Historically, I think given ranks on DGS and OGS have been much stronger than the same rank on another server due to the game lag. To take an extreme example, a 30 kyu could easily improve by 10 stones or more over the month it takes to complete their first correspondance game. So if you are a 15 kyu who started out playing a 30 kyu but ended playing a player who is 20k by strength and lose, it exhibits a downward pull on the ranking system leading to a given rank being much stronger than in other systems. I think as you go up in rank, this may lessen.

Anyways, when OGS and Nova merged, two different ranking systems with different strengths merged, and if someone who is 4k in live games plays an OGS 4k player, they are probably actually several stones weaker than the assumed handicap. When the OGS userbase was so much bigger than the Nova one, and the server is still primarily used for live games, you end up with ranks that are similar in strength to OGS previously.

Misclicking, server rank differences, and not enjoying online play as much as face-to-face. I think we've all been in these places before.

I still remember my first misclick on the KGS. It had absolutely no bearing on the game (it was a 6-7 point mistake and I was ahead by about 40) but my opponent wouldn't let me take it back. It still bugs me - which it probably shouldn't. Don't make this mistake - don't let a misclick haunt you. Just let it go and forget about it. These things happen.

As for rank differences, yeah, ranks can be quite different. My IGS rank is 8k now. It dropped from 7k? to 8k? recently. I started that account when I was 7k on the KGS, so I figured it would be similar. I played and lost a couple of games then came back to it after reaching 4k on the KGS. Since then I've gone 2 and 2. One win was a hard fought win, the other was insanely easy. One loss was a close game, the other was a blowout. Honestly, rank comparisions are often imprecise. There are a lot of factors going into ones rank and I've found that different servers tend to have different playstyles which can impact things. People say that Tygem is a very aggressive server fraught with overplays. I can tell you from experience that FlyOrDie players are quite aggressive. Approach a corner and they either pincer or kick (and sometimes do the kick followed by a pincer). KGS and IGS seem a bit more balanced, however I've found IGS players tend to be more territorial and calm while KGS players tend to be more influence oriented and slightly aggressive in comparison. That is not to say that every game on a server will feature the stereotypical player - they are just stereotypes - but if you are playing against an unfamiliar style then you are bound to get confused and/or make mistakes against it.

Finally, yeah, face-to-face play is just more fun, but I'm glad you are able to enjoy online games as well. Perhaps with the exception of some parts of Asia, you can play a lot more go online than you ever could in person. Still, I love how casual a game can be when you are seated across from a familiar player. And the emotion can change from upbeat to serious and back again as the flow of the game changes. It is great to share that experience in person. Even my tournament experience was pretty laid back and fun. You can still play a casual game online that has changes in emotion, but the experience is fuller and more real when you are playing go in person. Sadly, I still haven't been able to like the correspondence format. Perhaps I should give OGS more of a try, but between my OGS game and two Malkovich games here I don't think its for me.

Hopefully you won't feel so busy next week and congratulations on your Madrid trip!

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

What's OGA Ember if i may ask?

@ skydyr + moyoaji: Of course, the ranks are usually different on different servers (at least until one reaches the dan ranks, I guess). What I was really wondering about was that I have a pretty stable rank on both servers (on KGS it doesn't look like it but I've been 4k there for a bit longer than since the start of this account) but still one set of games suddenly was really tough to play for me while the other games at the same time (within only a few days time) were very easy. Two weeks ago this was not the case. But it might be true that the reason for this might be the different server styles as moyoaji pointed out and that somehow I got along better with one than with the other. Or it was just a coincidence, who knows. From next week on I'll have a little more time to investigate here and I'll be sure to let you know.

@ misclicking: moyoaji, that sounds really bad! I hope you'll get over it soon because, as you said, I wasn't a loosing move for you and it really shouldn't bother you any more (even if it would have been the losing move)! Some people have a "strange" attitude (strange is always considered from one's own perspective), but no matter how much you think about it you won't be able to change that situation or the person's attitude. For me, if it is an obvious mistake and it doesn't happen 10 times per game but only once in one game I think it is perfectly fine to let the opponent take back that mistake and place the stone on the proper place. Still, das I said, different people think about that differently. If the difference of points didn't matter, then I guess it would be better to start thinking about more important things, like your own goals. You'll get more out of that.
Still, I have a little history to tell about taking back moves here, too: I once knew a player who lost every game we played. He had pretty much only started when we first met and refused to take handicap from me most of the time. I was already a SDK, but as time passed he came nearer. When he was about two or three stones weaker than me (or about that, it's been a few years) we played a warm-up game before a tournament. I offered him to take back at least three big mistakes he made (and which he had realised he had made after he had played them) and in the end he won by a comfortable margin. He was proud as one can be! For me it didn't matter because I knew I could beat him and that he only won because I let him take back the moves. I actually found it a bit childish, too, but it didn't bug me a bit because I treated this game more like a teaching game (ok, with such a short gab in strength that might sound arrogant.. but it is how I felt it was).
As for my mistake from last week it doesn't annoy me that much anymore. Still, I learned my lesson and will pay more attention in the future so that it will be the only missclick (at least in the league games ).

@ correspondence games: They can be a bit annoying, too, sometimes. I already had several games that were more or less clearly won but then my opponent went on vacation so the game, although over, wouldn't be finished until maybe two or three weeks later. I admit this and the sometimes really, really, REALLY slow players are a bit unnerving sometimes. However, I think that it helps to have at least about 9 or 10 games open, so that you'll always have some opponents who play a quicker game, too. That helps to stick with it, at least it works for me.
I'd also definitely give OGS another try! At the moment it doesn't work perfectly but I guess that the developers are working on the open issues. Whenever you feel like coming over for a game, be sure to send me a challenge, ok? My nick over there is Fuenkchen.

@ 1/7,000,000,000: OGA is the short form of Online Go Anxiety. It often comes (as in my case) in a bundle with fear of loosing / rank obsession (which might be the cause for most people who suffer from it) or other things. Anyways, the impacts are not that nice, an uncomfortable feeling when logging onto a server and playing less games than you could play are the best you can "hope" for. There might even be physical impacts like a nervous stomach. If you want to read more about it, there's a page on Sensei's Library about it.

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OGA...hm...can i join the club?

Which club would you like to join, the club of victims of OGA or the therapy group for victims of OGA? Anyways, I hope you can check out again soon and join the people who can simply enjoy playing. I assure you, it's much more fun! Although I know from experience that wanting to overcome and actually doing so is quite hard. What helps is finding the source for OGA and try to deal with it. That is, thinking about your fear, looking at it from some distance with a rational mind and re-evaluating it again. Again, that is easier said than done. But it is a process anyone has to face who wants to overcome it. For me the desire to get better at this game got much stronger than the fears I had and I somehow stopped thinking about it altogether until I noticed that it is (nearly) gone (most of the times). What could be your reason? I wish you all the best in your struggle, good luck on your way!

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Well, actually it's not that bad anymore but there was a period some time ago in which i was very tentative of playing. I would watch other games for hours, maybe study a bit, but whenever someone invited me to a game i would politely refuse. As in your case my desire to become better has eliminated that habit.

This sounds great indeed. Since I've been severely suffering from OGA, I wonder what happened that suddenly you've got over it. It seems you even didn't have to take a bitter pill to overcome this. As you have suggested to find the source of the OGA, I suppose it is (at least in my case) the dissatisfaction with my own poor play (the bitter pill would probably be thousands of tsumego, but.... been there done that).

@ karaklis: What got me over that hesitation? Hm.. I think there are a few factors involved in this.

Maybe the strongest factor is that recently the desire to finally get better (4 years at around 6k is way more than enough for me!) got so strong that I didn't even think about that I was afraid to play online and only noticed afterwards that something remarkable had happened, that is me looking out for online games regularly and actually having a desire to play (on the servers as well) as much as I can. Maybe this "not thinking about it too much" is also a key factor, because all those years I think I have been thinking too much about it when I logged on and half-heartedly pondered the idea of playing or not playing. The resolution to play was pushed aside by thinking too much what might happen to my rank if I lost, or by thinking about all those mistakes I had been making recently that might happen again (or that I might make even worse ones!). I'd say, "Just do it!", but of course I know from experience that this won't do.
Therefore, I would suggest that you think about why you play, what is important for you in Go, what is your goal and how you might achieve it, find out what you REALLY are afraid of (not fear of losing but WHY you are afraid of losing?) and think about if this is a real fear or something that you talked yourself into.
For me, e.g. playing online was quite scary because I really hated others watching me play or, even worse, maybe (notice that "maybe"!) even keeping track of my "progress". Actually, I still do not like others watch me play, but I can accept it now (I think playing Bundesliga helped). As for the keeping track of my "progress" thing, I came to the comclusion that it is humbug, that it is something I made up myself. Why would anyone do that? Ok, now with this journal there even might be a chance somebody would do such a thing, but how would that harm me? I doubt it would be harmful. I mean, we all make mistakes, some of them are horrible, some less disastrous, so why should I care if others see my mistakes and maybe laugh at them or make a few jokes when I can't hear them, how would that harm me? Answer: It would harm me in no way, I would never know! So, I asked myself why should I actually care about it at all about something that might be happening or might not be happening, why waste even one thought on it? This pondering about what MIGHT be happening spoiled much of the fun for me, I think. (actually, it still hinders me while playing sometimes when I'M too timid and play too solidly where I could get more out of it - but that's something many people are struggling with)

The second important factor for this development might also be the merge of OGS and Nova. I always had games rolling in the last few years on OGS, so the merge was absolutely brilliant in that I am able to play live games there now, too, while I wait for my opponent to move in those slow games (actually I'm playing slow blitz, but so what? ). I mean, to others it might sound strange, but using the same interface when playing also lowered the barrier for me I think. At home, I'm always logged onto OGS (have been for wuite some time), so quickly getting in a game (if I can find an opponent) seems a lot easier. I don't have to think (yes, that thinking too much, again) about IF I should log on and MAYBE play a game, I was already there. So, taking an innocent look at the open games never hurts.

There might be more important factors for this change, but I think these two are the most important for me: stop overthinking and being in an environment that is comfortable and that I have a positive connotation with. Of course, this will be different for everyone. Therefore, I suggest again that you start thinking about what spoils it for you. As you wrote you are annoyed by you "poor play". I also had (and still have) that notion that I can actually play better than I do right now. But if I could do that, then why won't it happen? I also thought about this and fought against these high expectations I had for myself. In the end I had to admit that at the time that I was playing better than now, it was a time in which I actually had played more (regularly) than at a point where I was really dissatisfied with my play. So, it was logical to start playing more.
Maybe one way to come back to playing online for you would be to.. well.. to "forgive" yourself for your all your inabilities and the mistakes you make. This is hard, but let's face it: Everyone makes them, even the pros (I haven't heard of anyone to master Kami no Itte yet). Although the graveness of the mistakes differs, of course. Maybe you could start to see those mistakes as opportunities to learn, so that you can overcome those mistakes (and finally start making more sophisticated ones ). But I cannot speak for yourself, you have to come to a conclusion yourself, find a way that is good for you. From experience I know that in the first few games you still feel kind of awkward, but it DOES GET BETTER if you keep it up for some time! And so will you if you'll muster the strength to overcome what hinders you. Because as long as you keep on working and keep on trying, in the long run, there is only one way: up.

I hope that this encourages you to gather the strength to face yourself, your fears and your worries and that you, too, are able to become stronger by doing so. I'm sure you can do it, too! It won't be easy or happen over night, but if you do want to overcome OGA, you will eventually overcome it. Good luck on your way and if I can help you please do not hesitate to come back!

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Weekly Update #4

Just a quick update today as I don't have really much to report:

Last week was another busy one which included even some night shifts to make up for a deadline I couldn't meet. Still, I did a few tsumego (today) and I have continued reading in Attack and Defense. I didn't have the time to really study the material, but it seems that it still paid off a little. Yesterday I was playing a game on OGS and (with a quite a bit help from my opponent) I had a good game going when the server suddenly crashed at move 74.. I tried to come back as soon as possible, but the clock didn't stop and I lost a good game for with 17 minutes main thinking time left before the crash on time... I was quite upset as you can imagine. My opponent was really nice and we played another game, but I resigned within the first 100 moves because I was too upset to concentrate properly ( I had discovered another bug duringthe game, too, which didn't help at all). I reported the bug and really do hope that they'll sort this issue out as soon as possible. It really spoils the fun for me when I have to think about that it might happen again... Although, to be fair, this was the first server crash I experienced on OGS.

Anyways, here is that interrupted game. I'm aware that I messed up the lower right a bit so that I got into trouble in the upper right. But apart form that I'm quite satisfied with the game.



Today I tried to play another game on OGS but when I had no luck to get an opponent after 10 minutes I switched to KGS where I quickly had a game going. I think my opponent was a little greedy when he wanted to invade my upper left side/corner, but I was really lucky to be able to kill his group then. From that point on I had a good feeling about that game. Any comments are, as always, much appreciated!



Next week I'll have to work for another deadline, so I won't be able to play as much as I had hoped that I could.. But I want to play at least one game every day, so I'll have something to show you guys next week.

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas, have a good week!

Ember

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Hey, I'm often lurking around looking for games to review.

I hope you don't mind the critique. Last comment is on move 163. It's heavier on sequences than I usually do.... the lower right life and death stuff is probably very wrong. Maybe someone can correct that.

Many thanks to you for the review, emerus! I don't mind good critic like yours at all, I'm always happy to hear from strong players what I can do better in the future. Although I have to admit that I'm happy you found a move or two that you liked, too.

It's interesting to see that some of my moves are too harsh, I'll have to pay attention here in the future so that stronger opponents won't take advantage of that. Although I must say that I have huge problems telling too much from too slow/passive. It's always been that way and it never got better. I'll have to find a way to deal with this (any ideas here?). In this context it is also funny that you suggested quite a few moves that I'm too afraid of to play, especially in the opening - like D5, I doubt very much that many of my opponents right now would play so peacefully and I'm always at a loss of what to play when the crusscut comes. That's why I usually avoid that move whenever the opportunity arises, although that might be the wrong approach.. ^^; I guess reading well plays an extremly important role here. I gotta work on that so I can stop to be afraid (or be less afraid ).

_________________

I think it's better to be too harsh than too passive. If you're too passive, you'll sometimes play a game where nothing happens and you learn nothing. But if you're too harsh, all of your games will be adventures.

If your moves are too harsh your opponent's going to be able to directly punish it once you get up the ranks enough, wheras passive you'll just get outplayed more indirectly. A lot easier to have the lessons hammered in on the first than the second I think.

PeterN

I guess you are right, Shaddy and PeterN. You have to cross the border at times to know what's still ok and what doesn't work - so you can punish your opponent if he plays like that, too.

I already put your advice into action (although I didn't want it to be as fierce as it turned out in the end ). A few minutes ago I finished a quite unhole Christmas game of Go with lots of cut'n'kill. Thankfully, it was my opponent who got killed (although I did most of the cutting thingy). He sometimes (especially when it came to game-decisive moves) played very passively, which allowed me to take more than I should have gotten out of it. A neat example for what Shaddy and PeterN said above (although there are a lot of mistakes in my part in that game, too). Still, im kind of.. proud. It is one of those few games in the last weeks that I could really see all the tsumego sessions pay off. Immediately seeing the vital point for killing his center group alone was.. more than great. I'll enjoy that feeling until another game gets my feet back on earth again, maybe together with another serving of tsumego.

Although it is another won game, maybe one or two of you would like to see what I'm talking about at all (comments and critic is, as always, welcome):


Oh, and as a nice bonus and a Christmas present for myself I got my KGS 4k back after this game!

Merry Christmas to all of you, wherever you are!

Ember

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What a great feeling when it feels like you're studies are starting to click! Those are the times to remember.

Hello everyone,

first of all a big sorry to Shaddy and to emerus! I read your comments and posts a while ago already, but being home over christmas has kept me pretty much completely from doing anything related to Go.. But both comments were very much appreciated and I want to say: Thank you very much!

Weekly Update #5
First of all I wish all readers a happy, healthy and successful new year! I hope that you won't break the resolutions you made and that you'll play many enjoyable and / or exciting games of Go this year and, of course, get stronger as well.

After one week without an update there's at least a little bit to report now. This time of the year is a classic time to make resolutions so I decided to make one concerned to Go: I already said that I play way too little and that's why I decided last week that I shall be playing 400 games this year on the 19x19 board, be it free or rated games, games played online or at the club. I excluded the small boards because it might be a cheap way to get a large number of games quickly and because playing on smaller boards emphasizes tactics over strategy and I want to improve in both aspects. (Surely not only) For me, that's a really tough number and I'm not sure if I'll get there, but starting from next week I'll do my very best. I don't know yet what will happen if I get to play them all or if I don't reach this number of games, because I couldn't imagine neither a reward nor some kind of "punishment" (any ideas?) that fits the occasion yet. However, I won't think about too much for now but instead concentrate on playing the games first. I'm sure that in the course of doing so something will come to my mind. And if it will be "only" improving a stone or two I wouldn't complain either. This decision will also bring up some statistics and I must admit that I really like them. ^^; That's why from now on I'll provide them at the end of each weekly report. If you have any suggestions of what else might be interesting to track there, please let me know.

Tsumego: I only did a small number of tsumego. I continued with Cho Chikun's Encyclopedia of Life & Death Vol. 1 and went back 200 problems or so from where I think I was last time, so I'm back to about the 300th problem now. I had some difficulties with some of the problems but I hope that once I pick up the routine again it will be as easy as before.

Studying: I only read a few pages in Attack and Defense last week, so I can hardly claim that I studied. But that will change because next week Guo Juan's group classes will start. I'll miss the first lesson because I'll be in Madrid at the Kisei event (anyone else of you coming there?), but I do not intend to miss any more of the lectures. I hope it'll help me to study more and, at least as important, to find out what to study first. I already have a lot of books and feel weak in a large number of areas, but I honestly have no idea where to start my studies.

Playing: I played 2 games this week and reviewed them both with a stronger player. That's not as much as I should have played (when I think about the average number of games to play per day), but as I'll be participating in a few tournaments this year I can afford some days without playing (I'll always have to consider that in the course of the year, though, and keep an eye out for not slacking up too much - that's why I put the number of days that already passed and that remain in the statstics as well).
I'm happy to report that I already reached a first remarkable landmark for me, I beat a KGS 3k without handicap stones! (I'll add these kind of small successes to my statistics and by the end of the year I hope I'll have a large paragraph of smaller and larger landmarks I can celebrate and get some fresh motivation from)
Although I'm really happy about this win (even though it was "only" a free game), I must admit that he played very strangely sometimes, e.g. once killing 1 stone instead of playing a large sente move. It was a fighting game from the start and I made a few mistakes (guess what! ) but he made at least as many and I think that his mistakes were way more costly for him than mine were for me. In the end he resigned after about 150 moves when I had killed two of his groups and was leading by maybe 60-70 points (my guess, the KGS score estimator said something of about 80 but that was too much in my opinion). I'm ashamed to say that I had no territory that didn't contain (or hadn't contained) at least one of his stones.. I guess I'll have to work on being able to pull the plug at some point, another opponenty might have had the chance to maybe stage an upset and turn the game around again..

Next weekend I'll be playing the first tournament of the year. I don't have any high expectations because I didn't study a lot in the last weeks, but I'm really motivated to give it my best shot because it annoys me that I'll have to play as 7k again (the rank is strictly connected to the EGF rating and because mine dropped so much after the last disas tournament, it's 7k again..). Maybe that's not the best attitude because wanting to win (or even wanting to play the best you can) can make you play worse, but acquiring a better one and keeping the emotions under control is still on my "have to work on"-list.

Next sunday there won't be an update because we'll still be in Madrid (I honestly cannot put into words how excited I already am that we're going!!), so don't expect anything before tuesday at least. But, if you are interested in it, I'll post a little report on the event and maybe a picture or two as well if you like. Just let me know!

I wish you all a splendid week!


+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

+++ Playing statistics +++
Date: 5 January 2014
Games played/to be played: 2 / 398
Days passed/to come: 5 / 360
Games won: 2
Games lost: 0
Jigo: 0
Winning percentage: 100%
Landmarks: First win against KGS 3k on 5 January 2014 (unrated game, own rank: 4k, color: black, no komi)

_________________

A little mid-week report:

Since the last update I was able to play one game each day, which is basically what I need to do to reach my goal of 400 games this year (plus playing in a few tournaments). The quality of the games wasn't that good because I played very late in the evening and I was tired, but the good thing is that I didn't fall back into thoughtless clicking. Instead I used my time and reached byoyomi in all games (all were automatch games on KGS with 20 minutes main time and 5 byo periods à 30 seconds - the standard stuff). So far, this year I played 4 games, winning 3 of them.
Because I like statistics (did you read the last post? ) I decided to track the progress of my goal to play 400 games in 2014. For this I created an Excel worksheet in which I write down each game I play Excel does all the rest. I like Excel! Here's a picture of the first sheet:


The small diagramm on January is only there to check if the data is processed correctly (the real overview with one such diagramme for each month is on the second sheet (I don't include a picture here now because it wouldn't be very interesting now). It is a very comfortable way for me to track my progress and to break the huge number down to about 33, 34 games per month (the red line in the bottom left diagramme) directly made me think that it is really possible to achieve this goal (for me. I know that others play WAY more - but when I think about it I've had two busy years in which counted together I might have played less than half this number. So you can see that this will be a real challenge for me. ). And it is kind of motivating to see the played games column go up each time, too. What do you think about it?

Considering the rest of my study routine, I haven't studied any theory yet but I did a few tsumego yesterday and today. Although I went back about 200 problems in Cho Chikun's Elementary Level Encyclopedia of Life & Death, I'm having a bit of a hard time.. I remember that there were a few tricky problems in the 300s, but I can't blame that fact for that I'm really, really slow with finding the right solution (at least much slower than before I stopped doing them for a few weeks). I'm also having more problems with clearly reading out the moves in my head. I hope that until saturday a little bit can be done about it if I continue to do them each day until then.

That's it for my "short" mid-week update. ^^; Until next week then!

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I'm back from Alcalá de Henares where the first game of this year's Kisei title match was held and I'm still so excited about this weekend that I'd like to share some short comments and some fotos with you now. Because so much happened, I'll only post about the cocktail event for now and add another report about the days of the Kisei game this week if you want. I hope you'll like it! The usual weekly report that was due on sunday will be done later this week, too.

The first game of this years Kisei title match took place in Alcalá de Henares, a city near the Spanish capital, Madrid. Alcalá de Henares is the assumed birthplace of the famous Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quichote, among others). We arrived early on friday and after checking into the hostel we walked around the city center for a bit to get to know the place and the way to the playing site and the restaurant in which tonight's cocktail event would take place.


One of the ancient buildings in the city center. This one belongs to the the University of Alcalá de Henares.

In the city center there are a lot of very, very old and beautiful buildings so it is no surprise that the city center is a world heritage site. We knew that before we went there but what I didn't know at all is that a lot (and I mean a LOT) of storks are staying there for the winter (at least as long as it's so warm as it is now). I think I never saw so many of them (or their nests) in my whole life before (not only in one place, but as a total number). That's why it is not surprising that apart from Miguel de Cervantes, storks play an important role in the local merchandise industry.


One example of the storck activity around Alcalá de Henares. The weight of the nests is a huge problem here because it is a danger for the roofs of the old buildings.


The official merchandise store in the city center. Most of the space is taken up by storcks in different variations (plush toy, mobile and others). On the left there are some masks which I guess are referring to the work of Miguel de Cervantes.


In the evening, on the night before the first game of the 38th Kisei title match, the organizers of the event had arranged a cocktail event where Iyama Yuta Kisei and Yamashita Keigo 9p, the challenger for the title, were presented.

A lot of speeches were held, most of them in Japanese (mostly with Spanish, sometimes English translations) or in Spanish, among the speakers were someone from the Ministry of Sports and the mayor of Alcalá de Henares (no translation in English as far as I remember). I was happy that know some Spanish and could understand quite much from what they said, but for anyone who didn't understand neither Japanese nor Spanish this part of the evening might have been a little boring and/or frustrating. This unfortunately also included the respective speeches of the Kisei champion and the challenger, which were only translated into Spanish (at least they were translated but I doubt that the majority of the numerous international guests could understand that better than the original Japanese). From what I understood and remember I can sum up that both expressed how much they had enjoyed their stay in Spain until now (they must have arrived quite some time in advance because they also had done some sightseeing in nearby Toledo and Madrid before then) and how much they liked the Spanish food and wine (Iyama) and the "beautiful women" here (Yamashita). And, of course, that they would fight very hard to win the title and the like (which I guess is the standard stuff for every such event - but this time they definitely kept that promise as those who already saw the game and the result already know ).


After the speeches, there was a toast...


... and the official part of the event ended with both players and some of the officials posing for a picture.


My most favourite picture of the evening (sorry to all fans of Yamashita-sensei here.. )

After the speeches many of the attendants took advantage of the opportunity to get a picture with Iyama-sensei or get a fan (or something else) signed by him (me included ). I must admit that I was so excited to be so close to my most favourite player that I didn't pay very much attention to Yamashita-sensei. But I can say for sure that if he signed fans, the number was much smaller than the one Iyama (very patiently and amiably) did.

After the end of the official part there were canapés, a jamonera with what I think was Pata Negra / Jamón Ibérico (very delicious!!) and a real sushi master who prepared inside out rolls with salmon, tuna and other things (it was the best sushi I had ever had in my life). The poor man did his very best to keep up with the demand, but he was fighting windmills here (no pun intended ), no piece of sushi he put on the plate before him lasted more than 20 or 30 seconds before it was eaten, sometimes only a few seconds. I also like to watch him prepare the sushi, from the way he did it you could tell that he was very skilled indeed.


The (supposed) Pata Negra at the beginning of the evening...


... and at the end.


The sushi master hard at work and hungry attendants of the event craving for more.

We had a wonderful time that night talking to people from different countries, seeing quite a few top Japanese professionals from close distance (among others, Kobayashi Satoru 9p (commentarist), Yamashiro Hiroshi (referee), Imamura Toshiya 9p and Goto Shungo 9p (board commentarists and players in simul games) and other professionals, like the former female Honinbo Ogawa Tomoko, were attending) as well as strong European amateur players, eating very good food, and, as you could see, taking lots of pictures. Although I only reported about one part of the whole Kisei event, I'd already like to thank the organizers of the event wholeheartedly for all the work they must have had to put into organizing this brilliant event!

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