Dear Go Players,

Here are the full details of our coming tournament - NZ Open 2023. Let's spend a weekend with friends enjoying Go. Click HERE to register online.

I hope to see everyone there!  

 

2023 New Zealand Go Open - At Last!  

The 2023 New Zealand Open Tournament, will be held on the last weekend in November (25th & 26th) 

The tournament will be held in person and online. We are looking forward to a proper get together in beautiful Browns Bay, at the Southern Alps Retirement Living office this year. Hopefully most people will be able to come to the venue, however people will also be able to participate online, so long as they are New Zealand citizens or hold a permanent visa.

The tournament will have three divisions if we have sufficient entries

There are many good cafes in the township. We will have lunch together at one of them on Saturday - this is optional and the cost is NOT included in the entry fee. Lunch on Sunday will be provided and is included in the entry fee.

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

This tournament is sponsored by Southern Alps Retirement Living who provide high-quality retirement villages and lifestyle that culturally suits East Asian and Chinese-speaking elders in New Zealand. From the design and construction of the villages, daily operation, healthcare services to various recreational activities, we immensely integrate oriental cultures into our communities and create true happiness for the residents. A big thanks to David Wang and Southern Alps Retirement Living for providing a venue and prize money.

 

Divisions

Open: Our premier division.

Open to all, but only recommended for strong players. The winner becomes NZ Champion,  receives the trophy that goes along with the position, a nice little cash prize and, of course, the bragging rights.

Six rounds will be played. Three on Saturday and three on Sunday. May the best player triumph!

Division 2

For players not strong enough to compete in the Open division but who still want to test themselves with even games under the same conditions as the Open division players.

Handicap Division 

Sunday only. The emphasis in this division is on fun, so it is open to anyone -  Strong, weak and particularly beginners! Games will be fast and the handicaps should give everyone a reasonable chance. Strong players beware - handicaps can be large - for example, if you are 5 dan and your opponent 15 Kyu - that’s a 19 stone handicap!

Six rounds will be held on Sunday.

Handicap division players are welcome to attend on Saturday to watch - and maybe pick up a social game or two.

 

Venue

The Southern Alps office, 1/55 Clyde Road Browns Bay. This is the Browns Bay township, just behind the beach reserve, a beautiful location. Again, many thanks to Southern Alps Retirement Living and David Wang. 

 

Parking around the venue mostly has a 2hr limit. Best to park at New World or Woolworths supermarket.

 

Players outside of Auckland

It is always best we think to attend tournaments in person so that you can meet other players, talk, have meals together and so on. If you can come to Auckland - please do - and let us know if you need accommodation, probably we can find someone playing at the tournament that you can stay with instead of paying for a hotel or similar. However, so this is truely a New Zealand championship, if you cannot some to the tournament you can play remotely.

Anyone holding a New Zealand passport or permanent Visa is eligible - regardless of where they are resident.

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

OGS is the preferred server, however other servers can be used by mutual agreement.

Video recording of the remote players will be required and the game records must be sent to the tournament controller. Players must hold the video recordings for at least a week after the tournament ends so that they can be reviewed if questions are raised about behaviour and results.

Game records must be sent to the tournament organiser.

 

Players attending the venue

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 is much better as not everyone can bring their own devices.
• OGS will be the online Go server used. This runs in a browser, nothing needs to be installed on your device.
• A guest wifi network is available.

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

• Go to https://online-go.com/ to register and get a username if you have not already got one.

  

Entry Fee

Wow, complicated! Which division? Playing in person or remote?, Pre-registered or walked up? Earning or no income?

• Open Division and Division 2: 
• $25 if participating in person and pre-registered
• $5 more for people who don’t pre-register and just walk up on the day.
• $10 less if not earning. 
• $10 less if participating remotely
• Handicap division: 
• $10 if participating in person and pre-registered
• $5 more for people who don’t pre-register and walk up on the day.
• $5 less if not earning. 
• $5 less if participating remotely

Please register in advance and pay by bank transfer. (see Registration below for how to pay)

 

Prizes 

 

Prizes will go the the winner and runner up in each division also the 'Group 2' winner, possibly also the 'Group3' and Group4 winners.

Everyone has a chance of winning a prize if they do well! 
So that everyone in a division has a chance of winning a prize, after the first round we note the two groups - those who won, and those who lost their game. These are Group1 and Group2. The tournament winner will come from Group1, probably the runner up too. However the player from Group 2 who does best will also receive a prize. If there are enough people in the division - more than 12 - then we use the first two rounds and make four groups. These groups are for awarding prizes only and do not in any way affect how the draw is made during the tournament.

The Open winner will hold the NZGS champion's trophy for the coming year

All division winners and second place getters will receive an engraved trophy

All winners and runners up will receive a certificate and a cash prize  

Thanks again Southern Alps Retirement Living for providing prize money for this event

 

Conditions

The Open Division and Division 2 have 6 rounds, 3 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. 

• 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.
• Players from different cities will be matched where possible.

 

The Handicap Division has 6 rounds on Sunday. 

• 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.
• Players from different cities will be matched where possible.

 

Playing conditions

• New Zealand rules will be used.
  
  
• ‘Fisher’ time control will be used. In the Open division and Division 2 each player will start with 20 minutes and will gain an additional 20 seconds after each move they make. In the handicap division players will start with 5 minutes and gain an additional 5 seconds after each move they make.
• Most games have about 250 moves, 125 each. So in the Open division and Division 2, each player will have 20 minutes plus 125 x 20 seconds - 62 minutes in total. In the Handicap division players will have 5 minutes plus 125 x 10 seconds - 26 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 on OGS for your reference
  
  

 

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:  

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

 

Saturday (Open division and Division 2)

09:00 - 09:45 Registration

09:45 - 12:00 Round 1

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch at a nearby cafe

13:00 - 15:15 Round 2

15:15 - 17:30 Round 3

18:00 - Dinner at a nearby restaurant (optional)

 

Sunday (Open division and Division 2)

09:00 - 11:15 Round 4

11:15 - 12:00 New Zealand Go Society AGM

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch (Provided)

12:30 - 14:45 Round 5

14:45 - 17:00 Round 6

17:15 - 18:00 Prizegiving

 

Sunday (Handicap division)

09:45 - 10:25 Registration

10:25 - 11:15 Round 1

11:15 - 12:00 New Zealand Go Society AGM

12:00 - 12:45 Lunch (Provided)

12:45 - 13:35 Round 2

13:35 - 14:25 Round 3

14:25 - 15:15 Round 4

15:15 - 16:05 Round 5

16:05 - 16:55 Round 6  

17:15 - 18:00 Prizegiving

 

Dinner on Saturday

This is optional and not included in the entry price. For those who to join, we will have dinner together at a nearby restaurant on Saturday night

 

Contacts and Registration

If you have any questions, or trouble registering, please contact one of the organisers

• Colin Grierson Ph 022 1656413 Email coling3a@gmail.com
  
• Chris Ding Email secretary@go.org.nz
  
  

Registration

Please register and pay your entry fee well in advance so we can get as much as possible organised before the tournament starts.

• If you don’t register in advance you can still come along and register on Saturday morning - but the tournament entry fee will be $5 more.

 

Click here to register online. If you can’t do this please send details to Chris - secretary@go.org.nz

• Your name
• Your playing strength/NZGS Number if you have one
• Which division you want to play in
• Your 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

 

To pay your entry fee please transfer the money to 03-0149-0095693-000 or if you are overseas it might be easier to send it to Paypal account secretary@go.org.nz. 

• Important! Put your name on the bank transfer reference so we know who has paid. Or in Paypal add your name as a comment.

You can also pay by cash when you arrive, but paying in advance will make registration on the day easier.

 

That’s it. I hope to see you at the tournament.

 

Sincerely Chris Ding

NZGS Secretary 

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