Introduction[]
On this page I will be recording my experiences during the 2015 NZ Open in Wellington May 23 and 24. Up until now I have been playing games as a 17 kyu level player on OGS (correspondence games) - I am playing there as "usabilitynz". So an over the board tournament will be quite different.
On my way to work (train from Paraparaumu to Wellington) I have been studying live and death problems in preparation for the tournament. I am really looking forward to it. The venue looks great and is handy to the Wellington railway station. User:Tomvanb 04:12, May 17, 2015 (UTC)
Day One[]
First game over and I lost. It was a good game and I managed my clock well. There are about 20 players with a 5 player beginners section included. Beginners are all kyu players. It's fun looking at the other games still in progress. Lunch time soon.
Lunch was great and a nice variety. It is now 13:10 and round 2 is about to start. Unfortunately I have Bye, and have to wait until 15:30 to play the third and final round.
15:30 I was lucky in round 3, as my opponent a 7 k player gave me a 4 stone handicap, and proceeded towards the end of the game with a terrible mistake, he gave away a very large group - thereby ending the game. So from three games I got 2 points. I am definitely the weakest player in this tournament - I need to learn a lot. Two rounds tomorrow.
Day Two[]
Instead of a start of 9:30 we got in at 10:00, after we were first thrown back by the security alarm. 12:00. Lost my round 4 game. I was given a 5 stone handicap, but my opponent (7k) was much stronger. I did do however a couple of good plays, and was shown the "monkey jump". People here are really friendly and ready to help others to become a better player. Hope the heaters do not stay on as yesterday it became really hot and stuffy.
15:00 hours. lost my final game by 4 points, so not too bad. The tournament was fun and I learned a lot. There are a lot of top players here from Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, as well as smaller centres like Palmerston North. Watching their post game analyses is always good to be around - I would learn even more if I could understand Chinese. I would certainly recommend to any beginner to give one of these tournaments a go. A big thankyou to the organisers for making this event possible.