The Tournament Upset

The Sword and the Go Stone, pt. 2


Exeter's Annual Go Classic was divided into four divisions: beginner, intermediate, elite amateur and professional.

Sandra K became a professional two years ago, after winning the amateur league in New London colony, and winning into the professional division in two consecutive tournaments.

The division tournaments were played consecutively, in single-elimination, with the winner from each division getting a spot in the next. Placement in the lower divisions was determined by league ratings and past tournaments, and there was no separate division for children, most were in the large beginner's division, along with adult newcomers to the game.

Qualifying as a pro, and actually making a good run as a pro were two different things. Only the pros traveled between colonies to attend significant tournaments. New London still ran the most popular professional league, but tournaments were spread out across Google's colonial network.

They were part of a cultural diaspora of anglophone Go players who no longer had contact with the original traditions of Go in Japanese and Chinese culture. They drew upon their own English terminology with fewer borrowings from Japanese.

The first rounds in the beginner division started at 0400 sharp, she had to hurry. She took a long shower, eager to brush off the fears that followed her after being woken up at 0200 by a loud noise and two agents in her bedroom.

The agents told her it was just a precaution, that Exeter's 'Uno' had found something suspicious while following up on a hunch. Just be alert, they said.

There were drugs you could take to calm down, but they were all prohibited during competitions. 'Uno' himself would be watching all of the competitors to make sure no one was cheating. A handheld device could crush all of them at Go, so it took an anal sentient computer like 'Uno' to watch them and make sure no one was relying on illegal assistance.

 The local Go center was filled to its limits for the annual tournament. She left the auto-cab and stood at it's entrance. At least 50 people were waiting outside for their chance to play. Parents were going through routine drills with their children. She couldn't help but remember being one of those children in New London. New London was home to 800 million now. It was hard to reconcile with her childhood.

She entered the building. The building's non-sentient computer system greeted her: "You'll find the other professionals in the back left corner table. 1st division play will start shortly."

She gently weaved through the rows of tables and chairs. A trough of go stones was placed on each side of each board, and their was a game clock on the left side of each table. This would be a grueling three days, and watching and eventually playing. The lower divisions played with 30 minute clocks each, so each round took 1 hour at worst. Professional games were played with 1 hour clocks.

By playing each division sequentially, everyone got to see the top players at each level, and the semis and finals from beginners up would be crowded with watchers.

At the back corner, there was a long table with a series of holo boards that could be used to watch any game being played in the building. All of the boards were empty at the moment.

Sandra sat down in the middle of the table across from her frequent opponent Jin W.

Jin was busy talking to the unfamiliar pro sitting next to him, and the other seats were quickly filled by her counterparts. She had played most of them, but that didn't mean that she truly knew them. She had played several well-regarded games against Jin, losing both but narrowly. She knew him well. Jin was confident, he had no need to put anyone down because they had lost. Few had defeated Jin. She didn't need to check to know that he would be #1 seed at this event.

She pulled out her handheld to check seedings. She'd made it in at #3. They were missing a lot of the top pros. Being 3rd out of 13 didn't seem bad.

"1st division, 1st round is started. Please find your boards, and begin play."

Her handheld said there were 86 beginners, 112 intermediates, 38 amateur elites, and the 13 pros.

She swiped her hand across the empty holo board, and it changed to board #43. Commentating games was an easy way to earn a few extra Google points.

Beginner games descended into pure chaos after a couple of moves. The beginners were easily delineated into well-coached kid, uncoached kids and adults who had just started playing the game. Many of the well-coached found their way into the intermediates, but they often struggled after they left the opening. It was easy to follow their parent's guidance on what to play in the opening, but after that they were on their own.

Board #22 was unusual, in that one of the players had never played Go before. His rating was ?, according to the holo board, and he was placed in the beginner's division because of the lack of information on his skill. Michael M, seeded 86th by default.

His opponent (playing white) was 43rd seeded and an eight-year old. Jeffry L. Had placed middle of the pack in an Exeter kids league.

She wondered how many people really watched commentaries of beginner games.

Michael M proceeded to devour every desperate formation Jeffry L tried to put up.

"I really feel like Michael M could win the Intermediate division with his current play. Beginner's division is his for the taking," she said, commentating.

"Sandra K! Sorry, I was distracted by conversation. You're already picking a winner for the division?"

"He has no game history on record, and yet he's won with expert technique. It's board #22," she said.

After a few minutes, Jin said, "He's an elite amateur for sure, I wonder if there's a glitch in the system, or if he really doesn't have any games history. Or something fishy is going on."

"Did you hear that noise this morning, scared me half to death," Sandra said. "Two agents sprang into my room and let me know that it was 'just a precaution'. Something fishy indeed."

Most of the games were over quickly, as the top 42 players had a first round bye to bring their numbers to an even 64. Sandra did a bit of commentating on the last few games of the round. Nothing was as interesting as Michael M's play so she found herself reviewing it repeatedly. It was hard to judge a player's level when they so thoroughly trounced their opposition.

"Sandra K," she heard from behind her, as the 2nd round was about to start.

"Yes?" she answered, turning to see the agents from that morning approaching.

"Uno is interested in this 'Michael M'. Even with Uno's full powers of analysis, we've found nothing to suspect about the man. Uno says Michael M is defintely an advanced Go player, but no history of play can be found on Google or Toyota networks. The man arrived on the Toyota ship, 'Sephiroth', which strangely enough, docked at about the same time as our fishy business at the hotel. Uno is on high alert. He is paying attention to this tournament and especially Michael M," Tracey said.

"Thank you," she said.

The agents filed out.

Michael M would end up winning round 2 just as handily, destroying the #1 seeded beginner. There was a lot of consternation that the promising kid was defeated so quickly, but Sandra knew that regular league play would result in her promotion to Intermediates soon enough, anyway.

He enveloped and destroyed each beginner's positions, and even played sophisticated openings where they weren't necessary. Still though, he hadn't faced any determined opposition.

The top 4 beginners were assembled, and given small medals. The crowd of parents and other watchers were subdued by Michael M's dominance. They felt like he was mis-seeded because of a computer fault. Many of them had favorites they wanted to see went the Beginner title. Only Sandra K and the other pros who were paying attention, knew that he had no record of games, and couldn't be placed anywhere else.

The Intermediates division began immediately after. No one had ever metaled in two different divisions, according to the Go center's computer system. The Intermediate division was the largest, composed of mostly adults who didn't take the game that seriously, but also some dedicated children.

All of the pros were commentating on Michael M's games. No one was commentating the other games. Sandra K decided to switch to a different game. She'd had enough of watching a slaughter game after game.

The other games seemed dull after watching Michael M's play. Intermediate games briefly seemed reasonable before lapsing into insanity, unlike beginner games which had no resemblance. Elite games looked like any other game, the differences at that level weren't visible to a brief glance at the board.

 Michael M would be a fun opponent to challenge. He trounced the top Intermediates like a strong Elite amateur or a new pro. It was late in evening when the Intermediates division was complete. Michael M held a second gold medal aloft. The presumptive winner and Intermediate #1 seed had been defeated in the second round by Michael. Disquiet amongst the crowd had turned into discontent.

Day 1 after-parties were cancelled. Sandra K got the sense that the community was looking for someone in the Elite division to defeat Michael M. They didn't want to rely on an out-of-town pro to stop his menace.

She spotted the pair of agents from time to time. They seemed to be paying attention to only two people, Michael M, and herself.