AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL: News from the American Go
Association
July 19, 2004
In This Edition:
U.S. GO NEWS: Congress Director Wins Congress Tune-Up;
Jeong Tops Tough Field In SoCal; Lash Appointed AGA President; 15 Pros Set For
Congress; AP Story Sparks Club Surge; Small Variations; Exchanges Online; E-Team
Volunteers Sought; Furuyama & Errata
WORLD GO
NEWS: Japan's Toyota-Denso Oza Cup Line-Up Settled; Cho Chikun Salvages
Dignity; Yoda Holding On In 3rd Title Try; Sedol Wins First Game In Battle Of
The Lees; Go Intellect Dominates Computer Go Tournament
GAME COMMENTARY: Experience v. Youth Yields A
Half-Pointer
THE EMPTY BOARD: The Burden of
Winning
BEGINNER’S MIND
GO CLASSIFIED
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
ATTACHED FILES:
2004.07.19.04.Ning-Kosegi, WAGC Game.sgf; 2004.07.19.Nakayama NS-9.pdf
U.S. GO NEWS
CONGRESS DIRECTOR WINS CONGRESS
TUNE-UP: U.S. Go Congress Director Greg Lefler 2d took top honors in last
weekend’s NoVa Congress Tune-Up on June 17 in Arlington, VA, shrugging off the
pressures of preparing for the more than 400 attendees at the upcoming Congress.
Mike Lash ran the event for organizer Alan Abramson and Chuck Robbins directed;
there were 28 players in six sections. The full winner’s report: SECTION A: 1st:
Greg Lefler, 2d 3-1; 2nd: Greg Rosenblatt, 2d, 3-1; SECTION B: 1st: Andrew
Jackson, 1d 3-1; 2nd: David Wong, 1d, 3-1; SECTION C: 1st Bill Cobb, 5k, 3-0;
2nd: John Lancaster, 6k, 2-2; SECTION D: 1st: John Grenier, 8k, 3-1; 2nd:
Raymond Yeh, 6k, 3-1; SECTION E: 1st: Chris Sira, 15k , 3-1; 2nd: Ben Bassett,
17k, 2-2; SECTION F: 1st: Takehara Keiju, 25k, 4-0; 2nd Geoff Boyer, 6k,
3-1
JEONG TOPS TOUGH FIELD IN SOCAL: James (Jong In) Jeong 8d took first
place in in the Southern California Go Club's July Ratings Tournament, besting a
tough field that included eight players 5-dan and above, as well as Rui Wang,
the winner of the 6-dan division of last year's Congress. “The battles in the
upper division were truly awesome to behold,” reports Chris Hayashida. Winners
report: UPPER DIVISION: 1st: James (Jong In) Jeong, 8d; 2nd: (3-way tie): Rui
Wang 6d, Tony Emsenhuber 5d, and Anthony Chen 5d; LOWER DIVISION: 1st: Allen
Drantyev, 3k; 2nd: Jeff McLellan 5k; 3rd: Tom (Yuji) Tabata, 2d.
LASH
APPOINTED AGA PRESIDENT: Mike Lash was appointed President of the American Go
Association Sunday night by the AGA’s Board of Directors, reports Board Chair
Alan Abramson. Lash will serve a two-year term beginning immediately following
the National Assembly meeting at the upcoming U.S. Go Congress, Abramson told
the EJ. “We deeply appreciate the work of the Leadership Development Committee
in soliciting and developing candidates, as well as Chris Kirschner’s excellent
and hard work on day-to-day operations and laying a solid foundation for the
next President,” Abramson said.
Lash has served on the AGA’s Governance
Committee for the last several years, and was tapped as Foreign Go Association
liaison late last year and then VP of Strategic Initiatives earlier this year.
“My main focus will be on strengthening the AGA chapters and the chapter
representatives,” Lash told the EJ. “I also want to work on increasing the AGA’s
stature and credibility around the world.” Lash says that he plans to follow the
Board’s suggestion “to bring on a Vice-President to work closely with me and
share the workload.” Lash has been playing go since 1976, when he learned at
Miami University of Ohio. He lived overseas for 10 years and taught and played
go in Australia, Samoa, Papua, New Guinea and other countries. Lash’s day job
involves handling real-estate transactions around the world for the U.S. State
Department.
15 PROS SET FOR CONGRESS: Fifteen professionals are among
the more than 400 people who have already registered for the 2004 U.S. Go
Congress July 31-August 8 in Rochester, NY. The roster includes familiar names
like Noriyuki Nakayama 6P, James Kerwin 1P, YilunYang 7P, Feng Yun 9P, Mingjiu
Jiang 7P Guo Juan 5p, Ryo Maeda 6p and HuirenYang 1P, all of whom will be
lecturing and playing simuls at the Congress. "There are still plenty of rooms
left," says Congress Director Greg Lefler, "our challenge now is maximizing the
playing space!" For a complete list of Congress attendees, including all the
professionals, go to http://ssl8.pair.com/emptysky/attendees.php
AP
STORY SPARKS CLUB SURGE: The Central New York Go Club brought in a record 23
people at their weekly Monday night meeting last week, reports organizer Anton
Ninno, who credits a recent Associated Press story about the growing popularity
of ‘game nights’ in cafes, bars, and bookstores. “Ages ranged from 5 to 75, with
almost every demographic: kids, teens, college students, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s,
singles, couples, and retirees.” Ninno adds that the club is helping organize
local players to attend the upcoming Go Congress in nearby Rochester. “We all
want to see the event, meet our Internet Go pals, and buy new go equipment,”
says Ninno. For a photo of some of the Syracuse players last week, click on http://www.usgo.org/index.asp
or check out the CNY Go Club website at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/cnygo/
SMALL
VARIATIONS: A new CD is now available of composer, pianist and go player Haskell
Small 3d performing the Goldberg Variations of J.S. Bach. This is the work which
Haskell performed following the opening ceremony of the Go Congress last year in
Houston, Texas. The CD also includes a re-issue of Haskell Small’s own
composition, “25 Preludes”, which is structurally related to the Goldberg
Variations. The CD is released on the 4-Tay label, and the total time is 79:09.
Yutopian Enterprises will be including the CD in their catalog, and will have it
available at the Go Congress in Rochester.
EXCHANGES ONLINE: Charles
Matthews has begun posting "Exchanges" on the Internet; his series of articles
was originally published in the American Go Journal in 2000-2001. You can read
them at http://gobase.org/studying/articles/matthews/exchanges/
E-TEAM VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT: The American Go E-Journal will expand its
coverage of the annual U.S. Go Congress this year to include commentary on top
games and Congress photos along with the usual tournament reports and features.
If you can’t actually be at the Congress, we’ll do our best to bring you as much
of the experience as possible! We have a few slots left for volunteers to join
the E-Team; those interested should email Managing Editor Chris Garlock at
journal@usgo.org
FURUYAMA & ERRATA: A number of readers have written
to tell us they’re really enjoying Kazunari “Kaz” Furuyama’s lessons and
wondering if they’re collected anywhere: we’re pleased to assure Kaz’ fans that
all the year’s attached games and problems files, including Kaz’ lessons, will
be collected and organized in the 2004 American Go Yearbook, due out at the end
of the year. Full members receive the Yearbook as a benefit of membership. To
join, click on http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp
The
British Go Association’s (BGA) Youth Grand Prix runs during the calendar year,
not the academic year, as reported in last week’s EJ (Brooks Leads BGA Youth
Grand Prix, 7.12.04); we regret the error.
WORLD
GO NEWS
JAPAN'S TOYOTA-DENSO OZA CUP LINE-UP SETTLED: So Yokoku 7p
will join Sakai Hideyuki 6p and Mizokami Tomochika 7p as the three non-seeded
players on Japan's team for the Toyota-Denso Oza Cup, John Power reports on the
Nihon Kiin's home page. So, the winner of the New Stars title last year,
defeated Nakano Hironari 9p to gain the position. The seeded players are Yoda
Norimoto 9p, Yamashita Keigo 9p, Cho U 9p, and Takao Shinji 8p. The North
American representatives to this international tournament are Feng Yun 9p and
Mingjiu Jiang 7p. The tournament will be held next month in Tokyo.
CHO
CHIKUN SALVAGES DIGNITY: Cho Chikun 9p managed to win his next to the last game
in the current Meijin Challenger's League, defeating O Rissei 9p by resignation
on July 8th. This won't save Cho's seeded position in the league, but it does
avoid the embarrassment of losing all eight games in league competition. Cho
Chikun's last game will be against Cho U 9p next month. If U wins, he will be
tied with Kobayashi Satoru 9p for the challenger's position.
YODA HOLDING
ON IN 3RD TITLE TRY: Yoda Norimoto 9p has beaten challenger Yamada Kimio 8p in
the second game of the Gosei title match in Japan to even the score of the five
game match at 1-1. Yoda is struggling to win his first title match this year
after falling short in both the Fujitsu Cup and the Honinbo. He lost his
challenge against Cho U 9p for the Honinbo title 4-2 earlier this year, and was
defeated in the final of the Fujitsu Cup on July 5th by Park Yeonghun 6p of
Korea, losing by 1.5 points. You can find all of these games in the Collection
on Alexandre Dinerchtein's web site at http://www.go4go.net Yoda
also holds the Meijin title he successfully defended against Yamashita Keigo 9p
last year. He will face either Cho U or Kobayashi Satoru 9p as the challenger
for that title later this year.
SEDOL WINS FIRST GAME IN BATTLE OF THE
LEES: Lee Sedol 9p, the challenger in the 38th Wangwi title match in Korea,
defeated the title holder Lee Changho 9p in the first game by 3.5 points playing
White. You can download or play through the game at http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp?id=10
. Sedol won the challenger's league by a convincing score of 7-0 and now has
taken the early lead in a very interesting match-up. Changho has held this very
prestigious title continuously since 1995.
GO INTELLECT DOMINATES
COMPUTER GO TOURNAMENT: K-H. Chen's Go Intellect won both the 9x9 and the 19x19
competitions in the 9th Computer Olympiad in Ramat-Gan, Israel. In 19x19, David
Fotland's Many Faces of Go was a close second, losing only to Go Intellect.
Indigo by B. Bouzy was third and GnuGo was fourth. In 9x9, the Free Software
Foundation's GnuGo was second after a playoff with Go Intellect, while Magog by
E. van der Werf was third. Complete results and all the game records can be
found at http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/olympiad2004/
GAME COMMENTARY: Experience v. Youth
Yields A Half-Pointer
Ted Ning 7d, the US representative to the 25th World
Amateur Go Championships in Japan last month, lost his fifth round game to Diana
Kosegi 6d of Hungary by a half point; we’re very pleased to present the game
this week with commentary by Yilun Yang 7p.
Ted is 51 and Diana is 20. Ted
lost only one other game in the eight-round tournament, to Laurent Heiser of
Luxembourg, a 36 year old 6 dan, and came in eighth overall, which is a very
impressive achievement. Kosegi lost two other games and came in 12th. There were
64 participants in the WAGC. Thanks to the Nihon Kiin and JAL for providing a
hard copy of the record of this game.
Today’s bonus file is another of
Nakayama Noriyuki’s investigations into “What’s Wrong With That Move.”
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
THE EMPTY BOARD: The Burden of Winning
by William
Cobb
It is definitely fun to win. Recently I won all of my games in a
tournament and I have to admit it was a lark. There’s a danger in winning,
though. It’s a moment in go when you can easily get caught up in yourself and
your own feelings and forget that there’s more to this game than just your own
winning and losing. Go naturally creates a wonderful community of cooperative
and supportive players, which is one of its main attractions. But when you get
excited about a win you can lose sight of the importance of the community and
forget about the person you were just playing with. There’s an ancient tradition
in go that the winner owes the loser a lesson, which the loser is eager to
receive. This practice aims at helping both the winner and the loser continue to
have a positive attitude toward and involvement in the interactive community
that is the go world. So as the winner you have a burden. You can’t just indulge
your glee and dance around happily. Your job is to help the loser find a
positive dimension in the experience. Be generous as well as helpful. Focus on
lifting the loser’s spirits as well as improving his or her understanding. If
you remember that the community of players is what makes go such a marvelous
game, you’ll know what to do. This is what Buddhists mean when they say that
understanding produces compassion.
The Empty Board #3; Past columns are
archived at http://www.slateandshell.com/billcobb.asp
BEGINNER’S MIND
by Aria von Elbe
Konnichiwa,
genki desu ka? Ever since I found kids at Japanese camp who actually play go and
who are willing to learn I've been in heaven. I don't think I've stopped talking
about go since last week. I finally got around to signing up for the Go
Congress, decided that my final camp presentation will definitely be on go, and
now my cabin mate is ready to strangle me for not having enough time to teach
her more about life and death. Honestly, I'm just floating on Cloud 9 out here
in the middle of nowhere.
Having go as my final presentation gives me an
excuse to read about go during class, and I've borrowed all the books the
library owns that even mention the game though The Game of Go by Arthur Smith
from 1908 seems to be about the best they can do. Even the dean of the camp now
knows about my addiction but I don't think my suggestion about having a go club
in which all the counselor would have to do is sit there was taken as seriously
as I would have wished, but who knows, maybe I'm about to become Tsutsui all
over again. Not that that would be so bad. Go Club Pioneers of the World
UNITE!
Anyways, I think all this pent up energy is from being forced to wait
another endless week for the Congress. It’s going to fabulous. I’ll get to see
the people I met in Seattle again, not to mention hear some commentary that I
might actually understand a little bit now. I might have some slight trouble
keeping up. But that doesn't matter! Only a week. Only a week. I swear, that's
going to become my mantra for meditation in Aikido Club. See you all in
Rochester!
-16-year-old Aria von Elbe will start 11th grade this September in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida; she’ll be attending this year’s U.S. Go Congress as a
player and part of the Journal’s “E-Team” providing daily coverage for EJ
readers.
GO CLASSIFIED
RIDER(S)
WANTED Driving to the Go Congress from Washington, DC and have 2 comfortable
seats available to share. Leaving DC the morning of Saturday, July 31, and
departing Rochester the morning of Sunday, August 8. Only 2 seats available.
CALL NOW! Mike Lash; 703-850-6270 or mhl13@aol.com (7/19)
RIDE WANTED:
Young Congress attendee looking for a ride from Maine or Boston area; willing to
help pay for gas and tolls. Please email jaymefosa@yahoo.com
(7/12)
BOOKS, EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE, ETC:
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. (6/22) dbogie@idahopower.com
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)
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
July 24: San Francisco,
CA
Northern California Open Go Tournament
Danny Swarzman 415-221-7194
northern@stowlake.com
http://www.sfgoclub.com
AGTC Event
August 1-7: Rochester, NY
20th US Go Congress
Greg
Lefler 585-278-0705 congress@usgo.org
September 4 & 5: Toronto,
CANADA
Canadian Open
Young Kim 416-846-3024 kim3024@rogers.com
http://www.go-canada.org/
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 6,000 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
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Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the
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