Not Quite Pro

So Finland Is really Expensive...

2010-09-01T08:27:00.004-04:00

Yeah. I was warned several times about this before I went there, but seriously it was more expensive than New York. The alchohol, the milk products and the real estate costs were the only things cheaper.

My friends and I decided to open a communal kitchen of sorts to fight the strain on our wallets. Most meals consisited of cold cuts, bread, mustard and juice. It wasn't too bad, a bit repetitive though. Somehow, even though I thought I was being frugal, my wallet seemed to get very light towards the end of the week. I needed to figure out a way to make some money.

I implemented two courses of action. The first was being a recycler. It was a pretty highly paid job in finland. Of course you receive no hourly wage, just commision. The hours are great, basically whenever you want, and you are self employed, no boss barking at you to do or not to do something. For ever 2 liter plastic bottle you recieve .40 euro, for the half liter bottles you get .20 euro, and for cans you only get .15.

I made about 100 euros from this job. My other job was more interesting. With the help of chidori's donation of a sign board (emptytriangle.com), I set up a massage booth at congress to help players relieve the stress of playing 5 hour long games. I charged 5 euros for 15 minutes back rub or hand massage. I had 3 customers doing this at a booth.

I was not too succesful until I took my business to the bar that all of congress attendees went to and started offering short massages. Three minutes for 1 euro. I am not sure exactly how many customers I had at the bar. Some paid in drinks. Overall I was pretty happy with the results.

Somehow I made it out of Finland without losing all my money...I must say though Helkinki is amazing.

European Go Congress

2010-08-22T08:05:00.007-04:00

Its a bit late, but here is my European go congress report.

European Go Congress Main Tournament/and results.
A lot of people have been asking me why I went to the EGC instead of the AGC, my main reason was because I wanted to see my friends from Korea. Also I wanted an excuse to travel in europe this summer.

I got off the airplane, and got to the bus. I had somehow not counted on needing money and had nothing in my pocket. Luckily I was able to trade a 3/4 empty bottle of Grappa for a bus ticket.

I found the congress site pretty easily, it was the source of all the elderly japanese people wandering about. Actually this was quite amusing, I imagine, for the locals. Suddenly the City of Tampere had a drastic increase of Japanese. I wonder what sort of ideas they had...

The congress was held at the Aleksantari school. I arrived and registered without a problem. I could not really find what to do so I just started talking to some german people. I was lucky to find a very interesting person. He had just biked from germany through Scandinavia and then taken a ferry to finland and biked the rest of the way to congress. He was also a 2d go player, and a geo-cacher, in fact for teh past 2 years i believe he finds at least one cache a day.

I spent the day hanging out with him, I found my first cache, and went swimming in a nice big Finnish lake. Also I was very surprised to eat one of the best donuts I have ever tasted.

Here are the "results"

I played as a 1 kyu in the tournament. I had an ok result of 5 wins 5 losses. But I was not satisfied since i won 4 games the first week and only one the second.

In the weekend tournament I did very poorly, I only won 1 game out of 5.

My pair go partner, Kim Chaelim, and I got to the top 8, but we lost a very close game in the quarter finals.

The team I played on in the football tournament got 4th place.

In general I was surprised after the first week that I was able to get 4 wins. I expected to not be able to hold my 1kyu level so well. The weekend tournament dissapointed me, but i blamed that on too much partying and poor sleeping conditions. I thought that my winning streak would start again after my win on the first day of the second week, but I ended up losing the last 4 games. To be honest, I was pretty disapointed with myself in losing the last game. I had a really good opening, yet somehow in the endgame my level suddenly dropped back down to 30kyu. I played Ko's I didn't need, missed ataris and didn't defend after blocking on the first line.

Overall I am satisfied with my 5-5 result, but I think I could have done better.

(Photo by EuroGoTv)

Leipzig secret Museum of Graffiti

2010-07-22T12:15:00.004-04:00

In the City of Leipzig in eastern Germany there used to be a large publishing/printing company. It has long since been abandoned, and the locals have turned it into a wonderful secret Museum of Graffiti/street art.

I found it entirely by accident, a large empty building caught my eye while riding a around on a bike.

The building itself is Is easy to miss, there are lots of trees and blocking it from the front and the back is connected to a construction site. If you look carefully though you can actually see some of the graffiti from the outside. If you want to visit it, it is located in Liepzig, Germany on the corner of Dresdener Strase and Salmonstrase.

Ill show some of my favourite pieces here,

From graffiti museum

You can find the rest on my picassa.

Also, if you want to see pictures of what it used to look like, you can find them here.
http://www.frankvoi.de/frank/historisches_interdruck.htm

P.S. Ice Cream and mean homeless man and Accordians on the street

2010-07-21T06:29:00.003-04:00

I was walking around Düsseldorf feeling hot, sweaty a bit lonely when I see a sign that reads "Bier Ice cream 1€. I ordered, and to my surprise its really really good. It tastes like Kvass more then beer,but its quite good none the less. Its rather bitter sweet, and its carbonized so you get a little sparkly feeling. Its very refreshing and suprisingly good stuff. I definetly reccomend it if you find yourself in Düsseldorf in the summer.

I was looking for either the Central station in Dusseldorf, or a net cafe. I asked a man if he spoke english, and he gave me an accentless "Yes, I do". I asked him for directions, and he answered me again in accentless english

"I am very sorry, but I will not help you. Whenever I ask people they never help me out, so sorry for your poor luck, but I refuse to help you"

He proceeded to cross the street and dig for empty bottles in the trash.

Also there are lots of really good accordian musicians scattered around germany, here is one.

Düsseldorf and the Flight

2010-07-18T07:28:00.006-04:00

After a two hour delay due to bad weather, I boarded the plane. I was lucky enough to sit next to the girl I had been talking to for 2 hours already; I didn't have to go through all the pleasentrie and introductions again. Talking and laughing and eating and very unclear maps made 6 hours go by pretty fast. I arrived in Dusseldorf around 10 in the morning, and after some coffee I bid farwell to Marcelline, and set out to explore the city. She had to catch another train to take cross country to her home.

I headed to city central. I wanted to go see the Rein river. When I got off the train I found myself quite tired and a bit lost, so I decided to have some snack before I continued. A nice looking greek cafe did the trick. I had Turkish Coffee and some large cheesy flaky pastry. They seemed to make a big deal out of the fact that they gave me water with my coffee, later i found out that they generally serve bottled water in germany, so you have to pay for it. Actually you have to pay for the bottle when you bu water or cola, and then sell it back. In the states basicly we do the same thing, but in Germany its a seperate charge, and sometimes bottles are rather expensive, as much as 50 cents.

Düsseldorf was a very impressive city, it was full of old style buildings, alleyways, parks, musuems and also a lot of rich people. There was a very sudden and noticeable class difference. If you weren´t dressed in designer clothing you were begging for money, or a german "punk" more on punks later.

Later I went to explore a bit around the Rein river. Mostly I just saw people enjoying cold drink looking out on the water trying to survive the heat. It was a good 100 degrees that day. I wandered around until I found an art musuem. It was a rather large and diverse collection of art. They had a room with some of Napolean's belongings and portriats as well as a photo project of different ethnicities and some art satirizing the Nazi party as well. I was the only person in the museum, so I was able to enjoy it all my own.

Then I spent the next hour or two trying to get to Köln.

A New Adventure

2010-07-13T10:59:00.002-04:00

I haven't been writing anything itneresting for quite some time now, but Its that time again!! I am packing my bag and heading off; first to Germany, then Finland for the European Go Congress and then...I am not sure.

I will be updating frequently, so please come by and read from time to time.

Shodan

2010-07-13T10:49:00.002-04:00

Hey..

So last week I decide to check my AGA rating and I am very pleasantly surprised find out I am 1.48 dan. I didn't notice at what point it happened, but apparently I am now officially a Dan player. It must have been from the last tournament I played/directed, though I thought that I had registered as 1kyu.

Though I am still but a mere 2kyu on kgs, its nice to know that I don't have to go to japan to call myself a dan player anymore woot woot.

Jokes aside though, In case all the kyu players are wondering, when I look at the board, I still have no clue whats going on...I can just sort of read out naturally occurring life and death problems now that's all.

NAIMT Qualifiers

2010-05-30T03:55:00.000-04:00

There are four NAIM qualifying tournaments scheduled for June. One each Weekend

First
June starts out with the KGS NAIM Qualifier on June 5-6th. There will be two rounds each day, preregistration is a must and should be done no later than June 4th.

(badukboris@gmail.com to preregister)

The Second on June 12th, Organized by Andrew Okun

"The 4th Annual Santa Monica Coffee Cup will be held this coming Saturday June 12 at the Unurban Coffeehouse, 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. The event will be a one-day, three-round, AGA-rated tournament, Japanese rules. Pre-registration is essential, although we are expanding the maximum number of players to 48. (It could be cramped … a couple of you may be playing outside, sitting on bar stools or standing up!) The format will be the same as previous years, the coffee will still be strong and the food will still be good." contact : abc@okun.name

The third is July 13th all the way on the other side of the country in New York

There are four rounds of AGA rated games starting at 10 am. Pre-register please. email badukboris@gmail.com

The month ends with:

The second KGS NAIM qualifier, on june 26th-27th. Again preregistration is a must, and will be accepted no later than June 23rd.
Contact is badukboris@gmail.com

Dead a little

2010-05-26T20:15:00.002-04:00

I have been rather unproductive since last posting here. School is almost over for the semester, so you can probably expect to see more posts soon. You know, its been almost a year since I got back to from Korea, time doesn't seem to exist, I am still there but very clearly I am here. Also I think I am in Germany and Finland right now too....Wierd.

Visiting Quebec

2010-03-16T12:50:00.009-04:00

lso at the end of February, my friend Roman and I took a short trip to visit Quebec. Of course we visited the Quebec go club while there.

On the way up to quebec we very briefly stopped by a teahouse in Montreal. They happened to have a go set there, but it was a little strange...

The funny board

In Quebec we stayed with my friend Pascal Tremblay 5d (we were roommates in the IBA) His roommates were a girl that liked to smoke, and worked as a newspaper delivery person. And a guy who was much too sick, and loved music and beer. He was actually a very interesting person, he had little talent for the guitar or ukulele, or probably any other instrument for that matter, but still every night I was there late into the night he would play. He also had a little impromptu art studio in the living room, fully equipped with a tape deck. His CD player and DVD players didn't work. Most of his work consisted of manipulating found objects. Also he was an ice climber, and a history buff.

In the living room

After two days of much relaxing we went to to the university go club with Pascal. We met the members at a food court of a mall, and after eating we proceeded to the University. We ended up in the section of the school reserved for grade schoolers. The club room itself was the art room that the kids used. The tables were your regular school tables made of some indiscernible material coated with something similar to linoleum. We had two large bottles of soda and a bag of chips. The playing boards were of bamboo, and we used Chinese style stones to play. It was during the Olympics, so while we were playing go, the women were playing hockey on the computer screen. Through the windows, took up most of the wall, we could see a forest covered in snow, there was a surreal yellow-y light reflecting up out of the snow.

Well that was what the club looked like if you can imagine it from my description.

There were about 10 of us. I played a game with the Vice president, unfortunately I lost by 2 points or so. Roman had much better results. I think he won 3 of his games there. He seems to have improved a lot for no reason. Recently he came back from a 6 month travel around Europe, and for no discernible reason he grew from 11kyu to about 8 or 7 kyu.

Ice Wall

Photos Courtesy of Roman Kudryashov

Thoughts on KGS Insei League

2010-03-16T12:33:00.003-04:00

This post is a little late, but it has to be done.

Last month I decided to play as much go as I could have, because I knew that I would soon (currently) be in school. I should probably mention my goal of shodan by euro congress, more specifically KGS shodan. Anyway to help motivate myself to play and study I joined Dinerschtien's league.

I managed to play 12 games in the league, another 25 or so on KGS and another 30 or so in person. While its not exactly as much as I could have, its still about 2 games a day. I did not utilize all of the resources of the league as I could have, but I did play the minimum required amount of games, and I did watch 3 or 4 lectures by Alex.

I found the lectures very interesting, and by far the best part of the league, the sgf game reviews were not as helpful. The main point of the league was motivation to play and it definitley did that for me. I was able to play much more seriously than I could previously, and I managed to bring my KGS level from almost 5kyu to the cusp of 2kyu. I might not have actually become stronger per-se but I learned a bit of self control.

The league would definitely benefit from having sections based on Time zones. Not having opponents who slept and worked at similar hours to me was by far the greatest inconvenience.

My school has started now and I noticed that between work, school, and Karate there is very little time for Go. As sad as this is I promise, (If you guys care at all ^^) that I will play at least one game a week so as not to forget the rules.

Oh and of course life and death on the train.

The New Jersey Open

2010-02-27T15:07:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I went to the New Jersey Open.

I self promoted to AGA 1kyu, and I went 3-2. Unfortunatly I don't have any complete game records to show, nor did I take any pictures :(

I learned an interesting opening as white, 3-5 point hellish enclosure. Known by some as the box.

More on this later.

The main reason for this post is to say that I am officially (aga) 1kyu :))

League Game #9 vs.TD282

2010-02-22T12:24:00.002-05:00

It feels like I a getting stronger. Or maybe I am just starting to understand the Chinese opening. For the past month every time I played black I used chinese opening.

League Game #8 vs Grumbles

2010-02-19T02:30:00.001-05:00

Easy win...

League Game #7 vs Vlom

2010-02-19T02:27:00.002-05:00

Hard fought game, but Vlom, he played better.

Bamboo joint

2010-02-12T03:16:00.002-05:00

Nakamura Kaicho gives us short lectures after our meditation sessions.

Today he talked about the Bamboo Joint "setsu"
Bamboo joint is the foundation or, the core of the otherwise hollow bamboo grass. Without it the grass would not be as strong and resilient and would just break when the wind blew hard.

What this means to us as karate-ka and as people is that you have to have a strong core of discipline, so that when faced with hardships you can stay standing and be flexible and resilient.

Also the bamboo joint is a rather strong shape in go isn't it?

OSU!

League Game #6 vs MZ500

2010-02-12T02:45:00.003-05:00

This was a very close, and tough game for me.

In the beginning I was doing well but for some reason I played c7 at move 65, and made the game at least twice as hard as it had to be...

I got lucky when my opponent left a weakness at D13, After that I managed to stay ahead

League Game#5 VS Imagine

2010-02-07T02:07:00.002-05:00

I played this game rather well I think, but I found it rather boring. I did not push very hard. In the end I only won by a relatively small margin. I should be more careful in end game, even If I am ahead....

League Game #4 VS MZ500

2010-02-07T02:04:00.002-05:00

This game I played a bit better than the others, but I lost to my greed in the end. (please note I am now 3K)

League Game #3 vs.TD282

2010-02-07T02:01:00.002-05:00

Another win, this time due to luck...

League Game #2 VS Grumbles

2010-02-07T01:46:00.002-05:00

Even though I won, I cannot say it was satisfying, I played some really bad moves...

To my blog readers I pose a question

2010-02-06T05:44:00.002-05:00

I know that I have been getting quite a few hits on my blog, even at times when I wasn't writing. So I am curious, who is reading it?

Please post a response to the question who are you?

Also, on a side note, I am up to 3k now on KGS, about a year ago I think I was 3k as well, but i dropped down to 5k since then, and worked back up. :)) 7 wins in-a-row

Karaoke at the New York Go Center

2010-02-05T15:22:00.003-05:00

As fun as Go is on its own, sometimes we like to take a break from go, and sing a little.

This Tuesday we went out to Karaoke.

Just some pictures, Enjoy :)

VS. Illya Shikshin 4 stones League Simul 1

2010-02-04T01:03:00.003-05:00

This is the first game I played against the teachers, I have included some basic commentary.

I am pretty happy with how the game started but I made a few mistakes in the middle, mostly shape related.

All comments are welcome

League Game 1 vs. Vlom

2010-02-02T06:40:00.001-05:00

This is my first league game played at 5 in the morning. I played too quickly in the begining and ended up behind a lot. Though I tried to catch up, I failed to. It was a fun and Bloody game. Enjoy and comments are welcome

A story and a Disclaimer.

2010-02-02T04:35:00.003-05:00

DISCLAIMER: This is a free flowing story, meaning I just typed till it ended in about 8 breaths, its is not meant to be taken seriously, possibly it can be enjoyed. Some parts were based my life. But mostly just my imagination.

Winning at go really feels great.

I have been winning a lot recently, it motivates me to study to win more. Its a bit scary though...

Its an endless cycle, you study and get stronger, you win even more, study more. Next thing you know go has enveloped your life. You suddenly find yourself in Korea. You are eating and breathing the game. You are in bed with a lover, but secretly you close your eyes and imagine chasing an opponents ladder. You come back home to reality but only you don't. You fix your schedule around go. You spend your free time playing, your time at work sneaking to the bathroom to do tsumego. Your time at school is spent in a very similair way. You get stronger and stronger. Maybe you have no talent so this takes a long time, maybe you do and this takes no time at all. Than you lose a game, quickly you start a new one, and lose again. The losses pile up. Maybe not too high, only maybe 6 games, but you start to hate the game. You start to loathe the game. You start pulling at your hair, but find it is no longer there. Funny didn't you have hair when you started playing? Its too late now, you have nowhere to go. All you know is go. So, now even though you hate the game you keep playing. Its all you know. Sometimes you win a game, though you mostly just lose, and when you win you are reminded of the time when you were just getting the hang of the rules. Each game was more exciting the one before. With such a thought, if you are lucky that is, you close your eyes. You don't open them again.

KGS Insei League

2010-02-01T02:49:00.002-05:00

So, keeping with my push forward attitude that I recently adopted (embodied with an all powerful, and very meaningful OSU!) I registered for Breakfast's (Alex Dinerchtien 3p) KGS insei league.

I am genuinely very excited about this, and I believe I am starting tomorrow. For the next month I will post all games that I play in the league here, I hope I can improve a lot. I will not have so much time once school starts in March.

My current goal in Go is to get my teacher Vincent Liu down to 5 stones. If I do this he will aknowledge me as 1d, but until I can get him to 4 stones, I won't call myself that.

Also, check out www.baduk.pro, its kind of like facebook for Go players

I am a Baduk-ka

2010-01-31T01:51:00.004-05:00

Laziness, sloth, procrastination, slowly growing in width, difficulty concentrating for long times, lower endurance -- these are things that I have been feeling progressively more and more. It did not help that I started smoking. In lieu of New Years, or perhaps coincidentally reaching my threshold then, I decided to start fixing myself. I was getting smarter (maybe not) learning emotionally, getting better at go, but my body was slowly deteriorating. I was quite tired of this, so I set out to find a place to practice martial arts.

Just a little history, I have practiced martial arts since I was about 4 years old, I started out in Tae Kwan Do, and then I did shotokan for a few years, and most recently I practiced Goju Ryu. I was almost always doing something, but In Sophomore year of high school, something dreadful yet wonderful happened. I discovered Manga, and shortly thereafter Go. My life changed forever, and this and that and here I am. I attempted to start something in Korea, but aside from meeting a TaeKwondo 9d who used to be a bodyguard for Princess Diana, and being offered free lessons by him, and also being friends with a Muy Thai "4d" (although I wasn't really aware they had a rating system), I failed. I had opportunities, but I didn't take them. Well now I had a little break from school due to problems with my financial aid, so I decided to make the most of my time, and do something.

So I set out to find a school which suited my needs. I was considering taking Muy Thai, I rather enjoyed the one lesson my friend gave me back in Korea. Unfortunately it is difficult to find a gym that I could afford, and that was in any convinient location. After eliminating other potential choices, such as Daitoryu Aikijiujutsu, Aikido, and Kyokushin Karate, I settled on the Seido Juku style of Karate.

The deciding factors were: The grandmaster of the style teaches at the school, there are several classes daily at different times, 300 bucks for first 3 months.

Since I have started, about 2 weeks ago, I have felt so much better in everything. Even in Go, I have been able to concentrate more, and I have just generally been playing better. My teacher, VIncent Liu, told me that I am strong enough that I just have to learn right now how to concentrate and I should go up a few stones. I think I might be getting it.

One of the great things about the Karate dojo is the meditation classes. I am really enjoying the meditation, its been helping me renormalize my breathing since I quit smoking, but also the lectures that Kaicho (grandmaster) gives after meditation. You are Karate-ka, always, belt doesn't matter, Karate-ka always pushing, always trying be good, to do good, to be better.

I am a Baduk-ka.

(pun on Baduk and Budo-ka, Budo-ka means martial artist in Japanese, Baduk is Korean for Go.)

Breakfast's Insei League!

2009-12-08T03:38:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago Alexander Dinerschtien announced the opening of the "KGS Insei League"

It is basicly an online league/tournament/study group that imitates the style of the Korean younguseng (insei) leagues held by the Hanguk Kiwon (Korean Go Association)

Participants of the league will be broken up into several groups where they play games against themselves and the teachers.

This league starts in the New Year. It will cost $95 USD to participate each month.

There will be prizes as well, to give aditional incentive for the players.

A group: 1-place: 200$, 2-place: 100$, 3-place: 50$

B, C, D groups: 1-place: 100$, 2-place: 50$

Currently there are 40 people registered.

At the end of the year the person with the best record gets $1000 grant money to study in Korea.

Full information is here

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, I really recommend this league for anyone who wants to get better at go quickly, its not by any means a shortcut, as far as I know there are none, but its a the best way to improve that i know of. If you couple it with daily life and death of course.

Though its fun, this will be a time consuming league, prepare to devote a lot of your time to this if you seriously want to get the most benefit from it. It costs close to a hundred bucks but its a great deal. You will be getting your games reviewed by a Professional player/Go instructor as well as light commentary on your league games, teaching games, and audio lectures.

This is how we studied when i was in Korea, this is how the younguseng study. Pro's are a little different, but what they play can be called a whole other game...

Please go check it out, email backpast@gmail.com for more details

Go kills babies!

2009-11-13T15:21:00.002-05:00

Well. Whoever said you need to be smart to play go never met this doctor.
I won't trash this man too much, I mean go is a good a reason as any to forget about your responsibilities...

Taken from http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26344685-23109,00.html

"A FIVE-month-old baby boy suffering from an eye infection died in hospital in eastern China as the attending doctor was playing a game online, state media has reported, citing health officials.
The ophthalmologist has been stripped of his licence and fired from his post at Nanjing Children's Hospital following the baby's death on Wednesday, the China Daily reported today.

The hospital initially said the doctor, Mao Xiaojun, was working on his thesis when the baby's condition worsened and he subsequently died, but an internal investigation revealed he was in fact playing an online game of Go.

"Mao lied to us a few days ago,'' Li Shandong, director of health care reform in the Jiangsu provincial health department, told the newspaper.

"He admitted to playing the game of Go online after our computer experts checked out evidence on his computer.''

Eleven other hospital employees, including the facility's president and party chief, will be punished over the incident, Xinhua news agency reported, citing investigators, without specifying what the punishment would entail.
More than 10,000 lawsuits relating to medical disputes have been filed in Chinese courts every year since 2002, Xinhua reported."

There it is. Go is great and all but lets not forget about our lives.

Mets <3 Yankees

2009-11-06T17:02:00.004-05:00

Just a cute old Asian couple I saw on the train today

The Go Students

2009-11-05T21:01:00.003-05:00

The New York Go Center has undergone many changes recently. Primarily Vincent Liu has become the full time host. I am not sure if this is the main reason, but many more people have started to show up. I came to the center today and about 10 people came to play and study go. It is quite nice to have some really young kids playing at the center. There is one 5 year old Japanese boy who aspires to be a professional. His name is Ken-chan, perhaps he will be pro one day, but for now he has to learn to sit through a 45 minute lesson on life and death ^^.

Vincent (Yong Xin) Liu 6d

There are also two young kids who have been under Vincent's tutelage since this March, have been getting quite good. Well at least at life and death. They are able to solve some of the more difficult problems already. The two brothers are 4, and 8 years old.

Also, the main reason for this post, I am taking a photography class and wanted to share my first printed photograph. It is of the two brothers.

Camera: Nikon SLR; Film Tri-X kodak 400 iso.

Exposure 30@1.8 printed on fiber paper. Click on image to view full size

Andy Liu 9D vs Kim Seungjun 9P

2009-11-05T20:41:00.004-05:00

This is the game that Andy played against Kim Seungjun when we had the workshop in New York 3 weeks ago.

As I mentioned earlier Andy lost this game. The two played a blitz game with a clock, and apparently Andy felt the time pressure a lot more than did Kim Seungjun. This is an incomplete record, but it stops right after Andy feel he made the game losing move.

Kim Seungjun kept a very calm face throughout this game, while Andy looked nervous and uncomfortable.

Also please disregard the last two move ^^

Diana and Kim Seungjun workshop report.

2009-11-03T11:01:00.003-05:00

Hi All, I have not been writing for a while, and after considerable procrastination, I have finally decided to sit down and write a post about the great workshop that we had in New York about 3 weeks ago.

Well, Kim Seungjun and Diana arrived in New York late Thursday night, and arrived at my house by 2am. After some catching up and a few cups of tea, we all went to bed. Friday was spent sleeping/in Times Square. But you guys don't care about that stuff do you?

There we are, Saturday, the workshop. Arriving almost late, we quickly proceeded to collect registration fees and hand out life and death problems. The two pros decided to use problems from the "Speed Baduk" series. It was rather amusing/disappointing to see all of us struggling with a set of problems, that was meant to be solved withing 5 minutes, for about 40 minutes.

Afterwards, we were broken up into groups and instructed to play games while the pros went over the problems. I stepped out after the game, so i missed the rest of saturday, however, I know that the Dia, and Kim went over some basic Joseki that they saw people have trouble with, reviewed the games that we played, and played simultaneous games.

Another little event happened post workshop, Andy Liu, our local champion, had a game with Kim Seungjun. It ended rather quickly, as Andy was apparently nervous and played to quickly, unfortunately I don't have the game record to show.

Sunday was rather similar to Saturday as far as the program goes. We solved life and death, played our group games, reviewed, studied some joseki, and played simultaneous games with the pros. Overall everybody seemed to really enjoy the workshops. We had a total of 16 different people with, 11 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday.

Overall I think that the workshop was a success, however, next time I will try to make it more organized with better food for lunch, and perhaps some celebrating after it is done. Thanks to everyone who came and participated, and thanks to the Pros for coming halfway around the world to teach us. :)

Pro Workshop Update and Schedule

2009-09-18T13:14:00.002-04:00

The pro workshop that will be held at the New York Go Center is being rescheduled to October 17th, and 18th.

Details and Schedule are as follows.

Who: Diana Koszegi 1P and Kim Seungjun 9P New York Workshop 2009
When: October 17th and 18th @ 10 am (time subject to change)
Where: New York Go Center
How Much:
Preregistered price: Weekend/100 1-day/60
Regular Price: Weekend/120 1-day/70
Preregistration ends September 29th.
-To preregister send an e-mail with your name and go level to badukboris@gmail.com

-If there are not at least 6 people registered, the workshop will likely be canceled.

10am-12am :Opening theory

12pm -1:30 pm lunch break

1:30-3 pm Life and Death Practice

3 pm -5 pm Simultaneous games, and review.

This schedule is tentative, and might change by the choice of attendees, or instructors.

Hope to see you.

Diana Koszegi, Kim Seungjun Workshop

2009-09-10T14:18:00.004-04:00

Who: Diana Koszegi 1P and Kim Seungjun 9P New York Workshop 2009

When: October 3rd and 4th @ 10 am (time subject to change)

Where: New York Go Center

How Much:

Pregistered price: Weekend/100 1-day/60
Regular Price: Weekend/120 1-day/70

Pregistration ends September 29th.

-To preregister send an e-mail with your name and go level to badukboris@gmail.com

What: A Go workshop. Two proffesionals from Korea will spend two days in New York trying there best to raise the level of our go. Their attempts (hopefully succesful ones ^^) will include simultaneous games, lectures on specific topics, Pro-game reviews, lower level game reviews as well as life and death practice. A pizza lunch will be included in the price.

They recently did a similair workshop in Turkey. They will also do another workshop in California the following weekend along with Janice Kim 3P.

It seems that The two are touring the world and teaching Go. This is rather exciting for us in the west because these are both active pro's, and they are offering their services at a great prices. In korea pro's get upwards of 1000 dollars each for a simultaneous game!

Some more details will be added to this page on Monday.

State of my go

2009-09-06T01:38:00.002-04:00

I went to Korea for 6 months. It changed me in many ways. But it seems sometimes that my go hasn't improved much.

I am probably about 1kyu these days, but to be honest, I feel so incredibly weak.

After getting back to the states I took a break for a while from playing. My mind was in disarray because of a mess I made in my life. This translated onto the Goban.

Recently, well in the past 3 weeks, I have started to get those things sorted out. So I started studying and playing again. I really only took a break of just under a month, but its made big difference in my ability to learn. At least in my mindset.

Vincent Liu 6d is my current teacher. To this point we have only had one lesson -- during which he said that I wasted my time in Korea because I obviously don't know how to play. So... with this thought in mind I decided to re-learn how to play. I have studying Janice Kim's learn to play go series so that I can get a refresher on the rules/basics. I have to say I think I am seeing results. Shapes and Aji are just so important.

I hope once I relearn the basics I will be able to grow stronger. I don't want to be one of those eternal shodans...

Goh Ju Yeon 2p.

2009-09-03T01:16:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, the week after congress, Goh Ju Yeon 2P visited New York. I had the pleasure of showing her around. For three days we went to see various tourist attractions. For me it was a bit challenging because I had to use my very limited Korean to its limit, and for her it was likely the same. It was also very tiring walking around all day, going to bed late, and waking up early for work. However I really enjoyed her company.

On Friday, before leaving she played a few games with some of the people at the New York Go Center. Michael Fodera 2d was defeated with 4 stones, and I managed to get a win with 8 stones.

Will Lockhart, Ben Lockhart, Joshua, Kim Chaelim, Lee Hyang-mi, Goh Juyeon, Andy Liu, Lisha Li, Michael Fodera and myself got some snacks and drinks together and had ourselves a little going away party for Juyeon.

Around midnight, after having a some beers and some snacks, Andy and Juyeon decided that they would play. Apparently they had played two games earlier, with her winning both.

They were happy just to play, but we decided to make an event out of it. The kaya board was pulled out. We went to the tatami room. The two sat down and started to play. Ben and I broadcasted the game live on KGS, while everyone else came and went alternating watching the game online and live.

Although we announced it just 5 minutes before starting, over 280 people watched.

B+ 1.5

Tragedy

2009-08-22T00:31:00.006-04:00

Moon Ji Hwan, a go player who had been playing go for 10 years-one who had reached the highest level of amateur play, 7 Dan-who endlessly, and one can say futilely tried to reach some level of enlightenment through his go, left Lee June Gi, his girlfriend who had been patiently waiting for 6 months for a fraction of the attention he gave to go-all the while turning down many suitable men who courted her-for her only desire was to be on the receiving end of the passion that she knew Moon was capable of; he left her standing in the snow on new years clutching a gift soaked in melting snow and tears.

Don't lose yourself too much! OK?

:-)

Baduk and Love

2009-07-20T01:52:00.007-04:00

This was originally written for the AGHS newsletter. However I had misunderstood what they asked me to write. I did not realize that the AGHS newsletter was intended for younger readers. Anyway, perhaps I will just write this column here. Enjoy.

________________________________________________________

Hello, I wanted to introduce myself as this is my first column. My name is Boris, and being a young adult, love is something often on my mind. I am also a shodan go player. Things being as such, the two things find ways to mingle in my head. When Christopher Vu asked me to write for the American Go Honor Society Newsletter, I was not sure what to write. But I decided that I will try to combine Go with the adolescent/young adult fascination with drama. For as long as I can find interesting love/go stories to tell I will tell them. If you have some you wish to share, e-mail me at badukboris@gmail.com

I had my own drama with go, in which I was surely the bad guy. I was with a girl for the larger part of 3 years. While we did have our troubles, it seemed we where fine. I decided to go on a trip for six months to study go at the International Baduk Academy. While six months does not seem like a long time, it was to her. She dreaded my leaving every day. Eventually she began to say things like "you are leaving me for go" Although I refuted this, essentially I was leaving the country to play Go for 6 months, and nothing anyone had to say was going to change this.

One month into my trip we broke up, but it would have likely happened had I stayed. We were already having lots of problems, the trip only acted as a catalyst.

I always compare go to a woman, a woman that teases you. She shows you her leg, dresses up seductively, but never lets you touch. In the same way every time you think you understand something about go, you quickly realize that you don't. Even for Pro players this is so. Just when they think that you figured out all the joseki variations stemming from one move, another is discovered. Perhaps Go only has one lover at time, Lee Se Dol in the past, nowadays it seems to be Gu li. (Maybe she has a thing for men of the Orient :-)?)

Thank you for reading my first story, next time I will bring you a story from a go club in Korea. Till then.

I am Back In New York

2009-07-08T20:08:00.002-04:00

So I have been back in New York for a week now, and even though I spent the past 6 months in Korea playing Go, somehow everyday I seem to make it out to the Go Center.

I definitely feel the effect of my stay in Korea. I am able to play as a 1d solidly, and the other day I even won against a 3d in an even game. When I visited the Korean club in flushing, I played as a 6 gup, and had 2 wins 3 losses. Previously i had played as an 8~9 gup.

I am living with my mom for the summer with plans of moving out, and for now I am working as a canvasser, basically a fundraiser, for Environment New York.

I will post some pictures of an epic fireworks show we had this past weekend soon.

Currently Chaelim and Hyangme are teaching at the New York Go Center, and so far they are doing great. Its nice to have youth at the center.

I plan to keep studying so that I can play as 2d by congress.

I will write again when there is something interesting to say.

Thanks for reading all this time guys!

Leaving Korea

2009-06-29T19:57:00.002-04:00

I am in the airport now, I Am getting on the plain in 10 minutes...

Good bye and thanks for the Kimchi. :P

I am sad and happy now. Happy to go home, sad because I don't know when I will see my friends again.

--Boris the Traveling Baduk Player

Korea University Drummers

2009-06-28T19:59:00.000-04:00

These guys just walked around and around for hours in Korea University

From 6-28

Pro's, Younguseng and Education

2009-06-28T08:34:00.004-04:00

One of the things we talked about, and one of the things that I talked to many people about, is the sacrifice of education on has to make when challenging the Pro summit. Most of the former younguseng I have met have not finished high school, much less college. Although recently the school Myongji University has offered a Baduk major, from what I hear, its not a very demanding course. I do think it is great for all the Youngeseng though, since it teaches them how to apply their highly polished Baduk skills to the world.

In a conversation I had with one of my teachers I learned that he wanted to be a pro singer, but felt that he was limited due to his previous dedication to studying Baduk. He seemed melancholy as he told me that when he was a child his teacher had said he had great talent for the game, enough to be the number 1 in the world. This may have been detrimental for him, as the other kids heard this and gave him a hard time studying. My teacher told me he regrets letting them get to him, and interfere with his baduk studies. By no means is he weak at all, (KGS 9D), he was not able to get pro.

Another friend of mine Jang Bi (gentlerain 9D KGS) also graduated from Myongji, he still loves Baduk, but he recently started to study architecture. With such a late start (he is 28) I hope he does not have to hard of a time with it.

Cho Hye Yeon expressed her concern that Pro Baduk players have trouble contributing anything to society other than baduk. Obviously not all, but still many Pros have never studied much else than baduk. But we came to the conclusion that the top of the top are there for that precise reason. Hye Yeon told me that many of her western teachers don't understand what it is to be a Baduk Pros. She has had to miss classes because of official matches, and her professors would fail her for missing class. She has had to take classes only from Korean teachers because of this. Although, those too were troublesome. Many times she got comments along the lines of why dont you just focus on Baduk, why do you bother to study at university. Currently she is majoring in English Literature, and hopes to learn many languages.

There are, of course, a few other pros who went to good schools, like Chiyung Nam 1P, who graduated from Seoul National University one of the top three schools of the country. But these are the exception not the rule.

This conversation evolved into talking about Lee Se Dol. If he does not play baduk what can he do? I learned something interesting, there are rumors that he plans to open a bar, and be a Bar tender. Personally I highly doubt he will be able to stay away from baduk for long. Anyone who has been playing baduk since they were 4 should feel some sort of strong longing for the game even after a short break.

When I was in high school I was ready to abandon my life and go to Japan to try and be pro. After just 6 months I can say that I was correct to not do that. While I do love baduk, and will never stop playing it, hell it will probably always be a focal point of my life, but I can now say that it is not the only thing you need in life. I guess that last part is pretty obvious, but it wasn't so to me about 6 months ago. Still though, most things that I plan to do this summer revolve around baduk anyway.

Hanging out with Cho Hye Yeon 8P

2009-06-27T11:27:00.011-04:00

Friday was a very hectic day for me. I woke up early to meet with my English student. Instead of teaching on Friday, I helped her blow up balloons to promote her business. Briefly- she runs an art school where children create storybooks, they are then published hard cover, and the children are given the option to try and sell the books.

At 11 O'clock Santiago (Colombian 1k) Joonas (Finish 1d) and I set out to go to Insa-dong. Insa-dong is a bit of a tourist trap, however they have some cool galleries and lots of places to buy gifts. We quickly separated, as they were bored with gift shopping. I bought gifts for my family and friends, and also a violin my friend asked me to buy.

Around 2 I set off to meet two Chinese girls that I spent a lot of time with at the beginning of my stay in Seoul. However, I could not find them, so I set off to the Hanguk Kiwon to see if there was anything interesting happening.

For a while I watched some pro games of the Myung Cup. After as I was leaving I bumped into Myungwan Kim 8p. We talked for a little while, his English is very good, and then I went along on my way. I decided to stop by the book store on the way out. I was surprised as the shopkeeper asked me if I am Boris. I told her I was, but after that the Korean got to complicated. Luckily for me Kim Myungwan walked by at that moment, and translated for me. The pro player Cho Hye Yeon had asked the shopkeeper to call her should I stop by.

Needless to say I was stunned. I did once leave a comment on her blog saying I wanted to meet her, but I did not realize she would go out of her way to meet me too. We agreed to meet an hour later at her school. Korea National University, one of the top 3 schools in Korea.

When we met, she was very friendly right away. People had warned me she is very talkative, but as those who know me know already, with me that's a good thing. I was happy that there was no awkwardness of just meeting someone. We had some coffee and talked about many things including Lee Se Dol's retirement, and education and religion.

About Lee Se Dol's retirement I won't say much since there are plenty of places to find that information, but a few interesting things I learned: He learned to play from his father at age of 4. After his father's death he continued to study under his brother's supervision. There is a rumor that he plans to open a Bar during his Hiatus from baduk.

My thoughts on education are in a separate article here.

As for religion... To anyone who has read her blog, it is well known that Cho Hye Yeon is a devout christian. This aspect was what i was most nervous about when meeting her. I find myself very uncomfortable when people start telling me I must believe in Jesus, or whatnot. I am very happy to hear about the religion, and what they believe, but I prefer not to have to believe in anything. I was happy to learn my worries were indeserved. We spoke for a short time about different aspects of christianity, judaism, and buddhism. Although I am very interested in these things I feel a little silly talking about them, as I feel I know too little. Regardless it was an interesting conversation.

We proceeded to play a teaching game of Baduk. I was very lucky, I learned that usually a lesson game would have cost me $400 usd. I thoroughly lost, but I feel I learned much from the review. At least two mistakes that I often make where pointed out to me. Due to my crappy memory I am sorry I can't show you the game, I tend to forget them about 2 or 3 hours after playing. In case I did not thank you enough, again I say, Thank You 조혜연사범님. :)

I had a lot of fun, I only wish that I had met her a little earlier on my trip to Korea, she would have been a good friend to have here.

______________________________________________________________

Facts About Cho Hye Yeon

She became pro at age 11
She juggles being at one of the most prestigious schools in Korea and being one of the best Baduk Pros
She has seen Hikaru No Go over a hundred times
Akira Toya is her favourite character
Visit her blog loveku.livejournal.com for more... Its really interesting, and you can get some nice lessons on opening too ^^

______________________________________________________________

New Instructors At the New York Go Center.

2009-06-27T04:18:00.000-04:00

The New York Go Center's main selling point is that we always have a strong instructor ready to teach visitors. But what happens when the instructors are not so strong. Before I came to Korea I noticed that often, although stronger than me, the Instructors where not all that strong. Although there were a few great ones, like Hyodo Shunichi, Hyodo Susumu, and Tadashi Komoto, who could teach, and play well, many seemed to be lacking in the play well area.

On a side note I will be working on a little project to collect a photo book of the previous instructors at the New York Go Center.

The other thing I realized is that they were always Japanese.

Neither the fact that they are Japanese, nor that they aren't too strong are problems. After all, they are volunteering 3 months of their time for the sake of providing a good chance for us westerners to study Go. Still, I thought it would be interesting if we could get some young teachers to come to the NYGC. I found the perfect solution on my trip to Korea. Hundreds of strong teenagers fail to become pro yearly. Their main skill is Baduk, so I decided to introduce the opportunity to come and teach in New York for 3 months.

So, I would like to announce, although rather late, that two new instructors are coming to visit the New York Go Center on June 30th. They are Kim Chaelim 9d and Lee Hyangmi 7d.

The two girls are students at Myongji University and have volunteered to teah Baduk for the summer in New York. Remember they are Korean not Japanese, so instead of sensei, refer to them as Sabonim, (Sa-bo-nim)

Pros Playing Baseball

2009-06-26T16:34:00.004-04:00

Baduk pros are people too... so, just like real people they like to have a little rest from time to time.

I found these guys playing a little Baseball in the park. ^^

I am awfully bad with names, so forgive me. I will add the names at a later time.

I saw...

2009-06-23T23:13:00.003-04:00

This is a new type of blog I will try, in the future I will try to have pictures ^^...

4 People riding on a motorcycle.

The father was steering, his daughter sat on his lap. The wife was holding on the husband, and there was a baby strapped to her back. They were happily speeding along the freeway.

A black ladybug.
about a week ago I Saw a black ladybug, I cannot seem to stop thinking about it. What do you guys think of www.blackladybug.com as the new adress for my blog/website?

A Paul Potts concert.

Last friday I went to watch a Paul Potts concert with a girl named Jiyae. We met briefly on the train a few months ago, really we were on the train together for all of 3 minutes, I gave her my name card and we have been exchanging emails for a while.

We decided to meet and watch the Paul Potts concert. It was surprisingly good, surprisingly because I am not a fan of opera ^^. My only complaint is that we sat in front of the press box...those guys were really rude.

Two elderly Koreans kissing on the subway.

A while back I saw two Koreans start making out while waiting for the train. It was very surprising. I happened to be talking to someone at the time, and he told me in his life he had never seen such a thing. It should be noted that the public displays of affection are almost non-existant, even between spouses, and bg/gf. But, there is much same sex affection to be found, although if you ask a Korean if how many gay people they know, they will likely say that there are not any in Korea. :O !

The New York Go Center Newsletter Volume 2 issue 1

2009-06-20T08:11:00.002-04:00

The New York Go Center Newsletter Volume 2 issue 1

Contents

* Introduction from editor
* New Instructors
* Congress Tune up tournament
* KGS Day
* October Pro Workshop
* New books to arrive

Hello everyone,

I have not written in a long time, Roman has been taking care of the
mailings and tournaments for the past 6 months or so.
I was studying Go in Korea. I know many of you followed my blog, http://notquitepro.blogspot.com, and supported me with the ads, and for that thank you.

Overall I feel that my trip has been a success, although I am not 5d as I had hoped to be, I have improved quite a bit. I will play in the next tournament as 1K, and see how that goes. If you are interested in studying go in Korea, please do not be afraid to ask me, I will be happy to help. Its a great experience, and a lot of fun.

Lastly, I would like to thank Roman Kudryashov, who was taking care of all the e-mails and tournaments for me the past 6 or so months.

I will be back at the beginning of July, and I will see you all then.

-editor

New Instructors

Getting on to the exciting part, this summer, we are going to have to instructors. Kim Chaelim 8D and Lee Hyangme 6D have voulenteered their summers to teach in New York.

The two girls are from Korea, are young, and are both studying in the Baduk (Go) Department at Myongji University. Its a unique program that teaches players how to teach go, as well as improving their own skills.

Kim Chaelim used to be an Insei, so she is very strong. Lee Hyangme is as strong or stronger than most of the previous instructors. I am not only excited about their playing levels, I think that this is a step in the direction of making our Go Center truly international.

Congress Tune Up Tournament

On July 19th we will be having our monthly AGA rated tournament.

There will be 4 rounds of AGA rated play.
Entry fee: $15
Time: Round 1 starts Promptly at 10:15, if you are late call ahead, and your opponent will be allowed to start your time.
40 minutes basetime 3/30 sec overtime

There will be cash and book prizes.

KGS Day

On June 14th The New York Go Center held its first KGS'ers day. Although many people could not make it, 14 people met face to face after only being aquainted online.

Attendees included Andy Liu (BigBadWolf 9D), David Saunders (Dsaun 1D) and Kim Daeyol (NYDY 6D). The players met, played games, and afterwards went out together for dinner.

The writer was unfortunatly on the other side of the world, otherwise, would
have loved to be there.

October Pro Workshop

In October The New York Go Center is hosting a professional workshop!

(The exact date is not yet confirmed, it will be either start the 2nd, or the 16th of October.)

Diana Koszegi 1P and Kim Seungjun 9P will be teaching.

This is very exciting, because this is their first visit to the U.S.
They have much experience teaching in Europe.
Also, they Recently worked together on special online lecture for a large Amsterdam tournament.
They will also be teaching in San Fransisco the following weekend along with Janice Kim.

Activities will include:

* - Lectures
* - Simulaneous games
* - Paired games
* - Game reviews
* - AGA rated games

The pricing is as follows:

One Day: $60
Two Days: $110
Three Days: $150

Lunch is included in the price.

Additional Details to follow.

If you are interested

New books to arrive

The New York Go Center is recieving many new books from Korea, and should
arrive in the first week of August

They Include

* - 100 tips for amatuer players vol 1 & 2
* - Inspiration of a Pro
* - Speed Baduk
* - Think Like a Pro Haengma, Pae
* - Cho Hyeyeon's Creative Life and Death
* - A life of a hundred years seems like a game of Baduk
* - Various Korean titles

If anyone has any requests, I would be happy to bring something special for
you.

--

Boris Bernadsky
Vice President New York Go Center
http://notquitepro.blogspot.com

--
Boris Bernadsky
Vice President New York Go Center
http://notquitepro.blogspot.com

A day in the life of a Pro.

2009-06-17T18:44:00.007-04:00

I am sure many people wonder what it is that Go pros do on a day to day basis. Well, I seem to have some Idea, and I will share it with you...

Based on Diana Koszegi.

8:00 am: Woken up by the mailman, he is very happy to tell you, a foreign Baduk Pro, that you have mail from the Hanguk Kiwon. Your next tournament is announced.

8:33 am: Woken up by alarm clock, time to head to Oromedia.

(SPECIAL 9:13 am: Woken up by alarm clock, time for tournament. On tournament days, you usually go to Youngusil after the game when you finish to review)

9:25 am: Arrive at Oromedia. You were hired to work here because you are a western Pro, and you can speak English and Korean fluently. Although only 6 hours a week, you definitely studied your ass off learning Joseki, and solving life and death so that you can help someone write e-mails. But really you are helping reach out to all the different countries worldwide and Promote an international go scene.

1:00 pm Arrive at Youngusil. A Youngusil is a place where players, mostly pros, gather to study. Studying includes life and death, reviewing your recent games with your colleagues, reviewing others' games, and sometimes watching baseball, or board games.

6:00 pm Its food o'clock!

7:00 pm Back to studying, its funny that games are seldom played in the Youngusil. Even though there are sometimes league games, usually its just studying.

8:15 pm Arrive back home, and translate Korean baduk books. Perhaps some teaching online if you have students that day...while watching Baduk TV :)

11:00 pm Time for 10 sec blitz games on Cyberoro... and chatting on MSN with friends and family. Re-assuring your father that everything is good is an everyday necessity

Sleep at Random times...

6 Brothers Baduk Factory

2009-06-02T10:52:00.002-04:00

This weekend, Leonardo Dal Zovo (stopciovo.com) and I went to visit the 6 brothers baduk factory.
They are the largest supplier of baduk equipment in Korea, and possibley the world.

When you guys buy those cheap sets in H-mart or other Korean grocery stores, you are buying their boards. Of course they aren't limited to only cheap stuff, but that's mostly what we see in the states.

Their website http://www.6brothers.com.

We set out on our journey early Saturday morning, and we thought we had a short ride ahead of us. After all it was a mere 30 kilometers away from the IBA.... But alas, we spent the better part of two hours in a bus. That was the longest 18 miles ever. Well I am exaggerating, but it was pretty long. We apparently took a really windy path to get there.

I am going to try a different photo sharing method this time, enjoy the slide show ^=^

Player Profiles: Kings Baduk Academy Students

2009-05-30T04:41:00.008-04:00

Other than the IBA there is another Baduk school which caters to foreigners. That is the Kings Baduk Academy. The two schools are quite different as far as their approach goes. Kings Baduk has a rigorous training schedule with little or no time to d other things than study. Due to the location, some mountain village, even if there was time there would be little to do. This sort of place would be perfect for me, and I regret that I did not know about it when I came to Korea.

The IBA is in Seoul, the metropolitan center of Korea, no one will force you to study, and there are plenty of distractions. These are not bad things just style preference.

The students of the Kings Baduk Academy often visit us in Seoul. We like to go drinking and singing, and of course we like to play baduk. There are several really interesting people that I have met from Kings Baduk. It is generally very fun when they visit, as it should be, when people from all over the world gather in one place to practice something they love.

Here are some of the students I met from th KBA. These are just my opnions and should not be taken as fact.

Gabriel Benmergui

Age: 23
Country: Argentina
KGS ID: Danigabi
Strength: 5D
Who are you? : "If I don't have a good move I tenuki....also I am better the Ofer."

Gabriel seems very intelligent. I have been able to talk to him about most things so far, and he has some answers for everything. He is very opinionated, and very persuasive. Although I seem to believe everything he says, it strikes me as odd that a 23 year old knows so much, I suppose I should not take everything as fact.

Ofer Zivony

Age:25
Country: Israel
KGS ID
Strength: 3D
Who are you? : "I am Ofer, Asians call me Ope"
Ofer worked with birthright groups (google it) as a guard in Israel. He is rather talented at portrait sketches. He seems very modest, but never ceases to make jokes.

Francesco Marigo

Age: 27
Country: Italy
KGS ID
Strength: 4D
Who are you?: "I'm.....unsolved problem"
I have not spoken much to Francesco, he seems to be quite kindhearted. He also was National Champion in Italy for several years. Recently he lost the "title" to Davide Minieri.

Sebastian Rieche

Age:20
Country: Germany
KGS ID
Strength:3d
Who are you? "I am me, I am really pragmatic, it comes from studying Philosophy"

Sebastian is an interesting guy. He wants nothing more than to continue his baduk studies in Korea. He is an avid eater of chocolate, and has practiced martial arts for years. He started out in Wing Tsun, and more recently has switched to Shotokan Karate. He is also a writer, and is working on a fantasy novel. He keeps a blog about his baduk studies... http://beginningpath.blogspot.com/

Klara Zaloudkova

Age: 24
Country: Czech Republic
KGS ID
Strength: 3d

Who are you? : " I am a friendly girl."

Clara was a philosophy major back at home. Her classmates say that she is stronger than she claims. She is also a big fan of partying.

Tungalag

Age: 22
Country: Mongolia
KGS ID
Strength: 3d
Who are you? " I am a person kkk..." (kkk is the Asian sound for laughing, same as LOL, not to be confused with the white supremacist group KKK)

I have not had a chance to really speak to her. She has a very attractive energy however. Her classmates said that in the 3 weeks she has been in Korea she has already improved a lot.

Leonardo Alberto Dal Zovo

Age: 29
Country: Italy
KGS ID
Strength: ~3k
Who are you? : " I am Ciovo"

Somehow out of the KBA students I felt I could relate to Ciovo the most. Again our meetings have only been few but the magic of baduk makes us all close. He recently toured Korea with Pedro for one week. I am extremely envious, at the time I did not have the capital to join him. He works as a Computer Scientist back home. He told me that while he has Slate and Shell stones, as well as high quality bowls, he only has a cheap homemade goban. This is funny if you are a go player, if it is not, then I am sorry. He also has a website about his stay in Korea, it has many pictures and interesting stories, check it out: www.stopciovo.com

Pedro Carmona

Age: 24
Country: Portugal
KGS ID
Strength: 2K
Who are you?: " I am a Brazilian."
I don't know much about him, but he has a very fun energy. And is always smiling. Also he is from Panama. Or Brazil. Maybe Mexico.

Svilen Pavlov

Age: 25
Country: Bulgaria
KGS ID
Strength: 3kyu
Who Are you? : TO BE DETERMINED

Svilen is rather quite compared to the other KBC students, however I have reason to believe that when intoxicated and metal is present he turns into a headbanger. He uses a lot of time when he plays. At home he was working as a stage designer for a theatre, but he wants to be a Computer Scientist. He was offered a good job, but it would require him to move to Czech republic, so he could not really move at the time. Lastly, if anyone needs a Computer Scientist in Bulgaria, contact me I will forward it to him.

Mosquitoes

2009-05-28T05:16:00.004-04:00

Lately I have been having a lot of problems with Mosquitos...

The apartment we live in is very hot at night, but if we open the windows a swarm of gnats, flies, and mosquitoes find a nice free buffet.

Anyway, this hhas caused me to think alot about them, mainly why we itch when we get bit. It seemed counter intuitive to me, I mean, it would not be so bad to get bitten if not for that longlasting, irritating, waking you up at night itching feeling. It would seem that if they were not so itchy, people would kill them as much. It seems that evolution failed the mosquito by making them make us itchy....

Here I though I was being funny and Ironic telling this to my Marc, when he said "Actually we get itchy because our body fights of infections from the mosquitoes..." There goes my "mosquito bit"

Unknowingly, I was determined to find another joke. Later that night I was talking to my friend Big Kyoung, and I asked him whether it was a pimple or a bite on his cheek. (It was oozing something). He said it was both, and that it hurt.

All of a sudden this image of a mosquito sitting itself down on my friends pimple popped into my head.

So it was flying around, and sits down, it thinks to itself - "yummy a meal, and its even on a raised platter!". And it sticks its little sharp hose down and takes a big swig. It is expecting the irony-delicious taste of blood, instead it gets the --actually I don't know the taste of pus so no adjective here-- (blank) taste of pus instead. It flies off confused, its stomach hurts, so it cant fly and its in generally bad shape. After agonizing, trying to fly for a few seconds it sits down on a garbage can and slowly titches away into the unknown abyss where mosquitoes go when they die.

Anyway... I told this to my friend, and he seemed to feel better about the pimple bite.

What does this mean to you?

2009-05-20T15:00:00.002-04:00

What does this mean to you?

Please respond by leaving a comment.

Oh wow, his moyo is so much bigger than mine.

Hey, he is coming inside my moyo!

Ah damn it, I am in Atari.

Player Profiles: Kim Seungjun 9P

2009-05-20T13:19:00.004-04:00

Hanguk Baduk League Pre-lim

---Now---

I met Kim Seungjun 9P through a mutual friend, Diana Koszegi 1p. He was the first Korean pro that I met on my stay here.

He is known by many as Blackie, or Black Knight due to his dark complexion. In a recent article in the American Go Association E-journal, I was mis-quoted as saying that he speaks perfect English. This deviates a little from the truth. While he speaks enough English to teach Baduk, his conversational knowledge of the language is limited.

Our first meeting was in Coffee shop, he approached me in hopes that I could help him set up a workshop in the states. Though his English is limited, due to his emotive personality, and my minute knowledge of Korean, we had no problems communicating, I was even able to conduct a brief interview with him.

I quickly learned that he was passionate about spreading Baduk, or Go, in the west. Blackie had just come back from a short European Baduk tour with fellow pros Mok Chinseok 9P (mymy on KGS) and Diana. They played simul games in Budapest, Romania, and Amsterdam, as well as helping with a tournament in Amsterdam.

This coming weekend he is doing a live Web-cam commentary on The Amsterdam Pandanet Tournament. my sources tell me he has been studying English, so lets see the results.

In October, he and Diana Koszegi will be conducting a BaduK workshop in San Fransisco.

---History---

Kim Suengjun started playing Baduk at 10 years old, he learned to play from his father, an EGF 2D. Though his brother and sister quit baduk rather quickly he kept playing.

I asked why he plays Baduk, he had no answer.

Two years later the Black Knight became a younguseng, or a pro in training. At that time he would take 5 stones from a Pro**. He did nothing but play Baduk, three years later, in 1988 he became a Pro.

In 1994 he made it to the finals of the Kogi cup

In 1996 he made it to the semi-finals of the Samsung cup.

Many of his games, recent and old, can be viewed online here.

---Trivia---

In addition to playing Baduk, Kim Seungjun enjoys playing Golf, this has been his most recent hobby.

He is a the second strongest billiards player among the Korean Baduk pros.

He is the strongest foot volleyball player among the pros.

After finishing his Simul-games in Budapest he proceeded to defeat their strongest Billiard player as well.

Unlike most Koreans, he does not drink or smoke.

While he is good at almost anything he does, he cannot swim.

---Side Note**---

Younguseng these days are far stronger than they used to be. They are divided into 10 groups, competition to become a Younguseng is so fierce that even the lowest group ones can compete with a weak pro without handicap. The ones in the top class are often stronger than many current Pros. We have seen many young kids, who had just made pro, defeat 9P's. Even the world champions Lee Sedol and Gu Li would not be able to give these kids 2 stones.

---End Side Note---

Jail of his own

2009-05-16T17:27:00.002-04:00

A man I know is in a cage, though he did make it himself...

What will he do?

Sleep

2009-05-16T17:15:00.002-04:00

Many people sleep at night. They wake up in the morning.

It all seems really natural, but for some reason these days I cannot. My friend Pascal, he cannot sleep either. My friend Marc, sleeps but in the daytime. My friend Roman sleeps but 4 hours at a time.

What is it that makes modern youth not sleep? (sounds preachy donit)

Seriously though I want to sleep, I consider sleeping and waking with the Sun, but thats somehow silly... Isn't it?

Is 6 hours of sleep enough? Is 9.

This was meant to be a poem, but I guess I am not a poet.

We are the Evil Space Invaders

2009-05-14T05:35:00.003-04:00

As everyone knows, we are starting to run short on Natural Resources, and our climate is changing rapidly.

Our forests are running out. The rate at which we consume is phenomenal. On top of all of that there are more of us, making more of us every year. Maybe we can really save the world by being "green". Maybe, if we recycle, stop eating so much, use solar power, wind power, wave power, and condoms, we can still be saved...

But realistically we are going to run out of resources soon, or just run out of space to live and will have to look elsewhere. There are some choices, a bio dome on the moon, a space station, or looking at other planets fit for habitation.

Either way, we will be moving to space. If we find another planet that is fit for people to live on it, is it not likely that there will already be things living there? Won't we be the evil space invaders taking over a planet and stealing its natural resources?

Now, this is only partly a joke, unless we take care of our world, necessity will drive us to become evil aliens reigning terror around the universe. ~~~

Racism in Korea

2009-05-11T13:12:00.003-04:00

There is a great deal of racism in Korea.

Although there is quite a lack of diversity, almost everybody is racist. Maybe its because of lack...

Most people I meet seem to love simply for the fact that I am a foreigner. Now maybe this is not a bad thing, but it seems strange to me. Coming from New York, I see all people as just people. Although when I worked at Diesel, I often segued into conversation with someone by talking about their country. To Brazilians I would tell them how many I meet, maybe mention Capoeira. To russians I spoke russian, to French I spoke the little french I know. I would praise the pound to Brits. I would mention my upcoming trip to Korea to Koreans, and talk about anime/manga with Japanese...

I seem to have digressed.

In Korea, as I walk down the street and a group of kids walk by they shout out very quickly all the words they know. Hello -- how are you -- yo yo yo -- thank you -- I love you -- bye bye.

The other weekend I went to a festival at Myongji University (The only school in the world where you can get a Masters in Baduk studies) I was not allowed to pay for my drinks my food, and was even invited by these nice 4 girls to share their room.

The Nice Girls who let me into their room

If I was Korean this would not have happened.

Another wierd thing, is that most Koreans I meet are all scared of going to America because they might get shot. I realize that it is an unfortunate truth that there is much gunplay in the USA, but it seems that all they know about America is

A. It is good

B. People have guns

C. People do drugs.

I wonder is this what our country is? I really don't know. Europeans I meet just think we suck at geography and history. Actually this group of Go players from Kings Baduk Academy (more on that later, if you are interested now, visit http://www.stopciovo.com ) and I played a geography game -- naming capital cities -- I got the high honor of being "Good for an American.

Some of the Kings Baduk guys.

I get taken out all the time by Go players, and sometimes by strangers I meet on the street. Although, I sound like I am complaining, I am not, I am greatful for all the free food I have eaten since coming to Korea, and I have met some interesting people.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now bad racism.... Really really bad. This would never fly in the states. It reminds me of early Disney cartoons.

Mr. Ink.

Look its an African.

Mr.Toner

EDIT:

I forgot to mention a few things, my friend reminded me...

Alexa:

though by racism I would have wrote about a little different things as I'm not from the usa

Me:

what do you mean?

Alexa:

well, for me it's also very annoying that everybody thinks i can only be an american

if by chance not, than russian

nothing else is possible

Me:

ah right i coudl have mentioned that, but i am both...

so they would be right on both accounts

Alexa:

not to mention that they just point at u and talk about u in korean when u r like half a meter away, because they think no way a foreigner can understand them..

yes i know, thats why i wrote i would have wrote this too

A strange thought..

2009-05-11T12:59:00.002-04:00

So. I have given some thought to starting an Internet Show.

check out www.thatguywiththeglasses.com so you know what I mean.

I can't seem to decide on what my topic should be.

Does anybody have any ideas?

Please let me know.

Ontology

2009-04-19T09:48:00.002-04:00

Three old men sitting in a bar.
They seem to only know how to yell.

Dicussing issues of great importance,

They get ready to go back to work on monday.

------

Its not really a poem, I guess it was a thought as I sipped coffee in a bar Saturday night.

Chunpyeong Baduk English Weekend

2009-04-12T12:14:00.003-04:00

On Saturday morning Tatu (Finnish 2d) and I left our houses early. I suppose it wasn't early, but we sleep late, so 10 o'clock was a relatively early for us.

We were supposed to meet our teacher 중협 (Joung Hyup) at 11 and go to the Chunpyeong river training area.

Joung Hyup

In the country side along a river there is a place where baduk players come to play. The owner of the place is about 2d, he has a large collection of baduk boards and often invites pros to come and play at his, lets say, club.

Shortly after getting there we played some card games. I became tired of the game and went off to explore.

Playing Cards

Smelling Flowers

Old style building

Land Scape

I walked around the property until I found a dog, it seemed to want me to follow it. I did so, but I quickly lost site of it, however I found to mating snakes. After observing them for a little while, I walked around in the woods for a while. It was really nice to have a break from the city...

Meat

There was a family fishing on the river, and they invited me to join them, failing to catch anything, we got to talking. One of the men was a baduk player. He asked me to play so we went back to the playing area.

After we played a game, a tournament started. I lost all two of my games, by 130 points and 54 points. It was a bangnegi style tournament, but with no limit, meaning you were not allowed to resign even if you lost by 100. In my defense, I had to play with a 2d and a 3d even....

Dinner was yummy, we ate barbeque. Baduk playing continued well into the morning, and I fell asleep and woke up to the sounds of stones being placed on the board.

The following day was short, I had to get back to Seoul to teach my student.

Bus From the Netherlands

Proffesor Han, Incredibly insiteful man

Katherine From Belgium

My lovely face

Bus at play

Hae Kwang observing a game

Proffesor Han Playing

Player Profiles: Jang Bi (KGS Gentlerain)

2009-04-07T02:30:00.003-04:00

How I met him:
I first had contact with Jang Bi about a year and a half ago, when my friend Andy Liu (BigBadWolf) recommended him as a teacher. Although we never managed to actually enter a student teacher relationship, I learned of his existence.

Some time the Summer of '08 he visited the New York Go Center along with a Korean Pro. He played a teaching game with me at 9 stones and I was thoroughly crushed. Again, I did not talk to him much at the time.

The next time I saw Jang Bi was shortly after I came to Korea. Even though our previous meetings were so brief, when we saw each other, it seemed as if we were old friends. He came to visit the International Baduk Academy, and quickly we all took to joking and laughing.

Jang Bi then helped me with several things, he took me site seeing, and helped me get a Korean cell phone.

From Jang Bi

Jang Bi's personality:

Although we have only hung out a handful of times, Bi's generosity was instantly visible. The cell phone incident is a good example. After hanging out for the first time in Korea, he decided that for me to have a cell phone was a necessity -- and volunteered to take me to TechnoMart, a giant electronics store, to get a phone.

He proceeded to wait with me for 5 hours doing nothing while the cell phone guy tried to activate the phone. We were not particularly close, nor did he have any obligation to wait with me.

In an interview, he told me that happy means to give others his love.

Baduk History:

Jang Bi started playing Baduk because he simply enjoyed playing with his father. With full support from his family, he became yonguseng at age 13. At that time he was about KGS 4d. He progressed to be a first group yonguseng, however he did not make it pro. Apparently he never won many tournaments in Korea. Bi told me that he did not put his full effort into the tournaments.

In the summer of 2007 Jang Bi went to Seattle, Washington (USA) to study English, and western culture. He became involved at the Seattle Go Center teaching there several times a month. At this time he became a KGS Celebrity, Gentlerain.

He quickly became KGS 9d, and seldom lost. I asked him why he preferred playing on KGS to the more popular Cyberoro, and Tygem. Apparently when he first came here he didnt want to be rude and install Korean on his freinds computer, so he just used KGS. One of his frequent opponents BigBadWolf told me that Jang Bi had become stronger since coming to the USA.

In the US, Jang Bi dominated the western tournaments including the Cotsen Open. He is currently 9.39 Dan AGA, and listed as 5th in the country, the only amateur ranked higher than him is Jie Li.

He came back to Korea in early 2009, and currently he is teaching Baduk at an elementary school. He plans to go abroad and continue teaching Baduk some day.

ETC

His KGS handle is a rough translation of his Korean name. He told me that many girls would get mad at him since he shared a name with popular Korean Singer Rain (Bi in Korean.

When Jang Bi served in the Korean military, all males must serve 2 years, he was stationed as a General Out Post at the DMZ watching and guarding the North-South Korean border.

I asked what his strongest memory was, "I climbed the dragon ridge of Seorak Mountain when I was 12 years old, the ridge is a famous steep mountain path even for adults"

In addition to playing Baduk, Jang Bi enjoys Karaoke, Soccer, computer games, and music. Ironically, he doesn't like playing computer soccer games whilst listening to music.

_______________________________________________________________

Well that's Jang Bi, or Gentlerain as most know him.

Last Days In Japan

2009-04-05T13:44:00.002-04:00

I have been back in Korea for a few days now, but I hadnt finished my Japan posts.

This is mostly pictures so enjoy...

Nihon Ki-in

From 4-2

The general playing area of the Nihon Ki-in for Insei

Some hidden bowls

Pro's Tournament

The legendary Cho Chikun

Some random trees outside of the Ki-in

Some more ^__^

Some sort of tournament..

Me thinks it might be only for geezers...

Tournament Sign

Asakusa, and Club Super Deluxe with Kanoko-Chan

A few old fashioned buildings

A golden Poop

Kanoko-chan looking stuff up in a dictionary

Smile

Adorable Neko-Bus plate ... only 63 dollars >_<

Big Buddhist Temple

Unfortunately it was closed so we just took pictures in front of it.

A cool old building

Konami headquarters, Roppongi

A dance at club Super Deluxe

I could not capture the picture better on purpose. His dance was very dynamic featuring roosters, Heaven, blood, death rebirth, struggle to live, and some cool clothes.

A Day with Hiroto Suzuki, a former teacher of the NYGC

Random orange tree

Miki, Hiroto, Hikari (left to right)

Pretty Trees

Hikari-Chan

People I dont know on a picnic

More people, lots of people

A really cool tree

Shusaku Go Club in Shinjuku

I did not actually play in this room, but it was interesting with floor boards et all

My opponent

People playing

Club Host, Me, Hiroto

Shinjuku

Traveling thoughts...

2009-04-01T11:11:00.004-04:00

Seeing the world has been great so far, Korea and Japan have shown me things I had not seen before. I have increased my tolerance for pepper and gotten stronger at baduk, but often I felt lonely.

There is a certain lack of real human connection. I have met many people, seen many things and tried many foods. What I will remember is the conversations I have had with those who are close to me.

I have made a friend or two or maybe three in journeys so far, and that was well worth the 3 months, but somehow I feel I am losing my desire to socialize as much.

I have had many brief encounters that I thought might turn to friendship. I was just a novelty foreigner to most.

For someone who talks about flight and adventures, I seem to get attached to people really easily.

I should not be sad in the slightest, maybe I just miss my family.

Out and About in Akihabara.

2009-04-01T03:58:00.004-04:00

Last Friday Mikie, and Kanako arranged for an acquaintance of theirs, Kanoko-chan, to show me around Akihabara.

I needed to get some shoes so we first went to Ueno, a cheap shopping district. After searching for some time, we got thirsty so we got some bubble tea.

From 3-27

Bubble tea guy was very entertaining. He kindly read the menu out loud to me, stressing odd syllables in the words. He basically yelled the menu using various funny accents. After paying for our drinks and the show I found that I had no cash.

It took about one hour to find the ATM. No one seemed to know where to use a foreign credit card. The bank staff where clueless. Eventually 7ELEVEN saved the day.

While wandering around I found this cool noodle ad.
The Chopsticks actually move up and down. MMM...Ramen.

From 3-27

At one point we were wandering through a little fish market..

From 3-27

A bit crowded ain't it?

From 3-27

Anyway eventually I found the shoes, that's not really interesting though.

...

Akihabara

From 3-27

IT was filled with toy stores, perverted shops, maid cafes, pachinko parlors UFO machines, card games, manga, cosplay shops, cafes, some shady looking places...It goes on.

Basically A giant toy store. I Do not have any deep thoughts about it. Just a few cool pictures. Take a look see.

Here is a bad photo of me and Kanoko-chan

From 3-27

Some Goku Toys

From 3-27

More Dragonball

From 3-27

The now Japan-owned Cheburashka

From 3-27

Baby-Goku in a capsule ^_^

From 3-27

Luffy in Goku Attire

From 3-27

Boob Pillow

From 3-27

Studio Gible Store

From 3-27

I believe thats some edition of the Famicom

From 3-27

More Nintendo like things

From 3-27

Lots of cheap classics

From 3-27

Uh-Oh Solid Snake, wow I am a geeky tourist

From 3-27

Well anyway Akihabara is a lot of fun, and even more when you can afford to buy all the cool things. But when you think about it I went to a giant toy museum with no admission cost.

Free Hugs In Shibuya

2009-03-30T02:36:00.007-04:00

The First night I arrived in Tokyo I decided to go and check out my surroundings.

So I was hanging out by Shibuya station, and looking for some sort of trouble, when I saw these guys and girls with signs that said "Free Hugs".

Naturally, I gave them all hugs, and joined them standing there giving the passerby's some free love.

It was interesting. One person said that they really needed the hug. I guess I made someone's day a little better.

Eventually I went out with one of the huggers to a cool place called Red Bar. We hung out with his Brazilian, Celtic, and French friends.

When I got back to Mikie's house, I did a little research and I found out that this was all started in Australia. This one guy got a hug when he was feeling down and felt better. He decided to spread the love and warm feeling one embrace at a time. He stood in his town square and gave out hugs.

Somehow, and I am happy it did so, this caught on, now 5 years later Free hugs are all around the world, and at your local anime convention too. There is nothing to gain from it, its a just a random act of kindness.

If some one offers you a hug, take it, enjoy it, pass on that feeling to someone else in any form you want.

Crap in Japan...

2009-03-28T22:44:00.002-04:00

Never have I seen such a useless, yet awesome toilet.

It know when you come into the bathroom and it opens wide.

It knows when you leave and flushes itself, and closes the lid.

It knows when its dark so it lights the way for you with its LED lights.

It knows people don't like to sit on cold surfaces, so it heats your butt cheeks.

It wipes for you.

And, if you don't want it all automatically, there is a convenient remote control for all the features.

It has come a long way since squatting over hole (traditional Japanese toilet)

Another toilet I saw was pretty interesting. It conserves water by re-using the water used for hand washing as flushing water.

Playing Go In Japan

2009-03-28T12:53:00.002-04:00

I have managed to increase my playing strength to 3d!

All that I had to do was fly from Korea to Japan, and Presto Change-oh! I am now a 3d. (I will likely go back to being 3kyu once I am in Korea)

While I am in Japan, I am living ten minutes from Shibuya station. It is one of the trendiest, and youngest areas in Tokyo.

Michael Simon and Kanako graciously are letting me stay in their guest room while I am in Tokyo. They are wonderful people, with so many interesting stories to tell. Kanako is a former model, and Michael, well he has done everything: Bike mechanic, Go Club Manager, "Lead Bassist" in a rock band...everything.

So far we played 2 games, and its one win each. Here is the first game we played. I did not comment on it, please I welcome all criticism.

Michael is about AGA 5d, and 6d at the club where we went to play. He is part of a group called Igo-Mame which roughly means Go-0ften. They meet at the Shibuya club every now and then, and go out for dinner afterwards.

The Igo-mame group was really nice. The characters included Yata-sensei 6d, a pediatrician. A young guy with a really runny nose, who was really good at sudoku like puzzles, 1d. Moo-san, a 6d, and also this nice guy with a big belly, 1d. I was a guest, and also there happened to be an American, John Thek 4d, playing there as well.

...On a Side Note...

With the exception of Michael Simon, the Igo-mame group are all Manga-otaku we had a lot of fun at dinner and Karaoke talking about various manga. It was really fun for me to talk to an adult about manga. At karaoke we sang a few anime themes, sailing day, Crazy rainbow, Hit In America, and the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme.

I loved the Igo-mame group, somehow I fit in really well in Japan so far.

... Back to Go...

I played 7 games today and won 3. One of the lost games was within one point, one was lost in the endgame, and two were just to awful to discuss.

Yata-sensei, Moo-san, Big belly, Runny nose, a random player and I all played a game of 9x9 rengo together. I can't recall it right now but I will post it later

The club that we played at is quite famous actually...

Many people have read Hikaru No Go, and clearly remember when Hikaru goes to play with old smoking men to overcome his fear of Gojira-Beard san. Unfortunately that location no longer exists, but the club moved to a smaller place, which I had the pleasure of visiting.

The owner is clearly recognizable from the manga (sorry I forgot to get a picture of him T_T), and I even think I saw someone resembling Kawaii-san.

Here are a few photos I took at the club, Enjoi!

Igo Mame, Right to left, Runny Nose, Big Belly, Yata Sensei.

People playing

Old guys at play

Club members names on little wooden things

Round all around

Japan Trip!

2009-03-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

My Blog readers, I will be going to Japan in 6 hours.

While I am there, I will play much go, and take many pictures, expect many updates.

-Boris The Go Player/Traveler

An update

2009-03-21T06:13:00.003-04:00

The past week went by really slowly for me. A lot seemed to happen, and somehow, without playing I think I leveled up at Baduk

This post will be in several sections.

Romance
Last Wednesday I went to Itaewon, and met this girl. We stayed up all night hanging out at bars and coffee shops talking to each other. She invited me to go dancing with her on Saturday night. The problem was that she finished her job (she is a bouncer) at 5am. It was not a problem because she set me up with some her friends, and I had fun. I spent very little time with her, but I got a weird feeling when I left. I couldn't stop thinking about her for 2 days.

Finally when she responded to my text on Tuesday saying that she did not want to hang out with me, I felt fine. It was really the not knowing that was killing me. What an idiot I was ^__^.

Friends/Family

On Sunday night, my friend and I were coming home from the International Baduk Academy when some guy on the street invited us out for drinks. We did not know him, but we went along. Keep in mind while reading this, Korea is generally a very safe place, so we were not in much danger going with a stranger.

We went to this place called WABar, and after the second beer it was becoming very clear that this guy was a little silly. He could not keep our basic information, Name age and nationality in his head at all. He asked us this information ~27 times. Somehow we felt uncomfortable to just leave considering he was being pretty gracious treating us. I looked around the bar, I caught someones eye and gave a "please come here if you speak English and help us out" look.

He and his friend came over and suddenly it was starting to be fun. They helped us understand each other. Those guys are Eric, and Pino (Nicknames). After finishing at the bar we went to some other place for more drinks and food, and at 1 am, we went home.

Alright, I caught Eric and Pino!! * Peace Sign*

---

I talked on skype with my family this week, it was really nice. I had not realized how much I missed them.

---

My friend Roman went to Ireland all of a sudden. Fly friend fly.

Work/Students

I finally got some English students, two girls who saw my flier in front of their music studio. So far I have met with them a few times. One of the girls, Rachel, only wants to practice speaking, so its pretty nice. I just have to think of a topic, and some questions, and then talk. Its pretty awesome, since it was just talking, we went to Olympic Park. We had our lesson laying in the grass.

The other one, Ju Hae, wants my full lessons. I am teaching her English using The Little Prince. During class we practice speech by talking about different things from the book. At home she reads and writes a paper. In class I correct grammar, and discuss.

---

On the other hand, lots of visits but low income from Google...

Health

I am generally ok, but somehow I got sick, and stayed in bed for three days. It kind of sucked, mainly because I was always hungry, and it threw off my sleeping schedule.

and the best for last....

Baduk

This week i really did not play much at all. Maybe I played 15 games this week. Two interesting things did happen though....

I participated in KGS's Iron Man tournament, 20 rounds of Go. I had pretty crummy results, and I skipped many rounds. I beat the weaker players and lost to the stronger ones, and the one "even" game I had, I lost as well. My friends did pretty well, they remained in the top 5 but messed up in the last day finishing 13th, and 20th. Anyway all week, we were dropping whatever we were doing and running off to the computer at 10 am, 4 pm, and 10 pm. It was pretty fun, next time, I will actually try and win.

---

Somehow I managed to improve in the past week. Maybe a lot of bed rest did it for me. Even though In the end I lost, here is a partial game record against my teacher on 7 stones. (BTW, he said I improved a lot --1.5 stones-- not I.)There is no commentary, just a record

&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;

And next week I am off to Japan Woot Woot ^___^

DragonBall Rant warning, SPOILER!!!

2009-03-14T07:03:00.003-04:00

How can you take 16 volumes of a wonderful Manga like Dragonball, and turn it into a 100 minute movie, while preserving its charm, multitude of characters, and awesome action scenes? I don't know, and I did not find out today. So as an adaptation of a beloved manga, it fails. As a stand alone movie, it fails. But, somehow, if you go into with the mindset that its just for fun, and based on Dragonball, but not the same thing, then its pretty fun.

Lets get into it then.

The very first thing I noticed from the commercials was the title. DragonBall Evolution. WTF? Did we have a first one from it to evolve from? Are the planning to release a DragonBall The Beginning later on? Or did I maybe miss altogether a first movie? I do not know the answer, but I apparently did not miss any movie. Really too many movies use the word evolution in their titles, there are so many other words that you can use from the English language. Personally I think the following words should be banned from movie titles all together: Evolution, Origins, Legends, The beginning, the last stand. I am sure there are a few more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Also, whats wrong with just DragonBall? Is it not edgy enough?

The other thing that bugged me was that the whole mythology was lost. Since when did the "Evil Namekians" control the Oozaru? Why does the Oozaru only come about on eclipses, why is Goku 18 when Grandpa Gohan dies? Why does Muten Roshi not bleed from his nose? Where is Krillin, what about the random talking pigs and flying cats?!!?....Whew...I ll leave that alone

That stuff can be forgiven, if the Movie could stand alone as its own story, but it never develops its characters. So much relies on the audience having read the manga. Chi Chi (sorry) goes from being the "Bully's" girlfriend, to Goku's lover/partner/Girlfriend/Fiance (never clarified, generally a vague relationship with a few kisses) within 10 minutes in the movie. Please note that there where no long time lapses, and maybe 5 hours took place in the movie between this.

Bulma and Yamcha exchange three sentences before falling for each other and almost making out. Neither character is really developed at all. No history on Yamcha, and just a vague mention of capsule corp for Bulma.

Piccolo kind of sucks too. Very little screen time, and no cool attacks, just some generic red ki blasts. (Although in goku's Visions --he gets them by touching the dragonballs--we see him dropping a Ki blast that leaves a mushroom cloud) Anyway, no history, just I want vengeance, and that's all, Humans must die.

Well, I think I lost my desire to keep writing.

To be fair, It was fun because you can laugh at it, It keeps some of the Comedy from the original manga, and the fight scenes are pretty cool. I think if you took out all the romance, and had more fight scenes it would have been better.

Or better yet, just fight scenes and training montages would have been cool, screw the story, you can't fit it into 100 minutes anyway!

Its about a 5/10 in my opinion, check it out but don't expect much.

A Last minute Sunday Adventure.

2009-03-10T04:11:00.006-04:00

The weather this Sunday was amazing. Unfortunately, it was Simon's last day at the IBA, and he and the others had planned to play starcraft one last time.

This was not my idea of fun, so after we ate lunch, I looked through my Lonely Planet guide for something to do.

I chose to visit Seoul Grand Park.

Seoul Grand Park, was not exactly what I expected it to be, I thought it would be less of a zoo, little kids park, and more of a Park with some nature stuff, maybe a small food court or something. But regardless, I guess I did not do my research, so what could be done. I had a lot of fun despite the fact that it was for children, (or maybe because it was...?)

When I got there I bought myself the combination entry fee, it got me a ride on the ski lift, a ride on the tram, and the entrance fee to the zoo. 8000 won. (5 USD)

I regret not taking a picture of the tram, it looked like an elephant.

At the zoo I found these interesting women who wore primary colors.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

There where some flamingos.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

Some giraffes...

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

Some really bored looking mountain goats...Poor goats

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

There were these dancing elephants. The whole park echoed with a really creepy music, that made you feel like you where in some sort rom-com movie. It was really disturbing, but the interesting thing was that the elephants danced along with it. You can see a video, or some still pictures.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

There was also a nice camel, who did not spit at me.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

A stupidly cute seal, and it mom

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

There were these adorable fighting bears. There mother eventually stopped them. They fought for about 5-7 minutes, with each one taking a turn at being victorious.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

Then there was this dopey looking guy :-p

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

The most memorable thing as far as animals go where the birds of prey, and the sky larks.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

These guys, even though they are both birds have two very different experiences at the zoo. The larks are not part of the zoo, yet the fly freely and bother all the animals, there was one watching the bears fight, the elephants dance, and also sitting on the camels. There was one who pooped on the vultures too. They could do anything they want.

The great majestic birds of prey are in cages, with two or three others at the same time. they get pooped on by larks, cant even open up their wings. They cannot hunt, to me its a wonder that they are still alive. I felt so awful seeing them. These creatures are not meant for the zoo. Living in a cage is the opposite of being a bird. Birds must be allowed to fly freely, just because people are limited by society and their many obligations, doesn't mean we should take out our frustrations on birds by locking them up like prisoners. I only took one picture of them.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

Sorry that was a bit of a rant. Other than looking at animals, I did a little hiking. I found a nice dam, and I climbed across it. The other side was sort of a restricted area. I walked along in the forest and then I saw a big pile of rocks, so of course I climbed it. It was more tiring then expected. When I got to the other side I saw a drying reservoir. It was quite beautiful, I spent about an hour sitting at the shore, skipping rocks or else not doing anything. It felt great to be alone for while isolated. In the zoo, when I sat down to rest, the little kids who walked by would stare with there eyes wide open, and whisper to their parents "waeguk saram!!" (foreigner) Please enjoy the photos.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

The Drying resevoir...

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

Even though it was really warm, there where these ice piles all around...

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

....

On my way home, I was hungry. I decided to get something authentic and Korean. These were my options.

Shells, with snails inside. You have to suck them out through the opening. They taste a bit like olives, but a different texture.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

These are maggots, I tried these too, but I only had one, the snails were much better. These were really salty, but had no substance, kind of felt like chewing salty paper that had a little bit of hummus on it. Anyway, it wasn't aweful but not my bag.

From Simons Last Days, A Seaoul grand Park adventure

That's the end of last weeks Sunday, it was fun for me. For all the pictures check out my picasaweb. picasaweb.com/boris.nygocenter

Player Profile, Simon "Lucky 3d" Schwanhaeusser

2009-03-10T03:40:00.005-04:00

Simon "Lucky 3d" Schwanhaeusser

Simon was born in 1982. He has been playing go for 5 years.

He has been an undergraduate student for 5 years, and his current major is chinese.

He came to the IBA last November, he studied Baduk for a few months and then started studying PC Bang, Jimjil Bang and Korean language.

Simon speaks German and English fluently, and can speak basic Mandarin, and Korean.

He currently owns 27 diamond chandeliers somewhere in one of his castles in Germany.

He plans to sell one or two of them to start a business in Germany.

It will be the first ever NoraePCJimjilKimpapKiwonMassagee Bang.

I met Simon while studying at the International Baduk Academy. The first thing I noticed about him, is that he is very concerened about others, and goes out of his way to make people comfortable. Before coming to Korea, he was very helpful in answering many questions I had.

Once I arrived, he was very affable. One of the first nights I was in Korea I said that I wanted tea, so we walked for 30 minutes, looking for a place to have some, talking about nothing in particular, as if we had been friends for years.

Another interesting story, one night around 3:00 AM I picked up three girls and I took them out to dinner, but we were having problems communicating, so I called Simon and he got out of bed and came to help. I guess it was not a free service, since I payed for his dinner too.

Simon has a very interesting style of play, most of his moves are based on intuition, rather than careful planning, and very often he will somehow hypnotize his opponents (or maybe just me ^__^) into making mistakes.

While he says he is just a lucky 3 dan, his kgs playing rating varies between 4d and 6d.

Check him out on KGS, where he is known as Dogtagnan.

Fun times in Dajeon Part one.

2009-03-04T09:19:00.004-05:00

There exists a Place called Daejeon. It is a big city south of Seoul. There, is a Baduk School, Chungwan Baduk Dojang. A few months ago they visited the IBA, this was before my time at the IBA. More recently, In February, we visited them for the first time. Simon, Pascal and I went there for 2 days.

I can not really explain how it felt. I was surrounded by children as young as 4 years old studying the game that I love. I was jealous at their oppurtunity to do this, but the feeling was not strong. Anyway, I can't really explain the feeling, I felt completely invigorated. That part was difficult to explain so..... here are some pictures while I think of something else to say.

Their best three VS our only Three..

Han Bi reviewing a game by Cho Hunhyun

Me vs. My rival (although I don't think she knows that...)

Team game, Those kids are all the same level as me, ages 5-7

I lost all of my games that day, but I had a great game against "my rival" It was a bloody fight. But in the end I lost.

On the second day, we all went to Korean Traditional music museum, and learned how to play the drums. We also made our own.

There are plenty of pictures and they are better than words

Drum Class

Pascal

Amazing expression ^__^

Learning the Drums

I guess i was really interested

Youngkyu and Hanbi

I seem to be a horse or something

Group Photos

Giant Drum, awesome sound

Making our own drums

They look happy

All done with the Drum

All together now

Then we played a little bit in the playground ^__^

High

The

Sky

Put In my place

2009-03-04T08:51:00.003-05:00

After all my confidence last week, I have been losing a lot again. That's OK, my games have been better, and my losses were due to getting lazy in the endgame.

Here is a game I lost because I overplayed in a fight against an Insei ^__^. It was a lot of fun anyway, please enjoy the commentary, and the game.

Enjoy.

I declare this my Ascension to maybe 3k....

2009-02-26T10:29:00.007-05:00

Ok, so maybe I can't pinpoint my strength but...

I have been having good results against my Monsterously strong teachers, and I am almost finished with Baduk for Little Children Volume 4....(4k-1d) I have a few problems left, which I will finish tommorow.

This week I have a pretty oggd record against the our teacher, 2 wins 2 losses. I hope to be able to make it 3-2 tommorow ^__^

Here is a gamewith commentary, (my win woot woot)

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BC Card Cup and an Annoying Problem

2009-02-24T04:30:00.010-05:00

BC Card Cup

(Also in case you are wondering what the BC Card is, here is a commercial...)

Try to solve this problem before moving on, you are supposed to capture the marked stone (Q2).

From SGF/games

I had forgotten all about the BC cup, but when my friend jeered me about not going to baduk events, I suddenly remembered it. I checked to see when it was and woah and behold it was the next day. (This happened yesterday) After trying to solve a certian go problem for about 30 minutes I gave up and went to sleep

This morning I woke up nice and early, (9:45) and set out to the Hanguk Kiwon. On the train I continued to try and solve the problem, but was not successful. I even enlisted the help of some 2d ajishi I happened to meet on the train this morining.

After getting of the train, I was not sure where to go. A nice police man helped me out.

The Hanguk Kiwon was surprisingly empty, apperently I arrived 3 hours early. I wandered around a bit and in the end decided to give the problem another shot. Again after playing it out on the board a man came over and we started to try and solve it together. We had no luck.

I moved to a new spot, and decided to skip the problem and move on the next one. As time passed by a nice man sat down next to me and we started to talk. His name Jang Myeonghan (4p) His english was quite good so we were able to talk. He told me that he was planning on visiting New York sometime, and asked for my contact info. I was embarresed, not having a business card, so I ran to a PC Bang and made some simple paper ones. (Better than nothing I guess?)

Jang Myeonghan 4P

The tournament would be starting soon, so he had to go, but not before I showed him that pesky problem. Try as I might I could not capture that stone, he glanced at it and solved it. The solution is at the bottom.

At the actual tournament I was only allowed to spend about 10 minutes taking pictures.

It was an interesting thing that happened. Before the games started everyone was relaxing in their own ways, meditating, talking to friends, laughing. There was nothing that special going one, but once the anouncment for the games to begin was made the air became heavy. Maybe it was in my head, but I found it difficult to breathe, it felt as if I was in a steam room (not as hot or humid though)

I took as many photos as time permitted. Sorry if they arent the best quality.

from 2-22-09

From 2-22-09

Solution:
He said connecting is good enough. so here is the solution. In a game it is likely white would not play 30, and just tenuki; so for all of those who, like me, loathe that little marked stone, you can go ahead and ignore whites 30 (presumably elsewhere) and capture it.....

From SGF/games

Segregation on the Dance Floor

2009-02-23T02:17:00.005-05:00

BOBOS9

On Friday night we did the usual thing we do. We ate and then went to drink. This time was a bit special since one of our friends Tony Adria (2d) was going back his home in Canadia. Instead of the regular kimbap place we always go to, we went to a meat bar (Samgyupsal) It was nice because it was so cheap. We ate beef and pork.

After dinner we went to Tudari, which is a really cozy pub type place. Kind of hard to explain, the main purpose of it is to drink, but there is no bar. People sit in these booths and order. There isn't much selection either, beer, Soju or plum wine.

In Korea if you are a foreigner you are loved, you have no problem getting people to buy you drinks or show you around. I do not know why, but Koreans have been really hospitable to me. I can not tell whether its fake or not, but its nice.

I will elaborate on this more later, now back to the story....

We sat down, and shortly after ordering drinks and more food, we started talking to people around us, soon we were invited to sit with these two guys in their 30's, and a few younger ones we were talking to joined as well. To put things simply, we walked in the place a group of 4, and walked out a group of 8.

Jin with no descriptor, and Lukas the German language student

Tony and 36 year old special ops Ajisji

Pascal and gonna get married March 7th Ajishi

Finally getting to the point of this entry, Afterwards 6 of us went to a dance club.

When we got there it seemed nice, the place was comfortable, drinks were not too expensive, and music was fun. I proceeded to go tot the dance floor. At first I did not realize that something was strange, but slowly I noticed that girls were dancing on one side of the room, and guys on the other. Some people were not even really dancing just vaguely moving their bodies imitating the dance from the current song's music video.

When I tried to dance with the girls they would run away T__T;;

Anyway I had a lot of fun dancing alone.

Another funny thing happened there too. We were sitting at our table, and this girl came over to us. She sat down across from me, and made me criss cross arms with her as we drank beer. She said things along the lines of you are very handsome and hand fed me squid. I was surprised at how straightforward she was. Then all of a sudden she started to shake her head saying something. Then she left. Apparently (according to Korean guy next me) she decided that she doesn't want to continue a relationship with someone who doesn't speak Korean. This whole encounter left me frustrated and confused.

Graduation at Myongj University

2009-02-21T02:14:00.003-05:00

Myongji University.

MU is a school in Korea, it is unique in that it is the only school in the world that offers a Masters and a Bachelors degree in Baduk Studies (Go studies)

The Baduk department was started in 1997, and has provided many yonguseng (Korean Insei) an opportunity to get a college degree. (Generally yonguseng don't have a chance to study in high school, as they devote all of their time to Baduk. When it comes time to get into University it is difficult) Myongji's classes teach them "how" to teach. Also about how to teach abroad. For weaker players they offer theory and technique classes. Most of the students are quite strong though (7d) This school accepts players of all strengths 18 kyu- 9 dan Pro.

I was considering to go to this school before I found out about the IBA. I still would like to go, but I have to learn Korean better. We came late to my friends graduation (she almost missed it) but it all turned out OK. We walked in just as it was ending, we got to miss all the boring stuff.

Diana Koszegi

Diana (Dia) is a professional Baduk player. She is one of the few westerners to ever make it pro. She grew up in Hungary, and learned Baduk from her father (2d) and helped him teach at his go classes. Last year after making it to 2nd class yonguseng (out of 5) the Hanguk Kiwon promoted her to Pro. This was not undeserved, as she proceeded to defeat her first opponent (8p)

Anyway this Wednesday she graduated from Myongji University, I followed her around as a photographer sort of... Anyway here are some pictures.

Apidet (Mod) and Dia not noticing the Camera

Dia and Mod posing looking happy

I gave her that hammer as a Graduation Gift

Dia, and Mod receiving their diplomas

Professor Chihyung Nam.
This was my first time meeting her.
She gave me the impression that she is very nice.
She also seems to be a very strong woman.
I got some free Baduk books from her, *yay* ^__^

Hey Look Simon and I graduated Myongji...
Anyway just a bunch of people that came to say thank you to Professor nam

Lee DoYun (right with the peace sign)
Lee Chang Ho's girlfriend graduated last Wednesday too
Unfortunately he was not there, so I could not meet him.

Ji Young another one of my teachers, she came to celebrate Dia too.
Nandor is a Serbian 1d, he is a cool guy currently studies at Myongji
Professor Nam

Simon Sleeping on the ride back from Myongji

I get by with a little help from my friends....

2009-02-16T07:58:00.004-05:00

I set out to Korea to study baduk (go wei chi) It was also supposed to be the start of my adventures in the world. Its been 6 weeks since I got here.

What have I done so far? Sure I studied baduk daily but why have i dropped down to 5kyu on kgs? Where have I traveled?

Well honestly I do think I have gotten stronger at baduk, but I am not satisfied with the games i have been playing. I have developed a stupid habit of relaxing in endagame and following my teachers aroudn the board, just responding to their moves.

So for three weeks i studied diligently, and went up a stone.

I have encountered some relationship problems, namely the end of one. This unfortunatly is not a pleasant process and required proper dealing with. So for three weeks, I have not ben able to concentrate on important things, and I ended up sick.

Those three weeks were not wasted. I made some new friends, and genuinly experienced the Korean lifestyle, that is to say during the day do what you have to do (which i didnt but pretended to >__>) and at night play PC games, or drink.

That is what happens here. Work all week to drink on the weekends. It was fun for me because its not my usual, but I cant see myself living this way.

Anyway I started studying hard again. A friend reminded me to play just because playing is fun... No need to worry about stuff like improving. Another friend reminded me to do what i came here to do, and not worry about other things....

These past two days i have been playing games that I really enjoyed. I have a bet going with one guy best out 15, wins a pizza..

A few days were my style... Ill write about them soon...

A friend's Goban, my hat, her bag

Visiting the Hanguk Kiwon

2009-01-20T01:53:00.002-05:00

Last week we visited the Koren Go Association, the Hankuk Kiwon.

The main reason we went was that one of the students at the IBA needed to buy a go board and stones.

To be Honest, I was a little bit disappointed with what I saw. Sure there were professionals, and Yonguseng (Korean Insei) but the place seemed a little empty. I guess I was expecting a bunch fanatics studying, but I was later informed that most of the pros i was expecting to see study in small groups around the Hankuk Kiwon. I have not had a chance to visit them, I will ask my friend if she could take me along one day.

I took a few pictures, so take a look.

This is the Entrance

I am Lee ChangHo!

Yonguseng Reviewing a game

He Looks harmless, but likely he can give most of blog readers 9 stones

Papier Mache

Playing Area

Same Place Different Angle

Boris 3k Vs Marc 3d

Shop Keeper Ajuma

Also, I will be buying many books in Korea, so that we can sell them at the New York Go Center.

Expect a really good problem series, as well as Jungsuk in Our Time.

Baduk in Korea

2009-01-11T13:47:00.004-05:00

The IBA
I have come to Korea to study baduk, I was expecting to have a large group of foreigners who want to do the same thing, while this is not what I found, I am not disappointed.

It seems that many of the students went home for the winter holidays. When I came there were only three other students. Simon, Mark, and Ms. Park. Mark has left to Germany, and will be back in March. Simon spend most of his days at a language course, so he only gets to the IBA at 4pm. Ms. Park is a nice older lady, and we play often. I can give her two stones, but hats just because she makes silly mistakes in fighting. She kind of reminds me of Mrs. Adams from the New York Go Center.

The first day I got here we went out to celebrate new years. It was a lot of fun. Simon brought a lot of his friends from his language course, and the Hungarian Professional Diana Koszegi joined us for Bulgogi (Korean bbq)Drinking and Norae Bang (karaoke)

From January Korea

Me and Mark

From January Korea

Dia and Simon

From January Korea

Happy New Years ^^^

We spent the night at somebody's apartment playing cards, and Go.

January 1st was spent at the IBA recovering and playing go.

Classes finally started the 2nd, I could not wait.
I met my teachers gradually.

First I met Professor Lee Ki Bong. He runs the IBA, and is very kind. Even though he is older than all the students, he has no problem keeping up with us. We not only see him as a teacher but as a friend. We went drinking with him a few times, and we even sang Norae Bang together. I was very happy to see this kind of relationship (older and young). We just call him "Professor"

From January Korea

Professor at Bulgogi

Second I met Jung-Hyeop. He is a bit younger than me, but an extremely strong player. He is very modest about his strength, but he likes to joke around. The other day he asked me for a game with "would you like to crush me now" I think he might have misunderstood the meaning of the phrase, as we the students often ask him to play in such a way. Anyway. I will post a game that I play with him soon.

From January Korea

I am paparazzi of Go Teachers

The third teacher I met is Hae Kwang. I do not know to much about him yet, but so far he seems very nice. When I play baduk with him, I feel like a bull being led around a coliseum by a Matador.

From January Korea

Laughing Matador
The last teacher I have met is the very lovely Hee Su. She is probably the strongest female amateur baduk player in the country. While her style seems soft, the second I make some sort of opening, I die. I have played the most games with her. Each game I think that I am about to finally win, when she cuts my head off. Out of the teachers her english is the worst, but Simon and I are teaching her, we are looking to expand our english teaching into a small school

From January Korea

(Could not get a better shot :P I will post a better picture when I could get one)
BTW you can find a game that I played with her here: Game+Review

Thats all for now, I have to figure out how to post SGF files to my blog for now I will be posting on EidoGo take care guys.

Arrival in Korea

2009-01-01T21:27:00.005-05:00

Leaving my girlfriend and family in the airport was tough. I was kinda crying. I really hated hurting her so much.

Once I was in the airplane it was much better though. I watched Tru Blood until I got to Detriot.

In Detroit, I taught a little chinese boy how to play Baduk.

The ride to japan was really nice. I met this guy name Pete, and a nice old lady named Yuan. We talked for hours about life. She used to be a member of the communist party in china, but she moved to Canada to retire.

Pete is a chinese language student who went to travel around china for a few weeks during winter break.

Here is a picture.

On the plain ride over to Japan I found a go player on the flight so we played a game.

As soon as I figure out how I will post that game.

My girlfriends uncle picked me up from the Airport, and I collapsed as soon as I got to his house.

Him and His wife...

I will write more later...off to Baduk

New Apartment, Life, Departure

2008-12-27T01:10:00.004-05:00

I have not written in month, but I have been busy...

This is more of a personal blog post.

In the past month lots of things have happened. I signed papers with my girlfriend. I got to "AGA 4k" I quit my job. I moved out of my house and in with my Sunny (Girlfriend). I said my goodbyes to my friends and packed my bag. On Monday I will leave to Korea. I will travel 11 hours into the future and arrive Tuesday night.

I will spend the first night at my Uncle's house, and then I will be joining the IBA.

As much as I am excited to go and travel, I am a little sad leaving my Sunny in our new apartment all by herself.

On why we moved in together, I love her dearly, and I have been planning to live with her for sometime now. All of a sudden, she decided to leave her home and move out. So I moved in with her. Her dad is helping us out a lot with rent and stuff, I can not wait to get back and continue living with her in our little broken down apartment.

Sunny is an artist, she is an aspiring mangaka. For the holidays I made her sort of a table easel so that she can draw more comfortably. I really hope that while I am away she creates her rough draft of her manga series.

In the past few months I finally reconected with my best friend from childhood, Roman. He got into go recently ^__^ he is already 13k KGS. He is helping me out running the tournaments while I am in Korea. Its a little sad to leave...he should be kidnapped and brought to me in Korea....

I moved out of my moms house so suddenly, she seems sad these days, I hope she will be Ok.

I have worked a lot at the New York Go Center in the past months... I hope it is still standing when I come back ^__^

I will be back in 6 months a better smarter stronger person.

As for my posts while I am in Korea... Likely tri-weekly. I will be posting experiences as well as My games and my teacher's comments on them...

Hope you guys keep reading. See you soon.

My Girlfriend, and My Go

2008-11-27T17:55:00.004-05:00

Girlfriend and Go ...

I am sure that more than once there has been tension between our Go and Our significant others.

I have been with my girlfriend for almost three years, I love her.

I have been playing Go for just under 5 years, I love Go.

It is very strange, but many Go Players will agree with me, sometimes, when it comes to Go, it is hard to get your priorities straight.

Several times, we have almost broken up over it. Several times I have tried to show her why I play, but she does not get it.

It is rather strange to explain to people that do not play that I am going to Korea for six months, not to travel, not to study abroad, but to play Go.

She does not get it either, but she tries her best to pretend to support me. She hates that I play sometimes, but she always wishes me well for tournaments. She hates that I would sometimes rather play than spend time with her, but she puts up with it.

I am sorry my love (My girlfriend, not Go) for all the trouble my mistress Baduk has put you through, thank you for putting up with my playing, thank you for staying with me when I will leave for 6 months. Thank you Sunny.

I will not give up playing for you, but know that you are more important to me do not doubt that.

To everybody else, sorry for the sappy post, but I think that some of you can relate to it. If you have any stories to share, E-mail me @ boris.nygocenter@gmail.com I will likely be writing a follow up blog about the effects of Go on peoples relationships.

Here is a little Comic relief to those poor Go widows and Widowers, I am sure you have thought about it more than once:

From Random Funny

Masters Open

2008-11-15T01:57:00.003-05:00

The Masters Open

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of running the Masters Open. I was the Director, and Kim Dae Yol was the organizer.

From Masters Open

Me

Although only 12 people played in the tournament, it was pretty intense having so many talented players in one room. We had 4 former US Open winners! Andy Liu, Young Kwon, Dae Yol Kim, Lee Jong Moon.

From Masters Open

Young Kwon 7d

There where two things that stood out to me the most about this tournament. Although we had only 12 players we had 4 kids competing. We all know that there are these amazing kids out there that are 6d at 6 years old... well thats a bit of an exaggeration, but everytime I see these pre-teen 6 dans it always blows my mind.

From Masters Open

The 6d Children

There was a moment towards the end of the tournament that really stuck with me At one moment Mr. Tao came in the room to say hi to his old friends, and everyone was just so happy. The simple game of Go created ties between people that last your whole life. Personally, I have made friends from all over the world, from all walks of life, there is just something about the relationships forged over the wooden battlefield...

From Masters Open

Vincent Liu

My absolute favorite thing about go is that these 12 year olds could play with the 70 year olds and have the two players be equals on the board. This event had a lot of this. It was rather odd but we did not have any "young adult" aged players. Everyone was either around 13 years old, or in their 50's or 60's.

Andy Liu won the first prize of $800

From Masters Open

Andy Liu

Jie Liang, Jong Moon Lee, And Xiliang Liu where tied with 3 wins 1 loss each. Tiebreaking was used to determine the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place.

Jie Liang took home 2nd.

Jong Moon Lee took 3rd.

Xiliang Liu took home 4th.

From Masters Open

Coffee Go

From Masters Open

Young vs. Not So Young

From Masters Open

Friends in thought

From Masters Open

Xiliang Liu Vs. Jong Moon Lee

For all photos visit

Masters Open

Election Night At the Brooklyn Go Club + Go Club Review

2008-11-05T15:18:00.004-05:00

The Brooklyn Go Club

Meets in Club Members Houses

(Ratings out of 5 *'s)
Average Attendance: ****
Events ***
Equipment ***
Beginner Friendly *****
Player Strength ***
Store *
Refreshments *****
Study Recources ***
Hours **

Overall ***

Smoking: Yes (Not only tobacco :-!)
Entrance Fee : Bring Food

The Brooklyn Go Club is a very interesting club. Unlike the other clubs that I have been at so far, It does not actually have a set location where to meet. Instead, week to week various members voulenteer to have the club meet at their house. And while there is no fee, generally it is expected that you bring food to share with everyone.

This club has a very different atmosphere than other clubs that I have been to, while playing go is an important part of the club, it is not the main aspect. In this club Go is more of a means of interaction as opposed to a main event. This is not a bad thing.

While my reasons for playing Go are to play go, many people like the sense of community that comes with the game. The Social aspect of it. In this Sense the Brooklyn Go Club is a great club to be at. Most of the members have been friends for a long long time, the ones who haven't certainly are not made to feel left out.

I have been only to a few of their meetings, and something that I really enjoyed is playing on all the different equipment. Since the club meets in member's houses, the playing equipment is always interesting to see.

Morrisarian, for example, has so many different boards from his travels. He has a traditional chinese board, with elaborate decorations. As well as a 8 inch thick floor board, that he got from Japan. Anyway the point is that every meeting it is pretty cool to see the different boards and stones that you can play on.

As far as players go, most of them are around Shodan, and the strengths range from beginner to 7d. You will most likely find a game easily, whether you are the teacher, or you are the student depends on the day.

It is actually rather difficult to describe this club with words, as I am not that great of a writer, but let me try to show you what it is like....

Election Night:

As I walked into the Go Club I was greeted by an older woman with a smile on her face. This is Barabara. I gave her some melons I had brought to share with everyone. I walked into the main playing area of her house, and was hit with a sweet smell. Everyone was happy with wine in their hands. Although I was slightly surprised at how relaxed everyone was, After I put down my things, and put some rice and crab balls on my plate, I walked over to the guys that were watching the election on TV and their friendly energy me. They were laughing and cheering everytime an important state was won.

Honestly I had come to play go, so I set out to find a game. Ron Snyder 7d was my opponent. I was surprised at how well I was doing, but I had relaxed too much towards the end, and let a group die. Anyway the onlookers proceeded to make comments on the game.

As more and more people came in to the club (there where about 20 at one point I think) there was more and more laughter. Old friends seeing each other, after either a week or longer I am not sure, either way they were happy.

Everyone was eating, sharing stories, playing go and watching the election. Everyone was jolly with wine. I managed to get a few games in, I was surprised that I was playing shodans even, and doing well. I won 1 lost 2. The house was warm because of the amount of people, and their energy.

When Obama finally got elected Everyone was so happy. The Go Club hugged cheered, dranks and cried.

The whole feeling I got from the place was like a family, like a bunch of old friends.

To sum this review up, the Brooklyn Go Club is a very social club, that is a great deal of fun to be at. The people are great, and the equipment is interesting. While I do not think that this club is meant to be a "study and get better club" it is certainly a "have fun while playing go and talking and laughing with friends club"

Overall : *** (score was brought down due to lack of hours, and a store.

-end-

Flushing "Hanguk Kiwon" Go Club

2008-10-26T04:27:00.008-04:00

Hanguk Kiwon Go Club
36-18 Union Street
Flushing Queens, New York

(Ratings out of 5 *'s)
Average Attendance: ****
Events *
Equipment ***
Beginner Friendly **
Player Strength ****
Store *
Refreshments ****
Study Recources **
Hours *****

Overall ***
Smoking: yes
Entrance Fee $10/day $5/students

This club seems rather intimidating to newcomers. There is no sign hinting at a Go club, at least not in English. It is located on the busy Union Street, amidst a stew of hair salons bakeries, and travel agents. However once you figure out where it is, and enter inside it still seems pretty un-inviting.

That is wrong however. Although there are no beginners in this club that I know of, the Manager will find you a game, or give you a lesson regardless of your ability. He speaks english well, so you should not worry about the language barrier. There are good opponents ranging from about 10kyu to about 6 or 7d

Although there is a teaching board in the club, I have never seen a formal lecture, I might be wrong, as I was only there 5 or 6 times. There are also a few Korean Language go magazines, but overall study materials are really few.

This club has an interesting feature of having free refreshments, including tea, coffee, juice, and even a little Asian* yogurt drink.

There is also a Mah-Jong room, but I was not allowed to take any pictures.

Just a warning there IS SMOKING in this club like most other Korean Go Clubs.

To sum it up This is a good club for playing, if you can tolerate smoke. The entrance fee is low, you will find an opponent, and they have a fair range of strengths. You won't find formal instruction, or books to study, but there are free beverages to keep your energy up while you play.

-end-

*This is not meant to be racist, this yogurt drink is sold in China, Japan, and Korea and I do not know where else. Also I am not sure where it is from.

My Students

2008-10-21T12:29:00.002-04:00

In the past two weeks, I seem to have picked up 3 students.

One of them, MayhemFrank, I met on Godisscusions. Timothy president of Neon Sandwich, I met while walking in the park, and the Third, to whom I have so far only spoken to through e-mail, I do not know anything about.

My students all pay me, but in various ways. Mayhem teaches me secret strategies to a certain videogame, Timothy is supposed to read my future, and the third and I agreed to cash.

This brings me to my next point, is it wrong for me to take money for teaching? I feel a little guilty considering I am only 4 kyu right now, but I need money to eat while I am in Korea. My only income is about $100/weekly from the after school go program I run, and about 3 dollars a day I make from you guys clicking on the Ads on this page.

I enjoy teaching, but I need a hand, To the stronger readers of this Blog: any reccomended lesson plans?
So far lessons that I have set:

Rules
Two Eyes/why corners first
Various Escaping from situations problems
Keeping your stones connected/Your opponent disconnected.

Thats all for now, let me hear feedback, and if you want to support my Go studies refer to 4th paragraph.

Masters Open

2008-10-18T18:49:00.003-04:00

At the New York Open, Dae Yol Kim 7d, Young Kwon 7d and I met to discuss how to attract the Korean Community to the AGA.

There were many things that we spoke about, but that will come in another post... maybe.

For now we are going to have the Masters Open.

1st prize: $800 or more

2nd prize: $400

3rd prize: $200

The entry fee for the Tournament is as follows

AGA members : $40
Non Members $50 (includes 1 year membership.)

All games will be even, and only the top three finishers will recieve prizes.

This is the first step of our plan to get the Korean players to Join the AGA.

There are so many korean players, and I honestly think that they might enjoy a little heterogenity as far as their pool of opponents goes.

More on this later....

New York Go Center: Reviewed

2008-10-14T22:15:00.003-04:00

Hey guys since I have attended many Go clubs around, I decided that I will review them, maybe post a few pictures. Be sure to read the review and not just look at the star points

(Ratings out of 5 *'s)
Average Attendance: ***
Events *****
Equipment *****
Beginner Friendly *****
Player Strength ***
Store ****
Refreshments **
Study Recources *****
Hours ****

Overall ****
Entrance Fee $7/day $5/students

Although I am the Vice President of the New York Go Center I will try my best to be unbaised.

So lets start with the Bad. The attendance is low. The Heater makes a strange noise, that caused me to get rather sleepy all winter. The paint is chipped in a few places, and the club has been mis-managed for years. I would like to think that in the past year, my efforts have helped it along the way.

The good: Although there aren't that many players, there are always at least two just waiting to play with you and teach you. There is a resident instructor at all times, as well as the host. Our hosts range in strengths from 5k-3d.

The Resident Instructor is someone chosen by the Nihon Ki-in, who loves go and stays in New York For three months just to teach. Our current Instructor, Hyodo Shunichi, is an AGA 7d. The Daily host has a lot of experience teaching, and is always available for a game. On Average about 5 people are present at the Go Center. More on weekends

There is an extensive library of go books in English, Korean and Japanese. They have antique and out of print books.

Just recently the New York Go Center started selling go equipment, they have a 1 3/4 inch board for just 30 dollars. Stones start at 15, and wooden bowls are 18. They also have a large selection of books at discounted prices for members.

Monthly tournaments are held at the Go Center, as well as "Special" tournaments. Lectures are held at center, although these are rather irregular. If there are any strong local players interested, please contact the NYGC at boris.nygocenter@gmail.com.

Honestly the Go Center is a great club for players of all strengths and ages. You always have an opponent, great study material, and no cigarette smoke.

Hello, and Welcome

2008-10-13T14:10:00.000-04:00

My name is Boris Bernadsky.

I am 19 years old,
and on December 9th I will fly away from New York to join the International Baduk Academy.

When people ask me what do I do I tell them I am a Go Player.

I began playing about 4 years ago at summer camp.

We did not have our own board so we made on out of clay (pieces) and a piece of linoleum (board)

I started a High School Go club that had about 20 regulars, somedays we had over 30 attendees.

After high school I kept playing, and Became involved with the New York Go Center. I started running tournaments, and doing small upgrades to the club.

We started selling equipment, books, and started a game analysis night. I organized for other clubs to come visit us. This September on my birthday I got promoted to Vice President of the Club.

Over the last summer I was incredibly lucky, as I convinced an after school/Summer camp program to let me teach Go instead of chess. So over the summer I had about 150 students that I taught to play the game.

I got lucky a second time because I was allowed to continue my program into the school year.

Currently I have about 20 students whom I see once a week (two classes)

Anyway....that's me. I Play Go, I teach Go, I promote Go.

(I also have a Girlfriend whom I absolutely love, and will marry one day who abhors the game.)

-Boris ~4k