Gomoku World Championship 2009 – The qualification tournament

Written by Attila Demján

In this article I will mostly focus on my and other finalists’ performance in the gomoku world championship qualification tournament. First of all I should say that I really enjoyed being in Pardubice and taking part on this great tournament, so thanks for the organizers and congratulations to Czech Republic for organizing successfully this event!

The parameters of the qualification tournament: (Swiss system, 9 rounds, swap2 rule, 80min + 30sec/move time limit, the first 8 players go to the final)

The number of participants was 21, maybe a bit less than we expected, but the players’ average strength was much higher than in any gomoku competition before, so getting into the top 8 was not easy at all for anyone. In my opinion there were like 12-14 players who had almost the same good chance to qualify.The games which are not attached can be watched on renju.net

Round 1:

Demján (106) – Eged (103) 0,5:0,5, R: +, 104 moves, 1=c4

I always want to have a warm-up/relaxing game in the first round, but this time I was

not lucky because of the lotting. I had a pretty uncomfortable opponent, and it was him

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who put the opening, so I really had to focus. I didn’t play so well at the beginning; I was very passive in the first few moves and gave away the tempo. I gave several opportunities to my opponent to make some dangerous and not that hard attacks (like after 5th move or 13th move or 15th move or 19th move) but he didn’t use my any of my gifts. After his surprising 22, it was my time to attack and I just did it until the last

move. After 84, black’s position looks very strong, but unfortunately I could not manage to win. It was big time trouble for both of us already so the game ended with a fair draw. I think we both played rather bad than good.

Meanwhile: - Tamiola beated Nipoti on such a lucky way, Nipoti had an easy win 20-22,

24-21, but somehow he did not see it. Both players played bad in my opinion.- Tóth lost to Lu, and I still don’t know how it could happen. Lu just learned the

rules right 5 minutes before the tournament and then could beat Gergő. I have to say that Gergő played very bad, but at least, we could know that probably there will be a Taiwanese player in the final. They both played bad in my opinion.

- Zukowski made a draw with Bielak in a quite boring game.- Laube got an easier opponent; he won very fast over Kaufman.- Nowakowski also had an easier opponent, Sakamoto. Nowakowski won

without suffering.

My thoughts after the round: „Okay, 1 round passed and I am in the middle of the list. Since other players who earned 1 point played not so good, I am not worried, but I am warmed up! We still have 8 games to play; nothing is decided yet, let’s go on.”

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Round 2:

Demján (72) – Nemec (88) 1:0, R: 2 more stones, Demján didn’t swap, 41 moves, 1=h8I played calm and safe at the beginning, I controlled the position, and nothing could threat me. I was just waiting for my opponent to pass the tempo and I can start my attack. 15 and 19 ensures the left wing and gives the opportunity to further attack. After 20 and 22, black had quite nice and long win. It was pretty hard to visualize if there is a win or not with 23-23, but after like 25 minutes, I could see everything, even 31-31, the key move. If 24-L6, then 25-g6, 27-L8 and white can not defend black’s strong base.

Meanwhile:- Tamiola beated Purkrabek with giving him a nice puzzle.- Tóth beated Kaufman from old-school, pro opening.- Lu won his second game against Kostlivy with showing his very strange style,

which seemed new for us.- Laube and Nowakowski had an extremely nice and great battle. Finally Laube

won the fight.- Zukowski beated Eged, the reason of the result can be the lack of theory

knowledge from Eged.- Nipoti – BYE

My thoughts after the round: „Okay, 1,5 points out of 2 is acceptable, I don’t know so much about the tournament yet, just let’s continue playing.”

Round 3:

Bielak (71) – Demján (54) 0:1, R: -, 54 moves, 1=e14t was not so easy but neither so hard game. I decided to play offensively from the start and try to push out my opponent. 8 and 18 are very offensive moves, I planned to win with connecting these 2 moves, but it seemed that Bielak can defend me well.So the game was like I attack, he blocks me, I attack, he blocks me…and I got a feeling that it will end with a bitter draw. His 37 seems good enough, but actually it isn’t, 37-j10 would be better.

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When I saw my position after 37, I felt that it is my last chance, cause if he can block me again, we’ll fulfill the board. After some thinking I found the perfect move 38-38.

It was the key of my win, there was no good 39. Although his 39 and 41 is nice and logical they are losing. But if 37-j10, then white can not win on this branch and would have had a harder win probably.

Meanwhile:- Nowakowski beated

Nemec easily.- Nipoti lost to Kozimor,

playing very badly. Kozmior could surprise his opponent with a tricky swap2.

- Tóth beated Zukowski very nicely in the endgame of a big and

hard war. This success was very important for him; I think if he would have lost this game, he couldn’t have made it to the final.

- Tamiola tied with Kopecky from corner game. Tamiola tried to attack during the whole game, but Kopecky could stop all his attempts.

- Lu defeated Laube in a nice and tough battle. The Taiwanese guy absolutely proved his skill.

My thoughts after the round: „I finished the first day with 2 wins and 1 draw. It is not bad, but the thing that I had quite hard wins is bad. I thought before that I will have easier games, but I must realize that on this tournament I won’t have an easy game at all. I should cheer up myself and get a better shape. I hope the coming days will make

it true.”

Round 4:

Demján (33) – Kopecky (37) 1:0, R: 2 more stones, Demján didn’t swap, 29 moves, 1=h8

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This game doesn’t require much comment. Everything happened as I just planned before. I put a hard opening into the center; I knew that my opponent doesn’t really like to play from the center. I got the expected two more stones, chose my color and started to play calmly. I controlled successfully the whole game and got my point.

Meanwhile:- Tamiola beated Lu very easily, Lu played very bad.- Zukowski lost to Kaufman from his well known opening. It is so strange that a

veteran who doesn’t have any knowledge about long pro theories can beat a well practiced player. At this point I was sure that Zukowski won’t be in the final cause he played like a beginner.

- Nowakowski played a draw with Fitzermann.- Nipoti got his first win in the tournament. He beated the Japanese veteran,

Sakamoto.- Tóth beated Sviridov from a long pro opening. Gergő played well, he deserved

the point.- Laube made a draw with Kozimor after a long fight.

My thoughts after the round: “It’s okay now, I got 3,5 point out of 4 and I am leading. I am looking forward to continue the day and stabilize my position in top 8.”

Round 5:Demján (61) –Tamiola (49) 0,5:0,5, R: +, 25 moves, 1=c12The two leaders of the tournament met in the 5th round. Since it was him who could put the opening, I had a little disadvantage, but it was okay cause it’s not the final. I knew that he had prepared with some tricky opening to this championship and I was sure that he won’t publish it until the final. He put me his traditional corner opening.

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The draw was okay for both of us so I didn’t want to risk, neither did he. We played a peaceful game and agreed in a draw soon.

Meanwhile:- Lu made a draw against Fitzermann.

The polish draw monster is losing precious points as the time passes because of his extremely passive playing style.

- Zukowski beated Nemec. Nemec made a tactical mistake cause he put an opening which his opponent knows

much better. - Nipoti beated Bialkowski easily.- Nowakowski lost to Kopecky very fast from a balanced opening. - Tóth beated Kozimor easily. Kozimor chose the swap2 option but he placed the

extra stones on such a bad way. Tóth used his advantage and won fast.

My thoughts after the round: “The last game didn’t make me worried, rather made me feel stable. Draw was okay, Tamiola and me are leading. I got 4 points now and I think that 5 points is enough to be qualified. So I have to gain at least 1 point out of 4 games, I guess it’s not so hard.”

Round 6:

Tóth (89) – Demján (96) 0,5:0,5, R: +, 77 moves, 1=h8

Before the World Championship I played 6 games in live with Gergő and I won all of them. This time the situation was much more serious than before. I really wanted to see my friend and country mate in the final but I didn’t want to push him in there, I wanted him to see in the final as a player who truly deserves the place. So I tried to play my best. It was me who could put the opening; I chose a long pro opening,

hoping that he will offer me 2 more stones. He didn’t use swap2 option but chose

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black. This was my best game with him ever, he played good like never. I was attacking almost during the whole game but he could defend me well. The most interesting point of the game was after the 19th move. I was looking for win in the area of 12-14-16, but after 25 minutes I had to realize that I don’t have win there. So I had to figure out a new plan. I think that none would play 20-20, it doesn’t look the best at first sight, but I think it is a brilliant move (connections!). The reasons why I chose this move: - If I don’t have win in the left-down area, why should I waste my opportunities there, that area can be important at the end of the game, and I can make connections and even winning attack if I put there more material using some connecting stones from another area. – 20-20 controls black’s attacking possibilities and if black doesn’t defend well enough, I can build up a very strong base aswell. His 21 was good, but not the best in my opinion. 22-22 just proves my words; this move has a connecting function with the left-down area. I was lucky that he chose 23-23, cause I got the chance to make the long waited connection, if he would have played 23-24, then I couldn’t have connect the 2 areas. 27 was very surprising, it seems a bit risky. 28 is a magical move, it seems to be the key move. I thought that it is undefendable. Black must block white’s double three threat and white got an extra stone to the left-down area. I thought that I got win, but I had like 5 minutes left. After 29 I had to choose, 30-30 or 30-34. After the game I analyzed the situation and none of them is winning, 30-34 is a bit more dangerous. I tried my best afterwards, 39 saves black from losing the game. After 45 I offered a draw but he immediately refused. I had to hurry cause I almost lost all my time and the position looked much better for him. When he put 51-51, I saw that I might get a last chance; I got back the tempo and could start the endgame. 62-62 A new chance! He offered me draw but I refused It made me him a bit nervous, the game became very tense. Very nice defense after my 64, he could block my last attempt with an overline threat. After 77, we finally agreed in a draw. This was my best game with him ever, and the best game in the QT so far.Meanwhile:

- Tamiola beated Sviridov confidentially and nicely.- Lu beated Kopecky very easily from corner opening. Kopecky shouldn’t have

lose this game on such an easy way.- Zukowski beated Laube, Pavel didn’t know the theory so Zukowski had an easy

game.- Nowakowski luckily won over Purkrabek. Maciej put 2 more stones to

Purkrabek’s opening, but he put a surewin for white. Purkrabek chose black! They played an unordinary theory and although Purkrabek had better positions during the game, Maciej won at the end.

- Nipoti beated Eged very fast and easily from Eged’s corner opening.

My thoughts after the round: “I am still in the top 3, I have better position as many others, so why should I be worried. I played a very nice game, but I still didn’t play with some strong opponents. Let’s finish the last day and see what happens.”

Round 7:

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Demján (66) – Lu (77) 1:0, R: +, 37 moves, 1=f5

I really wanted to put the opening against the friendly Taiwanese guy and have an easy game but unfortunately it was his chance now. He put an expected 50-50 opening, my plan was to play very offensively and forcing him to fail. 9 and 11 are a little bit risky, but if he doesn’t defend them well and start attack then I am good I guess. It just happened, he

tried some strange attack which I could block, then take back the tempo and win the game. 21 was the key of my victory.

Meanwhile:- Tamiola and Tóth made a draw. This was one of the best games of the QT, both

players played very well, the game was very exciting. Nice job guys!- Zukowski got a point from Nipoti. Nipoti played in straight style; he missed an

easy win and finally lost. Zukowski had so much of luck on this championship.- Nowakowski beated Bielak easily and nicely.- Laube also got an easy point, against Sviridov. Sviridov made a stupid swap2

which Pavel used on the best way.

My thoughts after the round: “Good, I am in the final I think! I got 5,5 points and still 2 rounds left, there should be some magic happening to see me out of top 8. Although that I got my place already, I wanted to win the 2 last games.”

Round 8:Demján (91) – Fitzermann (78) 1:0, R: -, 61 moves, 1=h8Many people waited this game for a long time, especially the average polish players from the most popular gomoku playing site. Everyone expected Fitzermann to be in the top 8 and I still don’t know why. I don’t think that a player with such style can achieve any great result. Nevermind, it is not important at all. Luckily I had the chance to put the opening.

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I knew my opponent well enough; I knew that he can not attack well; he defends even if he has win and that he really dislike playing from the center. Considering this all, I figured out my plan. I chose this opening because I was 100% sure that he will choose white. In this opening, white has the tempo first, white has the chance to make something, and black can defend. Since I wanted him to attack my plan was okay. I wanted to force him to make as much attack as he just can, until he obviously gives away the tempo. Everything

happened exactly as I planned. His 8 was a big surprise, I have never seen this move. I

became a bit worried, but soon I could became calm and focus to protecting myself. After 14 white has much better position, I was glad to see this on the board. I chose 15-15, this seems to be a strange move, but it just proves my tactic, I am waiting for him to attack, to show me some skill. 16-16 is very dangerous, 17 is logical. I was sure that he will choose 18-19, but surprisingly he chose 18-18. 19-19 is logical, 20-20 is another surprise. What’s the meaning of this move? At first I wanted to play 21-L8 and 23-55 but after some minutes I realized that 21-21 is much better. His 22 came as a sudden storm from the sky. He used like 15 seconds after 21, what the hell is this 22?

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How can someone be sure after 15 secs that there is no win for black after this 22? I felt now that I got win, I started to check my opportunities but couldn’t see any win. I used like 40 minutes to figure out what to do, there was so many ways to choose from. 23-23 is logical; he has to block it on the upper side. 25 and 27 are logical aswell, I secured that area and got a line with which I can connect 2 areas. After 28 I was in a little trouble. I had only 10-15 minutes and I couldn’t see any win. What to play? 29-31, 29-56, 29-40? There was only one winning way! The one which I chose. The VCT starting from 29 is extremely nice and was incredibly hard to figure out and visualize the whole attack. The teamwork of 31 and 33 provides the chance to make the base going down and gain more space with more material. 35 is logical, 37 is the key move, also logical. 39-39 is great aswell, although 39-40 is a shorter VCT. From 41 until 52 the moves are logical. With 50-50, my opponent made me overline and he maybe thought that it saves him from losing the game. Thanks to my gift 51, my win became even nicer than I thought. This game was very hard and my nicest game in the QT.

Meanwhile:- Tamiola made a draw with Zukowski, it was enough for Artur, so he chose to

save some energy in order to fight hard for the win.- Nowakowski and Tóth played a draw aswell, which was okay for both of them. - Laube beated Nemec and was hoping that he will win the last round aswell,

cause if he doesn’t gain at least 1 point in the coming game, he is out. - Nipoti beated Lu from his opening. Lu seemed to lose his chances to the final

and Nipoti seemed the one who got back his chances.

My thoughts after the round:“Damn, I have just finished one of the best games of my life and I am safely leading the tournament. What could make it better? I am fine, one game is left and I can finally take a rest.”

Round 9:

Demján (75) – Zukowski (51) 1:0, R: 2 more stones, Zukowski swapped, 47 moves, 1=i8 The last round, my opponent is a player who in my opinion doesn’t deserve a place in the final. In spite of I am already in the final, I wanted to make one last fight and see a nice game. It was him who put the opening and as I saw what he chose, I thought that he is a bit brave I know this opening very well and guess I know more theories than

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him. Before he put his opening I was walking around the other tables and saw this opening on 2 more boards!

Laube and Fitzermann played this and also Nipoti and Tóth. Since I wanted to play from this opening in the final and show some new theories plus 2 more pairs played it in the same time, I thought it will be better to play a new, never seen outcome, so I chose the swap2 option. Laube and Fitzermann played this and also Nipoti and Tóth. Since I wanted to play from this opening in the final and show some new theories plus 2 more pairs played it in the same time, I thought it will be better to play a new, never seen outcome, so I chose the swap2 option. . I put 2 more stones; the situation became much harder and a bit gambling. After 6 and 8 it seems that white has much better position, maybe even winning, that’s what I though. After some thinking I chose 9-9 which seems not logical, but in fact, this is a very good and safe move. After 12-12 I was not thinking about losing already, moreover I got the tempo soon. After 24 it was my turn to show something. I had many ways to choose from. From 25 to 31 my goal was to force him to fail, but it didn’t happen. Nevermind, my position is still promising; it’s time to make something on the other side. After 33 and 35 I was thinking what to do when I realized that I have win. If someone would show me this situation (after the 36th move) I would say “Are you stupid, how it could be a winning position?” A very nice combination comes now. 37-37 ensures the upper part; it avoids the chance of white to take my tempo away afterwards. But the most important, the key move is 39-39! A magical pause move which is undefendable. White can not win with 16 and 36; neither can stop the black win. I thought that he will try but maybe he didn’t even think about it. He answered with a powerless 40 and I didn’t have a hard task left, I won the game thanks to 39-39. This was also a very nice game, a performance which is worth to finish the tournament.

Meanwhile:- Laube beated Fitzermann easily and soon. This game was a very decisive one,

cause both players had to win. Fortunately (at this point I thought that it is good for me that Pavel comes to the final) Laube made it.

- Tóth lost to Nipoti, but it didn’t matter at all, both players secured their place already.

- Lu made a peaceful draw against Bielak and for his luck, this half point was enough to get into the final.

As the tournament finished, we got the 8 finalists:

1. Attila Demján 7,5 p, Hungary2. Artur Tamiola 6,5 p, Poland3. Vladimir Nipoti 6 p, Czech Rep./Italy4. Gergő Tóth 5,5 p, Hungary5. Pavel Laube 5,5 p, Czech Rep.6. Maciej Nowakowski 5,5 p, Poland7. Michal Zukowski 5p, Poland

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8. Lu Wei-Yuan 5p, Taiwan

The final result of the Qualification Tournament: name pts mbuch buch 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 Attila Demján HUN 7,5 34,5 45 11 14 10 9 2 4 8 13 7 2 Artur Tamioła POL 6,5 36 46 3 19 9 8 1 12 4 7 6 3 Vladimír Nipoti CZE 6 31,5 40,5 2 - 15 18 21 11 7 8 4 4 Gergo Tóth HUN 5,5 36,5 47,5 8 16 7 12 15 1 2 6 3 5 Pavel Laube CZE 5,5 32,5 41,5 16 6 8 15 11 7 12 14 13 6 Maciej Nowakowski POL 5,5 31,5 40,5 18 5 14 13 9 19 10 4 2 7 Michal Zukowski POL 5 37 48 10 11 4 16 14 5 3 2 1 8 Wei-Yuan Lu TAI 5 37 47,5 4 17 5 2 13 9 1 3 10 9 Jan Kopecký CZE 5 36 47,5 15 13 2 1 6 8 11 10 - 10 Jan Bielák CZE 5 32 42 7 18 1 11 19 13 6 9 8 11 Igor Eged SVK 5 32 42 1 7 20 10 5 3 9 15 18 12 Andrey Sviridov RUS 5 28 37 13 21 19 4 16 2 5 20 15 13 Adrian Fitzermann POL 4,5 34,5 45 12 9 17 6 8 10 15 1 5 14 Tomáš Němec CZE 4,5 29,5 39,5 21 1 6 17 7 16 - 5 20 15 Michal Kozimor POL 4 33 41 9 20 3 5 4 17 13 11 12 16 Victor Kaufman RUS 4 29 37 5 4 - 7 12 14 20 18 21 17 Radim Kostlivý CZE 3,5 24,5 32 20 8 13 14 18 15 21 - 19 18 Hirouji Sakamoto JAP 3 29 37 6 10 21 3 17 - 19 16 11 19 Jan Purkrábek CZE 3 28 37 - 2 12 20 10 6 18 21 17 20 Piotr Małowiejski POL 3 26,5 34 17 15 11 19 - 21 16 12 14 21 Lukasz Białkowski POL 3 25 33 14 12 18 - 3 20 17 19 16

Attila Demján, October 10, 2009

Gomoku World Championship 2009 - The finalWritten by Attila Demján

The parameters of the final: Round robin system (7 rounds), swap2 rule, 80min+30sec/move time limit.

After 3 days of hard fights and nice games we finally got the 8 players who can continue playing to become the world champion. The finalists:

1. Attila Demján, Hungary2. Artur Tamiola, Poland3. Vladimir Nipoti, Czech Rep./Italy4. Gergő Tóth, Hungary5. Pavel Laube, Czech Rep.6. Maciej Nowakowski, Poland7. Michal Zukowski, Poland8. Lu Wei-Yuan, Taiwan

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Right after the QT the referees decided to make the lotting, but one day after they changed their mind cause some players were missing. So we made a new lotting. According to the new, fix lotting I can say that I was rather lucky than unlucky. My most important wish was that I would put the opening against Tamiola, and it succeeded.

My evaluation of players’ chances:

Tamiola: The potential World Champion, there should be some big surprise in order not to see him among the top 3.

Laube: He has good chances, but can not be the champion. His skill is not enough for that in my opinion, but he can be 3-6.

Lu: I could not predict his chances because his style and skill is very strange from others. Some said he has no chances cause he was qualified with the 8th place, some said he can even be among top 3. I thought he will be in the 2nd half of the competitors.

Tóth: Before the QT, I thought that he won’t be in the final, but for my biggest happiness, he qualified on the 4th place. After this, I could imagine him finishing the championship with any place from 4 to 8.

Nowakowski: I didn’t think that he can be champion, neither silver medalist; I gave him a small chance to finish with 3rd place. I was sure that he won’t be 7th or 8th.

Nipoti: After seeing his games in the QT, I was quite sure that he will finish the tournament among the last 3 places.

Zukowski: Guaranteed 8th place; should see big surprise to see him better than last place.

My schedule and predictions of the coming 3 days:

1. Demján-Laube: Since I always won against Laube I was not worried about this game, I was confident and thought that I will win. It was not that important for me in this game that who starts the game.

2. Tóth-Demján: The same thing as Laube. I shouldn’t be worried although he puts the opening. I thought that I will beat him if I give my 100%.

3. Demján-Nipoti: We only played one live gomoku game before and that was won by him. This fact made me a bit worried, but fortunately I could put the opening, which was important in this game.

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4. Nowakowski-Demján: I have never played with him, I consider him as a strong and dangerous, very talented player. I would have great advantage if I would open (see his other games, in which he got opening into the center), but according to the lotting, it’s his chance, so I have to be very careful.

5. Demján-Tamiola: I thought that this will be the key game of the World Championship and since I can start the game, I have quite big advantage. If I win this game, I become World Champion – that’s what I thought.

6. Lu-Demján: A new, never seen player in the final (at least for us, the gomoku competitors) can make surprises. I really wished that I could open, but in this case I was unlucky. Nevermind, I am looking forward to the big struggle.

7. Demján-Zukowski: The last game, the easiest opponent in my opinion. Since I am the opening player, I considered this round as the easiest one.

Now let’s see how the championship went on:

Round 1:

Demján (43) – Laube (46) 0:1, R: -, 14 moves, 1=h8

The biggest disaster ever in my entire career, which I will regret in my whole life probably.To this World Championship I was preparing with a special opening, and I was waiting for a long time to try and show my home preparations. At the morning I

walked down to the tournament hall, sat down, shake hands and put my secret opening very confidentially. I think that I was prepared with theories and also knew my opponents well. I knew that Pavel doesn’t know many center theories and prefers to put 2 more stones. Considering this and knowing the fact that I know almost every branch of this opening I didn’t have to worry at all. After like 15 minutes he chose white and put the strongest move. It’s okay, I know it well, nothing can threat me. I put 5 and 7 fast, cause I remembered that according to my analysis, these are the best moves. When I checked the position after 9, I started to think, is my preparation really trustworthy? I coincidentally imagined what happens if he moves 10-10. Then I checked the position briefly and wished in myself: Please, Pavel, don’t move 10-10. 1 minute passed and I faced 10-10. I checked everything afterwards but I had to realize, I lost the game. My preparation was wrong! I should’ve played the another 5th move, 5-i9 cause this 5th is losing. First game in the long waited World Championship and I lost in 14 moves, what happened?

Looking forward as: I tried to calm down and focus on the coming games. Before this game I was almost sure that there won’t be a world champion with maximum points, so I believed that I still have chances. I told myself that Laube will lose at least 2 points in the coming 6 rounds and I can win all the games left.

Meanwhile:

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- Tóth beated Lu in a pretty game. I was very happy for his success, good job Gergő!

- Tamiola beated Nipoti in an extremely great battle. Artur played perfectly and also Vladimir played good. This play would be worth from a potential world champion.

- Nowakowski beated Zukowski in a quite boring game starting from the corner.

The standings after 1 round:

1. Tamiola 1p2. Laube 1p3. Tóth 1p4. Nowakowski 1p5. Nipoti 0p6. Demján 0p7. Lu 0p8. Zukowski 0p

Round 2:

Demján (50) – Tóth (48) 1:0, R: +, 17 moves, 1=c5

I expected a similar game from this round as our QT game. Since we are in the final and I have to win all the games left, I was trying to show my best with all my forces.

In this game I didn’t have a difficult task cause Gergő played surprisingly bad. Easy game, easy point, maybe cause Gergő got tired or out of control.

Looking forward as: I just did what I could, I have 1 point, and I am in the middle of the list. I am focusing to the coming rounds, I really have to win all the 5 games left.

Meanwhile:- Lu beated Nipoti. This game is probably the

funniest and secondly the most shameful for Vladimir. Nipoti was the starting player and he

chose a schematic, surewin opening, which is almost impossible to solve in 80 minutes. The Taiwanese guy, Lu didn’t choose swap2 option as everyone expected, he chose white! The game is full of interesting, funny and shameful moves. If we face the fact that these 8 players are the best players of the world, we probably feel that the game and the quality of play has something to develop on After 12, black has incredibly easy win, but Nipoti somehow got confused concerning the edge of the board and lost the game afterwards.

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- Tamiola beated Nowakowski. Another funny game. In my opinion both players played very bad comparing their real skills. Tamiola was attacking straight style, continuously killing his own chances; Nowakowski was losing huge amounts of his time while playing logical and simple defending moves. After 37, I was sure that Tamiola can not get more than a draw, but maybe he will even lose. If white uses his four on B4, then can block black’s threat on K6 and the win is almost guaranteed. What the hell happened? Maciej just put 38-38, the worst possible move! Tamiola just used his chance and got his 2nd point with quite a big luck.

- Laube won against Zukowski. After the above mentioned 3 games, we finally could see a nicer game thanks to these guys. The game started from the most popular opening of this world champinship (called the “Russian”). Laube played very offensively and nicely. Zukowski had several attempts to stop his opponent but failed all the time. Laube got his 2nd deserved point.

The standings after 2 rounds:

1. Tamiola 2p2. Laube 2p3. Tóth 1p4. Demján 1p5. Nowakowski 1p6. Lu 1p7. Nipoti 0p8. Zukowski 0p

Round 3:

Demján (12) – Nipoti (33) 1:0, R: -, 31 moves, 1=h8

I chose the same opening as against Laube, although that was my worst game ever. I thought that I can play it again cause I can fix the problems happened in the past. When the others saw which opening I chose they told me that I am a stupid gambler, but I don’t think so. I am well prepared and believe that I won’t make such mistake again. Nipoti chose the same 4th move as Laube, hoping that he will get a point aswell. I changed my 5th move, then the game went on and I won quite easily. My opponent played a bit

powerless.

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Looking forward as: I finished the first day with 2 points out of 3, I didn’t have any hard game, didn’t have to play strong as expected. The level of the championship now is much more below than I thought before. I still have 4 games, my chances are growing but I am still not in the top 3. Let’s go on!

Meanwhile:- Lu beated Nowakowski in such a short, easy and simple game. What’s

happened Maciej?- Laube beated Tóth. Before the game I suggested Gergő to put these 2 more

stones if Pavel uses his traditional opening. Me and the strong hungarian player, Dupszki had the same starting position in the biggest hungarian championship until the 7th move. I won that game with black and Gergő was also black. Pavel put different 8th move than Dupszki, Gergő got out of control soon and lost the game for my biggest sadness. How will Laube lose 2 games out of the 4 rest?

- Tamiola beated Zukowski. This was the first time when Artur published his secret opening. In my opinion this is not possible to solve this opening in 80 minutes; neither is easy to react with 2 more stones. Zukowski didn’t show any intention that he wants to win, he lost easily without fight.

The standings after 3 rounds:

1. Tamiola 3p2. Laube 3p3. Lu 2p4. Demján 2p5. Tóth 1p6. Nowakowski 1p7. Nipoti 0p8. Zukowski 0p

Round 4:

Demján (74) – Nowakowski (82) 1:0, R: +, 47 moves, 1=L12

I got the expected corner opening. At first, I didn’t have any plan but after some thinking I decided to play as black. I chose the same 5th move as Artur did in the 2nd round, but I changed the 7th move. I think that 7-7 is better than 7-8. After the 9th move I thought that this game won’t be fast and I will win soon. He defended well, the game continued. From 19 to 25, I built up a very strong base, white doesn’t seem to

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have much chances. His 18 seems okay but in fact this is losing. I had a very long, hard and deep VCT starting with 19. After 28, I used quite much time to figure out what to do. Finally I found the magical 29-29. 37 is the last threat, after this, white can do anything but black will win anyway. This was the nicest game of mine so far in the final.

Looking forward as: Finally I had a hard and nice game, 3 games are left and my main rivals are not losing, someone should really stop them.

Meanwhile: - Tamiola beated Lu in a nice but lucky game. He put his well prepared opening

just like against Zukowski. This time, Lu chose the swap2 option and put 2 more stones which made the position very interesting. Artur chose white and began building. After 12 Lu had an easy win but didn’t move there, rather started to block! Why? Same thing as Tamiola-Nowakowski. If Lu would have played 13-34 and 15-k12 then Artur would have nothing and must have to accept lose. For his biggest luck, the Taiwanese started to block and some moves after he was suffering, Tamiola got his 2nd point thanks to luck in the final.

- Zukowski won against Tóth. This game was quite boring and simple. Gergő was very tired and played showed very powerless play; Zukowski got his first and last point in the final.

- Laube continued his success and beated Nipoti confidentially. This game was good and exciting, and Laube has 4/4.

The standing after 4 rounds:

1. Tamiola 4p2. Laube 4p3. Demján 3p4. Lu 2p5. Tóth 1p6. Nowakowski 1p7. Zukowski 1p8. Nipoti 0p

Round 5:

Demján (23) – Tamiola (46) 1:0, R: -, 13 moves, 1=g10

The most important game in the championship. If I don’t win this game, I lost all my chances to become the World Champion. 5 minutes before the game I still couldn’t decide which opening to put. I sat to the table tried to calm down and pick one opening from my mind. Seems I chose well. When he saw my choice he thought a lot. I was sure that he will choose swap2 option but finally he said he plays with white. I don’t know this opening so well but I know that there is only one good 4th move, which

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actually leads to big white advantage. He chose another 4th. When I faced it I felt that I got my point. I calmed down, checked everything and played as I should. I got my point and catched my opponent.

Looking forward as: Good, it succeeded. I have to win the two last games, someone should stop Laube and I get what I came for. Tamiola and Laube still didn’t play; if Tamiola wins and all 3 of us win all the games left then the situation becomes pretty tense. I thought that it can not happen; the chance for this is not big enough.

Meanwhile:- Lu won against Zukowski. He showed such a great play and got the deserved

point. Very nice win.- Laube beated Nowakowski. I was really hoping that Nowakowski will stop

Laube, because he seemed to be my last hope, except Tamiola. Laube put the russian opening and for our biggest surprise, Nowakowski chose one of the worst theories. His first moves are extremely weak. He lost after 23 moves.

- Nipoti beated Tóth. Gergő had a win after 8 moves, but he chose to defend instead of playing offensively. Nipoti got his first point.

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The standing after 5 round:

Laube 5pTamiola 4pDemján 4pLu 3pNipoti 1pTóth 1pNowakowski 1pZukowski 1p

Round 6:

Demján (99) – Lu (98) 1:0, R: +, 55 moves, 1=m7

I was a bit worried before the game cause I think that my opponent is able to make smaller surprises. When I looked at the opening, I decided to play as black and try to use calm, positional style. Everything seems logical until the 10th

move. I chose 11-11 cause I wanted to give a little opportunity to my

opponent, I was expecting him to destroy his base and give me some advantage. 11-12 looks nice aswell but there is a hard and good continuation by white afterwards which I wanted to avoid. 15-15 shows my intention, positional style. After 16, I used quite a much time to choose a good 17. I think this 17 is good, because if white doesn’t have win at the bottom (and white doesn’t have win) then black is almost undefendable on the upper side, thanks to the strength of 17-17. After 22, I regretted 17-17 a bit. At first look, I just felt that my position is not that good, so I began to search a good defense. 10 minutes passed and I didn’t find anything. I thought that I lost when finally I realized that the only move which can save me is 23-23. 24-24 came very fast, I don’t know why, I expected 24-25. So the game went on, I survived the threat. Thanks to my opponent’s 28, I could take away the tempo and my 33 secured it. After my 39, black looks much better, I was wondering if my opponent can block it or not. From 40 to 46 I did not understand Lu’s moves but I was happy to see them. My 47 is a double threat, Lu had to choose what to defend. 51-51 is the final threat; this is a nice and undefendable double VCT threat. After the 55th move and more than 3 hours of playing, my opponent gave up the fight. I really enjoyed this game.

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Looking forward as: Good, I am on the way. I have one game left, and there is no player with maximum point anymore. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Meanwhile:- Tamiola beated Laube. Tamiola used his secret opening and Pavel was

expecting it. The leader of the tournament put his prepared 2 more stones to Artur’s opening. After like half hour Tamiola decided to play as white and won the game very fast and easily. The game was 14 moves long. Laube’s preparation was not good enough, there was a way which he did not consider, just as I did against him in the 1st round. It is funny and interesting that the games between Tamiola, Laube and me were not longer than 14 moves.

- Nipoti beated Zukowski very confidentially from the russian opening.- Tóth won against Nowakowski in a very tense and interesting game. It was

good to see a nice game from the guys.

The standing after 6 rounds:

- Laube 5p- Tamiola 5p- Demján 5p- Lu 3p- Tóth 2p- Nipoti 2p- Nowakowski 1p- Zukowski 1p

Round 7:

Before presenting my game I would like to write some words about the possible outcomes of the last round. There are 3 players who still have chance to be the world champion, they all have 6 points and one game left to play: Laube, Tamiola and me. Laube plays with Lu and he opens, it means huge advantage for him.Tamiola plays with Tóth and Tóth opens, Tamiola is in a little disadvanage.I play with Zukowski and I open, it means that I must get the point.

The possible outcomes:

Laube wins, Tamiola wins, Demján loses -> The world champion is TamiolaLaube wins, Tamiola loses, Demján wins -> The world champion is LaubeLaube loses, Tamiola wins, Demján wins -> The world champion is DemjánLaube loses, Tamiola loses, Demján loses -> The world champion is DemjánLaube wins, Tamiola wins, Demján wins -> Extra games

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Considering this all, my wishes were the following: I wanted Lu to beat Laube so much, cause if he does and I win, I am the champion. If Laube would win and my and Tamiola’s game would be still in progress, I would Gergő, my friend to lose, cause if he does and I win, then I still have some chance to be the champion.

Demján (104) – Zukowski (75) 1:0, R: -, 61 moves, 1=h8

One of my nicest game ever. I decided to put a quite new opening which is much harder than it seems. In my opinion this is white advantage, my opponent chose white so I played all the games in the final as black. The first part of the game is not so stormy, very peaceful and logical moves follow each other. I tried to play positional,

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global, controlling style, waiting for the time when I can start to build up a strong base. I wanted my opponent to fail at the beginning, but he didn’t want to play so offensively, it seemed that he goes for being safe and reach a draw. When I realized it, I had to change my plan. After 21 moves, we can see that my stones 11, 13, 3, 15 are overcontrolling the position and are waiting to be the part of the final attack. I waited so long to use 11 and 13. His 26 shows that he doesn’t really want to win, rather to make a peaceful tie. My 29 probably doesn’t seem to be the best, but I think I can be grateful for this move. This was the first small step to my win. After 32, I had to begin to figure out the first part of the final attack, my time has arrived. 33-33 proves my words. The reason why I chose 35-35 is very complex. I could have played a more offensive 35 also, but I think that this 35 provides the chance for further connections and attack in another area. 37-37 is strong aswell; I am continuously building my attack with little steps. I guess that my opponent didn’t even think about that I am already planning to build up my final attack. 39-39! -> Thanks to my 35, I could use this 39 which is very dangerous. 40 came fast; I think that 40-41 would be much better. 43-43! -> I was waiting to move here for such a long time. First after the 36th

move, but at that point I didn’t have enough material which could make point G5 strong enough to win the game. Now, it was the time. 44? Surprise, it seems that my opponent doesn’t know what we are doing on the board. 45-45, another wonderful move, the key of my win. 46 is logical. After 46, I had like 5 minutes left, my opponent had like 30 minutes. I had to use some of my intuitions cause I didn’t have enough time. As I felt and checked as much as I could, 47-47 is perfect. The combination of 49 and 51 is so nice, it is undefendable indeed. My opponent was able to play the best defending moves but fortunately that was not enough. After 52 I had 1,5 minutes left and I got worried as never. The seconds were running, I had half minute, my opponent had 20 minutes and I still didn’t move yet. There were 2 moves in my head, 53-53 and 53-55. Which to choose? Oh my god, there is only 5 seconds left. I listened to my intuitions and moved 53-53 as my clock showed 1 second. While Zukowski was thinking about 54, I had enough time to check everything. He put 54, I answered fast with 55-55. After 58, I had a very nice VCF, my opponent gave up the game after 61. This was my nicest game in the final.

I was the last out of the 3 potential champions who finished his game. At first, Laube beated Lu quite soon and easily. When I knew his result, I know that I must win. The game between Gergő and Artur seemed very balanced, if Tamiola couldn’t win and I could, then Laube would be the world champion and I would be second. So I had to cheer for Tamiola because if he wins, I still have chance to be the champion. Gergő couldn’t find the correct and easy defense so Tamiola got his point luckily. I think that this game was rather a draw than Tamiola’s win, but for my and Artur’s happiness, Tamiola got his 3rd lucky point in the final.Meanwhile Nowakowski beated Nipoti with showing a very nice endgame.

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So after all, Laube, Tamiola and me finished the championship with same points and our coefficients were exactly the same. So what now? The referees said we will play extra games in order to decide the champion. The interesting thing was that neither me, Artur and Pavel wanted to play anymore, we all agreed to share the places and take a rest after many days of hard fights. Unfortunately it was not possible, so the referees called us to pick numbers to decide the schedule of the extra games. I lost all my fun already; I didn’t want to fight anymore. The rules are rules, we had to continue. As we got the draw, I was very unlucky. The schedule of the extra games: 1. Tamiola – Demján, 2. Laube – Tamiola, 3. Demján – Laube. I only wanted one thing before the extra games. I wanted to open against Tamiola. My wish didn’t become true…

One hour passed and we were there to finish the championship. The parameters of the extra games: 20min/player, swap2, round robin system. In my honest opinion it was a very bad idea to decide the world champion title with such system. I think the results of the QT would be much more effective and fair, but since it didn’t matter that you are 1st or 8th in the QT, it would have be unfair to decide the title based on QT results.

If not the QT results, then why didn’t we play normal time limit games? 20min is not enough for anything. Or if 20min, then why didn’t we play double round robin? The system which the referee chose was the worst possible I guess. It was like we flip a coin to decide who wins. Nevermind, we had to play…

Game 1:Tamiola (8) – Demján (12) 1:0, R: 2 more stones, Tamiola didn’t swap, 25 moves, 1=h8

I expected this opening but I didn’t have time to prepare anything. Choosing color was not a good idea cause Artur knows everything about this opening. So I had to use swap2 option. I still don’t understand why I chose this swap2, this is totally stupid and senseless. The 4th and 5th move doesn’t change anything on the position; it is like it wouldn’t even be there. I have to say that I was sitting there on the

board, facing the opening and suffering. My soul and brain was not there, somewhere out, only my body was there. I was so nervous, angry and felt unlucky that it ensured my painful lose. I was simply very angry to life, couldn’t think at all. I put the swap2, Artur chose his color and after I was just suffering until I could resign. He got the point.

Game 2:

Laube (22) – Tamiola (14) 0:1, R: -, 52 moves, 1=b14

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This game doesn’t look like the one which decides who is the best player on the world. I was really cheering to Pavel to win but he was probably in the same situation as I in the 1st

extra game. He played so powerless and weak, but also Tamiola. When I looked at the board after the 36th move I became so happy, Pavel has win! 37-39, 39-i6 and white can give up the game! Damn, Laube chose to defend instead of win the game! After the 38th move and the worst 39th move, it was easy win for Artur. He just used his luck and became the World Champion of 2009.

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Game 3:

Laube (28) – Demján (26) 0:1, R: +, 68 moves, 1=h8

The last game of the World Championship 2009. Since Tamiola became the champion on such an incredibly lucky way with not that great play I lost all my fun and intention to reach anything. Laube the same I think. So we just sat down, shake hands and started to put stones on the board. It was

like a game of a funeral – at least for me. I used some seconds for each move; I just waited the end of the game. The first part of the game was quite balanced; it seemed

that the chance for draw is growing as the time passes. He was driving the game until the 23rd move, but after I took away the tempo and started to try to make something. 36 looks fine and seems I got big advantage but soon I had to realize that this attempt failed. I had a win after the 39th move as I realized after the game, if I would have move 40-j9 instead of 40-40, than it’s VCT. From 40 to 48 I was trying to make my opponent fail with weak and primitive attempts but he did well. So I thought I move to another area. 56! My last chance. Both of us were in a big time trouble already. His 57 seemed good at first sight but after I recollected all my force and skill, I found the wonderful 58, the winning move. After the 68th

move I got five in a row and a silver

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medal aswell. Although we didn’t take this game so serious, it happened to be a nice game.

The final results and my opinion about the players’ performance:

1. Artur Tamiola 6p – First of all I would like to congratulate to Artur, he did a great job and I can say that I am happy to see him as the champion. But, if I only look at the facts that I got the 2nd place and he became champion, I feel a little sadness and disappointment. I think that he was very lucky and didn’t play the best out of the competitors. I would think that a world champion doesn’t need such big luck and can win games easier. His 5 draws in the QT, his 3 lucky wins in the final, plus the thing that he could open and put a nonsense opening against me in the extra games and that Laube missed a win against him made me feel that he is not the best player on the world. All in all, congratulations to my friend!

2. Attila Demján 6p – I think that I played good, the best I guess (without being big headed), I made only one tactical mistake which resulted my 2nd place. I could not pick a game which I won by luck, I had to fight a lot, had many hard and nice games. I realize this result rather as a failure than a success. I went there to win and I was afraid to be the 2nd. It just happened, like a nightmare. My one silly little mistake is the reason of this and the incredibly big unluck. The scenario which we followed was the worst possible for me. After the championship I asked such questions from myself: Why couldn’t Laube lose 2 games in the final? Why didn’t we decide the champion title based on the QT results? Why didn’t we play longer time limited extra games? Why didn’t we play the extra games in double round robin system? Why was I so unlucky that Tamiola opens against me, and why didn’t he open a 50-50, playable opening? How could the world champion have such big amount of luck? These questions were still in me 1-2 weeks after the tournament. Now, as months have passed I feel happy about the past. I played well, I am happy for my friend’s, Artur’s success and I am not angry at life. It just happened, maybe it had to happen, I don’t know.

3. Pavel Laube 6p – My biggest congratulations to him! He played much better than anyone expected I think. He lost only one game in the final, he didn’t have luck, played nice games and fought hard for each point. Although he didn’t play so well in the QT, he could show his real skill in the final. He absolutely deserved the 3rd place; I would maybe say that he also even played better than Tamiola. Unfortunately he was the biggest loser of the extra games, but still, he got the 3rd place in the world championship, which is such a great result.

4. Lu Wei-Yuan 3p – The black horse of the championship. He just learned the rules right before the first round of QT and could reach the 4th place in the final. What an amazing performance! It was really nice to see a Taiwanese among the top gomoku players. It was also very interesting and fine to experience such a strange, new playing style (at least for me). I really hope that we will see him in the coming gomoku tournaments.

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5. Gergő Tóth 2p – The biggest happiness for me concerning the results. There are two Hungarian players in the top 5, who would have guessed it before? I am very glad that Gergő could play so well although he sometimes made some silly moves. I hope that he will continue playing and show himself in 2011 also, as Hungary got 2 national places thanks to him.

6. Maciej Nowakowski 2p – I think that his playing skill and result is in harmony. He deserved the 6th place, shouldn’t be better, and shouldn’t be worse. He proved after many years break that he is still a very strong and talented player.

7. Vladimir Nipoti 2p – Considering his start in the QT it is already a great result for him to be in the final. I think his 7th place is real; he had many games which he could win and lost actually. I think that he could have play better, but not reach better place.

8. Michal Zukowski 1p – He finished as I expected. He didn’t really do anything special, neither in the QT and in the final. I think his goal was to be among the top 8, he succeeded.

After all, I can say that I really enjoyed being in Pardubice, I am happy that I could attend this event. It was very nice to meet that many nice people and spend almost 2 weeks with them. The niveau of the gomoku world championship was maybe a bit below than we expected but I think after 18 years break, it is okay. I can say already that I am satisfied with my performance although I rather handle it as a failure. See you all in the next gomoku world championship in 2011!

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Attila Demján, October 10, 2009

Short comment to Attila's critics about referee work

In his article Attila wrote following:

“One hour passed and we were there to finish the championship. The parameters of the extra games: 20min/player, swap2, round robin system. In my honest opinion it was a very bad idea to decide the world champion title with such system. I think the results of the QT would be much more effective and fair, but since it didn’t matter that you are 1st or 8th in the QT, it would have be unfair to decide the title based on QT results. If not the QT results, then why didn’t we play normal time limit games? 20min is not enough for anything. Or if 20min, then why didn’t we play double round robin? The system which the referee chose was the worst possible I guess. It was like we flip a coin to decide who wins. Nevermind, we had to play…”

“My one silly little mistake is the reason of this and the incredibly big unluck. The scenario which we followed was the worst possible for me. After the championship I asked such questions from myself: Why couldn’t Laube lose 2 games in the final? Why didn’t we decide the champion title based on the QT results? Why didn’t we play

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longer time limited extra games? Why didn’t we play the extra games in double round robin system? Why was I so unlucky that Tamiola opens against me, and why didn’t he open a 50-50, playable opening?”

I think I should answer something from side of organisers and referees. “I think the results of the QT would be much more effective and fair, but since it didn’t matter that you are 1st or 8th in the QT, it would have be unfair to decide the title based on QT results.” - Actually Attila answers here himself. Such things must be agreed of course before tournaments. Also, I dont think this really practiced in sport to count better position in of qualification tournaments in final.

“why didn’t we play normal time limit games?” - Well, we started to play extragames 12.40 and 18.00 was Closing Ceremony. It was clear that organisers need final results earlier than 6 pm to prepare ceremony, but 3 additional games with full time control could be 9 hours or more (not talking that there could be equal result again). So it was impossible solution. Yes, we could have more time than 20 minutes in case if we could know there will not be same equal result 1-1-1 again :).

“Or if 20min, then why didn’t we play double round robin?” - 6 games with such time control – its 4 hours, not talking about small pauses between rounds. I dont think I really could take such decision.

Maybe best solution could be to have double Round Robin with 10 minutes time control, but just maybe.

By the way, in renju we had situation in European Championship 1998 with equal result between Sushkov and Meritee. If I remember correct, they played 25 min extragame, what was won by Ando.

I think Attila used too much energy to think about other things and didnt concentrate enough to game. There will be always such moments in sport and we need to be ready to fight till the end. Yes, there is one thing what we can do better in future – opening rules I have been all the time skeptic is swap2 really enough good rule for future and I know Attila thinks same. I think that swap2 was good enough to start gomoku WCagain and I know Attila thinks same. But if we have more balanced rule in future, there cant be so big advantage for player who start in extragame (also in game with usual timecontrol)

Ants Soosõrv, referee

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Some impressions from Pavel Laube.

I was just a small boy when I experienced my first gomoku battles under the school desk. At that time I started to think…Is there in that big world also any big gomoku world championship? Oh ye, what a silly childish dreams Several years later I started to play gomoku seriously. The first tournaments followed, trips abroad, coquetry with renju… But gomoku community was still too young and sparse. There were many internet players but in live occasions we could compete only in several local blitz tournaments and therefore gomoku stayed viewed as a “childish” game, even for our renju colleagues. But hopefully, evolution is slow but unstoppable Thanks to effort of few zealous individuals we could finally meet in a real championship, the gomoku world championship in Czech Republic, Pardubice. It was up to us to show, that gomoku is really not childish and that it is at least as good as any other game, including renju or chess.

The fact that GWC took place simultaneously with renju competition was surely beneficial because of enlargement of the whole event and possibility of introducing gomoku to renju players and conversely. On the other hand, some top players of course had to decide to which game they will give precedence. We were all very curious and tense about the organization and number of participants. The qualification tournament had finally 21 participants from 8 countries which was surely not as much as we hoped. We lacked especially bigger delegation from Russia which sent only two players. However, the quality was certainly better than quantity this time and we could see plenty of well known gomoku players which promised a fierce battle for the top 8 and the ticket to the final.The main favorite of the whole tournament was probably Attila Demján from Hungary, followed by polish player Artur Tamiola. Both were expected to be very well prepared. Among the other favorites we could see for example other great polish players such as Nowakowski, Fitzermann or Kozimor, Hungarian Tóth, Slovakian Edged or local players Nipoti and Kopecký. And of course, I also planed to be quite high.

Although I didn’t prepare for this competition at all and my motivation for playing has been not very high lately, I was still very excited about playing serious gomoku games with a long time limit at last. And I was of course curious about my performance. To be honest, I had no doubt before the qualification that I am able to get in the top 8. But that was my first big mistake. After a promising beginning I suddenly fell into my worst nightmare and due to my carelessness and fatal tactical mistakes I got only half point out of 3rd – 6th round. In the end of the second day I appeared in the deepest bottom in my gomoku career and I was thinking about leaving the competition immediately after the end of QT. But fortunately my success was still in my hands. All

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I had to do was to brace myself up and win all 3 games next day (5,5 points should have been enough to get into the final).Next day I got up in a good mood again, I won quickly the first, than the second…and when Fitzermann gave me a sweet surewin already after the 6th move in my well analyzed opening, I was just a happy guy. The qualification tournament was probably my hardest spurt in my gomoku life but at the end I could feel happy. It was exactly what I needed before the final.

In the rest of the qualification the biggest favorites secured their places in the final quite calmly, but still there occurred some surprises. Wei-Yuan Lu was the most interesting one. Renju player who didn’t play swap2 before the tournament at all showed surprisingly good performance and after lucky beginning he was able to slip into the final from the 8th place.He was also the best example of benefits of the swap2 rule which proved itself as a simple but still quite effective way to avoid theoretical preparations.

So after all, the final 8 was done and we could enjoy the free day. The next three days promised a very interesting show.

After some mess in the lot we could learn the next day pairing not until the night before the first round. That was extremely unpleasant, especially when I realized that my opponent will be Attila Demján and he will put me the opening. But there was no time for desperation, in the morning I quickly run through his qualification openings and suddenly I felt determined to fight for win. (For some extra motivation before the match I used also my favourite tournament music. I have to recommend especially a sweet lyrical song “Fuck the system!” by System of the down which was sharp and loud enough to make me hate all the people around and especially my opponent). Attila put me one of his openings from qualification which I didn’t know at all.

However, my tactic was soon clear; I wanted to surprise my opponent as much as possible. I knew that he expected me to put swap2 or at least to take black and block, since he knew me as a passive player. Therefore I took white and decided to use my own activity to control the game and to escape to the middle of the board. Already his first move surprised me a lot. I expected i9 or even k8, but definitely not this one. So I looked on the board with suspicion and finally played the obvious 6-j10. But if the 5th move surprised me, the 7th was absolute shock. I was pretty sure in my previous calculations that this move is not good. And surprisingly, I was not mistaken. After 11th move my opponent was already hopeless, the last move had number 14. The fastest game of the 1st round and scalp of the main favorite… I happily stood up and went to enjoy my lunch. How could Attila make such a soon mistake in his own opening, that’s still a small mystery for me. Probably I surprised him more than I could guess.

My next opponent was Michal Zukowski. He was the player no.1 again and as I supposed he put me my favourite pro opening. However, he was able to beat me in it easily already in qualification, so I had to pay attention. This time I took black and played the forth move, which he obviously didn’t analyze much. His next move is

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quite rare and it turned up soon why. By the 12th move I gained the tempo finally and I started to build the position. My tactic was simple, to secure the low area and than attack in the upper. But after my final attack in a strong base 19-e10 my opponent surprised me a lot. I was so concentrated on the upper area that I absolutely didn’t expect any attack in the bottom, the move 22-h4! I soon realized that my only way to keep some chances for win is to let my opponent try his possibilities. By my calculations there was no win in the upper, so I played 23-d11 and waited what will happen. My opponent played immediately 26-k6. I was shocked by his speed, but still I found my defense good enough. By the end of my time limit the action moved to the right side and it was not easy for me to protect possible tricky combinations of my opponent. However, I was finally able to get tempo again and my opponent couldn’t block any more. I was happy to win such a beautiful and long game. My last opponent of the first day was another Hungarian, Gergö Tóth. Fortunately I was player no.1 in this game at last and I didn’t hesitate to put my favorite corner opening. I knew my opponent is much stronger in his well analyzed positions from the middle. Gergö put swap2, I took white and he played very quickly his next move, suggesting that he prepared well for my corner. I had to play some untraditional move in order to surprise him a bit, and 8-g7 seemed suddenly very good.

My opponent tried to answer by some activity in the bottom, but there was not enough space for any real threat. My key move 12-f8 followed, white ignores the black material and walks by a strong step to the space. By the next 14th move my idea became clear, I got a big positional advantage and I was pretty sure that I will win, although it would be still not easy to reach the winning combination in case of the best defense. But my exhausted opponent didn’t play ideally and his final mistake appeared in 23rd move. After that I had vct already. The first day ended and I could be maximally satisfied, with my result as well as my play.

The full score was completed also by Artur Tamiola, who prepared a very sweet schema opening specially for the final and he was crushing his opponents with it during the whole tournament. Behind us there were 2 players with 2 points, Attila and also Lu, who achieved two surprising wins against Nowakowski and Nipoti, who made a big mistake by underestimating him. The rest of players had already almost no chance for the title, what a surprising start of the tournament.

My first opponent of second day was my “almost country mate” Vladimir Nipoti. I expected some wild opening, but Vláďa surprised and played bravely from the corner. I took black and went calmly to the space by the 15-g7, planning to gain initiative immediately again. However, my next move was probably too optimistic and after 18-f7 I suddenly started to feel very uncomfortable. I underestimated the right bottom area and suddenly I occurred between two fires. I started to think very deeply, to survive I had to keep control in the upper area and in the same time stay alive in the bottom. Finally I didn’t find any direct win in the bottom and so I constructed a defense plan starting with 19-d9. My opponent didn’t hesitate to attack and after 24th move I had to

33

solve two dangerous areas in the same time again. But my magic move was simple, 25-f9! Everything made sense suddenly, there was no vct in the left and my black structures in the upper were good enough also to control the right side which however looked still nice for some attacking. I had no doubt that my opponent will choose the attack by 28-i6 and I was prepared. When Vláďa continued with attacking I could happily close my whole plan, finishing with beautiful move 45-f10 which gave me control over the whole board. I started my attack on the right side, using some previous mistakes of my opponent and luckily after 56-i9 my opponent couldn’t defend anymore. It was probably my most interesting game in the championship; I started to enjoy the playing more and more.

Before the decisive game with Tamiola I had to challenge his country mate Maciej Nowakowski. I knew he is very strong player but he most likely doesn’t know much the recent theory progress since he was out of the gomoku world for a long time. I also supposed that his motivation for preparation is not very high after an unlucky beginning which gave him almost no chances for some good place in the tournament. That’s why I put without any worries my well analyzed pro opening, hoping to trap him on my home analyzes. My plan worked well and Maciej seemed very confused already after I put the opening. Unlike the game with Zukowski I chose the popular variant 5-f7 and my opponent was confused even more. He thought almost 50 minutes and that played absolutely uncommon move 6-f8! However it was not so bad decision, this unknown position is not so easy to play and he avoided my theoretical preparations. I wanted to play calmly and to use my time advantage, so I played maybe not the best development by moves 7-13. But in that moment my opponent shocked me, 14-j7! Such a nice attack at first sight, but in the fact…I didn’t have to think much, my next moves were suddenly so natural, 15, 17, 19! White threats remained untouched but still he couldn’t play anywhere. And moreover, also the defense seemed almost hopeless! Exhausted Maciej finally played by the end of his time limit 20-e9 and lost.

I had about 2 hours to prepare for the next match, the decisive one. Unfortunately also my second big opponent put me the opening, this time I could expect his wild schema. I immediately decided to prepare some swap2, knowing how tricky these openings could be. I quickly run over some possibilities and finally I chose 4-g8, 5-i7. I supposed without thinking 6-g9 and started further analyses which seemed quite satisfying to me. How much I was mistaken… I came to the table, put my swap2 and waited. Finally my opponent chose white and played 6-i9! And I knew immediately that there’s something very wrong here… Truly, I couldn’t find any move and lost quickly. The game which could bring me the title of the world champion ended in 14 moves, all because of my careless preparation. Probably I should sleep less and analyze more in the next tournament…

At the end all the three games between the leading trio which were supposed to be the jewels of this tournament ended until 14 moves without any real play. How is it possible? I have no idea, but I hope no one will take example from usThe situation became suddenly extremely hard. Three players had the same score and hoped that the last round will judge them. I tried not to think about my previous stupid

34

loss and concentrate on the final game. My opponent was Wei-Yuan Lu, who already collected 3 points which was surprisingly enough for the 4th place! Truly great success for Taiwan and hopefully we will see more Taiwanese players playing gomoku next time. However, I could put the opening at last and I wanted to use my opponent’s lack of experience as much as possible. The opening 1-l3, 2h12, 3g6 is a very complicated white surewin, but I didn’t worry. And indeed, my opponent took his time and then put a very nice swap2. I took black and tried to get out of the corner. Fortunately Lu was not as successful with his next moves as he was in the swap2 and I closed my plan quite easily by 17-i5.

I happily stood up, my part was done. In the other games Arczi fought with Gergö in a very balanced game and Attila was close to win. In case of Arczi’s draw or lost, I would be the champion.But when I came back from breakfast the situation changed. Tired Gergö made several mistakes and lost. I, Attila and Arczi had the same points, same coefficients, same place…But organizers needed only one champion, we have to play three extra blitz games. I cannot describe how fed-up I was from playing 2 more games. I also knew that 20 minutes is really not my strongest discipline, especially against those two speedy sprinters. In the first game my opponents met, Arczi put his good old schema and won easily again. My next two games were horribly similar. I built up a good position but I did not succeed and than lost under the time press. What to say about my feelings than…there is still a deep hole in the wall of my room I guess. So what is the conclusion of the final? We could see certainly lots of outstanding matches and also some very interesting facts. Three players who were able to collect 6 out of 7 points is surely something exceptional. Before the final I was pretty sure that no one except Attila and Arczi (and me) can get the title, but still I expected much more equal tournament. The results also showed that 7 rounds are not so much and it’s good that the next gomoku championship is planned to be organized on the model of renju AT. We also didn’t see any draw during the whole final which is maybe even more surprising.

So after all it was wonderful tournament and wonderful experience. And first of all, I believe that games which we played here in Pardubice were the best example of beauty of our game and so the most important quest of our championship was done. I can only hope that this will help to attract more and more people to play and that the next world championship will be even more interesting and thrilling. ‘Couse gomoku is the best game in the world.

35

Gomoku B-tournament(by Piotr Malowiejski)

First eight players qualified to the Final A of the Gomoku World Championship 2009 from the qualification tournament. Just eight… That means that many strong players, eg. Igor Eged (Slovakia), Adrian Fitzermann (Poland) or Jan Kopecký (Czech Republic), failed to qualify. Fortunately, no-one (except Mr. Victor Kaufman from Russia) decided to miss the B Final. There was still a chance for three players to be awarded personal place in the next World Championship qualifications and getting the one of the first two places were obviously enough to reach the Top 10 in the World. Moreover, everyone wanted to prove something and show its gomoku skills.Thanks to the arrival of some Czech players just for the B Final tournament, finally 18 players from 5 countries (11 players from Czech Republic, 4 from Poland, 1 from Japan, Russia and Slovakia) participated. The pressure was not so high as in the A Final, however there were many good games and there was a place for a interesting rivalry and it was hard to indicate sure favorites.During the first day of the tournament everyone played 3 games. It was quite clear from the beginning that the competition will be tough and single mistake could impact final result in the whole tournament. At the end of the day only Adrian Fitzermann and Igor Eged had 3 points and another 6 players (Łukasz Białkowski - Poland, Jan Bielák, Jan Kopecký, Radim Kostlivý, Štěpán Tesařík – Czech Republic and Andrey Sviridov – Russia) had 2 points. I started the tournament very badly, although I had one good game against Jan Stradal (Czech Republic) who played really strong last 20 moves in my opinion and I did not manage to defend it. I lost all my games that day.Second day of the tournament could be deciding. In the first game Igor met Adrian and it seems they did not want to risk too much finishing with a draw and counting on opponent’s loss in the further games. Igor won two other games and Adrian had another draw against Łukasz and after two days Igor was a leader with half point advantage. I played much better and was only one player with three wins that day In the last day of the tournament final round was played. Adrian was able to beat his countryman Michał Kozimor, however Igor also won his game against Hirouji Sakamoto (Japan) and won whole tournament with 6 wins and 1 draw. Adrian finished on the 2nd place (5 wins and 2 draws), the 3rd place went to Łukasz (4 wins, two draws and one defeat). They all won also personal places in the next Gomoku World Championship qualification tournament. Congrats! I lost my final game due to stupid mistake and finished the tournament on 13th place (it would be 6th in case of my win). Below you can find final table of the tournament.

Pl

Participant Country City 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Pts

Buch

Berg

1 Igor Eged Slovakia Bratislava 161

121

31 2½ 71 81 91 6½ 26.50

23.50

36

2Adrian

Fitzermann Poland Kwidzyn151 71 41 1½ 3½ 51 81 6

29.00

23.25

3Lukasz

Białkowski PolandPiotrków Trybunals

ki141 51 10 61 2½ 9½ 71 5

30.00

18.75

4 Jan Bielák Czech Republic

Prague131 91 20 12

1 80 7½ 101 4½

26.00

14.75

5 Jan Kopecký Czech Republic

Prague101 30 91 70 61 20 12

1 428.50

14.00

6 Radim Kostlivý Czech Republic

Prague120

111

141 30 50 17

1131 4

23.00

11.00

7 Štěpán Tesařík Czech Republic

Prague 81 20 171 51 10 4½ 30 3½

31.50

11.75

8 Michal Kozimor Poland Jastrz bieę Zdrój 70 151

10½

111 41 10 20 3½

29.50

11.75

9Hirouji

Sakamoto Japan Osaka181 40 50 15

1101 3½ 10 3½

26.50

9.00

10

Jan Stradal Czech Republic

Prague 50 131 8½ 14

1 90 111 40 3½

24.50

10.75

11

Tomáš Němec Czech Republic

Tabor17½ 60 13

1 80 121

100

161 3½

21.00

9.00

12

Andrey Sviridov Russia Moscow 61 10 181 40 11

0141 50 3

26.00

7.50

13

Piotr Malowiejski Poland Plock 40 100

110

181

161

151 60 3

20.50

5.00

14

Břetislav Krček Czech Republic

Ostrava 30 161 60 10

0181

120

17½ 2½

20.50

4.00

15

Jan Rippel Czech Republic

Prague 20 80 161 90 17

0130

181 2

21.00

3.00

37

16

Jan Purkrábek Czech Republic

Brno 10 140

150

171

130

181

110 2

20.50

3.00

17

Milan Čejka Czech Republic

eskáČ T ebovář11½

180 70 16

0151 60 14

½ 218.50

5.00

18

Petr Neuman Czech Republic

Nove Mesto na Morave

90 171

120

130

140

160

150 1

18.00

2.00

At the end I would like to thank all organizers, especially my friend Ales Rybka, for very well-prepared and managed tournament. I had a lot of fun and also some good interesting games (although I played really badly) and was able to meet again with my gomoku friends from many countries or meet players I did not know before. I am really happy that I could be a part of such a great event. I hope I will be able to see you all during next World Championship and maybe some of you before, e.g. during the Warsaw Open on November – please feel invited!

On photo you can see Mr. Malowiesjki resting – probably after exhausting gomokugame :)

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Interview with Ales RybkaBy Jiabei He for chinese readers

He: Hello, Ales. Could you introduce yourself to us a bit?Rybka: Hello. My name is Ales Rybka. I am 28 year old. I live in Hradec Kralove. I have been working at the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Kralove as doctor of infectious diseases, but I have been working as military doctor for infectious diseases in czech army too. The main hobby for me is gomoku and renju, but I like hiking and mountaineering as well.

He: I felt that you were a very strong-minded person, did your experience in the military influence you?

Rybka: Thanks to military I like order and planning, so it must help meHe:What is your kyu/dan?Rybka: I got 3rd kyu in Czech Republic, we set very tough ranking system. He: Do you play renju or gomoku? Which do you like better?Rybka: I like both these games but I prefer renju if I have a chance because it is much more interesting.He: What is your best achievement as a renju player?Rybka: I won czech championship in 2006. I got the 3rd place in Karape tournament (Sakata rules) in 2004. He: Tell us something about Czech Renju Federation: when was it established? Did you establish it?Rybka: The Czech Renju Federation was found in 2003, one day before start of QT during WC in Vadstena. Me and my friends wanted to play in that tournament so we needed to be a member of RIF. However, our work continued. We found unofficial federation, we organized a lot of tournaments and we got together some gomoku players, we made a team. Because of holding EC in Czech we established the official Czech Renju Federation in 2006. Since that time, we have been registrated at our government.He: The Renju World Magazine comments you as the ‘Super Boss’ in Czech Renju Federation. Do you organize all renju activities in Czech alone? Do you have any assistant to help you run the Federation?Rybka: "Super boss" might be a bit thick word. I have been a leader of our federation since 2003. That's right that I have organized almost all tournaments in Czech (or participated in organizing). I have been taking care of material (boards, stones) etc.

39

I have not been alone any time; big work has done by our treasurer and programmer of our site (official site, teaching centrum and so on). I can say that 90% of ideas have been going from my mind but I have team of people who are willing to help me and participate in our work. I feel as manager, I decide about tasks but more than 60% of tasks I have been doing alone.He: Did you ever have any difficulty in running the Federation? Did you think of giving up?Rybka: I haven’t noticed any big difficulties, so I am happy that it has been working. I wanted to give up, of course, last time in July 2009 when WC was getting near and I didn’t feel any support of my friends. At that time I was going to give up everything, but later I realized that in the worst time almost everyone helped me. True is that I was overworked in the hospital and was quite stressed by organizing of WC. He: Why did you apply for the World Champion to be held in Czech?Rybka: I decided to apply in 2007. We were going to show that renju and gomoku in Czech have been growing up and we were going to do something for world renju. Of course it was a good chance for us to get more people interested in gomoku in Czech.He: You worked very hard during World Champion, did you ever feel tired? Rybka: I was feeling very tired before and during WC, I didn’t have time for sleeping. The worst of organizing was to think about everything. I didn’t have any chance to forget anything. I hade to remember the whole schedule, coming of players, buying things, writing games and so on. On photo: Ales is tough sportsman and likes to climb. Here he is doing it together with Peter Jonsson, So Miagawa and Aki Savik. Alexei Skuridin was also there and was taking picture I guess :).

He: I understand your feeling. Now I feel very regretful not helping you during WC.

Rybka: I am happy you didn’t help me, because I wanted people to enjoy the tournament. To help is the duty of Czech players.

40

He: How was your feeling at the opening ceremony, nervous? How was your feeling at the closing ceremony?Rybka: I was not nervous during OC neither CC. I was feeling satisfied during CC, I knew in that time that almost everything was ok and WC went without any bigger problems. He: What makes you so devoted to renju?

Rybka: It is very difficult to say... I like gomoku and renju because I have met a lot of friends. And my mother taught me to do everything for people; it is some kind of altruism. I believe I have been doing good thing and I guess I can see the results of my work. To see people happy and to see them enjoying my events makes me very happy.

He: Overall, do you prefer your role as a player or an organizer?Rybka: I prefer being a player because I can enjoy a tournament much more. To organize such big event takes too much power. Fortunately, I have been taking care of a lot of local tournaments so I do not need to organize so many big tournaments very often.He: Any super plan in developing Czech Renju Federation in the future? You won't quit, right?Rybka: We have still been developing even if it is not so rapid, but we hope we will attract more players.I am not going to quit now, for sure. We have been working on online-game server, we have been preparing e-shop, I will work in gomoku committee and of course I will continue on Euroleague, big online team gomoku competition.

Interview with Vladimir Sushkov

By Jiabei He for chinese readers

He: Chinese players appreciate you a lot, but we have little information about you. Could you introduce yourself to us a bit? (Your age, main job, hobbies etc…)Sushkov: I’m 30 years old. I’m a physicist, working in the research field of dusty plasma and writing the PhD thesis. Live at the moment in Germany.When we speak about hobbies, the first thing to mention is music. I love it passionately. It’s not even a hobby, it’s a mirror for a soul. I play piano myself, and

41

listen to wonderful CDs which start to be uncountable. I like also good books, philosophical talks and swimming in the sea. I’m doing pretty much running sports. He: How long have you played renju? How did you start to play?Sushkov: I’ve played already for 15 years, half of my life. My farther taught me simple five-in-a-row, which he knew since his student age. Later I found out, that there is game called renju, and joined the club in St.-Petersburg.He: What kind of player would you describe yourself?Sushkov: I’m a player without personal aggression. In a real game I want to survive. A good move is just my self-defense, since I know that otherwise would be bitterly beaten. In addition, good moves are necessary if you are striving for meaning (in very general sense). Only if do your best, you can come closer to the meaning.He: Who is your favorite player? Why?Sushkov: I appreciate a variety of strong players, and enjoy their different styles. I mean, I cannot say that one style or another is better or worse. I can think only in terms of closeness to my own. From this point of view, such players like Cao Dong, Purk are close to me, Wu Di and Aivo Oll are rather far from my style.It’s not my goal to be original by saying how much I esteem the unique power of Ando Meritee.But here I should mention two persons, with whom I had personal contacts and who don’t play renju any more.I’m speaking here about Alexander Klimashin. When you see him playing, you understand, that “the game is life”. The other one is Alexei Ritter, a man of tremendous talent who, bad luck for us, uses his talent in the fields other than renju.He: The Renju World Magazine says that you seem to know everything about renju, but you are still analyzing. What motivates you to be so passionate about renju?Sushkov: Oh… It is just the fact, that not knowing everything makes analyzing more passionate. This time the preparation for the WC2009 was especially interesting, since you just don’t know how many winning 5th moves are there, for instance, in 2i, 4i or 1D openings. It was fascinating to clarify those questions. And the only way to do this was by your own analyses. He: We all know that you are a very strong renju player, but unfortunately, you kept getting the second place in WC. Did you blame for the bad luck? Has ‘champion’ always been your major objective? If, extremely unfortunately, you were the second place again this time, would you give up?Sushkov: “Bad luck” was, I would say, on WC2007, when I was good prepared and in good shape, but got only 4th place. From all the Championships, the two last are the ones, where I deserved to be the winner, if I may put it like this. Every one has his own Way, and my Way is fair enough to me. He: How did you feel when you knew that you finally became the champion?

42

Sushkov: I started to suspect it during my game with Ono in the one before last round. Nakamura then lost his game to Wu Di. And when I launched the final attack in my game, I was asking myself, if it was my golden attack. Still this asking myself did not prevent me from winning the game. And after that the Russian player-friends told me, that in the worst case after the last round I get the same number of points like Tunnet, and our coefficients are equal. But because of personal game he has no chances. We checked it carefully, and it was sure. Still instinctively in the back of my mind the whole situation seemed somehow tough. I didn’t feel happy, or even tired. I was feeling bitterness because of loss against Nakamura and was looking forward to the next round…He: We know that you prepared very carefully for this tournament. I think you prepared very carefully for every tournament? Could you tell us in detail how you prepared for this WC?Sushkov: I don’t play often in tournaments now, so this is actually a joyful and long-expected event for me. And usually I find some time to prepare. But as I told earlier, the preparation this time was especially interesting. I started it before coming to Tallinn Open at the end of December 2008. I wanted to be more or less ready for all new positions, which were to observe previous months on playing boards in different tournament. And this worked out! I won every game I played. And then I started preparation for the Russian Championship, which was coming in 2 months. Gradually I developed an understanding that the main emphasis should be made on your own original findings, since what was playing other people was far from enough. After the Russian Championship I had 5 months to more or less systematically revise all openings for Yamaguchi rule.I worked in a very close contact with my sparring-partner Blackstone. Often 7 windows with Blackstone were calculating at the same time. There were different regimes of my activity. Sometimes you investigate a variant with pressure and concentration, sometimes you kind of meditate, let your thoughts flow through different positions and databases. Analyzing not only brings you new and essential knowledge, but also trains your skills of orientation in unfamiliar position and helps you to keep in shape. He: Many high-level players would experience a period of ‘bottleneck’. They would feel very difficult to improve themselves further when they reach certain level. Did you ever have such kind of feeling? How did you keep improving yourself even when you were already very strong?Sushkov: No, I did not have such kind of feeling. I always saw perspectives for growing. Probably it’s important to have before your eyes examples of renju playing of the standard, which is well higher than yours. This motivates you to learn. In my case, for instance, once it was analyzing positions together with Ando, which we were doing for hours. Now it’s analyzing with Blackstone, who is tactically strong like a devil.

43

And very important is the desire for a perfect move in real game. Even if you won your game, but to some extent feel upset with all your moves which were not perfect, then you are able to progress.He: What skills do you think are the most important in tournaments? Sushkov: To have an adequate idea of your strength and weaknesses, and the same with regard to your opponent.To be steadfast against losses. I mean, after you got 0 points in a game, don’t let the bitterness to affect you negatively in the following games. This is difficult, and very important.To be in a good physical shape, that you can survive through many hours of intensive playing and lack of sleep.He: Do you think a good player is ‘born’ or trained? (Is gift important in playing renju? Can a person who does not have much gift be good player by working hard?) Sushkov: I think a good player is rather trained. If you are good trained and prepared, you are very strong. Gift can be important, but if you are clever and have good brains, that would to a great extent compensate the lack of talent. I think, most strong players fall into two groups of comparable number with respect to the fundamental of their power, one of them includes “talented” players (Meritee, Chingin…), the other one – “clever” (Nakamura, Taimla…)He: How do you think of your opponents in this tournament? Who do you think is strongest among your opponents?Sushkov: This was a special tournament because of participation of legendary Nakamura. He is very strong. It was interesting and instructive to see him play. His

style I would call “professional”, pragmatic in the best sense.That Tunnet was in a very serious mood, was clear from the very beginning, when he played with Ono. In the year 2003 in Sweden we were competing with him for the first place. I lost then in our personal game. I’m glad that this time the result was reversed. Two years ago I was impressed by preparation and knowledge of Wu Di. But this time Chinese players did not seem to be well prepared. That’s why I hoped that Cao Dong would offer something incorrect in the last game with me. But what he did was great!

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Andry Purk is a wonder of renju world who plays so strong without studying so much. And he was practically the key person for me in this tournament He: Some people said that 25-32 is the ‘golden age’ for a player. Do you think age is a problem for a player? Will you play in big tournaments when you are above the ‘golden age’?Sushkov: The statement that “renju is a game of the youth” always got on my nerves. This point became especially established as Tunnet won his title at the age of 15. Each time I failed to get the first place, I was feeling uneasy that in two years I grow older, and that would make my chances smaller. But in reality, I experienced quite to the contrary: I was constantly growing stronger, and the chances were better.In general, I would probably admit, that 30-35 is one’s prime. The fact which we can observe is that younger players are dominating, but I believe the main effect here is that older players are distracted from renju by other social activities. He: You have won the title World Champion? Do you have other goals in the future? Sushkov: At the moment there is no ambitious long-range goal. I’m thinking now how I could help the Russian Team in the coming TWC.For me, generally speaking, winning of the Title marks the accomplishment of the youth period of my life, and thus it is a foregoer of something else to come.Thank you for interesting questions!

Short message from Mr. Chen

45

Dear Renju friends:I am Ko-Han Chen from Taiwan. In this World Championship, I think that I was very lucky to get into AT from QT. I wasn't prepare well before the tournament. My good performance was all because of the great teamworks of my teammates. They shared their analysis with me and helped me draft the strategies playing against my opponents before every rounds after I got into AT. I truly appreciate my teammates deeply. There have been a long time that no Taiwanese player got the ticket of AT since 2001. I'm so glad that I could get the ticket and had chance to play with world's greatest renju players. For me, this tournament is a good experience for me. Although some players are so strong that I really feel afraid of them, I played all my games seriously. Every moment during the tournament was fulfilled with tension, but no matter what came out in the end, after all games were ended, we saw all renju friends from different countries having fun together in the party, inviting each other to meet again in the next tournament. Making friends through renju is the most happy thing in my life. I am so glad to meet you all!

P.S. I hope you would like my little gifts I gave before each game :-)

On photo: Although Mr. Chen didnt gather many points in AT, we really admired his fighting spirit.

Andry Purk comments

I played with Hiroshi Okabe in 4th round. I wasn`t too confident because my first 3 rounds had shown that my shape isn`t good. My first game in that day was against

Tunnet so I was quite tired but coffee and energy drinks kept me alive=). I didn`t have any special plan against Hiroshi. I decided to open D4 with six 5th moves because i had played it before and felt pretty safe in that opening. After Hiroshi swapped I didn`t feel good because my only good ideas in that opening were with black stones and the 5th moves Hiroshi offered were all much better for black except the 5th I accepted. I analysed that 5th move a lot last year. I played it against Ants in Karepa 2008 and I lost the game because I made 10-g6 what is really bad move. Still I would prefer to play that 5th move with black stones, white needs to play really risky

46

27 34 31 32

36 26 28

35 33 30

29 22 9 16 13 15

20 21 8 14 17 18

23 10 11 2 3

12 5 24 1 4

7 6 25 19

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

d e f g h i j

moves to create position what isn`t draw. When I saw his 7th move I was really disappointed because I didn`t think that this 7th move was widely known and I really hated the position with white. I think 10-21 is best for white and I had even looked it from my renlib file before the game but for some reason I didn`t like that move during the game and chose different one. 11-13 were logical moves. 14th move was really crucial so I took a lot of thinking time there. At first sight the 14th move seems really bad inside move but it closes significiant lines for black and it gives little bit for white also. After his 17th move I thought over an hour to find a good plan. 18 is good move that lefts pairs open but closes the stongest point. After the 19th move I loved the position. It is balance, but there are many opportunities to build an attack. I`m not certain that my 20th move is the best but there was a possibilty to win right away if Hiroshi makes a mistake. 23rd move is losing. If 23-35 then the position is still better for white but i didn`t find a win. I didn`t find the win quickly because if 27-33 then the win is tricky. Because when 28-35, 30-29 and 32-31 then black can play 2 fours to make the 13-17 line long but white then has win in the lower right corner=).

My Game with Nakamura(By Wu Di)

Nakamura has long been an idol for many renju players. For me, he is my first teacher of renju, although he had never known me. Very long ago, when I started to play renju, I learnt by studying Nakamura’s games. It was my great honour to play with him at AT.

I opened D8 with Nakamura for several reasons. Firstly, Nakamura was very familiar with D8. I would like both of us to play in a familiar environment. Previously, I planned to open D11 in all my games because Chinese players have researched D11 very deeply. However, I saw no players open D11 in WC. All of them were exploring new situations. I suddenly felt humiliated by opening D11, so I did not do it even once.

Secondly, Nakamura beat Cao Dong by playing black. Although many people praised Nakamura for that game, I did not think his attack was sharp enough. He was of typical Japanese style which focused on aesthetic shapes. He might control his opponent in a wide space until killing the opponent. However, the situations of the games under D8 would be strongly determined by the first few moves. His style would not be so effective for D8.

Thirdly, Nakamura opened D8 and proposed three when he played with Andry. The game was draw with Andry playing with black and the third alternative, so I guessed that Nakamura would be unwilling to play with white again.

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Since Nakamura was likely to be the champion, he would swap to prevent the result of draw. So I strongly wanted to play D8 with Nakamura before the game, and especially to play the 14th move that he once played with Ando. As I had expected, Nakamura swapped. However, the 5th move he proposed was three lines lower than the normal one. I thought for about 20 minutes here. Traditionally, the 10th move, as shown in the picture, was losing for white if the 5th move was the traditional one.

However, Nakamura’s 5 was lower than the traditional one. The lower space was not big enough for the black to win with VCT. I did not think that it was a mistake since Nakamura was so familiar with D8. Nakamura must have found out the solutions to

the possible 10th move. Moreover, I strongly hoped to play the 14th move invented by him. So I gave up the 10 shown in the picture.

Nakamura was not surprised to see the 14 at all because Cao Dong had played the 14 twice in QT. The popular 15 was not advantageous because of new 16. Therefore, Nakamura chose the most traditional 15.

The 20 was prepared for the traditional 15. Actually, this 20 was not strange to Nakamura because he responded with the 21

without thinking for too long. The 21 was strong because it made the overall situation flexible although not aggressive at that section. Any rash attack by white would bring accumulated power for black. The following picture is what I thought at the game:

If we two played like what I expected, the situation would develop like that in the picture. Although black still had the initiative, it was almost unlikely for black to win. But white would have strong potential to attach at the lower part. It seemed satisfactory. However, Nakamura responded very actively to my 22.

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29 25

22 26

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7 18 3 8 12 23

15 14 4 5 21

9 17 28 27

16 20

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f g h i j k l

The 23 looked very strong, but it was not the right time for the 23. I regarded it as Nakamura’s mistake at this game. The 24 was a must for me to seize the critical points. Some players thought that 25 should block in the middle rather than the underside. It is true that white did not have sectional winning opportunity below, but it was seizing every critical point for either attack or defence, rather than attacking.

If 25 was in the middle:

The 26 of my previous plan was like this:

I planned to create an overline for black using the closed three on the left. However, I found that if I really played like this, black could make an open three and easily win. After I thought for a long time, I finally found the one that might be already seen by others by intuition but eliminated by me by intuition:

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22 23

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22 23

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27 6 1 13 10

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15 14 4 5 21

9 17

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11

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22 26 23

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f g h i j k l

Many Chinese players discussed that black did not do well and let white get initiative, but nobody knew how to do better. In fact, no matter how black played, white could always stick to black. There was no way for black to attack without the disturbance of white. Nakamura spent the longest time of this game after the 26. After about 40 minutes, he played like this:

I should say that 27 was excellent. If the 36 did not happen to be there, black might very likely had won. Black preserved good connections with the left and had VCT as well. 27 is the best choice a player could make under such conditions. Other choices may lead to draw, but are unlikely to win. 36 was necessary to defend in the section and to destroy black’s connection with the left. Black was still advantageous after 36. However, Nakamura made the second mistake here.

The 37th move after his long thinking was problematic. Obviously he wanted to transit to the left, but he neglected white’s attack while defending:

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37 33

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The 38 was very strong and almost winning. However, we did not have much time left. We both missed the white’s win after black’s strongest defence here:

The black’s 39 and 41 seemed to be the only defence, but white still had a very strange way to trap black into forbidden points. White had two closed threes on the upper left corner which was a winning shape. I just needed to keep my initiative while destroying black’s VCT at the lower right. The real game was like this:

42 destroyed black’s VCT but at the same time threatened black with VCT. If black defended, the situation would have been like this:

Even though black defended at other points, it should face the white’s wining shape at the upper left. Nakamura’s 43 showed that he realized the white’s winning at the upper left. If Nakamura’s 37 was right, I would still have a long way to struggle to win.

Although I won this game, Nakamura’s 27 to 35th moves were astonishing! Nakamura really

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37 33

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48 37 33

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surprised me by finding out the marvellous way to attack under such complicated condition.

Yuri Tarannikov's blog - written right after World Championship, RW is publishing shortened version

(translated from russian by Ants Soosõrv)

First in renju WC history Russian player became winner – Vladimir Sushkov. Vladimir reached to such success after ten years trial in highest level, going to that purpose he several times was just only a little bit unlucky. Vladimir very well prepared for the tournament. He started serious preparations right from New Year. After winning Russian Championship he was convinced his way is right and he started to prepare purposefully for Yamaguchi rules. He studied all openings and not only first moves, but tried to work out developments also for middle of a game. Just a small example of his work is article (published in RW 61) about i/d 6 opening. I need to say that article is not for big audience, but for Vladimir himself, as typical renjuplayer can fall easily into complications during game, not deeply understanding position what was called “good”. So, advices in article are first of order to himself, as he was confidence about his understanding of position and his abilities. Conclusions made in article are not final, as Vladimir said, but opinion, what can change after more deep overlooking of positions. And remarkable is that most important conclusions during tournament changed. Vladimir wrote about 4th move in his article that Black has only 3 good 5th moves, but following possibilities found strong continuation in case of one more 5th move, using it against Purk in first round and getting win. After tournament ended he counted this 5th

already as Black advantage. For one more, already fifth 5th move Vladimir gave good advice for Maksim Karasyov, what helped Maksim to get winning position against Nakamura (to win the game Maksim, unfortunately was not able) One more remarkable fact – in his article Vladimir wrote that with all other 4th moves there are at least 4 winning 5th moves. Before tournament I told him about my doubts about two other 4th moves. Vladimir showed how to play after these moves, especially after indirect White pair closing Black pair. He offered 5th move going to same position with D4, later after White three in 6th move showed unexpected 11th move. But in the end of tournament Vladimir got some doubts about this move and stopped to play i/d6 in last rounds. Doubts were well-founded as showed my game with Oosumi in BT where I made recommended 5th move (Vladimir didnt reach to tell me about his doubts). Accordingly, most important conclusion of his article - 4th in article is best - was changed.

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I told about permanent shift of Vladimir's opinion in i/d 6 opening, but similar live process happened also in other openings. He permanently focused to development of huge number of new variants analysed till deep end of game. Surprised of such scale I was afraid about explosion, similar what happened with hero in “Chess Novel” written Stefan Zweig. And a kind of stretch Vladimir stumbled in final stage of tournament, starting with game against Taimla, where Vladimir left him win what Tunnet didnt use and later with 2 loses from Nakamura and Cao Dong. But fortunately 10 years way of Vladimir reached to deserved win. Without doubt, new opening rules used in championship were favourable for his win. It gave him possibility to use his analysing capabilities in huge number of new variants. I dont even want to think how everything could be with old opening rules. But his result in last Russian championship with old opening rules (2008) – 7 points (out of 7) with other openings except d11 and 0 (out of 3) with D11 are telling us much (Vladimir tried to find something interesting in D11)

Yamaguchi regulation let us possibility to play D11 with two alternative 5th moves. But in WC 2009 it was used very seldom. In AT D11 was played only twice from 66 games, one of them was quick draw between Chinese players in the first round and in other tournaments of WC this opening was not played often either. Openings D3, I5, D9 were not played in AT, in other tournaments of WC they were sometimes played. Participants showed good fighting spirit, number of alternative moves was big. I show statistics about 5th moves in AT tournament. Left column – number of suggested fifth moves, right – showing number of games where such offer took place.

1 3 2 2 3 14 4 21 5 10 6 15 7 1

As we see, average number of suggested 5th alternatives moves is bigger than 4. I explain it with players wishes to confuse opponents with variants prepared earlier. Most of playes thought that its much easier to do in new openings. By the way, even in AT several times happened, that player putting opening did not know correct 5th

moves himself, when opponent did not swap and put 4th move. There was no people willing to play well-known draw variants. This is honour to participants, though it do not decide problem of arise such players. At all, tournament games were attractive, thanks for freshness of new opening rules. But soon variants will be studied and freshness killed. This is why for me is so important to work out opening rules, what at time to time will give new variants, keeping all old ones. But it is subject of different discussion, I wont touch it more in this article.

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Important step, made in this tournament – this is rising in games very big number of alternative 5th moves. Before it there were discussions is it good or not, but step is made, while in World Championship. On boards often standed 5, 6 or sometimes even 7 alternatives moves. Participants didnt show any emotions in such situations. Only Aleksei Skuridin didnt hold himself and regularly made surprised face with big eyes, looking to board with many alternarnative moves. 7 alternative moves were offered 5 times (if I am not mistaken), 4 times by me in BT and once I pushed Maksim Karasyov to make it. In all those games i/d2 was offered. Total result in these games was 4-1 for Black, but could be also 5-0. Sushkov said confidently said, that he did not play i/d2 because he didnt count it correct – with 7 5th moves Black has advantage and he could not find 8th alternative in each variant. By the way, in i/d2 White has chance to defend thanks for orientation to the edge of board. I will try to characterise play of other participants in AT (about champion I have told enough) All players were rather strictly divided into 2 groups by final results. There was difference 2,5 points between 6th and 7th place – exactly like between 1-st and 6th

place and more than between 7th and 12th. At the same time Chinese players who reached into top 6 were not well-prepared (they did not know theoretical variants). For example, Cao Dong put d2 with only 5 alternative 5th moves and accepted very strong in game with Maksim Karasyov. Wu Di made losing 5th in game with Taimla. One more ethnic Chinese – Chen Ko Han also played some very weak 5th moves. So – fact that 2 Chinese still reached into top 6 shows about their high potential. Purk – according to Sushkov words – was also not very well prepared in openings, but compensated it with clever play. Legendary champion, 50 years old Nakamura often went to doubtful for White variants, as well as our Misha Kozhin (who was second old in AT, so quickly is flying time) It seems that after many years defending in positions with 2 alternative 5th moves veterans were thinking – against 4th, 5th or 6th by strength 5th moves we should somehow protect, but as we saw it was not always like that. Tunnet Taimla was better ready in opening stage. Also he sometimes liked to play “halyaavas” and was successful. For example – game Wu Di – Taimla was exactly same as game Kadulin-Taimla from Russian First League. Ondrej Nykl studied i4 for tournament and tenaciously played it in all games with 6 alternatives. It gave him win against Nakamura, not so big success in other games, but total 9th place – great result. Maxim Karasyov fought firmly and bravely, getting for that commendations from Meritee in internet-chat, but lack of experience didnt let him to win in some winning positions, among them with Nakamura and Cao Dong. Yet, 7th place for debutant of AT – success. To get for Russia national place in next AT helped Okabe, beating Nykl in last round. Okabe achieved place in zone ordinary for him, his playing level has established somehow in last years.

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Receiving 2 last places - Chen Ko-Han and Ono were objectively weaker of other AT participants. In WT Russia saved champion title, but honestly to say for that helped much Yulia's failure in QT. Strong competitors for her were Chinese girls, one of them was beaten by Yulia only by time. Exchampion Tatyana Kraeva gave much energy to get in to University and was not really ready for tournament. Its difficult to give easy answers why Yulia failed in QT and Konstantin Nikonov in BT. They were fighting in all games, but something lacked. Maybe reason was that they didnt have really “Sushkovian” preparation – for Yamaguchi rules. Championships were played in friendly atmosphere. Probably biggest incident was in game between Ukrainian girl Alyona Yakovleva and Chinese girl Yao Jinrui. Alyona made 9th move not by theory, it caused surprised face of Yao. Alyona was frightened by Yao's surprised face and automatically took her 9th stone off. Moment after that Alyona understood that she cant do it and put the stone back to same place. Miss Yao invited referee Alexey Skuridin, who tried to calm her down. Unfortunately later were was too much noise about Alyona's action in internet chat rooms, though it was just small episode of Women renju.

Beeing in Pardubice was very nice. Town gave calm feeling . Ponds with swans, many people with bicycles and silence. By the way, last one didnt concern to my living place, windows of what were to direction of biggest car fax of Pardubice. Opinion of russians who were not playing in AT is that in spite of friendly atmosphere in tournament A, there could be used some measures against unfair play. We dont think that anybody used help of other players, but in case of wish it could be done very easily. Very closed to tournament hall were moving players who already finished their games, analyzing games with help of programs. Next of AT room was computer class, were free participants and spectators could see world chat about games thanks for direct translation to internet. There was case, when among spectators was possible to hear rumors – in site of Blackstone was written that one of AT players has forced win (win was not used in real game) I repeat – there is no reason to suspect unfair behaviour, but in case of wish it could be done very easily.

Not right was also that referees often were busy with inputting games. Operative information for renju world is necessary – but with that should not work referees, but other people. Interesting – from big hall were 3 of 4 tournaments were played, blanks were often took for inputting games to internet without marking result to round protocol. So, sometimes renjuplayers in world knew already result of game, but players in playing hall coundt satisfy their natural curiosity And finally, about my play. I need to admit – I wanted to play better. To say that I didnt prepare – I cant , last period I have trained rather much. OK, till May I prepared and wrote article about i13, what is not actual with Yamaguchi rules.

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After that I analyzed also variants for Yamaguchi regulation, but did it quite superficially and fragmentary. In result home-prepared win to catch opponent to variant was only in one game of 16 (in BT with Lents), at the same time recently this rate have been much higher. Home loses could be several, but happened only one. So, biggest reason of failing – big number of bad moves. At the same time there was not small number of good moves, but level of opponents resistance was rather high. Even if they werent very well prepared and made mistakes, they fought till the end anyway. In Moscow tournaments its too often that for winning game I need to make only one good move or even no good moves at all. My 6 losses its possible divide into following groups:

− I didnt find decisive winning move (QT with Ono, BT with Lin Huang Yu)

- weak defence as White (QT against Lin Ting-Wei, BT against Yin) – at least 2 weak moves in each game.

- didnt see VCF, while trying to win (BT against Golosov)

- аdventurist entering to difficult variant (QT with Lu Wei-Yuan) – game was played in the first round, I had analyzed this variant, knew correct 9th and 11th

moves, but hoped that opponent will not make them.

But its not full list of my mistakes – there were also several in games I won. I introduce some most obvious:

− - missed win in 32th move against Laube (Laube gave me it back with his next move and later in last round in game with Lu Wei-Yuan exactly repeated my moves, but with correct end.

− - missed possibility to fast win on 14th move against Pajuste in QT.- missed possibility to get huge advantage on 11th move against Andersson (Andersson still lost after 19 moves)

Finally I show some of my games,having some theoretical value.

Тarannikov - Lents, BT, 6th

round. None makes such 5th, but its strong. Threat of White after move 14th will destroyed by Blacks counter. If 14-19, then

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25 22 24

21

20 23 5 27

18 17 11 7 15 16 13

2 3 12 26

1 10 19

4 6 9 8

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15-16, 17-m8 and threat of White is countered in line m . Karasyov played in offline game against me 6-10 and resigned after 7-7

Таrannikov - Оno, QT, 6th round

Both we had 3 points of 5 and only win left chances to enter into AT. This 6th move I analyzed at home. Earlier almost nobody played like that and who played lost quickly as White. I prepared strong continuation and planned it use against someone. But Ono chose White. “OK, I will use it later”, thought I and placed 5th moves. But Ono quickly and with tapping made same 6th what I wanted to use! I look to hall and see that on next table same 6th move is made by Nykl against Laube. Truly, with new opening rules ideas can easily fly! Laube answered with more natural 7th move 7-10 (in result they were playing game, what was on my board in the morning. I decided to not repeat 7th move made by Laube and played 7-7. But as it appeared this 7th move I analyzed superficially . Next day Sushkov told me that White can easily win after 8-11 9-10 10-i12. But analyse made by Ono was also not brilliant, as he immediately and with tapping stone played 8-8. After thinking I went variant till 15. Ono still continued to make moves fast and with tapping, but sound of tapping continuously became more silent. After 15 my opponent finally started to think and tried to neutralize my activity. After 25 position is passive for both players, but draw was also not enough for Ono, so he decided to sharp the game with 26?!? Now I got strong attack on left side.After 30 I took long thinking. It seems almost win, but disturbs either counter on line 4 either possible overline on line c.

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15 55 11 24

48 49 12 13 8 6 23

47 46 36 14 5 4 21 2 20

41 10 9 1 50 7 65

37 19 22 17 51 3 18 62

60 31 35 59 29 34 16 67 66 26 64 68

57 33 32 28 27 25 54 61 52

45 44 40 38 42 43 30 63 53

58 39

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a b c d e f g h i j k l m

Almost using my time, I make finally conceptual threat 31-31. After best defence 32 I make 2 threats more easier: 33 и 35.I count my win after 36-d7 and 36-d8 and I almost sure about my win. Move 36-36 I see, but even not count variants, as I am sure I can win somehow. But still, after long thinking, not having choice Ono make 36-36?! I have around 10 minutes left. Knowing, that I so arrogantly underestimated counting this move, disturbs to be calm. I try to find win by threes and it seems I found. Opponent will have own three and many potential fours. I carefully check if opponent has no VCF and go to variant. But – oh shit, he can make my winning point useless with playing fours. After I have foul point instead of win my position is hopeless of course. But I had win making fourth threat in a row 37-57. In that case 4 stones of threats could make square 2x2. But, after putting 3 threats, 4th was already not baiting. In last round, for fight to enter to AT Ono was playing with Karlsson and made same 6th move. But Stefan was very busy with his previous game and family and even didnt check what happened in other games. This is why White won quickly. Position after 12th was showed by me in diagram Most fightful for Black is shown variant here. But also here White, surrounding Black can hope for advantage in the end of game. So, thats why at the moment we can count

this 5th move as White advantage.

Таrannikov - Oosumi, BT, last 9th round.

Last round. My opponent already secured place in top three, but in case of win is winner of tournament. I had almost no chance for top three – bad coeffitsent. I put i2 with 7 alternatives. My result with such opening is 4 out of 4, even if it is with some adventures – bright spot in my perfomance in championship. Answering to his 4th I

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chose 7 of earlier prepared 8 moves. Finally I decided to not play 5-8 и and put 5-5,6,11,14,16,g10,j7. In the beginning of championship I prefered 5-8 instead of 5-5, but, listening recommendation from Sushkov – I couldnt be free of Sushkov's bewitchery. I made moves fast, following Sushkov's recommendation, including 11-11. Оosumi was thinking very long, summary more than hour, but finally making principal 12th. My order to think.

I think all my 2 hours, but cant find anything. Its impossible to win because of four on line f or foul in point j4. Finally my time is ending. I can do nothing, just start to put threes in last seconds of my thinking time (thanks, that there is Fisher 30 sec) And this time lack of time helped me – if I had more time, opponent probably could find correct moves, but now he automatically started to play quickly as well, particularly because his task was easy – just to close threes. After 27 it was better to stop three up 28-l7, but none saw either during game either during analyze after game that its impossible to make winning move to 29-j3 because of VCF to.foul 4x4 in point j7. After 29 seems so obvious to close three 30-30, but it was decisive mistake.. Correct was 30-32 32-l10 34-31 36-30, as also Oosumi admit after game. Now it was Black win after 31 After game and analyze, I waited end of Sushkov's game, result of what couldnt disturb him to come to champion, I congratulated Vladimir and asked about my game, what was wrong? Vladimir answered, that he lost win himself and this why he didnt play it more in the last rounds. But fact that Vladimir was finally champion, lucky end of my game and old sympathy against this position as Black after 5th move only boosted my feeling.

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Short message from editors of “Renju World magazine:

In current issue its possible to read some materials about Renju and Gomoku World Championships. Big thanks to Attila, who has made nearly half of magazine :), also to others who shared their comments, impressions and feelings. We will continue to publish WC materials in next number, what hopefully will born already in January. There will be articles about renju QT, AT and WT, interview with Mr. Nakamura and so on. Still any materials are welcome, especially comments of games from AT players. If you dont reach make them before January, dont lose hope, RW will continue and we publish it in future!

Friendly, Ants Soosõrv, member of editors team

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17 34

16 31 8

36 2 3 32

35 1 5 4 33 12

37 11 14 6 29

22 19 15 21 9 10 7

20 18 23 13 25 26

30 24 27

28

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