Dear Go Players,

The Chinese Weiqi Association has invited New Zealand to send a team of 3 children (7 to 18 years old) and one team leader to the 2nd Quzhou International Friendly Children Amateur Weiqi Invitational Tournament, which will be held in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province from November 17, 2024 to November 22, 2024. 

Air fares to the tournament are 50% subsidised for the competitors and 100% paid for the team leader. All expenses once in China are paid.

Full details of the tournament are in the attached documents.

Entries have to be sent by October 18 so we will have a qualifying tournament on October 13 to determine our team. All children, who are New Zealand citizens or a New Zealand residency visa and who are aged between 7 and 18 (as at the 17th of November) are eligible*.

* We sent a team to the first of these tournaments, which was held last year. In order that the honour and fun of attending these tournament is shared, the NZGS committee decided people cannot attend this tournament more than once every 5 years - except for the qualifying tournament winner, who can attend twice. 

The qualifying tournament will be held in Auckland on Sunday the 13th of October. Players outside of Auckland can play remotely using OGS (the Online Go Server)

Click here to register online.

 

Qualifying tournament details

The qualifying tournament will be held in Auckland on the 13th of October. 

The tournament will start at 9am and continue until early afternoon.

Playing in person is recommended, especially for people living in Auckland. However if you cannot come to the venue you can play remotely using OGS 

The venue will be the SASIT building on the corner of Gt South Rd and Woodbine Rd in Greenlane, Auckland.

There is no entry fee

Players can pay $15 to share pizzas for lunch or bring their own lunch 

Coffee, tea, fruit and other snacks will be available throughout the tournament 

The tournament will have one division, three or four rounds will be played depending on the number of entries. 

 

Playing remotely

We think it is best to attend tournaments in person so that you can meet other players, talk, eat together and so on. If you can come to the venue - please do so. If you need accommodation in Auckland please let us know - probably we can find someone you can stay with instead of paying for a hotel or similar. However, so that this tournament is available to everyone, if you cannot come to the tournament venue you can play remotely instead.

Games will be ‘real time’ - with the same schedule as for people at the venue.

The Online Go Server, OGS, will be used. This runs in a browser, nothing needs to be installed on your device.

• If you have not already got an OGS user name, register with the OGS server at https://online-go.com/ 

• Please contact us if you need help

The game records, or a link to them, must be sent to the organiser.

Tournament organisation and communications will be done using our Discord server.

• If you have not got a logon, use this link, and accept the invitation to Discord.   Under the ‘2024 2nd Quzhou International Children Qualifying’ category the ‘general’ channel will be used for tournament communications.

 

 Players attending the venue

The tournament will be held at the SASIT building, Greenlane, corner of Gt South Rd & Woodbine Ave. 

Entrance is on Woodbine Ave, press the doorbell for entry, go upstairs and turn right. 

Parking is available on Woodbine Ave. 

Please bring a laptop or tablet that can be used for matches with remote players.

• If you do not want others to use your device that is fine, but if others can use it that would be great as not everyone can bring their own device.

• OGS will be the online Go server used. This runs in a browser, nothing needs to be installed on your device.

• Everyone, even people coming to the venue, need to be able to play online as people at the venue may be matched against people playing remotely.

• If you have not already got an OGS user name, register with the OGS server at https://online-go.com/ 

• Please contact us if you need help 

 

Entry Fee

There is no entry fee 🙂 

 

Selection of Representatives 

The top three eligible players will be invited to become our team.

Ranking will be by number of wins, direct comparison and SOS.

• Direct comparison is using the result of the game between two players

• SOS is the sum of the scores of a player’s opponents

Players are eligible if they have not represented New Zealand in this tournament within the last 5 years - except for the tournament winner, who can have represented New Zealand once in the last 5 years.

If an invited player declines the invitation the player with the next highest result will be invited.  

 

Conditions

There will be 3 or 4 rounds depending on the number of entries

A Swiss draw will be used. 

No two players will meet more than once.

Players on the same score will be matched in each round as far as this is possible. 

New Zealand rules will be used.

‘Fisher’ time control will be used. In the Open division and Division 2 each player will start with 15 minutes and will gain an additional 15 seconds after each move they make. 

• Most games have about 250 moves, 125 each. So each player will have 15 minutes plus 125 x 15 seconds - approximately 45 minutes in total.

• We are using Fisher time control because:

• It is more forgiving when you run short of time (you can play a few fast moves and get some time back) 

• It does not have the abrupt change of conditions that happens now when you go into byo-yomi. 

• It stops people from taking longer than the time scheduled for a round, which can happen with our traditional time controls.

• Here's a screenshot of the OGS game settings to use for remote games
  
  So that organisers can check the game record, be sure NOT to tick the ‘Private’ option 

 

Accommodation:

People coming from outside of Auckland are invited to stay with local players. Please let us know well in advance if you want to do this.

 

Timetable:  

Please arrive before 8:45 so we have time to complete registration and make the draw.

The first round will start shortly after 9am

The second round will start about 10 minutes after the first round finishes

Lunch will follow the second round

The third round starting time will be announced at the start of lunch

If a fourth round is needed it will start about 10 minutes after the third round finishes

 

Contacts and Registration

If you have any questions, or trouble registering, please contact Kevin Liu 021-02448272 (gliu389@gmail.com) 

 

Registration

Click here to register online. If you can’t do this please send details to Kevin Liu (gliu389@gmail.com) 

• Your name

• Your playing strength/NZGS Number if you have oneYour contact details - Phone, Email and address

• If you will be playing in person or remotely

• Your OGS user name

• If you are coming to the venue can you bring a laptop or tablet that can be used for remote games?

• If you need accommodation in Auckland

• If you are a New Zealand citizen or if you hold a permanent New Zealand visa (we need this information for calculating our points table for international tournaments)

• Any special requirements that you have

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