Dan Magic
“Dan magic,” mumbled cheerfully one of the kyu-level players at the Cleveland Go Club, as I snaked a game they had been confident about from them. “I don’t know how you did that. I thought I was winning.”
“You were winning, until you weren’t,” I quipped humorously, all of us laughing. “Dan magic,” I agreed, “I could tell you how I did it, but then I’d have to beat you, again.” We all laughed (or, was that just me laughing? I have trouble telling the difference some time.)
“Dan magic.” I think this is a common phrase and even more common feeling, but around the Cleveland Go Club, when kyu players think they have a viable position only to have their stronger and most often especially dan-level opponents pull the rug out from under them, they refer to this as “Dan Magic.” (PS for any non-Go-players reading this, this is NOT Dan-as-in-famous-author-of-the-davinci-code-“Dan”-Brown but the Japanese word “dan” which means something akin to skill level, similar to black belts in the martial arts, and is pronounced to rhyme with “on.”)
Dan Magic might have different other slang and might take many forms. (If you, your friends, or your club have a similar expression, please let me know!) Examples of Dan Magic include such as when a stronger players kills a group of yours that you were certain was alive; various tesuji or meltdown moves where the whole position suddenly falls apart; or playing out lengthy sequences they would likely require reading 20 or 40 or 60 moves ahead to recognize their existence. It makes strong players seem like wizards, and I have played a ton of Baldur’s Gate 3, so I think I know how wizards work. Of course, thousands of years ago, GO may have started out as a form of fortune telling, so back then it was magic!
Someone else who has Dan Magic is my wife. She knows tons of meltdown moves, and always seems 40 moves ahead of me, and she usually wins, and I’m not sure how. If I knew how she did it, I wouldn’t be washing her car on my day off. She said, “You were winning, until you weren’t.” We both laughed. “Dan magic,” she agreed, “I could tell you how I did it, but then I’d have to beat you, again.” We laughed again (or, was that just her laughing? I have trouble telling the difference some time.)