemed to run counter to what had been happening the day before with handicap. This was the only game I lost at the tournament and was also the most exciting. My opponent was in byo yomi when I had at least 20 or 30 minutes left on my clock. But he eventually ran me into byo yomi as well, which was quite an experience for me since I think it was the first time in my ten year tournament career that I had been in byo yomi. I usually have a fair amount of time left on my clock by the end of the game. But I think I am actually trying to read more these days, and I am building up the stamina to do it, so it would make sense that I would be using my time. My second game of the day was with another 6 kyu, and once again I got four handicap stones. I managed to get a resignation when I was over 50 points ahead according to the score estimator when I loaded the game into cgoban later.
I recorded all four of my games on my tablet pc, and I will have them reviewed by strong players to see how I did. I already has Solaris review the game I lost. He did that during our group lesson yesterday on KGS.
My next tournament will be in Hoboken, New Jersey on October 14th.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Rating Going the Wrong Direction
Before the congress I was -11.7
Now I am -11.75
I am amazingly okay with this result, just surprised. It somehow seems ironic given that I had taken the third place prize in my band. Yes, I only went 3-3 at the congress, and if I hadn't been sitting down already I would have fallen over when they called my name at the awards ceremony. 3-3 didn't seem worthy of anything, but I took it, and I am very happy with my beautiful marble plaque.
As far as the rating goes... I guess I lost to people I should have won against, but like I said... I'm okay with this.
I have a two day tournament coming up soon in Philadelphia. I'll see what happens there. And there is a tournament in Hoboken coming up in October that I hope to attend.
Now I am -11.75
I am amazingly okay with this result, just surprised. It somehow seems ironic given that I had taken the third place prize in my band. Yes, I only went 3-3 at the congress, and if I hadn't been sitting down already I would have fallen over when they called my name at the awards ceremony. 3-3 didn't seem worthy of anything, but I took it, and I am very happy with my beautiful marble plaque.
As far as the rating goes... I guess I lost to people I should have won against, but like I said... I'm okay with this.
I have a two day tournament coming up soon in Philadelphia. I'll see what happens there. And there is a tournament in Hoboken coming up in October that I hope to attend.
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