Day 65 - Chiang no Go!

The title was a parody of "Hikaru no Go".

I received news from the Irish Go Association that there's a Go meet held every week in Dublin. After confirming the location, I found that it was pretty close to my university and the no. 10 bus stops directly in front of it, although the only way back is by the no. 46A bus.

At the bar (Almost everything is done in a bar in Ireland), I saw some 8 people gathered. 4 of them were playing. I was so thrilled even though ALL of them looked older than me. An old gentleman by the name of Arthur challenged me to a match. Since he was of a much higher level than I was, he gave me a 9-stone advantage. And I still lost due to a mistake.

Then, we had a second match on a smaller board with a 6-stone handicap. I won, but I think 6 stones was a little too much. 4 may have been enough.

During the games, we also had some idle chit-chat, something the other clubs and societies I've joined rarely did with me besides on Halloween night. I learned that the old guy I played against was a lecturer in the UCD School of Computer Sciences and he had been wanting to form a Go Society in UCD for some time. Another guy who was a postgraduate student in UCD opted to help if it was actually formed. I am, of course, interested too!

After the 2nd match, it was already nearing 11pm, so I bade them farewell caught the next bus home. I am SO going there every Monday and/or Wednesday from now on!