Apr 30, 2013

Still no uploads

Since this site is not working probably and I can find no way to do anything about it, I am going to start looking at the Wordpress blogs later today.

Yesterday afternoon I went to my Igo Club and they decided that I should be a 2-kyu rather than a 5-kyu. This was probably about right since I ended the day with four wins and three loses. In Igo, every player has a ranking that is used to handicap games so that players of different abilities can compete evenly. The lowest possible rank is 35-kyu, someone who has just learned the rules and is playing their first game. The kyu rankings climb to 1-kyu, so I am now near the top of the kyu players. After the kyu rankings there are nine more ranks, starting at 1-dan and going to 9-dan. Actually 1-dan is called sho-dan, which means "first dan" in Japanese.

A difference of one step in rank represents a one stone advantage for the stronger player. In practice this is actualize by the weaker player playing with the black stones (always starts) and placing the stones at predetermined places on the board. For example, when a 10-kyu plays a 5-kyu, the 10-kyu places five stones on the board at the specified locations as the first move. The white player, the 5-kyu, then places a single stone anywhere on the board.

Playing seven games in a row was very tiring, mentally, so when I got home I just camped out in front of the TV and watch a three hour special about two families building their dream homes. One was really nice and I would love to live in it. The other was a bit strange. All the walls, except for the toilet, were glass, so people could see everything the family did, including taking baths, if they did not close the curtains.

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