So I started a Go club at the school I work at in September. We get together once a week to play and enjoy 9x9 go. Some of the kids are learning well!
We also had our first tournament (2 groups, where 2 best of every group went off to a knock-out phase)
The atmosphere during the finals was amazing. I was afraid that most of the children would be restless, because they usually come to play Go themselves. Now only the finalists were playing, the others were watching. And they did it in total silence! I also replayed the game on the big smartboard. Sometimes, when some stones were caught, spontaneous applause would follow, followed by extreme silence again.
In the end, the finale was a super close game, with 0.5 difference!
Pictures (faces blurred - privacy) and the .sgf of the finale match below!
Here you see the board I used for the finals.
Finals have ended, but the game for place 3 is still on its way!
Top 3, along with myself and a friend of mine/collegue who helps organise the Go club.
Most of our Go club, not all members came to view the finals
The sgf file of the match. Unfortunately, white loses because he uses 3 moves to capture black in the end, while black was dead as he stood. But they're not that far along yet. Still, both played a good game I think. Especially black used his stones wisely in the opening!
White had an off-day, though. His semi-finals match was really of a higher level. Now he made some blind self-atari moves and some weird moves on the first line. Stress had something to do with it, too.
Still, proud of these boys and girls, they did well!
We'll continue our Go journey after the Christmas holidays and we'll have a 2nd tournament at the end of the schoolyear!