2008-01-31 (2):
I have just read on the Internet a German newspaper (FAZ). To have an impression what is going on in big parts of southern and central China have a look at the pictures and the video. A friend of mine who works here in Wuhan was on Tuesday stuck in Beijing; no train, no plane back to Wuhan. And tomorrow he would like to leave for vacation.
He is one of millions of people who are stuck due to the exceptional winter. The reason why so many people travel is the Chinese New Year, the main festival here in China. And a lot of so-called migrant workers have only once a year the opportunity to visit their family.
http://www.faz.net/s/RubB08CD9E6B08746679EDCF370F87A4512/Doc~E658850C07CD542109B68106BCC56B75E~ATpl~Ecommon~SMed.html#1D666B36AB574FABA55935F019C17077

2008-01-31:

Yesterday I was challenged by the lady who cooks here and keeps the flat tidied. I accepted, and I had to give her 9 stones. It has been her very first time that she played. Though I won I was positively surprised how well she played, considering that this has been her first time. And even though I am much stronger than her, 9 stones still look impressive...

And the end of today's schedule in the go-school two of Yan An's students came to visit us. One is a strong 6 Dan, the other one a 3 Pro. I remembered that I had seen the 3 Pro during the DSC Tournament. When school was over An Yan, his students, their fathers and I went for dinner. One of the students speaks a little bit of English, so we had a nice conversation.

Today I am finishing the "Tour De Flat" by showing how it looks like when you look out of the windows:

When you look out of "my" bedroom you see the following:

When you look out of the studyroom you see this:

And this is the inner courtyard:















Two more problems, Black to play in both problems, enjoy:
The whole board situation is a position that arised during my game today, I had 3 stones handicap. I made a joseki mistake in the upper left corner, but used in this position my chance to attack White.

2008-01-30:

It has again started to melt. Let's see how the weather is developing in the next days. For some time you could even spot the sun, not clear, rather dusty and dirty, but still. People used immediately the opportunity to hang their clothes out for drying. Due to space problems this is quite common here. And traditionally on Saturday and on Sunday all people seem to wash simultaneously. If you then look at houses you have rather the impression to be a shop for clothes ;-).

As you can on the photos in front of the windows there is some kind of metal bar. In most cases rusty, but this doesn't matter. Then you take long bamboos, and on those bamboos you hang your clothes. Alternatively, people use their balcony - if available -, or I also saw people who put their stuff in trees, next to the street.

For go-players I have this time two nice problems.

White to play, an interesting problem.

Black to play, this is a funny problem. Since there aren't so many points it should be quite easy to solve it, shouldn't it? Actually you need to check only four points because the position is symmetrical.

2008-01-29:
Today a short blog.
I have played today a "normal" game against An Yan. In case that the other student from the go-school had not come then I would have played simultaneously two games against An Yan.

On the Internet I read in German and Russian newspapers about the chaotic situation here in China. Quite interesting that even abroad this issue is reported.
People here have the strong concern that this weather impacts significantly the Chinese New Year activities that are going to start very soon.

2008-01-28:

Today is my free day. After lunch I had nice walk enjoying the snow. I detected some kind of park, and it was really nice to escape from the streets. During the day I have done many L&D-problems.

After dinner An Yan introduced me to his plan for tomorrow. If I understood him correctly I am going to play simultaneously two games. Well, this would be the first time that I play two or more games at the same time. Exciting!

It is cold in the go-school. Wearing warm clothes is needed.

2008-01-27:
It is now certain, washing machine's pipe is frozen. I didn't know that a part of this pipe is outside. As as you can see on the picture, the part of the pipe that is outside has the form of a "U" where at the deepest point always some water remains. This water is now frozen.
















How to protect your car from snow? This car driver was creative. To park as close as possible to the building, and then to cover the car properly.
















"Street-workers" in action. These people are at this moment everywhere and fight a hopeless battle. It hasn't stopped snowing. Today I have even seen this kind of special car with which you clean the streets. An Yan told me that there were not so many in Wuhan.

















Unfortunately I was too late to take a picture from the following scene:
A van/ truck is standing on the street. The driver collected some wood (honestly I have no clue where he got it from) , put it on the snow under the tank. The tank is on the left side of the vehicles, outside. And he started a nice fire... I could easily see it when An Yan passed this van/ truck. Either he used fuel of (very) bad quality, or some connections are frozen?! Hmmmm....

Camille who has stayed here in Wuhan for some time and has moved on to another city also has a blog. Her blog is in French. This is the link:
http://camille-en-chine.over-blog.com/

2008-01-26:

Winter in Wuhan. An Yan told me that Wuhan had had the last time that amount of snow in 1991. Car drivers hate it, and kids love it.

I belong almost to Mac's inventory. In the go-book there was one problem where I had a different solution that the proposed one. I checked again and again, and I was sure that mine is correct. Back at school I showed the problem An Yan, and he agreed on my solution. ;-)Nevertheless, my reading in my two games was poor - to be polite. Let's call it "Black Saturday"!

An Yan made me a nice present: A book with almost 1000 L&D-problems, level: 5-dan...

It is still beyond my level, but still..., encouraging

Wuhan's streets this morning. A surface out of plain snow, and partly ice under. So, it was half driving, half sliding. On the campus where I live it was even worse. An Yan and I had some trouble to leave.

Children built a snowman in front of a shop.

2008-01-25:
No news, despite one small issue:
It seems that also the washing machine's pipes are frozen. I wanted to wash, and when I came back from An Yan's neighbour - taking shower, you certainly recall - all water still in the washing machine, and the water was ice cold. So I grabbed the stuff out of the water, wrung it out with my hands and now they are drying in front of the air-conditioner. Actually I have now enough underwear for the remaining period, provided I change only each second or third day...

For me it is a miracle how the lady who cooks here and keeps the flat tidied is able to prepare lunch or dinner with only two hotplates. For dinner she serves often different kind of vegetables, fish, meat, soup, rice (prepared in special device). Next to the stove is still a small sink. The fridge is in the hall.


Left side of the kitchen
















Right side

The stove

2008-01-24 (2):
A new adventure:
Suddenly no electricity anymore. No light, no air-conditioner, no teapot, nothing. I went to neighbours on 4th floor and explained them in English-Chinese-body language my problem (they had electricity). We went together to the ground floor where the main device for electricity is located. Everything normal. Back to 4th floor. She made some phone calls, and her daughter was able to translate the main point: "Wait a moment. Someone will come and repair it."
Wait a moment can mean anything, 1 minute, 30 minutes, 4 hours.
After 30 minutes some noise in the floor. We again to the ground floor, an electrician has arrived and tried to fix the problem. While going downstairs I noticed that in the meantime also the other flats did not have electricity anymore. Some people were sitting there with candles, and blankets around the shoulders. 30 minutes without heating/ air-conditioners and it is ice cold inside.
Another 30 minutes later, I was cosily sitting in my bed under my blanket, we had again electricity.

2008-01-24:

Vacation period has started. Now I am going four times during the week to the go-school. On Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each day two games.

This morning before we started to play all children had been given a broom, a shovel or something similar and then the children have cleaned the sidewalk for some minutes. As a thank you they received a textbook.

In the morning when An Yan and I arrive in the go-school it is cold there. After some time you can bear the temperature, thinking people produce enough heat. But then during the lunch break when all kids are out it is again chilly. I have discovered a MacDonalds, 10 minutes walking distance from the school. So, today after lunch I went there with a go-book (tesuji-problems), grabbed a coffee and enjoyed my lunch break solving problems at MacDonalds where it is warm inside. Quite comfortable! Most likely I am going to do so also in the future.

Today I have been able to see An Yan as a really rough and tough teacher. A kid overlooked an invasion, had a terrible shape, let his opponent live where was no life. An Yan got angry. I am sure this has been the first and the last time this kid has made these mistakes...

2008-01-23:

I feel much better. Things are developing well.

But for a change shower's pipes are again frozen ;-). And the weather forecast promises low temperatures in the next days. Maybe I am taking again a shower at An Yan's neighbour?!

Today I am showing the bathroom:

1) Bathroom from the entrance

2) Toilet with important pipe in lower left corner

This pipe in the lower left corner on the second picture is connected to the washing machine. In case you are "busy" and the washing machine is running you need to pay attention. It might be that you get wet feet, unless you lift them fast enough ;-).

2008-01-22:
I try to recover. Slept a lot. Though I had a light headache I played a very good game against An Yan, "just forgot" to win a won game.

In the morning I got to know how to approach a problem from a different perspective. I got up and went to the bathroom, just wearing a pullover and no jacket. When the cook saw me she told (ok, better showed) me: "Markus, it is cold in the flat. Put on your jacket!". Hm...
This flat is on the campus, it is a students' flat. I am glad that I am not a student who lives in such a flat for a longer period. As long as it is outside warm it is ok, but this flat (no isolation, windows not properly fixed, no heating) is an adventure when it is cold outside.

After dinner I had a nice walk, and I had the impression that it is outside warmer than in the flat. But it might be that I had this impression due to walking.

2008-01-21:

Finally! I got a cold. Had somehow this kind of feeling some days ago. I have stayed until afternoon in bed - at my free day!. Let's hope that I am soon back on track!

Then an English speaking student came to support me with negotiating power. This student was told by An Yan that I wanted to buy boots. If you go as a foreigner in a small shop, it seems that some kind of magic make the prices increase considerably ;-).

I was told that this winter here is absolutely an exception, and the stuff I have with me is not really for this kind of weather.

We found in a small shop these boots for unbeatable 38 RMB (app. 3.80 EUR); they have even fur inside. And now I have warm and dry feet. Good feeling!

We had dinner outside and then I saw that they offer in this restaurant normal coffee. Real, good coffee! I couldn't resist. My first coffee after two months.

When arriving at the flat we experienced a small problem. Obviously this student and the cook had a misunderstanding. When we knocked at the door nobody opened, the cook had already left. The student left her mobile phone in the flat; BUT she had the cook's mobile phone number written down. Knocking at the neighbour's door we were told to use a cell phone on the street. The student went to the next cell phone, but it didn't work. Then to the campus' entrance. The guards were kind. Of course cook's mobile phone was switched off; so she phoned her mother who had An Yan's telephone number...

Let me continue to introduce the flat. This time you see the study room. In the foreground there are two more tables where An Yan plays against his students.

2008-01-20:

Two good news:

1)

In the go-school I played against a 3-dan with 3H, and until the late middle game I could keep the game at least even. Then I made an overplay, lost quite some points and lost again in the endgame between 10-15 points. Nevertheless, I won. This makes me quite confident for the remaining four weeks.

2)

We went with An Yan's neighbours to dinner, and their son plays also go. How come? ;-) An Yan had the idea that their son and I could have a game on the way to the restaurant. Magnetic board out, and we started in the car our game. He is 3-dan, and we played even. Maybe he was tired, maybe annoyed, maybe he didn't pay attention, I don't know. He made in the opening some slack moves, I said politely thank you - and when we arrived at the restaurant my victory was certain.

The corner position from yesterday is safe, provided a proper defense. White can get only one eye.

And here are the solutions from previous week. I sincerely hope you enjoyed...

One remark: Often there are variations possible, I show only one. But I think that - when you get the main idea - you are able to read out the other variations on your own.

Problem 1: more than a ko is not possible

Problem 2:

Problem 3:

Problem 4:

Problem 5: Under the stones

And now:

I am sure that you find the last move on your own...


Problem 6:

Problem 7:

Problem 8: Take some time and read out the variation in case that White descends instead of playing kozumi (2nd move)

Problem 9:

Problem 10:

And this is the second bedroom, it reminds me somehow at a youth hostel:

2008-01-19:

You might be surprised that not me but Katya answers comments. There is a very easy explanation: Here in China certain websites are blocked, including all "blogspot"-sites. I can post a blog, but not view it. That means also that I cannot reply on any comment. So, Katya sends me the comment via email, I reply to her, and then she answers.

Wuhan is white, at least it was in the morning. Then during the day it has become a little bit warmer, exactly so much that the streets and sidewalks are a disaster. Muddy! But it has continued snowing and drizzling all day. During the lunch break I had a walk and a bypassing car offered me a shower free of charge. I was lucky, only the lower part of my trousers got wet. A couple walking in front of me was not so lucky as me...

Actually the sidewalks are so muddy that a lot of people prefer walking on the street.

I have never seen it before: In the morning several men with long bamboos went from tree to tree and shook them. Their intention: to free them from the snow.

And also quite interesting: Here in Wuhan people remove with brooms snow, mud and ice from the streets; at least I haven't seen so far any special car that removes it.

The solutions of the 5 life& death and 5 tesuji-problems I am going to post tomorrow. In the endgame-position Black makes the monkey jump to D, White plays at C and Black jumps back to A, keeping sente, while playing at B is gote.

Today I want to show an example re corner enclosure/ invasion. When I was weaker I thought that a corner is mine and was annoyed when the stronger player invaded. Or vice verse the corner was safe and I made an unnecessary move. This position is from yesterday's game between An Yan and me. Check it out if Black's corner is safe or not. In case that White plays at A first, Black naturally defends at B. White has then two potential follow-ups: C and D.

The same tank you saw yesterday, this morning:

Muddy streets and sidewalks (and how to protect your shoes):

Clean window screens are important:

"My" master-bedroom:

2008-01-18:
Disgusting weather! The temperature dropped again. Today it has been drizzling all the time, half rain, half snow. You are just looking out of the window and you are already freezing. But pipes are ok. On the picture you can see a tank on the roof. It is very common for the houses in this area to have the tanks on the roof.
This house has five floors, and when the snow melted big pieces of ice and snow fell down and smashed with a terrible noise on the ground. When I heard it the first time I was like paralysed. What was that? And then you start to overhear it. As far as I am concerned no one was hurt by pieces falling down...


Today I have studied a lot "endgame". And I discover more and more that endgame is a quite sophisticated part of the game. And you can easily win or loose half a stone or even a full stone there. It takes a lot of time to go through the details. I still remember when I learnt the monkey jump. Now I have a much closer look if to play keima or the monkey jump. All these efforts for just ONE point and especially for sente ;-).

Tank on the roof:

Monkey Jump or keima? And if monkey jump how to continue?:

How many points is this position worth?

And how should Black play? In case Black plays at C, White answers at D.

2008-01-17:
No sun today, but still warm enough that it keeps on melting. And then really, in the late afternoon also the shower pipes are again free.
You may guess what I am doing later...

Yesterday evening I watched on KGS a game between two 3-kyu players. Exiting game, capturing races, ko-fights! But I was amazed by the amount of crude moves and reading-mistakes. One example that really stroke me:


Position is in lower right corner
Black to play
Black had a very comfortable lead
No time-pressure, both players have plenty of time


Black started at S3 and started a ko-fight (after he played at later stage T3) instead of playing at R4 with easy life...

2008-01-16:
Finally! It has become warmer and the snow has started to melt. The flat is on the highest floor of the house and the tank on the roof. Sunshine; so, I had some hope that the pipes would be free again in the evening. And then, in the late afternoon, warm water is coming out of the tap. HAPPINESS! I had pictures in my mind of taking a long and hot shower in the evening.
But I didn't make my calculation with Chinese creativity. The pipes coming from the tank for the tap are different ones than for the shower, and these were (and are) still frozen :-(.

OK, one step back, my options:
- Swimming bath
- Massage saloon
- Hotel
- Dirt ball
- Cold shower
- To wash at the tap

I forgot one option: After the game review with An Yan he told me that we are now going to his friend and neighbour and that I could take the shower there... Good feeling!

2008-01-15:
A quiz:
The floor is cleaned with too much and cold water. It is cold in the flat. What time does it take to dry?
a) 5 minutes
b) 1 hour
c) 3 hours

The cold weather keeps on. This morning I have done my reading exercises wearing the warm jacket and having the blanket around my legs.
The Chinese have their own way to deal with it. Quite populare are small bags containing water, AND having a socket so the water can be heated. When hot they put it under their jacket.
In the go-school there were only 3 kids, the others stayed at home, either due to the temperature or the street conditions. Total desaster! Icy, slippery and/ or muddy.

2008-01-14:

No worries, I am not yet presenting the solutions. You still have time to enjoy the problems...

When I looked this morning out of the window I saw snow, a lot of snow. Several centimeters of fresh snow, and it was still snowing. On top this icy, sharp and humid wind that goes through and through.
2 years ago we had in Moscow a cold winter, up to -35 C. But these -35 C feel warm compared to this here, brrrr.

Today it is my free day, so I went to one of these shopping centers and bought a "polar-proofed" jacket. I can tell you: it is a cosy feeling.

The second topic: My transformation is not yet completed. First I am transformed from a European "Markus" into a Chinese "Maks", now I am even transformed into a skunk - not yet decided whether European or Chinese ;-). Due to this sharp temperature drop the water pipes for warm water are frozen (the tank is outside). But maybe I find a swimming bath or another place where I can take shower?!

Just compare these two pictures. The first one shows us at the end of November; warm, sunny, nice weather, the second one shows me in my new jacket:






from left to right:
Martin (China/ Sweden), Markus (Germany/ Russia), Ulf (Sweden), Camille (France/for 1 year in China), Omar (Morocco/ China), Pal (Norway); first country indicates origin, second one (current) residence

with these clothings I am currently sitting in front of the computer and writing this blog - ah, I forgot the blanket I put around the legs and feet...

2008-01-13:

It has become bloody cold, practically over night. Today we have even snow what does not happen so often in Wuhan. The problem with the cold here is its humidity. Here are two big rivers. It feels like Arctics. I deal with it with the onion principle: Undershirt, thick cotton shirt, THREE pullovers and a warm jacket. Sitting all day long in an even colder go-school you need to protect yourself.

The architecture in China is a big issue. There are a lot of flats erected in the 70s or 80s that are badly isolated - if at all. This problem was recognized and the Government has done some steps, but still there are a lot of poorly isolated buildings and flats, including the flat I am living in right now. It seems to me that the flat collects all the cold from outside and gives it to the inside in a concentrated way. The air-conditioners do what they can do...

On the streets it has been this morning icy and slippery, much more accidents than usual. I have just come back from a nice walk, and on the sidewalks we pedestrians moved like pinguins.

My schedule has been changed a little bit. Instead of playing twice against a teacher from the go-school and twice against An Yan I play now one time against a teacher from the school and three times against An Yan. I like it.

This week I have bought books. Many! I only hope that the airline doesn't charge me for overweight... The books are very cheap compared to e.g. Germany. The "bible" of joseki is around EUR 4.20, a book with 220 life&death- and 360 tesuji-problems and many endgame situations is around EUR 2.40. The problems are at all levels available, starting from beginner up to professional.

For those who like to see what do I do - among others - I have chosen 10 problems, 5 L&D and 5 tesuji. Black to play in all problems. The tricky detail: Put the timer on 10 minutes...

(Solutions in next blog)

While you are enjoying reading I have a cup of tea and some chocolate. ;-)

Problem 1:

Problem 2:

Problem 3:

Problem 4:

Problem 5:

Problem 6:

Problem 7:

Problem 8:

Problem 9:

Problem 10:

Winter in Wuhan (1), An Yan:

Winter in Wuhan (2), my "outdoor-fitness-studio":