News from the American Go Association
November 15, 2004
In This Issue:
U.S. GO NEWS: Arnold Crowned Big Pumpkin; North
Korea Wins World Pair Go Tourney; Everyone Meets At Ben's; Janice Kim Reflects
On Kitani In The Mirror; 2 New Books Offered By Yutopian; AGA Hits New Chapter
Record; And Then There Were 11; Name That Teacher
WORLD GO NEWS: Lee Changho On Track To Challenge For
Kuksu; Ye Gui Current Winner In World Women's Cup; Dickhut Undefeated In
Brussels
GAME COMMENTARY: The Trap of Time and
Haikus of Simplicity
THE TRAVELING BOARD:
Turning Problems Into Opportunities
GO REVIEW:
Exotic Go Stones
GO CLASSIFIED
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
ATTACHED FILE(S):
2004.11.15.Liping Huang Commentary.sgf; 2004.11.15.Kaz Lesson #25.pdf
ARNOLD CROWNED BIG PUMPKIN: Keith Arnold 5d topped the NOVA Pumpkin Classic,
held on Saturday, October 30. Thirty-nine players participated in the Northern
Virginia Go Club's quarterly contest, "each seeking the perfect prize pumpkin,"
reports veteran organizer Alan Abramson. The complete winners report:
FIRSTS: Keith Arnold, 5d, 3-1; Ray Hunley,
1d, 3-1; Alan Perrin, 2k, 3-1; Seth Hoffman, 5k, 3-1; John Greiner, 8k, 3-1; Ed
Hsu, 9k, 4-0; Bob Bacon, 13k, 3-1; Kabe Chin, 20k, 3-1; Kevin Chin, 27k, 4-0.
SECONDS: Hal Small, 3d, 3-1; Ethan Baldridge, 2k, 3-0; Todd Heidenreich, 8k,
2-2; Tim Pollio, 11k, 3-1; Bill Larkin, 14k, 3-1. Thirds: Jim Pickett, 5k,
2-2; Ben Bernstein, 1d, 2-1; Andrew Auernheimer, 15k, 2-1
NORTH KOREA WINS WORLD PAIR GO TOURNEY: The North Korean Pair Go team won the 15th International Pair Go Championships last weekend, reports AGA Guest Official Paul Celmer from Tokyo, Japan. North Korea took the Pair Go trophy and a $10,000 cash prize in a tense and dramatic fifth-round game against the South Korean team, which had also won all four previous games. "They play like one person," said Yuan Zhou of the U.S. team, "And they made no mistakes." In a strong finish to a long 4-round day, the North Koreans, taking white, won by resignation after only 204 moves. South Korea came in second, with Yuiko Hiraoka and Satoshi Hiraoka of Japan placing third. The U.S. team of Kristen Burrall and Yuan Zhou placed 19th. "After losing their first two games to teams from Japan," reports Celmer, "the Americans won an exciting game against Belgium in which the final 60 moves were played with only 5 minutes left on the clock." All the Pair Go matches are played in sudden death, with no byo-yomi. The Americans won the 4th round against the French team, and lost their final round to Ukraine. See The Traveling Board below for more of Celmer's thoughts on Pair Go.
EVERYONE MEETS AT BEN'S: If you're planning a trip to Japan, plan to visit Ben's Cafe (03-3202-2445) in Takadanobaba, Tokyo, where the English speaking go community congregates every Sunday. Find out more about Ben's Cafe at http://www.benscafe.com
JANICE KIM REFLECTS ON KITANI IN THE MIRROR: Professional 3-dan Janice Kim
took a look at "Kitani the Mirror" in her most recent visit to Colorado's Mile
High Go Club on Saturday, November 6, reports Adam A. G. Shamblin. "Kitani
Minoru, Japanese 9P, is well known today not so much for his own achievements as
for his opponents, legendary go players of the twentieth century," notes
Shamblin. Kim lecture explored the retirement game of Honinbo Shusai, which
marked the end of an era. "Ms. Kim was able to capture the spirit of the game,
revealing both technical and historical details and sharing with the audience a
deeper understanding of a fascinating moment in go history," says Shamblin.
Activities began with an exhibition game between Kim and three local mid-kyu
players, in which Shamblin says "casualties were minimal."
The Shusai-Kitani
game between is available at Wikipedia http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Masterofgo.sgf
2 NEW BOOKS OFFERED BY YUTOPIAN: Two new books are just out from Yutopian. "Step Up to a Higher Level" by Abe Yoshiteru 9P Aims to help go players learn the basic language and elements of go, understand what is happening on the board, and develop analytical reading ability. "Dictionary of Fuseki V. 1" by Rin Kaiho classifies principal opening maneuvers and reviews representative games. "If the reader can grasp the players' initial conceptions and struggles to find the best plays on the board," writes Rin Kaiho, "as well as the experience and efforts to that end that have been accumulated, the value of this opening dictionary is greatly enhanced, and nothing could be more gratifying to the author." Details at http://www.yutopian.com/go/ The E-Journal is interested in reviews of these books and will award our usual go vendor gift certificate to the reviewer accepted. Query us at journal@usgo.org
AGA HITS NEW CHAPTER RECORD: Three new chapters joined the AGA in October, for a total of 121 chapters, the highest since tracking began in 1995. Membership in the AGA also inched up last month, continuing the yo-yo effect of the last six months as membership has bounced up and down by small amounts. Total membership now stands at 1,974, still just shy of the magic 2,000 number. While full memberships declined slightly in October, limited memberships were up nearly 20 and the 67 new members in the last month were the seventh highest monthly increase since the AGA began tracking monthly increases in early 2002.
AND THEN THERE WERE 11: With the addition of 6 kyu Adam Marquis, the Shodan Challenge Gang is now up to eleven and includes Aria von Elbe 19k, Mark M. Penner 7k, Josh Gum 14k, Thomas W. Watson, Christopher Kiguchi, Eric Lavigne 8k, Stephen Bazzone 15k, Matt Luce, Adam Bloom and Jonathan Markowitz. "I got to about 10 kyu in three months, mostly by eating, sleeping, and breathing go," says Marquis. "In the intervening two years, I've only improved 4 stones through my own laziness…it would be good to have a goal in mind." The E-Journal has arranged for professional game analysis to help the Shodan Challengers improve their games, and you can see photos of some of the Challengers on the AGA's website at http://www.usgo.org/photos/ Want to try to make Shodan by next year's US Go Congress in Tacoma, WA? Take the Shodan Challenge by emailing us at journal@usgo.org
NAME THAT TEACHER: Who's playing three teaching games in this week's homepage photo? Be the first to send us the correct name and you'll be this week's Homepage Photo Contest Winner! Check it out at http://www.usgo.org and email us at journal@usgo.org
LEE CHANGHO ON TRACK TO CHALLENGE FOR KUKSU: In the battle for the challenger's position in the 48th Kuksu (National Champion) Tournament in Korea, Lee Changho 9p defeated Yun Junsang by 2.5 points to move into the finals. His opponent for the three game match will be the winner of a game between Yoo Changyuk 9p and Yun Junsang 3p. The current title holder is Choi Cheolhan, who took the title from Lee Changho last year and also holds the Kisung title at present. This is the oldest tournament in Korea and is sponsored by the Far East Daily News. The winner's purse is about $28,000 US.
YE GUI CURRENT WINNER IN WORLD WOMEN'S CUP: The 3rd International Women's (Jeongganjang) Cup competition has begun. This contest involves three groups of five players each, from Korea, Japan, and China, and the tournament, which is sponsored by a Korean company, consists of single elimination ring play. In the first round of four games, played in Beijing, Lee Minjin 4p of Korea defeated Cao Cheng 1p of China, but was then defeated by Umezawa Yukari 5p of Japan. Umezawa fell to Ye Gui 5p of China, who also defeated Hyen Maijin 3p of Korea to end the first round with two victories. The remaining members of the teams are: Korea: Park Jieun 5p, Yun Yeongsun 4p, and Kim Bongsun 1p; Japan: Kobayashi Izumi 6p, Yashiro Kumiko 5p, Mannami Kana 3p, and Suzuki Aymi 3p; China: Rui Naiwei 9p, Zhang Xiang 8p, Xu Ying 5p, and Ye Gui. Park Jieun of Korea won this event last year, and Naiwei Rui of China won it the previous year. These two, plus Kobayashi Izumi, are the leading favorites this year. The next round of six games will take place in Seoul in December. The champion's prize is about $25,000 US. You can download the games at http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp?&id=70
DICKHUT UNDEFEATED IN BRUSSELS: In a Toyota-Pandanet European Tour event in Brussels, Franz-Josef Dickhut 6d of Germany won all five of his games to take first place. Ms Pei Zhao 6d, also of Germany, lost only to Dickhut to take second. The next five places were all three game winners: Radek Nechanicky 6d of Czechia, Geert Groenen 6d of the Netherlands, Martin Kuzela 4d of Czechia, Sato Kei 3d of France, and Antoine Fenech 4d of France. There were 108 participants in this traditionally large event. Full results and pictures can be found at http://www.gofed.be/tournament/bxl/ .
GAME COMMENTARY: The Trap of Time and
Haikus of Simplicity
Ever thought that with
just a bit more time, you could really think things through and find the perfect
move? Today's game commentary will quickly disabuse you of that notion, as
Liping Huang 4P finds plenty of room for improvement in a game between a 5k and
7k on the Dragon Go Server, the turn-based server for leisurely games with lots
of time to think about your moves. Find out more about DGS at http://www.dragongoserver.net
Kazunari "Kaz" Furuyama's lessons in "Important, Fundamental Matters" have
become one of the E-Journal's "sleeper" hits in recent months, with new fans
begging us for back copies of previous lessons (don't worry, they'll all be in
the 2004 Yearbook, now in production!). Featuring obvious yet profound
mini-lessons, Kaz' lessons are haikus of simplicity and elegance. See if you
don't agree when you take a look at his treatment of hitting the head of two
stones.
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 TRAVELING BOARD: Turning Problems Into
Opportunities
by Paul Celmer
Communication
between males and females is often a mysterious process. Just ask my wife; she
says everything I do is a mystery to her. But more seriously, Pair Go takes the
challenges of wordless communication between males and females and turns this
conundrum into a work of art. The AGA can be proud of the fact that this year's
U.S. Pair Go team, Kristin Burrell and Yuan Zhou, have been playing together for
over 10 years. After watching them and playing Pair Go myself for the first
time, I realize that successful Pair Go players must work together to sense what
their partner is thinking in order to navigate the wild uncharted sea that is a
game of go. Players must also learn patience, and how to handle surprises.
Sometimes it is the stronger player who is
frustrated by their partner's move. But sometimes it is the weaker player who
surprises everyone with a move that their stronger partner did not envision. The
result is that Pair Go is not only surprisingly beautiful, but also quite
enjoyable.
The U.S has a population of well
over 200 million, yet only a small fraction of these are go players. Instead of
looking at these numbers as a problem, we could see them as an opportunity to
increase the number of players. It strikes me that Pair Go, with its special
emphasis and the social and pleasurable aspects of the game, is the perfect tool
for reaching out and increasing the number of players.
Another, related challenge is the imbalance
in the numbers of male and female go players. But after what I have seen here in
Japan this week, I believe in the power of Pair Go to promote go, especially
among female players. On a personal note, as the father of two small daughters,
ages 4 and 5, nothing in all the world would make me happier than to one day
return with them to Japan to play with them in the International Pair Go
Championship.
Celmer, who served at the
AGA's Guest Official at the just-concluded Pair Go Championships in Tokyo,
Japan, is Manager of Chapter Services for the AGA.
GO REVIEW: Exotic Go Stones
reviewed by David
Frankel
Shortly before my birthday last
March, I saved a link on my wife's computer to an exotic go stones link that had
appeared in the E-Journal. Of course, I had no ulterior motive, but to my
delight and amazement, my lovely bride came through and bought me a set of jade
and lapis stones.
The stones were ordered
before my birthday, but they weren't in stock. They are produced in China, and
one shipment that came in was rejected by the vendor because of poor quality.
But after five months, the stones finally arrived. The wait was worth it.
Although the pictures on the web site are accurate, they simply cannot convey
the sheer beauty of these stones. Light glimmers from them, especially the
subtle, translucent green of the jade. And the lapis stones - from deepest
midnight blue to royal blue - are veined with white and gold. The feel of
actually holding these heavy, smooth beauties in your hand is one of the
pleasures of life.
I had three concerns
about ordering the stones without actually seeing the real thing. One was that
the actual article wouldn't live up to the images on the web site. As indicated
above, that was not a problem. The second was that jade and lapis is an
unconventional combination, and I wondered how they would appear on a go board.
On this point, I was also very happy. There is plenty of contrast between the
two without any garishness, and they complement each other nicely. Finally,
there was the purely commercial question of arranging the monetary transaction
with an unknown vendor. However, Jean Tantra, the self-described 3 dan (not AGA
ranked), who sells these stones, was unfailingly helpful and reliable.
So for you go-players who can afford a bit of
extra luxury in your life, (or whose spouse can afford it), I unhesitatingly
recommend the exotic go stones. However, if you get them, you should probably
plan on getting a pair of crystal bowls to display them in.
See the exotic stones at: http://www.algorithmicartisan.com/gostones/
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)
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)
IN: Bloomington: Want to help
start an AGA chapter? Contact me now at sfcowling@bluemarble.net
(11/08/04)
NEW! MA: Looking for players to meet on the South Shore, possibly
at Thomas Crane Library or Panera's Bread in Quincy. E-mail
Adam@polymathsblade.com
MD: Baltimore, at the Maryland Institute College of
Art. 7P Mondays, at
Cafe Doris (Mount Royal Ave) (10/18)
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/
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
December 4: West Hartford, CT
CCC Winter Go Tournament
Bill Fung
860-648-1527 chiwaifung@aol.com
December 5: Chicago, IL
Four More Years?! Tournament
Bob Barber
773-467-0423 komoku@earthlink.net
December 5: Seattle, WA
Monthly Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley
206-545-1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org
http://www.seattlegocenter.org
December 5: Los Angeles, CA
Southern California Go Club Ratings
Tournament
Joe Cepiel 310-823-4760 chris.hayashida@prosum.com
December 5: Princeton, NJ
Princeton Fall Ratings Self-Paired
Rick
Mott 609-466-1602 rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu
December 11: Syracuse, NY
1st Annual CNY Go Tournament
Anton
Ninno 315-479-9073 antonninno@yahoo.com
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/cnygo/
March 17-20: Germantown, MD
10th Annual Maryland Yang
Workshop
Gordon Fraser 301-540-2640 gordon@wui.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
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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