There happened to be twelve dan players attending, which was chosen as the size of the top group. The top group means players who were given maximum initial points in the McMahon system. Those are awarded based on rank, which is based on earlier tournament results. There is no time to play a full cup to determine the best player reliably. So, this is how it's done.

There are three players with two wins, Mikko Siukola, 4 dan, Aleksi Savolainen, 5 dan,  and Matti Siivola, 5 dan. There are nine players at one win out of two games. I'm in the upper half of that group. The intra group order is determined by the sum of opponents' scores. That means I'll be paired down, but that in itself does not mean much as which opponents each player got in the previous two rounds was somewhat due to chance. There is a good chance that I will play the reigning champion, Henry Hemming, 3 dan. He is from Helsinki. He won the tournament last year in Oslo. 

There are not too many participants from other Nordic countries this time. Pål Sannes, 3 dan, of Norway is the strongest foreign participant. One Swedish 1 dan is taking part, too. No Danes. 

Finland has the highest level of go in all the Nordic countries. I calculated based on tournament data on the European Go Database that about a decade ago, Finland was also the most go playing country in Europe relative to population. 

![IMG_0779.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQgx68wsQomTkbbRmPceE5WCfGmEsANm31u6x2G3JhJXD/IMG_0779.JPG)

The main playing room. The guy sitting at the computer is one of the organizers and responsible for operating the program that does the draw. The top three boards are in a smaller room.

![IMG_0785.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmb271UEvcG3UH35dwk4sjxyW2wfyJHp5wza4mWCAafebS/IMG_0785.JPG)

This is the tournament venue. It's the former library of the Helsinki School of Economics. 

![IMG_0793.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQx52d9P3R38x25Lsj79K7u41nJLuxfRfnNJq8rHEDX9U/IMG_0793.JPG)

I'm black against Aleksi Savolainen, 5 dan. Lost this by a clear margin as expected. But it was instructive to see how he handled certain positions.

![IMG_0796.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmS1GV7duyyyYwzCmffTbVMvh6MndxoVpke6JWamKkVtgT/IMG_0796.JPG)

My second game of today against Jaakko Virtanen, 2 dan. We both made a lot of mistakes. This time I won. I was white.