explo's journal

[explo]

Just a quick updade before heading to the tournament tomorrow morning.

I haven't posted in a month but I didn't have much to say. I finished Endgame values and I enjoyed it overall. I'm not sure how to use it in my own games though. I should post a review someday and discuss how people choose moves in th endgame.

I then spent some time reading (again) the early parts of Kamakura (about the Kitani/Go Seigen jubango) and Relentless (about the Gu Li/Lee Sedol jubango).

The main reason I haven't posted before is that I waited until today to play my first game of the month. That wasn't anxiety, I simply was't in the mood and I didn't want to force myself before the tournament. I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow. I can't say my play will be sharp given how little I've played but I kept doing problems so I don't feel out of shape either. I'll have my computer with me so I'll try to upload the games tomorrow evening.

[explo]

I played my first two games this afternoon. I'm not used to remember my games anymore. The game records are far from the end of the game.

First round was against a 2 kyu player with no komi. We used to play in the same club, but he was around 6~8 kyu when we both left the club in 2011. In the meantime, he improved much more than I did.


I felt confident during the early game. Move 19 was a big misread which put me in the lead. Cutting with 62 gave me a lot of points but I lost control of the game in the process. Eventually my left side group struggled to make life. I only found a ko to live, but I had many local threats. He misread a threat and let me win the ko for free. The game was pretty much over after that.

Second round was an even game aginst a 3d, which I've already face several times in tournaments. He likes territory a lot and he's very good in the endgame. I usually end up with a lot of influence which I don't know how to use. Today was no exception.

We both thought the result up to 40 was terrible for white (me), but LZ seems to disagree and consider the game about even. I'm unsure about move 76 being the move I actually played in the game, but LZ sees it as the losing (?) move so that's problematic. I'll ask my opponent tomorrow to ask if he remembers. I'll have to spend some more time reviewing this game when I'm home as I'm very surprised by LZ's opinion overall. Later in the game I attached at G2 and somehow saved E3 in sente. C15 also lived on the side but my opponent made a lot of territory around F13 at the same time. I eventually lost by 1.5 points but I was satisfied by my efforts to try and turn the game around after what felt like disaster.

[explo]

The Confucius cup finished yesterday but I was so busy there I didn't take the time to upload my games.

Third round was against Louis Dumont 3d, which I had never met yet.

I was a bit behind in the middlegame and I overlooked a ton a stuff in the endgame so I lost by around 20 eventually. That's the kind of game I need to play more, as I feel I lack tournament experience against players of that caliber.

Fourth round was against the tournament referee Rémi Vannier 2d, who was in the mood to play a game. We had never played before.

It was a tense game. I had some weakness but he missed a move and died. Weakness were suddenly gone and the game was pretty much over after that.

Fifth round was against Dominique Cornuejols, 1/2d. She's been playing for a very long time. I think she was already dan level when I was born. We had played once before in 2009.

She got a lot of outside thickness in the early moves, though she had to make use of it. We both missed a lot of opportunies when she attacked one of my groups. In the end I lived and she didn't get much in the process so the game was good for me. She was disheartened and I felt like fighting spirit wasn't there anymore during the endgame.

I skipped round 6 to get some rest and take a look at the live commentary (did some of you see it on twitch?). I didn't play round 7 because I had to go home.

I'll analyse my games with LZ some more before posting about some positions I spent time reviewing with my opponents. I picked at LZ during the weekend and overall there were many times where she disagreed about our judgement.
I will also post about my overall feelings about went well during the tournaments and what needs some more work.

[explo]

Game analysis will have to wait but I wanted to share some of my thoughts after the tournament (no particular order):

- The social experience was great. I was very happy to see old club members/local players I had not seen in almost 10 years.
- Having lunch outside on Thursday, Friday and Saturday didn't turn out to be a great idea. November in Brittany is not that hot. I caught a cold and I don't feel too well since Monday.
- Getting paired with 4 players of stronger or similar strength was great. I don't that that opportunity in most tournaments.
- I am overall very satisfied by my attitude during the games. When I started the journal, I wanted to use my time more and play less passive. I used 45 to 60 minutes per game, out of the 1h15 we had, which is quite slow for me. I played some moves I don't think I would have had the courage to play some years ago. Some of them were bad moves, but some of them made it hard for my opponent, while I would compromise in the past.
- I felt like only one of my opponent had better reading but I had a lot of embarassing and unusual reading mistakes.
- My positional judgement was bad, as usual.
- My endgame wasn't great, that was unusual.
- I will do so iniation at my school (hopefully next month) and talked about it with other players.
- Results were published on Wednesday and I'm rated 2d for the first time.