I popped in for the last round of the WAGC. Pretending not to know any Chinese, it was assumed I had a reason to be there. How else would this foreigner find his way to such an assembly of foreign faces. Without question, I was directed to the fifth floor where a flurry of media coverage in a silent hall of intense conversation of the wood placed variety was underway. Everyone had passes hanging around their neck stating their home country and purpose of attendance except for the one that went unnoticed. I found my way to the game of interest and realized the situation of the violently intense board that had drawn the crowd. Mainland vs. Hong Kong would have seemed by a man simply reading the results on paper as probably a calm game that was just a matter of a couple points, but any spectator with an eye for understanding of the complexities of such a game can tell you otherwise, that so much was going on, one wrong play was going to end in disaster for both sides. I felt the stress for the players as white was separating and attacking two weak black groups simultaneously. This merely underscored the fact that the white group separating black's groups was losing air, sinking into the danger of not being able to live itself. White made an attempt to use the aji below from black's undefined wall that was the force also pushing a sort of impending doom on the group, that would otherwise have reigned free to reek havoc on black's(Hong Kong) split unsettled groups. White running for eyes was saved by a clever attack, that left no one dead on both ends, but still claimed a sacrifice. By trading a piece of the upper left black group and leaving open for sacrifice a section of his own group he secured his life, while letting black live at the same time. At this time I counted the game to be about 5-10 points in white's favor and left the board sure white would take the victory.

I strolled around got a picture with the silent and reserved Go powerhouse from DPRK and eventually ended up at the final moments of the game between Israel and Australia(central game underway seen above). I could see the stress in the Israel player's eyes as he realized his clock was much lower than Australia and it was about to start affecting his game. I read out a sequence for white that ended in a snapback to capture for black(Israel) and was looking at an interesting setup to make it workout in white's favor, hoping he would try something interesting out. His next move met with the observant observer's and his opponent's confusion, who also had undoubtedly already read out the means to the end of the abruptly initiated sequence of moves, all the way through as white played all the way to the self ataring snapback move before our eyes. Immediately after playing it, and before black had the chance to play the move and collect the stones, he realized the dire misread, pushed the stones off the board to prevent further embarrassment and resigned. Stating simply that he was too tired to play it was a surprise in what seemed an otherwise still up in the air game.

As the boards of the final matches were finishing up and being counted I disappeared without having spoken a word. I gained valuable insight into the minds of these players, knowing them much better from a simple opportunity to see the way they played the game, while the man who didn't say a word was still a mystery in their minds. They will now spend their time contemplating as to which shadow the unknown spectator disappeared into, until they are again met with a game to carelessly reveal to wandering eyes another peak into the true nature of their character.