The 2015 WAGC will be in Bangkok, Thailand this year from 5-12 June. I didn't manage to find the website yet, but this Thai page has some videos introducing some of the participants:

http://www.thaigogenius.com/-36/item/52 ... nship.html

(look at all those trophies Rafif Fitrah of Indonesia has! and Cornel Burzo shows of his skiing skills)

Merlijn Kuin definitely has the right mindset going into the WAGC : D

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

The crème de la crème of the go world in a show with everything but Yul Brynner.

Hardly.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

The WAGC is more than a song!

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North Lecale

It's an entire musical!

For anybody who didn't get the reference in my original post, it's to this (Youtube video, whould be safe for work)

and as if by magic, the website appeared
http://intergofed.org/13-igf-news-feed/ ... nship.html

A few countries are fielding surprising choices, at least surprising for me.
Austria having a 5kyu and Croatia having an 12kyu are probably the big examples.

Looking forward to the coverage

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North Lecale

It makes me feel old to realize only 13 of the competitors were born when I played my first go stone.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Would the existence of the new European pro system have any effect on who goes to WAGC? If people have to pay their way maybe some strong players might rather save their money for the pro qualification process.

Not sure, but paying the trip to WAGC (even when recieving a little funding) is probably the biggest factor. Plus, not everybody even wants to go there.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

the euro pro system weakens the field a little bit, but not a lot. I think that its main effect is the straightforward elimination of players from the system. The expense of the circuit is nothing new. About 10 nations a year are now no longer playing due to the cost of half a plane ticket (return) , which is sad, but inevitable.

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North Lecale

Found this website too:

http://www.pandanet.co.jp/event/worldam ... line_e.htm

I am looking at the results after round 4 (http://www.pandanet.co.jp/event/worldama2015/live_e.htm)

There are several players at the bottom of the table with 3 wins, but their ranking is in the 50s. Even though the tournament is seeded (which is reasonable) surely all players should start out equal in a championship such as this and these players should be ranked above all those with only 2 wins. I understand that these players probably have a much lower rank, but that seems irrelevant.

Anyone understand the rationale for this?

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I think they use some form of McMahon, something like just two groups separated by 1 point? I saw it some past year but I don't see that information now.

I read that Martin Finke was running the draw, and that there was a supergroup. Which indicates that a McMahonish system was present

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North Lecale

They're running McMahon, not Swiss. AFAIK, the bottom bar is at 1k, top bar is at 3d, and there is a supergroup of 32 players.

I figured it had to be McMahon of some sort, but for a world championship it seems a little unfair. I would think that Swiss would be better. At the very least they should include a column for McMahon score if that is what they are doing.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

MacMahon at a world championship: that actually disgusts me. When people qualify to a championship, they should all start from the same line, or be in visibly divided B, C... leagues. This is not a sponsored tournament where the organisers/sponsors can seed to their liking, the rule being: if you don't like it, play for someone else's money. A championship of any kind (world, country, youth...) should have fairness as THE most important factor in tournament system design.

Then, one realises that worldwide ranks are a mess on their own. How can someone seed based on rank, which is so drastically different for players of equal strength in different countries?


If I got something wrong, please correct me.

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.” ― Robert Quillen

I think the chances of some unknown 5 kyu from deepest darkest Peru actually being a 9d is so low, likewise the chances of becoming 9d without contact with the outside world so that they could tell the organisers "Hey I'm 5k in Tuvalu but 9d on KGS", that it won't make a difference to the winner. I would actually suspect seeding to make the top 10 places a more accurate reflection of strength and tournament performance so that you avoid some 7th place contender 6d person getting rubbish SOS because they beat a 20 kyu in the first round, whereas their similarly skilled 6d friend with the same number of wins had a luckier draw and beat some mid-table 3d so got more SOS. But yes some undergraded 3k won't get to play as many dan players as in a Swiss. As for the Azerbaijanian 6d I think everyone knows that's a joke by now and I see he is ranked far below Papazoglou even though they are both on 2 wins so that suggests he was sensibly not put in the super group.

There have been complaints about how shitty the draw is, and how much luck plays a factor in getting a top 10 placement (important to some players for getting subsidies back home) for years now. Using McMahon will give a much fairer reflection of actual performance. There is zero chance that any of those players outside the top 32 have any chance of winning the event (or even getting to the top 10).