This report was specially commissioned by GoGoD from Ivan Viganò, right. We are grateful also to Pieter Mioch
for some valuable background reporting.
Below are some more pictures from Ivan, plus one of our own from Korea.
Although men predominated, there were certainly women players.
There was young blood, too, among the men, and intense thought. And was the black and white hair style a go specialty?
Not too many concessions from normality are made by blind players. They still have to register (which gives us a chance to show the lone guide dog!) Nigiri is similar, so too is the passion for analysis, the chance to play a simul and, of course, the chance to win a prize - in this case Nakamaru is receiving his from Morino. But one major difference is contact. A player who has just moved will often show his opponent where the move was by guiding his hands to the spot.
Osaka was the venue, and it must be said that there are quite a few splendid examples of outreach in the Osaka area involving the Kansai Ki-in. Mr Tanioka Ichiro, President of the University is obviously also providing a valuable community service. This is a good chance to show also a typical feature of Japanese tournaments - all the boards neatly laid out the night before.
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Design of the best equipment is still being thrashed out. The 19x19 board shown previously was successfully used for games between Song Jung-taek and sighted players at the Prague Congress. But the board below was also used by a Korean in the 2006 Jeonju Baduk Festival, and another variety of 9x9 board was spotted at the Osaka event - well, the box was!
There was a small exhibition of board games at a site close to the venue. Here are some of the go exhibits: a glass board, a toroidal board and an attractive bowl.
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