Sign Up - WSC 2024
March 1st - March 31st
This is our 3rd year running this event! Like in previous years, the goal is to play 100 rated games in a month! This event is designed to encourage more activity on the server and to help players get over any rank anxiety they may have. Don’t worry about de-ranking, losing, or performing badly. Simply play and have fun!
Games will take place on OGS and no where else. My reason for doing this is due to me being able to access the API for everyone’s games. I counted games manually one year and I never want to do that again! lol
This year my focus will be to support the auto match buttons on OGS’s play page. As the goal is to play 100 games and reduce match pressure, the focus will be on the Blitz auto match button. I will also be encouraging the three main board sizes, 9x9, 13x13, and 19x19. My feelings on this are, we don’t always have time for a full 19x19 game but we still want to play a game of Go. Small boards are great for quick matches. Many players use Go Quest and Baduk Pop for these same reasons. The 100 games will be size specific, but I will have a Grand Slam category for those who play 100 games on each size.
The settings for the games will be as follows…
All games must be ranked.
Chinese Rules (Encouraged but optional)
9x9
Byo-yomi 1m+3x10
Fischer 20s+10s up to 30s
Canadian 1m+5m/30
13x13
Byo-yomi 3m+4x10
Fischer 20s+10s up to 30s
Canadian 3m+5m/30
19x19
Byo-yomi 5m+5x10
Fischer 30s+10s up to 30s
Canadian 5m+5m/30
While these settings can be made in custom, again I would like to encourage the use of the auto match buttons to support this feature on OGS. If you do make a custom game, please use these exact time settings as that is what my API will search for.
I encourage Chinese rules for the simple fact of it doesn’t punish newer players for trying things out. I always recommend my students to play out what they don’t understand. That is how we learn! But some rules sets will punish us for it. So in my opinion, I think this rule set is best for most.
Lastly, I would like to encourage everyone to allow handicap to be automatic. I know a lot of people may not like this setting, but my reasons are as follows. Many players do not know what to do with a large handicap. This is because it is exclusively fighting, so no opening preparation will help you. (Mostly) Again I want to push players out of their comfort zone to just enjoy the game and the unknown. Make mistakes and see what happens! This also drastically increases the player pool that you will have access to. A 15k facing a 6k will almost certainly lose. But with a 9 stone handicap, who knows what will happen! By allowing yourself the ability to lose to more people, I truly believe you will have a more fun experience if you allow yourself.
Side story: I played my wife on a 6x6 to test out some board sizes and I lost! We have a 15 rank gap! But we both had more fun with it than we would have on a traditional size.
In conclusion, I truly wish for everyone to have a great experience and remember that Go is a game to be played and enjoyed. It doesn’t need to be serious 100% of the time. I wish you all the most fun and exiting games for the month!
I will remove it.