2008-02-26:

Let's have a look at the problem of game 1:

I frustrated my opponent by playing at 1, this moves enables Black to link up his groups, and therefore to win the game. Whatever White does it doesn't help.

If White plays here (2) Black simply plays 3 and wins the capturing race.

White 2 here looses, too; Black wins the capturing race by 1 move.

For Black it is more elegant in this variation to play like this, it takes some of White's liberties:

2008-02-18:
It is time to say good-bye to Wuhan . Suitcases are packed. Tomorrow morning at 06.00 An Yan is driving me to the airport.
It has been a hard work, and An Yan has put a lot of pressure on me. But, all the time I have had a lot of fun. This is for me the most important.

I want to thank Alexander Dinerchtein for being my teacher and for his advise when we discussed this project; Juan Guo for her kind support, advise and translations; An Yan's family and friends for their hospitality, I appreciate a lot their efforts to make me feel comfortable; kids and teachers in the go-school, they showed and taught me a lot; An Yan for being my teacher and mentor here in Wuhan, it has been a pleasure to learn with him as teacher; friends for their interest and feedback; my family for their love and understanding.

Is there already a next goal? Yes, EGC 2008 in Leksand, and I hope that I can improve until then a little bit ;-)

I hope that the other foreign students who are going to come here have fun and eventually share their experiences.

PS: As mentioned this blog will be continued, but probably not on a daily basis. Interview with An Yan and solutions for whole board positions will be published within next days.

2008-02-17:
It's done!
Today I have been the last time in the go-school and have played my last two games there. In my first game I made a big mistake, and the game was quite fast. I took the opportunity to go the haircutter earlier. Unfortunately, the person who cut my hair the last time had just started with another person. A woman wanted to have her long hair short. I was told the famous: "Wait a minute."... I "explained" them that also another person can cut my hair, no problem. So, the master himself cut my hair. I had to pay a premium of 33%, compared to when a normal employee works. I paid 20 RMB (appr. 2 EUR), instead of 15 RMB (appr. 1.5 EUR)... ;-). For this premium I look now so hot, just wow!
I still had some time, had a walk, and by accident I found a bookshop that had some interesting go-books. I bought one; the original price was 75 RMB (7.5 EUR) but it was reduced to 15 RMB (1.5 EUR). Good deal!

Then in the evening An Yan gave me the feedback re my studies here in Wuhan:
- I am 1 dan (China)
- I have improved during these 3 months by 7-9 grades

That could lead now to an academic discussion about different ranking systems...
As I said earlier I played at the EGC 2007 with 7 kyu an even result. If we are now prudent and say that I have not improved between EGC and the begin of my studies here in Wuhan (or alternatively I was 8 kyu and improved a little bit) then it would match. According to the ranking comparison published on "Sensei's Library" ( http://senseis.xmp.net/?RankWorldwideComparison) a 7 kyu player in Europe is a 8 kyu player in China.

What remains?
- The circle is closing; even the weather is cooperating. When I came here it was a phantastic weather, and the weather forecast for Wuhan is between 5 and 15 degrees (Celsius). Springweather!
- Tomorrow is my free day, and I need it to pack my suitcase, buy some remaining stuff, and then I relax a little bit,
- I am going to continue this blog,
- I had an interview with An Yan, and I am going to publish it,
- I hope that this blog might have given you an impression about daily life here in Wuhan/ China (from my point of view),
- I still need to publish the solutions for the 2 whole board problems,

- And last but not least:
I am looking forward to seeing my family again.

2008-02-16:
Today I have said "Good bye" to MacDonalds. Though it has been a wonderful day I had to go there and to have my last cup of coffee.
The weather has changed completely. Sunshine, and considerably warm. Amazing, if I think about the weather a couple of days ago...
I am already thinking about the additional bag I need to buy on Monday for all the books I bought here. Hopefully I can convince the clerk at the check-in at the airport that it is "just" a small bag with some presents I got, and very light ;-).

2008-02-15:

Chinese people are crazy!!!

They start with fireworks before 8 o'clock in the morning. And with all these places here, surrounded by houses you have a perfect echo... And don't believe that they are modest and take only small and silent stuff; no, they think: "The bigger the better! The noisier the better!".

An Yan and I arrived at the go-school quite early today, around 9 o'clock. Unfortunately! We arrived just on time to get greated by another firework; and then my dream became true: Life concert. They did it with love and encouragement... Ahhhh!!! The good news: After this concert I was awake ;-).

Today I have two nice whole board problems. Both positions are from my today's games. Black to play in both problems.

In the first game I had a huge attack and I gained an imposing thickness. The last "small" detail of this attack: I need to assure that my groups, wall and center group, are alive... Provided that I can give these groups life my victory is - let's say - a formal issue. With this thickness there is nothing happening on the remaining board without my "approval".

In the second game I was sleepy and started in dreamland. I gave my opponent some nice presents (hm, spring festival has already passed, hasn't it?), upper and lower right corner and the five stones on the left. But then, finally, I woke up and fought back. Provided that my center group can live - at this moment I have only one eye at B9 - it looks quite good for me.

Enjoy reading!

Game 1:

Game 2:

2008-02-14:
Today again a "normal" day at the go-school with two games against the kids. During the lunch break I went to MacDonalds and enjoyed a coffee; I really couldn't resist... ;-)
Slowly I am starting to count the remaining days, three months can become pretty long at the end. My final counting:
- 5 nights
- 3 days at go-school
- 6 games
- 2 coffees at Mac
- 1 haircut; during lunch break on Sunday; yes, I know but what to do? ;-)
- 1 final shopping
- more than 120 problems; huh, too much...
- maybe 50 pages with josekis; hm, also too much...

2008-02-13:
I came back yesterday late evening from a nice and relaxing trip to some beautiful places outside Wuhan city.

We started our trip on Sunday morning around 10.00. We - this is An Yan's family, some friends and classmates with their children, and me.
First we drove to Mulan. We met some more friends and - right: we had lunch, a proper lunch. After lunch we continued, and we drove to Mulan mountains that is roughly 30 km from Wuhan. On the way to the mountains we eyewitnessed an accident. The driver of the motorbike had his lucky day, his very lucky day. If he had entered the main street half a second later or if the driver of the car hadn't had such a good reaction he would have been killed.
What stroke me most in the Mulan mountains was the clean and fresh air. We had a nice walk, I was told the sad story about Mulan's history (a woman commited suicide), and we continued our trip to Mulan lake. A really luxurious villa was our home there, with a phantastic view over the lake. After a proper dinner we made a good firework.
On the next morning we drove to the Tangchi Hotsprings. We arrived on time for lunch. After lunch we all were somehow tired, maybe due to the fresh air. So, it was decided to rest a little bit. I went to bed to take a nap around 15.00, and I got up at 16.00. At a quarter past four somebody knocked at my door, I was told to "wait a minute", and after half an hour, I got some tea with the remark: "wait a minute", and then finally at 17.30 we went for - dinner. Well, I was somehow prepared for that kind of afternoon, so I was not really surprised; but still: it would have been somehow pragmatic to announce it in advance clearly... But maybe this is only my preception ;-).
After dinner we went to the hotspring to take a bath. The hotspring was huge, I was told that it had more than 100 pools. It was a really relaxing experience...
I had my fun: At the entrance we received a big towel and slippers. Inside the hotspring I learnt how Chinese take care of their towels and slippers. They simply don't take care at all! If someone should take their towel or slippers they just take someone's else ones... So, I changed "my" towel and "my" slippers more than 10 times.
Close to midnight we were back in the hotel.
Yesterday morning we left around 11, met in the next city some friends, had a good lunch and continued our way back to Wuhan. A friend of An Yan invited all of us for dinner and late evening I arrived at the flat.
I am still amazed that everything seems to be organized around food...

Mulan Mountain:

Mulan Lake:



Tangchi Hotspring:

2008-02-09:

Today I have had a go-free day. An Yan's niece and a friend of hers showed me another part of Wuhan. Wuhan is divided by rivers into three parts. I saw the bay of Yangtze river, some interesting buildings, a TV-show (fish-dance), the main pedestrian zone, the turtle mountain, an exhibition with a lot of handcrafted items - really amazing -, and a nice park. And on top we had really good weather...

I am invited by An Yan to spend the next 2 or 3 days with him and his family outside. It is "Spring Festival"-time.

Some impressions from today:

2008-02-08:

A new adventure:

Early morning someone knocked at the door. I opened, and a Chinese man said something, I didn't have a clue. But he seemed to be nervous or exited. I only understood "No Problems" when he left. Hmm?! What was going on?

A few minutes later one of An Yan's relatives popped up. What I understood (body language) was that there was a big water problem with the tank on the roof. We went together on the roof, and correct: A huge piece of ice/ snow slided into the fresh-water-pipes that are connected with the tank. Pipes were broken and water ran out...

Needless to say that shower doesn't work, right?!

Later the day such a piece fell down from the roof down to the ground. It was such a noise when it smashed on the ground. WOW! I can tell you, I was close to an heart attack.

first picture: hane and then san-san

second picture: kozumi on first line and Black is alive

Wholeboard-position: after Black 7 White is in trouble...

expedition on the roof

2008-02-07:
A rather quite day.
I slept as much as I could and then in the morning I played my first game against An Yan and in the afternoon the second one. Now I feel just exhausted and want to go to bed...
Tomorrow, on Saturday and on Sunday I have again two games each day against An Yan, and somehow these games are more exhausting than against the kids in the school. Dunno why...

Solutions to previous problems I want to post tomorrow.

2008-02-06:
Happy New Year!
Actually I wanted to post a video here, but this was obviously too much.
It started at a quarter to midnight; suddenly it became so loud, unbelievable! I grabbed my jacket and went out. When I was out my body was shaken by detonations of millions and billions of fireworks. Crazy! The sky blue, green, yellow, red. It was bright as during the day. Smell of fire is in the air. You cannot hear anything because of the fireworks' noise.
New Year in China, a unique experience!

2008-02-05:

Some good news:

- The shower is again working

- The washing machine is again working

- I won my last game in the go-school before vacation period

The weather change seems to be stable, sunshine, no snow anymore, temperature around +2 - +5 Celsius.
On Sunday evening, after go-school all teachers and some invited guests, eg the president of the go-federation of the Hubei-province had a big dinner. Yesterday evening again big dinner, this time within An Yan's family. The go-school is now closed for the upcoming spring festival. Instead of playing in the go-school I am going to play the next 10 days against An Yan.

The following part is dedicated to Ludmila:

Food is important in China and for Chinese. As I have already described so-called hotel-restaurants are quite common. You can book a big room that - despite table - also has a second part where you have arm chairs and a TV. On Sunday we were 19 people and had such a big room. According to my opinion quite luxurious, waitresses well educated.

It seems to me that a lot of people bring their own drinks, rice wine or soft drinks. Tea is served. So, we had some soft drinks, three bottles of rice wine and two bottles of red wine.

I was told that the women usually drink soft drinks or red wine, the men rice wine (sometimes red wine). At the end of a dinner or lunch usually and only men smoke. Important are the toasts, they can be done individually, meaning from one person to another person or within the entire group. Very important: if glasses touch each other you need to drink all, meaning bottom up. That means that especially at the beginning men pay attention that their glasses do not touch. Food is put on a rotating table. We had different kind of vegetables, different kind of meat, different kind of fish, two soups, duck etc etc and different kind of desert. Yammi!

The following pictures are a selection of what was served, please enjoy:

2008-02-02:
Yesterday evening I wrote some emails, felt tired and said to myself: "5 minutes break." I fell asleep and woke up hours later :-).

You see people with suitcases, a lot of people with suitcases. It is just amazing. And then at some central points, eg train station or main bus stations it is a total chaos. People with suitcases are chaising taxis. Earlier yesterday evening I had a walk. At one big crossing close to the flat the travellers and the taxis even created a traffic jam. Taxis stopped in the middle of the crossing, their drivers and the travellers spoke, negotiated and eventually had a deal.

The weather is also amazing. Before yesterday snow storm, yesterday the full day sun, and the sun was strong enough that almost all snow has disappeared. It was really nice to be out during the lunchbreak and to catch some sun.

Wuhan is preparing for the "Spring Festival", the main festival here in China.

2008-02-01:

A crazy weather here. Around noon we had a snow storm, and within one hour Wuhan has become white. The "street workers" who clean the streets from ice, mud and snow work in a strange way, according to my opinion. They take the dirt and snow and ice from areas of the street where no cars drive and put it there where cars drive. Maybe the people who gave the order think that the snow melts faster if it is in the middle of the street because a lot of cars pass over it (heat), cars squeeze it and the wheels grab it (take away). For me it looks rather like "Hm, we need to keep them busy. What else can they do?". Strange, strange. On the photo I tried to catch such a situation.

An Yan's student Huan Yan, 3p, has come today again to the go-school. He played simultaneously against two kids, strong 5 dans, from the go-school. Time limit: 90 minutes sudden death.

For lunch I was invited to join - among others - An Yan, two teachers, Huan Yan. The main "attraction" was a bird that was served on a tablet. On this tablet there was also a glass, and steam came continuously out of this glass. It really looked fascinating. I have not yet discovered how, why, and what for.

Bird and steam

An Yan, 7p, Huan Yan, 3p and me

Wuhan is white

"Street workers" putting snow etc again on the street