Day 3

The first game of day 3 in each division was the top two players facing off! In division A it was Dohyun Kwak 7D (coming 1st) and Eunkuk Kim 7D (coming 2nd).

More on that later.

For me, my two opponents today were both 5k. In the first game I started brilliantly. I managed to surround my opponent's group which had approached my corner such that they couldn't escape. Wowow - off I went looking for the next area to conquer as those stones clearly had no chance and were going to be captured ... but alas the very next move proved otherwise. With that one move the tables were turned. Not only did the group of stones I had surrounded escape my clutches but now my entire corner was looking shaky. I managed to save the corner stones buy now my opponent was definitely ahead. I pushed on in the hope of catching up but eventually after 162 moves I had to resign. There was just no way for me to catch up :(

In general in a game of baduk/go there are around 200 - 250 moves and it's not uncommon for there to be a "winning" or "losing" move - that one move that seals the fate of the game. So you can imagine with substantial prize money up for grabs that one move could be worth $5,000! And if you think that's pressure - in Japan when Iyama Yuta is defending his Honinbo title this year any one of his moves could be worth over $300,000!!!

I sat down for my second game and something "clicked". I think all those years of stronger players giving advice had finally sunk in. Anyway, I played a good (and intense) game and won :) So I'm sitting on 3 wins and 2 losses. There are still 2 games to go tomorrow. I hope I'm "clicked" tomorrow as well :^P

I came back to the main tournament room to see a crowd of people standing around Dohyun and Eunkuk. They had finished their game (Eunkuk won) and they were reviewing it move by move. There were lots of discussion about what effect different moves would have had and so on. In the other room the two professionals were again playing simultaneous games against a room full of people.

Thus tomorrow all will be revealed. It's the last day of the Congress and with 2 games remaining it's still anyone's tournament. Bring it on!