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Re: Are there any professional blitz tournaments?
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:40 pm
by oren
hyperpape wrote:Indeed, I was explicitly saying I don't know.
I wonder if John could comment on who those players are who have stand out. I spent some time poking around this morning. Looked at winners and runners up for the NHK, Ryusei and Asian TV Cup. The winners seem about what you'd expect.
Yuki Satoshi has been remarkably better in faster games, but that is the only standout to me. He has been a title holder and in the leagues for a while, so he's no slouch at slower games either.
Re: Are there any professional blitz tournaments?
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:41 pm
by John Fairbairn
It's hard to be precise in go for various reasons. On the one hand there are fewer slow tournaments now to make a comparison, and on the other in the not too distant past slow-game title holders got seeded entry to fast games, or the event was even limited to titleholders, so they were certain or more likely to win the fast events as well. Even today you can't count the NHK as a separate event from TV Asia as entry to the latter depends on the former. And there is still seeding in the likes of the Ryusei.
But there are go pros who consider other pros to be superior to most others in fast play (e.g. Otake Hideo). And it does seem common for older pros to complain that they can't win against the younger players in fast games, which is why so many have been disappointed or even bitter about their spread, especially in Korea - they don't seem to have such a good pension arrangement as their Japanese counterparts. But old pros in all countries feel the pinch so we now see special veteran events arranged for them. Ironically these are nearly always fast games! China is a bit better in some ways as it seems to provide lots of coaching posts for superannuated pros.
Tellingly, in chess fast games are often used as a tie-breaker in classical events. There are several players who will therefore deliberately play for a couple of draws in the slow games because they fancy their chances more in the fast games. They may not necessarily believe they are better than the opponent - they sometimes just believe they have more chances in a crapshoot.