The MA Go Assoc. 2012 Winter Tournament
The MA Go Association 2012 Winter Handicap Tournament turned out better than I could have thought. My goal was to win one out of four games - reasonable I thought because I'd really not picked up a stone in over 3 years since my last tournament in May of 2008 in Rochester at the Empty Sky Go Club.
I got an even score - 2 out of 4 points!
Go tournmaments - at least these. I don't have a lot of data for comparison - are held a good bit differently from Chess tournaments. It's my impression that Chess tournaments are very much about competition and using that competition to develop and improve your game in their fires. In Swiss System Chess tournaments, depending on the environment, you can expect to battle people far above you and far below you. In a 10 person section, for the first round, you order the participants by rating, and #1 battles #6, #2 battles #7, #3 battles #8, etc.
American Go tournaments seem rather different. Here my impression is that you use the tournaments to test and verify strength you've garnered from elsewhere. Because the community is a good bit smaller, the competition is more laid back and friendly, even. While the Tournament Director, Eva Casey, 4 Kyu, admonished people to whisper while talking after their games, there was a noise level in the Tournament Hall that never would have been tolerated for a microsecond during one of my Chess competitions. Here, the aim is to try to play the closest person to your strength in your score group. So to begin with, in this Swiss System format, in a 10 person section, #1 would play #2, #3 would play #4, #5 would play #6, etc. Very different from Chess competition.
Go also has an inherent handicapping mechanism - the weaker player goes first and basically has between 1 and 9 standard "free" turns, i.e. the beginning player can take 1-9 turns (depending on the needed level of handicap), but where they place their stones is dictated, not up to them. Chess has a handicap system as well - stronger players can play without certain pieces - but this is never used in competition, and is rarely used in casual games in my experience, either. Conversely the handicap system in Go is used constantly.
My first game was played against Tinsae Aklilu, 20 Kyu, an 11 year old Black boy who was rated at exactly my strength. Surprisingly, I handily beat him.
Second round was against SưCô Thích Nữ Chơn Đức, an ordained Soto Buddhist nun who held a rank of 19 Kyu, one rank above me. I also beat her.
There were not that many low-ranked people available (a problem in some Chess tournaments as well), so my third round was played with Ralph St. Louis, 10 Kyu, an up-and-coming 15 year old Black boy who actually ended up garnered the 2nd place prize on Sunday. He was ranked at 10 Kyu, 10 ranks above me, so I had a 9-stone handicap against him - I was able to lay 9 stones on the board before he got to lay his first one. I still lost.
The final round was against Joe Cua, also 10 Kyu, which also garned me a 9-stone handicap. It didn't help. I still lost.
Still, I was able to win even games against people who I thought were my strength, or even one level higher, gaining me 2 out of 4 points, so I consider it a major success, especially since it was my first tournament in over three years. I'm also gaining the opinion that my ring dial necklace has turned into a good luck piece as I was wearing it during the weekend of the Boston Continental Amateur where I gained a very good result, and I was wearing it this last weekend during the MA Go Assoc. Winter Tournament. :-)
So, let's see if the rating I get out of this tournament corresponds to the assumption of my strength based on my results. We'll see.
I got an even score - 2 out of 4 points!
Go tournmaments - at least these. I don't have a lot of data for comparison - are held a good bit differently from Chess tournaments. It's my impression that Chess tournaments are very much about competition and using that competition to develop and improve your game in their fires. In Swiss System Chess tournaments, depending on the environment, you can expect to battle people far above you and far below you. In a 10 person section, for the first round, you order the participants by rating, and #1 battles #6, #2 battles #7, #3 battles #8, etc.
American Go tournaments seem rather different. Here my impression is that you use the tournaments to test and verify strength you've garnered from elsewhere. Because the community is a good bit smaller, the competition is more laid back and friendly, even. While the Tournament Director, Eva Casey, 4 Kyu, admonished people to whisper while talking after their games, there was a noise level in the Tournament Hall that never would have been tolerated for a microsecond during one of my Chess competitions. Here, the aim is to try to play the closest person to your strength in your score group. So to begin with, in this Swiss System format, in a 10 person section, #1 would play #2, #3 would play #4, #5 would play #6, etc. Very different from Chess competition.
Go also has an inherent handicapping mechanism - the weaker player goes first and basically has between 1 and 9 standard "free" turns, i.e. the beginning player can take 1-9 turns (depending on the needed level of handicap), but where they place their stones is dictated, not up to them. Chess has a handicap system as well - stronger players can play without certain pieces - but this is never used in competition, and is rarely used in casual games in my experience, either. Conversely the handicap system in Go is used constantly.
My first game was played against Tinsae Aklilu, 20 Kyu, an 11 year old Black boy who was rated at exactly my strength. Surprisingly, I handily beat him.
Second round was against SưCô Thích Nữ Chơn Đức, an ordained Soto Buddhist nun who held a rank of 19 Kyu, one rank above me. I also beat her.
There were not that many low-ranked people available (a problem in some Chess tournaments as well), so my third round was played with Ralph St. Louis, 10 Kyu, an up-and-coming 15 year old Black boy who actually ended up garnered the 2nd place prize on Sunday. He was ranked at 10 Kyu, 10 ranks above me, so I had a 9-stone handicap against him - I was able to lay 9 stones on the board before he got to lay his first one. I still lost.
The final round was against Joe Cua, also 10 Kyu, which also garned me a 9-stone handicap. It didn't help. I still lost.
Still, I was able to win even games against people who I thought were my strength, or even one level higher, gaining me 2 out of 4 points, so I consider it a major success, especially since it was my first tournament in over three years. I'm also gaining the opinion that my ring dial necklace has turned into a good luck piece as I was wearing it during the weekend of the Boston Continental Amateur where I gained a very good result, and I was wearing it this last weekend during the MA Go Assoc. Winter Tournament. :-)
So, let's see if the rating I get out of this tournament corresponds to the assumption of my strength based on my results. We'll see.