Back from a 5 day trip to Bali which was very enjoyable. It is such a culturally strong place and I thoroughly enjoyed myself basking in the sun surfing the waves and immersed in Balinese culture which is strongly influenced by Hindu culture.
At the same time I was in Bali, the 29th World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) is being held in Japan and Zaid Zulklifi is representing Malaysia in this top Go event of the year. Last year Boon Ping went and achieved a very good result and Zaid looks like doing quite good after the first 3 rounds. He is ranked 5 dan and have been playing Go for only the past 5 years. As such his achievement is rather good after picking up the game while studying in London. Read his own account of how he started playing Go here: http://msiago.wordpress.com/
As for myself, I am now in the midst of preparing myself for the Beijing Go event this October and begin to start to study and play more seriously. Have been slacking for the past couple of years or so. Am now working on the Train Like A Pro series and replaying pro games, plus games on KGS (under a new name so no one will recognise me and interrupt my games and/or start to comment on my moves which most of the time I don’t think is valid comment and uncalled for). I hope to achieve 4dan with this new KGS account by this October.
On yet another note on Go, there is a couple of “tests” designed by a Alexander Dinerchtein, a Russian Pro with a ranking of 3danprofessional from Korea. One is a test on an estimate of your Go strength and the other is a test on your Go playing style.
I took the test and here are the results:
On Go Strength: http://play.baduk.org/
*****
Thank you! Your score is 148 from 200.
You are about European 1-dan (you can convert this grade to other ranking-systems by using this table )
Please don’t be disappointed if this mark is lower than your real grade.
We were mainly trying to test your understanding of the game.
Your actual rank depends on your reading skill, your ability to make decisions under time pressure, your state of health and many other factors.
*****
Based on the rough estimate of Go strengths, European 1 dan is more or less equivalent to Japanese 4dan, American Go Association’s 3dan and KGS 2dan. This looks like about right but when we discuss on Go strength, it is always an estimate and like the disclaimer in the test above, it really depends on your reading skills and decision making under pressure.
On Go Playing Style: http://style.baduk.org/
*****
Your style is flexible
Your Go style is flexible: you can play for territory as well as for influence.
Usually you make such decisions according to the whole-board situation or the playing style of your opponent.
You may force him to choose the strategy he hates. For example, if he likes moyos, you can play for influence yourself, just for making him angry.
Your Go style is actually the best one.
You may improve your Go by studying different things, but I suggest paying attention on yose and positional judgment.
*****
Sounds like the test is quite accurate but that i probably because it says my style is actually the best one. But the truth is that the suggestion that I should pay more attention to yose (end game moves) hits right on the point. I have a huge problem wrapping up a won game.
Well, sounds like a lot more to do before hitting 4dan on KGS by this October (i.e. roughly equivalent to European 3dan, Japanese 5-6dan and American 5dan).
Like they said in the book Built To Last, we must aim for BHAG!!!
Bullying Happens Everywhere
Our Prime Minister, Badawi, is really having his plate full. A few top line issues:
1. Terrible show at he recent election – calls for him to resign. Mounting pressure to resign and the signs are not good. The party is fragmenting and the house is collapsing.
2. Following from 1 above, about 30 MPs were said to want to cross over to the opposition. If that happens, the opposition will form the government. Anwar Ibrahim will most likely be the next Prime Minister. However, I don’t think Anwar will act rashly and will only act when everything is in place. If not, there is sure to be chaos and his coup won’t last. But he is surely working on something…. just that the time is not ripe yet.
3. The Lingam case – the report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry is out and it sort of confirms that the allegations are true. The judiciary system in Malaysia is quite messed up. Now the ball is in Abdullah’s hand to clean it up, but how many people’s heads will roll? Whose heads will roll first? I am pretty sure the list of people involved will be quite a roll-call of Malaysian who’s who.
4. Altantuya murder case – this case has been dragging on for a very long time. Raja Petra who wrote the article “Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell” have exposed some top level names and have since been charged with sedition but is now out on bail. The murder is a horrible case and I also really hope that we can get to the bottom of this and really send those murderer(s) to hell, no matter how big name he/she is.
The above is really disgraceful. How could Abdullah overcome these? Passing the baton to Najib is not the solution as Najib has his own set of ghosts to deal with. For sure, the so-called “political tsunami” in Malaysia is far from over.
Closer to my home, we see the bullying of the citizens clearly. The residents of Bandar Mahkota Cheras have been protesting over the erection of a barrier that blocked the access road to the housing estate. The barrier was there for quite some time already but despite many appeals, nothing has been done. When the opposition took over control of the state, the residents, emboldened, started to remove the concrete barriers themselves. The new Menteri Besar of Selangor said that the land belongs to the state and therefore the company, Grand Saga, does not have the rights to put the barriers there.
However, somehow, Grand Saga managed to get the Federal Government involved and then sent the Federal Reserve Unit to spray water and gas at the residents who are just merely protesting their rights. The fact that the company Grand Saga can get the Federal Government and use their powers in this is just amazing. There must be some really powerful people in Grand Saga. Plus, the FRU is supposed to protect the rakyat (citizens) and not to protect greedy corporations. But instead, the rakyat are the ones who is suffering now.
The whole thing just doesn’t make sense. This is the deal: The residents of Bandar Mahkota Cheras are forced to pay an extra RM0.90 sen toll, drive an extra 6km, and get stuck in a traffic jam that can last 30-45 minutes while at the same time, a beautifully paved road can give access to the residents without having to pay toll, save petrol and relieve the residents from having to get caught in the jam. The fact is that the access road has already been beautifully built, it is just that the greedy company just put concrete barriers there to force people to pay the toll, and to calculate the cost, it can be really expensive.
Then we come to a point on whether Grand Saga has a right to put the barrier there, maybe the agreement with the stupid government is that they can just do that. But whatever is written in the agreement, whatever is agreed, it is just simple stupidity and bullying. The government in the interest of the rakyat should revoke whatever clause, if there is one, that permits Grand Saga to extort money from the people.
And whichever ministry or minister that approved the agreement, to hell he goes for ignoring the welfare of the people and instead fattening the pockets of already fat people.
And we thought the bullying that is happening in the office is serious. Pales in comparison. May all those who bullies based on their position and power go to hell.
Read more here:
http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/
http://www.malaysiakini.com/
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/
Photos from MalaysiaKini
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