We all have heard many times about all of the wonderful benefits
the Internet has bestowed upon the Go community. But it has been
the view of some of the members of the Triangle Go Club that there
is a dark side to this Internet as well. It has been my view that
one of the cultural maladies the Internet has inflicted on us is
the loss of participation in Go tournaments. Reversing the depressing
decline in participation I have noticed in all tournaments from
North Carolina to Maryland (with the notable exception of the Cherry
Blossom), we at the Triangle Go club decided to at least try to
stop the slide. Before going into the philosophical tangents, here are the results:
The Joe Shoenfield Memorial Marathon Go Tournament held September
29th, 2001 was a huge success. It was one of the largest tournaments
in North Carolina history with 28 players. We had players from Lancaster
Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. We had several players from Charlotte North Carolina.
Play began at 9:30 am and broke for only 1 hour for lunch, which
was served at the site. The final round, round Five, was the “Marathon
Round”, so called because of the exhaustion of the players and the
fact that winning this round would earn 1.5 points instead of the
usual 1 point and so was important for tie-breaking purposes. The
Marathon round started at around 6pm and contained many notable
games. For example, two undefeateds, Will Daland and Walter Nurmi,
tangled for first place in Division C. And in Division A, Mr. Yoshiteru
Suzuki and Suk Jun Kim battled for the top prize. It should be noted
that Jun is one of the highest rated players in North Carolina,
and made the three hour drive from Charlotte to attend (and apparently
unafraid of having to give handicap stones). And Mr. Suzuki is a
great patron of Go in the area, who has over the last few years
opened a Friday evening Go club in Raleigh as part of the Japanese
Amity Association. Their final game was quite exciting
—I could hardly tear myself away to record results after a critical
and exceedingly complex ko developed in the very early middle game.
We were quite pleased to have these two players at
the top of a 6 member Dan section.
So why do we at Triangle Go club feel over-the-board Go still important?
For one, face-to-face Go fosters learning in ways that the quick
“junk food” games on the Internet do not. I have played many games
on the Internet but they pass out of the memory with no more trace
than a fly momentarily alighting on your shoulder. The games literally
lack depth; that is, there is a subtle, but very real importance
to the tactile nature and three-dimensionality of the game. And
there are other intangibles you won’t get from staring at the glowing
box such as the after-tournament-game handshake, and your opponent’
s explanation of the move you missed in the Joseki. And then the
correction to your opponent’s analysis by the high dan player standing
by watching with a smile on his face. And who can forget the epic
long car ride home recounting your triumphs and blunders to your Go comrades.
Naturally, facing your opponent is not all fun and games. Your
computer will never eat a flaky sugar-encrusted donut while you
play, or smack his gum, or wiggle the table with his foot in a room
crammed with people like sardines in a hot can. However, these
little annoyances do not really detract from the experience, but
instead make it all the more unforgettable. And who could forget
the exquisite joy of the head fake—intently studying a ridiculously
unimportant corner of the board when you know you have one of those
opponents that slavishly follow every move your eyes make. For all
of these reasons and more should we always continue to promote and
celebrate real Go played on real boards by real players.
Why did we succeed in getting such a high turnout? Was it the money?
Over 500 dollars in cash prizes were given to the first and second
place winners in each of four divisions. Perhaps it was the novel
format—five (!) rated games in one day. Perhaps it was fear of being
ridiculed for the next year for having missed such a great event.
Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that the format works.
You can have a five-round tournament in one day. We used 45 minutes
of regular time, and 30 stones in 5 minutes for Byo-Yomi. Only a
handful of the nearly 140 games played were decided by time. The
only changes I would make would be to go with straight round-robin
pairing to make things move quicker (and avoid the inevitable questioning
of the murky logic behind Swiss-McMahon “band” pairings).
Another reason we succeeded is that we have a strong local Go community
that made this tournament possible. Joe Berry and David Allen of
our brother club (Games Galore Go Club) in Raleigh provided equipment and the manual pairing
system. Peter Armenia and Lanya Shapiro provided food and allowed
us into their home (thus avoiding fees for site rental). Dave Fruchtenicht,
Charlie Alden, Frank Salantrie, and Adam Bridges provided more food
and logistical support. But we did not forget that there was one member of our club missing.
So who was Joe Shoenfield? Joe was an internationally respected
logician and professor at Duke University. But more importantly,
he was one of the founders of the Triangle Go Club. It is hard to
believe, but he played Go in the Triangle area for over four decades—long,
long, before Go had appeared as a fashionable prop in independent
films and episodes of Ally McBeal. And every Tuesday evening he
was always one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave.
He was quiet, but never shied from a debate on a subject he was
interested in. He also hummed quite a bit while playing. And his
persnickity attention to Go etiquette has become legend. But what
I remember most about Joe was that he played all comers. And he
loved to play. And that what it is all about.
We hoped to create a tournament that would honor Joe's memory and
foster over-the-board play and good fellowship. I think we made a good start.