As I write this, the third round is about to finish up. When the round started, Tae Sun Min 1k and Lee Kang Hyun 2k were tied for the lead. Sixteen players are competing in C Division, three 1k, three 2k, two 3k (including your humble author, who apparently got promoted when he wasn’t looking) and the rest 4k and under. Notable in the first round was a jigo

Meanwhile, the A Division is finishing up the fifth round. At the start of the round, Bi Jang 7d and Miao Zhao 7d were sharing the lead on four victories and equal SOS and SDS, with Guyu Liu 7d in third.

Update 2:50pm: Third round started early and finished even earlier. Tae Sun Min 1k is in first place after easily crushing his third opponent. Lee Kang Hyun 2k is close behind in second place with three victories and a half a point less SOS. Oh Ryoon Kwon 1k is third, sort of.

Update 6:03 pm: ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! The Sydney KAC Champion is Bi Jang 7d from Korea. Meanwhile in division C Oh Ryoon Kwon 1k has taken first place on four wins, beating Tae Sun Min 1k on SOS, who in turn beat Lee Kang Hyun 2k. Going to go listen to the trophy presentations now…

Meanwhile, in the B Division there are sixteen players (six 1d, four 2d, five 3d). This is a handicap division, which must make Hak Beom Seo 4d very happy. :) First blood in round one went to young Yelson Qian 1d (Australia’s representative at the recent Children’s Baduk Cup in Korea), defeating the visiting Gilbert Kim 3d. Also competing in this division is Tring Xu 3d, half of this year’s Australian team at the world pair go championships, who defeated Mark Law 1d.

Between them the two top divisions fill the room and then some, so C Division (1k to 9k) will be playing five rounds tomorrow. It’s quite an atmosphere here, what with a sizeable Korean delegation led by Sang-Dae Hahn and at least four professionals on the floor. I’ve counted half a dozen cameras, so there should be some pictures coming up soon, although as befits an intrepid go reporter I’ve left my camera cable behind, so they won’t be mine.

More updates as the weekend goes on…

Update 2:35pm: round 3 of B Division has just started; Tring Xu 3d, Duc Cho 2d, and Changup Son 1d are tied for first place. A Division is still grinding through its second round of games.

Update 6:50pm: the third round of A Division has finished, with Guyu Liu 7d, Miao Zhao 7d and Bi Jang 7d tied on three wins and separated on SOS. Meanwhile, Tring Xu has maintained her lead through to the final round of Division B and is playing out a thrilling endgame against Sun Woong Choi 1d. If she wins the game, she takes first place in the division, if she doesn’t…

An Younggil 8p sends word: the two Korean visiting professionals in Sydney will hold a teaching evening on Friday the thirteenth of August, the day before before the fifth Korean Ambassador’s Cup this weekend. Kickoff is at seven at the Young Go Academy; cost is $30. Details in the flyer posted on the AGA web pages.

The fifth Korean Ambassador’s Cup will be held on Saturday the 14th of August and Sunday the 15th of August at the Young Go Academy in Strathfield, Sydney. Attending as guests are An Younggil 8p and Kyung-Min Yu 6p from the YGA, and Youngmin Yoon 3p and Sohyun Park 3p from Korea.

• Division A (fifth dan and stronger) will be played in six rounds over the two days.
• Division B (first dan to fourth dan) will be played in five rounds on the Saturday.
• Division C (ninth kyu to first kyu) will be played in five rounds on the Sunday.

Registration is 8:30 to 9:30 each morning, play starts at 10am each day. Prize money is $300 (first place), $200 (second place) and $100 (third place) for each division. Registration is $10 for seniors and students, and $30 for everyone else. Lunch and refreshments will be provided on both days. AGA representative points will be granted to members who compete, on the usual basis. For interstate visitors, remember that the YGA is open for play 2pm to 10pm, seven days a week.

For more information or to preregister, please contact Jungwoong Lee (0410 910 600) and Yoonguk Noh (0430 273 393) of the Korean Baduk Association of Australia (who are organising the tournament) or An Younggil of the YGA (anyoungkil@gmail.com).

Play at the Korean Ambassador's Cup, 2009

A report from last year’s KAC was posted to the Journal. It looks like this year’s will be even more fun.

“Last Sunday was the opening day for of the new club. There was a friendship match between Korean and Chinese go players in Sydney as the opening event. Participants are 3d to 7d and each dan has three or four players each team. The team members are 17 each, and there were two rounds in the afternoon.

On the first round, Chinese team won by 10 to 7, and after the round, there was a review between Rain Jang and Miao Zhao. Rain beat Miao, and he came to Australia three weeks ago, and he seems to be the strongest amateur player in Australia I think. Kyung-Min Yu reviewed the game in fluent Chinese; he’s a 6p Korean player and has lived in Taiwan about 5 years before coming here. After the short review, the second round had begun and the Chinese team won by 11 to 6. Finally, the friendship match ended with the result Chinese won by 21:13. There were three foreigners in the Korean team (Norman Wildburger 5d, Ciaran Pearson 5d and Barry Jay 3d) although actually, we count as foreigners too. They won 5 games and one lost, and they also seemed to enjoy the time so much. There were many other go players who came to watch the games and the new venue.

After the event, the players and watchers were all coming for dinner together and people enjoyed the Korean style of buffet. There was also raffle time for some concert tickets, and the Chinese took all five. The event was so successful and I really thank the visitors including players. :-) As the Australian government is letting me stay here longer for Go, I hope to contribute something with Go and this is the first step to do it properly. By the way, the new club will be opened every single day from 2pm to 10pm.”

The YGA has An Younggil 8p, Kyung-Min Yu 6p (come here from five years in Taiwan teaching go), and Rain Jang 7d (fresh from a year in Seattle) as teachers, and seems to be exciting a lot of interest. Here are some photos of the open day tournament:

The 2010 ACT Championships will be on the weekend of 24-25 July. The new venue is the ANU School of Art – located at the “C” of Childers Street in the attached ANU Campus map. For those coming from interstate, take a right off Northbourne Ave southbound onto London Circuit, then right at University Ave, then left onto Childers St at the end of University Ave; the School of Art is at the end of the road. Parking is available. Registration is 9am on the Saturday. Contact Neville Smythe of the Canberra Go Club.

Update:The tournament was in conjunction with the 18th ANU Chess Festival at Fenner Hall in the Australian National University, Canberra. Times are unchanged: registration 9am Sat Jul 23.

The New South Wales kyu champion is Michael Thompson 2k, with five victories and one defeat. Second in the handicap division was Daniel Filan 5k on three wins. This year’s handicap division was small, but kudos to the four of them for playing. The full results are in PDF format here and on the AGA web site.

Here are some pictures of the day, taken by An Younggil. Can anyone supply captions?

This is David’s first game against Daniel Vargas Campos 5k of Costa Rica, with comments by Younggil An 9p, one of his teachers:

[Embedded SGF File]

This is David’s second round game against Antonio Egea Diaz 3d of Spain, again with comments:

[Embedded SGF File]

Ranka mentioned “a strong challenge” from David to the USA’s Thomas Hsiang 7d in the seventh round, which, alas, did not quite come off.

[Embedded SGF File]

On Friday 28th May we hosted a banquet dinner for our guests, attended by members of the Mainland Chinese Society of Queensland (MCSQ) and Q001 (Brisbane Chinese societies), a consular representative, and a brief visit by the Deputy Mayor of Brisbane, Mr. Graham Quirk. Following Chinese custom the conviviality was helped along by numerous toasts, although sparingly partaken of by Australian drivers. One of the visitors turned out to have a wonderful singing voice, and treated us to a Chinese song in an impromptu performance.

On Saturday 29th May a team go match was organised at a local church. We had invited David He 7D of Sydney, and Billy Sun 6D of Melbourne to participate with the Brisbane side in a well – judged move designed to bring home the teams Cup. It was a great pleasure for us to renew our acquaintance with these two gentlemen. As it turned out, David He was well known to the Xi ‘an visitors as well so friendships were renewed, and not much was said about ring – ins. We played a round in the morning and then another round after lunch.

David He vs Li Gangyi in Round 2

 The match was played with one hour each and no byo – yomi. All games were even which resulted in some mismatches but after all, it was a friendly match. Hopefully the Brisbane players have learned a few things from their more experienced opponents.

There was often animated discussion after the games were over, with some moves being replayed, sometimes even leading to a reversal of the result! Too bad, though, as only the original result counts.

When the battles were over and the dust had cleared, Xi ‘an emerged the winner by 12 – 6.

Presentation Ceremony

Professor Zhou , here seen with John Hardy (L) and Larry Wen (R) in front of the beautiful wall hanging which the visitors presented to the BGC, hoisted the winner’s cup. Brisbane vowed to get that cup back in a return match next year in Xi ‘an. Xi ‘an offered to import some players from Beijing to ensure that it stays in China :)

After the presentations, everyone enjoyed an Aussie BBQ hosted by the MCSQ – and importantly, prepared and cooked by them! Mark Bell and I sat with our feet up and would not have called the King our uncle.

We continued into the evening with friendly go, and not a few fourexes, plus some powerful liquor contributed by the guests for any who dared. It was a great way to finish the day, and already plans were afoot to make that return match a reality.

Group shot

Thank you, Xi ‘an go players, for honouring us by visiting our home town, and we will surely meet you again next year in China.

Have a safe trip home.

For those of you who do not know me my name is James Kaaden. I am writing as I am currently living in Seoul, Korea studying Go at Yu Chang’hyuk’s Baduk Dojang. This school has around 30 or so students ranging from small children (who are still really strong!) up to Yongguseng (insei). I have been studying over here for two months now and I will be staying for another four.

If anyone is interested in studying in Korea or has any questions about study regime etc, I would be delighted to answer. You can either post comments here or email me at james.kaaden@gmail.com, whichever you prefer! I will do my best to answer any question quickly and with sufficient detail.

Over the next few months I will be trying to post some interesting things I have learnt over here. Whether I find interesting life and death problems or learn new joseki that have not yet published, I would be excited to share them with you all. It is always fun to learn, but it is just as much fun sharing new things ^^.

Today, we look at an unusual variation of the standard 4-4 approach.

Diagram 1.

Everything up to 4 is perhaps one of the most ubiquitous Joseki’s you’ll find. White, however, decides to spice things up with kosumi of 5. What is the purpose of this move and how how should black reply?

Diagram 2.

Black’s first instinct might be to play a hane at 1, following with the Atari at 3. While this might give some instantaneous gratification, black is left with no ideal follow-up. One possible method if to play the sacrifice tactic of 5. After white 10, black blocks at a, follow by white b. White has gained magnificent thickness on the top, while black’s influence is hampered by the peep at c. This is clearly unsatisfactory.

Diagram 3.

The proper response is the unlikely empty triangle at 1. White plays actively with the forcing moves of 2 and 4, and finally fixes his shape with 6. While black’s moves feel rather submissive, he is usually satisfied that the marked white stone looks out of place.
White on the other hand, has achieved his strategic objective. His group on top is much stronger than the standard joseki and can much more readily create a moyo up top. The cost, of course, was to leave black’s corner totally without weakness.

White thus chooses this joseki when the potential on the top side is of great importance. For example, when white already has significant influence on the top left, or when black is sufficiently strong on the left side such that this variation leaves him overconcentrated.
Black, however, may choose to challenge white’s plan.

Diagram 4.

He has the option of playing 3 in diagram 3 at 1 in diagram 4, inviting a massive fight. The moves up to white 10 are one natural continuation. Locally, the fight is not necessarily good for white, but white should have only played the marked stone at the start if he had supporting influence on the top left. Assuming that’s the case, both black and white will have weak groups to contend with. It’ll be a fighting game!

[Embedded SGF File]

The above game highlights a pro match where the strategy was employed by Korean 9p Ch’oe Ch’eol-han at move #37. As black, Ch’oe has built up significant influence on both the bottom and top right and felt that the standard joseki on the bottom left would no longer be satisfactory. White chose to resist, resulting in a massive fight. If you like this style, give it a try!

This is just a reminder that the 2010 New South Wales Go Championships are in Sydney on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of June. This year they’ll be run by An Young Gil 8p, Sydney’s resident professional, assisted by Robert Vadas and a stalwart band of other volunteers from the city’s go clubs. Players from out of state are welcome.

Venue and other details will be announced closer to the date. Contact anyoungkil@gmail.com or ravadas@yahoo.com to preregister or ask questions.

Rodney(grauniad): also:

Matthew(matjetius):

John(jackoheart1):

After the original journal report, i posted a request for photos on the ausgo mailing list which included the two known photo collections at that time (Rodney and Matthew).

[Embedded SGF File]

Teams from the People’s Republic of China took first and third place, with Korea taking second place in the final.

Seriously? There aren’t any dan players who wanted a free go book?

Despite the surprise that absolutely no one there spoke English, whereby appointment was made by various comical gestures, I succeeded in setting up a match with Nakamura Hidehito (中村秀仁), a 9 dan professional! I have played against 6p’s before, but never anyone higher.

With a 3 stone handicap, which is reasonably standard for a 9p to give a 6 dan, I was prepared for evisceration. It is then, with great, and pleasant surprise that I somehow managed to win! It certainly wasn’t easy, I was slowly, but steadily losing ground the entire game. But with a 3 stone advantage, I was able to lose ground slow enough to survive to the endgame with a 15 point advantage, forcing Nakamura Hidehito to resign.

Despite speaking no English, Nakamura Hidehito was able to convey the major mistakes I made in the game. I attach the game here, with the variations he presented. Hopefully it’ll be useful!

[Embedded SGF File]

Black 22: The result is not joseki, but according to Nakamura, quite even. In a handicap game, that means good for me :).
Black 27: Should be more aggressive, at B.
White 48: Not joseki…. I didn’t know how to respond.
Black 49: The cut at D6 would have been better, resulting variation shown in SGF.
Black 91: A mistake I shouldn’t have made, but it wasn’t a major mistake.
Black 95: A good attack, if Black had wasted one move defending corner, it would be just what Nakamura wanted.
Black 147: Game winning move. White was hoping for black to make a mistake here and reduce the middle. With the center secure and all groups solid, white has little chance to reverse the 3 handicap advantage from now on.

Around this time of year in Victoria the local Go population get a snifter of fighting spirit and charge off to the ever-popular NEC Cup. Unfortunately, as many people would know, NEC has withdrawn their sponsorship and the tournament no longer exists.

However, every black cloud has a silver lining (unless it is Yunzi in which case it has a green halo instead). This year we have a brand new tournament to absorb our excess fight! Thanks to sponsorship from ‘Only Choice Properties’ the Victorian Go Club is delighted to be able to host this fabulous new tournament.

As with the NEC Cup before it, the Golden Aussie Go Tournament competitors who are AGA members are awarded representative points to go towards their Australian ranking. For details see the tournament flyer below. We hope to see you there!

Update: the entry form and flyer with more details of the venue is here

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.

Championship Match: XiaoLong 6d (Black) vs Yutae (6d), B+Res.

The battle for the finals was intense, as the Chinese and Korean champions launched into heated battle in the background of the Japanese press. The game started off favoring Yutae Seo by a large margin, and it seems like XiaoLong Meng’s fuseki was in shambles. By the start of the mid game, the only way for Meng to take the lead would be slaughter Yutae’s floating group.

Yet, later when I talked to XiaoLong, it was apparently his style. He barely used any time in the fuseki, and saved almost all the hour given for the mid game. Here he launched a severe attack, sending the board into chaos. Yutae, who had spend a full half of the time in fuseki, was forced into a complex battle on byoumi. 30 seconds per move was just not enough… and finally Yutae made a fatal mistake. He’s group was killed, forcing resignation. The kifu of the game is attached.

Several there games were also of interest. Artem was pitched against HongBing Lin, the female representative of Tiepei, and a 9d on Tygem. Artem played extremely well, entering the mid game with an impressive lead. However, as both entered byoumi, HongBing’s superior reading skills under limit shown as she punished Artem for a careless tenuki, leading to the death of a 30 point corner.

Yutae attempts to look for a way out of a difficult fight.

As for me, the last round was the first round where my opponent wasn’t 6d! The game turned out to be reasonably relaxing. My opponent, Anna Prokov, at around 2d level, was ill-equipped to deal with my unorthodox fuseki, and entered the mid game at a significant territorial disadvantage. After missing a few opportunities to play aggressively, I had a 20 point lead. From then on, I simplified the game, giving no chance for a recovery. The game ends in what’s called professionals call a ‘happy death’ for white.

[Embedded SGF File]

White 10: Should be at R-18. The corner variation favors Black, white wastes a stone, black doesn’t.
White 20: The tenuki is uncalled for, since White 22 is not an important place.
Black  35: Black is strong on both left and bottom, white has a difficult time choosing a good way to black this 3-3.
White 48: This is a big move, white should play E2 first and force Black to live in gote, gaining significant thickness. White can then play 48.
Black 51: Intended overplay. After playing the first 50 moves, I had read Anna’s playstyle and suspect should respond at white 52. This exchange spoils whites chances of a large moyo on the right side, allowing me to defend the corner with 53.
White 52: Another mistake, white must play E2 first.
Black 55: Bad move, white need not respond to this peep. However, white does anyway, allowing Black to play 55. I had gained another exchange I was never meant to deserve.
White 62: This exchange gains white almost nothing. White should play D17 instead. White does end in sente, but his group is far from settled.
White 66: This move seems at odds with white 64, white should have played at Black 67. Anna’s only chance now was to wall a large center moyo.
White 74: Too submissive. Its counterattack or lose now. L7 to cut off black( is the only viable strategic option.  Black manages to confine white’s moyo in sente and then play 77, causing whites top group to feel immensely uncomfortable.
White 104: Perhaps last chance to create complication by playing at O2 to move out the 2 stones. Once black removes all aji with 105, Black has a 20 point lead with no weak groups. White has already conceded defeat.

So, with this game, I’m glad to announce that I achieved my original intention of not being last!

XiangLong Meng, the male rep of China and favorite of the competition pulled a convincing win against the Japanese OZA, who was my opponent for the first game. Meanwhile, the male rep of Korea defeats the second male rep of Japan. This leaves Japan out of contention for first and second place. The student OZA champion will now be decided between China and Korea.

Artem vs Danigabi in round 3. I'm in the background, mulling over a difficult fight.

The rest of the results did not yield much surprise. Artem defeats Gabriel (Danigabi from KGS), and now rises as the top ranked player out of all nations not in the `Big 4′. This allows him to finally challenge another player from the Big 4 in the final round. Meanwhile, Nuttakrit of Thailand, who scored a lucky win vs Zhang Xiang the day before due to a missed atari, was convincingly destroyed byYucheng Lai, the male rep of Taiwain.

• Fun fact: Yucheng Lai was 2nd in the World Amateur championships when he was 15.

As for me, my opponent Zhang Xiang is reasonably strong, defeating Supertjc  (8d on KGS) in the Singapore Youth League and Bloodarena (7d KGS) in the Singapore national cup. It is unfortunate that I matched up with him, given he should be in the 1-1 group, if not for his unlucky mistake!

Unfortunately, my luck didn’t quite change this round! The game started at a disadvantage due to a mistake on my part in a complicated fighting joseki. Though, by exploiting a ladder for exchange and a heated mid game fight, I had restored the game to an even position. Unfortunately, my backing out of a `fight or die’ situation during bouyomi, and an casual misjudgment of the strength of one of his groups, Zhang Xiang managed retook the lead.

A mistake near the end game saw me draw the game dangerously close, but my yose  during bouyomi was not as consistent. A few mistakes, and one missed opportunity saw Zhang Xiang take the win.  The game is filled with fighting, and should be rather enjoyable to see:

[Embedded SGF File]

Black 15: This starts are very difficult joseki, a mistake on either side could cost the game.
White 26: A mistake in order by me, white should play D-17 first. Black 29 exploits this error, at this point, if white plays D-17, black will capture at A-16 instead of connecting. By Black 29, I was forced into an unfavorable variation. White is completely sealed on the left side, but black still has an excellent tesuji at H-17 to access the top.
White 46: This was a good move, threatening the ladder is black continues with Joseki. Zhang Xiang was forced to concede a loss on the bottom left corner. The black stone is not completely dead though, so the game still favors black.
Black 48: A mistake, black should play 51 immediately. This gave me an opportunity to fix my shape, so that I could black with 52, starting a large scale fight.
White 57: Difficult choice here on whether to defend the top or the middle. If played at M-17, I feared black can form an impressive moyo on the right by attacking my group with K-11.
White 76: This is the move that made sacrificing the corner worth it, Black is under severe attack, and concedes much of the center influence to white. The dust settles at 102 and Black has lost his advantage.
White 110: This was a mistake. The play on the fourth line was meant to threaten black’s center group, but I had forgotten that black can live in sente with N13. A move at L3 for territory or R6 to prevent ladder breakers would be much more appropriate. When black plays at M3, white is at a loss for good follow-ups. By 116, Black has easily secured a large corner (A 3-3 invasion would be dangerous, since it breaks the center ladder)
White 116: Another mistake, P-6 is much bigger.
Black 121: White’s moyo vanishes, as black punishes whites mistake at 116.
White 126: In buyoumi, I played the safe move. However, white was in no position to concede territory. White had to play Q6, followed by a cross-cut, resulting in a difficult battle for both. By 135, black’s corner is now larger than white’s right side, I am about 20 points behind.
Black 153: Zhang Xiang must of thought this sente, threatening a possible invasion. However white could ignore this, giving white a chance with the huge move at 154 (Though I should have played T-18 first).
White 190: A terrible mistake played during byoumi, spoiling all aji on the left side. White should play sentes first, and the save the two stones with D-10. Black will be forced to eventually captured at A-12, the difference could be well over 10 points. This mistake cost white any chances of winning without a serious error by Black.
Black 209: Not sente and a serious error! Final opportunity for white. If white plays Q18 now, blacks top right corner will suffer serious point loss in points, and possibly die. Unfortunately, I didn’t think quite so clearly, and missed the opportunity!

So going into the final around, I’m forced with the unfortunate prospect of fighting to prevent last place. Though for the first time, its actually with an opponent who I should have good chances in winning!

The party arrived in Melbourne on 2nd March 2010, and then flew to Brisbane on the 3rd. We held a welcome banquet for them, with local dignitaries and BGC members.

Mr. Wang with leaders of the Brisbane Chinese community

Before dinner there was friendly go with the visitors, who were all strong players.  Each visitor received a small gift, and we presented a special gift of a boomerang, signed by BGC members, to Mr. Wang.

Presentation to Mr. Wang Runan 8P by John and Larry

We all enjoyed a delicious dinner, and afterwards there was more go, until the restaurant kicked us out at 9.00pm. They just can’t understand, it seems.

On Thursday the 4th March, the visitors enjoyed a day out, and in the evening BGC hosted a BBQ. Thank heavens we were able to give them one fair dinkum Aussie meal on their trip. Four of the visitors brought their wives, who had to put up with the go players. The ladies kindly helped with the BBQ preparation, we can call them part of the BGC team.

Honorary BGC team members

What would a day be without go? Of course we again played social go with the visitors.

Jeremy won this six stone game against Mr. Wang

Everyone had a marvellous time. Mr. Wang is a warm, enthusiastic and friendly person – he even speaks excellent Japanese, which certainly helped me with communication. We dare to hope that this party will visit us again some time.

There are many people who must be thanked for their efforts in bringing this event to fruition. Bill Sun (Melbourne) and David He (Sydney) looked after the southern cities. David was responsible for the travel arrangements and put in a huge amount of effort on that. Larry Wen conceived and drove the idea to a successful conclusion and made most of the Brisbane arrangements. Brisbane members Erli Qiu and Kevin Jiang helped out with donations to help cover expenses (the AGA also contributed). BGC President Mark Bell did s sterling job behind the BBQ.

We consider this to be a highly succesful event which may lead to more exchanges between Australia and China.

For more pictures of this event -

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/jackoheart1/WangRunanVisitMarch2010#

This is a placeholder for the weekend in mid-April when the Keio Old Boys will be visiting Brisbane for their annual shindig with the Brisbane Go Club. Dinner on Saturday evening, random go, lunch and the now-traditional team vs team match on Sunday. RSVP and/or query John Hardy at the club, if you’re in Brisbane at all and want to come play.

Fresh off the Perth mailing list: the Perth go players are holding a Beginners Session on Sunday afternoon. Like their last beginners session, this is also a regular playing meet up, so all strengths and ages of player are encouraged to turn up and play. The venue is 93 Circe Circle, Dalkeith, opposite the Dalkeith Primary School playing fields. Parking near the fields, or come by bus or train to nearby Clairemont Station, and they’ll pick you up. RSVP to the usual suspects, Clive Hunt or Peiran Guo.

Round 1:

The first round had no surprising underdog stories. Artem, the top European here, and 7d on KGS, was no match for Meng XiaoLong. Xialong apparently kept a steady lead through fuseki, and punished Artem severely when he tried to turns things around with a unreasonable fight.

Zhang Xiang’s game vs the Chinise female representative Zhuo Wang, the female rep from China, actually started off pretty well for him. Unfortunately, Zhuo Wang proved a much superior fighter, and once mid game started, several of Zhang’s groups somehow died, inducing resignation.

The only two reps of the ‘Big 4′ that fought were the female reps of Korea and Taipei. The game looked complex, but Sunah Lee of Korea gained an advantage when her opponent misread a ladder in byoumi, ending with a 5.5 point loss.

As for me? My game with the Student OZA of Japan turned out to be much closer than I expected. The game, I attach as SGF file below.

[Embedded SGF File]

I took the game as white, and used my standard tactic of attaching first, followed by a 3-4. This, in my experience, is one of the best ways of preventing the opponent from applying his own fuseki. Up to 37. the game was considered to be fairly even for both, with a exchange that give white 3 corners, and black the potential for large territory on the left side of the board.

White 44: I was a little too eager to hold onto the bottom right corner, and wanted sente to seal the top right. The exchange was slight unfavorable for me. White 44 should tenuki and play at B18 immediately, leaving the corner open to attack.
White 46: White should play at B-18 instead, if black attempts to swallow the two stones in the corner, white can sacrifice them and break into blacks moyo on the left. The resulting sequence solidified the Moyo, giving black a slight advantage.
White 66: Q-18 would be better.
White 70: The first seriously bad move, should be at Q-15. The resulting clamp was painful for white, and costs around about 10 pts in territory.
Black 71: Exploits my mistake :(
Black 77: Black was a little too eager to break into whites moyo, the follow sequence made by me on whites Corner was painful for Takunori. Black now about 5 pts ahead.
White 98: Should play at G-8, exchanging with E-8.
Black 99: Tangen Syndrom. If he played 1 below the tangen, at K-9, there would be no invasion. And the game would be over.
White 114: After my successful invasion,  Black is still ahead slightly in points, but not enough to be confident of win.
White 116: Thinking I was a little behind, I made a move at 116 rather than the proper defense at P4. The resulting aji would be ignored by most low dans, but vs a 6 dan, it spelt my doom! Losing move.
Black 129: Punished my overplay. Despite appearances, it is actually impossible to cleanly kill this stone.
Black 141: Black lives in my corner, stealing 20 points. White is now about 25 points behind, and with end game approaching, no opportunities for come back. The game was over.

Probably the most rewarding thing was that Takunori Yamamoto though I played at the level of a 6 dan from Japan :).

My opponent first round, charging up his mental energy before the game vs me. It was slightly scary. But his moves were scarier :).

Round 2:

Round 2 sees the Big 4 playing themselves, since they exclusively took all the winning spots in the first round. The rest of us had to compete for scraps! XiaoLong of China, defeats Yucheng Lai of Taipei to continue his streak. The game was intense, and lasted 30 minutes after the rest had finished. In the end, it was probably the first game in competition that didn’t warrant an early resignation from one of the players. My opponent from first round, defeats the female rep from China, though more by luck than skill… Zhuo Wang misread during yose, leading to the death of one of her groups.

The worst experience prize, however, would have to go to Zhang Xiang, who turned a winning game into a loss by not seeing an Atari. Zhang Xiang is now the only 6 dan with no wins.  His opponent, Nuttakrit, 4 Dan of Thailand now marches ahead. Meanwhile, Artem is back on his home turf of European opponents, and gets a well expected win.

Me? Somehow I ended up against the only member of the ‘Big 4′ who had a loss in the first round, Hongbing Lin of Taiwain. She certainly felt as strong as my first opponent. During the early mid-game, I made a mental lapse and played a stone in a place where I did not intend to (I deep read two options, concluding one is okay, while the other is bad. I ended up playing bad one :( ). Needless to say, Hongbing pounced on the error, and my moyo became two groups separated by a living group from my opponent. Needless to say, that’s not good. With about 20 points behind in territory, I was forced to make an highly risky attempt at killing Hongbing corner attachment. The battle became intense, and for some reason, I can’t out read a 6 dan on byoumi when she still had 20 minutes on her clock :). I lost track of battle, and found myself in in a semaei where I was 1 liberty behind.

Unfortunately, running out of time to put up the SGF file. Will do so later!

Round 3:

Round 3 begins tomorrow, with following match-ups:

With Teipei eliminated from 1st place, it is now essentially Japan vs everyone else. It’ll be interesting to see how my opponent from Round 1 fairs against the strongest rep from Korea. Meanwhile, I had the misfortune of again bumping into the strongest player possible with no wins, this time Zhang Xiang, the 6 dan from Singapore who lost his last game only due to misreading an atari. Having played Zhang Xiang in competition before, where I managed 181 as Black playing my almost best, I can tell for sure that this will be a very tough match.

Its a little unfortunate, given that I managed to defeat Garcia Emil and Nuttakrit Taechaamnuayvit in friendly games! Oh well, playing against stronger players is always good!

• Artem Kachanovsky, the Ukrainian representative is Artem92, whose teaches as a 7 dan on KGS.
• USA did originally have a participant in the student OZA, but could not make it due to visa reasons. Thus, he was replaced by  Garcia Emil of Mexico who had only a few days notice.
• Jan Simara of Czech Republic could not make it due to sudden sickness, he is now replaced by a third participant from Japan.
• Zhang Xiang of Singapore was second the three countries competition between Singapore, Malaysian and Thaialnd, and has a 5d account on KGS (Sodaharu).

It’ll be an honor to compete against such a stunning list of participants! A photo has been attached below:

From left to right:

Standing: Mile Gu, Ma XiaoLong, Yutae Seo, Taniguchi Yohe, Artem Kachanovsk, Gabriel Benmergui, Takunori Yamamoto, Lai Yuchen, Nuttakrit Taechaamnua, Zhang Xiang
Sitting:  Anna Prokov, Wang Zhuo, Lee Sunah, Lin Hongbin, Garcia Emil

The first round match-ups has also been decided by random lottery:

1. Sekine Rieko (Japan) vs Anna Prokov (Czech Republic)
2. Yutae Seo (Korea) vs Nuttakrit Taechaamnuay (Thailand)
3. Taniguchi Yohei (Japan) vs Gabriel Benmergui (Argentina)
4. Ma XiaoLong (China) vs  Artem Kachanovsk (Ukraine)
5. Wang Zhuo (China) vs Zhang Xiang (Singapore)
6. Lin Hongbin (Taiwan) vs Lee Sunah (Korea)
7. Mile Gu (New Zealand) vs  Takunori Yamamoto (Japan)
8. Lai Yuchen (Taiwan) vs Garcia Emil (Mexico)

Of these matches, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan on the obvious favorites. Match 4 is interesting, is it probably pits Europeans top player here vs China’s top player, who is one of the more likely candidates to win the OZA. Nevertheless, you can’t expect a 7d KGS to go down without a fight :). Nuttakrit has also go quite a fearsome reputation, though unfortunately, he ends up being pitted as the Korean team… I wish him luck! Match 6 between the China and Korea’s female rep is probably the most balanced match this round, and it’ll be interesting to see who wins.

As for me? I’m playing against the Japanese Student OZA… of course I’ll win :). Well the aim is to play an exciting game! Matches start 11:30am Brisbane time today. I’m hoping for a good night sleep!

On Wednesday evening this week (3 March), members of the Brisbane Go Club will host a banquet with guest of honour Wang Runan 8p, the current chairman of the Chinese Weiqi Association, who is visiting several cities in eastern Australia. The venue is the Rasa Malaysia Chinese Restaurant, Underwood. Please RSVP to John Hardy at the AGA before turning up, as a cover charge does apply; dinner starts at six, go probably around eight.

All else being equal, there will also be a less formal barbeque on Thursday evening, and more go, at St Mark’s Lutheran Church, Mount Gravatt. As this event is free, please RSVP to Larry Wen at the AGA beforehand so they can lay on enough food. The BBQ starts at half past five for six o’clock, and go will happen after that.

Further events on Wang Runan’s visit to Australia are being coordinated by David He in Sydney, and Billy Sun in Melbourne. Please contact them for more information as to what’s happening in your city, and do feel free to tell us!

Competition will take place on the 3rd and 4th of March. Needless to say, its going to be some very tough matches, the Argentina rep, for example, is the well known Danigabi 6d on KGS. I’ll try to do some live blogging while I’m there, so stay tuned!

Click on photos to enlarge and see description.

There was a good turnout for the tournament with 33 players between the 3 divisions. The open division with 17 players, had a turnout of 45 dan (There was one secret zeroth dan despite what the results pdf says).
Thanks go to Horatio Davis, Jason Mackay-Dwyer, Mark Bell and Amelia Gray for organising and running the tournament and to the Queensland university games society(QUGS) for organising the venue.

Results tables from the tournament open division, first handicapped division and second handicapped division can be found here.

The final schedule of the event has slight timetabling changes from the original copy. Saturday lunch was thin base pizza baked ~20m away, which disappeared all too fast. Sunday lunch was sandwiches/rolls that lasted untill half-way through the AGM before round 6. Due to the freezing Air-conditioning at the tournament location, several freindly games during the breaks were played at tables outside. No photos are yet available however.

Game record from Round six of the tournament, Matthew Crossman vs Fred Huang.

[Embedded SGF File]

Once more photos from the tournament become available, a post will be made to collect them together.

Diagram 1

Consider for example, a San-rei Game, where black intends to build massive region on the top of the board. For most of us, such large moyos are scary objects. The calmest way, would of course, to recognise than one had already made significant profit:

Diagram 2

Something like diagram too might occur. Such a reduction would have little risk for white, and the result may even be considered rather advantageous. Black’s territory on top is certainly impressive, but white has gained a good amount of territory on both sides. Later, White can cut away black’s corner with a, and exploit the weakness at b for further invasion. However, for some players, the prospect of giving the opponent so much territory is, at the very least, psychologically bothersome.

So, what are the options for deep invasion?

Diagram 3.

The attach at 1 looks like a natural position. After black hanes, the hane at 3 is the natural move to seek survival….

Diagram 4.

However, with so much strength on outside, there’s good chance that black can kill white completely. White, of course, has other options, such as playing white 3 and black 4 in Diagram 3 and hoping to use the corner aji. However, white’s chance of living is never that great.

Diagram 5.

A better approach is to consider a capping play at 1. Obviously if black submits by playing at a or b, then white plays c and the resulting exchange gives him a much superior position to diagram 2. Black therefore, must cap at 2. White now returns to playing 3. When black hane’s, white crosscuts at 5. With the support of 1, the situation is significantly different.

Diagram 6.

For example, if black extends with 1. White exploits the circled stone to the max with the sequence 2-8. Whites resulting survival, of course, remains unguaranteed. However, the groups of stones is now rather resilient, with possibility to make eye space at A, B and C. Killing the group will be difficult.

Diagram 7.

Should black extend the other stone, white continues with 2-8. Once again, whites group becomes rather resilient to attack. Black may attempt a cap at a, but white has the ability to attach at b, and a good amount of eye space as well.

That’s not to say, of course, that white is completely out of danger. However, should white live, Black’s large sacrifice both corners would have conceived few rewards. If you’re a fun of a fighting game, you may like to try such an approach against an oversized moyo.

Fresh off the nzgs mailing list: there will be a go tournament in five rounds at the International Cultures Festival in Napier, NZ, starting on the afternoon of Saturday the 6th of March and finishing Sunday evening. The Festival is organised by the New Zealand China Friendship Society and this is the first annual tournament of the new Hawkes Bay Go Club. Contact details and schedule are on the NZGS wiki.

Update: Long Yang Li 5d and Juhua Zhou tied for first place. For the rest, see Graeme Parmenter’s excellent tournament report on the NZGS wiki.

The Insei League on KGS has Australia’s own An Younggil 8p participating. In the KGS English Room on February 27 (1pm GMT, 11pm Brisbane time), there will be a live review of his game against Ilya Shiksin 8d. They invite everyone and anyone interested to come and watch; they’re hoping to get a record number of observers, and will repeat the event later on if they do.

If you’re going to be around the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus on Wednesday the 24th, drop by the Queensland University Gaming Society stall, where they will be raffling off a Hikaru no Go-themed beginners go set and various other gaming gear, to kick off first semester. They usually run a weekly go session on campus during semester. More go players of all strengths always welcome…

The Melbourne University Students Playing Go collective are kicking off first semester with their traditional Beginners’ Night from 4pm on Friday the fifth of March. If you’re around Melbourne Uni then, RSVP via Facebook or just turn up. Here are some pictures of last year’s beginners night.

Diagram 1.

Typical responses to the high approach involve close pincers at a, or 6, reasoning that this forces white to jump out towards the triangle stone, and any running fights would be in black’s favour. Recentally, however, black has been given an additional option.

Instead, black feints submission with 2 and 4. Just as white expects black to complete the standard joseki with b, he makes a punishing pincer at black 6. White is now much heavier than the case where black pincers directly.

Diagram 2.

White’s first instinct, of course, is to punish black’s defect shape in the corner with 1, to which black calmly responds at 2. If white pulls back at 3, black happily connects at 4. White is left with a heavy group, that must either run out eyeless, or concede further thickness to black with the sequence 6 to 10. This is clearly unsatisfactory.

Diagram 3.

Therefore, white boldly cuts black with 1, a necessary move, regardless of result. The corner descends into chaos. Black triangle, however, ends up in a perfect position. White is now split into two groups, and will find it extremely difficult to save both.

Diagram 4.

If, white for example, chooses to help the four stones on the left, black effortless walls in the triangle stones on top. Even if these stones somehow survive, the thickness that would gave black is unthinkable.

Diagram 5.

Therefore, white 1 in Diagram 2 is overplay. The best white can hope for is the settled with the sequence 1-8. Although he managed to get sente, black’s left side has been solidified, and blacks top right now has a lot of potential. This does not look good for white at all. So…. where did white go wrong?

Diagram 6.

To answer, we’ll have to backtrack all the way to the initial approach. If black is strong on the left, white best stay away. 1 is a much better idea, to which black responds with a or b.

Diagram 7.

The feint plus pincer, however, is a good sequence to keep in mind. Even in cases where Black has no stone at a, the option is possible whenever black has significant strength in the bottom left and top right. Diagram 7 outlines one possible sequence of moves. The result will now depend entirely on surrounding conditions. Play this is you like seeing blood, though it could be your own!