No fans, I used to fiddle with a puzzle box during games in order to keep my hands off of my mouse/out of the bowl of stones. It worked. I recall reading about Cho Chikun having a penchant for fiddling with matchsticks during a game.

I think the fans sold by Nihon Kiin are normally personally signed by the pros. Just that the calligraphy associated with the name is usually printed. But if you bought a fan from that is signed by say Doseki, then I'd say it's probably most likely printed if you didn't pay dearly for it.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Sure, I understand that its his real signature, but being mass reproduced is still just not the same as having an item personally signed.

Its still my favorite fan

In all of my visits to the local go salons in Beijing, I have never seen anyone hold or use a fan while playing.

Maybe something particular to french player ? =)

I don't use one (or have one), but I have a friend that has one and will use it while playing. He likes it because it helps give him a little better focus (or so he says). Jokes around and claims it is a 3-stone boost to his play.

Whereas, one of our friends has a cat, and this same friend claims it is a 3-stone handicap when she's sitting in your lap.

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KGS: schultz [?].

That's the "You're a kitty!" effect from xkcd.

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a1h1 [1d]: You just need to curse the gods and defend.
Good Go = Shape.
Associação Portuguesa de Go

i tried it few times in the tornament but it was distracting my reading and lost all my games. since then i stopped.

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"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Pretty much all the time.

Yes I know it is an affectation, I think a Japanese one, but I have been doing it for a long time.

Aside from the affected "coolness" it has been useful. I used to be a fast player, and I still am pretty fast and fairly intuitive for good or ill, so holding a fan keeps my hands off the stones or the mouse. It has stopped some knee jerk mistakes.

I am also fairly fidgety, and it is nice to have something social acceptable to fidget with.

Rarely, very rarely, it is useful as a fan.

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My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle

Seriously...I don't know how many times I re-worded that sentence. Took such a long time to figure it out and post it. And I still fail. Hooray.

And here's to you:

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KGS: schultz [?].

It would be nice to have a fan with an image of goban in the middle and signature of Obama on one side, Hu on the other

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长考出臭棋.

Use a powerful electric fan to blow the stones off the goban when you're losing.

A Chinese chap living in Durham at one time used to come to the Go club in the local pub carrying a fan, and he used it often. He kept it, somehow, in the back of his collar, and he would "draw" it and snap it about and generally disconcert his opponents terribly. So far as I can tell, the pub's regulars just treated it as "those weird student-type game-players being odd"; it gave no trouble at all.

When it's warm, I carry and use my fan, whether I'm playing Go or doing something else.

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My European rating.

Play with a fan?

I have three fans. Sometimes I play with them. Usually I give them 7-9 handi stones.

I would love to get a fan or anything I can hold for those above reasons. I don't really think it's that cool though. I generally enjoy playing around with my hands while I am idle. For example, I liked to do "origami"(I didn't actually make anything, I just kept folding the paper over and over in some of the small patterns I know of) when I was in training for my job. It helped the time go by more quickly, but it also helped me "calm" myself down. Probably some sort of attention issues, but I feel when I have something in my hands, I concentrate a lot better than when I don't.

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I know nothing.

I don't see how playing with a fan is at all socially acceptable, unless you're surrounded by a bunch of anime freaks or playing in an Asian country.
If anything, it reinforces the mainstream opinion of Go players as a bunch of weirdos.

Interesting. Point taken, and reinforced.

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My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle

I only carry one for self-defense, and it dose not have a knife hidden in it nor is it steel.

Check out these videos;
The Fan of Fury
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jb8Is5nPoU&feature=related

Shaolin Kung Fu Steel Fan Demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtNhoDBqoGY

kung fu fan (Beauty of sun setting)back form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G036_mhE_M&feature=related

Jackie Chan's fan tricks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOS51qpUoCc&feature=related