MrOoijer Blogs

The Israelian Go camp was more like a summer school: two weeks of five days each, teaching from around 09:00 in the morning until 14:30 with a lunch break of one hour. There were no other activities, and the children returned home (or to a hostel).

This is the group I teached in the second week. On the last day I played them in a simul / handicap game where they had to show what they had learned.

None of them is stronger than 10 kyu, but especially Nadav, who is sitting in the middle, has improved a lot. Shani has just resigned her 19*19 game, and wants to try to beat me (again -- I once let her win) on the small 9*9 board.

Caesaria was founded en built by King Herod. It is named after his "boss" : Caesar Augustus. It was a castle or fortified town with luxurious villas plus an artificial harbour . A splendid example of Roman architecture and engineering (especially the harbour).

Even in these days it is surrounded by luxurious villa's of the rich (and perhaps famous). But the place itself is a very popular visit in the weekend and evenings. When we left around 22:00 the roads towards Caesaria were completely jammed with cars because there was a concert by a famous singer I had never heard of, a Schlomo something. The concert was going to be held in the Roman amphitheater of Caeseria.

After Roman times it had a long history of decline, and rebuild, for instance the present harbour was redone by the crusaders. Here follow some impressions from this popular place.

We see Filip walk through the main gate. In all gates from that period one has to make a 90 degrees turn. That is to slow down the enemy. The Lion's gate through which we entered old Jerusalem a couple of days ago had the same turn.

The sea is quite rough and of splendid colour. In the background we see the coal fuelled electricity power station. The coal is brought by boat, but the boats do not need to enter the harbour. Instead there is a clever transportation system that goes into the see for a mile or two. You can just see it in this and one of the following pictures.

A swimmer jumping off the harbour end.

Day tourists making pictures.

Close to Shavit's parents' house we went to the seafood restaurant Gootcha for a quick drink. It was in fact not so quick, as we ended up with a bottle of wine and some nice starters. For me: moules, done in a slightly strange oriental way with pastich, tomata sauce, garlic and olives. But good.

The waitress was studying economics and had clearly a very American accent. Not surprisingly she had studied in the US, and planned to return there and finish here studies there this fall. She sold us this -- quite good -- bottle of wine.

We were lucky to get the last seats outside. While we were enjoying the wine people were queuing up for the next free seat.

After this starter we went to a night club in Herzillya with a main course of lamb chops and a band that sang John Lennon songs until early morning. No pictures of that: my battery was empty.

Just four hours, too short of course. We arrived around 18:00 and had this wonderful view first.

Then we went to the old centre. The bazaar.

Mount Zion.

The mosque.

David's tower and wall after darkness had set in.

We walked around till 21:30 before we finally went to a simple dinner. Walking over the rampant in the dark was our daring end of a long walk. Three days later I still feel my muscles (so it was a great work-out).

Very warm :-) Sorry the lay-out is broken at this moment, you have to scroll down to see the pictures.

A lot of people I know know this and a lot don't.

I had a problem with my heart last year. I am not sure that it really started in november in Cannes, but anyway that was the first time I noticed and started to worry. Just a little bit. And then a little bit more. And then a little bit more more.

Until this year in February I could not ignore the pain in my chest any more and I did go to the family doctor (yes -- in the Netherlands we still have this system fortunately where you can have your own doctor). He was not very pleased with me. "You're here with your own car? You're not allowed to drive now. I'll call an ambulance." He has the age of my son. And sent me to the hospital emergency ward.

That was a month ago.

I smoked -- I stopped smoking that moment.
I drank too much, maybe I still do.
I ate very healthy, I do not think I have to change that diet but maybe I eat too much.
I have to exercise a lot more, I'm still over weight.
I had an artery that was bad, so I was "dottered" and I have a stent.

But I am all right!

Dutch winters are normally not very cold, but this year the temperature has been a lot higher than usual. We already had two storms in January and only one (nice) day where the temperature stayed below zero.

Our house is on the edge of the village, near pieces of wood, meadows and farmland. Some winters we will see unusual birds in our garden that come into the village looking for food. Not this year, except for the groups of long tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus europeaus) that come roaming every winter. This one sat still long enough in front of the window of my study that I could make a picture. With poor light and a 300 mm tele lens it unfortunately is not completely sharp. But nice enough.

I played against this young professional in the autumn of 2005, just after he had turned pro at the age of 15. It was a serious game (20 minutes on the clock, 30 seconds byoyomi). How I managed to win that game with a handicap of only 4 stones I still do not understand.

Now Kim Su-yong is appearing in the tournaments. I didn't notice that at first, I just happened to follow this game on Baduk TV when I noticed a familiar face.

He reached the main section of the second Siptan Wonik Cup, and in the preliminaries he had to beat at least one nine dan pro to get there. Then in the first round he won a nice game, but then in the second round he lost against another great potential player of the young generation: On So-chin.  

This is the game from that first round. Su-yong is Black against Yi Hyeon-uk, a 6 dan, on 2006-10-11.

48 captures the ko at 44, the move marked A is move 49.

After an unusual series of moves Black has surrounded a number of White stones in the lower-left side. But the white stones have a lot of aji. Instead of 44 white could have played B, and the commentators could not find a good way out for Black as far as I could understand it. But it is far from over yet.

88 recaptures the ko.

Here white resigned. Black played a nice solid game after the dust had settled in the lower right. I hope that we will see many more games from him!

Note for game collectors: this is how the game appeared (life) on Baduk TV. In the game records on Korean sites such as Cyberoro move 130 did appear later in the game. But this is really how it was played.

In Cannes, A. got an SMS from the guitar player of this singer --  inviting her for a concert. Yes! Oh no, we were in Cannes. Not back in time. This evening she was on Dutch television. A fabulous concert, Trijntje Oosterhuis singing Burt Bacharach.

I am watching this pro game. Two middle aged gentlemen (oh dear what am I saying, I am older than they are) play a subtle Baduk game that is not quite as exciting as the cut throat style of the younger generation. It is close although Black seems to be slightly ahead. While the game unfolds, I start to wonder. Didn't the tournament table say that Black resigned? It does not look like White can stage an upset. Will Black make a mistake?

In the phase of filling in the neutral points, disaster strikes.  Black plays the indicated stone, white plays A and the black group dies. Black should have defended at A himself, and the game would have been his (by half a point).

Click the diagram for the complete game record. Xmas quiz: who were the players and when was the game played?

"In 1653 the VOC ship Sperwer smashed to pieces on the rocks off a remote Korean island. There were thirty-six survivers. After 13 years of captivity in Korea, eight of them managed to reach Japan in a small boat. Hendrik Hamel's report on their adventures soon became available to a wider public. For two centuries it was the most important source of information about the mysterious kingdom of Korea. In 2003, 350 years after the event, the stranding of the Dutchmen was widely commemorated in Korea."

In the book  “Hamel's World: A Dutch-Korean Encounter in The Seventeenth Century”,  published in 2003 in the Netherlands, John Fairbairn spotted the following picture of what looks like Sunjang Baduk.

This might be on of the earliest known pictures of Sunjang Baduk. We will try to find out more about this picture.

See also New In Go for more on Sunjang Baduk.

We left yesterday afternoon, spending the morning sitting in the sun (around 21 degrees C!) and being lazy. Stark contrasts between the playboy who drives around here in his black Ferrari doing nothing and the street peddlers trying to sell to the tourists who were not really here anymore.

Back home: it is cold.

I admit, one must be a little bit crazy to spend the whole day, when the weather in Cannes is beautiful, inside a bulding listening to lectures in rooms without any outside view. And when there is a break we sit outside and talk.

From the balcony of the Palais des festivals.

Another day of hard work and the only thing I can blog about is food:-)

E. and I had Magret de Canard (Duck Breast). A. had a lobster.

Going back all satisfied. The camera flash didnt work too well again.