AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association September 22, 2003 In This Edition: U.S. GO NEWS: Xiaoren He N.A. Rep to Baduk Championship; John Nash Drops By Feng Yun Princeton Lecture; Hoboken Hosts Record Turnout; Denver Still Reaping Mendenhall Legacy; Salem Seeking Players; In Memoriam: Moon Cha GAME COMMENTARY: Avoiding Book Moves HARD TIMES ON THE GOBAN GO REVIEW: Intermediate Level Power Builder, Vol. 1 YOUR MOVE: Readers Write GO CLASSIFIED CALENDAR OF EVENTS U.S. GO NEWS XIAOREN HE N.A. REP TO BADUK CHAMPIONSHIP: Xiaoren He, 5P, of Toronto, Canada, has been selected by the American Professional Go Player's Association as the North American representative to the Women's International Baduk Championship, which begins in early October in China and pits the top women players in the world against each other. JOHN NASH DROPS BY FENG YUN PRINCETON LECTURE: As part of Princeton's Orientation Week events for new students, the Princeton Go Club organized a lecture and simultaneous games by Feng Yun 9P of Piscataway, reports Rick Mott. "This was her first 'official' visit, although she had been to Princeton with her go school students who played in the New Jersey Open last year." Rick reports that Feng Yun's lecture developed into a fascinating Q&A session, as Feng Yun described how she became a professional player, and the history of the newly resurgent Chinese women's team in competition with the Japanese. "Then we moved on to a 7-board simultaneous match. The players were the eclectic assortment you find at Princeton events: David Lin, a freshman who had only played a handful of games on Yahoo; junior Daniel Peng, also a relative beginner; club regulars Jim Fredrickson, Len Baum, and Lee Neuwirth; grad student Xingguo Pan; and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Philip Anderson. There was a good crowd of onlookers filling the room; even John Nash, who hasn't been an active go player for many years, stopped by briefly. Student response was enthusiastic, and we will be trying to set up more events with Feng Yun in the near future." HOBOKEN HOSTS RECORD TURNOUT: A record 72 players turned out for Sunday's September Handicap Tournament in Hoboken, NJ. The unusually large field was swelled by large contingents from the Empty Sky Go Club of Rochester and New Jersey's own Feng Yun Go School, with approximately 20 players from each club, reports Director Steve Bretherick. The Rochester contingent included some brand-new players who got a chance to test their skill against more experienced -- but much younger -- competitors from Feng Yun's school. "I could have eaten that kid, he was so small," one player was heard lamenting. "One thing we can all count on," says Bretherick. "Any player from either of these go hotbeds will be much stronger the next time we see them." Organizeb by Larry Russ and directed by Steve Bretherick and Chuck Robbins, winners were : 4-game winners: BARTELL, Tom; WANG, Andrew, and 3 generations of the Gu family: Jason GU, his father Jimmy GU and his grandfather Duo De CAI; 3-game winners: LEFLER, Greg; PALMER, Marc; ZHANG, Lionel; CURTIS, Nathan; BARNETT, David; SCHURTER, Terri; LIN, Ken; PARRY-HILL, Jeremiah; WANG, Kevin; SHANG, Kevin; ZHAO, Zhongxia; YAN, Jasmine; TIAN, Ximeng; LI, Anton; SHANG, Andrew; DOMBROWSKI, Dan DENVER STILL REAPING MENDENHALL LEGACY: Denver's first "NO FEE Tournament" was a big success, reports Ulo Tamm. Attendance at the September 13 event, which charged no entry fees other than AGA fees, increased almost 41% over the most recent event. "After the tournament, our top player thought the big prizes are not needed, just great competition and numbers," says Stu, who adds that "much credit goes to our recently passed friend, an avid teacher and go player, Bob Mendenhall: the Go Group he established in Boulder was a great part of the 41% increase." Thirty-four players in three sections competed under the direction of Stu Horowitz. Although the tournament had no cash prizes, winners chose from table full of donations: books, bowls signed by Naiwei Rui & Jujo Jiang, old issues of GO World, bumper stickers, copies of old AGA Go Journals (possibly a collectors item) and two original drawings donated by Lonnie Wiens, a local go-playing artist. Section winners drew numbers to select the prizes. Youth dominated this tournament: Open section: Winner, Zipei Feng; Low dan: Winner Robert Frohardt; Low kyu: Winner David Johnson SALEM SEEKING PLAYERS: A new go club in Salem, Oregon is looking for players. "We meet on Sundays at 11-3 at the Governors Cup," says Garret Nelson. "We have a regular 1d player who comes and helps so you have many learning opportunities as well." For more information email Garret at Raccoonz2000@hotmail.com IN MEMORIAM: MOON CHA: Longtime and much-beloved Washington-area go player Moon Cha passed away last Friday due to cancer. His funeral will be held this Friday, September 26 at 10A at the Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home in Silver Spring, MD, 11800 New Hampshire Ave. For more details, see the Wednesday Washington Post obit section. - reported by Yuan Zhou & Haskell Small GAME COMMENTARY: Avoiding Book Moves Move #1 in today's commented game is "A special and interesting opening move," says Yuan Zhou. "The intent is to confuse the opponent and avoid book moves and familiar openings." The move was played by Jung Hoon Lee, 8d in Round 1 of the 2003 North American Amateur Ing Cup. Yuan should know the game well: he plays White in the game in which the margin of victory was a razor-thin 3 points. Lee, the 2002 US Open Champion and 2002 N.A. Ing Cup runner up is obviously "one the strongest go players in the USA," says Yuan. Lee will represent the US in the up-coming World Amateur Championship to be held in Korea. 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 TIMES ON THE GOBAN by Joel Turnipseed A bad radio interview, a missed deadline, losing a string of won games-I showed up at Jim Kerwin's front door, crushed. After a dismal teaching game, I asked whether I needed to study Zen meditation to improve my game. Jim, sitting calmly cross-legged across the goban, grimaced, then threw out his arms: "Go is meditation!" Right. I know this. During the first Gulf War, where I served as a Marine reservist, my first impulse on realizing that I was quickly losing my mind was to build a go board. I spent a morning wandering around our tent camp scrounging materials: a four-foot piece of 1x10 lumber and some nails left-over from a SeeBees site, a saw from the supply tent. I cut the length of board in half and pounded the nails over a boot lace to form the hinge. Using the back of the saw as a straightedge, I drew the lines with a Bic pen. When I was finished, I walked over to the PX tent to get Tylenol tablets for white stones and Advils to use as black. Now the meatheads had their ersatz fitness club made of 2x4s and sandbags and I had my makeshift go set. From the day I finished that board, the war took a better turn for me. It not only gave me a way to relate to my fellow Marines, but it was also a way to lose myself in the concentration of teaching and playing against the guys who were fascinated by my strange creation. And in losing ourselves in the game, we were released of our conscious conceptions of ourselves-the tooth-grinding worries of our duties, the sweat of our fears, the masks of our rank. Instead, we had the pure fascination of the moment at hand; the clean rules of the line against grain; a temporary freedom from the Marine Corps and the war. In those moments when we were so very much alive, yet very separate from the world at hand, our playing of go was meditation. I know this. But the difference between knowing and doing, well... that's something else entirely. - Joel Turnipseed, 5k, is author of BAGHDAD EXPRESS. GO REVIEW: Intermediate Level Power Builder, Vol. 1 by Wang RuNan 8 dan Reviewed by Ethan Baldridge This slender volume from Yutopian Enterprises is aimed at 19-13th kyu players. It mainly teaches about opening and fuseki issues, and how to use and deal with a moyo built on star points. The problems are enjoyable to solve and presented in an interesting style where three imaginary students make suggestions and comments on the likely courses of action. I thought this was an interesting way to teach, although I'm not sure whether it affected my retention at all. The last chapters of the book deal with invading, and the final chapter is dedicated entirely to joseki from a 3-3 point invasion where a 4-4 stone has already been placed. I felt this was a great help as it showed me how to play for side influence when the corner isn't as important. I would recommend this book for any mid-level kyu player who wants a quick strengthening of their game. YOUR MOVE: Readers Write A GO FRIEND IN BEIJING: "David Doshay ("An American 7k in China", 9/15/03) thought it is 'a frustrating experience' if one can not communicate with players. I am in Beijing and love go too (I am about 1d). Maybe I am helpful if anybody like to play go, or travel in Beijing." Xinming (Simon) Guo, guoxm@tsinghua.org.cn GO CLASSIFIED WANTED: I would like to hook up with go players in the Sullivan County NY area. The nearest go club meeting in in Woodstock NY with is a 2 hour drive from my house. Port Jervis or Middletown NY or the Honesdale Pa area would also be good. Ouida.Edington@ssa.gov FOR SALE: Old Go World magazines. Issues #23, 26-33, 47-55, 57-78. Included as a free extra are issues of the American Go Journal, Vol. 33, # 2-4, and Vol 34, #1-2. Michael Goerss; jgoerss3@cox.net. FOR SALE: Go Review #1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12; 1975:Spring, Summer, Autumn; 1976 Winter, Spring, Autumn; Go World # 38-51; 53-55; 58-80;82-86;88-92;95-97, 69 Issues including rare #1. Will sell only as a lot at $350 + postage Contact bsaltman@charter.net WANTED: Moving to the Spokane, Washington area for college, and want to get in touch with go players, especially any with connections to Whitworth College Sean R; weyounsix@hotmail.com WANTED: Pensacola, FL. Go players or interested parties to begin human play in the panhandle of Florida. Contact Ralph at rhaseltine@att.net. WANTED: Anecdotes about how a particular strategy, go problem or set of moves may have surfaced in your life away from the go board. Recently, when discussing a particular go strategy or problem with a friend in the middle of a difficult life problem, I was surprised how easily I could relate the go problem as an analysis or analog of my friend's problem. Please email any anecdotes to ddinhofer@msn.com WANTED: Interested Go players from the Guam area to form Guam's first local go club for fun, teaching and tournaments. Please contact Ed at: edp96912@yahoo.com 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 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 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 11 & 12: Toronto, CANADA 2003 Korean Cup Open Go Tournament June Ki Beck 416-733-9597 junekibeck@yahoo.com October 12: Boston, MA MGA Fall Handicap Tournament Zack Grossbart 617-497-1232 zack@grossbart.com October 17-19: Germantown, MD James Kerwin Workshop Gordon Fraser 301-540-2640 gordon@wui.com October 18 & 19: San Francisco, CA Dote Sensei Memorial Fall Tournament Steve Burrall 916-688-2858 sburrall@comcast.net October 25: Tacoma, WA UPS Fall Tournament Tyler Sellon 253-759-6860 tsellon@ups.edu http://www.hilltopgo.com/evrep/upsfall2003/index.html 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 Chris Garlock, Coordinator Union Cities/Streetheat Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO 1925 K St NW, #410 Washington, DC 20006 202-857-3410 cgarlock@dclabor.org