New Moves, Not Trick Moves: “In his September 20 New In Print 2010 round-up, Roy Laird suggests that Alexander Dinerchtein’s New Moves (Slate and Shell) is about trick plays,” writes Slate and Shell publisher Bill Cobb. “This is not an accurate description of most of the moves in New Moves. In most cases, Alex and Younggil An agree that the moves are perfectly legitimate, not ‘swindles’. That is, the player of the new move does not think that there is a “refutation” that would make the move a bad one. Just the opposite; they think that most of the moves are good, solid new ideas and that there is a legitimate and even response. The advantage the player may get is that if the opponent is unfamiliar with the move, he may make a mistake. However, if he is familiar with the move, or a strong player, the ‘instigator’ of the move does not suffer a loss. As Sensei’s Library points out, ‘A trick play, or attempted swindle, attempts to entice the opponent into playing an ‘obvious’ response which yields a poor result for her. If answered correctly, the result will typically be worse for the instigator of the trick than if he had played correctly.’”
Slow Games from Germany: Responding to a recent EJ classified looking for slow games on KGS (KGS Slow Games Wanted 9/13 EJ), our old friend Martin Stiassny, President of the European Go Federation, suggests “Ask players in Germany, we play very serious games once a month on KGS in Germany in the ‘Bundesliga’, about 600 players, all ranks, thinking time 60 minutes and 15/5 Canadian byoyomi. Look at ‘Deutsche Ecke’ on KGS; if you enter the chat and ask for players who want serious slow games I’m sure you will get some positive answers. More information at www.dgob.de and then ‘”bundesliga’ on the left.”
