Shusaku als Katze wiedergeboren

Auf EuroGoTv bin ich über folgenden äusserst interessanten Artikel gestolpert. Wie ihr dem Titel sicher schon entnehmen konntet, geht es dabei um eine Katze. Doch lest am besten selbst (solltet ihr wirklich machen auch wenn der Text etwas lang ist. Der Unterhaltungswert ist enorm).

During the congress i happened to overhear a story of utmost importance to all of you who wish to improve their go-playing-skills. While sitting on a terras after sunset i enjoyed a cold glass of austrian beer. I heard some northern european languages telling a tale about cats. Most of you might already know, cats often take a great interest in replayed professional games. Whenever somebody starts replaying games a cat tends to enjoy the company of the wooden board and stones. So it happened one day that one of these cats sitting beside the board couldnt resist himself to move one of the stones on the board. The replayer took notice of it, and immediatly corrected this error by putting the stone back to its original position, where upon he continued to make the subsequent moves on other parts of the board. One by one he added the stones on the board which he took from the game-record in an old book.

Probably you have once seen the comic cartoons of Hikaru no Go. Actually i should call it an anime before youngsters will start correcting me. Many new type of moving pictures are produced in the new millenium. I recall a character who was named Sai. He was some sort of ghost with purple lips, who helped a young boy learning to play. The ghost must have told his student to replay ancient games of other eras aswell to help him improve his skills.

The cat couldnt resist himself, he looked at one of the stones intensely and decided to move it one intersection again. The storyteller, which was a fin i believe, continued his tale. His listener a dutch guy answered him, that he had a similar experience with his cat back in the Netherlands. The aristocratical behaviour of cats sitting motionless glancing at a display before their eyes is widely known. So why was this cat so aeger to take part in the action shifting this particular stone. Finally the replayer got to play into this part of the board once more. Glancing at his textbook he noticed that the cat had actually been correct in shifting this particular stone to another position all the time. So he speculated, viewing the fact that most asian cultures believe in reïncarnation, that the ghost of Sai, an ancient top-player, could be housing in this cat. They both laughed and made a toast sipping from their beers. The dutch guy added, that this should possibly should be researched scientifically in replaying more games in front of these cats and deliberately making mistakes to test the consistency of those cats. The finnish player objected to this proposition of scientific method, since the cat would surely know he is being observed and tested. This would lead to an entirely new situation. The cat might quickly conclude,those scientists are beyond help, and not correct their errors any longer. Also the fact being stuck needles in his head would most likely be resented by the cat. However the fact that both the finnish and dutch cat had a similar consistancy in changing commonly made errors remains more then a coïncidence. They both agreed upon replaying many more ancient games in front of their respective cats. At a halfway distance from their homes they could possibly verify their findings next year in Leksand, Sweden.
placed by Tictactoe at 2:36AM July 31st, 2007 on EuroGoTV