Playing Go in Beijing
Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2010 1:03 am
My girlfriend and myself are travelling around China for three months. First stop was Beijing. On Tuesday the 28th of September, we decided to do some go related stuff in Beijing as well. We planned to visit the Weiqi Tiandi, a Chinese style go salon, and the Beijing Go Club, a more western style club run by expats.
After a visit to the Temple of Heaven park, we walked to the Weiqi Tiandi (World of Weiqi) go salon, which is a about 500 meters from the north gate of the park. We arrived around 4pm, and there were about 6 players present at that time. More players came in later. The staff were quite amazed when I said I was "si duan" (four dan), and asked if I didn't mean four kyu. After assuring them that I really was 4 dan, I was matched with a Chinese player of the same rank. I was a little unsure what to expect. General experience seems to indicate that Chinese 4 dan are somewhat weaker than European 4 dan, but that can also depend on their age, and how long ago they achieved their rank.
My opponent spoke little English, and I speak no Chinese, but on the go board we speak a common language. Since we were both 4 dan, and I had the bowl of white stones, I simple put a hand full of white stones on the table. My opponent put down one black stone, and since my handful turned out to be 7 stones, he played black.
The opening was uneventful, and quite reasonable in my opinion, perhaps a bit slow for both players. There was certainly an atmosphere of feeling out the opponent, as we were both unsure of the other player's true skill. In the middle game, I slowly managed to get the upper hand, and I got the feeling that I was indeed a little stronger than my opponent, who remarked to my girlfriend that I was quite strong.
Still, the game was far from over, and when I counted at the start of the endgame, I estimated my opponent to be 3-5 points ahead on the board, which would mean that komi should be sufficient for me to win the game. The endgame was evenhanded, with both players showing about equal skill at playing the right order of moves. I felt that the game was close, but should be a white win by a few points.
After filling dame, we counted Chinese style, which I let my opponent do, as I did not know how it works. It seemed obvious how it worked while he was doing it, and so I tried to help a little. A mistake perhaps, in retrospect. The count came to 192 stones-plus-territory for black, which means 169 for white. This counts as 11.5 zi for black (11.5 more than 180.5, which is half the board). With komi of 3.75 zi (7.5 points), this meant a 7.75 zi win for black, which is equivalent to 15.5 points in the japanese style. I was surprised, but figured I must have miscounted. When I later recorded the game, I found that black actually had 182, which is 1.5 zi and after komi means a loss by 2.25 zi for black. It is obvious there was exactly a 10 zi counting error, which is quite possible, since the counting process goes in multiples of ten.
Regardless of the result, I enjoyed the game a lot, and we decided to play another one. The first game had lasted 90 minutes, and if was now 5:30pm. The second game was at a quicker pace, and lasted only an hour. We played with colors reversed, and with black I managed to kill a group of my opponent in the middle game, after which my victory was never really in danger anymore. White resigned after filling dame, to avoid the hassle of counting an obvious result (the recording I did later shows a 26.5 point (13.25 zi) win for black.
All in all, I had a lot of fun at the salon. The atmosphere was relaxed, the setting was spacious and luxurious, the people were friendly, and with an entry fee of 20 yuan (about 3 dollars) plus another 20 yuan for unlimited tea, it is not too expensive by Western standards. The only real downside is that pople can and do smoke there, which can be annoying for many people. My opponent did smoke during the games, but asked in advance whether I minded that he smoke. I can heartily recommend anyone visiting Beijing to drop by Weiqi Tiandi.
After the second game, we left to get some dinner. We had dinner at the Beijing Go club's new location, a Japanese all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurant. We tried to find the Beijing Go Club after dinner, but we couldn't find any go players, and the staff had no idea what we were talking about either. We tried calling Ernie, who runs the club, but couldn't get through.
Disappointed, we decided to head back to our hotel. We sent Ernie a text message, in hopes of reaching him like that. and after about 20-30 minutes of walking towards our hotel, we decided to make one last attempt at calling Ernie, and we managed to get through. Turns out the Japanese restaurant had suddenly upped their prices and changed their formula since last week, and was no longer a suitable location, so they had moved to a Russian restaurant a few doors down.
We doubled back and arrived there around 9:30 pm. Sadly, most players had to leave after about 30 minutes, but I still got to play a fun game with Ernie, who is 2 dan on KGS. I had a few beers already, and played a little unreasonably. A few overplays led to a complicated fighting game. Ernie had a big chance to win the game after a mistake of mine, but misread it and resigned a little later, when he felt a group of his could not be saved anymore.
During and after the game, we also had fun talking about life in China, and Ernie gave us a few useful tips on what to expect on the rest of our trip.
Again, I recommend anyone visiting Beijing to drop by this club. It is completely different from the salon, but no less fun. The players are mostly expats, so they speak English and you should feel right at home.
After a visit to the Temple of Heaven park, we walked to the Weiqi Tiandi (World of Weiqi) go salon, which is a about 500 meters from the north gate of the park. We arrived around 4pm, and there were about 6 players present at that time. More players came in later. The staff were quite amazed when I said I was "si duan" (four dan), and asked if I didn't mean four kyu. After assuring them that I really was 4 dan, I was matched with a Chinese player of the same rank. I was a little unsure what to expect. General experience seems to indicate that Chinese 4 dan are somewhat weaker than European 4 dan, but that can also depend on their age, and how long ago they achieved their rank.
My opponent spoke little English, and I speak no Chinese, but on the go board we speak a common language. Since we were both 4 dan, and I had the bowl of white stones, I simple put a hand full of white stones on the table. My opponent put down one black stone, and since my handful turned out to be 7 stones, he played black.
The opening was uneventful, and quite reasonable in my opinion, perhaps a bit slow for both players. There was certainly an atmosphere of feeling out the opponent, as we were both unsure of the other player's true skill. In the middle game, I slowly managed to get the upper hand, and I got the feeling that I was indeed a little stronger than my opponent, who remarked to my girlfriend that I was quite strong.
Still, the game was far from over, and when I counted at the start of the endgame, I estimated my opponent to be 3-5 points ahead on the board, which would mean that komi should be sufficient for me to win the game. The endgame was evenhanded, with both players showing about equal skill at playing the right order of moves. I felt that the game was close, but should be a white win by a few points.
After filling dame, we counted Chinese style, which I let my opponent do, as I did not know how it works. It seemed obvious how it worked while he was doing it, and so I tried to help a little. A mistake perhaps, in retrospect. The count came to 192 stones-plus-territory for black, which means 169 for white. This counts as 11.5 zi for black (11.5 more than 180.5, which is half the board). With komi of 3.75 zi (7.5 points), this meant a 7.75 zi win for black, which is equivalent to 15.5 points in the japanese style. I was surprised, but figured I must have miscounted. When I later recorded the game, I found that black actually had 182, which is 1.5 zi and after komi means a loss by 2.25 zi for black. It is obvious there was exactly a 10 zi counting error, which is quite possible, since the counting process goes in multiples of ten.
Regardless of the result, I enjoyed the game a lot, and we decided to play another one. The first game had lasted 90 minutes, and if was now 5:30pm. The second game was at a quicker pace, and lasted only an hour. We played with colors reversed, and with black I managed to kill a group of my opponent in the middle game, after which my victory was never really in danger anymore. White resigned after filling dame, to avoid the hassle of counting an obvious result (the recording I did later shows a 26.5 point (13.25 zi) win for black.
All in all, I had a lot of fun at the salon. The atmosphere was relaxed, the setting was spacious and luxurious, the people were friendly, and with an entry fee of 20 yuan (about 3 dollars) plus another 20 yuan for unlimited tea, it is not too expensive by Western standards. The only real downside is that pople can and do smoke there, which can be annoying for many people. My opponent did smoke during the games, but asked in advance whether I minded that he smoke. I can heartily recommend anyone visiting Beijing to drop by Weiqi Tiandi.
After the second game, we left to get some dinner. We had dinner at the Beijing Go club's new location, a Japanese all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurant. We tried to find the Beijing Go Club after dinner, but we couldn't find any go players, and the staff had no idea what we were talking about either. We tried calling Ernie, who runs the club, but couldn't get through.
Disappointed, we decided to head back to our hotel. We sent Ernie a text message, in hopes of reaching him like that. and after about 20-30 minutes of walking towards our hotel, we decided to make one last attempt at calling Ernie, and we managed to get through. Turns out the Japanese restaurant had suddenly upped their prices and changed their formula since last week, and was no longer a suitable location, so they had moved to a Russian restaurant a few doors down.
We doubled back and arrived there around 9:30 pm. Sadly, most players had to leave after about 30 minutes, but I still got to play a fun game with Ernie, who is 2 dan on KGS. I had a few beers already, and played a little unreasonably. A few overplays led to a complicated fighting game. Ernie had a big chance to win the game after a mistake of mine, but misread it and resigned a little later, when he felt a group of his could not be saved anymore.
During and after the game, we also had fun talking about life in China, and Ernie gave us a few useful tips on what to expect on the rest of our trip.
Again, I recommend anyone visiting Beijing to drop by this club. It is completely different from the salon, but no less fun. The players are mostly expats, so they speak English and you should feel right at home.
