AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association August 25, 2003 In This Edition: U.S. GO NEWS: Oto Wins ING Youth Cup; Denton Update; Rochester Gets 2nd Club; Earliest US Go?; Segoe Kensaku & Takagawa Kaku Featured In Latest MasterGo WORLD GO NEWS: Koichi Holds on in Gosei; Second Cyber 5 vs. 5 Game Scheduled; Li Haiou Tops In MSO; Macfadyen Retains British Title GAME COMMENTARY: The Attacking Game HARD TIME AT THE GOBAN The Empty Board: My Favorite Opponents YOUR MOVE: Readers Write GO KIDS: Stalking the Ketchup Bottle GO CLASSIFIED CALENDAR OF EVENTS U.S. GO NEWS OTO WINS ING YOUTH CUP: Robert Oto, 4d was the top winner in the 6th ING Cup Youth Goe Tournament held August 17 at the Chinese Culture Center in Sunnyvale,CA. Oto went 5-0 in the 1-4d A section band. Other top winners: B section: Hank Cheng, 1k; C section: Jessica Wang, 8k; D section: Karoline Burrall, 15k; E section: Albert Chen,19k; F section: Kevin Ma, 25k; G section: Jerry Lin, 27k. Roger Lee, 30k; won the 13x13 event. The 6th ING Cup was organized by Mingjiu Jiang and sponsored by ING'S GOE Foundation, the American GO Association, the American ING GOE Foundation, and the American professional GOE Association. For complete results go to http://www.gomasters.com DENTON UPDATE: The Denton Go Club has changed its meeting time and place and now Meets at Tuesdays at 7P at J&J's Pizza, 118 W. Oak St in Denton, TX Info: tjspinks@yahoo.com ROCHESTER GETS 2ND CLUB: A new go club is forming on the campus of the University of Rochester (NY). The club will be a chapter of the RIT-based Empty Sky Go Club, which is hosting the 2004 Congress. "Go is growing in Rochester," reports UR club president Lee Frankel-Goldwater, who adds that the new club is looking for equipment. Email him at LF004K@mail.rochester.edu EARLIEST US GO? The IGS Art Gallery has posted an entertaining photo purporting to depict members of the crew of the USS Monitor playing go on board on July 9, 1862. Check it out at http://igs.joyjoy.net/English/art/ussmonitor.html SEGOE KENSAKU & TAKAGAWA KAKU FEATURED IN LATEST MASTERGO: The latest release of MasterGo has 23,100 games by 1,128 professional players. Segoe Kensaku is the featured historical player. He was active during the first half of the 20th century and is probably most famous as the teacher of Go Seigen. Collectors of go books will also know him as the author of Go Proverbs Illustrated. He also compiled a complete collection of the Castle games that was published in Japanese; these games are expected to make it into MasterGo over the next year. Takagawa Kaku is the featured modern player and MasterGo has almost doubled his games since last month's release. Games from the 1960's and 1970's are another special focus for this release, with many games from this period added. Go to the MasterGo web site (http://www.MasterGo.com) to either order or upgrade. WORLD GO NEWS KOICHI HOLDS ON IN GOSEI: In the 4th game of the 28th Gosei Tournament held in Tokyo, current title holder Kobayashi Koichi 9p played black and narrowly defeated challenger Yoda Norimoto 9p by a mere 0.5 points to tie the best-of-5 series at 2:2. This is the first title match in Japan to be played with a 6.5 point komi (as opposed to the 5.5 komi of the past). As close as this game was, the new komi could have been a deciding factor. Yoda is the current Meijin title holder and will defend that title beginning Sept 10. Game 5 of the Gosei Tournament will be broadcast live on August 27 at www.nihonkiin.or.jp, and game records can be found at www.gogameworld.com. -reported by Dennis Hardman SECOND CYBER 5 VS. 5 GAME SCHEDULED: The second game of the China-Japan Cyberspace '5 vs. 5' Team match is scheduled to be played August 25 at 2:00pm (Japan time) and will be broadcast live at www.nihonkiin.or.jp. This game, pitting O Meien 9p of Japan against Zhou Heyang 9p of China, is part of a 5-game goodwill match conceived originally to help make up for the blank in international go activity caused by the SARS epidemic. O Meien, brother of Tei Meiko 9p and Tei Meiki 7p, lives in Tokyo and has been known to adopt interesting (and non-standard) opening moves, now sometimes referred to as "meienisms". Zhou is a recent winner of the CCTV Cup and the Mingren Title Match. All five games allow 30 minutes per player, followed by Canadian Overtime of 25 moves every 15 minutes. China's Chang Hao(9d) defeated Cho U(9d) of Japan in the first game that was played on August 4th. -reported by Dennis Hardman LI HAIOU TOPS IN MSO: The Northern Tournament was held as part of the Mind Sports Olympiad in Manchester, England on August 16 and 17. The winner with 6 out of 6 wins was Li Haiou, a Chinese 6 dan studying in Liverpool. Two other young Chinese players were second and third, Chen Lei with 5/6 and Han Zhongwei with 4/6. Paul Taylor 1 kyu of Cambridge took fourth with 4/6, fifth was Tim Hunt 3 dan of Open University, and sixth was Dan Gilder 3 dan of Manchester. - reported in the BGA News MACFADYEN RETAINS BRITISH TITLE: Matthew Macfadyen has retained the title in his match for the British Championship with Matthew Cocke, winning three games straight. All three were broadcast live on KGS on August 9, 16, and 17. - reported in the BGA News GAME COMMENTARY: The Attacking Game "Nine stone games are an ideal opportunity to practice the attacking game," advises Jim Kerwin 1P in today's game commentary on his game with E-Journal columnist Joel Turnipseed. "With the handicap, Black can resist White's efforts to turn Black's attack into a fight." See whether Black succeeds in the attached game. BONUS FILE: Learn how to attack a two-space extension in today's problem file, a study taken from "Intermediate Power Builder, vol. 2", by Wang RuNan 8P, recently published by Yutopian, http://www.yutopian.com To view the attached file(s), simply save the file to your computer and then open it 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 HARD TIME AT THE GOBAN By Joel Turnipseed When I called James Kerwin 1P to schedule my first post-Congress lesson, I told him about "The Bet" -- that I would be shodan by next years' Go Congress in Rochester. He chuckled approvingly, but I detected a tinge of mockery in the laughter of the master: his boastful student's fighting spirit was about to bite him in the ass. I spent the next week on my new regimen: an hour or so a day of either tesuji or tsume go problems, reading through one professional game at the goban on my living room floor, and playing at least a couple of games a day online. I've never lost so many games. I would look at the stones on the board and think, "What the hell tesuji is this?" It wasn't. In fact, it looked a lot like anti-tesuji, bad play by both players. But how to tell the difference? My mind was so filled with black and white stones I couldn't see anything but grey patterns. I was getting worse, not better, and I dreaded my lesson with Kerwin. All I knew for sure was that I was playing differently, and it sucked. When I showed up at Kerwin's front door he let me know right away that he was going to start teaching differently, too. "You need to short-circuit your hand," said Kerwin, correcting me before we had even laid out my constellation of nine fat handicap stones. "Start playing uncomfortable moves. Don't worry about winning or losing, groups living or dying. There's only one thing: 'What is the best move that I understand and know how to play?' Play that. You don't have time for anything else if you're going to get this done." I felt drunk. I lost. On the way home, it occurred to me that there's a deep tension between competence and mastery. If I just want to win, I'm competent to do that: I know the joseki, tesuji and life-and-death problems I'll run into against 4, 5 or 6 kyus. In fact, go's handicap system ensures that I'll win approximately 50 percent of all my games whether I improve or not. Mastery demands more. My sensei's demand is that I let go of my competence; that I struggle incompetently at something more difficult. I must forget about winning and focus on getting better. The willingness to continue that cycle of uncertainty (and, frankly, humiliation) is what will make the difference between free beer and frequent runs to the ATM next year in Rochester. More importantly, it will just plain make the difference. Joel Turnipseed, 5k, is author of BAGHDAD EXPRESS The Empty Board: My Favorite Opponents by William Cobb One of the attractions of playing in lots of tournaments is that you get to play lots of different opponents. It's always intriguing to play someone you've never played before. The chances are very good that you'll get to deal with something new, a different style or an unusual joseki or an idiosyncratic opening. Naturally, you're a little nervous, but it's a pleasant kind of apprehension. Then there are the "baby zoomers" who are blasting up the ranks and sometimes pause to beat you on their way up. I missed the famous Eric Liu, now 6 dan, who jumped over me even though we were frequently playing in the same tournaments. I did get to play Curtis Tang, in his very first game in a US Open, and I almost beat him, too. He was six years old at the time, so I was sixty years his senior, but we had a good game. Of course, three years later he's more than nine stones above me. I suspect most of us older kyu players are startled when we manage to win against a young kid; they are amazing. My favorite opponents, though, are those whom I meet regularly because we occupy the same range of strength. I know surprisingly little about most of these people, but sitting down to play them is like settling down with an old friend for a pleasant chat. These go relationships evolve quite naturally because of the special, cooperative, interactive nature of the game, and they are a major reason why go is so addictive. I suspect this is part of the reason attendance at tournaments has been increasing lately. Tournaments are for having friends. The Empty Board #37; past columns are archived at http://www.slateandshell.com/billcobb.asp GO KIDS: Stalking the Ketchup Bottle Four score and seven years ago, perhaps you were born, but four score, six and a half years later, a web comic I read on a daily basis made me think. It had a small reference to a manga being released called "Hikaru no Go". Curiosity has been passed down my family from generation to generation, and I sought out this curiosity like Pikachu stalks a ketchup bottle. Before I could spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", I was addicted to go (as in the game). As someone who is obsessive-compulsive without being pregnant, I set out to become the first Vietnamese pro player. Excerpted from 16-year-old Christopher Vu's prize-winning essay in Slate & Shell's essay contest at this year's U.S. Go Congress. All five winning essays in their entirety can be seen at http://www.slateandshell.com YOUR MOVE: Readers Write "I think I have some of the issues you need," wrote Michael Goerss in response to my tale of the missing issues of Go World (AGEJ date here). "You're welcome to what I have," he generously said, and sent along GW 78, 82, and 84-87. May the go gods smile on you, Michael! (and on anyone out there with spare copies of GW 79, 80, 81, 83 or 88-92; email journal@usgo.org) GO CLASSIFIED WANTED: Beginning players in Santa Clara, California. Tired of playing only on the computer, I'd like to meet up with an actual human sometime for evening/weekend games. Lenny: briandamage@att.net WANTED: I am moving to Callao, Virginia soon and would like to get in touch with go players on the Northern Neck. Contact Bob at shinebob@verizon.net WANTED: teacher to teach and meet online once or twice a week, to play a game and review it. I am 15-16k. I can meet anytime at night on weekdays, or almost anytime on weekends. e-mail josh87102@yahoo.com AVAILABLE: Lessons from an IGS 5d. 30k-1d welcome; visit http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/icarii First lesson free. WANTED: Players in Kodiak, Alaska. Contact Seth Minyard at Sethdid@hotmail.com or 907-486-5284 for more information about times, dates and locations. WANTED: Players in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Wayne Page, wdpage@pinn.net 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 CALENDAR OF EVENTS August 30: Sacramento, CA Davis/Sacramento Go Club Tournament Fred Hopkins 916-965-0478 fred.hopkins@mckesson.com August 30-September 1: Montreal, CANADA 26th Canadian Open Go Championship Steven Mays smays@videotron.ca Labor Day Weekend Go Get-together August 30-September 1 Roundtop, NY (The Woodlands, in the Catskills) Jean-Claude Chetrit zorglub@brooklyngoclub.org September 6: Chicago, IL Fall Tournament Bob Barber 773-467-0423 komoku@earthlink.net September 13: Livermore, CA Vintage Go Event S.C. Herric 925-423-7458 herrick4@llnl.gov September 20: Durham, NC Third Annual Joe Shoenfield Memorial Marathon Go Tournament Paul Celmer pcelmer@earthlink.net September 20: Tacoma/Parkland, WA Tournament at Pacific Lutheran University Mike Malveaux 253-906-0095 tacomagofiend@yahoo.com http:www.hilltopgo.com/evrep/plufall2003/ September 21: Hoboken, NJ Hoboken Fall Tournament Larry Russ 201-216-5379 lruss@stevens-tech.edu http://attila.stevens-tech/edu/~lruss/hoboken_spring_tournament.htm September 28: Amherst, MA Western Mass Fall Go Tournament David Dawidowicz 413-546-0095 ddawidow@student.umass.edu http:www.cookwood.com/personal/go/wmgt/2003fall.html October 10-13: Roundtop, NY Guo Juan Workshop Jean-Claude Chetrit zorglub@brooklyngoclub.org October 17-19: Germantown, MD James Kerwin Workshop Gordon Fraser 301-540-2640 gordon@wui.com 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 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: For a full list of AGA officers, contacts & their email addresses, go to: http://www.usgo.org/org/index.asp#contactinfo 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 mailto:journal@usgo.org