News from the American Go Association
December 31, 2006
Volume 7, #111
FREE GO
WORLD OFFER EXPIRES TODAY!
TOURNEYS
HEAT UP JANUARY SCHEDULE
WINTER
REVIVAL SET FOR NYC
DC
HAPPENINGS
LATEST
GOGOD BIGGER & BETTER
NOW
OR NEVER FOR CHO'S INTRO
SYRACUSE
GOES FOR FIVE
CAN'T STOP THE MONKEY JUMP:
A Beginner Studies the Pros
GO
CLASSIFIED
CALENDAR
FREE GO WORLD OFFER EXPIRES TODAY!: Join the American Go Association (or renew your membership) today, December 31 and you'll not only get the forthcoming 2006 American Go Yearbook - over 100 pages of the "best of" the E-Journal and a CD with every 2006 game commentary PLUS lots of bonus games AND two copies of Go World! Two terrific go resources AND a full year of the weekly Friday Games Edition: make a good move and act now (offer expires at midnight) at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.html
TOURNEYS HEAT UP JANUARY SCHEDULE: After a quiet couple of holiday weekends, the tournament schedule is heating up in January, with seven tourneys already scheduled around the country, from Salem, OR and Tacoma, WA in the West to Evanston, IL in the Midwest, Rochester, NY in the Northeast, Somerville, MA, New York, NY and Piscataway, NJ on the East Coast and Richmond VA in the South. See Calendar, below, for the schedule or click on http://www.usgo.org/usa/calendar.html for latest updates.
WINTER REVIVAL SET FOR NYC: Registration is now open for The New York Go Center's Winter Revival Tournament, set for Sunday, January 7. "We are expecting more than fifty players -- last time we had 56 -- says organizer Roy Laird, "and we're cutting off registration at sixty, so don't miss out." Guarantee your place: pre-register now by sending a message to nygc@usgo.org with your name and AGA rank or estimated strength. "And since Board One will be broadcast live on the Internet," Laird adds, "we expect some tough competition for the top seats." More at http://nygocenter.org/070107.html
DC HAPPENINGS: The Arlington, VA-based NOVA club
will be closed on Monday, January 1, re-opening on January 8 "with
our annual meeting and free dinner and dues collection night!"
reports Allan Abramson. The Greater Washington Go Club will be open
tonight and has several upcoming club events, including the next Yuan
Zhou lesson on January 5, the next team match with Rockville on
January 12 and the annual dues collection dinner on January 19. Got
club news? Send it in to us now at journal@usgo.org
LATEST
GOGOD BIGGER & BETTER: The latest edition of GoGoD - now
heading into its 14th year - is now available. The "definitive
database and encyclopaedia on CD" now has over 300 MB of data,
reports T. Mark Hall, including "new gems such as all the games
of the Best Ten Pro-Am Matches (which include two rare early games by
Cho Chikun) and new games by Shusaku, Shusai and Jowa from Nagano."
In addition to hundreds of items (including several books,
commentaries and instructional articles) the new edition also
features a report on the Two Manchurian Ki-ins Incident, caused by
the man snubbed as Honinbo Shusai's successor. Plus articles on
inseis, go among war criminals and Mongolian go. More at
http://www.gogod.demon.co.uk/
NOW OR NEVER FOR CHO'S INTRO: It's now or never for Cho Chikun's "Complete Introduction to Go," available through January 1 (that's tomorrow!) at just $5 a copy, more than 50% off retail. It's perfect for the complete non-player -- small, easy to read, mixing historical and cultural information with "how-to-play" stuff". In fact it's so perfect that we have already received and accepted an offer to sell all remaining copies on January 1. Go to http://www.gobooks.info/k50.html to read a review, then stock up for your non-playing before it's too late! And don't forget this is also a one-time opportunity to pick up back issues of Go World for just $3, or get 25 back issues for just $60. Offer expires January 1 2007. Click here now to order: http://www.usgo.org/usa/GoWorld.htm
SYRACUSE GOES FOR FIVE: The Syracuse Go Club - a chapter of the American Go Association -- recently celebrated four years of weekly meetings, reports organizer Anton Ninno. "Since our beginning in 2002 we have had well over 180 people attend one of our meetings," says Ninno. "Some people found us through our website. Others were simply customers eating dinner at Wegmans who wandered over to ask about the game we were playing. Often they stayed for a lesson." The club now has about 20 regular players, most of whom have become paying members of both the club and the AGA. In just four years, the club has held five tournaments, proceeds of which fund collections of go books at local public libraries, where the club has given presentations on go. The club has also helped create student go clubs in half a dozen area schools. "This fall, our club hosted a group of visiting Japanese go players," says Ninno, "We hope to do that again in the years ahead." Find out more about the club at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/syracusegoclub/
CAN'T STOP
THE MONKEY JUMP: A Beginner Studies the Pros
by
Motoko Arai
While
we're on the subject of going over master games, there's one thing I
want to say. As we laid out these games, my beginner husband and I
had a question that kept bothering us: "Hey, this white stone is
in atari, right?"
"Yeah.
no matter how you look at it, if you leave it like that it can
definitely be captured." "But White is just leaving it
there." "Yeah but. Black isn't taking it either. He's
playing in completely different places." "So what's the
deal?"
For a
beginner, this is an absolute mystery. For a beginner, if you can
capture a stone, you take it. And furthermore, there was another
thing we didn't understand: "Hey, right now there's a lot
happening in the bottom right area, right? But Black ignores it, and
is playing in the top left instead."
"He
is, isn't he?" "And maybe I'm wrong, but. if he leaves this
position alone and plays in the upper left instead. I'm thinking that
White can capture the three black stones at the bottom." "You're
right. If Black doesn't escape, those stones can definitely be
caught." "Is that okay?" "I don't know. But it's
a pro game. It must be right." "Well why is it right? And
then, why doesn't White grab those three stones?"
Okay
sure, now, three years later, I understand why. It's more important
for Black to surround the large area at the top than to save the
three stones at the bottom. Similarly, rather than capture those
three stones, White deals with more pressing issues. But three years
ago, when we didn't understand that at all, the question lingered in
our minds as we continued through the game.
And
then, there was another thing we didn't get: "Ahh! Black
escaped!" Until that point, Black had been playing in completely
different places. Then suddenly, Black hit the exact spot where White
needed to play to capture those three stones. "Why does he
escape now? If he was just going to escape, wouldn't it have been
better to have done it all the way back at the beginning? And then,
from the very beginning all the way up until now, White just left
those stones sitting there."
Yeah,
again, now I know the reason for this. After calmly building his
position elsewhere, Black returns to this part of the board. Of
course, if we want to ponder this issue further, we really need to
study such concepts as "big moves," "urgent moves,"
and "moyo." But as beginners, the two of us. well, let's
just say we had to satisfy our doubts somehow. So we arrived at our
own "conclusion."
Yup.
This conclusion was the direct result of following that
often-recommended study method: "Even though you don't
understand the movement of the stones, just keep going over masters'
games." Our conclusion was. pro players are weird. This is what
it means to be a beginner.
Motoko
Arai is an award-winning science fiction author in Japan. Translated
from the Nihon Kiin's Go Weekly November 20, 2006 issue by Chris
Donner, who teaches at an elementary school in northern Japan and
hails from Rochester, NY.
GO CLASSIFIED
Locate
go clubs worldwide at http://www.usgo.org/cgi-bin/chapters.cgi
PLAYERS WANTED: Valrico/Brandon, FL: Looking for GO players in the area; the closer to Valrico/Brandon area the better but willing to go into Tampa for games. Contact john at johnfrancisrussell@gmail.com (12/31)
PLAYERS WANTED: Monument, CO: Are there any go players in the Monument area? Looking for people to play or a teacher at 5k or better. Please email go_player_137@yahoo.com (12/31)
PLAYERS WANTED: Indianapolis, IN: Local players looking for others who play go, and are considering the formation of a go club. We're also looking for qualified amateurs or professionals in the Indy area who give go lessons. Please send email to reberhar@iupui.edu (12/31)
PLAYERS WANTED: Mansfield, OH: Attention go youngsters...I wish to start a go club in Mansfield; anyone who wishes to play please contact me at dragonmasterbre@yahoo.com (12/25)
FOR SALE: Collector's items. The original American Go Journal from vol. 1, no. 1 (Fall 1949) to vol. 8, no. 4 (Sept. 1961): all 29 issues in very good condition. Also the revived American Go Journal from the 1970s. The big journal from vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1974) to vol. 11, no. 3 (May/June 1976), all 15 issues. The small journal from vol. 11, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1976) to vol. 14, nos. 5/6 (Oct., Nov., Dec. 1979), all 16 issues. The Eastern Go Newsletter from no. 1 (May 1975) to no. 12 (April 1976). The Voice of the Go Movement from no. 1 (May 1976) to no. 6 (Oct. 1976). If interested in any of the above, contact Ted Drange, tmdrange@earthlink.net (12/25)
WANTED: Go players in the area of Noblesville, Indiana. Anyone
interested, email nerkel@gmail.com (12/25)
PLAYERS WANTED:
Bucks/Montgomery Counties, PA: Are there any go players in the Bucks
Montgomery area outside of Philadelphia? The Penn Go Society is a
little bit of a drive so I was thinking more local. Contact me at
tryot@aol.com (12/25)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Clifton Park, NY: Anyone interested, e-mail: nelsonbj149@yahoo.com or phone: 518-253-9706 (12/18)
WANTED: Volunteers to help run go panel/booth at upcoming AnimeNEXT anime convention, July 6 - 8, 2007, Meadowlands Exposition Center, NJ; www.Animenext.org For more information call 646-821-5588 or email Wessanenoctupus@aol.com (12/11)
FOR SALE: Go Review, complete set, all 164 issues from Jan. 1961 to Spring 1977. If interested, contact Ted Drange, tmdrange@earthlink.net (12/11)
SELL IT, BUY IT OR TRADE IT HERE with over 9,000 go-players worldwide! Classified ads are FREE and run for 4 weeks; email your ad to us now at journal@usgo.org
January 7: New York, NY
New York Go Center Winter Revival
Tournament
http://chapters.usgo.org/nygc/070107.html
Christopher
Vu nygc@usgo.org 212.233.0342
January 13-15: Evanston, IL
8th Annual Evanston Winter Workshop
with Yilun Yang
http://www.evanstongoclub.org/go4.html
Mark
Rubenstein mark@easyaspi.com 847.869.6020
January 13: Rochester, NY
The Second Annual Greg Lefler
Memorial Tournament
http://www.emptysky.org/tourn.html
Nick
Blake emptyskygo@gmail.com 339.364.0933
January 13: Salem, OR
Salem Winter Go Tournament
Cynthia
Gaty ckgaty@aol.com 503.585.3380
January 14: Somerville, MA
MGA Winter Handicap
Tournament
http://www.massgo.org/tournaments.html
Zack
Grossbart zack@massgo.org 617.497.1232
January 20-21: Piscataway, NJ
U.S. Youth Go Championship
Qualifier at Feng Yun Go School
(open to all)
Paul Matthews
pgmatthews@stanfordalumni.org 908.722.5748
Feng Yun
golesson@yahoo.com 973.992.5675
January 27: Richmond, VA
Slate & Shell
Open
http://home.comcast.net/~wmscobb/
William
Cobb wmscobb@comcast.net 804.740.2191
January 27: Tacoma, WA
Verna Castanza
Memorial
www.TacomaGoClub.org
Gordon
Castanza gcastanza@comcast.net 253.732.0874
Mike Malveaux
mikem@hilltopgo.com 253.906.0095
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris
Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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New York, NY 10113-0397
American Go Association P.O. Box 397 Old Chelsea Station New York, NY 10113-0397