Blocat in trafic? Fa-ti cumparaturile :)

mai 9, 2008 by Constantin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Divertisment, Economie, Internet 

Orice bucurestean stie cum arata traficul intr-o zi obisnuita in zona Unirii. Ti-ar place ca in timp ce astepti ca semaforul sa se faca verde sa-ti poti face cumparaturile?

O idee pe care as caracteriza-o drept geniala au avut cei de la www.comenziintrafic.ro:

Noi suntem cei care va vor face cumparaturile de acum inainte cat timp dumneavoastra stati in coloanele din trafic. Ne-am infiintat pentru ca am studiat timpul de stat intre semafoare si am observat ca este suficient de lung cat sa avem timp sa va preluam comenzile de cumparaturi, sa le cumparam si sa vi le si livram la urmatorul semafor.

Deocamdata ne gasiti intre semafoarele de la Tineretului si Unirii. Preluam comanda la Tineretului si va aducem cumparaturile la Unirii. Si mai avem agenti intre semafoarele de la Natiunile Unite si Unirii. De asemenea, preluam cumanda de la Natiunile Unite si livram la Unirii.

Nota 10 pentru abordare :)

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How to make European tournaments more attractive?

mai 3, 2008 by Constantin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Go 

Va prezint azi un articol scris de Alexander Dinerchtein pentru IGN “Goama”.

How to make European tournaments more attractive?

Nowadays in Europe we have a very big problem. Top European players are not active at all and it’s hard to see them playing in Go tournaments. Most of European leaders are regularly teaching and playing Go on KGS, but they take part in maximum 2-3 offline tournaments a year. What is the main problem? We have tournaments with attractive prizes – 1000-3000 Euro for the first places, but European players ignore them. Usually it’s necessary to pay travel expenses, food and hotel, but they know that Chinese and Korean ex-inseis or professionals will come too and take all the prizes.
Here is the recent example. Paris Go tournament with 10 from 10 top places, occupied by Asian ex-inseis and professionals: http://paris2008.jeudego.org/?page=resultat

It’s a pity, but it’s true that Fan Hui, Cho Seokbin, Hong Seolki and other Asians are stronger than most of European 6-7 dans.

The problem was not so big in the past. Yes we had active Asian players, staying in Europe: Yoo Chongsu, Lee Hyuk, Guo Juan, Park Sangnam. They were also stronger than most of Europeans, but they did not play in ALL tournaments.

I counted the number of official tournaments, played by Cho Seokbin, 7-dan : 14 in 2007 and 20 in 2006! He won almost all of them!

Most of regular tournaments in Europe have good first prizes, but the prizes for 2-3rd places are not big enough for attracting European players – even whose who lives in these countries. As a result we see top Asian players competing with local 3-4 dan players. For example:
http://www.europeangodatabase.eu/Tournament_Card.php?&key=T071124B&pin=13833930

Top German players, such as Gerlach, Dickhut, Teuber, Felix_von Arnim and Marco Firnhaber ignored their home event. The handicap between Cho Seokbin and local 3-4 dan German players must be at least 3-4 stones and their not-handicap games are usually boring. Europeans lose them in first 50-100 moves. Nowadays it’s popular to broadcast the games on IGS or KGS and such games are not attractive, of course, for spectators. The game between Asians and top Europeans (Shikshin, Pop, Zeist, Balogh, Bajenaru …) are much more interesting, but we may see them only once a year during the European Go Congress.

I suggest changing the current system of European tournaments and making more invitational events for 8-16 players. They have lot of similar tournaments in chess – Linares or Veik-an-Zee, for example. Usually they invite several top players by rating, extravagant players with impressive playing styles, famous veteran players, probably one female master. The organizers invite one or two young players from the hosting country. If there is a B-league open to everyone, like in Veik-an-Zee, they invite the winners of such event from the previous year.

Such tournaments are usually very impressive and we can see lot of interesting games. All participants play each other and it’s usually possible to avoid any SOS/SODOS based problems, which we often see in Mac-Mahon. Also young and talented players are getting their chances of playing and learning something from European leaders – it’s a very important thing.

Just imagine such an event: Moscow, Russia -2009, invitational round tournament for 8 players.
1-2 – Fan Hui and Cho Seokbin as best Asians. 3 – Ilya Shikshin as European champion. 4- Matthew Macfadyen, representing veteran players. 5-6 – Kulkov and Lazarev as best players of hosting country. 7- Diana Koszegi as the only female. 8- Artem Kachanovskij as the European champion under 18. They will play 7 games each and I am sure that all of these games will be attractive. Lot of players will watch such translations on KGS.

I don’t think that we need lot of tournaments for kyu players. Just 3-4 events per year will be enough. They can learn a lot from books or private lessons, practice in local Go clubs or by internet.
It’s much easier to organize an event for 8-16 players, instead of 50-150, which we usually see in Europe. It’s possible to save time and money by renting smaller playing halls, inviting fewer referees, bringing less drinks and equipment. Saved money can be used for paying expenses for invited players and enlarging the prizes.

I am also sure, that these tournaments will be more attractive for sponsors. If the sponsor plays Go, we may ask him to choose the players himself or invite 1-2 of his favorite masters.

Parerea mea?
Suna interesant un turneu de felul celui prezentat de Alexander, dar sa vezi 3-4 concursuri pe an pentru jucatorii de nivel kyu imi suna aiurea rau de tot. Pentru un jucator de kyu, un ritm adecvat mi se pare de un concurs pe luna, mai putine ar reduce experienta, mai multe ar acumula oboseala. Desigur, poti invata din carti, poti juca amicale cu prietenii, poti juca pe IGS/KGS sau alte variante, dar nimic, repet, nimic nu se compara cu experienta pe care o capeti in concursuri live, la tabla, fata in fata cu partenerul tau, sa simti tensiunea si presiunea.

Parerea voastra? Astept comentariile indiferent de rangul vostru :)

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