News from the American Go Association

November 1, 2004

In This Issue:

[U.S. GO NEWS]: Irish Wake For Peter Yam; Mid-Atlantic Date Correction; Peigang, Not Peigant

[WORLD GO NEWS]: Rui Naiwei Beats Lee Changho Again; Cho U Wins First Game In Oza; Park Cheongsang Wins First Title; Shinkai Reaches Finals Of Women's Strongest

Zhou Takes Chinese Agon Cup

[GAME COMMENTARY]: World Youth Goe Championship Game

[MY CORNER]: Calling All Volunteers

[BEGINNER’S MIND]: Spilled Stones

[GO CLASSIFIED]

[CALENDAR OF EVENTS]

ATTACHED FILE(S): 2004.11.01.Guo Juan Commentary; 2004.11.01.Nakayama NS-12

[U.S. GO NEWS]

IRISH WAKE FOR PETER YAM: An "Irish Wake" will be held this Saturday, November 6 in celebration of the life of longtime go player Peter Yam, who recently died. Friends, relatives and others whose lives were touched by Peters will assemble at a restaurant in Chinatown in Chicago. The wake will be held from 6-9P at Laosechuan, 2172 S. Archer (upstairs). Please RSVP to hp_deangelo@hotmail.com
312.326.5040

MID-ATLANTIC DATE CORRECTION: The 16th Mid-Atlantic Regional in College Park, Maryland will be held November 13th-14^th, not the 7^th, as listed in last week’s calendar. For for information, contact Ken Koester at kkoester@riva.net   We apologize for the error.

PEIGANG, NOT PEIGANT: The 2^nd-place winner in the recent GAGAGAGO Tournament was Peigang Zang, not Peigant. We regret the mis-spelling.

[WORLD GO NEWS]

RUI NAIWEI BEATS LEE CHANGHO AGAIN: In the first round of the 16th Kisung Tournament in Korea, Rui Naiwei forced Lee Changho to resign at the 109th move, capturing two large dragons that Lee created trying to invade her moyo. Lee Changho 9p is the most successful professional of recent years, winning more international titles than anyone else by a significant margin. But he has a great deal of trouble beating Rui Naiwei 9p, the famous "Iron Lady" who plays as a Korean pro these days. Rui's record against Lee is 6 wins against 2 losses, and she is the only pro who has been able to maintain a plus score against Lee. You can download the game at http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp?id=14 . Subscribers to www.go4go.net can see a commentary on this game by Alexandre Dinerchtein 1p. In the second round Rui faces Song Taekon 7p.

CHO U WINS FIRST GAME IN OZA: Cho U 9p has won the first game in his best-of-five game title match with challenger Yamashita Keigo 9p in the 52nd Oza Tournament in Japan. Yamashita defeated Yoda Norimoto 9p to reach the title match. Cho won this title from O Meien 9p last year. The winner's purse in the Oza, which is sponsored by the Nihon Keizai Newspaper, is about $128,000.00 US.

PARK CHEONGSANG WINS FIRST TITLE: Twenty year old Park Cheongsang 4p of Korea defeated An Yeongkil 5p two games to one in the finals of the 8th Korean SK Gas New Stars Best Ten Tournament. The tournament is limited to players below the rank of 7p and younger than twenty-five. The ten who qualify for the tournament are divided into two round robin leagues, the winners of which have a best of three game title match. You can download the three finals games at http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp?id=26 . The winner's prize is about $8500.00 US (10 million South Korean Won).

SHINKAI REACHES FINALS OF WOMEN'S STRONGEST: Shinkai Hiroko 5p has defeated Mannami Kana, the Women's Kisei, in the first game of the semi-finals of the Women's Strongest Tournament in Japan. In the second round Shinkai also defeated Suzuki Ayumi, who won this tournament last year. This tournament is sponsored by the Tokyo Seimitsu Co., and the title winner's prize is about $42,000.00 US.

ZHOU TAKES CHINESE AGON CUP: Zhou Heyang 9p has defeated Saho Weigang 9p by resignation to take the Chinese Agon Cup. Zhou also defeated Saho in 2000 to win this title, so this is his second time as winner of this Cup in China. Later this year Zhou will meet the winner of the Japanese Agon Cup, Hane Naoki 9p for a one game play-off. In 2000, Zhou lost to the Japanese winner, Cho Sonjin 9p.

[GAME COMMENTARY]: World Youth Goe Championship Game

       Guo Juan 5p introduces us this week to Lingyi Gu, a 13-year-old Chinese player who won the senior division of this year’s World Youth Goe Championship without any losses. Today’s commented game, a 1-pointer, is the final round from the World Youth, held in Vancouver, Canada, in August.

       Our bonus file today is another installment of Nakayama Noriyuki’s “What’s Wrong With That Move” series.

       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

[MY CORNER]: Calling All Volunteers

by Mike Lash, AGA President
You may have seen my recent offer of free AGA memberships in the October 11 E-Journal. Some people have already contacted me and are being placed into spots for active duty right away, but there’s plenty of room for more! This is the start of a long-term campaign to recruit more members and even more importantly, keep new members on board for the long term.

            Here are a few key areas in need of support right now:

• MEMBERSHIP SERVICES – support new and existing members with creative programs and membership incentives
• CHAPTER SERVICES - develop new plans to support chapters, promote creation of new chapters, and make chapters the place where AGA members want to play go.
• FUNDRAISING – a long term project needing people to work on fundraising proposals, develop networking activities, identifying sponsors and donors
• MARKETING AND PROMOTION – a marketing committee is being formed to increase membership and AGA visibility
• TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATION – involves standardizing tournament materials, rules, records, publish tournament calendars
• PLANNING – working within the AGA administration to develop thoroughly new ideas, implement long term projects, and gather information over time.

I am appealing directly to the nearly 7,000 of you reading this E-Journal right now who are either not members of the AGA, or members who are not actively involved, yet. This E-Journal, a free service, would be impossible without dedicated AGA volunteers. Knowing that we all face demands on our free time, I designed this offer to get your attention - free membership in the AGA for one full year for 25 people who step up and volunteer. This is open for AGA members and nonmembers alike. I am looking for people with energy, time and a willingness to stick with tasks to the end. Some are short, one-time tasks and others are longer term. This is a team effort and you will be well rewarded with new contacts, friends and access to go players around the country.

            Please don’t see limitations in the list above. I am open all to ideas and projects of interest across the entire spectrum of go and the AGA. Contact me soon at President@usgo.org and provide your phone number. I will contact you to discuss what would be your best opportunity to help the AGA.

[BEGINNER’S MIND]: Spilled Stones

by Aria Von Elbe

       I was getting out of the car a couple nights ago and during the drive home from the go club the stones had slid up against the door, so naturally, when I opened it they all fell out, and of course they were the black stones, not white, which in the darkness would have made them much easier to find. My father was astonished and annoyed, but I looked at it calmly, as if it were an everyday thing, because it is. Who can honestly say they've never spilled a bowl of stones? Not very many, if any, that's for sure.

       I picked up the stones up, not counting them, but judging by the weight of the bowl. When I thought I had most of them, I took the bowl inside and started counting the stones and I thought about everything for my high school club is falling into place, just as the stones were now falling into the Ing bowl. Our Youth Grant Application has been approved, I have members who want to play, a rivalry with the President of the Chess Club, and even a treasurer who's

asked me if it would be okay if she wrote a column on go for the school newspaper.

       I was eight stones short, though. Eight missing, out of 180, late at night with just the car's headlights to guide me. Pretty damn good, but not good enough. I grabbed the flashlight and went out to look once more. I mean, I still have things that I need to get sorted out for the club: official meeting times, our application for

boards from the Ing Foundation, not to mention how was I going to teach my club members when I hardly know anything myself? I ended up finding seven of those missing eight, and called it a night. I'd find the last one in the morning.

     I came down for school the next morning, and there it was, the last stone, on my board’s 4-4 point as if waiting for me to play the next move. My dad had found it in the grass when he had gone to get the paper that morning. It made me realize that I shouldn't be afraid of what to teach my club. I'll start with the basics, just as I’ve been taught, and then simply start playing with them. If I don't have all the answers, so what? Sooner or later my sensei from Miami Go Club will show up, and then they'll have their answers.

-16-year-old Aria von Elbe is an 11th grader in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

[GO CLASSIFIED]

BOOKS, EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE, ETC:

FOR SALE: Quality go equipment including gobans/bowls/stones, ranging from entry level to elegant collectible items. http://equipment.go4go.net   or email equipment@go4go.net  (9/20)

INSTRUCTION, TEACHERS:

- Cornel Burzo 6d is giving lessons on both IGS and KGS using voicechat for review every week day from 8A to 5P using skype (check www.skype.com) for details email cornelburzo@yahoo.com  (10/18)

- Joey's Go School: Free lessons every Thursday night from 8-9P (EST)  on KGS! Joey Hung AGA 8d teaches online and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Find out more about Joey's Go School At 510-659-8220, egogames@yahoo.com or http://www.egogames.com  (10/4)

- Looking for a sensei to improve your Go skills? Yang, In Lin, 5-dan from Taiwan is available for online lessons. email for8veryong@tom.com for cost details. (9/20)

- IGS 5dan offers one FREE LESSON for those thinking about getting a teacher. For more information contact icarii@zoominternet.net for more details or to schedule the lesson. (8/30)

GO PLAYERS WANTED:

AK: Juneau, Alaska ; stevekrall@yahoo.com (8/23)

AL: Birmingham or Hoover: email goboard@bellsouth.net I'm about 5k; any level is welcome. (9/6)

AZ: Phoenix, AGA 5d looking for go players; michaelscai@yahoo.com (8/23)

FL: Tampa Bay; Looking for players within 30 minutes of Tampa Bay to help create a club which might be located near USF. rruiz002@tampabay.rr.com  (9/27)

IL: Northern Illinois, Gurnee area. Any rank, age, or shoe size welcome. Looking for friendly or teaching games. Contact (15 kyu) Joe at nothing217@comcast.net (9/6)

MD: Baltimore, at the Maryland Institute College of Art. 7P Mondays, at

Cafe Doris (Mount Royal Ave) (10/18)

NEW! NH: Hanover, Meets 2-5 PM Wed at Hopkins Center Cafeteria; efeustel@direcway.com

NY: Syracuse; The Central New York Go Club invites players who live anywhere near Utica, Geneva, Oswego, and  Cortland to join them on Monday nights. Visit the club's website at:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/cnygo/

NEW! SC: Charleston/Lowcountry area.  Total beginner looking for teaching and friendly games. Contact Doug: dougsimpson@email.com

Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach over 7,000 Go players worldwide every week at Go Classified! Listings are free and run 4 weeks; send to us at journal@usgo.org

[CALENDAR OF EVENTS]

November 4-7:  Lancaster, PA
Lancaster Yang Workshop
Chuck Robbins 717-898-7911 x 22 chuck@ctipc.com

November 7:  Seattle, WA
Monthly Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley 206-545-1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org
http://www.seattlegocenter.org/

November 13: Orchard Park, Davis, CA (new location)
Davis/Sacramento Ratings Tournament
Fred Hopkins, 916-548-8068

November 13 & 14:  College Park, MD
16th Mid-Atlantic Regional Go Championship
Ken Koester 410-267-0487  smount@umd.edu
www.wam.umd.edu/~smount/MidAtlantic.html

This is a digest of events for the next month only; for a complete listing see the Tournament Calendar on the AGA website: http://www.usgo.org/usa/tournaments.asp

For the European Go Calendar see

http://www.european-go.org/TOURNAMENTS/TListbyDate.htm

GET LISTED & BOOST TURN OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 7,000 readers every week! List your Go event/news In the E Journal: email details to us at journal@usgo.org

Published by the American Go Association

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Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association.

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

journal@usgo.org