Life In 19x19

I'd prefer solid to folding, and slotted to hinged. I just prefer go boards without metal parts which might rust or deteriorate over time.

I also prefer slotted. In my experience, slotted boards join more smoothly, while hinged boards are bit more likely to develop a ridge in the middle (thought it can develop on slotted boards too). Others' experiences may vary.

schwartzseer wrote:Sorry to go on like this--thanks for your time and attention, and I hope something I've said is actually helpful!!

Its all very helpful, thanks for taking the time to write it.

tchan001 wrote:Since you seem to be in the UK, perhaps you might want to check the list of UK retailers listed on the British Go Association site.

I did look at http://www.pentanglepuzzles.co.uk/index.html but they seamed expensive.


Thanks for all the new replies, waiting on YMI for shipping costs.

Andrew

wessanenoctupus wrote:I disagree about personal preference as far as the board is concerened. Though some may consider the bamboo board more beautiful or what not, you stand a good chance of the board warping. I have heard any such accounts. Also its freaking heavy.

As for the stones, do you need bowls more or nice stones more. I think having the bowls is nice, but the yunzi stones are pretty sweet too. I don't know if ymiimports is a potential retailer for you but check these out.

Full set: http://www.ymimports.com/p-1591-bamboo- ... bowls.aspx

Higher Quality full set : http://www.ymimports.com/p-1480-shin-ka ... sible.aspx

Yes, yes it is personal preference. I would never buy a Shin Kaya board, because it looks ugly to me. The bamboo maybe will warp over decades or something, I have had it for more than 6 years and its still super straight. Just don't put it in a basement. The heaviness doesn't bother me.

Just how it is personal preference that I have super thick stones. I have big hands. Small ones are tough for me to navigate.

Oh, another thought just occurred to me! I forgot to mention another option you might have overlooked at YMI: a wooden combination go/chess board that separates in the middle, and is held together with magnets (http://www.ymimports.com/p-1562-wooden-go-and-chess-combo-set.aspx). This is a full-sized set for either go or chess, with wood chess pieces (made in Poland of hornbeam wood) and biconvex Yunzi stones, 9.2mm in height (size 33). I don't know what wood the board is made of, but since this is designed for travel perhaps it doesn't matter

Ironically, I had seen this set on the web at an English website (http://www.thetradingcentre.co.uk/products.asp?recnumber=425) and forwarded the link to Pong (the owner of YMI) to see if he would be interested in carrying something similar, and one year later--viola! From what I can tell, the differences are that the YMI version has black and natural chess squares, the Trading Centre has brown, and the YMI gives you bigger Yunzi stones, the Trading Centre 8mm glass. (For anyone who is curious, the board is also available separately, again from a UK website: http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/classin.php?UniqueNo=640.

You might find this option appealing, and given shipping, "Buying British" might be the cheaper way! HTH,

Ginger wrote:

schwartzseer wrote:Sorry to go on like this--thanks for your time and attention, and I hope something I've said is actually helpful!!

Its all very helpful, thanks for taking the time to write it.

tchan001 wrote:Since you seem to be in the UK, perhaps you might want to check the list of UK retailers listed on the British Go Association site.

I did look at http://www.pentanglepuzzles.co.uk/index.html but they seamed expensive.


Thanks for all the new replies, waiting on YMI for shipping costs.

Andrew

The post here viewtopic.php?p=90853#p90853 links to three different UK vendors. I would expect shipping from the states to be £40-50 (it's £45 the other way!) I'm not sure how VAT works (do you have to pay VAT on imports?). Bizarre that you might be importing from US to UK while I'm doing the opposite from The Trading Centre.

[quote="msgre]
The post here viewtopic.php?p=90853#p90853 links to three different UK vendors. I would expect shipping from the states to be £40-50 (it's £45 the other way!) I'm not sure how VAT works (do you have to pay VAT on imports?). Bizarre that you might be importing from US to UK while I'm doing the opposite from The Trading Centre.[/quote]

Hi

The shipping costs were almost as much as the set

Looking on the UK vendors all the cheaper boards seam to be made of beechwood.

Andrew

Ginger wrote:

msgreg wrote:The post here viewtopic.php?p=90853#p90853 links to three different UK vendors. I would expect shipping from the states to be £40-50 (it's £45 the other way!) I'm not sure how VAT works (do you have to pay VAT on imports?). Bizarre that you might be importing from US to UK while I'm doing the opposite from The Trading Centre.

Hi

The shipping costs were almost as much as the set

Looking on the UK vendors all the cheaper boards seam to be made of beechwood.

Andrew

That does seem to be true. I found one exception here in Amsterdam
http://www.goshop-keima.com/bj121-shin- ... anguage=EN
(from Schaak en go winkel Het Paard)

Most of the other solid boards seemed to start upwards of 150 GBP.
Many of the boards on http://mohsart.se/en/14-utrustning do not seem to include descriptions. The proprietor reads these boards, so maybe he can help find a shin-kaya and/or solid non-veneered board.

Perhaps shipping from the same continent will be more affordable

Ginger wrote:

wessanenoctupus wrote:Higher Quality full set : http://www.ymimports.com/p-1480-shin-ka ... sible.aspx

Thanks for all the replies, i am looking at the above set. Have asked YMI for the shipping cost to the uk. YMI dont have there full range on amazon uk.

tchan001 wrote:[When you find yourself much more interested in go, you can start lusting after some of the beautiful equipment shown in the go sightings section of my blog

I like the set at the top of the home page lovely bowls

And full circle. Here's what is available on amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solid-Shin-Kaya ... 000Y94K30/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yunzi-Game-Doub ... 001FHSAGI/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yellow-Mountain ... 0029LWGBY/

or you can use:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Single-Convex-S ... 0026KAIDG/
instead of the bamboo and have an extra set of plastic single convex stones.

You'll have to read the fine print to see if all the sizes are compatible.

msgreg wrote:That does seem to be true. I found one exception here in Amsterdam
http://www.goshop-keima.com/bj121-shin- ... anguage=EN
(from Schaak en go winkel Het Paard)

Most of the other solid boards seemed to start upwards of 150 GBP.
Many of the boards on http://mohsart.se/en/14-utrustning do not seem to include descriptions. The proprietor reads these boards, so maybe he can help find a shin-kaya and/or solid non-veneered board.

Perhaps shipping from the same continent will be more affordable

Hi

Thanks for those,

I think i am going to for the following.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000Y94K30/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002LUZVBU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0029LWGBY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH

The board will last me for years, i prefer the look of these stones over glass and have gone for the single convex as they will be used mainly for studying and i like the idea of turning the stones over for variation.

Thanks for all your help

Andrew

Hi

After reading your last post, i might get the bowls with the plastic stones for study and get the Yunzi Double Convex as well.
its £15 difference in cost and the bowls look better.

Andrew

[quote="Gingerhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000Y94K30/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002LUZVBU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0029LWGBY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
[/quote]

Hi

Have order the above £83 with free shipping.

One more question, what do people use for storing there boards when not in use.

Andrew

Please let us know the size compatibility with those. I use the original packaging, which is a box with perfectly fitting polystyrene.

I wish there was something more "storage-like" like a well-padded fabric/nylon case of some sort. But I've read that the "covers" from YMI are just fabric.

What you choose is based on whether you want to keep it out or not.

Ginger wrote:[quote="Gingerhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000Y94K30/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002LUZVBU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0029LWGBY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A39SD9LCF1K5LH

Hi

Have order the above £83 with free shipping.

One more question, what do people use for storing there boards when not in use.

Andrew[/quote]

Curious, I went to Amazon.co.uk to see what you ordered, and was puzzled that YMI was still selling those poorly made bamboo bowls in the UK. I say this from personal experience, as I had ordered these bowls (with a bamboo board and Yunzi stones) from YMI about two years ago, and was very disappointed by their quality--there were sharp edges where the pieces of bamboo were not glued together properly, and the lacquer finish was spottily applied. A second set had the same problem, so I got a set of inlaid mahogany bowls from YMI instead (which I am very happy with). Shortly thereafter, YMI stopped carrying these bamboo bowls, and then about a year later had a listing for a redesigned bamboo bowl, which is much larger than its predecessor, but looks to be better finished (I have not seen them in person). I noted there was a review at Amazon.co.uk for these bowls, and checked it out--it was positive, and it contained a link to a "better picture" of the bowls--Aha! Mystery solved, YMI is selling the larger bowls, but neglected to update the image for the listing. What this means for you is that you shouldn't be surprised to find that your single-convex Yunzi stones will barely clear the midpoint of these bowls, as they are bordering on "super extra large" size (that is, "will contain stones greater than 11mm in height"), and the size 3 single-convex are less than 6mm tall. You may not be troubled by this, but if you are, you could alway have Amazon pay for return shipping as "the item did not match the picture." Then you could take up the excellent suggestion of MSGreg, and get the double-convex Yunzi stones and the jujube bowl with melamine stones, and put whatever stones you were in the mood for in the bowls for at the moment (I caution that your opponent will prefer Yunzi, as melamine is very lightweight in heft) HTH,

schwartzseer wrote: You may not be troubled by this, but if you are, you could alway have Amazon pay for return shipping as "the item did not match the picture." Then you could take up the excellent suggestion of MSGreg, and get the double-convex Yunzi stones and the jujube bowl with melamine stones, and put whatever stones you were in the mood for in the bowls for at the moment (I caution that your opponent will prefer Yunzi, as melamine is very lightweight in heft) HTH,

Hi

Thanks for that, I do plan to get some double convex stones at some stage.
when it arrives i will post some comments and pictures.

Andrew