I have graded almost all games down now. Except for game 3, I do not think that any of these players are stronger than me.

1: 1 dan
2: 5 kyu
3: (9 dan)
4: 2 kyu
5: 1 dan
6: 12 kyu
7: 5 kyu
8: 2 kyu

1. 2 dan. The diagonal fuseki makes this look a little odd, and jumping right into the corner at 9 seems a little early to me, though it IS a large knight's response. I'm pretty sure black can safely tenuki from the lower right, though I imagine he'd still like sente to come back. All in all, nothing too off-base here.

2. 16 kyu. (Watch, this will turn out to be a pro game). From my unscientific observation, I don't see DDks open with 3-3 often--usually I see it from people who are experimenting. But, 7 is weird. I don't see black getting securable influence out of it. Also, I would think a 12kyuish player would habitually enclose the 3-4 before approaching (though this isn't saying the approach is wrong).

3. 5 dan. Why, you ask? White 6 is obviously weird but, for some reason, White 8 and 10 seem to reflect an deep experimental strategy. I haven't read it out, obviously, but I'm going with my gut on this. So, 5 dan it is.

4. 4 kyu. Again, a bit of an odd fuseki, but it has some principled basis, I think. White's approach seems reasonable on some level, but the upper left might become urgent afterwards.

5. 3 dan. I couldn't decide between 12 kyu and 3 dan. . Through these moves, black shows an enormous moyo strategy. Black 5 and White 6 are odd, but not unplayable. Black 7 is what tells me "12 kyu," and the non-pincer at 9 might tell me the same. Low confidence about this one.

6. 16 kyu. Black 5 is weird, but whatever. White 6, though... I just can't imagine the reasoning for this, and the moves through 10 seem to fight over 7 points in the opening.

7. 5 kyu. I think I understand the thought behind black 9 -- Black doesn't want to be one-space-low-pincered with the small knight's move approach, so black chooses this one-perhaps thinking white might defend the corner. But, I dunno.

8. 5 dan. Why? because it seems intentionally random, as if there is an express or implied agreement not to play fuseki/joseki moves. At the same time, both players are in playable positions.

1. Same (2 dan). The continuation doesn't really change anything for me.

2. Same. (16kyu) I don't have any additional comments. Nothing is dying yet, but this still looks goofy.

3. Same (5d), but I could revise to pro. I doubt I could tell the difference between an amateur 5dan and a pro anyway. (I'm not saying there aren't differences, of course there is a HUGE difference, but it is nearly imperceptible at my level).

4. Same (4 kyu).

5. Same I guess (3 dan). I'm still conflicted about this one, but definitely not a DDK.


6. Same (16 kyu). I would base this on 6-14 alone.

7. Same (5 kyu). I don't think any stronger. Now that I look at it, I think black 7 is a mistake; not an aweful move, but I think Q14 is better for getting some territory on the left side in this situation (assuming that is what black is trying to do). If there was already a white stone around R 9, I'd think differently.

8. Same (5 dan). Funky game, but I think both of these players are stronger than me. Of course, even an SDK could play out these moves so far, but I still think 5 dan.

No additional comments; not changing my answers

I was sure that game 5 was between top pros, though. Amateurs don't randomly use Go Seigen moves like that. And even at 10 moves, it looked like they both knew how to use it. Black uses something like a high mini-Chinese, and it looked like confident play. But after seeing 30 moves, I was going to guess that the two-point high attachment was just an amateur fluke, since it looked like there were reading problems in the lower right: an atari that can't capture, a hazama tobi that's cut immediately-- so I was going to guess a mid-kyu.

I was going to guess game 8 was a Yoda Norimoto game-- I know I saw him open a game in a similar way before. Black follows up a peculiar opening with beautiful use of joseki on the left side, ending in sente that lets him play on the right side too. So even if not Yoda Norimoto per se, I was sure that it would be a pro game.

I was also going to guess game 3 was a pro game, for the same reason as game 5: White uses a Go Seigen signature move, and uses it well. I thought Black's shape was a bit odd after 30 moves, but it still looked like he knew what he was doing.

Game 1 is the most surprising. After 10 moves, it could equally be a pro game or rank amateur game. But after the invasion joseki, I thought that there was no way it could be higher than mid-kyu. Why didn't White descend and cut off Black? If Black then tries to cut, White can capture that stone in a ladder, right?

Game 6 looked very weak, even after 10 moves. Black 9 just doesn't look like a good response to White 8, because White can cut it so easily. So he'll have to defend, and end up with a cramped shape. Later, Black makes a similarly loose move on the top, and White just captures it. I was going to guess that this was between low kyu players, or perhaps a low kyu with a mid-kyu.