The WAGC 2011 has just started. First round results are in as I post, with no big surprises yet, and can be found at: http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/amakisen/wor ... esult.html

Coverage at: http://ranka.intergofed.org/

Only 57 participants this year, down from 68 at its peak in 2006-2008.

2nd round results are posted. In the article, it says that some of the games are being broadcast. Are they on IGS?

No, I don't think so. They are broadcast on Wbaduk.

I'm curious: why is India's representative so weak? I would have thought they could find many people stronger than 4k in a country of that size.

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Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

1st unexpected result: Hirata-san lost to Morten Ofstad 4d from Norway!

http://www.361points.com/blog/2011/05/2 ... y-in-wagc/

As far as I know you have to pay for your flight yourself and I don't know about accommodations. Maybe this 4k was the only one willing to spend so much money (+ the time) on his hobby?

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Ireland have won 2 games, I am proud

Ireland have won 2 games, I am proud

I don't find it very unexpected at all; you can only have so much stamina at the age of 84.

I think it's somewhat unexpected anyway. He probably had to have quite a bit of stamina to get through to win whatever tournament was held to find Japan's strongest amateur entry...

It was also only the third game with the previous two being against low seeds.

I would have really liked to see Eric Lui win the 4th round, but too much of an upset maybe.

I'm German so I'm cheering for Germany, but we aren't doing to well (currently place 25, was rated 10 )

So I've decided to cheer for the Polish dude. Seriously, what is up with this guy? He is only 4 dan but in the top 4? And all those crazy fuseki strategies I'm hearing about? I'm just glad I'm not a dan player, Dresden isn't too far from Poland

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While I was teaching the game to a friend of mine, my mother from the other room:
"Cutting? Killing? Poking out eyes? What the hell are you playing?"

Go Morten! Go Norway! That was awesome!

Oops! Sorry, you're right. Let me re-phrase it and tell the real news...

A no name beginner, old granddaddy from a certain Asian country unknown until today for its go achievements, unexpectedly won against a 7d from Canada & a 5d from Czech Republic. Some sources claim that more such big surprises are on their way. However, as expected, he lost to a famous 4d from Norway, multiple world & European champion.

Is this OK?

Adrian

P.S. Sorry, Morten; Gomen nasai, Hirata-sama

Yes, much better!

Thank you

The problem is that I'm a little bit confused ... that Japanese beginner has just won against a 4 dan from Spain... I thought that he cannot win against 4 dans... There is something wrong here...

C'mon. I thought Araban's point was fine. Hirata obviously has a huge wealth of accumulated experience and talent. It's no surprise that he can play very well. But it's also not at all surprising if his age leads to inconsistency. Maybe it's not expected that he'll lose to a European 4d, but it's not quite a shock.

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Aha



Well, no one said that I remember that 20 yrs ago Schlemper defeated both Japan's and China's representatives. THAT was a shock

Adrian

P.S. I'll stop here. This discussion is already pointless. At least to me...

I assumed it was a joke, actually.



It is to me. In my experience older players are generally more consistent than younger players.



It's not? I would consider it one of the most unexpected results I have ever seen at that level of play.

Agreed

What do you think, does Hirata have any chance of winning the tournament? That would be really great, but I doubt it, because of his bad SOS...

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