River

Game 10.2 – Long Game

The long game with Lukas continues, following 10.0 and 10.1. I’m ambivalent about my position now, though I’m still having a blast. I am eager to discuss this game with Lukas, and perhaps do a little AI analysis, but I’ll be patient until the game’s conclusion. Admittedly I am frustrated after certain moves, particularly L14 – not to mention the disaster on the left side – but trying to stay strong.

Poems of Life and Death – 37

Detail

At rest before the glacier’s pour
And dwarfed by breadth of Admiralty
On Summer’s edge of evening light
He slits a pack of bait,
Stuffs the rectangular prism
Inside the cylindrical cage:
A crab pot to sink in the orange boat’s wake,
This island on the placid sea.
The ferries are running, he tells me and points—
I smile and agree,
Fearing the edge of the map and the knife,
The cut of horizons I’d never see without him:
A current of birds drifting on water,
Low clouds protecting a mountain,
A captain commanding me in Carhartts.
I pretend I’d drown before I’d fight,
Laugh underwater, mistake my phone for a life.
But later, driving back from the dock,
I think of the crab, the bait, the cage—
And wish for a boat to sail through night.

Game 10.1 – Long Game

The long game with Lukas continues below. I am satisfied with my position, but when playing a much stronger player, early misunderstandings about the status of certain shapes can bring about a swift collapse later in the game. What I experience as a stable position may in fact be tenuous. In any case, I am doing my best to approach this game with confidence – there is no sense in playing fearfully, as if I am going to be punished at every turn. Instead, I play as an equal, and will learn all I can from the experience of defeat.

EDIT: The time settings are 3 stones/week, but we have each been playing roughly one move per day.

Poems of Life and Death – 36

Bear

When evening parts with day     At midnight
I turn on the light                        the house begins to shake
And show old surfaces:               a soft cat
Unraveling carpet seams            in slumber.
A broken window—                      A bear at the window—
Who knows whether                    asking for a treat
In darkness                                   a smear of licorice
I find my dreams                          inside a wrapper.

Poems of Life and Death – 35

Blue

The morning showed me Steller’s jay
A flicker in the day of living blue
Unfiltered and true, as sapphire’s shade
Shows its clade the royal facet
A gown beneath a carbon jacket

Game 10.0 – Long Game

I am always looking for new ways to learn Go. Poetry keeps me on the tsumego train, but I felt the need to spice up my regular games. Inspired by the long game in Yasunari Kawabata’s The Master of Go, I decided to ask Lukas if he would play a long correspondence game with me. This way I can think a little more carefully about each move, and write about the game as I play. I don’t know if this will produce a higher quality game on my end, but so far it has interrupted my usual habits and forced me to think of at least a few more possibilities than I normally would.

Below are the first 20 moves of the game. I am playing white. The time settings are 3 moves/week, giving me the freedom to check in when I have some free time and ponder some variations. Although black controls three corners so far, I’m satisfied with my position. Lukas probably has other thoughts, but I feel confident – a bit of the Dunning-Kruger effect, perhaps.

Poems of Life and Death – 34

Raven

Raven struts on rooftop’s edge
Pauses by the mast
Wonders of the treasures
Behind each building’s glass.
Something shiny? A yogurt? A morsel of bread?
Never mind, says the raven, flaps his wings by the flag—
The sun shines. The forest provides.
Wait—
What’s inside that plastic bag?