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Vanthanee Namasonthi

Ranka: Could you tell us about Go in Thailand?
Vanthanee: The current spread of go in Thailand is mainly due to the conviction of Mr. Korsak Chairasmisak (president of Go Association of Thailand, Ed.) and his emphasis on the value of go in education. He thinks go is a good brain trainer and can help children’s mental development in acquiring cognitive skills and socially valuable attitudes such as strategic planning, problem solving, caution, and the curiosity to study new things.

We started off by introducing go among university students in 1993. At that time, we were not confident of success. However, we only knew that we wanted to “go ahead” and move forward with our intention of promoting go among Thai youth. We did not even know how to teach and organize proper tournaments. Luckily enough, we had opportunities now and then to receive many go visitors from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Singapore who gave us good advice and recommendations. They told us our rights and wrongs. From them, we gradually learnt to walk our way on the track, and gained our own experience.

Now, we estimate that approximately 1.5 million Thais know about go. In 2007 we succeeded in making go a discipline of the SEA Games (a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association, Ed.). There are 2 annual international go tournaments in Thailand, the Go Goodwill tournament in January and the Asian U-Go tournament in October.

Ranka: What do you think the key to the success the Go Association of Thailand has had is?
Vanthanee: I think teamwork and networking are very important. We support our local go clubs around the country, from north to south. We help them all we can, providing them with equipment, sending experienced staff to help organize go activities, training the trainers, conducting go leadership courses, etc. etc. Over time, to our pride, many go players from different parts of the country have taken their turn in assisting the Association when we held important or big go tournaments. Why? We have the same “dream”. That’s why!

Go Goodwill Tournament 2010

Ranka: How did it happen that you started promoting go in Thailand?
Vanthanee: When I accepted a job at the Seven Eleven Company 18 years ago, I offered to give Mr. Korsak any possible assistance. He pointed at a picture of him playing go and explained to me in brief what go is, and described its values. He further stressed his appreciation of go and his intention to share it with others.

Actually, he had already been introducing and promoting go to his friends, colleagues, and staff in the Company for quite some time. He said perhaps I could help him.

I have been keeping my word and keeping my promise since that day. Together with friends and colleagues, we work day-in and day-out in introducing go to the Thai community, of course with Mr. Korsak’s kind and understanding support. So far, we have managed to cover educational institutions at all levels, as well as businesses and institutions in both the government and private sectors. Go is now included in the Official National Games, Annual Youth Games, etc. To our pride, many leading government and private universities accept go players on their special sports quota, and lots of students are even offered scholarships. Additionally, C.P. All Public Company Limited and their associates offer job opportunities to go players.
Though 18 years have elapsed, I personally increasingly find go more charming and valuable. Our concerted efforts now seem to be paying off. We are seeing many great opportunities open up for Thai kids – rich, poor, advantaged, disadvantaged, all alike. They can and do appreciate go as a game. On the other side of the coin, they can and do passionately experience the values of go.

Ranka: Lastly, do you have anything to say to our readers?
Vanthanee: Please come and see the enthusiastic Thai go scene for yourselves and experience Thai hospitality. You would be very welcome.

Ranka: Thank you very much.

Ondrej Silt (L) and Pal Balogh (R)

As in the previous thirty World Amateur Go Championships, most of the top places in the 31st World Amateur Go Championship went to Far Eastern players, but Eastern European players have also been doing well recently, and this year, two of them broke into the top eight. At the other end of the scale, six of the last eight finishers were from Central and South America. Will Europe ever catch up with the Far East? Will South America ever catch up with Europe? After the tournament, Ranka talked with Ondrej Silt (Czechia) and Pal Balogh (Hungary), who took 5th and 7th places, and with a group of South Americans, including Fernando Aguilar (Argentina) and Maria Puerta (Venezuela), to find out what some of the top European and South American players are doing and what they think about the future.

Ranka: What are you doing these days, and what are your future plans?
Balogh: I’m a type of student, but I’m also a semi-professional go player in that at least ninety percent of my income comes from go. Besides playing, I also teach the game, but as for future plans, I’m in the process of thinking that out. One thing I might do is to learn to play poker. The thing about poker is that there are no clear ranks. Everybody thinks he’s 6-dan. I might be able to support myself by playing poker on the Internet and still have time left for go.
Silt: I missed five years of schooling while I was an insei in Japan, so I’m still in high school. I don’t have to attend classes, I just take the exams. I’d feel embarrassed sitting in classes with all those much younger kids. I study for a week before exams, and devote the rest of my time to go. I’ve started teaching go to children, but I haven’t decided yet what to do after I graduate.

Aguilar (L) and Chen (R)

Aguilar: I’m doing welfare work to aid the indigenous people in Argentina. These are forest dwellers who have traditionally made a living as hunters and gatherers, but their forests are being cleared for farming, to grow soybeans to ship to China, for example. I also teach go on the Internet.
Puerta: Fernando is a saint.

Ranka: Do you teach on a volunteer basis?
Aguilar: I did at first, but not now.
Puerta: Even saints have to eat.
Aguilar: My present system is to play a set of simultaneous games, and then go over them one by one.

Ranka: What do you think the Central and South American countries need to do to turn out more strong players?
Aguilar: We need to increase our go-playing population. Strong players will then appear naturally.
Puerta: But this won’t be easy to do. One of the big problems in South America is that we are a mixture of indigenous, African, and European people with very different customs. In an indigenous village, if a person catches a fish, the people think the fish belongs to everyone, whereas in a European society, if I catch fish, that’s my fish. Or by indigenous customs, it would be perfectly normal for a child to go into a friend’s house, open the refrigerator, and help himself to whatever is inside. Some of my son’s friends do this. It’s distressing. It will take a long time for our society to change. We may be able to produce a strong go playing population in another two hundred years, but not in just fifty years.

Ranka: What about Europe? What will it take to produce players who can win the World Amateur Go Championship?
Balogh: That will be very difficult. For one thing, only one person in a hundred thousand in Europe is familiar with the game. There is also a difference between the way European children and Oriental children concentrate on things. I see this at the school where I teach, which is a special school for foreign children, with half the teaching done in Chinese. The Western children play go for awhile, and then they want to do something else. The Oriental children sit there and really try to absorb what you’re saying. One factor is that Oriental parents appreciate the value of the game and put pressure on their kids to do well. It will not be easy for Europe to overtake the Far East.

Ranka: Thank you.

The day after the tournament, reporters interviewed the winner, Hongsuk Song of Korea.

Reporter: Now that the tournament is over, how do you feel about it?
Song: Looking back over the whole tournament, I’m only sorry that it had to end.

Reporter: Which was your toughest game?
Song: There were two: the games against the Chinese player in the fifth round, and against the Czech player in the last round.

Hongsuk Song

Reporter: What has been the most memorable game in your career so far?
Song: The final game in the tournament for top Chinese and Korean amateurs held in 2007. This tournament was played in a series of Chinese cities: Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Fenghuang. The winning side in each round got to choose the site of the next round. There were sixteen Chinese and sixteen Korean players in the first round. I was one of the finalists. The final game was played on a huge outdoor board near a river in Fenghuang, with people dressed in black and white, wearing helmets, as the stones. Actually we were playing on a regular go board overlooking this scene, but we could see each move immediately reenacted on the outdoor board. This was my first international tournament, and before it began, I had jokingly promised that I would jump into the river if I won. During the game it began to look as if I might have to deliver on that promise. At least I thought I was winning, but in the end I lost. Then I really did want to jump into the river. I remember that game very well.

Reporter: What other international tournaments have you taken part in?
Song: In 2008 I played in an Asian amateur event in Taiwan, as one of Korea’s top three amateurs, and finished second again. In 2007 and 2008 I was starting to look like a perennial runner-up, but then I won an international tournament in 2009. That was the Korean Prime Minister’s Cup, held in Jeonju.

Reporter: Now that you’ve won the World Amateur Go Championship, what are your future plans?
Song: I would like to become a professional player if possible. That would be the best thing. If that’s not possible, I may go to work for a company, but I would still like to be active in go. There’s much to be done, including publicity and teaching the game to children, so if I can’t be a professional player, that’s all right too.

Reporter: How do you view the current competition between China and Korea?
Song: Right now I think China and Korea are about even. Both have some very strong players. In the future, however, I expect China to pull ahead. One of the advantages that China has is that under their system, the age limit for making pro is fifteen, so if you don’t make pro, you still have time to educate yourself to do something else, and there are many go-related jobs available other than being a professional player. Chinese amateurs have more opportunities in general.
In Korea, if you’re not a pro yourself, you have practically no chances to meet top professional opposition. Only recently has one top tournament, the BC Card Cup, been opened to amateurs. I have friends who got games with top pros in that tournament, including one who beat Lee Changho, but I missed the chance by losing in the preliminaries.

Reporter: Speaking of pros, are there any whom you particularly admire?
Song: Lee Changho. He’s number one. Two others I admire are Choi Chulhan, and Fujisawa Shuko.

Reporter: How do you study the game?
Song: For the past year I’ve studied very little, but before that I attended several go academies, including Yoo Changhyuk’s academy and Kweon Kabyong’s academy, which produced Lee Sedol and Choi Chulhan.

Reporter: Do you have any other hobbies or interests?
Song: I’ve taken up swimming and playing the piano, but I’ve let the piano lapse. I guess go suits me best. Even when I’m doing something else, I’m still thinking about go. But I was enthusiastic about the piano when I started, and when I return to Korea, I mean to start practicing again, going back to the basic scales: do-re-mi…

Reporter: Do you have a favorite composer?
Song: Beethoven. The fifth symphony.

Reporter: Thank you.

Maros Kral (Slovakia, 22nd place): Winning five games was all right. I didn’t beat any really strong players, but then, I didn’t lose to any really weak players.

Kasper Hornbaek

Kasper Hornbaek (Denmark, 23rd place): It was very nice to hold the tournament outside Japan, so we could see some different things. Personally, I didn’t play very well until the last two games, which I lost, which was quite annoying, but it was an educational experience.

Wankao Lou (Macau, 25th place): I enjoyed the tournament, but my results were not good. I was hoping for five or maybe even six wins. I got only four.

Aliaksandr Suponeu (Belarus, 26th place): It was a very good tournament, especially for me, because Belarus finished in the top thirty for the first time ever.

Lloyd Rubidge (South Africa, tied for 27th place): This was my first World Amateur Go Championship and I’m pretty much in awe of the go. This was also my first time in China and I was bombarded with new experiences, amazing experiences. They did a fantastic job of organizing the tournament, and I was pleased to find out that the top of the amateur go world consists of nice people who are very friendly. I am also extremely pleased with my results. My target was to win three games, and I won four.

Lucian Corlan

Lucian Corlan (Romania, tied for 27th place): It was a nice tournament with good organization and a nice venue, but my results were not nice. When I return to Romania, probably they will not let me back into the country.

Emil Garcia Bustamante (Mexico, tied for 30th place): I’m happy, not because of my results in the tournament, but because I had a good time here. Terrific nightlife.

Geert Groenen (Netherlands, tied for 33rd place): Perhaps under a European pairing system I could have gotten five wins, but I lost to a weaker player, so I can’t complain. The day before coming here, I took an exam related to my management consulting job, to advance to a higher level. This was not an exam that I was forced to take. It was something I wanted do myself, so I don’t regret it.

Maria Puerta (Venezuela, 39th place): The organization was very good. Everything went very smoothly. It was instructive to see how the organizers ran the tournament.

Juan Carlos Pachon (Colombia, 40th place): This was my first time at the World Amateur Go Championship, and I was hoping for four wins. It was very frustrating to end up with only three. The game I lost to the player from Finland was particularly frustrating: a disaster! My most interesting game was my loss to the Russian player.

T Mark Hall (UK, 41st place): It was very well organized and everything went well except that I played very badly. I lost one game on a blunder and won three games on opponents’ blunders. I very much appreciated that they had a smoking room, and I appreciated the game commentaries given there.

Antonio Egea (Spain, 43rd place): The Spanish player usually wins four games in this tournament, so that’s what I hoped to do, but I got only three wins. This was my first World Amateur Go Championship, so I wanted to do better.

Oeystein Vestgaarden (Norway, 44th place): I’m very disappointed to have won only three games, but actually this was not such a bad result, because I lost only to stronger opponents.

Francesca Mauri (Italy, tied for 45th place): I hoped to win just one game, so I’m thrilled about having won three.

Janez Janza (Slovenia, tied for 45th place): I thought I could win four games, but it didn’t happen. I got two 6-dan opponents, one 5-dan, and one 4-dan, and I also lost to a shodan. All my wins were over kyu-level opponents. Generally it came out OK. The main point is to have such a tournament, not to finish in any particular place.

Pedro Carmona (Portugal, 51st place): I feel OK. I’m happy to have won three games, but I know I could have done much better. I played well against the player from Chinese Taipei, but he is very strong in the middle game. I wanted to be the first from Portugal to win four games. Maybe next time.

John Gibson (Ireland, 52nd place): It was excellent. Spectacular organization. Everything was perfect. My results would have been perfect too if I had beaten the player from Israel, which I think I could have done.

Daniel Vargas

Hector Paiz (Guatemala, 54th place): It was perfect. I didn’t expect such luxury. I am an engineer, and I can feel the power of China. When I walked around and looked at all the new buildings, it was unbelievable. And the temples. You visit a temple, you are impressed, and then right behind it is another temple five times as big. Then there were the cars: Ferarris, Porsches, Lamborghinis. In one place I saw a man walk in and buy one of those cars with a suitcase full of cash, right on the spot. Can you imagine such a thing happening in China? China is showing its new power.

Rodrigo Carpio (Ecuador, tied for 55th place): I came here intending to finish last, but I failed to do it. I’m completely satisfied with everything, from beginning to end. Just participating was a prize.

Csaba Deak (Brazil, 57th place): I enjoyed the tournament very much. It’s always good to come back to China. But I got only two wins, a bare minimum. I have my doubts about the pairing system, because all my opponents were either dan-level players or much weaker kyu-level players. I didn’t get to play anyone else who was 1-kyu.

Daniel Vargas (Costa Rica, 60th place): The hotel and the tournament organization were perfect. There was not even a minimal problem. My only regret is that I cannot stay longer to learn more about China. Also there were two games I could have won if I hadn’t thrown them away by making mistakes, but that is a minor issue.

Neville Smythe (IGF Director): It was played in a magnificent building and there were no hang-ups at all. The organizers did a terrific job. If I could make one wish, it would have been for more game commentaries.

After the World Amateur Go Championship ended, Ranka asked about half the players and two directors of the International Go Federation for their last thoughts about the tournament and their results.

Naisan Chan (Hong Kong, 4th place): I was disappointed because I hoped to finish second but instead I finished fourth, worse than last year. It is good to have the tournament in a new city every year because you can learn new things.

Pal Balogh

Ondrej Silt (Czechia, 5th place): It was a good tournament, well organized, and in a good hotel, although not in a good location. If anything was missing, it was a room where the players could socialize. We did have a room in which to play go after hours, but there was no beer available. Finishing fifth was not bad, because I got six wins. Five wins would have been a bad result. My last-round game? Song was super-solid from beginning to end. I had no chance.

Pal Balogh (Hungary, 7th place): Personally, this tournament was a disaster. I did not play my best. Losing to Aguilar was particularly unsatisfying. I was happy to meet the player from DPR Korea, but I played very badly; I didn’t show him my best game. As for finishing seventh, it was the highest place for any Hungarian player so far, so at least I can say that I did not come here for nothing, but I don’t take it too seriously. The tournament is a festival.

Yongfei Ge (Canada, 10th place): I think I could have done better. I had no chance against the player from the player from DPR Korea, but I think I could have won my games against the players from the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong. In both of those games I got off to a good start, then lost in the endgame. But I like to play strong opponents, so I’m not unhappy, and I think the draw was fair.

Thomas Hsiang (USA, 12th place, IGF Director): It was very good. We had high hopes, and China made it everything we hoped for and then some. The pairing system was very dynamic, better than the system used before. If there had been ten rounds it would have been perfect; then there would have been no accidents. I also liked the tie-breaking system. Of course I’m not satisfied with my own results, but what was absolutely great was the emerging new IGF structure, and the plans of the new IGF president for the future.

Alexei Lazarev (Russia, tied for 13th place): It was a very nice tournament, even better than the one in Beijing. I really like the city of Hangzhou. My tournament results? They were not so good, but not so bad. I can be satisfied.

Leszek Soldan (Poland, tied for 13th place): I did more or less as well as I expected. Long ago, I would have been dissatisfied with this result. Now it’s OK. But I think I could have done better. I was jet-lagged and sleepy. Still, I’m happy about all my games except that disaster against the Japanese player in the last round. I played that game in a dream, like a zombie, half-dead and half-alive.

Christoph Gerlach

Bernhard Scheid (Austria, tied for 16th place): It was interesting to hold the tournament in a different city this year. The organization was good and the organizers were very generous. This was one of the best experiences I have ever had. The pairings were dubious, however, and I would have appreciated more commentaries on the games. I know I am nothing to write home about as a go player, but I would still like to be taken seriously as a go player.

Christoph Gerlach (Germany, tied for 18th place): The hotel was perfect and I have no complaints about the organization, but the playing conditions could have been improved: the pairing system, the chairs, and the clocks. When several clocks were reading out byo yomi at once, it was difficult to tell which clock was yours. I didn’t come here to win the tournament, so I can’t complain about my results, but I would have been more satisfied if I had met more players my own strength. There were only three games that were matched evenly enough that either player could have won. There were many players in the tournament with ranks similar to mine, so I expected to get five such games.

Ranka