This past August, after 8 years in East Asia, I finally got over myself and dove into Go (JPN) aka Weiqi (CHN) aka Baduk (KOR).
Suffice to say it has been extremely rewarding, and my only regret is that I did not start playing sooner in life.
I mostly play online against Chinese players, and as a beginner I am more often than not on the receiving end of a good beating. But every once in a while I find an opponent who is down around my skill level. Such matches are always intensely interesting.
This is the score graph from my most recent match:
Read from left to right, it shows the approximate score (territory & captures) as each stone is placed. Stones above the x-axis mean that White is ahead by a net score of their y-axis value. Conversely, stones below mean that Black is ahead in the same fashion.
After a balanced start White overcame Black's innate advantage, only to see Black quickly shutdown the attack and regain the initiative, followed by a long series of strong White play which likely would have forced a Black resignation were it not for a blunder that Black capitalized on to start hammering away at White's territory... but alas, it was not enough, and White shored up his defense to win by 3 points in the final accounting.
I was Black, but it was a thrilling defeat.
