A KGS miracle

[Redbeard]

So, I am taking lessons at Guo Juan's Internet Go School using KGS. Part of each class is a tournament in which you play your fellow students. The student with the best record at the end of the term wins a teaching game with a professional player.

Last week, I was tied for first place with another student. We were scheduled to play each other in the final round, so this game was essentially the tie breaker. Whomever won the game, won the prize.

I was away from home on a business trip, but I was not going to let that keep me from the game. My opponent was in Europe and I was in North America, but that could be worked out as well. After all the arrangements were made, I was logged onto the wireless network of my hotel at 12:30am local time, getting ready to play my opponent who had just awoke at 7:30am in their home.

The game started off fine. I got the lead in the opening, but my opponent had caught up by mid-game. We went back and fourth until around 2:00am, when my opponent started to take a long time thinking about their next move. I had waited 10 minutes for them to take their turn, when I decided to send a chat asking if they were OK. I typed on the chat window, but there was no response from my keyboard. I checked my Internet connection and found that I had lost all connectivity and had been sitting off line for several minutes! I quickly closed the KGS client, reconnected to the Internet, and logged back in. My game was still in progress, so I made my apologies and resumed the game. I played a few more moves, but then lost connectivity again. I tried to log back in, but it was no use. The hotel wireless was active, but there was no connection to the Internet.

What was I going to do? It was after 2am, I was in a strange place, and I was using hotel Internet which had no tech support available. It looked like I was going to forfeit the game and the class tournament.

Suddenly I remembered that I had bought the KGS android client when it first came out! I had not used it much, but if I was ever going to play a game with it, the time was now. I grabbed my phone and started the KGS app. It logged me in, showed me there was a game in progress, and then brought up the game with the clock still running. I was even able to use the chat on the phone client to explain to my opponent what had happened.

We continued to play through to the end game. My opponent was in byo-yomi and I had less than 5 minutes on the clock when I found a snap-back that would let me capture 20+ points. My opponent's clock ran out as they tried to find a way to save their stones. Over half of the planet and 7 time zones away, through two disconnects, using a laptop and then a smart-phone, I won the game and the class tournament. It was a KGS miracle.

[Koosh]

Well fought- it's good that you had enough time to make it work.

[Mef]

Well fought- it's good that you had enough time to make it work.

Equally impressive that you were able to login with your phone, explain what happened (via phone), and still be ahead of your opponent on time (=

[daal]

And also impressive that with such obstacles tossed into your path in a high-stakes game, that you found a solution, kept your cool and didn't let yourself get flustered.

[Redbeard]

Thanks for the support everyone! I've been dying to tell that story, but this is the only crowd I know that could truly appreciate it.

[karaklis]

when I found a snap-back that would let me capture 20+ points.

These are the moments which I love the game of go so much for: When you read out a situation on the real board and suddenly notice that you can capture an opponent's group with a snapback. It's not in one of the dry life-and-death problems where you find snapbacks every now and then. When there are the exciting moments that you find a snapback "out there in the wild", you know what for you've done all these dry problems. I had such a moment in half a dozen tournament matches (out of more than a hundred; from 16k to 9k), so I empathize with you. Congratulations!

[Bazoo]

I presume the 7 time zones that cover half the earth were those stretched and created by some dodgy particles at CERN?

[Redbeard]

I presume the 7 time zones that cover half the earth were those stretched and created by some dodgy particles at CERN?

So, the Bartender says "We don't serve faster than light particles in here"...and a Neutrino walks into the bar.

[barakameek]

So, the Bartender says "We don't serve faster than light particles in here"...and a Neutrino walks into the bar.

I love it....witty and one needs to know what the hell you on about too. (not a joke for the layman)