Final day, deciding rounds

Today brought an end to the tournament with the final 3 rounds. Chinese Taipei (12 year old boy) was victorious in what was a very tight competition. I faced 4dan opponents in rounds 6 and 7 (Serbia and Sweden respectively). The games were close and started well for me but I lost them both. My last game was against and equally ranked player (1dan Mongolia) and I won the game by a big margin so that was a good end to the competition. I'm very happy with how I played today and I'll make some sgf. files soon of most of my games (with a few pro comments). My final position was 47th place out of 68 competitors with 3 wins out of 8.

We had amazing food once again today. I had real sushi for the first time and it was brilliant....many many kinds of fish, colourful and beautifully arranged. The day ended with a banquet and closing ceremony, lots of speeches and clapping, pretty boring but another great meal. The food was definitely one of the best things about this trip.

Overall it was an amazing experience and the Koreans are to thank for that...they did everything they could to make sure we enjoyed ourselves.

Thats all from my Korea blog....thanks for support!

By the way click the title link for some more photo's

3 games and trip to Seoul

Today (the 10th) got off to another winning start against the Swiss representative, a 1d player. Solid win for me. Once again I was drawn against a 7dan in round 4, this time the Australian representative (also originally Chinese). I enjoyed the game but of course it was easy victory for the Australian. My fourth round match was a disappointment as I lost a close game to another 1dan, the Luxembourg rep.

Best part of the day was our trip to Insa-dong in Seoul. This are was recommended to me and I convinced a group of people to take a journey on the subway to Seoul...bit daunting but it worked out really well. Saw some really nice shops and had an incredible meal (please see pictures in title link). Was a great night...some nice people in the group. Also a good way to spend the Won I had exchanged.

3 more games tomorrow to decide the final standings and another banquet and closing ceremony...looking forward to it all. Will update you tomorrow hopefully.

Check this website btw (copy and paste to address bar): http://kbaduk.or.kr/kpmc/2008/eng/information/notice.asp?bid=KPMC_notice_news

Winning Start (and photo's...click here)

Today got off to a great start with an unexpected win against my 4dan opponent, probably my biggest win ever. Maybe the Tae Kwon-Do performance during the opening ceremony put me in the right frame of mind. That afected my draw for the next round however and I was drawn against the Canadian representative. He is originally chinese and one of the highest ranked players at the tournament at 7dan. It was an honour to play him and I learnt from the game but of course he crushed me.

The president of the korean amateur baduk association invited the representaive players for dinner in a very nice restaurant tonight so I was very well fed on bibimbap, gimchee and rice wine.

AlsoI have managed to get some photo's on my computer so follow the link in the title to view them.

I will play 3 games tomorrow and hopefully make a journey to Seoul in the evening....I would love to see the city but transport is a problem. Hopefully I can bring you news of some good results again tomorrow.

Quick Update

Just a short update now, I dont have much time. Sill no photo's yet, hopefully I will put some up tonight. Visited the DMZ (de-militarized zone) yesterday...quite interesting. And a short trip to Heyri artists village, didnt have much time there unfortunately. Day ended with a banquet and traditional korean drumming and dancing performances. It was an amazing show, they really pulled out all the stops. Also the draw for the first round was announced, I have a colombian opponent in my first game today, 4d so he is a lot stronger than me but I will give it my best shot.

Will be watching to 9d pro games today with commentary from Cho Hoon-Hyun, very famous Korean player, so looking forward to that a lot.

Thats all the news for no, better run before breakfast finishes.

Arrival

Arrived to my hotel not long ago after an exhausting journey. Flight over Mongolia and China was amazing though, I've never seen anything like it from the air. Mountains, desert and frozen lakes ware all you could see for nearly 3 hours of flying. We then flew over Beijing and the Korean coast...all spectacular views.

The hotel is amazing (I cant describe it, I'll have to take pictures) and we are being looked after by a huge team of volunteers. Looking forward to getting to see the place properly by daylight tomorrow. No pictures yet unfortunately, I forgot the cable for my camera..... Hopefuly I can do something about that tomorrow.

No games tomorrow, just sightseeing and banquet. They're putting on a great display so far with the food, hotel, books, information and helpful volunteers.

Wish I could post some photo's.....

New "Blog"

Hello to anyone interested in my Go/Baduk/Wei'Qi trip to Korea. A few people have asked for me to give them a website where they can view my progress in the upcoming KPMC (Korean Prime Ministers Cup) tournament in Goyang, South Korea. Unfortunately I have not found a useful one yet and so decided to try my hand at writing a blog for the duration of my trip.

My first entry comes the day before my departure on an 8pm flight from London Heathrow to Incheon airport. Expected flight time is 12 hours..... I will arrive on the 7th and from the 8th to 12th is non-stop Go playing with occasional cultural activities.

I plan to keep you updated each day, but that depends on my access to the internet.

Hopefully I can give you all an idea of my progress in the tournament and experience of South Korea (and the DMZ on the border with North Korea). I will post some photo's as soon as I can and for the Go players who are interested I might post some sgf's (esp. if I get pro comments)

Watch this space ;)