British Go Championship game 2 Saturday 13th

[MikeKyle]

Bumping this dead post to mention that Uberdude is in the final again tomorrow.

His opponent is another Andrew again this time.

There will be a relay and a commentary on kgs from 10:30 gmt tomorrow (Saturday).

This clash lead me to think about Britain's strongest Michael. Its a very tight contest, as there are three of us clustered at 2k currently. I take pride that I have played both of the others and am undefeated in Michael vs Michael matches though.

[John Fairbairn]

I take pride that I have played both of the others and am undefeated in Michael vs Michael matches though.

Many a Michael makes a muckle!

(No mice were harmed in the making of this post.)

[Uberdude]

Note the game starts 10:30 UK time which is 9:30 GMT.

P.S don't forget Michael Webster.

[Bill Spight]

Note the game starts 10:30 UK time which is 9:30 GMT.

P.S don't forget Michael Webster.

Gambatte!

[xela]

Sad to report that the game was won by Andrew not Andrew. And we didn't see any silly AI 3-3 invasions. It was an exciting game to watch, ultimately with lots of dead stones of both colours. Thanks for the announcement here, and please let us know when game 2 is on.

Game record at http://www.gokgs.com/gameArchives.jsp?user=bgaadmin

Can I embed the SGF from the KGS web site directly into the game viewer here? I'm not sure if that will work, but let's try:

[Uberdude]

Well that was embarrassing.

[dust]

Macfadyen was on the money:

some bizarre goings on here, but it kept people entertained

[John Fairbairn]

Well that was embarrassing.

I think it's best to take the Go Seigen view, which seems to boil down to: ALL amateur moves are embarrassing. Even right moves are usually made for the wrong reasons. Although AI now seems to suggest that may often apply to pros, too...

What would be of more interest to me, and I think many others, than hearing comments of the type 'move X should have been at A' or 'Lizzie would have done this' would be to hear WHY you made certain mistakes. Time pressure presumably isn't normally a big factor in this event, so what was it that distracted or confused you, or otherwise made you do something irrational?

[Uberdude]

I think it's best to take the Go Seigen view, which seems to boil down to: ALL amateur moves are embarrassing. Even right moves are usually made for the wrong reasons. Although AI now seems to suggest that may often apply to pros, too...

As a 4 dan, I don't find it embarssing to play 4 dan moves, or even 3 or 2 dan level moves, but playing moves worse than a 5 kyu would in a blitz is galling.

What would be of more interest to me, and I think many others, than hearing comments of the type 'move X should have been at A' or 'Lizzie would have done this' would be to hear WHY you made certain mistakes. Time pressure presumably isn't normally a big factor in this event, so what was it that distracted or confused you, or otherwise made you do something irrational?

Time pressure was a problem, this game was the first title match with Fischer: 2 hours main with 30 second increment, which is a lot faster than the previous 3 hours main and 10 moves in 10 minutes Canadian (If you imagine you go into overtime after 120 moves (I'm often earlier) then that's like 3 hours main and a 30 second byo-yomi that accumulates without you needing to do the byo-yomi strategy of playing in the last second even if you know what to play earlier, and 30 second byo-yomi is a lot more rushed than 1 minute). This game was over at 4:45pm after starting late, previous games have gone til after 7pm. I'm pretty sure I would not have died with both my groups inside his big area if I wasn't under time pressure (it's why I didn't n17 push, I hadn't yet decided if I wanted to peep from the other side to make eyes with that group, but his defence there fixes his problem with 1 move when it would take 2).

As to why I played badly: I am out of practice (haven't played a tournament since the Challengers in May, played 1 warm up game on KGS a few weeks ago) and am ill at the moment. I drove for 90 minutes to the game and started without much rest, but I don't think that had as much impact as my headache/earache (blocked tubes meant pressure in my ear from a flight a few days ago still hasn't disappeared).

For game strategy, I thought I should play AI style as I know that more than Andrew K (but wasn't going to double 3-3 invade as having a 1% advantage is not worth giving him walls he likes to use to attack). But then I approached instead of invade for move 5, he did an unusual pincer and we soon got into the sort of fighting he likes rather than a game I can out positional judgement him (though playing c5 kick instead of j17, which would be consistent with slow c11 activating the d15 weakness, was a case of my having self doubt and confusion and not playing what I thought was best). And I didn't f12 hane despite thinking it was better because I was a chicken.

As for why I played my worst move (a12) of the game, it was a combination of several things:
- a hallucination that a14 would not have lost its a13 liberty so a15 would not be atari on move 72, due to previously reading a14 directly (theratening throw in, but gote as need to come back to c12)
- I was going to just start the semeai at e7 which I was pretty sure but not 100% I would win due to being lazy
- Then I thought I discovered a12 tesuji would lead to local life and don't even need to semeai (because if a15 wasn't atari it would make eye on edge in sente and then I make f12 eye -- thanks to not peeping at f15, something I thought about a lot earlier, but then if I had I wouldn't have died later!)
- Andrew K had gone to the toilet so I played a12 when he was away to get his clock ticking without thinking enough.

[xela]

As a 4 dan, I don't find it embarassing to play 4 dan moves, or even 3 or 2 dan level moves, but playing moves worse than a 5 kyu would in a blitz is galling.

You clearly haven't seen me try to play blitz.

[ez4u]

...
- Andrew K had gone to the toilet so I played a12 when he was away to get his clock ticking without thinking enough.

YEEES! Been there, done that.

[Javaness2]

I had forgotten about this digital time limit update. It is always a good idea to get comfortable with the time limit beforehand. I think more so when it's a different system to the one you are used to. With a day long game, perhaps this is easier said than done. I suppose you're looking at about 4 hours per person with the new time limit. Andrew#2 seems to have prepared for the match beforehand, I see he went to a secretive training camp in central Europe.

Time pressure was a problem, this game was the first title match with Fischer: 2 hours main with 30 second increment, which is a lot faster than the previous 3 hours main and 10 moves in 10 minutes Canadian (If you imagine you go into overtime after 120 moves (I'm often earlier) then that's like 3 hours main and a 30 second byo-yomi that accumulates without you needing to do the byo-yomi strategy of playing in the last second even if you know what to play earlier, and 30 second byo-yomi is a lot more rushed than 1 minute). This game was over at 4:45pm after starting late, previous games have gone til after 7pm. I'm pretty sure I would not have died with both my groups inside his big area if I wasn't under time pressure (it's why I didn't n17 push, I hadn't yet decided if I wanted to peep from the other side to make eyes with that group, but his defence there fixes his problem with 1 move when it would take 2).

As to why I played badly: I am out of practice (haven't played a tournament since the Challengers in May, played 1 warm up game on KGS a few weeks ago) and am ill at the moment. I drove for 90 minutes to the game and started without much rest, but I don't think that had as much impact as my headache/earache (blocked tubes meant pressure in my ear from a flight a few days ago still hasn't disappeared).

[Ferran]

Andrew#2 seems to have prepared for the match beforehand, I see he went to a secretive training camp in central Europe.

I'm another thread (the Meijin's, I believe), someone said Go's a competition sport for youngsters.

...why don't we have a training montage!? We NEED a training montage, OST included. I think the closest is HnG's hokuto, but...

Take care

[HermanHiddema]

...
- Andrew K had gone to the toilet so I played a12 when he was away to get his clock ticking without thinking enough.

YEEES! Been there, done that.

This is a thing?

I always stop the clock after I play a move while my opponent has gone to the toilet.

[Uberdude]

I thought you weren't allowed to stop the clock for such reasons, only if you are pausing the game to call the referee. Indeed I reduce my intake of water (I drink a lot) when I approach overtime so that I won't need the loo so often, and when I go to the loo I don't expect my clock to be paused. Rushing to the loo at the beginning of a 10 minute Canadian overtime was fairly standard for me under the previous time settings.