AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association March 24, 2003 In This Edition: CALENDAR OF EVENTS SCOREBOARD: Arlington, VA; Michael Redmond Cup League Senior Division GO NEWS, US: Three Seats Opening Up On AGA Board; Ing Grant Manager Sought; NAMT Report Posted; MasterGo Upgrade, Videos Released GO NEWS, FOREIGN: Lee Changho World Champ GO CLUBS: New Haven, CT GAME COMMENTARY: 3-Point Cliffhanger GO ONLINE: Let Me Count The Ways, Part II GO REVIEW: Making Good Shape GO CLASSIFIED AGA CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) Thru March 31: Hoboken, NJ Hoboken Monday Night Ratings Tournament Larry Russ 201-216-5379 lruss@stevens-tech.edu http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~lruss/hoboken_monday_night_ratings_tou.htm March 29: Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Tournament and Banquet Phil Straus 215-568-0595 pstraus@post.harvard.edu March 29: Tacoma, WA Inaugural Tournament Mike Malveaux, 253-297-6268, tacomagoclub@hilltopgo.com http://www.hilltopgo.com/tacoma/mar29.html April 5-6: College Park, MD University of Maryland Spring Tournament Steve Mount 301-405-6934 smount@umd.edu April 5-6: San Francisco, CA San Francisco Go Club Spring Tournament Steve Burrall 916-685-1504 sburrall@attbi.com April 13: Boston, MA MGA Spring Handicap Tournament Don Wiener 617-734-6316 donwiener@earthlink.net April 19: Middlebury, VT George Sporzynski Memorial Go Tournament Peter Schumer 388-3934 schumer@middlebury.edu NOTE: this listing is not all-inclusive, featuring only upcoming tournaments in the next month or events which require early registration. For a complete U.S. listings, go to http://www.usgo.org/usa/tournaments.html For the European Go Calendar see http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/go/tourn.html SCOREBOARD: Arlington, VA; Michael Redmond Cup League Senior Division March 22: Arlington, VA Cherry Blossom TD: Allan Abramson "Over fifty players participated in last Saturday's NOVA Cherry Blossom 2003 at the Sumner School in downtown DC," reports Allan Abramson. "Many new faces joined the old regulars on a beautiful day. The youngest player was five. The oldest was... well better discretion than embarrassment." NOVA Notes: the NOVA Go Club will be open tonight but closed Monday, 3/31; the next NOVA tournament will be a new one: the May Madness self-paired tournament on Saturday, 10 May, in Arlington VA. 2003 CHERRY BLOSSOM RESULTS: 1st place winners: Chuck Robbins, 2d, 4-0; Ray Hunley, 2k, 3-1; Ken Qiu, 3k, 4-0, promoted to 1k; Kathy Qiu, 5k, 3-1; Juan Quizon, 7k, 4-0, promoted to 6k; Seth Hoffman, 9k, 3-1; Ed Caldeira, 13k, 3-1; Peter LeFevre, 16k, 3-0, promoted to 15k; Eoghan Barry, 28k, 4-0, promoted to 25k. 2nd place winners: Keith Arnold, 5d, 2-1; Brian Kleiner, 4d, 2-2; Hal Small, 3d, 2-1; Longwen Deng, 2d, 2-1; Xin-Li Zhou, 2k, 2-2; Jeremy Banzhaf, 3k, 3-1; Sam Zimmerman, 4k, 3-1; Raymond Yeh, 7k, 3-1; George Wilson, 8k, 3-1; Joshua Simmons, 8k, 3-1; James McIlhargey, 13k, 3-1; Garrett Smith, 14k, 3-1; Kabe Chin, 20k, 2-2; Matt Kulikosky, 25k, 3-1. 10th Michael Redmond Cup League Senior Division Round 1 results: Zipei Feng did not log on; Andy Liu won on W vs Kristen Burrall; Tiffany Tsai lost vs Mozeng Guan on B; Richard Liang won on W vs Gina Shi; Jin Chen won vs Matt Burrall on B; Jason Pan lost on W vs Ming Curran. " Speaking of 'no show' players," reports Michael Bull, "In 1992 I was the TD of the 9th World Youth Goe Championship in San Jose California. At the beginning of the final championship rounds a junior division player failed to appear at the start time. A thorough search was launched and we found the missing person swimming in the pool. He went on to win the Junior Championship for Korea. His name was Lee Sedol." GO NEWS: US THREE SEATS OPENING UP ON AGA BOARD: "The AGA will be holding elections this year for three members of the board of directors," reports Sam Zimmerman. The seats opening up at the end of this year are for one director from each region: Eastern , Central and Western. "Nominees must have been full AGA members in good standing for at least one year and must currently be full members. The nominee for each region must reside in that region. Any member of the AGA may nominate a candidate." Voting will by by chapter representatives according to the provisions of the AGA by-laws and will take place before the 2003 US Go Congress, where the ballots will be opened. Send nominations by May 15 to Samuel E. Zimmerman, 925 Lindsay Lane, Lancaster PA 17601-6622 or email to szimmerman@wareunl.com Telephone nominations will not be accepted. ING GRANT MANAGER SOUGHT: The AGA is seeking a volunteer with energy, initiative, and management skills to administer its $100,000 grant from the Ing foundation. The Ing Grant Manager will work closely with the AGA President, and will act as a liaison with the Ing Foundation, develop the annual grant budget for approval by the AGA Board, and design guidelines for the disbursement of Ing funds and equipment. Ing Foundation resources are earmarked for events and programs at both the local and national level. The Ing Grant Manager will chair a small committee to assist with grant administration. This is a major position on the AGA leadership team. For more information on this and other volunteer opportunities with the AGA, Contact AGA human resources at HR@usgo.org. Mention AGA Human resources in the subject space; NO attachments please. NAMT REPORT POSTED: A report on the controversial final match of the 2002 North American Masters Tournament has just been released by the NAMT Committee. Two documents have been posted on the AGAs website at http://www.usgo.org/NAMT/2002report.asp: the first is the report of the NAMT Committee; the second is a response to that report by one of the NAMT participants, Ms. Yun Feng. At the request of the Committee, its report and Ms Feng's response are posted as they were presented to the AGA President and Board. While there are clearly some disagreements, the Committee indicates in its report that it plans some changes in procedure to address issues raised by Ms Feng. The AGA Board and administration believe that the committee's intention is a proper response, and that it will result in a clearer procedure to ensure a proper environment for professional competition. MASTERGO UPGRADE, VIDEOS RELEASED: The March release of the MasterGo go software includes 18,335 professional games for review and study. A new demo version includes 1,207 games. Find both at http://www.MasterGo.com Also now available are demo/training videos for best use of MasterGo, available for download at http://www.mastergo.com/training.asp. GO NEWS: FOREIGN LEE CHANGHO WORLD CHAMP: Lee Changho 9P won the 4th Chunlan Cup on March 18, taking the title 2-0 and completing his collection of world titles, including the Fujitsu Cup, Samsung Cup, Ing Cup, Chunlan Cup, Toyota World Oza, and LG Cup. Lee took Black against Hane Naoki 9P and won by resignation. Korea has now won 23 straight world titles, including the LG Cup which will be played at the end of March in a title match between Lee Changho and Lee Sedol, both of Korea. - reported by Yuan Zhou GO CLUBS: New Haven, CT Anyone interested in playing go in the New Haven, CT, area should contact Bob Hill at rwhill2@mindspring.com or call 203-787-4714 GAME COMMENTARY: 3-Point Cliffhanger Two American 6-dans face off in today's game commentary, a 3-point cliffhanger 2002 Ing Cup 2nd-round match between Jong Moon Lee on White and Yuan Zhou taking Black. The commentary is by Liping Huang. Also included this week is an interesting problem to test your endgame skills; in a game like this week's 3-pointer, a good endgame can spell the difference between victory and defeat. To view the attached file, simply save to your computer and then open using an .sgf reader such as Many Faces of Go or SmartGo. Readers who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen's http://gobase.org/sgfeditors.html Go Online: Let Me Count The Ways, Part II By Roy Laird The Japanese and Chinese systems were the prevalent conventions for playing Go throughout the world until the 1970's. Ing Chang-ki, a prominent industrialist and philanthropist based in Taipei, developed a new set of rules based on the "Stones + Spaces = Territory" principle. Using special equipment that counts to ensure that each player has exactly 180 stones, Mr. Ing developed an elegant system that in which both players fill their territory, leaving at least one space vacant inside the winner's area. The Ing rules also introduced the "super ko" principle, replacing special rules need to resolve double-, triple- and other complex ko situations with a simple dictum that no position can be repeated on the board. These rules, also translated by Davies, are available at http://www.usgo.org/resources/SST.asp. Korean pro Janice Kim comments further on Mr. Ing's "SST rules" at http://www.usgo.org/resources/KSS.asp In the West, problems would occasionally arise at small events, where no one might be available who understood the finer points of any of the above rule sets. In 1991, the AGA adopted a rule set intended to bring Japanese and Chinese conventions together in one comprehensive protocol, suitable for use in all circumstances, including events where no one may be available. A concise version of this rules can be seen at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.concise.html. For a more detailed version, go to http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.html. Further commentary on the AGA rules can be found at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.commentary.html. Today, players all over the world use Japanese, Chinese Ing SST and AGA rules to reach a mutually agreeable result. In addition to the these four rule sets, several other variants exist. Rules vary in their use of "territory" or "area" counting, free or specified placement of handicap stones, and in the amount of komi (Black's debt to White for the advantage of the first move) which ranges from 5.5 points to 8 points, and in other particulars. The Korea Baduk Association's official rules are posted at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/rules.htm. Commentary on the Korean rules appears by clicking "Korean Rules" on the menu at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/kiwigo.htm. (Careful,. you may wind up clicking a few other intriguing titles like "Early Go in Itago" and "Go With the Flow.") Some say that The New Zealand Rules at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/rules.htm do not really constitute a complete rule set because they specify no particular method of counting, but they are listed in the "Rules" section of The Go Player's Almanac. John Tromp and Bill Taylor have put forth what they call "Logical Rules of Go" at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/rules.html. The rules used on the Internet is described at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/igsrules.html. To see the simplest rule set, go to http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/simplest.html. If you looked at more than a few of the above page, by now your head is swimming. Two sites offer simple side-by-side comparison of the various rule sets -- the British Go Association's chart at http://www.britgo.org/rules/compare.html, Jasiek's comparison at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/bascomp.html, and David Fotland's comparison at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/fotland.htm. Now that you understand the various conventions in use around the world and the differences between them, you may have formed some opinions as to the relative merits of each system. Not surprisingly, others are also intrigued by these question. You can join a listserv the AGA maintains on the subject at by sending a message to webmaster@usgo.org with "subscribe go-rules" in the subject line. But first, you'll want to get familiar with some of the points that have already been raised as time goes by and lines of thought that have evolved from those points. Check out Tromp's pages at http://www.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html, in Robert Jasiek's collection of pages at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/rules.html and at Fred Hansen's pages, located at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/. GO REVIEW: Making Good Shape By Rob van Zeijst and Richard Bozulich Kiseido Publishing Company Reviewed by Lon Atkins, 12k This new book is the missing piece of the puzzle. Yes, empty triangles are bad and dumplings are horrible, and never get split apart - but isn't all that rather obvious? After reading endless game comments stating that "Black makes good shape" or "White has bad shape," but never why, finally I am given rules and many examples concerning shape-thought. Following the section on theory and practice come 245 problems to pound the concepts into one's skull. Reasons and alternatives are provided with the answers. This is real teaching. The problems are a delight to work out. I set them up on a board and try various lines until I understand how to handle the situation. Many of the problems were encountered in other books, but never were explanations so lucid and valuable. The final section contains two games buttressed with very thorough commentary. Again, the "whys" are emphasized. This is terrific study material. GO CLASSIFIED WANTED: Go players in Boise, ID; email David Bogie (25-20k, former AGA member) at bogiesan@mac.com (posted 3/10) FOR SALE: Goban from the Meiji period with beautiful lacquered sides. The bowls are decorated in similar style and include the original slate and shell stones. Price to be determined by interest. Email Geoffrey Gray at gray@hardnet.com.au (posted 3/10) FOR SALE: Goban, 250 years old made of Yew wood. original black lacquer lines (lines are in perfect shape); Has large water stain on top and crack on side. Lance@KemperPainting.com (posted 3/10) WANTED: info on organizations dedicated to promoting go among business people. I need the info for a book I'm writing using go as a metaphor and practice for paradigm shifting in business; I'd appreciate any assistance. Gay Hendricks; gay_h@hendricks.com (posted 3/10) WANTED: Jade bowls and stones in very good condition. Contact mattman30yrs@hotmail.com (posted 3/3) Got Go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach more than 5,000 Go players worldwide every week at Go Classified! Send to us at journal@usgo.org GET LISTED & BOOST TURN-OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 5,000 readers every week! List your Go event/news In the E-Journal: email details to us at MAILTO:journal@usgo.org Ratings are on the web! Check the website; http://www.usgo.org for the full list. GET YOUR TOURNAMENT RATED! Send your tournament data to MAILTO:ratings@usgo.org AGA CONTACT LIST: President: Chris Kirschner: president@usgo.org Secretary Susan Weir: Secretary@usgo.org Treasurer Ben Bernstein: Treasurer@usgo.org VP - Communications: Chris Garlock Journal@usgo.org Archivist Craig Hutchinson: Archives@usgo.org Chapter Management: Paul Celmer chapterservices@usgo.org Nicole Casanta: Chapters@usgo.org Community Outreach: John Goon Outreach@usgo.org Congress Liaison: Judy Debel Congress@usgo.org Education Coordinator: Lee Ann Bowie Education@usgo.org Equipment Distribution: Paul Celmer Equipment@usgo.org HR & Recruitment: Terry Assael Hr@usgo.org Membership Services: Tom Hodges, Joel Gabelman membership@usgo.org Policy & Governance: Keith Arnold Governance@usgo.org General Counsel: Michael T. Brockbank legal@usgo.org Professional Players' Representative: Zhu-jiu (Jujo) Jiang Professionals@usgo.org Ranking Issues: Jeff Shaevel Rank@usgo.org Ratings Coordinator: Paul Matthews Ratings@usgo.org Tournament Coordinator: Chuck Robbins Tournaments@usgo.org Tournament Regulations: Duane Burns Regulations@usgo.org Webmaster: Roy Laird: webmaster@usgo.org Youth Coordinator: Noné Redmond youth@usgo.org American Go Foundation: Terry Benson terrybenson@nyc.rr.com Database Manager: Sam Zimmerman database@usgo.org AGA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dave Weimer (Chair): weimer@lafollette.wisc.edu Chen-dao Lin: cdlin5@yahoo.com John Stephenson: Jcs@wingsgoclub.org David Dinhofer: David.dinhofer@alum.mit.edu Harold Lloyd: Hlloyd@core.com Bob O'Malley: omalley@coas.oregonstate.edu Jon Boley: Jon@airsltd.com Published by the American Go Association Text material published in " AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL" may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that attached files, including game records, MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the Journal. To make name or address corrections - notify us at the email address below. Story suggestions, event announcements, Letters to the Editor and other material are welcome - subject to editing for clarity and space -- and should be directed to: Editor: Chris Garlock email: journal@usgo.org Voice: 202-857-3410 Fax: 202-857-3420