AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association August 6, 2004 Special U.S. Go Congress Edition: FINAL EDITION! [LI LOOKING TO LOCK UP OPEN WIN] [IN APPRECIATION] [PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING]: Jiang On Outside Influence [BURRALL/ZHOU WIN PAIR GO TOURNEY] [OVERHEARD] [GAME COMMENTARY]: No-Holds-Barred Fighting [BEGINNER’S MIND]: Double Or Nothing [LESSONS LEARNED]: Respecting The Opponent [WORLD GO NEWS]: Lee Changho Evens Up Wangwi; Korea & China Shut Out Japan In Samsung Cup; World Go News Highlights ATTACHED FILE(S): 2004.08.06 US OPEN Round 3 Zhou-Yu [LI LOOKING TO LOCK UP OPEN WIN]: Jie Li 7d all but locked up the 2004 U.S. Open Friday morning with his 5th round win over Xuefen Lin. Li is now 5-0 going into the final round Saturday. In other top board results, Yongfei Ge beat Joey Hung, Minshan Shou bested Curtis Tang and Lu (Jeffrey) Wang defeated Guan Mozheng. Edward Kim beat Jung Hoon Lee, Lianzhou Yu won over Zhaonian Chen, Richard Liang defeated Rui Wang, Jong Moon Lee bested Yuan Zhou, Eric Lui beat Jin Chen and Ron Snyder defeated Shunichi Hyodo. Five-game winners: Li, Jie 7d; Mizuno, Yaoki 5d; Sannes, Pal 5d; Rosenblatt, Gregory 3d; Shen, Hao 1d; Barberi, Steve 1k; Guo, Yao 3k; Kiguchi, Christopher 5k; Vogel, Jeffrey 11k; Zhang, Richard 13k; Chang, Vincent 20k; Benthem, Nick 22k. [IN APPRECIATION]: We hope you’ve enjoyed these daily reports from the 20th annual U.S. Go Congress! We’re pleased to have been able to expand our coverage this year to include games hot off the top boards all week, and thank the tournament directors, coordinators, game recorders and of course the players for all their hard work this week helping the E-Journal staff get the games out to you. Special heartfelt thanks to all the EJ volunteer staff, who gave up precious time on their own boards to make sure these special reports got out on time every day. And thanks also to Congress Director Greg Lefler and his ever-present and cheerful staff who made running the biggest Congress ever look easier than we’re sure it was. Look for full credits and of course a complete Congress wrap-up report in Monday’s edition. Meanwhile, make sure you’re not just reading about the Congress next year: mark your calendar now for 2005, when the Congress will run August 6-14 in Tacoma, Washington. See you there! NOTE: Our email server is continuing to send double copies of the E-Journal. We apologize for this annoyance; please be assured we are working to get the problem fixed as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience! [PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING]: Jiang On Outside Influence “In the opening, it is difficult, if not impossible, to put a point value on outside influence,” Mingjiu Jiang 7p said in a lecture yesterday. “As the game progresses, the wall’s value becomes more clear. If there is a weak group nearby, the wall can be used to attack the weak group, either killing it or making a moyo while chasing it. On the other hand, if your opponent has no weak groups, your wall is much less valuable.” Winning without killing is just a satisfying as killing a big group, Jiang pointed out, noting that mateurs often feel an unnecessary urgency to kill when their framework is invaded. - reported by Mike LePore [BURRALL/ZHOU WIN PAIR GO TOURNEY]: Kristen Burrall 1d and Yuan Zhou 7d won the 2004 US Pair Go Championships last night, and will represent the Unites States at the International Pair Go competition in Japan later this year. Fifty nine pairs participated in the event, “More participants than at the entire first US Go Congress!” notes Tournament Director Jeff Shaevel. Pair Go, which is a huge hit in Japan, pairs up two teams, each of which include a female and male player, and the players alternate turns. The popular variation emphasizes the social aspects of the game and tournaments are always lively events. Other top winners included: 2nd place: Chen Wanyu 3d and Joey Hung 7d, 3rd: Cherry Shen 2d and Curtis Tang 7d, 4th: Debbie Siemon 2d and Thomas Hsiang 7d. The tournament is sponsored b the Japan Pair Go Association. [OVERHEARD]: “See, I told you komi should have been increased last year!” - Joel Sanet 3d to AGA Board Chair Alan Abramson, after a half-point loss as White to a 12-year-old girl who’s only been playing two years. [GAME COMMENTARY]: No-Holds-Barred Fighting An unusual opening results in a no-holds-barred fighting game in today’s game commentary, a 3rd Round U.S. Open game beween Yuan Zhou 7d and Lianzhou Yu 7d. This exciting game features not one but two consecutive capturing races that involve some spectacular reading bu both players: be sure to turn off your “next move” option so you can try to figure out what’s going to happen! To view the attached .sgf file(s), simply save the file(s) 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 [BEGINNER’S MIND]: Double Or Nothing By Aria von Elbe How’s this for nerve-wracking: it's the final match of the table at the Pair Go Tournament and you're staring at a tricky life or death problem that will win or lose the game. Worse, your partner is a 6 dan pro who blithely started the trouble you’re now facing. Honestly, I didn't think we'd even win one game. Although I’d teamed up with Maeda Ryo, a 6 dan professional from the Kansai Kiin, I had serious doubts about 18-kyu myself. Not only have I never played Pair Go before, but I’ve heard it's much more difficult than regular go. And while Maeda-sensei had never played Pair Go before, he's a pro so that wouldn't be a problem. I only have myself to blame, though. After all, I asked Maeda-sensei if he would be my partner, and then waited until just minutes before the match to go over basic techniques. I didn't want to get to the goban and make a complete fool out of myself in front of the pro who has taught me most of the things I've learned this week. So why did I ask him? I guess at the time it just seemed like it would be the best, most fun thing to do. Now though, in the actual event, fun was the furthest thing from my mind. Instead, a one-track train kept chugging through my mind as I second-guessed every single move that I made and wondered what Maeda-sensei was thinking I should do. Some in the large crowd of spectators told me later that I looked as though I was about to cry. Others said I looked like I was going to kill myself over the goban. "Don't worry, you did well," is what I heard from my partner, and it was somehow both reassuring and even more nerve-wracking at the same time. In the end, of course, it was a good time. We won the top board at our table, but more importantly I learned a lot from the review we did together afterwards. Still, I think I'm going to put playing Pair Go with the pros off for a while. It takes more years off my young life than I can really spare right now. Maybe next year, huh? [LESSONS LEARNED]: Respecting The Opponent by Joe Carl Last year I came to the Go Congress with a bad attitude, ready to kick some butt. Instead it was my own posterior that got kicked and taught me a valuable lesson. I found that when I dropped the attitude and just played like I did at my club my game improved and I earned a friend in the process. Another year, another lesson. This year I’m meeting old friends and still making new ones, but this year’s lesson is about the spirit of the game. When I caught myself saying “I should have won all my games, but handed them away” I realized that I was disrespecting my opponent in a different way this year, making weak excuses for my losses. Perhaps I should have won the game but the fact is, I didn’t. Why not? The truth is that my opponent’s will was stronger than mine. I lost focus or I got tired or …too many excuses. Mainly, I just lost focus. The lesson is to be aware when your focus is waning and recapture it before it’s too late. That holds true in the real world too. You may be up against someone who’s not as good as you but if they’re more tenacious or maintain focus longer, they’ll likely edge you out. You don’t win the game unless you get the ball across the finish line. I know the lesson, but the real question is whether I’ll actually master it. Now I don’t say I should have won the game, I just say I lost. It respects my opponent and reminds me of the real lesson. [WORLD GO NEWS] [LEE CHANGHO EVENS UP WANGWI]: Lee Changho 9p defeated Lee Sedol 9p in just 84 moves in Game 4 of the 38th Korean Wangwi title match on August 4 . The series is now tied at 2:2 and the decisive Game 5 will take place on August 17. - from Gogameworld.com [KOREA & CHINA SHUT OUT JAPAN IN SAMSUNG CUP]: Sixteen players have now gone through the preliminary stage of the 9th Samsung Cup. Korea, the hosting country, sent in 182 players (almost its entire pro population) and finally grabbed nine seats for the final stage. Emphasizing quality over quantity, China sent 34 of its top 40 players and obtained the remaining 7 seats. The Samsung Cup remains a nightmare for Japan: for the third year in a row all Japanese players (61 this time) were eliminated in the preliminary. The Samsung Cup is the only international tournament that is open to all professionals and even strong amateurs. - from Go4go.net [WORLD GO NEWS HIGHLIGHTS] - 9th Samsung Cup preliminary round 5: Kong Jie defeated Cho HyeYeon. (8/5/2004) - Japan 29th Gosei final game 2: Yoda Norimoto defeated Yamada Kimio. (8/4/2004) - Japan 52nd Oza Title round 1: Yoda Norimoto defeated Kamimura Kunio. (8/3/2004) - Japan 29th Meijin Title league game 23: Yamada Kimio defeated Rin Kaiho. (8/2/2004) - Japan 43rd Judan loser's group round 1: Kobayashi Koichi defeated Kobayashi Izumi. (7/31/2004) - Japan 52nd Oza round 1: Takao Shinji defeated O Meien. (7/30/2004) - Korea 38th Wangwi title match 3: Lee Sedol defeated Lee Changho. (7/29/2004) - 2nd Toyota Cup World Oza Japanese preliminary final: Yuki Satoshi defeated Nakamura Shinya. (7/28/2004) - Korea 1st King of Kings main event: Song TaeKon defeated Park YuongHoon. (7/27/2004) IN THE KNOW ABOUT GO: We have been pleased to provide our full Member’s Edition to our non-member readers this week as a special promotion; we hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage, features and game commentaries. 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