Rounds 5 and 6

Getting some ice cream at a nearby place!

I went for the black cherry hard serve, mmmmmmm

 We also had rounds 5 and 6 of the go congress!

Round 5 I was black against Xiaoyu Wang 3d. Once again an exciting game with swings back and forth but I was lucky to be able to simplify the game in the end and stay ahead by 6 points going into the endgame and finishing about 10 points ahead.

Ending board of game 5, during the fighting, black managed to surround a large territory in the middle of the board that was large enough to win.

 

 

Game 6 was a match against someone I knew who used to live in Minneapolis, my friend Andy. So at least one of us would get a win which was nice. I was white and made a small mistake early but then was able to capitalize on a mistake in the corner to build a big lead. From there the white area in the bottom right got too big. Black wasn't able to invade before the territory got fully sealed off and the game simplified. White was ahead by about 30 points going into the endgame but realizing I was so far ahead I played it super safe to make sure no crazy shenanigans happened at the end. This meant white ended up winning comfortably by around 20 points.

 White's bottom right territory got too large and black couldn't find the time to invade before it got too strong. The rest of the board got mostly filled up so there wasn't any place black could make enough territory to match what white already had gotten.

 

Two exciting games where I was fortunate enough to win both! This means I ended up going 6-0 in my division! Unfortunately this means that Go congress is sadly over. All that is left is the closing banquet tonight and then I'm flying back to the Twin Cities. Goodbye Boston!