Life In 19x19

Haha, the internet connection where pro AGA. Seems there is still a way to beat Surma.

An absolute joke if they end up giving the win to the AGA...

They have referees in the live locations with the players to check for cheating, so they do know if it was won due to playing too late, or due to connection.
Mateusz said in chat that he played with 10 seconds left..

You simply can not put a rule in that says that players are responsible for their connections, as players can get the best connection possible, but the KGS servers connection can still randomly disconnect and/or lag players in different regions easily. It is simply beyond the control of players to make sure they always have a good connection to KGS, as KGS also needs to maintain a good route to them...


Only a few moves left and Mateusz was winning with what, 10 points?

On a rather other rathering interesting point, Ali Jabarin said on the stream that something like (he couldnt remember exactly) 10-20% of winnings would go the players winning, and the rest split evenly between all the players in the EGF team. Apparantly they used a random method for choosing the first player. Both Ali and Mateusz wanted to be first, Ali won, but couldnt play the first game due to scheduling conflicts, so Mateusz got to start. (This info from the stream, as i remember it, might have understood something incorrectly)


EDIT: For those that didnt watch the game. Only a few moves left in the game, Mateusz Surma was winning by roughly 10 when he timed out from KGS. He said he played the move with 10 seconds left.

Yes, that would be a joke. What if it´s the deciding game? If a connection would end it. In that case a internet competition is no option in the future.

No on-site professional go tournament would let one player lose on time if there are outside circumstances beyond his control that make it impossible for the player to play his move.
Fire alarms, earth quakes, mechanical or electrical failure of clocks, power outages etc etc. do not cause the player whos turn it is to loose on time.

If it can be confirmed that the move was indeed played with 10 seconds left (or in time in general), then it really shouldnt be seen as a loss.
Play should just be continued from the last correct position, specially if this doesnt affect the integrity of the result.

Eric Lui seemed also to be unlucky, he resigned, after Mateusz lost of the disconnection. If the disconnection counts as a result, it would make him also unhappy, a victory like that would always look like cheating and he don´t want to recognized as a cheater.

Cheating is the wrong word. An undeserved or possibly unsporting (but even that's a stretch IMO) win for Eric, but cheating means breaking rules and Eric didn't do that.

https://transatlanticgo.org/ no oficial result yet seven hours later, and I see nowhere else something to confirm that Eric resigned.

Maybe the teams are discussing with the referees. Connection problems may arise again in the future, so they need to be clear about how to deal with these kinds of issues.

Uberdude wrote:

Ferran wrote:I'd have expected more UK entries, though.

UK is weak now, no longer a force in European Go like it was a few decades ago. It's embarrassing that as a 4 dan I'm a fixture of recent title matches.

Yeah, I was surprised about that, but still being the top player in the UK is quite an accomplishment.

Sad to see my fortune telling powers were correct:

https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=249 wrote: Uberdude #2 17.04.2019 11:54
Mateusz, please don't play so close to the end of byo-yomi period! You give the kibitzers heart attacks with our fear you will be a victim of internet lag.

I hope the rules of the tournament were explicit about effects of lag in internet play, rather than them making it up after the event. If they are, as is often case, "lag is responsibility of the player" then Eric winning is following the tournament rules. However, those rules do give the AGA players an advantage as they are nearer the KGS server in the USA. I believe Mateusz was playing this game in Kazan, Russia on a not-particularly-good connection. Given that I think his decision to go into his final byo-yomi period and play moves even 10 seconds from the end was unwise from a meta-gaming perspective.

Don't worry. The referee team is from Europe.

That the decision making process is impartial.

Anyway, here's the game

Uberdude wrote:Sad to see my fortune telling powers were correct:

https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=249 wrote: Uberdude #2 17.04.2019 11:54
Mateusz, please don't play so close to the end of byo-yomi period! You give the kibitzers heart attacks with our fear you will be a victim of internet lag.

I hope the rules of the tournament were explicit about effects of lag in internet play, rather than them making it up after the event. If they are, as is often case, "lag is responsibility of the player" then Eric winning is following the tournament rules. However, those rules do give the AGA players an advantage as they are nearer the KGS server in the USA. I believe Mateusz was playing this game in Kazan, Russia on a not-particularly-good connection. Given that I think his decision to go into his final byo-yomi period and play moves even 10 seconds from the end was unwise from a meta-gaming perspective.

I understand what you're saying, but i disagree about the 10 seconds being too close.
They are playing with a 1 minute byo. In case a player can not comfortably play at the 10 second mark, then that is a rather huge handicap to the player.
It is not something the player should have to think about, specially since this is one of the biggest "money tournaments" in the EGF & AGA.

In case a player can not comfortably play within the rules (play at even 1 second left), then perhaps byo-yomi time control is the wrong choise for the tournament.

They take a lot of time, making their decision, or did I miss it?