Due to other obligations, I couldn’t make it for the actual first day of the US Go Congress. I landed in Richmond, Virginia on the second day around 11:00 AM and discovered the next train wasn’t departing for Williamsburg until 7:53 PM. That was a bit of a downer, but I took a deep breath and grabbed some lunch and found a nice cafe to kill some time.

While consuming a cold brew, I double checked our accommodations for the tournament and I discovered the Airbnb that Ien Cheng and I booked was a total scam and was located 4 miles away from the William & Mary campus. Ien was already en route from New York via Amtrak when I notified him of the situation. He managed to quickly get a refund and then booked the Governor’s Inn which was a short five minute walk from the train station and about a convenient fifteen minute walk to the campus. Whew.

I finally boarded the same train Ien was on and I quickly spotted him. We caught up on the hour long ride to Williamsburg. We were both excited to return to US Go Congress after taking the previous year off. The 2016 Congress in Boston was particularly memorable not only as our first, but also as the first Congress after the immortal showdown between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol. Sadly, this year neither of us could manage to stay for the whole week. Instead, we both planned to depart on Friday. However, at the last minute Ien had to shorten his stay till Wednesday. Given the short window we both decided we had to make the best of it. While the Open tournament consists of only six rounds, the Congress offers an abundant opportunities to play rated games. Ien planned to leverage the popular Evening League Tournament, and I decided I was going to play in the Diehard Tournament, a four round affair on the Congress off-day.

The beautiful badges designed by Nate Eagle

We arrived at the Williamsburg station around 9:00 PM. Even though I was a bit exhausted after being in transit for more than fifteen hours, I wasn’t about to go to sleep without checking into the Congress and playing a quick game. We quickly dropped off our stuff and headed out into the humid Virginian night. Sunlight was fading from the sky and the tall trees were alive with the summer sound of nocturnal insects. On the way we noted a couple of interesting pubs and restaurants and soon found ourselves walking past the college stadium and then up the stairs of the Sadler Center. We spotted a few people in the dim light wearing badges as we passed through the sliding doors. Approaching the lobby, it became quite clear we had found the place.

My friend Nate Eagle was seated in front of a laptop carrying on the mysterious duties appropriate to a co-director of the Congress. After some warm greetings, he registered us and handed us our badges and a bag of the most amazing Congress schwag. Nate had designed everything himself - the t-shirts, the stickers, the buttons, and the coffee mugs. All of the items were wonderful to behold and I’ll definitely be cherishing them.

Badge reverse side. Dosaku record on the shield

After catching up with Nate we spotted In-seong Hwang our American Yunguseng Dojang teacher going over a game in the lobby. Neither Ien nor I had met him in person. We walked over to say hello. He handed us a cool AYD fan and we left them in peace to continue the review. There would be plenty of time over the next couple of days to talk him and the other students (30 in attendance!).

Ien and I headed up the spiral staircase in the lobby to the 3rd floor to checkout Evening League. We checked in and I paired with a 5 kyu. He was from the Philadelphia area and had been involved in the Philadelphia Open which, sadly, I had missed. The game was going in my favor, but a last minute blunder ruined it and I ran out of time. I could have taken it as a bad omen but I brushed it off. I hadn’t played in a couple of weeks and the loss only fueled my eagerness to fill the following days with games.

It was getting late and I was starving, so we headed out. We stopped in one of the college pubs and ordered some sandwiches. We didn’t tarry and we headed back to the hotel to catch some much needed sleep.

I was rated as 6.6 kyu and I was confident my experience in AYD as well as my own study and play regimen had given me the tools to prove that I had gained a stone. Tomorrow and the following days would tell.