AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association

August 9, 2004

In This Issue:
JIE LI THREE-PEATS AS U.S. OPEN CHAMP
KIDS ASSURE FUTURE OF U.S. GO
ASIAN GAMES TO BE FEATURED IN NYC
CRAZY, MAN
WORLD GO NEWS: Cho U To Challenge In Meijin; Sorry, Kid; Chilling Out In Epsom, England; Barthropp Tops BGA KGS Tournament
YOUR MOVE: Readers Write
GAME COMMENTARY: Two More From The 2004 AGA/ING Pro Cup
BEGINNER’S MIND: Soul-Searching On The Path
GO CLASSIFIED
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
ATTACHED FILE(S): 2004.08.09 AGA-ING Pro Cup HYang-Feng.sgf; 2004.08.09 AGA-ING Pro Cup Jiang-HYang.sgf

U.S. GO NEWS

JIE LI THREE-PEATS AS U.S. OPEN CHAMP: Jie Li 7d swept all six games last week to win the 2004 U.S. Open for the third consecutive year; he’s now held the title four times, first winning in 1999. Added to his Ing Cup win last week, Li now holds two of the top titles in American go, duplicating the feat he achieved in 2001.
Other tournament winners last week included:
- U.S. OPEN (TD: KEN KOESTER)
Open Section: 1st: Jie Li; 2nd: Lu Wang; 3rd: Yongfei Ge; 4th: Xuefen Lin; 5th: Minshan Shou; 6th: Mozheng Guan; 7th: Edward Kim; 8th: Richard Liang
6D: 1st: Shunichi Hyodo; 2nd: Trevor Morris; 3rd: Masuo Manabe; 5D: 1st: Yaoki Mizuno; 2nd: Keith L. Arnold; 3rd: Jon Boley; 4D: 1st: Ulf Olsson; 2nd: Pal Sannes; 3rd: Jim Huang; 3D: 1st: Gregory Rosenblatt; 2nd: Jia M. Yu; 3rd: Terry Fung; 2D: 1st: Jason Gu; 2nd: Tak Cheng; 3rd: Sean Mason; 1D: 1st: Hao Shen; 2nd: Paul Thordarson; 3rd: Justin Kramer; 1K: 1st: Steve Barberi; 2nd: Calvin Sun; 3rd: Wayne Nelson; 2K: 1st: Joseph Maia; 2nd: William W. Phillips; 3rd: Quentin W. Dombro; 3K: 1st: Yao Guo; 2nd: Justin Bazzano; 3rd: Dana Ballard; 4K: 1st: Steven Bretherick; 2nd: Stephen Sun; 3rd: Nathan Curtis; 5K: 1st: Christopher Kiguchi; 2nd: William Baretsky; 3rd: Leonard Baum; 6-7K: 1st: Charles Slater; 2nd: Matthieu Lucotte; 3rd: Alexandre Burrall; 8-9K: 1st: Scott Agnew; 2nd: Joel Olsen; 3rd: John A. Greiner; 10K: 1st: Mark Irgang; 2nd: Ken Crumpler; 3rd: Ed Hsu; 11-12K: 1st: Jeffrey Vogel; 2nd: Matthew Bengtson; 3rd: Matt Duell; 13–14K: 1st: Richard Zhang; 2nd: Justin Chiang; 3rd: Bob Bacon; 15–17K: 1st: Peter Zhang; 2nd: Jacquelyn Yuan; 3rd: Calvin Clark; 18–20K: 1st: Vincent Chang; 2nd: Everett C. Crenshaw Jr.; 3rd: Stephen Ranger; 22–26K: 1st: Nick Benthem; 2nd: Keiju Takehara; 3rd: Martin Benthem; 4th: Stanley Sun; 5th: Chrystal Yuan; 6th: Vivian Zhang; 7th: Selina Chen; 27K & above: 1st: Albert Guo; 2nd: John Wang; 3rd: Elka Dinhofer; 4th: Monica Lai
- CONTINUOUS SELF-PAIRED TOURNAMENT (TD: RUSS WILLIAMS)
CHAMPION (most wins over losses): Christopher Kiguchi; Hurricane (most wins): Martin Lebl; Giant Killer (kyu with most dan wins): Nicole Casanta; Kyu Killer (dan with most kyu wins): John Paul Rodman; Grasshopper (biggest rating increase): Bob Zhang; Straight Shooter (most consecutive rank wins): Martin Lebl; Dedicated (most games): Martin Lebl; Sensei (most games against weaker players): Martin Lebl; Faithful (smallest rating change): Fumiko Yamanako; Philanthropist (most losses): Martin Lebl; Optimist (largest rating decrease): Yoshitomo Nakata; Diplomat (most number of games played w/newcomer): Martin Lebl; Rookie of the Year (newcomer that plays the most number of games): Christopher Kiguchi
- DIE HARD (TD: CHUCK ROBBINS)
High Dan: 1st: Zhaonian Chen; 2nd: Juan Pablo Quizon; Low Dan: 1st: Jason Gu; 2nd: Anders Kieruf; High Kyu: 1st: Steve Barberi; 2nd: Yoshimoto Nakata; Middle Kyu: 1st: Rick Mott; 2nd: Roland W. Crowl; Low Kyu: 1st: Jeffrey Vogel; 2nd: Christopher Sira
- REDMOND CUP (TD: None Redmond with Chuck Robbins)
Senior: 1st: Mozheng Guan; 2nd: Zhao Nian Chen; Junior: 1st: Curtis Tang; 2nd: Johnny Li
- YOUTH HANDICAP (TD: TODD HEIDENREICH)
High Dan: 1st: Eric Lui; 2nd: Jesse Chao; Low Dan: 1st: Jason Gu; 2nd: Cherry Shen; High Kyu: 1st: Peter Zhang; 2nd: Joshua Wong/Sheng Xiong Hu; Mid Kyu: 1st: Stanley Sun; 2nd: Nick Benthem; Low Kyu: 1st: Albert Guo; 2nd: Martin Benthem
- 9X9 (TD: CRAIG HUTCHINSON)
Dan: 1st: Kory Stevens; 2nd: JP Rodman; Kyu: 1st: Dmitri Lechtchinski; 2nd: Selina Chen
- 13X13 (TD: GREGORY ROSENBLATT)
Dan: 1st: Eric Chang; 2nd: Lawrence Ku; Kyu: 1st: Vincent Chang; 2nd: Ed Hsu
- LIGHTNING (TD: KEITH ARNOLD)
Dan: N/A at presstime
Kyu: 1st: Vincent Chang; 2nd: Stanley Sun
- TEAM TOURNAMENT (TD: SAL GIONFRIDDO)
1st: Matthew Burall, Richard Liang, Zhao Nian Chen

KIDS ASSURE FUTURE OF U.S. GO: “This was the Congress of young people,” reports longtime youth go proponent None Redmond. “Admirably staffed and directed by young men and women, who were patient and helpful, there were also 80 children registered to play at the Congress, twenty-four of them Dan players.” There were four youngsters playing in the Ing Invitational: Jin Chen 7d, Richard Liang 6d, Eric Lui 7d and 11 year-old Curtis Tang, listed as 5d, “but playing stronger,” according to Redmond. The Redmond Cup finals, held at the same time and place as the Amateur Ing, featured Mozheng Guan and ZhoaNian Chen, both 7 dan, playing three games before Mozheng finally prevailed.
“In the Ing Redmond Tournament which is the tournament for young people 5d or stronger and under 30 years of age Eric Lui was beaten by Yuan Zhou 7d,” says Redmond. “Yuan and Kristen Burrall who has just turned 18 and is newly-admitted to M.I.T., are the Pair Go winners and will be taking a trip to Japan to play for the States mid November.”
“Finally,” Redmond notes, “ it has to be mentioned that Christopher Koguchi, listed as a 4 kyu, earned a good record in the Open and the Self-Paired, and is only 7 years old.”
“We've come long way in ten years. We have go professionals living in the States, we have the promise of tempering young players into American professionals, and already there were eight young people at this Congress under the age of 18 who were playing at more than 5 dan strength. The children have come, the future of the AGA is assured.”

ASIAN GAMES TO BE FEATURED IN NYC: The Asia Society and Museum will have an extensive display entitled "Asian Games: The Art of Contest" from October 14, 2004 until January 16, 2005, reports Peter Schumer. “Many ancient and modern games will be discussed and included among the art exhibits, and go will definitely be included,” says Schumer. Find out more at http://www.ny.com/museums/asia.society.html

CRAZY, MAN: “Crazy Go was crazier than usual this year,” reports organizer Terry Benson. Played as traditional on the night before the mid-week day off at the Go Congress, Benson says there were two full setups for Rengo Kriegspeil (blind, partner go played on five 11x11 boards - only the referee’s central board counts). “Bob Hearn brought the delicate lattice for 3D go. Anders Kierulf provided the computer for color blind go (aka mono go, aka single color go) where all the stones are white, but the computer knows.” Four-color go used pente glass stones (and lots of diplomacy), and there was Spiral Go, Hex Go and a new version, Grille Go, played on some kind of metal grate which neatly fit small marbles on a true hexagonal grid in which each stone (except the edge) has 6 liberties. “Don’t even try a ladder!” Benson warns. And Ron Snyder came for his traditional game of Oki-go (aka 23 line go).
“Two games were busy from the start at 7:30 until long after I went off to bed,” reports Benson. “Joker go was popular with kids and adults. Many asked if the specially printed cards could be bought and creator Mike Samuel said Maybe. The other was Blind Go, played on a set given to None Redmond years ago. The 9x9 grid of pegs fits slightly conical stones drilled with holes to fit the pegs and nails on the black stones to distinguish them. Players wore blindfolds and really had to "feel out" their positions. The AGA web site last week featured a photo of this variation.
“At least 80 players were crazy enough to try and dozens more walked over from their self-paired games to smile at the craziness of blind go, marvel at the patterns of 3D Go, or laugh as the Rengo Kiegspeil players gave new meaning to the term ‘bad shape’” concludes Benson.

WORLD GO NEWS

CHO U TO CHALLENGE IN MEIJIN: In a play-off game after tying in the League series, Cho U, the current Honinbo, defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9p for the challenger's position in the 29th Meijin tournament in Japan. U will begin the seven game match against Yoda Norimoto Meijin on September 9th.

SORRY, KID: In the first-ever pro tournament match between a father and his daughter, Kobayashi Koichi 9p defeated his daughter Kobayashi Izumi 6p by resignation in the first round of the losers section of the 43rd Judan tournament in Japan. You can download the game record from http://gobase.org/games/jp/judan/43/

CHILLING OUT IN EPSOM, ENGLAND: Thanks to a fixed air conditioner and a generous supply of bottled water, 44 players had a cool and comfortable time at the Epsom Tournament on August 7th in Great Britain. Young Li Shen 5d of the Greater London Go Club was the winner. Also winning all three of their games were Alan Thornton 2d of St. Albans, Armin Boonstra 1d from the Netherlands, Sue Paterson 2k of Brighton, and Mark Todkill 7k of North London. The side 9x9 tournament was won by Brian Bruswick 1d of Epsom and the 13x13 winner was Jeremy Hawdon.

BARTHROPP TOPS BGA KGS TOURNAMENT: The BGA tournament on KGS has concluded after two months of play with Stuart Barthropp 2d taking the honors, thanks to a last-hour recovery against Paul Taylor. Young William Brooks took the loyalty prize, playing an impressive sixty games over the two month period. There were 47 participants altogether. In the dan category, the winner was Paul Taylor. Matt Piatkus was tops in the 1-10 kyu group, and Henry McGuiness won among the under 10 kyu players.

YOUR MOVE: Readers Write
ABERRATION OR TREND? “In the 28 years that I've been running the Long Island Go Club, this summer has brought by far the largest influx of new beginners ever!” writes Milt Bradley. “At least 15 newbies have shown up, most of whom (unlike previous years) have not only seemed to already have heard of go, but even better, have returned on a more or less regular basis! A large group are college students native to Long Island, but who attend a variety of schools all across NY State. Another much older fellow is so enthusiastic that he not only is teaching his grandchildren go, but actually brought two of them to our meeting last Wednesday night even though they live over 60 miles away in New Jersey (he made the transfer to their father's car on the Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge!).
“Is this just a local aberration?” wonders Bradley. “Or are other go clubs across the country experiencing the same phenomenon? And if so, to what do you attribute it? I'd much appreciate hearing about your experiences.” So would we: email us your comments and thoughts at journal@usgo.org

GAME COMMENTARY: Two More From The 2004 AGA/ING Pro Cup
Rounding out our coverage of last week’s AGA/ING Pro Cup, we’ve got two more games today, the Round 3 deciding game between Huiren Yang 1P and Feng Yun 9P and the Round 2 game between Mingjiu Jiang 7P and Huiren Yang 1P. Although we haven’t had time to get these games commented yet, we hope you enjoy playing through them in the meantime.
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: Soul-Searching On The Path
By Aria von Elbe
Wandering around the empty Congress rooms at 5:30 Sunday morning definitely leads to some soul searching. After a week of insomnia, what's one more night anyway? Apparently not much, as people were still up, playing games, reviewing matches, giving lessons... It didn't seem possible than in just a few hours everyone would be gone. Even sitting in the airport now, I don't feel like it's really over.
Later Sunday morning, I went back down to the main playing area, and there was one single person, reviewing a game. The sound of the stones hitting the board, the noticeable difference between the lighter white stones followed by the heavier black ones as they struck wood, I can't believe that I won't hear a room filled with those sounds or the cacophony of beeping clocks, along with the babble of electronic Chinese and English stating that black's time is beginning. Everything has become so routine that not waking up and having a game to play will seem abnormal.
It’s not just the nonstop go, the lectures, the pros and the go problems that I’ll miss, though. Just hanging around the goban is what I'm going to miss most. Having a group of friends stare blankly at the same problem until our 1d shows up and points to the right intersection, or the impromptu get-togethers in my room where stones go flying as somebody accidentally sits on the bed. I'll miss the go, but I'll always have the go, what with all the books that I bought. It’s the friends I've made that I can't take with me. Then again, maybe I can, thanks to Internet go.
I know I got stronger last week, but it's not just about getting stronger any more. While I do want to improve, I want to have fun as well and learn as much as possible not just about go, but outside of go, through go. At the Congress last week, I learned as much about life in general as I did about go. Which may be why the game is a metaphor for life. So I guess I can deal with go and my life going hand in hand, since that's already the path I'm on. I just hope it’ll lead to next year's Congress in Tacoma. See you all there, right?

GO CLASSIFIED

BOOKS, EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE, ETC:

WANTED: Copy of Handicap Go, the seventh, out-of-print book of the Elementary Go Series. Willing to pay reasonable price; please contact hilarne@netscape.net

WANTED: Go Reviews and old go books: looking for issues of Go Review, primarily the first year; AGA Journals before Vol. 9; Ishi press #9, first ed. of #4, paperback 1st pr. of #5; copy with dust jacket OR EVEN JACKET ONLY of pecorini & shu's Game of Wei-Chi; de havilland's go book; any other long out of print books. I'm also always and primarily interested in out of print or hard to find fiction mentioning the game of go ESP. A BRITISH PAPERBACK OR CANADIAN COPY OF MARRIAGE OF THE LIVING DARK BY DAVID WINGROVE. I also buy foreign translations of any English go books, or foreign originals from which the English books were translated. chiwito@alamedanet.net (7/12)

WANTED: A version of "How To Play Go" specifically designed for American fans of Hikaru No Go manga and anime. We're doing a fan con in August and need a tailored and canned prezo to fill half of a one-hour slot. dbogie@idahopower.com (6/22)

WANTED : Looking for a copy of "The Breakthrough to Shodan", by Naoki Miyamoto. Please contact Maurice at maurice033@hotmail.com (6/7)

TEACHERS & STUDENTS:

AVAILABLE: Lessons online with Cornel Burzo, 7d AGA, 6d EGF and IGS 6d*, for details http://www.golessons.com (6/21)

WANTED: Go teacher. Prefer in person in NYC area, will consider online. Currently 9 kyu on KGS. Please contact rberger6@nyc.rr.com with rates and experience. (6/7)

GO PLAYERS WANTED:
FL: Jacksonville; Gohan6412000@yahoo.com (6/14)
FL: Jacksonville; regular, live game sessions. Contact BjornTFoss@comcast.net (5/31)
GA: Augusta; for playing and possible chapter; email Wesley Stewart at ICANSEEYOU7687@comcast.net (5/31)
IL: Downers Grove; 23k willing to play with anyone who wants a friendly game or will teach those in the area who want to learn. e-mail Kevin Steinbach at elpollomariachi@comcast.net (5/31)
KS: Looking for players in Kansas (especially the Wichita area); contact Ted Dover at tsgtdover@carrollsweb.com (6/28)
MA: North Shore (Hamilton); for playing and possible chapter. Email glen@organicdesign.org
NY: Go players in New York City. Our club is currently looking for more members. The "Village Go Club" meets in Manhattan on Wednesday
nights. Our club is largely beginning players, but all levels are welcome. Feel free to contact Kerry for more information at kerry@nyu.edu
TX: Go club meeting at InfiniTea, located on the SW intersection of Coit and Cambell in Richardson, Wednesdays from 7P until midnight. If you have boards of your own, please bring them; any rank welcome. Jeff Heckman, acedetone@yahoo.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! Listing are free and run 4 weeks; send to us at journal@usgo.org

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

September 4 & 5: Toronto, Canada
Canadian Open
Young Kim 416-846-3024 kim3024@rogers.com

September 25: Raleigh, NC
4th Annual Joe Shoenfield Memorial Marathon Go Tournament
Paul Celmer pcelmer@earthlink.net

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

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