6 geup!

I spent the last few hours at Fort Lee Baduk, a cozy baduk salon located on the ever-busy Main Street of Fort Lee. The manager was very welcoming and I was immediately set up to play against a 1 geup. I told him I was 8 geup and was promptly given seven stones. I had expected a colder welcoming, but the players at the salon couldn't be nicer.

There were a couple of other games going on at the time, and spectators would hover from table to table glancing at positions. I started out quite well against my opponent. For most of the game I kept calm and collected, as did my opponent. I was impressed with his ability to play so calmly and serenely; perhaps I was expecting a sharper bite?

I missed a few tesujis and he quickly erased my 20 point lead near the end of the middle game. I was comfortable with 80% of my yose; it was very solid, but I missed a few of his reductions. I split two of his groups and attacked both as strong as I could, but he easily deflected my attacks and made life.

They were a bit surprised I didn't know how to count up the board at the end of the game. I said I had only played online, which prompted a 6 geup to comment almost boisterously, "how do you count online?".

It was clear I had won; I knew I was leading the whole time, but I didn't expect to win by a paltry two points. My opponent praised my ability and said I was 6 geup in strength. I was then set up with the aforementioned 6 geup.

Opening with my favorite fuseki, the Kobayashi, I fell behind early on. He stumbled in a position on the top of the board, seemingly making a misread. He missed a net that gained me six points and the game felt even from the early yose on. Perhaps he was taking it a bit easy on me? It certainly felt that way in the second game, where I resigned early on.

He was generous enough to show me how to count at the end. We both ended up with 53 points each, but seeing as to how it was an even game with full komi, I lost by 6.5 points.

After the second game, I began conversing with the owner of the salon, Brian. We had a fruitful conversation, talking about baduk and the relationship between Turkey and Korea (I had worn my Turkey soccer jersey).

All in all it was a really great time. I was challenged by the "Snake" and will play him tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be embarrassed. In the meantime I will try to finish the third LCH book.

Hopefully with their help I can reach my next goal of 1k by the end of July...

July 1st - 2k - DONE!
August 1st - 1k - ...
September 1st - 1d - ....