Herman Hiddema

Hi, this is my homepage at Sensei's Library. I'm a Dutch 4 dan (as of September 2009) playing at the Groningen Go Club (Until recently at the Delft Go Club, of which I am still a member)

Picture taken at the EGC 2009. With a glass of Zhuyeqing tea.

Table of contents About me Rank history Tournament victories Shusaku numbers My Problems Essays and other writings Work in progress

Index of sub-pages Herman Hiddema AllStones Christmas Problems Dalian game Double Elimination plus McMahon First to Eight FixingAProGame Go and Chess, a comparison Handicaps and komi for other board sizes Hungerink's vital points problem Hungerink's vital points solution Joseki Knowledge Joseki Learning Order Joseki Table LearnToPlayGo.com Local global relations in rules disputes OGS Triple Ko analysis Problem Encoding Reverse Button Go Sandbox Shapenaji - Aguilar - analysis Talk Test Template votes What Grade Can I Achieve

About me

I played my first game of go (9x9, 6 handicap) on August 18, 1995, against Andre Engels (then 1st kyu) at a promotional stand. This stand was part of the introductory activities when I went to study computer science at the university of Groningen. It seemed like such a simple game, yet despite the handicap I was horribly beaten. On a second try, again with 6 handicap on 9x9, I was completely wiped off the board. This made me determined to learn this game. I decided to take the introductory course that the club offered in September and October, and was certain I would be able to defeat this guy after that. This, of course, proved to be slightly off the mark. In fact, it took me 10 years to catch up to Andre.

I was a very enthusiastic player in the late 90's. I went to the club every week, sometimes twice a week, and progressed steadily up the ranks. Internet go was still in its infancy, and playing games on University computers wasn't allowed, so I never played on the internet much. Toward the end of 1999, I started to lose interest, and pursued other hobbies. I played at the club only sporadically, and stopped playing at tournaments.

I started playing again after discovering Hikaru no Go in july 2002, which motivated me to pick up this great game once again. I had already been a strong 1st kyu in 1999, and the first tournament I played, toward the end of 2002, was good enough to get promoted to 1st dan at the start of 2003. Around this time, two other dan players who had been inactive for a long time, Rene Goedhart and Martijn van Roermund, also started playing again. Having these interesting opponents was very stimulating, and pushed my level of play up quickly. I became 2 dan in 2004, and 3 dan in 2005.

In this same period, the active promotion of the game by Rene, Martijn and myself caused the Groningen go club to grow quickly ( see graph). Many new players joined, and club nights would regularly see 20-30 players present. The same group was also behind the idea of getting the European go congress to Groningen for 2009, and made the bid to do so at the 2005 congress.

In the period 2007-2010, I moved to Delft because my girlfriend moved there to get her PhD. I played at the Delft go club almost every week and in 2008 joined the first team of Den Haag in the national club competition. This team, despite being one of the weaker teams in the top league, performed very well, and even won the championship in fall 2009, winning all matches and losing only two games of the total of 15 played.

In 2009, I also achieved my first major tournament victory. I won the Leksand Open, a Pandanet Major tournament, with a perfect 6/6 score, defeating two 5 dans and a 4 dan. Based on my results in the Dutch team competition, in Leksand, and in other tournaments in 2008 and 2009, I was promoted to 4 dan in September of 2009. I then proceeded to show that my performance was no fluke, by winning the Indis (Inter-Districs) tournament, the qualifier for the Dutch Championship, with an 8/8 score, defeating my first ever 6 dan.

I played in the Dutch Championship for the first time in January 2010, and achieved a 4/8 score, enough to qualify automatically for next year's championship. In July, I moved back to Groningen in preparation for traveling to China and the Mediterranian later in 2010 and in 2011.

I love organizing tournaments or other events. I've organized many go tournaments, both in Groningen and in Delft, including several with 70-80 participants, and I was one of the organizers of the European Go Congress 2009, which had over 700 participants.

Rank history

start	1995-08
7k	1996
4k	1997
3k	1998
1k	1999
Mostly stopped playing 2000-2002
1d	2003-01
2d	2004-09
3d	2005-10
4d	2009-09
EGD Entry

Tournament victories

[1]: Shared first place, lost on SOS
[2]: Results are only my personal results, not those of team mates.
[3]: Prize for best individual rating performance in a team tournament.

Shusaku numbers

My Shusaku number is 5:

Herman Hiddema (5) played Frank Janssen (4) played Kikuchi Yasuro (3) played Karigane Junichi (2) played Iwasaki Kenzo (1) played Shusaku (0)

My Shusaku number counting only wins is 8:
Herman Hiddema (8) defeated Michiel Eijkhout (7) defeated Hans Pietsch (6) defeated Yoda Norimoto (5) defeated Go Seigen (4) defeated Karigane (3) defeated Shuei (2) defeated Shuho (1) defeated Shusaku (0)

My Problems

Problems I have composed, or which I have encountered in games:

• Pine Cone Problem
• Tsumego from Games 80
• Tsumego from Games 83
• Tsumego from Games 87
• Tsumego from Games 93
• Tsumego from Games 95
• Tsumego from Games 98
  • Tsumego From Games 98 - Part 1
  • Tsumego From Games 98 - Part 2
  • Tsumego From Games 98 - Part 3
  • Tsumego From Games 98 - Part 4
  • Tsumego From Games 98 - Part 5
• Tsumego from Games 103
• Tsumego from Games 105
• Tsumego from Games 108
• Tsumego from Games 110
• Tsumego from Games 119
• Tsumego from Games 120
• Tsumego from Games 131
• Tsumego from Games 133
• Tsumego from Games 134
• Tsumego from Games 135
• Tsumego from Games 136

Essays and other writings

• /What Grade Can I Achieve - don't take this too seriously, this is just me thinking out loud, no research was done for this.
• /LearnToPlayGo.com - a new site I am working on
• /Local global relations in rules disputes
• /FixingAProGame
• /Go and Chess, a comparison
• /Problem Encoding
• /Joseki Learning Order - work in progress, probably too much work
• /Joseki Table
• /Joseki Knowledge
• /shapenaji - aguilar - analysis
• /Handicaps and komi for other board sizes
• /Hungerink's vital points problem
• /Hungerink's vital points solution
• /OGS Triple Ko analysis
• /Dalian game

Work in progress

• Creative Commons Licenses
• SL LT key: b5084e6cd3fa3b0d969c19557df038bd
• as of template
• sending three returning two
• /Reverse Button Go
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Player Template
• Quality of Tie breakers
• Super ko tsume go
• Flag Template
• Resolving Jigo by Ko Threats
• Learning to play go is like learning a new language
• Directed Graph Tie Breaking
• /Double Elimination plus McMahon
• Delayed suicide
• Long Cycle Seki Rule
• Quintuple Ko
• /Test Template
• McMahon Regular - a McMahon variant with fixed group size
• Sewing Machine Sequence
• /longest ladder?
• Swiss with Elimination
• /First to Eight
• /AllStones
• Big Sacrifice To Get A Wall
• Incompatibility between Swiss and Round-Robin
• Two stones on the third line can make an eye