Tag: Tournament

Tournament Mode

I just added a new feature to SmartGo One: Tournament Mode. Basically, it turns off all smarts while you’re recording a game, and makes it clearly visible that you’ve turned them off.

Using an iPad or iPhone for game recording is a lot easier than pen and paper: no move number to remember, just tap the screen after each move. But with AI now much stronger than almost all players, even on mobile devices, those features can’t be accessible while recording.

Here’s how Tournament Mode works in SmartGo One:

Start recording: The only way to turn it on is to start recording a new game (in My Files, tap on + at top, then New Game). Enable the Tournament Mode switch, and the top right action changes from an orange ‘Play’ to a green ‘Record’.

During the game: While recording that game, all AI functions as well as joseki matching are disabled. A clearly visible green bar at the top indicates that you’re in recording-only mode.

End recording: When you’re done recording, tap on the popup menu in the lower left of the board, and tap on End Recording. This immediately removes the green bar at the top, and re-enables AI features.

If you switch to another game at any time, you’re also taken out of Tournament Mode. Once you’re out of tournament mode, the only way to get back in would be to start a fresh recording with an empty board.

Note that all the features that make SmartGo One so great for game recording are still available. For example, if you missed a pair of moves, you can go back and insert those; if you misplaced a move, tap and hold on that stone, and choose Replace Move.

I hope that Tournament Mode will allow both opponents and tournament organizers to feel confident that SmartGo One is being used for recording only. From the rules of the Dutch Open:

“Recording your game is permitted on a digital device, as long as the screen remains visible for your opponent at all times. And your opponent has to agree with recording the game digitally. If you want to record your game digitally, this will only be allowed on applications vetted in advance by the organization of the tournament, to make sure it does not have AI functionality. Recording your game with a paper kifu is of course permitted.”

These seem like good rules, especially making sure that the screen is visible to the opponent at all times. If that green bar ever disappears, tell your opponent to put the phone away.

Please let me know how this feature works for you, either as a player or a tournament organizer. Any tweaks that would make it better?

Spain in February

My mom likes to go to Spain in February to escape the Norwegian winter. I was lucky to be able to visit her there and time it perfectly to include a Go tournament in Barcelona. Little did I know that this would be my last trip for a while. And while Europe is now far along the road to recovery, the US has grossly mismanaged the epidemic to the point where we’re now (rightly so) banned from entering Europe.

It may seem frivolous to write about travel in these times, and this blog post was sitting half-finished for months. However, I’m confident that we’ll be traveling again someday; for now, please join me from home. I hope you’re safe and healthy wherever you are, and that looking forward to travel may help you get through this.

I’ll start with the Go tournament; stick with me if you’re interested in some of the architecture Spain has to offer.

Barcelona Go Tournament

It was fun to meet tournament organizer Julio Martinez in person after only knowing him as @liopic on Twitter, and I even got paired against him in the first round. I ended up winning three games and losing two, bringing my European rating back up to 1 dan. The game against the eventual winner of the tournament, Rita Pocsai 4 dan, was a foregone conclusion, but every other game could have ended differently.

In the game against Marco Meyenschein 4 dan, I misplayed the top right corner, but at least got some outside influence while giving him 40 solid points. I was close to resigning; if it had not been the last game, I might have done so and saved my energy for the next game. Playing on, I managed to stake out a moyo large enough that he was forced to invade to reduce it:

As he was running away, I built up territory, but not enough. He just had to connect out, but after misreading a connection, his stones got trapped and eventually died.

Not sure what the lesson is: Don’t give up too soon? Beware an opponent who has nothing to lose? Or resign earlier so you don’t have to win this way?

Alicante

The area around L’Albir is really picturesque, with mountains going all the way down to the sea, and narrow streets in the old town of Altea. And a climate that attracts a lot of Norwegians.

Valencia

As a fan of Calatrava (see my trip to his train station in Liège-Guillemins), I stopped in his home town of Valencia to see the City of Arts and Sciences. What a sight! Season 3 of Westworld features many scenes at these futuristic-looking buildings. I only had a few hours, and couldn’t explore the insides, but what an experience to just walk around and take it all in.

Sagrada Família

Barcelona is home to Gaudi, and especially the Sagrada Família. My last trip to Barcelona was in 1992, playing in the Othello World Championship. Since then, the Sagrada Família has made a lot of progress. The outside is still weird:

But the inside is even more magnificent:

Unfortunately, access to the towers is more restricted than it was in 1992, but still well worth it for the spiral stairs, and views into the church from above.

It’s still a construction zone; I’m looking forward to visiting Barcelona again when it’s completed in 2026 (not software, so maybe they’ll even finish on time).

Casa Milà

Another Gaudi building with a lot of controversy. While it’s been derisively nicknamed La Pedrera (the stone quarry), the construction as well as the inside is amazing: lots of light thanks to the dual courtyards, the first underground car garage in Barcelona, arched attic (used for laundry), rooftop with chimneys and ventilation as sculptures.

As with the Sagrada Família, Gaudi figured out the load-bearing structure using hanging chain models, resulting in optimal arches when turned upside down.

Memories and pictures of my trip help keep my spirits up as I remain at home. I’m looking forward to my next trip to Spain – it may be a while, but I’ll definitely be back. Meanwhile, please stay safe.

EGC 2019 in Brussels

A family reunion put me in Ireland right during the US Go Congress; luckily, the European Go Congress lined up perfectly. I arrived in Brussels without jet lag, and definitely did better than two years ago in Oberhof.

I entered as 2 dan instead of 3 dan, knowing that European ranks are tougher than US ranks. However, 1 dan might have been the right rank, as that’s where I ended up (see my EGF ranking). I won half my games in the main tournament, but I was 1-4 in the first week and 4-1 in the second week, a clear sign of being overrated.

The weekend tournament didn’t go as well: I lost all five games. Each game was winnable, but somehow I managed to mess up. I regrouped and analyzed the games, and paid more attention to taking care of my weak groups instead of going for big points, and won the next four games.

A few other observations:

I got to practice my Norwegian hanging out with a dozen players from Norway. And it was great to get to know players I’ve long known through Twitter, such as Marcel Gruenauer.
I really enjoyed the longer time limits: with two hours per player, games are often four hours long; definitely valuable to spend that much time thinking intensely about the game.
Many players stayed only for the first week and the weekend tournament, so that’s certainly an option if you can’t stay for two weeks. Looking at the registered participants, there were 571 players for the first week, 702 for the weekend tournament, and 397 for the second week.
Brussels was a great place to have the tournament, with lots of places to eat and explore (more on that below). They had go boards in nearby pubs; maybe playing rengo until 1 am was not conducive to optimal play the next day?
The playing space was okay, except for lack of air conditioning – temperatures in Brussels reached 40° C (100° F) during the first week.

Next year, I plan to be at the US Go Congress in Estes Park, Colorado – hope some of the European players will be able to make it.

Side trips

At the US Go Congress, there’s usually a group of us touring the nearest Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Brussels has a lot of beautiful old buildings, but I found some nearby places that were more to my liking.

The Atomium

I had seen the Atomium before, so I just went to take pictures of this fun structure this time.

Reading Between the Lines

Reading Between the Lines (Doorkijkkerk) is an artwork out in the green, well worth the train, bus, and hike from Brussels.

Liège-Guillemins

I love the Stadelhofen station in Zürich designed by Santiago Calatrava, so when I found out his train station in Liège is only an hour from Brussels, I knew I had to check it out. I was blown away by the size and openness of that space, and the light coming in.

Port House

The Port House in Antwerp was designed by Zaha Hadid: Not to everyone’s liking, I’m sure, but it just put a smile on my face as I walked around it.

Maybe one of these will inspire you to visit beautiful Belgium. If not, there’s always chocolate.

Go Congress 2018, Williamsburg

I enjoyed a fun week at the US Go Congress in Williamsburg, Virginia: a great success in terms of playing go, learning go, meeting old friends and making new ones; a mixed bag in terms of winning tournament games. I definitely did better with a longer time limit:

3 – 3 in the main tournament. Time limit: 1h 30m per player.
1 – 4 in the 55-and-over tournament (40 minutes per player).
1 – 3 in the Die Hard tournament (30 minutes per player).

Clearly a better result than at the European Go Congress last year, where I lost the first seven games. No jet lag certainly helped. My rating before this tournament was 3.07, just barely 3 dan, might drop to 2 dan once the ratings are updated.

I talked to many SmartGo Kifu and Go Books users, and got to answer support questions in person. It’s really valuable to see where people stumble and what they don’t know about – I’ve written a separate blog post on that.

As previously announced, I’m in the process of rewriting SmartGo Kifu in Swift. I demoed a preview of the new version, and got good feedback on design and features. It won’t be ready until 2019 at the earliest, though.

Unfortunately, a family commitment will likely keep me from attending next year’s Go Congress in Madison, Wisconsin. I hope to be at the European Go Congress in Brussels instead.

Atomium

EGC Oberhof 2017

My travel plans lined up to allow me to go to the European Go Congress in Oberhof, Germany, this year. Here’s a brief summary of my experiences.

My US rating has been pretty stable at 3 dan for years, and I registered as 3 dan for this tournament. That was probably a mistake; turns out there are many European 1- and 2-dans who could compete as 3 dan in the US.

I ended up with 2 wins and 8 losses in the main tournament, 1 win and 4 losses in the weekend tournament. All my games were interesting, and I’ve learned a lot, but it’s hard not to let your tournament performance affect your mood as well as your play. The first week was also colored by jet lag and almost constant rain, which didn’t help.

Some comparisons to the US Go Congress:

Main tournament has ten rounds instead of six. That is great, except when you keep losing.
Two hours per player instead of 90 minutes. I like the longer time limits, but 4-hour games are exhausting; maybe I should have used the sealed move and taken a break for lunch. Also, starting at 10 am instead of 9 am followed by a longer game caused the timing of meals to be weird.
Weekend tournament (five rounds, one hour time limit) is an added bonus. Also some other side tournaments not seen in the US: Chess & Go, Yose Go, Phantom Rengo.
Tournament times were not coordinated well with hotel meal schedules: some tournaments started at 5:45 pm, while dinner was not available until 6 pm. The nearby town had a lot of good food options, but scheduling was tricky.
Fewer pros, fewer lectures, fewer game reviews: The US Go Congress does a better job at organizing pro events.
Cheaper: I paid about as much for two weeks here as for one week at the US Go Congress.
More people: This was the biggest European Go Congress ever, with over 900 players.
You hear many more languages. I could use my German, Swiss German, Norwegian, and a bit of French, but English will carry you through without problem.

The other difference is more personal: at the US Go Congress, I know all the organizers and lots of players, and they know me. Here I’m mostly incognito. I got to know a bunch of players, but it still feels quite different.

Overall a great experience, even though I’m not happy with my results. Next year is in Pisa, Italy; 2019 is in Brussels, Belgium. My advice if you can make it:

Try to get there a few days early to recover from jet lag.
Possibly adjust your rank; seems to be at least one rank difference in the low dans.
Figure out your plan for 4-hour games: bananas, chocolate, energy bars, coffee, whatever it takes to keep your concentration.

Best of luck to everybody now at the US Go Congress!