Ben Gale, South Africa’s representative at the 26th World Amateur Go Championship, reports:
“I am enjoying it here. The Japanese are nice people. They even stop at pedestrian crossings. Things here are very expensive though, money is a bit scarce! We had rounds 1 and 2 today after some orientation events yesterday. I was lucky to be drawn against Yasuro Kikuchi of Japan in round 1. The game went quite well but I think maybe he was being nice to me. Still I started well but ultimately lost on time in a hopeless position. In round 2 I played Hector Paiz of Guatemala. I am not sure of his strength but I played quite badly after dominating the opening, and was lucky to win. That game was recorded so I guess it will appear in Ranka or something like that.”
The Ranka yearbook is an annual publication covering the international amateur Go scene, and is named after a mountain where, according to a Rip van Winkel-like legend, a carpenter became engrossed watching a game of Go, and when he reached for his axe before he was to return home, the handle crumbled to dust. He finally got home to find that he had spent over 100 years on the mountain. (Ranka’s literal translation is “rotted handle”).
(Picture courtesy of Pieter Mioch and WAGC event photographers)
Posted by Steve in News, Tournaments
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