Online KGS Tournament - 6th Golden Stone

Hi !

I've been lacking a bit of time these days, since Wednesday was a day off in France, I used the opportunity to handle projects that I care much about.

I received 2 ASR games this week - they'll be reviewed by tomorrow. It's still not too late to send some more.

For a few weeks, I've been an official teacher for "Forum Go On" (told you about that already, in a previous post), and there is one thing about this room that I forgot to tell. They are organizing a tournament starting on Monday).

Today is the last day for registering. It's an online tournament, in which registered players range from 30k to 4d. The deadline will be tonight, at midnight (french time).

Requirements :
- Use your strongest KGS account
- You need to have at least 30 games (all types) played in the last 60 days, 15 of which -at least- should be rated games.

Rules :
- Handicap -1 (maximum handicap : 6)
- Mac Mahon system
- Free games (game offer shall be opened by Black and shall be public)
- AGA Rules
- 30 minutes +5x20 byoyomi.

Every week, drawings will be automatically made, and you'll be assigned two games to play during that week. You are free to choose what time and day you prefer (find an agreement with the opponent). Of course if you sign up, you will HAVE TO play those two games, to avoid disqualification.

Games will be played in "Forum Go on" (under social) and must contain the following gamenote : "Tournoi GO.ON Golden Stone 6 . Round X . X vs Y. " 

About prizes : 

• 3000 points forum pour 30 euros de réduction sur les produits JeudeGo.com.
• Un abonnement KGS+ de un mois..............................................................................
• La Couronne Golden Stone appliquée sur l'avatar du vainqueur.

3000 forum points (equal to 30 euros discount for all products from jeudego.com

Free 1 month KGS+ subscription.

A crown, on your forum avatar.

Besides that, teachers from the room will review one game per round (there are 4 official teachers, so there will be 4 reviews per round)

If you want to sign up for this tournament, a couple of steps :

1/ Register on the forum here (use the same ID as on kgs)

2/ Send a reply to this post, which also should contain your rank 

3/ Join Forum Go On under social

4/ Wait a few more hours for the draws to be made :) 

If you have trouble registering, please contact me fast (better say it again : the deadline is tonight)

Pericles

3

Who is Pericles ?

Heya !

I was asked that many times, since I started running this blog.
So I'm gonna introduce myself a bit. Better late than never, don't you agree ?

I'm a 30 years old man (at least, that's what I thought, until I saw my Google Twin below), from France, Britanny precisely. I started playing Go more than a decade ago, when I was still a student. At that time, I was studying english and german (expect some german posts someday !) at the university.
That's about when I discovered Hikaru no Go, attending some anime/japan fanclub in my city. None of the volumes were issued officially, so we used to exchange our "collections". I read HnG overnight, litteraly.
The day after, I decided I'd make a quick search on the Internet to find yout about the rules. At this moment, I had absolutely no idea that Go was a real game. I thought it'd been invented just for the manga.
Of course, I stumbled upon Kiseido Go Server and immedialty tried playing a few games, having done the very few tutorials available on the net at that time.

I went to 30k to about 5k without any teacher in a bit less than 6 months. That may sound fast but I used to play 250 games per month, back then. After that, I got taught by some kind teachers, reached dan level within  a couple of years, and started teaching too, you know what comes next.

So now that you know more about me, you certainly are wondering "what does he look like ?", "what's his name?" and such.
My name ? I won't tell.
My look ? well... A friend of mine taught me today that one can load a picture in "Google Pictures" and have it search for similar pics. Of course, I immediatly uploaded my picture (who wouldn't?) to search for my twins all around the world.

So, according to Google, this is what I look like (I'm a mix of all that, use your creativity, heh)

You can imagine me half male / half female, loing flowers, liking boxing,  and ...err...wait...don't imagine more :) Let's keep our imagination for the boards, shall we ?

That's about enough of an introduction, perhaps I'll tell more someday, when I have drunk enough, enough time to share the little secrets about me that you all seem to want to know :)

Pericles

Playing one-color Go

Hoy !


This is one of my favourite Go variants. I thank Pasky a lot for making this possible online with his hacked version of KGS. Using it, all you have to do is say "ONECOLOR" at the beginning of the game, and "MULTICOLOR" to make it back with the two colors.

I made a quick test just now, and challenged a free 7k bot.  I managed to keep up until Move 172, right before the small yose.

At move 172, it looked like this :

After switching back to "double colors", I saw this, which was pretty much what I was expecting, except I was convinced that the middle black dead group was alive and connected to top.

It was a bit sneaky of the bot anyway, after I played a komoku in top right, at Move 1, he made a high approach and started a big avalanche joseki, and I thought "OMG, if he plays that right, I'm toast". Lucky me, he failed miserably there.
Right after that, he played a Muramasa Joseki, in bottom left. Due to circumstances of one-color Go, I thought I'd play the standard variation. Making it complex and relying on ladders and creating cutpoints would certainly lead me to doom, in one-color Go.
After that, the game went quite smoothly (but a bit weird by the bot in the top left, surely doesn't know joseki...)
At the end, despite being cut, the game is quite close, about +12 for white.
I won't add the sgf here - you can find it in my KGS archives (account : Pericles)

That was fun anyway, I'll try that again !

Pericles

Wandering...on Funnode

Hey !

Just a quick "tweet", I was wandering around on another Go server when I came across this player, Ravi, making some promotion for his recently-created own Go Server. I suppose there is lots to do, add new features, make it even better (always!)
Ravi will certainly need feedback, as there are only a handful of players there (told you, it's very new), so have a visit on his website and send feedback, play some games. In a few words, help him get started.

It's worth it, really.

Click here to join Ravi's website (funnode)

You will also find, on the homepage, that you can play chess, checkers, reversi, card and dice games (all for free) among other games.

Have fun !

Pericles

Amateur vs Pro : Second round !

Hey !

I got a lot of feedback about the "Amateurs vs Pro" post from last week. So I decided it would be a pity not to let a good chance for the amateurs to show their skills a few more times against professionnals.

I joined a few games on Tygem, to find one game that will represent both players' skills well enough. As always, it's pretty tough to find a game that meets the criterias. The game has to be showing the difference of skills, obviously, but has to be understandable by the audience too. Picking games with too complex variations or one-sided slaughters is just no fun (to watch and to review)

In the current one, Black is the pro. The interesting thing in this game is about the influence White made. He played to build a moyo which ended up completely destroyed by 3 of black's invasions. Yup, 3. That shows how big the influence was.

Black managed to invade successfully 3 times, thanks to a few defects in white's shape that he could exploit.
I hope you will enjoy the sharpness of their moves, black's moves, obviously.

Pericles

ASR Game #5

Hey !

I wasn't submitted any games by ASR players last week. So when climu asked me to review his game yesterday, I said I'd do it. First come, first serve !
So this game is played by climu (1k) and smarre (about the same level it seems) in ASR's delta Class
Though both players overlooked a few key points while fighting for the moyo / invading it, white (climu) managed to use the fight to his advantage and destroyed one of his opponent's corners in exchange of letting him live inside his moyo.

You'll see great fights happen in Delta too !

Have fun !

Pericles

Kim Youngsam, crowned champion in Paris Tournament.

Hey !

What a busy week-end !
Like every year, for Easter, Paris had its international tournament happening. It was not so "international" this year, though. I heard they had a hard time finding a place for the event, and found one only two weeks ago.
They had to reserve the place at the last minute, and hardly had enough time to check how many players they could welcome (how many rooms, how many tables ?) and probably a last-minute issue about borrowing materials (clocks and such) from the local Go Clubs around. In consequence, they couldn't accept any reservations for the tournament. That, of course, made it very difficult for foreigners to come. No point in coming and travelling, and having high expenses if they were not sure to be able to play at all. Makes sense.

There were quite a few top french players though. Dai Junfu 8d, Motoki Noguchi 7d, Thomas Debarre 6d, Tanguy Le Calvé 5d and of course Kim Youngsam who won the tournament being undefeated. We got the chance that the organizers relayed one game per round on KGS, however. The games were broadcasted via "FFGscribe" account, whose games can be found in KGS archives.

I managed to attend the 6 rounds broadcasts. More than that, I gave public group Live reviews, thanks to the Forum Go On that helped me prepare the event, and particularly LDL who helped recording the reviews (I also recorded the lectures in audio / video, you can never know when the computer or the recording software is gonna mess up)

So we have recorded 6.  The project was interesting, the "public" was composed of widely-ranged players,  from beginners 20k to dan level (3d+) and I'd like to thank everyone who helped make this possible.

Anyway, we went through the games, discussing, analyzing, answering questions.
The explanations, therefore, cover a large amount of things : fuseki, choice of a joseki, direction of play, attack / defense / yose / counting / tesujis and so much more.

Some of the broadcasts lasted more than 3 hours, so the reviews are pretty long. You can find them below, but be aware that I used French for the reviews. If you can speak a little bit of french that is great, otherwise you may have to "guess" what the comments mean,  by looking at the variations shown. It shouldn't be too hard for an experimented player, but can possibly be difficult for kyu players, sorry about that.

I received a lot of great feedback on Go On forum, and we'll certainly hold other live-reviews in the soon future - in english also, if there is demand for it.

The first record has quite a poor sound. I had forgotten to turn my internal microphone off, and it caused interference with the external microphone I was using (I fixed the issue between round 1 and 2)
The other 5 records should be good (encoded in High Quality - watch them Full screen)
Until today, I had the time to encode the first 4 games only.
It takes quite a lot of time to render the video viewable in Camtasia, then to export it as an flv, or an avi.
And it also takes some more to upload it to youtube.

The first 4 games  (the next 2 should be available tomorrow)

Round 1 : Dai Junfu 8d (ericdai) vs Cesar Lextrait 3d (isbhal)

Round 2 : Dai Junfu 8d vs Kim Youngsam 7d (korondo)

Round 3 : Dai Junfu 8d vs Motoki Noguchi 7d (motoki)

Round 4 : Kim Youngsam 7d vs Tanguy Le Calvé 5d (welvang)

Round 5 (available tomorrow) : Motoki Noguchi 7d vs Kim Youngsam 7d

Round 6 (available tomorrow) : Thomas Debarre (neufx9) 6d vs Motoki Noguchi 7d


Hope you will enjoy !

Pericles

Amateur vs Pro : How stronger are they ?

Hi !

I'm glad to publish THIS post today. I had the chance, last night, to witness one of the best games I've ever watched. Amazing, thrilling...It shook me, really.

Black player is a professionnal ( yuiko(P) on tygem) and white is probably a strong amateur (gogogo6).
The game is a tesuji festival. By both. But yukio's moves are extremely sharp and so was her reading.

Yes, her reading, it's a she. I've heard a lot that "women can't match men" and "that's why they have a specific Meijin" and all. Maybe. But I don't share this opinion.

I made a little of research, in fact, quite exhaustively - I checked every pro pictures from the Kansai Ki In and Nihon Ki In websites, to find out who she is - but I didn't find her. There is no "Yuki" or "Yukio" on either of those websites, and the picture she uses on tygem doesn't match any of those that I could see on the websites either.

What amazed me in this game, is not exactly the sharpness of the moves played, rather than the time used to spot them. All of those sharp and severe moves were played in less than 2 seconds. The second half of the game is played during byoyomi, 30s/move, but yukio never used more than a few seconds to play her brilliant tesujis. As a result, despite great fights, the amateur player is completely outmatched.

I tried to made a fully detailled review, so you will see - there are more variations than I would usually share.

Enjoy the game !

Pericles

ASR Series Game 4.

Hello !

Yesterday, I made a quick presentation of "Tenchi Meisatsu", and Ben Zen (your latest post on your trip to Hong Kong is just fantastic !)  mentionned another Go-related movie in the comments. The movie is called "Tokyo Newcomer",  seems to be about a foreign Go player going to Japan but, as he doesn't speak the language, it makes it very difficult for him to communicate, until he meets an old woman (Go player as well ?)... I managed to retrieve this movie, and will watch it today (and maybe  make a review here tomorrow, if you liked the latest ?)

Another interesting collectable I found yesterday is this song "The game of Go", by Chris Linn, I'm sure you'll love it...

Also, today is the day for the ASR commented game. I picked one at random, as neither I or Climu received any games. Don't be shy ! I had already commented on alpha, beta, gamma games, I believe, so I chose one from Delta class this time. It's played by hvk, #1 and zoup #2 who respectively have scored 40,25 and 22 points as of now (quite a lot, considering it's only April 16th today)
Hvk is about 1d, and zoup is 5k.

Hope you'll enjoy the review, like always !

Pericles

Tenchi Meisatsu

Hi !

Litteraly "Insight into the universe", the title for this movie is a pretty well-chosen one. And why am I talking about a movie ? How is that related to Go, you're asking ?

Well, easy. Listen.

The english title for this movie is "Tenchi, the samurai astronomer". And this astronomer was in fact, no less than Shibukawa Shunkai (1639 - 1715).  You probably never heard that name, did you ? Well, in fact, Shibukawa Shunkai renamed himself  "Yasui Santestu II", after his father. Now it probably starts making sense, doesn't it ?

His father, Yasui Santetsu, founder and head of the Yasui House, which was one of the top 4 major Houses of Go in Japan, along with the Honinbo, Inoue, and Hayashi Houses.

Tenchi Meisatsu, is about the life of his son,who was an excellent Go player himself, just like his father, and a great astronomist, "the japanese Galileo".

Shibukawa Shunkai used many names during his life and was, among others, known as Shibukawa Harumi. For a fully detailled biography, I invite you to read this page

Regarding astronomy, Shibukawai has been the discoverer of many things, and a few of his works still remain until today. For instance, he developped a new calendrical system, the Jokyo Calendars , which is now conserved at the National Museum of Nature and Science, in Japan.

He was also the creator of the following papier-maché globe, in 1695 (also conserved in the same Museum)

The movie itself is just great ! I won't spoil any of it by telling you the story yet, but surely, you'll love it. The background music was composed by Joe Hisaishi (one of the top composers from Japan - a world-wide known composer)

You can already watch trailers, and read more about the casting here 

The movie is watchable online (streaming) on DramaCool website  (I can't guarantee the quality of their subtitles though as this is not the version I watched - If you like their work, drop them a word, they deserve to be encouraged)

The movie lasts 2h21, have your popcorn ready for the show and  dive into historical Japan !

Here are also a few screenshots :

As a bonus, I tried to find the game where the two protagonists start on Tengen, so that I could review it for the blog, but I couldn't find it. If you have it, please share it with me :) And I will review it ^^

To keep you waiting and so that you can be "inspired" by those masters' plays, here is the album of the movie. Listen to it online, on Deezer . I cannot share the archive here, for copyrights matter ..... 

Also, another game by Yasui Santetsu where he starts with Tengen against Honinbo Dosaku.

Pericles

Breaking news

Hi !

I've been a bit lazy these days.
But not completely. I have some good news.

From the statistics I get for this blog, I am apparently read and followed by a majority of french players. This is really good to see that my english reviews are appreciated, even by french players.

So here are the "breaking news". Since yesterday, I was granted a "Teacher" account on KGS, so I am likely to use audio more from now on, online for a start. And maybe later, when I get used to it, I'll start recording my teaching games in audio/video too. I certainly need to get used to it - avoid switching from a window to another when recording... I did a test yesterday, and it was harder than expected.

I played a game against a 5k, recording my comments in audio and video. But it is REALLY tough to explain things without showing any variations. You have to be crystal clear, or the listener might not fully understand what important point you are trying to explain. It's a good exercise.

I used to listen to dsaun a lot when he was still stronger than me. And it was awesome, but I never thought how difficult it was to use "voice" during reviews. That's a high 5 for dsaun (and all teachers who are used to teaching with audio)
Expect to see some videos soon :)

Another good news. I started teaching for the "Go On" community (Rooms > Social > Forum Go On). The community here is mostly french, but their forum is GREAT, really. It's full of lectures, resources, tips for kyu players, and I can only welcome the english speakers to join . Their forum also has an english-speaking subforum already- a bit empty at the moment, and that's a pity.

If they created this english section, I assume they are willing to expand and share their knowledge with a world-wide community. Not so many of the french players can speak english fluently, unfortunately. But a few certainly can. I am one of them (and feel more comfortable in english than french, to be honest). For now, they have gathered no less than hundreds of lectures (in video, sgf, topics and so on) and they are only in french. On the long run, I intend to translate them all and share them in the english-subforum.

As far as I know, there are plenty of small social french rooms on KGS. This one is basically the only one where I'm staying. If I had to make a comparison, it would be that they are as influent as the english "ASR" room. They don't run a ladder (maybe one day ?), but their system is help and lectures-oriented and I strongly recommend you to join if you are willing to learn. The more demand there will be for english lectures, the faster they will come, that's for sure.

So, hurry and join, introduce yourself, and ask for more in the forum :)
Even for english players, whereas Lifein19x19 is full of "blabla", the "Go On" has the sole purpose of teaching, sharing knowledge, helping others. That's another good reason to join.

Pericles

ASR Series Game 2 and 3

Hi !

I received 2 games from the ASR this week. So I reviewed them both (instead of the previously announced 1 game per week)

First game below is between klaas 6k and GreyGhost, about 4k (Gamma class)

The second one is between Greenbean 1k vs Compgo74 1k (Alpha class)

Greenbean and Compgo74 played the micro chinese fuseki, which I commented upon here . Feel free to take a look for more variations and details.

Also, another good website for that fuseki (and others) is Cho Hye Yeon's blog.

I strongly recommend reading her website. Cho Hye Yeon is a female 9dan professionnal. Her reviews and explanations are always insightful. She is one of the very few pros dedicated to teaching amateurs via a blog, sharing new trends, new variations. If you haven't done so yet, her site is certainly worth bookmarking.

Klaas and greyhost went through the game for review already. And I' m glad I was sent the SGF that contains their questions and variations. That helped me a lot to know what questions SDK are asking or what they are unsure of.

For the next times, it would be wonderful if you could do the same. If there is a particular pattern you are uncertain about, if there is anything that you want me to focus upon, when reviewing, just write it on the SGF.

Hope you'll enjoy the reviews !

Pericles

Xia Chenkun to rule the Chinese Mingren !

Hi !

It's been a few days since I last published a game, I've been quite busy with the week-end.

So now, there are plenty of outstanding games to watch, and some "new" pros to discover.
The game I'm showing you today is a game played by Xia Chenkun (aka Xia Jiankun). He is not so famous yet, I must say - he is not even listed on the official list of chinese professionnal players, though he has been a pro for a couple of years.
There is not much of an history about him yet as he didn't play so many tournaments or didn't win any major titles YET.
You will see, however, that he certainly has the ability to win them.

Xia Chenkun (left) / Kong Jie (right)


Last year, he was eliminated as early as the first prelim round. But he is back this year, and faced Chang Hao 9p, for the first prelim round, whom he eliminated ! Unfortunately, I couldn't find the game yet. (I certainly will, though)
For the second round of the Mingren, he was paired with Yu Bin (another top 9p), and he won that game as well ! You can see the game here

So, he qualified for the main tournament. And until now, he defeated Dang Yifei, 4p,  Shi Yue, 9p, and Kong Jie 9p.

He won them all. And he qualified for the semifinals in which he will be playing Zhou Ruiyang, 9p (the other semifinals game will be between Jiang Weije 9p and Lian Xiao 7p)

His records in this tournament is really impressive, as he defeated four experienced 9p straight. The game I'm showing here is his game versus Kong Jie, which gave him access to the semifinals. Enjoy the show !

Self atari in the Finals of the Female Kuksu - Game 3 of 3 !

Hey,

 I created this blog a bit less than two weeks ago, and it will be reaching 1000 hits by the end of the day already. It's really a pleasure to see that you all enjoy the reviews and the Go News (thank you all for your feedback !)

 A strange thing happened yesterday, in a pro game, I'm not even sure I should review it here : A self atari. Again ? yes. This time it was in a Title game tough. The game was between Kim Jaeyoung 1p and Park Jieun 9p, it was the last in the best-of-3 Finals of the Female Kuksu, in Korea. The record was 1-1 before that...

 The game was really beautiful (you can find the Final series below, uncommented)The flow of the game was very natural, since the early fuseki, and in the end, Park Jieun would win by 2,5 points, achieveing the Kuksu with a score of 2-1. If only she hadn't self-atari'ed. After 6 hours of play, she was probably losing focus, having counted multiple times that there was nothing left for her opponent to catch up, and she finalled filled a ko, which happened to put herself in a capturable position.

Park Jieun 9p (left)
Kim Youngjae 1p (right)











This is definitely not the first time we've seen such a sad ending, in a pro game. But as far as I recall, this is the first it happened in a Title Game, more especially, in a "last of the last" Finals game. A pity, really.

 Another interesting news. Gu Li was defeated at Round 1, in the 27th Mingren (chinese Meijin), by Jiang Weije, completely outread from the early beginning, thanks to a brilliant play by Jiang that Gu Li had probably overlooked (the descent on first line, on the right side - see the game below too). 

 Also, I'm preparing a lecture, which will be an interactive one, hopefully. For that purpose I prepared you a sample of "Irisxww" 's games, a strong 9d on tygem who always plays unusual moves (and surely unexpected). This will be the topic of the lecture. "How to react against an unseen-before move?". 

What would be great is that : 

1/ you take a look at the sgf (you can even download it) 

2/ Use your own records in which you had to face really strange, unexpected moves or variations, to add some more samples to the sgf (or create anther sgf) 

3/ Write down your thoughts about those moves, yes, all your thoughts. From the "omfg what the hell is that?" and the next thoughts. This will help me see if your "thinking process" is correct, and will make it easier for me to help you correct it. 

 This is sort of a homework, yes. Play the game, take 30 minutes to remember unexpected joseki variations, seemingly bad-moves, anything odd. And take 5 minutes for each to explain how you'd react, why / why not, how and so on. And if you don't remember seeing those kind of moves in your on games, use the sample materials in the sgf below. This way, when we'll be organizing the live lectures, it will be easier for all of us, to be prepared efficiently. Hope you'll do it :)

Send me your "homeworks" by email : Periclesbaduk[at]gmail.com or load them on KGS so I can save them :)

 Here is the small archive containing Gu Li's game, and the 3 games of the Female Kuksu Finals 

And click here to download the sgf about "unexpected moves"

Pericles

 

ASR's alpha male of the month !

Hi Go-fellows,

The poll up here is ending in a couple of days. The results shown are quite significant already. It's almost a draw between reviewing pro games (I have enough of them to make one review/day for the next 50 years), lectures by topic (I will start organising those very soon - they certainly will take place in KGS Teaching Ladder) and reviews of amateur games. I have plenty of those, but they are either played by top amateur players (EGC, American Go Congress, and the likes) and I realized I don't have that many DDK or SDK games that were worth being reviewed (mainly because they are blitz).

So, as of today, I'll be having a partnership with the ASR League on KGS, a league whose system is perfect to find slow games, which is the perfect material I need to review kyu games. (and believe me, slow kyu games are not easy to find). I will review 4 games /month for the ASR (roughly 1/week). If you have a particularly interesting game to submit, please contact "climu" on KGS, who is in charge of the ASR awards, or contact me on KGS directly.

As this is the official annoucement for the project, I picked one game (quite) at random from the ASR results' table. The players are "drgoplayer" and "darkpoet". I picked this one, because, first, I enjoyed watching it, and because there are a lot of missed opportunities for both players. Also, among other reasons, Drgoplayer is currently #1 in the Alpha class (and for sure, you're all willing to take his seat, aren't you? ), and he was also #2 in Beta last month.
His opponent, darkpoet, has been in Alpha since early March, scoring an honorable result of 19,75.

Let's hope this review will help everybody improve. This is what they are meant for.
For any thorough questions, please contact me or Climu.

If you're interested in joining the ASR, please click here.

Pericles

Oops, the folder doesn't exist, try again...

Hey...



Yesterday, I was frustrated. It has been years since I started playing Go on Wbaduk, Tygem and other asians servers. And during those years, I had to cope with the "Fonts" issue, which displayed asian characters as ?./..%¨£µ%%.

So I decided to change that, found some apparently good tutos on the internet to change my computer language and activates asian fonts so that it would recognize them on tygem. And I did manage to change the fonts. After that, my computer asked "Please reboot to apply the changes". Alriiiight" I thought.

During the reboot, I was asked my password, as usual. But it didn't match, as I had switched my "natural" computer language to chinese. So I used the virtual french keyboard. Fail also. After a few (a dozen in fact) attempts, I capitulated and had to format my damn Windows.

I lost all my datas. And spent all night and today until now, trying to retrieve them on various websites.
( ~400,000 sgf / 500 e-books and dozens of gigabytes of videos)

As I write those lines, I probably retrieved about half of what I've lost. And this is so time-consuming that I won't have enough free time today for a complete review.

So instead, I thought I'd share with you a list of good video go lectures that you will likely enjoy watching in the meantime. It's quite easy to share (it was written a few months ago for my go friends on FB) and less time-consuming.

Here it is, pick the one you think would help you most and enjoy ! They are among the best live teachers you can find in videos, especially Nick Sibicky for whom I have the most utter respect, his quality of teaching being so AMAZING !

See you here tomorrow for a great commented game ! I'll be back on the tracks by then.
(I'm sorry I didn't have time to link them correctly yet, you have to copy/paste the links manually into your browser)

 Nick Sibicky's :

#1 Game Review 5k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eOZjn0xQdo

#2 Game Review 4k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYu2aAOJ4VA

#3 Game Review - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaqSN_E-GLc

#4 Game Review - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZYZ6sS-j8

#5 Game Review 3k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVgWE1qzMio

#6 Must-know Joseki 4*4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lPfWGwVOHI

#7 Invasions - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JcB785NVXE

     Invasions - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmPSIGxlVvk

#8 Game Review 8k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU3VDzoCbFU

#9 Lee Sedol's ladder game-  Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHgI839eZAo

     Lee Sedol's ladder game - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luw28vVQ3mE

     Lee Sedol's ladder game - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7VAubhhq_o

#10 Fuseki - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJGR8vfLGmA

       Fuseki - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcDCbNUPSN4

       Fuseki - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACpN4alYaTc

       Fuseki - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcZSwSnlhdE

#11 Attachments - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWNWKsFXLUk

       Attachments - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOPaJpZ_9RI

       Attachments - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSH0qXANJc4

#12 Monkey Jump & Double Hane - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAAuY9-nf54

       Monkey Jump & Double Hane - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNnc7iCjQVw

#13 Game Review 18k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnusDXZGioU

#14 KILL KILL KILL !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2birSbsSkg

#15 One life to live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhM43UJJRcY

#16 5*4 Josekis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqvAgL2mHp4

#17 3 stones game review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLdSEt-WtNU

#18 More game reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESeosqxYlWU

#19 Opening Workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC09kERkRj0

#20 Must Know 3*4 High approach Josekis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sXaUNluIpU

#21 Must know 3*4 Low approach Josekis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BxToud-Wek

#22 Must Know 5*3 Josekis (including Taisha) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F-MzmNqbWA

#23 Utilizing Thickness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKeVgSjJ3LA

#24 Lessons from a 7p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkofJ4I-LFg

#25 Battle of the Dans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FyfUxRilo

#26 Invasions Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW3tpUNUZI8

#27 Invasions Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoE4OiN8alA

#28 What I really like about Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRveBqnPJKg

#29 More lessons from a 7p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aO4PbHNqRI

#30 More game Reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ_LKxx2mOg

#31 Endgame Tesuji Workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcM25zHrc-4

#32 W-team vs B-team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99dMAykKNq4

#33 The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (shapes) - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyzIaWkLSIc

#34 The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (shapes) - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE8U4AFf21Q

#35 Responses to 4*4 low approach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT9Sq7QSbRo

#36 Attack ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ1lJJrSEGE

#37 Special Guest : Narumi Osawa 4p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsHK-btcpPM

#38 Fujisawa Shuko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mgi6pT7WEY

#39 The most famous move http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOs5CIt07qA

#40 Game Reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S52xWyrSZZY

#41 Big vs Urgent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpDZedq_bLM

#42 Traditional Opening theory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-td9ah-cM2k

#43 Entering the middle game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2kxXurC4I8

#44 Bent4, 10k year -ko, carpenter's square http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsq_6Q0ArC8

#45 Nick Sibicky Go NON-Lecture - A New Game? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ-w4miXWss

#46 Dan level showdown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuWuXj2V6Rk

#47 Fighting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtPtonZGnJY

#48 Invasions and reductions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDv4H3EIb88

#49 3*4 joseki low approach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqe60GkcT1E

#50 Team vs Team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl7Ikmrk_gc

#51 Goos shape workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOyvTaBgPs

#52 Where to play in the opening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvB5Yns4JwY

#53 Opening workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzpxgHAl7o0

#54 9p - Lee Chang Ho vs Chang Hao http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt_BqvgyjuQ

Joshua Lee's :

#1 Attacking weak stones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTjo507583M

#2 3*3 invasion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gSzPlOFCM

#3 Whole board thinking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdRD-ushCYk

#4 Game Review 5k vs 4k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BldHFeH982M

#5 Refuting trickplays http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUZAhbuYxI

#6 Double Approach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFNeOktyGuw

#7 Basics of endgame - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLWIckT7dqg

#8 Counting in endgame - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcCr6yBos1M

#9 3*4 formation invasions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKN9lLAe_zU

#10 Double Hane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waDwFOevhtw

#11 Playing Handicap Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi3rPV6ZLS0

#12 After Joseki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk6ANJUPBJw

#13 Advanced yose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnL68AAOef4

#14 Estimating territory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAn6WzE8Iew

#15 Midgame Fighting Techniques http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfpmN9_jWXo

#16 New opening Moves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJGWDZdaZDg

#17 Lee Sedol vs Lee Chang Ho LG Cup 2003 - Review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3iqbxnCDsA

#18 Common Tesuji http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dn5PVuWYYM

#19 Choosing Fuseki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hucTkz4sFhA

tokinonagare27's : (all are Shusaku games Reviews)

#1 vs Ito Showa - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM3e2hJEbFY

     vs Ito Showa - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X0AWCloKIs

     vs Ito Showa - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWB9r5xxutc

     vs Ito Showa - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mwbo77wvKM

     vs Ito Showa - Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ekKpyQ2R84

#2 vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mv45kQxR-g

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xgMXHU8DX4

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4biBdhYbK9o

#3 vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9XIIZvKfe0

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRGwfWQ8ShQ

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AdDVeSX0RE

     vs Honinbo Shuwa - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYr58G3T3eE

#4 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mnus9NWi30

#5 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQNchkXyzaM

#6 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI7hFi_KhRo

#7 vs Yasui Sanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD_m9weJpsc

#8 vs Kadono Tadazaemon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmBMFhQtrME

#9 vs Kishimoto Saichiro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qx0IvCW4FY

#10 vs Mizutani Junsaku http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R8bvhYI5nw

#11 vs Ito Showa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0nCcrkWLO8

#12 vs Ito Showa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8hhlq4X7s

#13 vs Ito Showa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeCQiGUWm8g

#14 vs Gennan Inseki, 2-stones handicap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iu-PkkUFE4

#15 vs Gennan Inseki, ear-reddening game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3MmTlK5WY

#16 vs Gennan Inseki, Game 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH0Wqdw2bpI

#17 vs Gennan Inseki, Game 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVRiJdLlxIs

#18 vs Honinbo Shuwa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF1ogp8t7RY

#19 vs Jowa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntzFHG3bNg

#20 vs Takegawa Yasaburo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Zs10x0DNw

#21 vs Yasui Sanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3-4iLCjEig

#22 vs Honinbo Shuwa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZwAolQC8y8

#23 vs Yasui Sanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirlgCeKMh8

#24 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6TuATWsJns

#25 vs Ota Yuzo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkGl1tX3nKM

#26 vs Yasui Sanchi, Castle Game N°1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLuq-dinL_Y

#27 vs Sakaguchi Sentoku, Castel Game N°2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoWgXHZQrww

#28 vs Sakaguchi Sentoku, Castle Game N°3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPjC7P0Jmv4

#29 vs Ito Showa, Castle Game N°4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FtWEdoqaJ8

#30 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcqIc2XY-Tw

#31 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swzlBdcs_3E

#32 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYBI9Vp74qA

#33 vs Sekiyama Sendaiu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPk7LNk9e0M

Commented Game - Kids take over.

Hello !

Last night, a few games from the 26th Mingren were relayed on the net. Mingren is the chinese Meijin. No need to say it's an important tournament, and that a lot of the top professionnals partipate.
This year, 64 players have signed up for it (and that number doesn't include the automatically-qualified players from last year, thanks to their good achievements).
Out of those 64 players, one woman only (born 1965). She doesn't need to be introduced anymore : Rui Naiwei, 9p.
Every go player has surely, at least, already heard about her. She has been winning a lot of the most prestigious tournaments since the early 90's.  Women's Kuksu, Women's Myeongin, Hungchang Cup, to only name a few.
I may be wrong about this, but I believe she is the first woman to have reached a 9d pro rank. (promoted 1p in 1985, 7p the same year !)
Last night, she was playing Zhang Li, 6p, (born 1987). Quite a kid, in comparison.
Yet, the kid beat her badly. Rui resigned after losing one extremely big dragon. It happens.

Another interesting fact, in the 26th Mingren, is the participation of He Tianning, an amateur. I searched in most players database, and found no occurence of his name anywhere, probably there are many versions for his name ? I don't know. Anyway, he was eliminated by Ke Jie, 4p. It was truly a nice game. Watch it if you get the chance.

Read more about Rui's here.

Zhang Li (right) / Rui Naiwei (Below)











Also played today : (click for download)
26th Mingren (Prelims)
Yan Zaimin 2p vs Bai Baoxiang 1p
Yan Huan 6p vs Piao Wenyao 9p
He Tianning (He Tianyi?) Amateur vs Ke Jie 4p

15th Maxim Cup (Semifinals) :
                                                                   Park Junghwan 9p vs Park Jungsang 9p
                                                                 





And the game ! Have fun !