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.

In the second game:

25: C4 looks like sente.

90: Ugly shape. Why not O2?

It was fun to watch the fighting by black in the lower right. Thanks for posting.

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Hey Herman, it is great to see a review of the Beijing Go Club making it into the pages of L19x19. I am Chris; I was dressed in sweats and a cap and had to leave about 20 minutes after you and your girlfriend came in last week. Normally I am there late each Tuesday night but for this once...

Ernie doesn't visit this board much but you can always catch him on KGS. Best wishes to you on your travels around China and hopefully when you make it back to Beijing we'll get another chance to see you. I also like to visit Tiandi Jian semi-regularly and would be happy to head down there and translate for you if necessary.

Cheers.

Also, just a friendly note, I can assure you the counting result in game one at Tiandi Jian was a "mistake", not a mistake. Players are very kind there, but no one wants to lose to an unknown foreigner. Most of the people that play there are highly regular and all know one another very well. Anyone that loses to a foreigner publicly is certain to endure unlimited teasing and ribbing from the others at least until that foreigner's strength has been confirmed by multiple results.

You were able to remember all those games perfectly enough to record all of them and not get confused or mixed up? The strength of a 4 dan is truly amazing.

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Yes, it definitely is. I thought B4 would also be sente enough, what with the cut at C7 and all, but my opponent felt differently. Still, now there is a lot of aji remaining.



Yes, that was what I had expected. It looks better than the game.

Yes, it's a shame we didn't really get to talk. I knew you posted here as cdybejing and wanted to thank you for the tips you gave in my earlier thread about travel tips for China



At the end of our trip, we'll be in Beijing for another two or three days. I'm not sure yet whether I will have time, but if I do it would be fun to meet. I have Ernie's phone number, and if you can send me yours, we could meet up at Tiandi Jian perhaps. I want to buy some go books there anyway



Well, in that case lets just say that I was "diplomatic" enough not to question the result of the count

The important thing was that I had fun, and if this counting mistake allowed my opponent to save face, I'm happy for him

These records are not guaranteed to be perfect.

I've probably mixed up similar size endgame moves, and I think that in the second game the D15-K16 exchange was actually played before white pincered at J3, but the general gist of it is there. The fights certainly show the right order of moves.

Like go, the only way to get better at it is to do it a lot. I started to record games one or two days after the fact when I was 3 dan (before that I'd often record them during the game) and it's a lot easier nowadays than it used to be, while I haven't gotten that much stronger

That makes L3 look misplaced. With the support of K16 up top, I would have thought that black does better with K4.

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And you can start anytime. You certainly don't need to be a dan, and you don't even need to be SDK. I started replaying my games from memory when I was about 15k. It gets easier over time, partly because of practice, and partly because opponents make less and less bizarre moves as you get stronger. Even now (1k), I only struggle to remember games when my opponent plays in a particularly unorthodox fashion, for example, deviating from joseki, ending up with a bad result (hopefully), but still playing on, trying to make the best of the less than ideal joseki outcome.

Generally, games have a story, and its quite easy to follow that story, at least up until late endgame. It's much easier if you and your opponent have followed the "script" (i.e. played the best moves you both know for your current level). The only tricky part is remembering the deviations, e.g. the non-local forcing moves that may have been played in sente but not as part of the current sequence.

Hi,
Are there DDK players as well? Wondering if it would make sense for me to go there to play when I'm in Beijing next time - I am about 15 k

BR,
Piotrek

Yes, there are several DDK players and several more high SDK players who could also give you an interesting game. Do you have plans now for when you will be in the city?

Yes, most probably 26th November.
Plan to buy some problem books - they are so cheap in China! So far I know only the huge bookstore in Xidan, but will appreciate if you can tell which others are worthwile to stop by.
Also, please advise if you know some shops with go equipment. I know you can buy various grades of stones in most department shops, but I managed to find only one shop with some really nice equipment - it was in a basement of sport equipment shop in northern part of Wangfujing. I bought my Yunzi there last year and 540 Yuan tag was one of the cheapest there.

Weiqi Tiandi incorporates a very nice book and equipment shop, which has high quality equipment.

There's a bookshop even bigger than the Xidan one in Wangfujing (between the subway station and the food market). While there's a lot of overlap in the books, there were quite a few different ones too. Definitely worth a visit.

I thought there were many strong foreigners visited Tiandi, and they are still surprised to hear 4 Dan

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There are a lot of strong foreigners that visit there, but for every 2 dan+ player from overseas that they see, they meet 10 5 kyus, and even some DDKs.

Piotrek,

I think there is no need to go all the way to Xidan simply for go books. The store in Wangfujing is just as good if not better, and there are a lot more interesting things in that area. As you said, there is an equipment store there as well if you're looking for higher quality equipment.

Tiandi Jian (often confused with Weiqi Tiandi, which is a magazine) as Herman mentioned, sells premium go equipment. They specialize in carrying all grades and sizes of slate and shell stones, but it's not the place to go if you are looking for yunzi. There is also a nice selection of boards, bowls and some clocks there. The go books are plenty but the vast majority are professional game records and back issues of Weiqi Tiandi magazine. Problem books are relatively few compared to what you'd find in one of the big state-owned bookstores.

Yes, there are so many DDK players and many more very good SDK players who are all capable of giving you an interesting game.

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