Osaka Go Camp - Day 5 (Relay Go)

There was no league game on Friday, despite what the schedule on the website said. Instead it was a day all about Relay Go.

We really hoped that there was a page at Senseis Library or somewhere else on the internet explaining what Relay Go is, but couldn't find any. So here is an explanation of Relay Go (maybe it is faulty, but the rules are quite extensive and a bit complicated):

• Relay Go is played by two teams. Each team consists of at least 6 players (+ substitute players) and a coach (usually a strong player). A team needs to have at least one female player.
• The actual game is split into three phases.
  
  
  1. From the beginning of the game up to move 72.
  2. From move 72 up to move 143
  3. From move 143 all the way to the end
• Two players from each team will play a single phase like normal Rengo
• When a phase ends there is a 5 minute break, where the players return to their team and coach. The coach then gives instructions based on the analysis they are doing during the game.
• Once a player has played in a phase or as a substitute (see next point) he may not play in this game again - two different players have to play the next phase
• At any time the coach can decide to switch one of his players with another person - up to 3 times in total.
• The coach can ask for a short time-out (90 seconds) to discuss the situation with the players up to 2 times in total

I hope this is understandable. Basicly it is mimicking other team-sports like Basketball and applying it to Go. The main difference to a normal game of Go or Rengo is the coach and the ability to switch players or to get a time-out. You can guess that the coach is extremely important for the team.
Relay Go seems actually to be quite a new variant of Go, being developed in 2012 in China, if I remember correctly.

There was a big match of Relay Go scheduled for the afternoon between an international team, consisting of Japanese players and strong dan players from the camp participants and a Chinese team. This match even had some price money - 100,000 Japanese Yen for the winning team and 30,000 Japanese Yen for the losing team, so both teams considered it a serious match.

But before that, instead of the league game, the camp participants played their own Relay Go match, to get a feel for the rules. So the camp was split into two teams, each team getting a pro as their coach and after some strategic discussion (who plays which phase etc..) the game started.
Of course this was rather unfortunate for some of the weaker camp participants as only stronger players were set to play and able to really contribute to the analysis during the game. I (1k) was fortunate enough to be strong enough as 1d and played some part of the fuseki. But as I made a bad strategic decision in one joseki I was switched out. However, in the end my team managed to win. 4k was to be a substitute player for the opening if there'd be any need for that. (Un?)fortunately, there was no need so all 4k could do to help the team was run between the board on which the game was played and the analysis area of her team since the internet didn't work at this moment and we had no other way to follow the game. 4k definitely liked this kind of Go but would have preferred to play since the last two days had only held very little Go, too..

For the real match in the afternoon the lowest level for camp participants playing in the international team was 3dan, so both authors had to sit back and watch the commentary instead. The internatinonal team got a top pro as their couach: Yuki Satoshi 9p (4k: !!!). Unfortunately, this didn't help and the Chinese team won the game in the end. The nice (or not so nice, depending on your point of view) thing about this match was that the international team performed a lot better than most people (including Yuki Satoshi) had expected (4k: Maeda-sensei had shown his true colours before the game and wore a T-Shirt from the Chinese team.. Please believe a little more in us next time, Sensei!! ;-) ).