To make up for the long delay between posts, I'm going to try something different today. Chew is, as we speak, engaged in a Very Important Game of Go (aren't they all?). We're at a Go Tournament in Austin, TX, and it's the first game of the morning. Throughout the day, I'm going to try to make little mini-updates on how the tournament is going, how Chew's doing, maybe even how the other players are feeling, depending on how shy I'm feeling.
Right at the present, Chew is playing a gentleman in what seems, by their gestures, to be a fairly intense game. I know that Chew tends to get more jerky with his movements as the game becomes closer, or he gets more shaken up by what's going on. Even from here, I can tell he's starting to lose a bit of focus. His opponent seems very friendly, though, so hopefully that will put Chew back at ease.
As for the other tournament go-ers (see what I did there?) it's interesting to see the type of people the game attracts and what sort of quirks they seem to have. I can see one gentleman from where I'm sitting who taps his lip between moves, and another who resolutely sits with both hands in his lap, like he's trying to move the stones with mental prowess alone. With some of these people, I can almost believe that's possible.
Each game has a sort of timer, that, according to the organizer, has a time of 40 minutes. Chew explained that there are extra periods after that, just in case you run out of the initial time. I know a game tends to take him an hour-ish, so I'll be interested to see how that playes out among the rest of the crowd. He said he'll be playing four games, and to expect the tournament to not be done until 6 or so. That includes a short break for lunch (probably McDonald's) and likely chatting time afterwards, so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out.
Looks like Chew's opponent is less smiley now, more focused. Wonder if that means Chew settled into a rhythm.
I would say a good 9/10ths of the gentlemen here (and, with the exception of a fellow watcher, I believe they are all men) remind me of various college professors, usually the communication arts professors. Everyone is meticulously groomed, thoughtful looking, and projects an air of confidence in the game that reminds me a bit of the media conferences I used to attend, minus the undercurrent of debauchery since every stereotype about reporters ever is totally truefax.
The games have definitely begun in earnest now. Chew's opponent looks very thoughtful, lip tapping guy is moving quickly, with few wasted gestures now, and the air of the room is much more competitive. It's like the moment in a well-run D&D campaign when one of your party members drops below zero health and you realize hey, this just got real, time for daily powers.
Taking a break from the tournament action, I'm going to discuss for a moment the Shiny New Toy that Chew's got. Wednesday, he decided he wanted a little tablet computer to record Go games; Thursday during his lunch break, he found one he liked. The ASUS EEE Transformer is a cute little thing, and I'm sure Chew has already recorded a billion games on it, in addition to the Final Fantasy and Choose your own Adventure (AS A DRAGON!!!) games he's got. As I work for an iPhone dev company, I'm legally required to distain it, but secretly I think it's pretty cool. He asked his opponent if he could record the game, and so I believe what he's doing is playing a move, then clicking the corresponding point on the tablet. It's an interesting idea, though I wonder if he'll be distracted by it.
So, now that the games are a bit more intense, I see that Chew has moved from Jerky Movements to stretching and putting his hands behind his head. That, from him, usually means the game has reached a crisis point, one way or another. Unfortunately, I didn't hear how many handicap stones were involved in this game, so we'll see how it goes. It seems like most of the games have changed in some undefinable way, as people are slumping in their seats or resting chins on fists. Perhaps face to face, games go by more quickly than online.
Regardless, this post is getting far too long, so I'll cut it here. More updates as the day wears on, probably in the form of much shorter posts. At points throughout the day, I'm going to wander around Austin and not necessarily be here, so I won't see all the action, but I'll check in fairly frequently.
EDIT/UPDATE: Oh Chew, you are the slowest Go player. I want to pat your head and feed you chocolate milks.
How'd the tournament turn out?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to playing in some once I get back the States.