Norman Richards

I haven't been able to play much lately.  I've been a little too busy in the evenings to play online, and it's tough to make the local go club on school nights because of family things.  Besides my weekly teaching games, I have hardly played any games these last few months.  So much for my goal of making 1 dan by the end of this year.  

I did find some time to play some live games today with a friend.  We played a couple 9x9 games to warm up and then a quick 13x13 game.  He is probably a little stronger than me, but having not played in a few years he was a bit rusty.  I won 2 of the 9x9 games, as black, and the third was a tie.  I took black again on 13x13 and won.   

Playing over a real board today was a lot of fun.  I think I've almost reached the point where I can play as well on a real board as I can online.  I don't make the crazy reading mistakes I did at first, but at the same time I think I've learned to try and control my positions better so I'm not forced into as complicated situations as I can be when I play online.  

I think I'm actually starting to enjoy live play, at least in a non-competitive environment.  I hope I can do more of it.