European Go Congress, Toulouse, worse results.

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Since I last wrote I have played seven games, and only won one. I am not exactly happy about it, but it was not quite as bad as it sounds. On Friday I played a good game that I was proud of, leading my game against a strong 5-dan for a long time:

In this position I had the chance to play ”x”, followed by the triangle, when I would lead with about ten points. In the game I kept the lead for a few more moves before he took over, and kept a small lead for the rest of the game. It is the first game I have ever played, where neither player had a lead greater than ten points. (!)

Then came the weekend tournament. I braced myself a bit, knowing that I am significantly worse with shorter time-limits, but I expected to do ok. In the first round I was paired against the same player that I played in the first round of the Main tournament. This time, again, I got a very good position, and although my lead was not quite as big as last time, it was a lead that would have been easy to hold on to, if only I had played a solid move instead of starting a(n unnecessary) ko. I crashed and burned.

Then, in round two of the weekend, I played horribly and could have resigned after only a few moves. I felt the press on the clock and played a sharp move without reading out the consequences properly, leaving me well twenty points behind.

In round three I was out-played by a Chinese kid. I was constantly behind, and at one point I played a big point, leaving a weak group floating in the middle of the board, which he went on to kill efficiently. We played until late in the evening, and there was two more games on the Sunday, so I went to bed early.

On the Sunday I started my game well enough, and it was going my way when I lost my head:

I am playing the white side, and it is my move. In the game I played the horrible, horrible ”A”, defending my group before attack his three lone stones in the center. The second ”horrible” comes from the fact that I do not have to defend my group below if I kill those stones. Instead I should have played ”x”, which makes miai of the two points marked by triangles. Either Black’s three unconnected stones in the center will die, or Black’s four stones to the right. The result would be overwhelming for me.

Then, in the fifth round I finally won. Not a great game, but I did not crash.

In the evening, for the first time, it was not 30 degrees Celsius outdoors, and we could sit in the grass and go though the games. Parts of the Swedish contingent came and went.

Trying to come to an understanding of the corner joseki.

Not everyone could get a grip on the the situation.

Today I played better again, but my opponent was very consistent and fast. I got a decent position, but in the end my lack of time caught up with me, and I went from slightly worse to dying with one of my groups:

I am aiming higher than I did last year, long term, and the main thing for me is to play good games, against strong players, and then get to go thorough them with friends. There are two weaknesses in my game that are a bit mysterious to me. What I mean is, that most weaknesses are easy to pin-point, and can therefore be fixed, but I have two where I don’t even know what they are, ergo the ”mystery”. But, I am starting to sense what it is about, and my two bad losses in the weekend provided further clues. One of the mysteries is also part of my current issues with playing chess. To be continued…

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European Go Congress, Toulouse, game 4.

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Today the weather was much better, and I strolled happily to the playing hall without risking a heat-stroke. I was paired against a finnish 4dan, and the game did not start well for me. I made lots of questionable decisions, but at least managed to keep the game complex. At the beginning of the middle game, I turned the game around, and had a sound lead, but for the rest of the game the lead slowly dwindled. My opponent was clearly much stronger at endgame than I am, and as we closed in on the end I counted that I would probably lose with half a point. We finished the game and started counting. First I thought he had won, but then realized that it was I who had won with half a point. I am not happy with how I messed up the latter part of the game, but winning with half a point makes it easier to take.

European Go Congress, Toulouse, game 3.

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The European Go Congress 2024 feels like it is played at the end of the earth. The venue is beautiful, but it is an oasis in a sea of industries. On Saturday and Sunday, you had to go by bus for about half an hour in order to encounter an open restaurant, and I am living relatively nearby, at a hotel in the middle of an industrial area that stretches on for… ever. Nah, I am exaggerating a bit, but things did not come off to a great start here. Circumstances conspired against the organizers, and they did not get a handful, but rather three. The first round was ninety minutes late, possibly due to the sabotage to the french telecom system, and the pairings were different on the lists that were posted compared to those on the web. First I thought I had not been paired at all, but I was (I expected to be lower down… in a rare moment of humbleness). A friend of mine was not paired at all, and somehow he was not paired in the second round either, but they solved that, and paired him against someone at the last moment. (Well done.) The streams have been struggling with the networks, and the microphones crackles like nothing I have ever heard before. The temperature has been hovering between 30 and 40 C. Yet, some things are amazingly good. Like the sandwich I bought yesterday. I am now twice as convinced that the French understand the concept of bread better than any other nation on earth. The staff is doing their best, and with a fair amount of competence too. The top group plays in two rooms, and one of them apparently smells like ****, but it seems to be the only room with this special feature.

In the third round I was paired against a 4dan that – I learnt later – is a ”legendary go teacher” in France. I played one of my best games to date:

On the Wednesday Sweden’s super-strong 7-dan, Fredrik Blomback, had to win against the top seed Dai Junfu 8d, in order to stay in the race for the European Championship, and he succeded. If he wins tomorrow he will reach the quarter-final of the European Championship. I will get another strong opponent and yet another wonderful game of go. Sleeping will be a challenge when there is so much to look forward to.

European Go Congress, Toulouse, first two rounds.

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II have not yet heard it confirmed, but 1400 participants and relatives/hanger-ons/supporters (with access to the playing area), with 750+ attending the open, surely must be some kind of record. The weather is going to be splendid, with temperatures above 30C all through the first week, and I brace myself a bit, as I stay at a hotel situated a half hour walk from the playing hall, with little to no shade on the way.

In the first round I got a very, very good position, but went on a self-destructive spree during the last third of the game:

In the second round I played a young german boy who evaluated the position better than I did: I though I was behind most of the game, but he informed me that such was not the case. And he was right:

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