Friday 17 December 2010

An ASR League game reviewed by topazg82.

topazg 1d reviewed an October ASR League game between me and Turpa 5k. It's pretty amazing although it does have some sound issues. Here's the review:


Watch live streaming video from topazg at livestream.com


Thursday 9 December 2010

Leather is sexy, especially with polka dots!

As I'm working as an intern in a little workshop that prints and binds calendars and presses many different things from many different materials I got an opportunity to use a silk press to print some leather gobans for the go club I plan to set up. Now all I need is some stones.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Teaching game at the chess club.

I went to the chess club today, hoping that I might possibly be able to perhaps play a game, or even get some new people interested in go too. I was delighted to find out that the kid I had played against last week was totally in for a new game. This time he wanted to play on the 13x13 board.

Monday 4 October 2010

Playing go at the chess club, part 2

As I was given permission to show the game, I took three self-made practice boards with me and introduced a couple of people to the fascinating world of Go.

Monday 20 September 2010

Went to visit the local chess club today.

I just came back from a quick visit to the Lahti chess club. It was interesting. I hadn't planned on playing any games there, but I was soon invited to play in the ongoing tournament.

Thursday 26 August 2010

Chasing dreams and finding life between games.

A lot has happened since my last post. I haven't played a lot of go these few weeks since I found myself studying Japanese again.

And boy do I have a lot of catching up to do

Sunday 8 August 2010

Humility in a game.

First I would like to apologize to JachUGAN for being such a spoil sport, presumptuous in my play and in my attitude last night. I could hardly sleep last night because I had to reflect on our last game. It was supposed to be a friendly game, but turned out I was not being friendly enough.

Saturday 7 August 2010

A different game. Longest I've ever played.

Last night ardesh and I played what can be called fun, weird and long friendly game. Actually it was the longest one either of us have ever played.

Sunday 1 August 2010

ASR League starts afresh. July games are over.

It was kind of surprised to see how much the league had changed when I logged on to KGS this morning. The whole Delta league was dropped because of not enough players, and now the Gamma classes are huge again. This looks promising, as there will likely be more games per class.

Friday 30 July 2010

ASR League games nearing towards the end of month again. Little bit scared now.

So the games for this July are almost played. I'm pretty scared that I might drop from the Gamma IV class, since both LiKao 5k and Olechka 10k are only a 0.5 to 1.5 points away, and I can't seem to find opponents to play against. If they both pass me by, I am sure I will be demoted to the Delta classes. It isn't exactly an encouraging thought. I would have liked to play against these strong players a bit longer, as it definitely has its perks. That, and I still haven't beaten ardesh 10k in a game. If I get demoted now there's no knowing when our paths will cross next time.

Man I'm talking about it like I was in a real insei league. That is a bit worrying.

Anyway, I'm going to try finding someone to play against now before going to bed. Hopefully it'll be a league game. See you all soon! ^^ /gg

Wednesday 28 July 2010

13kyu... Maybe I'm ready for it now.

A week ago I momentarily ranked 13kyu due to a couple of ranked games I managed to beat. My rank looked like it was skyrocketing, but I wasn't too sure about my real abilities.

Friday 23 July 2010

I wish I could be there. Tampere EGC 2010.

Sadly I wasn't able to arrange for myself to attend the European Go Congress in Tampere this year. I would've wanted to check it out and meet some of those 14 pros and other go players from all around Europe that are also visiting the congress. The lack of money and timing issues with my son's return from Lapland are definitely keeping me home this weekend. But, there's eventually another congress some other time.

Friday 16 July 2010

Finally, some pictures from the tournament in Oulu

This post is long overdue, but I finally managed to get the pictures sort of edited and actually uploaded them to my picasa albums. It took me a while since I took well over hundred pictures while visiting Oulu. Not all of them are related to go, but I suppose a little bit of culture never hurt anyone. :)

Friday 9 July 2010

First picture from the Summer tournament in Oulu

Here's the picture of the prizes. :) I played my first tournament game ever. Sadly I resigned. I was a nervous wreck, but my opponent told me he is 8 kyu on KGS, and could not believe I'm just a 14 kyu, so maybe it wasn't all that bad. Anyway, I'm going to post more pictures later today, it looks like this Blogger for Android client isn't able to send more than one pic per post, so I need to write more posts to get them all online. ^^ I'll be playing my next game soon, so I will have to cut this one short. See ya with the next posting! gg! ^^

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Thursday 8 July 2010

Tournament tomorrow

I've been somewhat nervous about the upcoming tournament in Oulu, so I've not written much this past week. I've played a couple of pretty interesting games, and also a couple of very embarrassing ones. I think I will leave it to those who are interested to try and check them out theirselves. This time.

Now, I will use this space just for talking.

Saturday 26 June 2010

Three ASR League games.

I played three games yesterday and this post is primarily for showing them. I will not have much more time this morning, so I will post these now, and some commentary later.

Thursday 24 June 2010

Feelings can be deceiving.

Yesterday's game was an interesting one. I totally thought I was doing pretty good and was feeling very strong from the beginning to the middle game.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Two busy weeks behind.

I simply hate it when I can't play. It is simply not fun. Well I did manage to have two small games when I visited my parents almost two weeks ago.

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Played against 4dan yesterday. Cool. (ASR League)

The ASR League is proving to be quite interesting as it gives me a possibility to play against really tough opponents, like CGBSpender 4d.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Some Josekis for OneLiner

Two nights ago I was dead tired, but I still played a sort of a teaching game for OneLiner 30k, and lost. ;)
In the end of the game I showed him a simple Joseki. But because I had not slept at all the previous night and only taken two 1.5 hour naps during the day I sort of forgot how it should have been done.

Sunday 6 June 2010

It could have been better.

I seriously need to learn to fight, my ability read isn't getting better if I always feel scared like I did in this game.

Saturday 5 June 2010

Second game

Today I played my second game in the Advanced Study Room (ASR) League. It was a game against H2SO5 1dan, with no handicap. Needless to say I lost, again, this time by resigning. But in a matter of fact I did get some praise for my fuseki

Friday 4 June 2010

Yesterday's game. (ASR League)

Last night I played my first game in the ASR League, between me and Rgloaguen 5k. It went fairly well, considering I was playing a non-handicapped match against a 11 ranks stronger player than myself

Sunday 30 May 2010

So I applied to the ASR League. (And unrelated to that, played poorly today.)

Having played and chatted a lot with Fassal @ KGS, he once mentioned the ASR League, and said joining and playing in it might give a boost to my go learning. So I got interested, and learned that it was actually a free go-school for Internet players, designed after the japanese and korean insei leagues.

Saturday 22 May 2010

My first goban!

I finally got myself a real, concrete flippable 19x19 + 13x13 go-board! It took a while but I'm ecstatic, even if it's only plywood.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Tsumego

I didn't know solving go problems would have such a great impact on the game play. I recently had a losing streak and I had to get away from the game for a while. So I spent some time at goproblems.com when I normally would have played on KGS, and relaxed.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

I'm back!

We did a little visit to my parents' this easter, so I had to take a small break from writing. There wasn't really very much to report since I didn't play any games while I was away. I managed to get my mother, and my wife somewhat interested to Go when I showed them some basic tsumego from The Interactive Way To Go -pages. Hopefully I can play against them too some day.

Thursday 1 April 2010

Back on track.

My small break didn't go to waste. I'm definitely feeling more serene now while playing, even when losing. I'm making progress now, and I even got commended today which feels pretty good.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

I have a dream.

I'm going to play one game before I go to sleep. I came here to mention a blog post I wrote on my other blog where I try to tackle the motivational aspects of my life. I have a feeling that if I do not eventually do something to doing nothing I might end up, well, doing nothing for the rest of my life.

Sunday 28 March 2010

My first self-review.

This is bad, hopefully it's not a total failure. It looks as though I've just gone through different scenarios where both of the players are equally bad, and ended up a lot like many of my games with lower or similar ranks than myself. But I think I managed to learn something from this, although I don't yet really know what it is. It's a funny thing when you sort of get it, but yet don't, although maybe some sub-conscious element is still working overtime to crack the answers.

Friday 26 March 2010

A Game of Go

A while ago when I was going through Freebase where I'm occationally doing some edits in, I came across with this reference. It is about a TV series from the 90's called Jag (Judge Advocate General), and particularly an episode of the said series. It's the 10th episode of the second season called "A Game of Go".

Monday 22 March 2010

Idea: Self-reviewing according to visitors' comments

I thought it'd be a cool idea to pick one of my older games (well, I asked on KGS and people pointed out the older games might be a bit too bad and I most likely don't remember it anymore, so I should perhaps choose a fairly recent one), post it online with eidogo and ask you guys for ideas and comments on how I could've played better, and afterwards post a self-review (again with eidogo) according to the comments I've got on the game. If I get really courageous I might (!) even do it as a video review, but I don't promise anything. How's that sound?

To experiment with this idea, here's one of my latest games. It was actually played today.

Early yose. (Learning to Lose part 2)

Lately many of my games have more or less started with an early yose. I've heard that beginners do that more often than more advanced players. I would add, that especially those who have no confidence in their play tend to also resort to an early yose, whether they are beginners like me (struggling in the 20 to 18 kyu range) or those with somewhat higher ranking like 10th or 9th kyu.

Saturday 20 March 2010

My first kifu. (SGF)

Here's AmbyR00's first game in KGS, mind you, it's not the first I've ever played, but not very much better. I was white. ;)

AmbyR00 W vs. nobody33 B (Black wins w/ Resignation)


(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50]TM[1500]OT[5x30 byo-yomi]
PW[AmbyR00]PB[nobody33]DT[2009-05-23]PC[The KGS Go Server at http://www.gokgs.com/]RE[B+Resign]
;B[qc]BL[1496.131]
;W[dp]WL[1496.059]
;B[qq]BL[1489.441]
;W[dd]WL[1491.91]
;B[jc]BL[1472.281]
;W[np]WL[1477.504]
;B[mq]BL[1441.121]
;W[lo]WL[1417.689]
;B[cg]BL[1432.946]
;W[dg]WL[1403.798]
;B[df]BL[1421.73]
;W[ch]WL[1383.502]
;B[cf]BL[1402.624]
;W[eg]WL[1350.814]
;B[ef]BL[1393.702]
;W[hd]WL[1296.713]
;B[gd]BL[1384.104]
;W[gf]WL[1278.74]
;B[fg]BL[1372.926]
;W[dh]WL[1251.413]
;B[ff]BL[1367.739]
;W[fh]WL[1216.819]
;B[ge]BL[1356.531]
;W[he]WL[1163.743]
;B[hf]BL[1349.102]
;W[gg]WL[1145.977]
;B[gh]BL[1344.611]
;W[hg]WL[1123.445]
;B[if]BL[1336.397]
;W[hh]WL[1102.669]
;B[gi]BL[1327.557]
;W[fi]WL[1090.998]
;B[gj]BL[1299.514]
;W[ej]WL[1050.872]
;B[ii]BL[1282.36]
;W[ig]WL[973.814]
;B[jf]BL[1254.809]
;W[jg]WL[952.732]
;B[kg]BL[1253.291]
;W[kh]WL[939.301]
;B[jh]BL[1241.122]
;W[mp]WL[856.394]
;B[ih]BL[1221.321]
;W[fj]WL[839.261]
;B[hi]BL[1217.915]
;W[gk]WL[799.816]
;B[hc]BL[1216.739]
;W[lh]WL[743.384]
;B[mh]BL[1207.345]
;W[mi]WL[726.849]
;B[li]BL[1182.999]
;W[ki]WL[724.163]
;B[lj]BL[1178.57]
;W[kj]WL[713.214]
;B[ni]BL[1172.776]
;W[mj]WL[700.012]
;B[lk]BL[1171.623]
;W[mk]WL[695.363]
;B[ll]BL[1158.956]
;W[ml]WL[681.925]
;B[jk]BL[1146.472]
;W[mm]WL[614.76]
;B[kk]BL[1132.677]
;W[mg]WL[596.876]
;B[nh]BL[1126.869]
;W[lg]WL[582.344]
;B[ng]BL[1091.828]
;W[mf]WL[564.816]
;B[me]BL[1087.458]
;W[kf]WL[541.994]
;B[jg]BL[1084.471]
;W[nf]WL[497.577]
;B[ke]BL[1038.697]
;W[lf]WL[465.47]
;B[of]BL[985.246]
;W[oe]WL[441.609]
;B[ne]BL[880.058]
;W[je]WL[388.706]
;B[ie]BL[870.578]
;W[le]WL[367.194]
;B[jd]BL[839.949]
;W[kd]WL[326.836]
;B[je]BL[822.726]
;W[ld]WL[317.711]
;B[od]BL[814.567]
;W[pe]WL[300.698]
;B[qe]BL[788.206]
;W[nd]WL[289.278]
;B[nc]BL[765.181]
;W[md]WL[274.773]
;B[oc]BL[754.465]
;W[og]WL[261.288]
;B[pf]BL[750.202]
;W[qf]WL[250.27]
;B[pg]BL[747.746]
;W[oh]WL[212.266]
;B[pd]BL[743.808]
;W[ne]WL[197.52]
;B[qg]BL[735.536]
;W[oi]WL[172.363]
;B[nj]BL[712.035]
;W[oj]WL[170.128]
;B[nk]BL[706.316]
;W[ok]WL[168.072]
;B[nl]BL[705.039]
;W[ol]WL[165.932]
;B[nm]BL[704.151]
;W[om]WL[164.332]
;B[nn]BL[703.278]
;W[on]WL[161.29]
;B[mn]BL[701.377]
;W[ln]WL[159.006]
;B[lm]BL[698.993]
;W[oo]WL[74.361]
;B[lc]BL[692.583]
;W[re]WL[55.166]
;B[rf]BL[689.286])



If this comes out right, then I've read these instructions correctly. Thank you Boywing.

Today I unfortunately don't have more time to write. I'm almost sleeping while I sit here writing this. So that's for now, and I hope I can play you all very soon. ^^ /gg

Wednesday 17 March 2010

The King and his advisor are overlooking the battle field

A couple days ago I was greeted by my mobile phone (more specifically the fortune app) with this funny little story, I decided to share it here because it reminded me of Go:

King: "How goes the battle plan?"
Advisor: "See those little black specks running to the right?"
K: "Yes."
A: "Those are their guys. And all those little red specks running to the left are our guys. Then when they collide we wait till the dust clears."
K: "And?"
A: "If there are more red specks left than black specks, we win."
K: "But what about the ^#!!$% battle plan?"
A: "So far, it seems to be going according to specks."

Learning to Lose

The hardest thing about Go, for me anyway, is inevitably the part of losing a game. Well losing once is not bad, losing twice is not bad either. But when you play 10 games and each and every one ends up in an epic failure the pressure of losing, the overwhelming feeling of shame is almost unbearable and pretty hard to contain. This is not very common in the other games I've played.

For example the game of patience. You can lose many times in succession, but it doesn't rise such an emotional response. In Black Jack you lose money, but that's almost all there is, you can still cough up the cash and still feel pretty good about yourself. But of course these games have a lot to do with plain luck, unlike as in Go it is most likely to do with your own inabilities. The one you are frustrated about is yourself being not able to see the next move, not able to predict the outcome, not able to plan ahead. (BTW. A weird thing is, I don't feel the same disappointment playing and losing in computer action games. Something to do with being able to play the same game or level again over and over again I guess.)

So what could we Go newbies, beginners alike do to combat those feelings of failure?

The friendly people on KGS have told me time and time again that it will come with practice, eventually. And I should not worry. I figure they were right. And I would like add, and this is what I've learned from aikido, is whenever you feel you did badly, that is the moment when you have learned something new, although realizing exactly what it is might take some time. And if you ever come to a phase where everything ends up in frustration, don't feel bad to take a little break. Maybe day or two to clear the mind and then try again.

If you can, you should also try some physical exercise, maybe go out for a run, or swimming, biking, or walking. If not, maybe you can do some weight lifting, sit-ups or push ups. Make the most of it, keep in shape and have fun. See ya soon! ^^ /gg

Saturday 13 March 2010

Reddit Go Club

About a week ago there was a thread about Go on Reddit where a question of creating a Reddit Go club came up, soon to be followed by an article on r/baduk asking the very same thing. So, a few of us started to frequent a room 'reddit' on KGS. The room was promptly made official and was moved to the Social rooms by a friendly gold star admin. So there we have it, reddit's own virtual go club. Next on agenda is creating some events or activities we could hold in our room to make our club even more interesting.

Anyway it's interesting as I've learned I'm the least experienced go player on r/baduk, ranking just 22k on KGS. But hopefully I'll be learning as I go on. If you want a game, feel free to ask anytime you see me on either KGS or IGS. See ya. ^^ gg!

Friday 12 March 2010

Tadaa! My first post!

Hello! I'm a guy from Lahti, Finland, a father of a small boy, Leo, and pretty much into everything that goes on in the Internet, mostly Free Culture related stuff. My hobbies have also included Aikido and Chi Kung, although lately I haven't been financially able to pursue them.

I decided to start blogging about one of my favourite subjects; Go. Also known as weiqi in Chinese or baduk in Korean. I first came to know Go in business school, most likely in 2003, not very sure about that, really. It was a classmate who introduced me to the anime Hikaru no Go, Hikaru's Go.

So I tried to play on and off for a couple of months, tried Pandanet/IGS, KGS... Didn't really know what I was doing then. It wasn't until I found a 9x9 Go board on Yahoo when I really started learning the stuff.

I was soon learning more on KGS and was even dreaming of setting up my own Go salon or a Go themed café. In Aikido I had a lot of friends who were interested, and even supportive of my idea. So I even took a entrepreneurship course where I drafted a detailed plan on how I would set everything up, from getting funding to pricing, location, counting how many tables I needed, to plans for setting up terminals for Internet Go. Everything was accounted for and ready for implementation. And then my girl friend told me she wanted us to leave Lahti and move to another city (with an ultimatum). So we left for Jyväskylä. The year, I think was 2005.

The move affected my plans gravely enough all by itself, but losing the familiar milieu and friends due the move my dreams were abruptly shattered. There was no way I could have started the same business in the new place. I didn't even have to investigate it. Even building up relationships was awkward in that town not to mention trying to build publicity for a project that was most likely to fail in a place where there is a café in almost every corner. Even my hobbies were affected. I tried both of the Aikido dojos there, and sure enough I didn't feel at home in either. The other one (the one I would've probably liked) was just too expensive, and the other, well their style didn't suit me and they were really unsympathetic towards training bokken and jo. "Sticks are just sticks" was the comment if I remember it correctly.

Anyway, after that I forgot Go for years to come. In the spring of 2006 our son was born, I had a project around a web page so I didn't have much time for almost anything but work. At home. When the baby was crying and shouting all the time. It was a hard time for me, not to say the web project turned out not to be a success after all. We did get married though. In the summer of 2007.

Well, fast forward a move to Kotka in fall 2007, and another move back to Lahti in 2008. I started going to Aikido as soon as we got back here, and in May of 2009 I created new accounts on KGS and IGS as AmbyR00. I'm back on track playing Go, although being ill for almost the whole last quarter of last year also shows in my game activity for that time. Today I'm trying to catch up, slowly where I left off in 2005, maybe enough to start thinking of my dream again. Although, looking at it now, it might surely have been just a dream.

I'll be posting my progress reports and other Go related stuff here, so that I'd have another reason to keep on playing Go. ^^ See ya soon! gg!