Exams coming!

It has been a while since I last blogged. I've been busy going to places, doing my assignments, and suddenly, I realised that my exams are less than 3 weeks away. But, there is no panicking needed, just sit back, relax, and have a game of Go. Haha.

Anyway, I've come up with a new page, which shows my development of Go strength by date. It's here. Please note that my rank weaker than 20 kyu is rather unreliable (because I took some time away from the game due to A-Level exams).

Troy

I went to watch Troy yesterday. All I can say about the movie is that it's ‘damn good’. Brad Pitt put up a stunning show and the movie was nothing like any other fighting movie made recently (e.g LoTR etc). I read a critic on the net saying that the war in Troy is nothing new, because we’ve seen those in LoTR. But he/she forgot to mention that in Troy, it’s more focused on the individual’s fighting scene (Achilles), compared to LoTR where they just bash everybody who comes in their way.

But I did a mistake before going to the movie; I read the history of Troy and the critic spoiled me with a bit of the ending. The bloody critic didn’t mentioned that it’s gonna be a spoiler. Damn :( . Anyway, I’m not going to give any hints of the movie here on the main screen (there's a link for the history of Troy below). So for those who haven’t seen the movie, you can still read ahead.

Up to the early 1800s, historians still consider the Trojan War that was depicted in Homer's peom (ancient Greek linguist), called Iliad, a myth. And not to mention that they regard Troy as a purely legendary city. But later in 1870, a German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann began excavations that unearthed the actual stone walls and battlements of an ancient city on the mound called Hissarlik (“Place of Fortresses”), which later lead them to the discovery of the Troy mentioned in Iliad by Homer.

To read in detailed about the excavations, click here.

For those who are historically inclined, read about the Trojan War here.

The Touya Joseki - definitely for stronger players

I tried the Touya Joseki that I mentioned in my previous posts. Apparently, I did something wrong, and I end up loosing the lower part of the sequence. But I manage to compensate for my lost with capturing a large group in the center, yet, it bothers me. How do I make the Touya Joseki work?

Also, I've been looking through the other games played in HNG, and I found out that Hikaru vs. Morishita is also interesting. Give it a look! :)

p/s: To all KGS users, please put your mark on the Go-World-Map here! It's interesting to see how many KGS users there are from all over the world. There are currently only 3 Malaysians registered, so we need more! :)

Real games from Hikaru no go

Greetings. For those who are interested in knowing the games used in Hikaru no go, (yes, they are all real professional games used in the manga), click here. Interesting games that you probably would like to download are:

1) Hikaru vs. Touya (Volume 17 - Chapter 145)
2) Hikaru vs. Yashiro (Volume 20 - Chapter 164)
3) Sai vs. Touya Kouyo (Volume 13 - Chapter 112)

There are more interesting games to be downloaded, but I can't recall them all now. All you need to view the games is a .sgf reader (e.g CGoban). Well then, I hope you enjoy browsing those kifus like I did! :)

p/s: notice the Touya Joseki in Hikaru vs. Touya.