UPDATED - Important Information on Pair Go & Blitz:

Hello players,

For those who will be participating in pair go, please be in the Canadian room on KGS at 1pm (ET).

Blitz games will run from 2pm to 5pm (ET), please head onto the 'Canadian Go Open Tournament 2020' group on OGS to participate.

Best of luck!

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UPDATED - Important Tournament Details:

Hello players,

Welcome to the 2020 Canadian open main tournament!  We're very excited so many of you have decided to participate, it should be a great event!  There are many technical details that need to be covered so everything runs smoothly.

First off, we have received payment from most of you, but there are still some payments pending.  If you haven't paid yet the payment is now 25$ (unless you had technical issues paying, then we will still accept the original 20$ fee if you attempted to pay by Monday the 19th).  There will be some of you who can no longer join the tournament.  If you are only missing one round or one day then you can let us know and take a bye for the round(s) you will miss.  But if you can no longer join the main tournament we would much appreciate it if you logged in to the CGA site, selected the Canadian open event, and clicked "DeRegister".  There will be another email with the latest payment status tomorrow or Friday.  You need to have completed payment to be paired into round 1.

Prizes

There will be a champion's prize of 500$, 250$ for second place, and 150$ for third.  Beyond that we will be awarding medallions throughout the groups, as well as some small cash prizes for divisional champions.  The medallions will be mailed out after the event (and there will be some time to get names printed on them) so please be patient on this. 

The open division will accept players 5D+ in playing level.  For players who are ranked 5D the choice to play in the top group is optional.  5 Dan players please reply to this email with your choice to play in the top group.  Players from the top group will still be paired with the other 5D's, but not for the first two rounds (or possibly 3 with this large field).

Demo sessions (IMPORTANT!):

First off, players should go to OGS, create their account, and log in.  They should then go to the "Canadian Go Open 2020" group and select "Join Group".

Then you are ready for Baduk Club.  Go to https://beta.baduk.club/mac/ca-open .  This is the specific "Baduk club" event page for the Canadian open 2020.  You will be prompted to set up an account.  This initial account is a generic "baduk club" account (anyone with a baduk club account can visit the Canadian open event page and view the event as it happens).  There is a "Join" option shown on the page.  This step should be taken once we have uploaded pairings.  This links together your real name (as per your CGA ID) and your OGS account.  Note your real name must match exactly to your CGA real name.  Otherwise it won't realize "who you are" in the tournament file, and assign you the correct pairing.  You will be able to select your name from a pick list as you start typing it.

Once you have checked in like this you will see your assigned pairing.  In a demo session one of the TD's or volunteers will sign in as your opponent.  You can confirm you can kick off a game and open a video link to your opponent. 

Demo schedule : The main demo sessions are Thursday and Friday evening 7 PM EST - 12 PM EST.  We will also have a final demo session Saturday morning 9-11 AM EST to help out last minute registrations and those who cannot make one of the primary evening sessions.  Please try to attend one of these sessions; it will really help to smooth things out on Saturday, and it should be only a 5-10 minute exercise(if that!) for those not having issues.

There is an intro video you can view on how to use baduk club here. 

Video rules:

Players in the top group are competing for significant cash prizes, and to represent Canada internationally.  Therefore in the top group “over the shoulder” video is mandatory.  You will need a second device.  You would open the baduk club web page in a browser on the second device(you must not open the baduk club video on the device you will play the game on), and ensure the camera is pointed to the screen you are playing on.

Outside the top division video is optional.  All players are of course required to make no use of playing aids (AI being the main concern). But there are a couple reasons we are not mandating video for all players.

1. Our primary concern is access.  It can be a problem for some people to set up video, and we don’t want anyone excluded because of this.  This is by far the top reason we are not mandating video, especially video requiring a second device.

2. Part of our efforts in Go are to teach players a culture of honour and integrity.  Being willing to “extend some trust” to your opponent is consistent with the behavior we are trying to teach and model for all in the Go community.

Therefore outside the top group there are 3 video choices:

1. No video at all.  If either player has technical issues then this can be appropriate, or perhaps low bandwidth where video is a problem.

2. Video chat in the same baduk club window.  This is a more “social setup” than the top group back camera since you see each other’s face.  This I expect will be the normal setup outside the top group

3. Over the shoulder video as per the top group.  If your opponent feels more comfortable with this setup and you can easily accommodate it with a second device then it would be a nice gesture to cooperate with a request for this.

Of course all the game records are stored permanently on OGS, and can be reviewed for signs of cheating.

Checking in for your games

If at all possible arriving at least 5 minutes “pre-game start” would be good. You can check for TD announcements and check the pairings for you and your friends. We will be aiming to have the pairings posted ½ hour pre-game (earlier for round 1).  After a round ends the current standings will be up on baduk club.  Since we are auto-loading game results from OGS there shouldn’t be errors, but checking would still be good.  We can make adjustments easily from ½ hour-15 minutes pre-game, after that we’ll be reluctant to do so as it may impact the round start.

Bye requests : 

When you know you cannot play a round, please let the TD's know (email, group chat, SMS, WeChat, phone, etc are all acceptable).  However you should get an acknowledgement from the TD they saw your request, and also you should check the bye is posted on the bye request document.

Watching commentary on the top games

As noted in the email sent out earlier commentary on each round will be provided by YoonYoung Kim 1.5 hours after round start on her twitch channel.  In fact, that is the formal plan, but Yoongyoung says she is likely to start earlier, perhaps as soon as 30 minutes post the start of the round! There will be an OGS banner when she starts streaming, and also we will post in the announcements on baduk club. Please enjoy these, the professional activities are always a Canadian open highlight and we’re very pleased Yoonyoung can step in this year.

Best of luck in the tournament!

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Introduction: 

Welcome to the Canadian Go Open 2020 Online tournament! This year, the nation-wide tournament will take place online due to the global pandemic. The tournament will take place over two weekends from October 24th to November 1st. Through this online offering, we would like to provide participants an opportunity to utilize their skills in a competitive environment. Also, we would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of players around Canada in this difficult and unusual situation. Players all across Canada and beyond would be able to engage in rigorous and fascinating games while at the comfort and safety of their homes. 

Schedule: 

• Regular registration ends on October 19th

• Late registration ends on October 24th at 10:00am (ET)

• Saturday, October 24th - Round 1 & 2 

• Round 1 Start - 1:00pm (ET) 

• Round 2 Start - 5:00pm (ET) 

• Sunday, October 25th - Round 3 & 4 

• Round 3 Start - 1:00pm (ET) 

• Round 4 Start - 5:00pm (ET) 

• Saturday, October 31 - Round 5 & 6 

• Round 5 Start - 1:00pm (ET) 

• Round 6 Start - 5:00pm (ET) 

• Sunday, November 1 - Playoffs for open division, Pair Go, Blitz Rounds

• TBD

Note that you will be able to take a bye for any round you cannot attend (a deadline to request one before the round will be specified), although doing so may impact your prize eligibility.

Cost

• Regular Registration: $20 

• Late Registration: $25

Registration

• Step 1: Register

• Login to the CGA website with your account (if you don’t have one, please create a new account), and click on the “register” option on this event page. This can be done right now, and you should immediately see your name listed below on the participants.

• Step 2: Additional Information Form

• Please fill out this google form for additional information: https://forms.gle/YJGnNRZqt5T4jCKSA

• Step 3: Payment

• Please pay the $20 registration fee to the methods below (in CAD) 

• E-transfer: [email protected] (preferred, since the CGA doesn't pay a fee)

• Paypal: paypal.me/amyguo0518 or try searching [email protected] if the other link does not work.

• Wechat pay: add with Wechat ID amyguo0518 and send a money transfer (currency rate is 5.3 for all times)

• Please contact: [email protected] if the above payment methods do not work for you.

• 如果您有任何问题请加微信：amyguo0518

Note to International Players: 

• We invite and welcome players from outside of Canada to participate in this tournament. However there is a limit to how many players we can handle logistically and so we have decided to cap international participants at 50. The first 50 such players to register will participate, after that if you register we will notify you that the foreign participation cap has been reached.

• International players are those who: 

• Do not live in Canada 

• Have not competed in in-person Canadian tournaments previously

If you fulfill both of these descriptions, you are an international participant and must indicate it in your registration. 

Professionals

Korean professional Yoonyoung Kim 8P (currently resident in Montreal) will be providing professional activities.  Scope TBD; possibilities include game commentaries, simultaneous games, and lectures.

Format

• Games will be played on OGS( https://online-go.com). OGS is a free, online platform that is accessible to everyone. Pair Go will be played on an alternate server since OGS is lacking pair go support.  Most likely KGS, but the final decision is still TBD.

Prizes

These will be funded from the collected fees.  They will include significant cash prizes in the open group (We are estimating 500$ as the champion’s prize, but the final amount depends on registration), trophies, medals, smaller cash prizes in all groups.  Collected entry funds also go to professional activities.

Rules and Regulations: 

• AGA rules

• Time controls TBD

All players are expected to avoid any assistance in their play.  AI obviously, but also books, help from friends/family.  Without the players in a controlled environment our ability to enforce this is imperfect, but we think living with this imperfection is better than not holding the event at all.  We expect to use cameras in the top group (technical details TBD).  Game records for all players will be available to the tournament director and subject to review as needed.