2015 Australian Digital Tournament

This was a first-class tournament of the Australian Go Association. If you are an Australian player, it affects your national rating, earns you international representative points, the whole ball of wax. If you are a New Zealand player, it's a fun chance to crush Australian go players in an international tournament. It was the first one from either country held on the internets, it was free, and it was not in real time. Rules are at the bottom of the page. Timetable was as follows:

• Entry closed Sunday 30 August, 2015.
• Round 1 - Tuesday September 1 to Sunday September 6
• Round 2 - Tuesday September 8 to Sunday September 13
• Round 3 - Tuesday September 15 to Sunday September 20
• Round 4 - Tuesday September 22 to Sunday September 7
• Round 5 - Tuesday September 29 to Sunday October 4
• Winner will be published Monday October 5, 2015 and announced at the Australian National Go Championships in Brisbane, December 5 to 6.

The celebrity guest tournament umpire is An Younggil 8p, the professional-in-residence at the Sydney Go Club. We reserved the right to have him adjudicate or re-examine any game for any reason at any time. The tournament director was Horatio Davis of the AGA (horatio@go.org.au, "ahd" on KGS and OGS). Questions, complaints, concerns and of course tournament match results to Horatio.

No cash prizes, which was why the entry fee was $0. That will change for 2016.

• The first place champion in the Open Division gets a free entry to the 2016 Australian Go Congress in Sydney, January 23 to 26, 2016.
• The first place competitor in the Second Division gets a free entry to the 2016 Australian National Go Championship in Brisbane, December 5 to 6, 2015.
• The first place competitor in the Third Division gets a free entry to the 2016 Australian National Go Championship in Brisbane, December 5 to 6, 2015.

Open Division

Second Division - 4k Or Stronger

Third Division - Handicap, Up To 4k Strong

Rules

• Five rounds of online go, starting on Tuesday the first of September, 2015, one round per week.
• The draw for each round will be sent out by email on the Monday.
• Sometime between Tuesday and Sunday you and the player you're drawn against play a game on on KGS in the Australia Room.
• Figure out where and when you play by talking to your opponent; their email address and KGS username for PMing is above.
• If it were me, I'd play them on Friday evening in the Australia Room on KGS, but that's just because I'm too lazy to figure out a fresh time every week. You can play anytime during the round.
• If you and your opponent agree to play on OGS, IGS, Tygem instead, go do that.
• If the two of you do not agree where else to play, it is KGS. If you don't have a KGS account, you forfeit the match.
• Time limits will be at least 60 minutes main time per player, plus 5 x 30 seconds byoyomi. This may be increased by mutual agreement.
• Open division: colour will be set by the draw, all games even handicap, 6.5 points komi to white.
• In the second and third divisions: colour and handicap stones will be set by a draw, 0.5 points komi to white (except even games, then 6.5 points komi to white).
• Japanese scoring and Japanese rules. Superko is a draw (adjudicated by the tournament referee).
• After the game, email the game record to the tournament director (horatio@go.org.au). The game record is in the KGS Archives page under your user name. If you didn't play on KGS, find where to "download the SGF file" for the game and email me that.
• Escaping is an instant forfeit of the round. If you don't know what escaping is, good.
• Failing to play the round is a forfeit for the both of you. If your opponent is not cooperating, I had better be cc:'d on the emails that prove this.
• Game results for each round will be collected by the tournament director on Sunday evening (after 6pm, because you might need the time to finish your round), and then the next round will be drawn on Monday.
• Entry is open to any Australian or New Zealand player.
• Australians should be an Australian Go Association member; ask your go club if they have taken care of this for you, or sign up online. I'll probably check at the end of the tournament.
• New Zealand players should be NZGS members, but I'm not going to check.
• We will use Australia ranks, or conversions of your rank to this.