Life In 19x19

HermanHiddema wrote:I don't think it is deliberate error, they probably just copy and pasted the text from last year.

Yes, this is quite likely

I think that it is fair to say that since it's inception the WAGC has been as much about popularization of Go as it has been about crowning a champion. The decision to include representatives from around the world is great for Go and we should be very grateful to the various sponsors that have allowed it to continue so long. At the same time we should be under no illusion about the overall level of competition that results. It would be a better 'championship' if they required participants to demonstrate, say, EGF-6D performance in at least two events to qualify. However, it would not be nearly so good for world Go.* Given the situation, we should relax and enjoy the show. Although they could certainly do a better result of describing what is going on!

*Sad to say (for me anyway), this strikes me as much the same as the continued seeding of Japanese pros into the finals of the LG Cup. These days they are just there to make sure that people recognize it as a 'world' title. Because of the knock-out format of pro events, they can be relied on to get out of the way of the 'real' competitors quickly.

This pairing system sucks... Costa Rica is +2-4 and is playing Slovakia +5-1

dankenzon wrote:This pairing system sucks... Costa Rica is +2-4 and is playing Slovakia +5-1

Well Costa Rica won, so I don't think you should complain so much. But this is an example of the the point I made:

Uberdude wrote:But yes some undergraded 3k won't get to play as many dan players as in a Swiss.

Wouldn't surprise me if this Slovak 2k and the Costa Rican 2d are similar strength. Also our UK rep Des Cann's grade is listed as 5d but he is only European 3d strength as his GoR shows (and enters British tournaments as 3d or 4d now).

Finally I got the Mcmahon system they used:

Top 32 get +5
4 dan get +4
3 dan get +3
2 dan get +2
1 dan get +1
All kyu players get 0.

I only count about 23 for 5d+. How come 32 player got +5?

2 4 8 16 32 is the reason

I still think that with fewer than 64 entrants they could have had a first round with the top half in the seedings playing the bottom half. Then the next 5 rounds would have produced a single winner with the last round pitting two 5-0 players.

Now that the championship is over, I would like to do a bit of a review from my point of view (European kyu spectator).
Seven boards broadcasted, that feels epic compared to the European standards. That was defenetly a strong point. The letdown for me was the hushed up tournament system. I admit that most people watch the results and tables much less than I do, but I don't think that excuses the fact that the tournament system had to be reported by someone on a forum to become public. There was no way of knowing who still had the chance of finishing in the top 10/20... The Ranka reports were great, a very interesting read including those things one would have otherwise never found out (58 minute time penalty...).
So Thailand thank you, and IGF: please take inspiration from other sports bodies and start publishing rules before a tournament starts. Chess already has 2016 candidates tournament rules and regulations published.