Life In 19x19

This one guy who was a 4d kept going on a strange talk about the value of a move in the opening to Chen Wei 3p over and over. It was a weird argument that I don't think anybody but he understood, however Chen Wei came up with a brilliant answer about komi that I've never heard anybody talk about.

Also, talking about Yasuhiro Nakano's famous self atari move with Nakano-sensei.

often wrote:...

Also, talking about Yasuhiro Nakano's famous self atari move with Nakano-sensei.

I hope there were only a few who thought it was ok to do that.


As far as new experiences for me, I recorded two bizarre games on Board 3 of the US Open. Both with Ho Son, a strong ex-insei from Korea who is living in Seattle. Both times he had issues with a clock that led to losses.
- In his first game they decided to break for lunch and he didn't understand the sealed move process. He wasted seven minutes off his clock and then hurriedly played his move. After the lunch break, his sealed move ended up leading to the loss of a large group.
- In his second game, he was in byoyomi and ran out of time - he made a move and thought he hit the clock but apparently he did not. He also arrived late to this game and his clock was already running for minutes, which in retrospect led to distress at the end.

Brutal.

often wrote:This one guy who was a 4d kept going on a strange talk about the value of a move in the opening to Chen Wei 3p over and over. It was a weird argument that I don't think anybody but he understood, however Chen Wei came up with a brilliant answer about komi that I've never heard anybody talk about.

Ok, now you just have to say more. I hate cliffhangers.

judicata wrote:

often wrote:This one guy who was a 4d kept going on a strange talk about the value of a move in the opening to Chen Wei 3p over and over. It was a weird argument that I don't think anybody but he understood, however Chen Wei came up with a brilliant answer about komi that I've never heard anybody talk about.

Ok, now you just have to say more. I hate cliffhangers.

So the guy had a weird example of saying that if komi was 7.5, then if black passes, then it is like white having a 7.5 advantage, but if white passes again, it is like black having a 15 point advantage.

Which made no sense. At all. (and imagine having to try to translate it to chinese as well)

Chen Wei ended up saying first that it is hard to quantify any kind of move in the opening with points at all.

He didn't accept that response and persisted with some concept of points per move.

So Chen Wei told him to abandon the concept of 7.5 komi as a representation of "opening value" by saying the following.

Komi used to be nothing, then 4.5, then 5.5, then 6.5. The reason for doing so was because of advances within opening theory that necessitated a komi change. As of right now White is winning slightly more b/c of komi but that might change over time. Chen Wei said over time it might be 8.5 or even more if openings keep improving and that 7.5 was rather a current necessity due to openings.

In my stupor i think the guy gave up the argument after hearing that.

mhlepore wrote:I hope there were only a few who thought it was ok to do that.

I guess, his wife brought it up first and then I tentatively asked him if it was ok to talk about it. He was suprisingly ok with the whole thing.

Another highlight of the congress was walking past a conversation and hearing Shirley Lin 1p say she just moved to my neighborhood here in the Seattle area. I stopped and said, "I live there!". We exchanged phone numbers.

I may have to take professional lessons now

I remember there being several meetings

a day.

Next year I have to organize it so I play in the open _and_ hang out with friends a tiny bit as well as the meetings.