The Next Step

All things will come to an end eventually. That also applies to Whompoa Cup 2008. This year's Whompoa was quite disastrous. The number of people in Group A was only about 34, and Jerry actually lost in the first round. The final result was Xie Tang 1st and I got a mere 3rd. Initially I was going for 2nd but I lost to this guy called Lu Yong in the final round. He played for Hua Yuan Team in the Singapore Weiqi League and is quite strong, since he only lost to Xie Tang. However, I had the confidence to win him and I was also kind of leading in the game. But suddenly I made a series of bad moves and resulted in the situation being overturned. In the end I missed an exchange and one piece got killed. Game Over. Luckily my SOS was quite high, allowing me to get a 3rd, but who would be happy after playing such a bad game?

The fact now is very obvious. I still have A LOT to improve. I'm lacking in all areas, and to make it to World Amateur next year this level is not enough. From now on, I will do Tsumego everyday even when in camp, and when I'm at home I'll play at least one game on KGS. This competition has made me realise how numb I have become when playing weiqi. The worst thing a player can do is to stop calculating, and that's what I always do. This must be overcome.

In the meantime, since Whompoa Cup is over, I will also devote some of my time to other committments. Not reading manga and stuff, but playing piano. I haven't been playing for a while, and forgot a lot of scores already. Firstly I need to get a tuner to tune my piano, and after that I need to get my piano teacher back. The schedule will be a bit messy, but hopefully everything will go smoothly.

Let's see some of the photos taken during this year's Whompoa Cup:

Xie Tang, famous for winning everyone in his way.

Yurika playing Wang Chuan. This game had an interesting ending.

Alvin and Yurika

Yurika and Xie Tang

Yurika with specs look like Obaasan...

With me inside

Hehe

HELLO, XING WEI!!

Gambling in public!!

NSF also involved!!!

And this pre-enlistee!!

I'm so sad about my game that I cried... ToT

And Yurika also cried because she got a lower rank than me... =D

Yurika

Big Mo

Wang Jing, PRC studying in SP

FCC, 4th

Me

Lu Yong, 2nd

And the notorious Xie Tang!

Group A prize winners

Xing Wei's big mouth (and face...)

Yurika and Gabriel

The key chain I got as a prize for doing the Tsumego given. Those lucky draw winners got much better items... "-_-

My prize coupons. Gotta go NTUC buy stuff again.

And the trophy... Looks elegant, but it's still plastic...