Final Post

If the end of summer is a wall, then we've been riding toward it at 100km/h... At first, it seems the wall is not even moving, but in the last 5 minutes, you can imagine it's coming damn fast... This is the main reason why I didn't post much recently and I'm sorry about it. Here's a video montage that resumes pretty well our last days at BIBA:

On August 21, we had an awesome goodbye party at the meat buffet. On the next day, Blackie and Dia accompanied us to our limousine bus and we left for the Airport:

Many thanks to Dia and Blackie for everything. This trip was even better than we expected and we are already thinking about going back !

What could we ask more ?

Yesterday was Daniel's last opportunity to visit Seoul. Both Maximes and I went with him. Our main goal was to do some sightseeing and as you'll see in the next video, we fulfilled it quite well ^_^ Awesome architecture, traditional markets, artificial river in the middle of the city, what could we ask more ?

Maxime B. had something in mind: ''How about we find a Go Club and challenge some people ?''. Easier said than done, but we were lucky...

Info-man showed  us where to find the closest one on the map

Quite small, well hidden, but we found it !

We unfortunately forgot to take pictures inside... it all happened to fast. One of the players accepted Max's challenge, gave him 2 stones and crushed him. He didn't play well and I think it's because he got caught by his opponent's rhythm, he played extremely fast. Seeing this, Daniel challenged him in an even game. He also played fast and also got crushed. We left the club, mystified. The guy didn't seem to be that strong, but we couldn't really evaluate his level...

Looking for revenge, Max kept looking for another Go club while we were trying to decide where to eat. He spotted one, we went in, but the lady at the front desk explained us we were not welcomed. Actually, she said bye with her hand and showed us the door ^_^. 

A few minutes later, it was my turn to spot a Go club, on the fifth floor of a shady building. We went in, and it was actually very nice. For 2500 won per person (about 2,50$), we could stay for as long as we wanted, get some coffee and some sweet vitamin juice. At first, they wanted us to play each other, but when I told them our ranks on Tygem, they understood we didn't come to try the game... 

Sorry for my photograph skills.  We can see Maxime's hand in lower left corner.
Yellow t-shirt is Daniel

Daniel was the first one to find an opponent, a 5d tygem. They played 2 games and he won both. I played the guy sitting on Daniel's left, probably 3-4d tygem, and I also won. Maxime played a much weaker opponent, gave some handicap, and also won. Ironically, the other Maxime, who was looking for revenge, couldn't find an opponent. When we left, people asked us to come back. They treated us extremely well, and I'll definitely go back ! What could we ask more ?

Daniel also had something in mind. He said: ''Hey, maybe we could find a bookstore... I want the latest book of the series Game of Thrones...'' As you'll see in the next video, we did find a bookstore, a huge one. We found his book and even nice Baduk books ^_^ What could we ask more ?

Maxime Joncas also had something in mind : '' How about we visit some park. Would be also nice if we found some palace or maybe a temple....''. They I added : '' Yeah, and it would be funny if some people played Go in that park !''. The bad news is that the palace was closed on Saturday. But as you'll see in this last video, what could we ask more ?

When we came back, there was a goodbye party and today, we accompanied Daniel to the bus. Finally, if there's one more thing I could ask, it would be that time didn't pass so quickly.

Mountain Blast

From Thursday to Saturday, we went to the mountain. The place where we stayed was very nice, a huge chalet surrounded by awesome landscapes. Unfortunately, the weather was not so good and we couldn't go hiking. Still, we did so many things that time passed very fast.

On the first day, we went to swim in a nearby river. Blackie showed us a nice spot close to a fall. Since it was raining like crazy, nobody brought their camera but we were quite lucky... When we arrived, somebody was taking pictures of the fall and Diana asked him if he could take a few of us and send them by e-mail. Here's one of them ^_^ (Marc and Youngsam were also there but they didn't feel like swimming)

From left to right: Blackie, Maxime Joncas, Diana, me,
Jon, Daniel, and Maxime Bergeron

On the second second day, we played a huge team game. The teams were as follow:

TEAM 1               TEAM 2     

Youngsam             Blackie         

Marc                     Diana          

Daniel                    Jon        

me                        Max J.

                             Max B.   

The idea was to play various games using these teams and to accumulate points. In the end, the losing team has to go through a punishment. Both teams agreed on drinking a cauldron of beer mixed with soju ^_^. 

The first game was foot volleyball. We played on a tennis court and it was pretty dark, but still quite fun. Team 1 won 2-0 and gained 1 point. 

The second game was quite original. A lightning game from the Korean Baduk League was starting at 9pm and Diana had a nice idea. Team 1 had to guess black moves and Team 2 had to guess white moves. The first team to reach 40 good guesses wins. It was pretty close, but team Team 2 won and the score was now 1-1.

Game 3 was funny, Blackie and Younsam both had a list of words (animals, sports and baduk terms) and they had to explain them to their team, in English. The team who guessed the best won. Team 2 won again and the score was now 1-2.

Game 4 was harder, but even funnier. A member of each team chose a sentence in Korean. The goal was to pronounce it well enough so that it reaches the last teammate unchanged, or at least not too much. We also did the same with french sentences. Team 1 did a bit better and the score was now 2-2.

Needing a deciding game, Diana proposed that we  play arm-wrestling. We played Nongshim cup style (winner stays). Jon showed some power by crushing everybody in team 1 except me. Then, I won against Max Joncas and Blackie, forcing them to drink the huge bowl of soju.

Finally, here's a short a short video of the surroundings I took before leaving:

The next day, Marc was leaving for the EGC. Since he comes back after we go back to Canada, we bought a Bee Character Chocolate Cake for him ^_^.

Very good cake from Paris Baguette 

No, this post is not over yet ! After Marc left, Daniel Max Joncas and I went to explore Sanbon a bit. It seems that unconsciously we were heading toward the mountain. We found a random hiking trail, and climbed for about 1h30. Here's what it looked like ^_^ :

Since we had no clue we would climb a mountain, we didn't bring anything to drink... So when we came back from the mountain, we bought beverages as soon as we could. Daniel chose a particularly interesting one :

     

GSTL + Cory's party

Last Friday,  we went to a very special place! Since Daniel and Marc are big fans of Starcraft 2, we decided to go the GSTL studios (global starcraft 2 team league) to assist to some pro level matches. It was a lot of fun, even for those who didn't know the game very well. The crowd was quite something, it's always funny to see how intense a video game can become! We were cheering for team FXOpen, since it's the team with the most foreigners, but they lost badly to NSHoseo (4-1). We made a nice poster to cheer up QXC in his final match but even that couldn't save him... After these matches, it was IM against Zenex, with some very high-level games, but IM prevailed 4-2. You can see all the money that's behind this show in this little video.  That was definitely worth the long subway ride!

Also, yesterday was Cory's goodbye party. Diana and Blackie asked him where he'd like to eat and he chose meat buffet (korean BBQ). Food was very good and we had a lot of fun with the owner of the school. He showed us various ''drinking games'' and magic tricks.

Then, it was time for 노래방 (Karaoke). Youngsam sang for the first time and was very good. Blackie, as usual, was quite impressive. He even sang a song in Chinese... 

Tomorrow, we go to the mountain for three days. There should be a nice post about it pretty soon !

Welcome party + Challenge of a Dream

There are now 5 Quebecers at BIBA. Maxime Joncas, a good friend of ours ,  finally decided to join us and arrived yesterday. We went to a meat buffet for his welcome party and the food was awesome. Here's a short video. Notice that first, Maxime is filming so we can't see him and second, I'm persuaded he's taking a picture instead of a video ^_^

After dinner, we played a small tournament of atari go. The game is simple, it's normal go with one more rule: you have to drink when you play atari. Of course, self-atari also counts so playing ko can be very nasty. It's not rare that taking the ko makes double atari, so you have to drink 3 times counting the self atari... Ladders should also be avoided, unless you are invincible like the owner of the school :p


There were 9 players so we made 2 teams. Here are the parings and the results:


Maxime Joncas VS Blackie and Cory, 3 stones (they played as 1 player, alternating): Maxime lost
(Blackie didn't play a single atari ^_^)


Jean-Sébastien VS Diana, 3 stones : J-S won


Owner of the School VS Maxime Bergeron, 3 stones : Maxime lost
(the owner drank pure soju during the whole game and didn't seem to feel it at all ^_^)


Marc VS Jon : Jon won


Daniel served soju (mixed with juice) instead of playing because he had an important game the next day. He had the opportunity to play on Baduk TV for a show called Challenge of a Dream in which amateurs play against pro players. His opponent was 윤지희 (Yoon Jihee) 3p and the handicap was 3 stones. Daniel lost by 7 points. Here's a short video of the review.

We should get a record of the show quite soon so I should be able to post it. The game record will also come soon. Daniel is sleeping right now and I can't remember the whole game. See you !

한바연 (Hanbayon)

What is the Hanbayon? Imagine the Canadian open, with at least twice the amount of players, all under 16 and many of them 9D on tygem. It's a district tournament held every month and there are 11 groups (10 to 1, and a super group).

Last Sunday, thanks to Blackie, we had a special permission to participate. Cory and Maxime played in group 10, Marc and I played in group 4, Jon played in group 2, and Daniel played in group 1. In general, we got crushed:

Maxime: 2-3
Cory: 2-3
Marc: 1-4
J-S: 1-4
Daniel: 1-4
Jon: 3-2 (good job ^_^ )

Personally, I had a hard time to play seriously in that tournament. There were 5 games, with a very fast time setting, 10 minutes + 3x 30 sec. Moreover, being squeezed between kids and sitting on small benches was more funny than serious :p.

Main room. Group 1 and super group were upstairs.

After the tournament, Diana told me it's actually quite serious. Many teachers from various rival schools come to watch. Also, you can see some kids noting their games for their parents. Some of them are quite exigent... Next month, we'll know what to expect, and we'll try to perform better ^_^.

Jon playing in group 2. Notice the parents
 watching through the window.

For dinner, we went to a very nice place called 닭갈비. A picture is worth a thousand words, what about a video ?

See you soon with more news. In particular, a new Quebecer will arrive soon ^_^

Welcome party + LG cup

Yesterday, Daniel and Cory arrived in Korea. After Blackie and Diana picked them up at the airport, they joined us to play soccer with the kids. Then, it was time for the welcome party. We ate very well at a Korean BBQ and we finished the party in a small bar. We went to sleep not too late because next morning, we had to leave for the LG cup.

The tournament was held in a ski station, but it actually looked more like a high class hotel. Even though we could not access the player's room, we met many pros in the review room. Obviously, people were wondering why so many foreigners were there. We were interviewed by a journalist from Tygem. Here are two articles on Tygem and Cyberoro.

Pretty nice for a ski station.

Impressive landscapes

Daniel played a game in the review room with a 4D amateur. He killed himself at the beginning (about 60 points) and made an impressive comeback.

Epic game against a Korean amateur

This game was interrupted by the lunch break. It was probably the most spicy food we ate up to now, but still very good.

I have no idea what it was, but it's as good as it looks.

Finally, thanks to Blackie, we had an opportunity to take group pictures with two Chinese professional players, Xie He (probably my favorite player) and Jiang Weijie (current Mingren). They both won their games on this round.

From left to right: Cory, Marc, Xie He 7p, myself, Maxime and Daniel

From left to right: Cory, Marc, Jiang Weijie 5p, myself, Maxime and Daniel

Living in Sanbon

There are many activities we can do after studying baduk for 10 hours. Once in a while, we go to Jak's bar and play various games, such as poker, bakgamon and darts. There is also a nice park not too far from the school, where it's possible to play basket ball, badminton (yes, outdoor badminton fields ) and, most importantly, foot volleyball.

As far as I know, this sport is not really practiced in Canada. It is played on a badminton field with a tennis net. You can use only your feet and your head, no knees. The rest is identical to volleyball, except for the fact that one rebound is allowed between each kick. Unless you play at very high level, this sport is not very exhausting and everybody can play. In other words, it's an easier version of Sepak Takraw, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Here's a short video to give you a better idea. BIBA's team, on the left, is composed (for this game) of Diana Koszegi 1p, Kim Seungjun 9p, Marc (student from Germany) and Kim Young-sam (Korondo 9D on KGS). Notice the young kid and the old man playing in the opposing team.

Now let's talk about food a bit. We eat extremely well in Korea. Blackie is very generous and invites us in several restaurants. Yesterday for example, we went in a nice restaurant and ate 부대찌개 (pudae jigae) for dinner.

Quite spicy, but very good. 

Another typical meal is Kimbap. It looks a lot like sushi, but the ingredients are a bit different. These 2 rolls were a gift from Jon ^_^.

Ham, carrots, cucumber, eggs and something else I can't remember

See you soon with more baduk !

Finally arrived !

Two days ago, Maxime and I arrived in Korea. Blackie and Diana came to the airport to pick us up and then, there was a welcome party. Although we were a bit tired, it was very nice. We met Marc and Jon and we laughed a lot.

On the first day, Maxime and I played one game against Korean kids and we both won. Today, the owner of the school organized a revenge ice cream match with my opponent of yesterday. In other words, he bought a ice cream to the winner ^_^. I won again, but I think I was a bit lucky...

Maxime also played 2 games today. He lost the first one and the second one was commented before they could finish.

Maxime's second game

Here's a picture I took tonight when we came back from the school

Sanbon is a nice place ^_^ 

Next post will come soon, see you !

Quebec Open

Last weekend, the 33rd Quebec Open was held. There were 66 participants, which is pretty good considering the record was 52 in 1995. Kim Seungjun 9p commented the 4th round live on internet with a lot of details. Luckily, the game was played by Daniel and Remi, 2 young rivals and 2 good friends of mine.

Rémi Campagnie vs Daniel Gourdeau

In the end, Daniel won the Quebec Champion prize (300$) and Xianyu Li 7d won the tournament (500$). A few hours after, Maxime and I arrived in Korea. See next post for more details ^_^.

Christopher-Cory Paquet-Clouston

Cory has been playing Go for about 2 years now. He learned the game from Daniel, at school. I heard they used to play on lined sheets during math classes ^_^. During these two years, he didn't play much, but his teacher was Daniel... This, combined with the fact he also plays chess, might explain why he reached 4k without playing much. We all expect him to improve a lot at BIBA !

About five days ago, Cory and his mother organized a party before we all leave for Korea. Parents were invited and we had a lot of fun:

From left to right: Cory, Daniel, myself and Maxime

Daniel's parents, Cory's mother, Maxime's mother and sister

KGS account: houloulou
Age: 18 years old

Trip duration: 1 month

Here's Cory's most recent game on KGS :


That's about it for presentations! Next post should be a quick coverage of the Quebec Open on June 4 and 5.

Maxime Bergeron

Maxime has been playing Go for about 11 months, and he's now getting close to 2D. A rare achievement. He recently reached the second round of the ''Tournoi des maîtres'' and considering how fast he improves, he might eventually challenge Daniel for the title ^_^.

We played tonight at the go club and I lost. It's the second time in a row he wins with 4 stones, so if he wins the next game, we'll start playing with 3 stones.

KGS account : maxime5

Age: 18 years old
Trip duration: 2.5 months

Maxime is on the left

To conclude, here's the game he played in the first round of the ''Tournoi des Maîtres''. I commented the game, but it's in French :

Daniel Gourdeau

I never won a serious game against Daniel. Right now, he holds the title of  ''Maître du Québec'', which literally means he's the strongest player in the province of Quebec. He's been holding this title for three consecutive years and now he's 18 years old... For more details on the ''Tournoi des Maîtres'', take a look at this website (it's in French).

Daniel started playing Go when he was quite young with his father, François (5D). He eventually surpassed his father and he's now 6D CGA (Canadian Go Association). I have to say that Canadian ranks are not very precise. Some 6Ds are 4D on KGS, but Daniel turned 7D recently...

In 2008, he represented Canada at the World Mind Sport Games, in Beijing. He also plays in the CLIG (Canadian League Internet Go) and right now he's challenging Xianyu Li 7D, the current ''Dragon'' (Strongest player). For more details about this league, look at the CGA's website.

KGS Account: goseki
Age: 18 years old
Trip duration: 1.5 month
Gossip: He is also monstrously strong at StarCraft II. Korea is definitely a good place for him ^_^.

Here's a game he played recently with Kim Seungjun 9p (Blackie) on KGS:

Departing

It seems I don't realize yet. In less than 2 weeks, I'll be in Korea. The four of us bought our tickets a few weeks ago, and we'll be leaving in two groups. Maxime and I will leave on June 6 from Montreal, immediately after the 33rd Quebec Open. Daniel and Cory are also playing in that tournament, but they will leave on June 13. Those who are curious about this tournament should look at the account ''Omnium'' on KGS.

The purpose of this blog is of course to share our experience. We will post anecdotes, pictures, videos and games ^_^. If you are eager to see what BIBA looks like, you should take a look at their official blog.

In the next 4 posts, I'll introduce Maxime, Daniel, Cory and myself. Notice that once in a while, we will write in French !


J.S.