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1st Hawkes Bay Go Tournament
From go.org.nz
The genesis of the 1st ever Hawkes Bay Go Tournament, can be traced to a crazy idea of John Chen, Hawkes Bay businessman and member of the organizing committee of the first Chinese Cultural Festival to be held on Monday 8th March. John is a go player, but as far as he knew, he and his friend Tony Chen (no relation) were the only players in the region. He suggested to the committee, as you do when you’re a go player (!), that running a go tournament might be a good way of demonstrating this aspect of Chinese culture at the Festival.
A game between John and Tony might have been sufficient to accomplish this purpose, but John was looking for something more impressive. After all, the Chinese ambassador was to be in town and it was important to put on a good show. John contacted Du Shiyong, and suggested bringing some players down from Auckland. The Wellington embassy was also contacted. If a tournament could be run John would put up some prize money, the ambassador would present the prizes on Monday, and go would be the winner! The committee assented and offered its support, although under what conditions remains murky!
At about that stage, John discovered another go player in the Hawkes Bay (the author) and with some serious arm twisting he had a local assistant to help run the tournament. But would the players come?
The author set about maximizing publicity for the event and spread the word amongst NZ go players, set up a go story in the local rag, and arranged to demonstrate the game at the Hastings International Cultural Festival on Saturday 6th March all with the aim of arousing enough interest in go to form a nucleus of people for a go club in the Bay after the tournament.
The tournament was to have been staged at the Te Aro Hau school, but a switch of venues on Sunday was necessitated by the requirements of a church group for the room on Sunday morning. The Singapore restaurant in Napier proved to be a happy alternative as it solved the Sunday lunch catering admirably.
The fact that players were unable to spend Monday at a tournament, meant no presentation of prizes by the ambassador. But a go presence at the Chinese Cultural festival was to be maintained with a simultaneous match by the Chinese professional player Jiang Guo Zhen 6P who would travel down from Auckland with the other players. In the event, the turnout of players from out of town was phenomenal. Nine players arrived from Auckland as well as three from Wellington and one from Palmerston North. Five local players rounded out an even 18, a respectable number for a local tournament in NZ.
The favourite for the tournament was Ge (Kevin) Liu 6D, current NZ Open champion and winner of the Wellington tournament in November. He had not lost a game in NZ. Long Yang Li 5D also looked like being a strong threat as well as Zhou Juhua and Ken Xie, all from Auckland. William Nash from Palmerston North had good from in the Wellington tournament (3rd place) and Manda Wang, Scientific attaché with the Chinese embassy and Chahine Koleejan, both from Wellington were obviously strong contenders but with no form in NZ tournaments. Graeme Parmenter (4D), roused from go slumber by the outbreak of go madness in his neighborhood was the local hope. With Jiang Guo Zhen 6P installed as honorary referee, the tournament kicked off at 6pm on Saturday. It was also great to see Tong Too, President of HB Chinese Association, come along to welcome players.
The first round produced a surprise result when Chahine, who has only been playing for 1.5 years (Vortex on KGS), beat Ken Xie, NZ’s next representative at the WAGC. Even more of a shock was the loss by Ge to Juhua, when a clock mix-up led to a technical KO (no that’s not a big ko!). Juhua was tripped up by Ken in the third round, leaving Chahine as the only player on three wins. In round 4, Chahine lost to LongYang, leaving five players on 3 points going into the last round. Ge beat Chahine, Long Yang squeaked a 4-pointer against Graeme, and Juhua beat William, leaving those three on 4 wins. SOS could not separate JuHua and Long Yang so they were awarded joint first. Ge was 3rd, Chahine was a very creditable 4th and Ken 5th. So the old guys carried the day against the young guns!
Prizes were presented on behalf of the sponsor Eastern Rock Enterprises by John Chen who distributed the honour of handing them to winners to assembled dignitaries including Napier City councillor Maxine Boag, and long serving president of the NZGS Michael Taler, the latter appearing mysteriously in time for the fantastic lunch prepared by the Singapore Chinese Restaurant on Sunday. Maxine included comment on the game in her Wednesday FM radio spot, a reflection on the Chinese cultural festival activities and the contribution of Chinese culture to NZ society.
Half a dozen local players who were able to stay after the tournament were treated to a simultaneous match by Jiang Guo Zhen 6P, who on Monday, repeated the exercise for the benefit of those attending the Chinese Cultural Festival. Although the ambassador did not put in an appearance at the go tables, there were a couple of local reporters recording events and we look forward to an increased awareness of the game in the Hawkes Bays and a healthy new go club in the years ahead.
Thanks to the Jiang Guo Zheng 6P, professional go player, teacher and referee. Eastern Rock Enterprises, the principal sponsor. The Chinese Cultural Festival committee for organizational assistance. Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Ara Hou for the tournament venue. The Singapore Restaurant, for the venue Sunday and catering. The New Zealand Go Society for equipment and publicity. And thanks to John Chen for having that Go Kichi gene!
