The notice is out on Malaysia Weiqi Forum. The selection tournament for 30th World Amateur Go Championship will be held at date and place specified below:
Date : 17 Jan 2009 (Sat.)
Time : 3.00 pm
Venue : Japan Club (Fuji Room)
I must say time flies really fast. It’s already another selection tournament for World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) in Japan. This time, the 30th WAGC will be held in Ecopa Park, Shizuoka Prefecture, which different from 29th WAGC which was in Nihon Ki-in, Tokyo.
I want to go !
I bet the tournament selection will be tougher than last year. Firstly I suspect Boon Ping will join this time. He did not last year for whatever reason. Secondly, the overall level of Malaysian go players have been rising fast within last one year. Younger players especially are getting more aggressive and becoming better at attacking. High spirit, vigilance and stamina is certainly needed if I were to meet them one after another.
I believe I have been improving as well, more horizontally than vertically. I am still staying at the same rank as last year, but now, I am more comfortable with modern opening plays such as 5-4 and 5-5. Managed to get some good results with those against Billy and Old Zhuang recently during casual weekend games. However, I am not sure if I am brave enough to try them in real tournaments when opponents will think really hard to make those moves ineffective.
For the moment, I am deliberately avoiding to use Kobayashi, San-Ren-Sei or Chinese/Mini-Chinese openings. I am just sick of those after seeing them too often. It’s time to be adventurous with unconventional plays. Seriously, how exactly can I improve if I am already scared on the first move? If I am scared of unfamiliar go landscape?
Time to rejuvenate.
