12 Mar 2010 1 Comment

Student Oza Results

The student OZA is over, and what an experience it has been! The participants in the tournament was truly exceptional, with a runner up the World Amateur Championships, and half the contestants at the level on 9 dans on KGS. I always expected the contestants to be challenging, before the level of the participants exceeded even my elevated expectations. So the final results!

1. Meng Xiao Long (China Male)
2. Yutae Seo (Korean Male)
3. Lai Yu Cheng (Taiwan Male)
4. Yamamoto Takunori (Japan Male #1)
5. Lin Hungbing (Taiwan Female)
6. Taniguchi Yuhei (Japan Male #2)
7. Lee Sunah (Korean Female)
8. Artem Kachanskyov (Ukraine)
9. Wang Zhuo (China Female)
10. Gabriel Benmergui (Argentina)
11. Zhang Xiang (Singapore)
12. Nuttakrit (Thailand)
13. Sekine Riko (Japan Female)
14. Mile Gu (New Zealand)
15. Garcil Emil (Mexico)
16. Anna Prokopova (Czech Republic)

So, China takes first place, followed by Korea. No real surprise! Artem did well as the ‘Champion of KGS and the western world’ by getting into the top half of the board. While it may not sound that impressive to get 8th out of 16th, such a feat is certainly not easy amidst such fierce competition!

I did managed achieve the goal that I always joke about, not get last :). My only regret is that I did not get to play Sekine, Nuttakrit or Garcil in competition, they would have made interesting matches. 4 games is just too short!

I have to thank the all students go society of Japan, who did a remarkable job organizing everything. They made sure everyone had fun, despite that many spoke very little English.  All of the organizers were in fact Igo players themselves, including some, such that the female champion of Japan, who could have done quite well the competition themselves. I was quite impressed with how faithfully they recorded each game. When one poor girl (pictured) made a mistake recording a move at wrong point, she spent the entire lunch time copying the kifu to fix her mistake.

by Mile Gu in Other, Tournaments Tags: