Frequently Asked Questions - 2020 Australian Digital Go Tournament

Who are the organisers?

The umpire (Australian national coach, An Younggil 8p), director (Horatio Davis 1k, Brisbane), and a stalwart group of volunteers.

Do I have to do what they tell me to?

The tournament director's decisions are final, including decisions about which of the things on this page need updating in light of whatever you've surprised him with, and what the result was / what else you need to do for your match this round. The draw in the tables above? He drew it. The director will at all times take the advice and expert answers given by the tournament referee very seriously, but honestly, Younggil is a professional and this is a volunteer gig, the tournament director is the one stuck spending hours running it, not the referee; we can't possibly pay Younggil enough to do tournament directing.

What server do I play on?

The Online Go Server, or KGS Go Server, because the tournament organisers are familiar with them and it is easy to download the SGF game record and email it to us, and it is easy for us to check the result.

What game settings should we use?

Australian standard: Byoyomi time, at 60 minutes main time plus 3x30 seconds byoyomi, Japanese (territory) scoring and counting, situational superko, jigo are draws, komi is 6.5 points to white (even games) or 0.5 points to white if black has handicap stones. Colour is specified in the draw. No nigiri. Set your game to public and save a copy of the SGF for us.

What handicap?

Handicap division games will have a number of stones listed and komi to white (0.5 points). Open division games, and even games in the handicap division, have komi of 6.5 points to white and no handicap stones. Stones, if any, will be given at one stone per one difference in rank, up to nine stones. "White no komi" is a thing, meaning the white player is exactly one (adjusted) rank higher than the black player, so only the minimum 0.5 points komi to white.

How strong am I? Which rank do I use?

Player strength (for handicaps and draw order) is measured as equivalent Australian rankings. OGS compiled a more comprehensive table of equivalences in 2018 - Australian ranks are generally one stone stronger than Japanese. If in doubt, ask your club president, or at least give as an OGS or KGS or IGS rank. The tournament director's judgement is final as to what rank you play as.

How do they tell who won the tournament? What if two of us won the same number of games?

Australian standard tournament scoring: wins are worth 1 point, ties and draws and byes are worth half a point, losses and forfeits (not showing up or breaking the rules) worth zero points. Winners are by how many points you scored, ties broken by Sum of Opponents' Scores, and then by Sum of Defeated Opponents' Scores, and then by which of you defeated the other in the round where you played.

What kind of tournament draw is it?

The draw is a progressive Swiss (each time you lose a round you get one more handicap stone next round). The first round uses slaughter pairing: ordering from strongest to least strong, divide the order in half, first half plays corresponding players in second half. In subsequent rounds, they compute your adjusted point score (wins etc as above) and order you by that, pairing adjacent players in the order for a game. If several players have had the same number of wins (etc) and have the same points, they can be ordered by strength, or by random, and then pairing continues as per. This is the standard Australian practice. We will not randomise the draw for players of equal score until the fourth round.

Wait, progressive Swiss?

Ayup. Blame Neville Smythe, he wrote it into the AGATHA software we are using to run the tournament.

That doesn't look like it's Swiss paired everybody in my division. What's with the chunks?

In order to minimise pain and unnecessary suffering, we stuck a McMahon bar in the middle of your division. For the first few rounds it will pair players above the bar with each other (instead of, say, slaughter pairing a sixth kyu with a 25th kyu and only nine stones handicap) and pair players below the bar with each other. The effect will fall off after round 4. You get above the bar by beating everyone below the bar.

Can we play our round as a correspondence game instead?

Yes, if both of you agree. Play on OGS or DGS and use no time controls, other settings as above. Get it done within the week, plzkthx?

Can we play our round in person instead?

If you and your opponent can play on a real board this week, sure. We expect an email from each of you with the result, and somebody gives us a game record. If recording the game while you play it is too hard, play online on your phones while hanging out. Same face-to-face fun and coffee opportunities, less pain. There are no time limits required for a match in person.

Can we play on other servers?

Yes, if both you and your opponent agree. IGS and Tygem, of course. Dragon Go Server if you can finish the correspondence game before Saturday evening. Any other server is alright provided there is a game record.

What if we cannot agree on a server?

Then your game will be on the Online Go Server.

What if we cannot agree on a time?

Not playing because you couldn't agree when to play is an automatic fail. Both of you forfeit.

My opponent isn't here! Now what?

Look, if your opponent doesn't show up, email me at the time you expect them and they didn't show, and wait for a reasonable time - at least as long as the game scheduled. It is expected that if your opponent tries really hard to show up or has a good reason to fail, that you will show some flexibility and arrange another time with them. If your game got surprise cancelled, try to play your match again later. In return, they are expected to tell you ASAP if they aren't going to make it, and bend over backwards to make a convenient time. If that isn't happening, and they don't turn up at the original time, they forfeit and you win the point. The decision of the tournament director as to what happens with the points is final.

Only one of us sent you the result. Oops?

We will remind you on Saturday. We will remind you again Sunday evening. If you still haven't done the right thing and emailed us to tell us if you won, we will use our best judgement and award the point as we see fit.

When do we have to send you the results?

By midnight on Sunday, Brisbane time. Not sending us the results in time is an automatic fail.

Do I have to send you the game record? You can take my word for it, right?

No. One of you emails us an SGF or other game record. The other one emails us also and says what the result is; or at least gets CC'd on the email with the result. If we don't get both, we don't believe you.

My game was interrupted! My internet broke/their internet broke/the server broke/my phone broke/the zombies broke the door down/the plague took me while we were playing!

That's not really a question. But the answer is: if your game is interrupted, try to play your match again later. You still must get it done within this week.

I have a dispute about my game?

Tell the tournament director, who will give you a ruling or have the tournament umpire do so. See below.

Cool, a celebrity guest umpire! How does the umpiring work?

He probably won't be online watching your game. Because you haven't told him when it was, and why would you? But you will supply us with a record of your game, or for KGS/OGS the game number so we can get the game record. Any suspect or disputed games will be shown to the umpire for analysis and adjudication, and we reserve the right to take whatever action we see fit based on what he tells us. He can also be asked to adjudicate correspondence games that have run out of time, if the tournament director can't.

You seem really hung up on these SGF game records. Why?

Good practice for one, the Sydney Go Club's professional in residence wants to review some of them for another, but most of all we just don't trust you. All the games, we won't be able to watch them, that's the whole point. So we expect both of you to report in after the game, and at least one of you (preferably both!) to send us the game record. OGS and KGS make it easy to download an SGF of a previous game from your game history. DO IT.

Can I have help?

No, no computer programs, no stronger players or friends helping you, just you by yourself playing your opponent. The tournament umpire is an eighth dan Korean professional and can tell. Material cases of cheating will be referred to your national go association for action.

What if I can't play a round?

If you are overseas or AFK or sick or have exams that week, you forfeit your round and your opponent gets a point. It's okay. There are six other rounds.

Can we use Fischer time or other time?

Fischer time and other systems are worthy, but it's not what Australian tournaments use, so, no.