Congrats on making it through your first tournament!

This happens to everyone. It's your call, but I would encourage you not to be dissuaded from entering more tournaments. Try to make/bring friends, see if your opponents or stronger players will review a game with you, etc. If you love the game, I would bet you can also love the tournament scene. Sure, it is possible (but very unlikely IMO) that tournaments just aren't for you--but I certainly wouldn't decide that based on one experience.

Keep your chin up and learn from the experience.

If someone's a jerk like that you should just meditate your time away, while he sits there. If he gets up, make a quick move and hit his timer. Let him sit there while he wins on time.

Just joking of course. I can't stand rude players "huffing and puffing". I was in one of those games recently in a tournament also and it does not make for a very enjoyable experience.

Yeah, apologies for the negativity! I'm not completely deterred, seems to happen to everyone now and then. I definitely ought to work on my stamina though.

Ortho, let's play! I'll give you a shout on here next week, got a lot on this week.

Most of us do struggle with attention and focus while playing. But it can be an awesome feeling to sit down with 60 minutes on your clock and actually play to your potential for that whole time.

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Occupy Babel!

a number of years ago, in my 2nd US congress tournament, I kept noticing a lady a few boards away who kept getting up from the table and walking around every few minutes. I felt it was distracting even though I wasn't playing her. But mostly I kept thinking to myself, "I hope we don't get paired in later rounds"

We got paired about round 5 or so. Turns out, by that time I had already decided to just play my game the best I could and not allow myself to be distracted further. We had a nice game. I forget now who won. And she's a nice lady (and used to be a regular poster here (and godiscussions)).

I've since learned that there are a lot of people, who for one reason or another have issues they can't help. Bad back and has to stand. Has to go to bathroom a lot. Blind and has to play with face 2 inches above the board (nice guy too). Hands shake and can barely place a stone without disturbing other stones nearby (also a really nice guy). Etc.

You've just got to put it out of your mind and play your own game.

I wonder what bad habits I have that bother other people that I don't realize I have. Of course, if I knew, I might change, or I might exaggerate just to annoy (depending on my opponent, of course)

Was he doing it on purpose? Sometimes go players can have sub-par social skills, he might not have realized how annoying he was being...

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

Do you have any upcoming tournaments you're interested in? Trigantius Bar-low, anything South-east ish?

Unfortunately not. After a quick scan of the tournament calendar, I'll probably be looking at the "Northern" tournament in September and the "Three Peaks" tournament in November..
It will usually be tricky for me to attend any tournaments down south, however, I may be tempted by the Mind Sports Olympiad in August. I'll let you know if I do.

Cheers

I believe going with the aim to lose all games is one of the worst things you can do psychologically.

I would say, one should go with a realistic rank (= lower than on KGS for EGF players) and try hard to win, but if you don't see any way to win a game short of a blunder of the opponent, resign without remorse. (I often fail to do that, but I feel much better in tournaments where I am able to resign lost games.)

tapir,

Yes, I realise now that I entered with the wrong rank. Next time I will minus 1 from whatever rank I have at the time.

Regarding your advice on resigning... Strange, because people mostly tell me never to resign (at my level). Usually I find it difficult to know who is winning a game so it's probably best to play the game out to the end?

Yes, unless you have a very good reason to do so, don't resign against anyone weaker than about 5k (they make too many serious mistakes for you to give up easily) . If you're obviously behind and you can tell, just try to mess the board up, make things complicated and fighty etc.

When to resign is something of an art.

Too late, and your opponent will be annoyed.

Too early, and you may lose your chance.

In tournaments, people usually understand if you lean towards the "too late" side of things.

In my last tournament, one of the games had an 80+ point swing. Strange things can happen. Below 5k it's hard to expect which strange things are likely, so resign more late than early.

_________________
That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
--
My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

"If you don't see a way to win..." if you still see a way (even if it is hallucinated), well, then of course try, grasp the last straw you see to try to salvage something and if you don't know at all then sure you have to play it out. But don't play tiny, tiny moves hoping on a blunder or time out victory - even if blunders happen all the time. When behind you should play to catch up over the rest of the game not to lose by a little less points. I strongly believe people of the "never resign maybe he gives away the 50 point lead" school hurt themselves more than anything else, they spent so much time playing ridiculous stuff even when they themselves don't have a plan to turn the game into a win. This does leave a bitter trait with each game, try to think before the game is lost not afterwards, this isn't about other people (who cares?) but about your own game.

It is imho a much healthier attitude to be realistic about your abilities (initial rank), while trying hard to win, combined with the will to concede a loss where it is evident than to joke about how one will get a 1:4 in this tournament again but then to overstay in each lost game desperately trying to produce another victory. Even where I managed to turn such games into victories, I never felt satisfied. (This feels very different from a genuine comeback from behind, when you are behind but there is still potential in the game.)

And dan players don't? Losing won games is one of my specialities.

Yeah, I'm not meaning do silly nonsense and just insult your opponent, simply opt for more complicated lines. I guess it's kind of related to the "if you're behind, you need to invade/do funky stuff rather than just casually and contently settle for what you already have." idea .



Well I'd fancy my chances more at complicated/fighty stuff against a 10k than a 1d . I guess it's a probability thing. Everyone is going to make mistakes, but some weaker players will do it more often and more severely than stronger ones.

Nakayama sensei tells a story in his book, The Treasure Chest Enigma, about a young pro hopeful who struggled to eventually win her game in an event, and when reviewed later by her master, she was scolded for not resigning such an ugly game.

I played this person yesterday and think you are being a little hard on them. I felt that the heavy breathing was a physical malady that was getting exaggerated during hard thinking and never thought it was gamesmanship.

Sadly, I in one other respect we had the exact same experience. I also accidentally let him resurrect a dead group just before I resigned! It's not the breathing, it's the making a 40-stone dumpling to lure you in before the trap is sprung that you've got to watch out for!