Life In 19x19

xed_over wrote:

HKA wrote:And I will share the comment of one opponent who, when he disturbed the board position and I commented "You are far too strong to not know how to hold the stones" replied "I know, I just do this because it irritates people". I am confident he is the exception.

I have a friend who thinks there's an upside and a down side to yunzi stones. I like to play mine upside down just to irritate him

My friend got a nice floor board and good stones, and since I'm stronger than him I always play white. Since the white stones are clam shells and have the lines, I've taken to always playing with the lines up. It's been funny to see that become a distraction for him when he suddenly has to check all the white stones and see if I've been playing them that way all game.

schultz wrote: My friend got a nice floor board and good stones, and since I'm stronger than him I always play white. Since the white stones are clam shells and have the lines, I've taken to always playing with the lines up. It's been funny to see that become a distraction for him when he suddenly has to check all the white stones and see if I've been playing them that way all game.

haha... I forgot about the lines on clamshell stones (since I only have glass)

I seem to recall reading of a pro who would always turn the stones lines side down when his opponent played them (and I may be mis-remembering the level of players)

topazg wrote:Sadly, I'm a terrible fiddler with the stones whilst they're in the bowl person, making infuriating clicky rattling noises as I do it. It's a habit I really must break - it doesn't bug me when someone else does it, but I'm aware of how irritating it can be to some people.

I think ideally everyone should be able to handle sitting there, looking at the board, deciding when to move, and then picking up one stone out of their bowl and placing it on the board.

PS I also have a horrible habit of taking my next stone out of the bowl as soon as I've moved and sit there twiddling it in my fingers until it's my turn again.

PPS I think I must be quite an irritating OTB opponent in all honesty

Hehe. Still haven't started playing Go, but this describes my Magic play perfectly. Just constantly shuffling through my hand multiple times a turn and other incessant fiddling. Thankfully fiddling with cards is less noisy than fiddling with stones.

Also, I feel I must present to you a god of fiddling. He's a very good player, but also famous for something else entirely. Ladies and gents, Brian Kibler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHJgjz5_DIs&t=4m44s

topazg wrote:

EdLee wrote:Topazg, yes; very annoying. (OTOH, even some top pros do it. )
Keep both your hands underneath your hamstrings between moves.

Trust me, that's worse - I tried it and ended up rocking from side to side against my arms, some weird comfort distraction-prevention thing or something, I don't know. Generally I try to either sit there with my hands on my lap now, or slouch over with a thoughtful expression and my chin resting on one hand.

Ah, sitting still patiently is a highly skilled art I think.

Seconded. Need to do something every now and then while playing. Can't sit still. Can't. Sit. Still...

Don't like fiddlers? You should check Cho Hoonhyun, 9 dan. He fiddles alright, even talks to himself, making various sounds. I remember reading that sometimes he starts humming a japanese child song when he is ahead and hence in good mood.

The great player Cho Chikun broke wooden matches or toothpicks during the long two-day games. At the end of the game there would be small pieces of wood strewn on the tatami mat around where he was sitting. Many Japanese players fiddle with fans. Many players mutter to themselves. I've never seen any pro player grab a handful of stones and spill them from hand to hand, something amateurs often seem to do.

personally i dont have stone quirks when i play a game, i keep my hand on the bowl usually but dont fiddle with them.
one thing (but related to a back issue i have) is that i play my move then walk around a bit, to look at other boards or well...to stop the pain:) i warn them usually about this and no one was bothered by it so far.

one other thing i tend to do is live comment on the move the opponent has played like: "argh" "nice, nice move..." "oops, completely missed THAT*smiles*".
i dont try to throw my opponent off though, its just my honest reply to what he/she did to me on the board and i havent come across a person who said i should stop it.

What does baffle me though, and i really can't understand WHY someone would do that, is that some persons grab a hand of stones out of the bowl and scatter them in front of their board. WHY?? is it to crowded for these stones to be in the bowl? maybe they like untidiness? at some point the whole space between them and the board is cluttered with their stones, putting so many outside the bowl that they usually swipe a few off the table now and then.

i only understand you do this if you have a chess clock and 15 stones per 5 minutes for example, but otherwise this behaviour is just silly and unnecessary.

ez4u wrote:

gowan wrote:People who don't play go face-to-face over a board may not realize that there is a lot of body language involved. There is a Japanese word, tetsuki, for the way a stone is placed on the board. See this page on SL: http://senseis.xmp.net/?TeTsuki

Is that page correct? I didn't think tetsuki itself was Go-specific.　

Feel free to add or correct the page. I've also read something on tetsuki not being Go-specific, but can't find anything now. Since Sensei's seems to be the first definition result, it might be interesting to have definition of other meanings there.

stalkor wrote:What does baffle me though, and i really can't understand WHY someone would do that, is that some persons grab a hand of stones out of the bowl and scatter them in front of their board. WHY?? is it to crowded for these stones to be in the bowl? maybe they like untidiness? at some point the whole space between them and the board is cluttered with their stones, putting so many outside the bowl that they usually swipe a few off the table now and then.

i only understand you do this if you have a chess clock and 15 stones per 5 minutes for example, but otherwise this behaviour is just silly and unnecessary.

It's even worse when the person in question is also lazy about where they put prisoners ... you can end up with a right stone mishmash.

topazg wrote:It's even worse when the person in question is also lazy about where they put prisoners ... you can end up with a right stone mishmash.

the prisoners need guards

Phelan wrote:

ez4u wrote:

gowan wrote:People who don't play go face-to-face over a board may not realize that there is a lot of body language involved. There is a Japanese word, tetsuki, for the way a stone is placed on the board. See this page on SL: http://senseis.xmp.net/?TeTsuki

Is that page correct? I didn't think tetsuki itself was Go-specific.　

Feel free to add or correct the page. I've also read something on tetsuki not being Go-specific, but can't find anything now. Since Sensei's seems to be the first definition result, it might be interesting to have definition of other meanings there.

I think the general, non-go-specific meaning for tetsuki is manner of using one's hands or way of doing something. I think ez4u's comment referred to the description of tetsuki as a Japanese go term when actually it's an ordinary Japanese word used to refer to the correct way to play a stone. Cute video by the way

Added your meaning to the page. Hope you don't mind.

As long as you don't drop the stone on top of other stones and mess up the position, you're OK.

Come to think of it, there are players who sometimes place a stone on the board so that you are not sure which point they played on.

Also, there are players who place a stone on the board under their finger, and then move it around in circles before deciding where to play. Sometimes they do that more than once for the same move.

I do have a few pet peeves about playing stones. These pet peeves originate when I bought some nice yunzi stones and a decent goban(nothing special), but better than the cheap fiberglass.

A) Players that take a bunch of stones out of the dish to play with then drop them on the floor repeatedly. Leave the stones in the dish.
B) Players that take a few stones out then slam them together while they dance around instead of sitting in a chair.

You would think these were like adolescents or something but no they were a bunch of old retired snots. Needless to say I don't go to clubs much anymore.

I think there are some strategies that revolve around observing ones opponent. I seem to remember in the chess scene, there was a world champion that insisted on sitting in his playing booth, and only dashing out when he was ready to make a move. Evidently it flustered his opponent who was used to watching and interacting with body language. Akin to reading people in texas hold'm. Though it may not work as well for people with very different cultural backgrounds.

SmoothOper wrote:(...) Players that take a few stones out then slam them together while they dance around instead of sitting in a chair.

You would think these were like adolescents or something but no they were a bunch of old retired snots.

*imagines a bunch of old go players dancing around slamming together stones*