One photo every day: Saarron Kylmä Kivi -turnaus / Saarto Cold Stone Tournament 2017 (13/365) + other photos
Arrival
Leo and I came in early to wait others, when the appointed time of meeting at 9:30 am was up, we started getting anxious. Would no-one come? We called @markkujantunen, and he told he was on his way, so we relaxed a bit. But where were the others?
Waiting for other players in front of the venue, Café Oskari.
Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: Sigma ART 50mm ƒ/1.4
Aperture: ƒ/5
Exposure: 1/200 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 100+200
At 9:50 am we finally saw one of our club members and two others coming, and so did Markku as well eventually. Good, games could finally start!
Games
Leo participated too.
Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: Sigma ART 50mm ƒ/1.4
Aperture: ƒ/1.4
Exposure: 1/60 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 100+1600
We had decided we'd list him as a 20 kyu player so he'd play against us all with a 9 stones handi. In the first round Leo played against me, and I was dumbfounded over how well he played. I had never seen him play under real pressure and he really blew my mind with how solid his play was. I was actually having a hard time when I realized he was fast gaining a 100 points in the center and it started to look like there was no way to enter and reduce.
I had to gamble a bit, and started poking at his almost non-existing weaknesses to reveal a true weak spot. And I did find it in the top part of his area. I managed to slither my way in, and now he was in trouble. I knew the game was over, so I secured my areas. But alas, his time was soon up and we didn't get into counting.
Antti & Petteri in deep contemplation.
Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF-S10-18mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 IS STM
Focal length: 10 mm
Aperture: ƒ/4.5
Exposure: 1/40 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 400+1600
I am fairly sure I destroyed all his potential in the center, and while I had the corners and most of the sides of the board, it was more than enough to win in points.
Leo managed to score a win in the next round, against Petteri 6 kyu, brother of our club member Antti 1 dan. Understandably he lost all the other games, but he got a lot of valuable advice when we reviewed our games afterwards. I'm betting he's going to pass my rank 7 kyu in no time.
It's a tough game.
Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF-S10-18mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 IS STM
Focal length: 10 mm
Aperture: ƒ/4.5
Exposure: 1/13 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 400+1600
Conclusion
In the end, I didn't manage to win any other games than the one I played against Leo. So in points (rank + games) I got the 5th place, and Leo got 6th. Aside from the apparent loss in the tournament, I'd wager the absolutely coolest thing for Leo was, that he got officially ranked as EGF 18 kyu by @markkujantunen, our prominent 3 dan in front of everyone. In case you are interested, here's Markku's account of the tournament day.
Image of the venue, shot by @markkujantunen (Click photo to read his post).
I am very proud of Leo. He showed great courage when he decided to attend, and pulled it all through to the end without any meltdowns I've seen during his earlier games. He's grown a lot both physically and mentally, especially the latter.
So all-in-all it was a great day! After the games we rewarded ourselves with a meal in the Vesijärvi harbour in one of the restaurants.
(Most of the photos came out underexposed, I have no idea what happened to the light meter in my camera, it just didn't want to settle to one value, it jumped about 10 stops up and down, I couldn't tell what settings to set. So you may find these shots a bit noisy after I had to pump up the exposure quite a bit in post.)
More photos tomorrow! :)
[Previous post: One photo every day: Inebriated eLeaf atomizer studio shoot (12/365)]
365 followers? Okay. (1/365)
Kiemurainen (2/365)
Game of Go in our club, Saarto (3/365)
Bulldog statue (4/365)
Linnanmäki / Borgbacken (5/365)
The Ashtray (6/365)
Our bookshelf + Squiggles' home (7/365)
Vesijärvi lakescape (8/365)
Sweet'n'Sour Chicken tastes GOOOD! (9/365)
Bridge of Tönnö (10/365)
Night walk (11/365)
Inebriated eLeaf atomizer studio shoot (12/365)
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Heeey!
:) Didnt know you guys play that seriously. KYus and all....
In my eyes, black won on the third GO pic! Am I right?
In most clubs, differences in skill level between most players is great enough to necessitate the use of handicaps. The usual method of handicap involves placing black stones on the board before white's move.
A consistent national ranking system enables players from different clubs to know the number of handicap stones needed right away. Organizing tournaments would be much more difficult without a national ranking system. For example, Kylmä Kivi was a handicap tournament with six participants and only four rounds. The range of skill level was from 3 dan to 20 kyu. Without handicaps, pairing a 3 dan playing against a 20 kyu would be like pitting someone with a mid-level black belt in karate against a beginner. The beginner would be knocked out in seconds. The likelihood of the weaker player winning a game like that would be astronomically small. In a tournament, such a game would be a completely wasted opportunity to gain information about the current order of strength of the players. Even with a full nine stone handicap, a 20 kyu would stand virtually no chance against a 3 dan.
my dad and I played it for fun... I did get a few stones advantage when still kid, but later... ;)
=D
Yea well we play like semi-seriously anyway, there are also professionals who get a good salary for playing this game. :)
The third and fourth photo are of the same game. And I think, as it by the look of the clock seems to be only 5 minutes in the game, the end result would be difficult to predict. At least in a game of similar strength. But I do think white has a stronger position already. (Also, white did win in the end.)
hm when I look again, maybe the white did have better corner position.... corners and sides win the game in most cases, right?
Let's say that corners and sides are easiest to surround, then sides and center last. But there is also a saying, a go aphorism really, which states that: "When either of the players has all four corners, white will win."
Leo has matured tremendously from last year! I think he's already a full-fledged tournament player. He is able to win and lose gracefully. Leo has the patience to sit down at the table and focus on the game until the end. Also, I think with regular practice he will be able to become a single digit kyu quite soon.
I think the pics turned out nice. In those types of social settings you are stuck with the available light as it is. You did good.
Thanks. I do often find myself overtly critical of my own work, your comment helped me relax about it. :)