2008-05-05:

Close to my departure from China I had the idea of having an interview with An Yan re his background, his go-school, his opinion re the current go-situation and re the future. I considered that it might be interesting to get his opinions and his knowledge as a professional go-player and teacher. I have really looked forward to his answers, but I need to admit that some of them surprise me, especially when talking about the current and future go-situation.

Thanks to Juan Guo who took her time and supported my idea by translating the interview.

One note: No editing was done by me towards the answers.

Background:

您的围棋简历:

十岁开始学棋，多次获得湖北省和武汉市儿童、少年围棋比赛冠军。78年进入湖北省围棋队，1982年定为职业四段，1985年获全国国棋团体赛第五名，1986年获全国新秀杯围棋赛第三名。1989年升入专业七段.1983年至1985年入选国家围棋队。

Started to learn Go at 10 years old, Won many times of HuBei province and Wuhan city youth championships, Entered HuBei province team in 78, 1982 4p. 1985 national team championship 5th place. 1986 national new talent cup 3ird place. 1989 promoted to 7p. From 1083 to 1985 in the China National Team.



- When did you start playing Weiqi, and how many years have you been playing now?

- 您是从什么时候开始下的围棋? 您下了多少年围棋?

十岁开始学棋，下了36年围棋。

Since 10 years old, played go for 36 years.



- When did you become a professional player?

- 您是从什么时候成为职业棋手的?

1982年定为职业四段，成为职业棋手的。

1982 became 4p (guojuan: before 1982 we did not have official pro ranking).



- When were you promoted, finally to 7p?

- 您是从什么时候打到职业七段的?

1989年

1989



- As a professional player, how many hours per day did you do exercises?

- 作为职业棋手, 您曾经一天花多少时间做联系?

半个小时至丨个小时。

Half an hour to one hour.



- At how many tournaments did you participate (roughly) and how many years/ games did you play in the league?

- 您大概参加了多少比赛? 大概下了多少年比赛? 大概下了多少盘比赛对局?

不清楚了。

Don’t remember anymore.



- When did you decide to become a Weiqi teacher?

- 您是什么时候决定做围棋老师的?

2001年．

2001



- What was the reason that you decided to teach Weiqi? Was it your dream to become a teacher?

- 是什么原因使您决定做围棋老师的? 做围棋老师曾是您的做梦想吗?

想培养专业棋手。梦想是培养一名世界冠军。

I want to train young players to become pro. My dream is to make a world champion.



- What did change for you after you had become a teacher?

- 做围棋老师之后, 您的人生有何改变?

跟做专业棋手一样。

Same as when I was a pro player.


Go-School:

围棋学校:



- How many Weiqi students does your school have and how many teachers do work there?

- 您的围棋学校有多少学生? 有多少老师在那里工作?

围棋学校有200多人.10名老师。



Our go school has more than 200 students, 10 teachers.



- Is your Weiqi school also active in other areas, eg promotes Weiqi at "normal" schools?

- 您的围棋学校在其他领域也有活动吗? 比如说到学校去普及围棋?

有到学校去普及围棋，目前已有8所小学开展围棋课。

Yes, we go to schools to promote Go, at this moment we started go classes in 8 elementary schools.



- How many Weiqi schools do exist here in Wuhan?

- 在武汉有多少围棋学校?

4个围棋学校，1500人上课。

4 go schools, 1500 students taking go classes.



- How come that you had the idea to offer to foreign Weiqi students to study Weiqi at

your school?

- 您是怎么想到让西方国家的围棋手到您的学校学棋的?

2005年访欧在捷克见到了老朋友郭娟五段，是郭娟老师提意策划后，是他的学校和我的学校一起合作创办的。



When I visited European Go congress in 2005, in CZ I met my old friend Guo Juan 5p, she talked with me about this, we started to work on this together.



- How is this program re foreign students developing?

- 西方国家的围棋手到您的学校学棋的发展情况如何?

西方国家棋手，通过到我的学校学棋后，对围棋理论、方法、实战应用等均能系统的掌握，一般学习3个月后能提高1段水平。



Students from western countries, then learn from our school about Go theories, skills and real game applies, normally after 3month, they can improve 1 dan.



- Do you have for every student, especially for the foreign students, an individual program?

- 对您的每一个学生, 尤其是西方国家来的学生, 您都有个别的训练计划吗?

是的。我对每个学生，尤其是西方国家来的学生都会个别制定训练计划，



Yes, for every student, especially from western countries, I all have training plans for each of them.





- How many of your students have become a professional player?

- 您的学生中有多少成为了职业棋手?

学生中有8人成为职业棋手，像严欢三段，鲁佳（女）初段已经入选中国国家少年围棋队



8 of them became pro, like Yan Huan 3p, Lu Jia (female) 1p are already entered the China national youth team.



Current situation:

目前的形势:

到目前为止，来我棋校学棋的外国学生有美国、德国、法国、捷克、荷兰、摩罗哥等国家近30人。

Up to now, there were students from USA, Germany, France, CZ, Netherlands, Morocco, total about 30 students.



- How do you judge the current situation re Weiqi in China?

- 您对目前中国的围棋形势怎么看?

中国围棋形势发展不错。

The development of Chinese Go is good.



- What do you think is the reason that Weiqi in general is so popular in Asia - compared to for example Europe, and that people start to study at a very young age?

- 和欧洲比较, 您认为是什么原因使围棋在亚洲这么流行? 而且亚洲的孩子学棋那么早.



No answer.



- There is the rumour that in China especially children from poor families seriously study Weiqi. Is this true? Is yes, what do you think is the reason for this phenomen?

- 传说在中国, 尤其是比较穷的家庭的小孩学棋特别认真, 是这样吗? 如果是, 您认为这是为什么呢?



No answer.



- If you compare China's level with the level in Korea and Japan what do you think?

- 您是如何看待中国与韩国和日本围棋水平的差距的?



No answer.



- It is said that Japan did have a lot of problems, and recently Korea is said to have big problems. According to some open sources info a lot of Weiqi schools had to close in these countries because few children went to a Weiqi school. Do you have further information re this development?

- 人们说日本棋界曾经有许多问题, 目前又说韩国棋界问题很大. 具一些公开的信息渠道说在这两个国家很多围棋学校都关了门, 因为生源不够. 您对此有更多的信息吗?



不知

I don’t know.



- Is it possible that this development could also arise here in China?

- 上面所说的问题也可能在中国发生吗?



不知

I don’t know



- In which way does the Chinese Weiqi Federation support and promote the game within China?

- 中国围棋协会是如何在国内支持和普及围棋的?



I don’t know.



- Is the Chinese Weiqi Federation interested in supporting and promoting Weiqi outside China?

- 中国围棋协会对在国外支持和普及围棋有兴趣吗?



不知。

I don’t know



- In Seoul/ Korea there is the only Weiqi university in the world. What is your opinion re this university? If you compare this university with a "normal" Weiqi school what is your judgement? Can you imagine that China is going to have also a Weiqi university?

- 韩国首都首尔有世界上唯一的围棋大学. 您对这所大学有什么看法? 如果将这所围棋大学和一般的围棋学校作比较, 您的判断是什么? 您认为中国也会有一所围棋大学吗?



不清楚。

I don’t know.

2008-04-28:

Today I have a "special" request:

I am looking for training partners. Ideally you are around my rank (I am 1 dan China). You should be - in a positive way - crazy about go and would like to improve.

My idea is to play together and to learn from each other. The weekend is family time, but why not to play during the week - if possible - one, two games per day, and to discuss problems?

What else? We could play on any server (KGS, IGS etc). I would prefer if we could play during the day, and not at the late evening (Moscow time).

Anyone interested? Just leave a comment here...

2008-04-27:

What has happened during the last 2 months?

Well,

first I played a tournament immediately when I returned. Not a good decision. The tournament was just a disaster. I simply played badly.

Secondly, I am continuing to exercise. My training plan has changed a little bit compared to China. In China I did mainly Life&Death problems and played games that afterwards were reviewed. Back, I am extending the pillar "Basic Technics" by learning a lot about josekis and I am working hard on fusekis.

It has taken some time to be "really" back, but now I am enjoying my daily training and especially I have fun when I can play with real people.

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

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.