Enriching My Love of the Game: November 2020

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Yunguseng Dojang - Playing in the American and the European Leagues

A while ago I posted about being a part of the American Yunguseng Dojang. I have enjoyed participating in the leagues run by Hwang In-Seong so much that I decided to join the European Yunguseng Dojang as well. That means I play two serious games with reviews every week. I also get a bonus game on the weekend once per month for each league.

I was required to use two separate KGS user names to participate in the leagues, so I decided to use my oldest KGS name for the European league.

Goddess plays on the European team, EYD, and buzzsaw plays on the American team, AYD. I have another KGS name, fearless, that I use to play rated games.

I was on a waiting list for EYD in September, and was finally able to begin the league in October when a position became available. At that time my EYD rating started at the level of my AYD rating, which was 871 at the time.

Over the course of a month and a half the difference in the points values of my ratings for the two leagues has widened by 37 points. My AYD rating is going up while my EYD rating is going down. This makes a great deal of sense to me. There is currently only one member of EYD that I am able to win against, and I consider myself very lucky in that, as these Europeans are tough. On the other hand, there are a few members of AYD that I have a fighting chance against, on a good day, and some of them have ratings higher than my own.

My AYD rating has risen over time.

My initial AYD placement of 800 was based on my AGA rating of 10k, which actually should have been 9k except the ratings were very slow in coming out after the Madison congress, so in spite of my 4:2 record there, I felt compelled to say I was 10k rather than 9k. I just did not have the proof to say otherwise. I should have said that I was the 9k that I knew myself to be. What is the difference? I think it might have been easier to try to maintain my rank rather than to try to fight my way up to where I was supposed to be. In any case, it is water under the bridge, and I have to move on from here.

My EYD rating is likely to continue to trend downward.

I don’t mind losing, and I intend to stick around to see where these numbers go. I’m going to sign up for a whole new season starting in January in both AYD and EYD.

I initially wanted to try playing in EYD because I enjoyed the experience of playing during the day when I participated in the Summer Stage event that took place over the summer. By that time, however, I had made many friends in AYD and was reluctant to leave them, so I decided to do both. I came to deal with my sleep deprivation issues by moving my wake up time to 9 AM and moving my bedtime to 1:00 PM. That is working for me so far, so if it ever comes down to a choice between AYD and EYD I will probably stick with AYD because of my friends there. But I digress...

Here are the monthly results so far of the D2 league, the lowest league, in AYD. If it were cycle 1, or cycle 2, of the season I would be standing a really good chance of moving up to the D1 league.

Unfortunately, there will be no movement in January placement based on win records. Placement will likely be based on ratings points and the comings and goings of members. Some current members may drop out, and new members may join. That will mean the shifting of members into lots of six and the addition or elimination of leagues. It happens after each season. At the end of the 2nd cycle this season we happened to lose some players and ended up with two D leagues rather than three as leagues were consolidated. Every once in awhile In-Seong will adjust ratings for a player he feels may not be quite properly placed, so that can happen as well. You can see these adjustments in some of the ratings charts on the web site.

Here are the monthly results so far of the E3 league, the lowest league, in EYD. I will be lucky if I maintain my place second to last. I’m kind of hoping that a DDK or two might choose to join next season.

The current season is almost over. A new season will begin in January, but if you sign up for the Yunguseng Dojang you will get to watch lectures and reviews through December while waiting for the new season to begin. I highly recommend the leagues not only for the teaching, but also for the friendships made. I’d love to see more players near my rank join in the fun.

I should point out though that one should be at least 12k to join in the YD.

Monday, November 16, 2020

National Go Center Tournament

Last Saturday the National Go Center held a four game tournament on the KGS go server. In spite of my record at the Canadian Open I decided to enter at my official AGA rating, which is 9k. I might add that I am a very weak 9k having just managed to squeak by from 10k to 9k at the Madison Go Congress in 2019.

Though some might have thought that failing to self promote was wrong, I had a suspicion that the CGA ranks were a bit soft compared to the AGA ranks. My results bore that out, though I may have simply had a bad day. I went 2:2 winning my first and last games of the day.

Below I will post a hand written index card that I used to set up games and document results, the final board positions, and links to the games on the ai-sensei site. The round labels after the screen captures are clickable links to the game records.

Round 1

Round 1

Round 1 was a clear victory at 92.5 points. The opening was baffling to me, but I managed to isolate a large number of white stones. It was then a matter of holding the lead.

Round 2

Round 2

I suffered a crushing defeat in Round 2 by Robert Qi who won by 46.5 points. I came to find that Robert is the father of a go playing child. He got tired of just watching his son at tournaments, and decided to take up the game himself to fill the time. I also discovered that he and his son were in attendance at the Go Congress in Madison last year. What a small go world it is.

Round 3

Round 3

I lost Round 3 to Marion Edey by 13.5 points. Upon stalking Marion on the AGA database I discovered that she has a very low AGA number. She has been playing a long time, and she knows her way around a go board.

Round 4

Round 4

I won Round 4 against Angel Zhou by 17.5 points. Angel was my opponent in the 6th Round of the Canadian Open. I did not assume that I could win against her again. She is a young player from a go playing family, and she could easily have improved significantly in the weeks separating these two events.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed playing in this tournament. It was well run by Gurujeet Khalsa and Garrett Smith who met the challenges of running a tournament online very well. They used Zoom to check players in for rounds. Games were played on KGS, and I am sure that fun was had by all. I look forward to future AGA online tournaments.

Thursday, November 05, 2020

1st Place in the Canadian Open Go Tournament 8k/9k Band

The main event of the Canadian Open was played over three days; November 24, 25, and 31. Two games were played each day. I managed to win my first three games, lost my next two games, and won my last game for a record of 4:2.

Three days after the event was over, in the early hours of Wednesday, November 4th, while I was agonizing over the soul of democracy in the United States... the presidential election was underway... I got an email with the Canadian Open Results.

I expected something for my good record, but I was overjoyed to learn that I had taken first place in my band which included the ranks of 8k and 9k. I am a 9k player so I was surprised that I could take first place. Second place was also taken by a 9k. He had played me in the first round, and lost. While I went on to win my first three games, he went on to lose his first two games. When the dust settled SOS was on my side. None of the 8k players did any better than 2:4 which explained why a 9k was able to win a band with a stronger rank.

This happens to be a big deal to me because, in spite of having taken 3rd place and 2nd place multiple time at U.S. Go Congresses over the years, I have never managed to take a 1st place prize. I feel as if my studying is paying off.

During the days of the tournament I was posting my games to the Go Group on Facebook. I received a lot of reactions and comments, which was really nice. I will post below the final board positions for each game and links to the games on OGS.

I win rounds 1, 2, 3, and 6.

I lose rounds 4 and 5.