Tournaments need sponsors and teaching pros need students. Go pros are a new thing in the West. I think that it is too early to predict gloom and doom.

Oh, and for those who care more about the clothes, here's the previous two pros (Lisy and Jabarin) at a match in Japan:

I don't recall ever seeing a Japanese pro with his elbow on the table before.

Found one for you in 30 seconds of googling:

http://www.seattlego.org/wp-content/upl ... t-move.jpg

I don't recall ever seeing a Japanese pro with his elbow on the table before.

What struck me instantly about this photo is how few of the players are looking at the board. In my experience that's not pro or insei behaviour.

...focusing your attention on the board at all times...

How often will they make new pros, and 2 each time? Wasn't it just over half a year ago we got the first two? I worry making 2 per year (or more frequently) will mean we end up demeaning the title of professional too much with too weak players becoming ones (should be EGF 7ds not 6d IMO).

But well done Mateusz! He's a nice guy.

Interestingly, as can be seen in honte's second set of photos, the semi-finalists (Shikshin, Surma, Pop and Kachanovskyi) are focussed on the board immediately (at 2-5 moves into the game).

Personally, I have the experience of playing a young Korean insei who did not focus on the board. Rather, he would study the position after my move for 5 seconds, then look at the ceiling and do all the calculation in his head. And his reading was frightfully accurate too

I recently stumbled on that story http://rongen17.home.xs4all.nl/Cho/Stor ... ry002.html
I guess it drills down the point that paying attention to the board is important

Where did you hear that?

Where did you hear that?

It seems to have been corrected in the meantime, but the original email announcement of this tournament http://www.andalucia-go.org/index.php/en/tournaments-and-activities-of-agoa/seville-go-tournaments-col-210/162-xviii-seville-go-tournament-2015 spoke of 3p's and 2p's

My guess is someone looked at his EGD page and saw his GoR as "2755 (3p)". In the EGF rating system 7d at 2700 is considered equivalent to 1p (New 1ps into the system are set at 2700) with 30 rating points per pro dan rank (rather than the 100 per amateur rank) so 2755 translates to 3p. When Pavol and Ali got their 1p they got reset to 2700, getting a rating point boost (from 2654 and a peak of 2686 for Pavol, and from 2658 (peak) for Ali, since then Pavol has risen to 2717 and Ali dropped to 2673). Ilya's 2755 on the other hand is earned from his skill in winning games rather than pro qualification tournaments, so it would be rather perverse if his rating were to be reset down to 2700!

On a side note, I think that the treatment of pro ratings is a bit naive. The idea that 3 ranks normally means 1 stone is something that seems to have handed down from folklore, and bears scant resemblance to reality.