EGC and USGC 2009

Both European Go Congress and US Go Congress over for this time. I do not know so much what happened this year. Only that it was very few Swedish this year, maybe from Sweden arrange the tournament last year. The other thing I get feeling of from EGC is that the pairing and by that the SOS count might not have been fair. But I can not judge that. In USCG an 18 year old amateur player beat 3 professionals to win the ING tournament. Very good.

I do not know why, but there was no computer go tournament in either EGC or USGC. I have no clue why. I have not look to hard either. At Computer Go Info you could find, up to yesterday, that those tournament were canceled. Now they are not to be seen at all in the planned or played tournament lists. If you look through the mail list archive you can probably find why.

361points.com write this about EGC/USGC 2009.

Totally missed EGC 2009

I have totally forgotten about European Go Congress 2009. And after a quick look at the starting field, so have all the Swedish players. I guess everybody in Sweden put to much into arranging the event last year, so they stay home this year. Or maybe they got stuck in the coffee shops. After a closer look at the standings there are only 3 Swedish players. You can find the current standings here. And as of today 7 out of 10 games have been played.

Also I see that there is no computer go tournament this year. If there had been one I would have noticed on GNU Go mailing list that they where looking for someone to operate the program.

Stockholm Open 2009, day 1

I am talking about the go tournament Stockholm Open that is being played this weekend. And of curse I could not play. It is mainly because I am in a project that is releasing a new system on Monday morning. Which mean I have been working my butt of this week. And is kind of stand by over the weekend if the other guys screw up. So it did not really feel like a good thing to play.

You can find information about the tournament here. My friend boywing is playing in the tournament. One annoying thing is that even if the knowledge in the Swedish go community about internet is OK, feedback from tournaments and other events is slow. No results from the first day. And I guess that part of the problem in tournaments is that everyone is using this program for running the tournament. It is not very friendly. Someday, maybe before 2050, I will release one of my own. Mobile internet connection should not be a problem to get faster feedback. Maybe I should volonteer for that next time I play. Hopefully not later then Jusandan 2010.

Low on mental energy

I have been very away from this blog for a month or so. OK, in some respect travel have been taking away my time for writing. But it is more like a low on mental energy. Have no energy to have any thoughts about anything. It feels really annoying.

So, to show I am not dead I just going to tell you that my result in Jusandan 2009 did make my ranking in the European Go Database go up. And also, at the moment my ranking at Dragon Go Server is up too. So my go skills seem to grow, somehow.

I just which all the programming and stuff would go as well. But there has been no time. And all the time I have had I spend on some stupid compiler setting. And it is still not working. And the stupid thing is that I have the solution at home but do not want to wait until I get home. I should do something productive instead and solve the compiler issue when I get home. I was just planning to get a new version of php-arapi out on this trip, since I was getting some time to program.

Jusandan 2009

This years Jusandan tournament was little bit different. Only 5 games in 2 days compared to what I am used to, 6 games in 3 days. But it was OK. Same time for the games and everything. It was 2 years since I last played in a tournament. And actually like 2 years since I played in real life. Jusandan results can be found here.

I am still ranked to low. So I always end up in the strange low end pairing. So even if I win 3 out of 5 games it will probably not change my ranking at European Go Database since 2 of the wins was against to 'easy' players.

But anyway it felt nice to get to play for real again. To really concentrate and think about the game. I did not record any of the games. I guess now I have to get one or two games at KGS in the next couple of months to keep the feeling up.

EGC 2008 is over

Now the main tournament is over. Actually, the whole event is over. I don't know if Sweden did better then normal. Of curse there where more Swedish players in a European Go Congress then normal, but was the results better then normal. Looking only at how many games you win might only show you're ranked too low. But anyway, Peter Karlsson[1d] and Niclas Solin[2k] both win 8 out of 10 games. Congratulations. WeiYing Gu[5d] win 7 out 10 and ended as number 21 in the tournament and the best Swedish player. Fredrik Blomback[4d] was in the top group at the start and played stronger players then WeiYing Gu. Fredrik only won 5 games and ended as number 26.

Now I have to get the time to play some tournament in Stockholm soon.

Now the tension grows ...

... as EGC 2008 is coming close to the end. 8 rounds out of 10 in the main tournament has been played. And not so surprising Catalin Taranu from Romania is the number one European player at number 6. Top Swedish player is Girlwing at number 20.

Yesterday computer go tournament did not end so well for GNU Go. I wonder why. I have not looked at the games. Maybe somebody will put some regression test from the games.

At the moment I very much feel like programming on some go program. I actually would like to get my own program up to speed. But it would also be interesting to get some good things into GNU Go. I'm on the mailing list and what I see the activity is low. But the activity list for next minor release, 3.8, is long.

Tomorrow the computers play in EGC 2008

7 rounds in the main tournament has been played. And tomorrow it will be a resting day for the main tournament. Instead there will be a computer go tournament. I wonder when my program will play in some tournament. Or when will I play in a tournament.

It would have been nice to be able to watch the games live on KGS tomorrow. But I have to work. No way to watch the games. I hope the games will be published after the tournament so I can look. It is kind of stupid to want to watch the computer games when I should look at strong human players instead.

My friends Boywing and Girlwing win their games today. And what is Girlwing writing in her blog, marry Boywing??

Little bit late

...but now the results for round 5 at EGC 2008 is up.

Round 4 at EGC 2008 finished

OK, I really do not have any feeling for writing anything. But round 4 at EGC 2008 had been played and there is a new look to the result page. Enjoy.

Round 3 at EGC 2008

I wonder, are all players 1-9 professionals? In that case, top amateur European player is a Swedish player. OK, it is to early to make any assumptions about that, since player 5-23 have the same MMS. And it is only round 3 of 10.

Both Boywing and his girlfriend win today. Results from round 3 here.

Tomorrow there are no games in the main tournament. Only other activities. I am actually interested to see what happens in the computer tournament next Wednesday.

More about EGC, second round

Yeah yeah, but EGC is now, so I write about EGC now.

EuroGoTV have live TV-feed of the top tables. I have not tried to watch. I have no access when the games are playing. KGS should also have live feed of the top games.

Results from round 2 is up. Today they show the nationality instead of club. Much more interesting. It would have been nice to have a more interactive scoreboard. Filter for country. And other nice things.

First round at EGC 2008 played

So, the first day of the main tournament is over. The results are posted here. First when I looked the list looked very strange. But now the sorting seem better. I wonder how the top-group was chosen.

I wonder if there is any publications of the games. Or is it only in the players private blogs. Would be fun to look at. I wonder if my friend Boywing sorted out his notes from the first game.

Tomorrow EGC 2008 starts

The European Go Congress 2008 starts tomorrow, the 26 of July, in Leksand, Sweden. I will miss it. When it finally comes to Sweden, I can still not go.