Men & Open Individual

Finally I'm up to date :-)

4 okt
The Men's Individual began today, so the others started playing. I play in the Open Individual which starts in two days. Having slept very little I didn't feel like going sightseeing much, plus the weather just turned really bad. So I stayed at the playing site.
In the first round, Michael defeated a 6k, Thomas and Renaud both lost against a 4D and Benjamin suprised us all by besting a Mexican 5D. In the afternoon Michael got to play a Japanese pro 9D. For those who wonder about the result, Michael lost. Btw all results are posted here.




In the evening we went to a bar, not surprisingly there were only go players there. We played a rengo with two 5 dans. The girl is Diana Koszegi, 1p from Hungary, but she didn't play.


5 okt
Benjamin also got his chance to take on a pro, but didn't fare any better than Michael.
Lorenz Trippel (a Swiss shodan) and I were to meet Li Ang at noon to go do some sightseeing. Li turned up a little later than expected and we first went out for lunch.
He wanted to take us somewhere traditional, so it took some time to find a nice restaurant. We had hot-pot, which is fun and tasty.
By the time we finally finished eating, Li had little time left so we returned to the site. Sightseeing will have to wait a couple more days.


In the evening the paring for the Open was done and after some decoding I figured I am to play a Canadian 6D in the first round.



6 okt
The last preliminary rounds of the Men's Individual were played. One amateur 6D actually made it to the 1/8 finals. Our players each scored 2 wins.
And finally I got to play. I lost both my games, against a 6D and a 4D.
I will see if I can still remember them and try to put them online later.


7 okt
The others went out to visit the forbidden city. It's 8pm now and they still aren't back.
This morning I played a 3D, I made a silly mistake and then the game became very difficult. In the end I resigned. In the afternoon, I was paired against a 5k, one of the few women who participate in this event. It was nice to have an easy game for once.


That's all for now.
The IGF also has a blog: Ranka.
And more photo's can be found here.

The Opening

A bit later than expected, but here's a small update.

3 okt
Around noon Benjamin arrived, so now the team is complete.
In the afternoon there was the opening for the go event. Wang Runan (president of the chinese weiqi assocation) and yuki shigeno ( Secretary of the IGF) gave a speech.
There was an explanation about the rules and regulations. The rules are somewhat a crossing between Japanese rules and ING rules. It's a bit confusing for people who are not used to stonecounting, but a lot of referees will walk around the playing hall to help out after the game.
And finally there was the paring for the Men's Individual.

In the evening we were picked up and brought to the Olympic gymnasium for the opening of the WMGS itself.
Players from each country walked in carrying their national banner, for Belgium it was Thomas and a bridge player. Again some speeches were given.
And Gu Li swore on behalf of all players an oath of sportsmanship, fair play and best effort.
The opening was concluded with an amusing performance.

I was awake all night, somehow I just couldn't sleep. Around 4 I decided it was time to do something about it. I went to the living room and started doing tesuji problems.
But an hour and 100 problems later I still wasn't tired.

Arrival

Hi,
I have very little time right now, so it's just the first day for now and no foto's yet.
Hopefully I will find some time this evening to update further.

1 okt
I was hoping to meet Michael, Thomas and Renaud, but I missed in Brussel as I was rushing to the tgv and in Charles des Gaules because they were on a different plane.
I did however meet Fan Hui, the entire French team and John Gibson (Irish 1k). Fan isn't playing, he's coaching the French team.
They were all on the same flight as me. Our plane was delayed two hours and nobody brough a goban along, so it was a long wait.

2 okt
We landed in the early afternoon. I got a message from Michael saying they were already in the hotel. Everything went smooth in the airport and there were shuttle busses waiting for us to take us to the BICC. Bejing Internation Convention Center is the main playing site, I believe some bridge and chess events take place in a different building, but I have no idea where.
After going through registration and check-in, cars were waiting to take us to our appartments. North star HuiYuan is a big complex, with appartment block ranging from A to R and a few more luxiourious hotels.
We are in block B, it's one of the more older blocks, but it's quite nice, we have two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room. When I arrived in the room, the others were out shopping. But a half hour later I finally met my teammembers and we quickly gave Thomas new magnetic goban a try.
In the evening Michael, Thomas and I went to the Olympic site. You have to go through a security check, just to get near the buildings! There was some show going on in the birds nest, but before we knew more the entrances were all closed. We walked around the square for a bit, there were big screens showing the performance going on inside. We could also visit the watercube, but 40€ per person was a bit too much.
We returned home and I for one was exhausted and fell quickly asleep.

Inleiding

Over enkele uren vertrek ik naar Peking om daar deel te nemen aan de World Mind Sports Games.


De wat?
Om het simpel uit te leggen: een beetje zoals de Olympische spelen maar dan voor denksporten.
Er zijn 5 disciplines: Bridge, Dammen, Go, Schaak en Xiangqi (chinees schaak). Binnen elke discipline worden tal van toernooien georganiseerd. In totaal zijn er een 3000tal deelnemers van over gans de wereld.
Dit alles vindt plaats in het Olympisch dorp in Peking.
En had ik al gezegd dat het de allereerste keer is dat dit georganiseerd wordt? Kortom een uniek evenement.

Goed, maar wat ga ik daar nu doen?

In 2005 leerde ik go kennen en het duurde niet lang of ik was volkomen in de ban van dit fascinerende spel. Ik trad ondertussen al 2 keer aan in de finale van het Belgisch kampioenschap, vorig jaar was 6e en dit jaar 9e.
Toen ik over dit evenement hoorde, was ik meteen geïnteresseerd. Gelukkig is Go vrij onbekend in België anders waren mijn kansen om deel te nemen zeer gering geweest. Terwijl er in onze buurlanden gestreden werd om de felbegeerde plaatsen, kostte het ons bloed, zweet en tranen om een 5e man te vinden zodat we toch konden meedoen aan het Men’s Team toernooi. En gelukkig vonden we die op de valreep.

Onze equipe: Thomas Connor, Michael Meeschaert, Benjamin Gigot, Renaud Braye en ik zelf natuurlijk.


En wat is dat, Go?
Voor zij die een beetje nieuwschierig zijn geworden, heb ik hieronder een aantal interesante links opgesomd.

• Leer Go op een interactive manier
• Clubs in België
• http://www.321go.org/
• http://senseis.xmp.net/?Go
• http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(bordspel)

Omdat mij gevraagd is een verslag te schrijven, heb ik besloten een poging te doen om een blog bij te houden. Ik weet echter nog niet of ik ginds gemakkelijk online zal kunnen of niet en we weten allemaal wel dat goede voornemens meestal slechts een kort leven beschoren zijn.
Enfin we zien wel...