Fiji off to a strong start in online go tournament

Update (25/5/2007): My round two opponent has just been announced - Reino Karttunen (3 kyu) of Finland who defeated Darryl Mallick (4 kyu) of the USA in round one. The game is still to be scheduled.
Fiji's sole representative scores an upset in round one

I love to play the game go. What is go, you ask? Go is the Japanese name for an ancient Chinese board game which is more popular than chess in China, where it is called weiqi, in Korea, where it is called baduk, and in Japan. Go has a growing following in the rest of the world. It is a compelling game involving both full board strategy and local tactical battles which has captivated players for centuries. The rules are simple, but mastery of the game requires a life time. From an IT perspective, go is notable for baffling computer scientists, who have not yet been able to write software that can defeat decent amateur players

Since I came to Fiji, I have not been able to find any other players. As a result, I play online against opponents from around the world. Recently, I entered an online tournament called the Iwamoto Tournament, which is sponsored by the Chilean Go Association, the Argentinian Go Association, the American Go Honor Society, and KGS Plus. The tournament boasts over 600 entrants ranging from beginners to world class amateur players and is played on the KGS go server. I am proud to be the sole participant playing under the Fijian flag.

Round one, the first of eight rounds, is rapping up today. I managed to pull off a difficult upset against a New Zealand opponent, Brian Kwok (3 kyu), who is rated two ranks higher than me - I am ranked 5 kyu. The final board position can be seen below. Kwok held black and I held white.

The final board position
After white's (Hammond-Thrasher) dragon in the centre survived and
black's (Kwok) group on the bottom left died,
black had no choice but to resign

The pairings for round two will be announced some time tomorrow. I am looking forward to playing under the Fijian flag once again and continuing to pursue my personal goal of achieving the rank of shodan (1 dan).

If anyone out there knows a go player in Fiji, please let me know at thrashor (AT) gmail (DOT) com.