To the curious: How I discover the players and their handles.

How I discover the players and their handles.

I think one of the lingering thoughts that some people may have when I post these Tygem games is how I know for certain that these Tygem users are in fact the pro/amateur I specify in the articles.  Though this is a "sensations" site, I try my best to refrain from posting a Tygem user's identity if I am not positive about who they are (and if I am slightly uncertain, I put a ? in their picture).  There are several ways I have discovered these little gems, and by sharing my research with readers, I hope to establish confidence within the readers that my information does have solid ground.

1) The obvious.
First let's take care of the obvious.  Though these may still be considered as assumptions, I think it is a VERY strong assumption to claim that Hu Yuqing plays as "huyuqing" or Eric Dai playing as "ericdai".  Sometimes the username is already a giveaway in their identity and some people are fine with this, especially if it is just their secondary English handle and not their primary Chinese/Korean/Japanese username.

Example: Hu Yuqing - "huyuqing", Eric Dai - "ericdai", Joanne Missingham 1p - "missingham". 

2) Profile information set to public.
Some players are also okay with turning off the private filter on their profile information.  This can be the most absolute way of knowing who is playing under a particular handle (for Korean accounts, explained later), but it is also rare to run across this, especially since the information is set to private as default.  It is impossible to fake the information if you have a Korean account as they require you to validate it through your national ID number (you may think of it like a SSN).

Example: "tobeee" set his name to public --> "차민수" --> Jimmy Cha 4p.

3) Style of play.
This is the most unreliable way of determining who is playing under a handle.  However, it works for a few players as they have such a distinct or strange style or play an odd opening consistently that one can make a strong prediction.

Example: "chuyangch" is Gan Shiyang 3p.  He is fond of playing an opening with the 8-8 point played first and plays it consistently on his account.  It is reasonable to claim that he is Gan Shiyang because no/very, very few pros will play the 8-8 point as the first move on a consistent basis.  The fact that various Chinese websites are consistent in their claim on chuyangch being Gan Shiyang serves as reinforcement.

4) Interviews.
Some players, usually top-class pros as they would be the ones more likely to be given an interview in the first place, will give away their Tygem handle in interviews and may be found online or even in small newspaper articles. 

Example: "GoldHammer" is Zhou Ruiyang 5p.  Information on the interview may be found here: http://blog.daum.net/tygemlove/2675556 (Korean).

5) Features.
An example: one thing that's nice about Tygem is that when you give lectures you can use a webcam.  9d players who use this tool will, of course, give away their identity if their face is noticeable.

Another example: Outside resources such as sites that hire Go tutors will often require one to post their Tygem handle as well as their real name so that potential customers can get an idea of how strong a tutor is. 
 
Example: "joonki" is Suh Ninguk 9p.  He gives hundreds of webcam lectures and it is well-established that he is Suh Ninguk by his appearance (to reinforce this claim, the man also gives away his name, I think that's a good tell as well :)).  He is also a well-established teacher on Tygem and so has given his name away which falls under the second example as well.

6) Tournaments.
Younguseng tournaments in particular require that profile information is released and posted on the tournament webpage. 

Example: The many youngusengs who have participated in the Chungamo tournament (and other tournaments), including 청아유비즈 (Cho Seok-Bin) and 청아효과 (Jang Bi).  http://www.tygem.com/vevent/chungamo/intro.asp

7) Word of mouth.
Perhaps this is the category where I follow the sensational aspect of this website.  Many people will agree that this pro plays under that handle, and a quick visit to their guestbook will reveal that everyone addresses to the person with his real name.  The source is often difficult or even impossible to find, but like how many people "know" that somerville on KGS is Huiren Yang despite very few knowing where the source of information is from, the same applies on the Tygem server.  However, as I stated earlier, because this is particularly not so strong as a foundation, I will usually put a "?" in their profile picture to let the reader know that there is indeed uncertainty to a non-negligible degree.

Example: swing(P) is (possibly) Lee Changho.  A quick peek into his guestbook reveals over 50 entries where he is addressed to as Lee Changho-sabonim.  This, combined with various Chinese and Korean websites containing lists of players:accounts and all of them consistent with swing(P)'s identity and the word-of-mouth across the servers, leads to a reasonable hypothesis that he is Lee Changho.

8) Similarity in username from other servers/sites with more established evidence.

Example: RoseDuke is Victor Chow.  He used to play under this handle on KGS as well as IGS.  Because of his fame on IGS (winning blitz tournaments and defeating professionals), the information on IGS contained more established evidence that he is Victor Chow.  This, combined with the consistent style of play on both servers (he also plays 5-5s and 6-4s very frequently on Tygem), leads to a reasonable claim that RoseDuke is Victor Chow.  Another example is 청아유비즈 (Cho Seok-Bin) mentioned earlier - his English secondary username on that account is "bin7674", which is also his KGS handle.  Another example is artem92, who wrote in his KGS profile his Tygem username ("artem").

9) Some people just tell after politely asking :).

Example: I asked bigbadwolf (Andy Liu) if he plays on Tygem and if he does what his username is.  He kindly told me his handle (andyusa).

I hope now that with these 9 ways (there are more, but these are the primary ones) I have used to figure out who plays under which accounts, that more people will trust me more in my future Tygem game articles, despite the fact I am putting them in a "sensational" site which may implicate gossip and no ground to some people.