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AGA News!
Updated May 25, 2009
ANDY LIU SWEEPS NY ING QUALIFIER
CHOU WINS MARYLAND OPEN
CHINESE DOMINATE LG CUP
TARANU DOWNS MOGO 3-1
HONOR SOCIETY TO HOLD BRUNEI-USA FRIENDSHIP CUP
KGS DAY AT THE NYGC
EUROPEAN GO NEWS BRIEFS: Zou Sweeps First Fuseki In Nuremberg; Dai Bounces Back In Strasbourg; Finns Promote Go In Estonia
JANICE KIM GO WORKSHOP SET FOR JULY
CLOCK TICKING ON AGA BOARD NOMINATIONS
GO CALENDAR: KGS, Colorado Springs
WORLD AMATEUR PLAYER PROFILES: United States, Cyprus, Portugal, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, Uruguay THE TRAVELING BOARD: The Star Nine Go School
ANDY LIU SWEEPS NY ING QUALIFIER: Andy Liu topped the field in last week's Ing qualifier at the New York Go Center with a perfect 4-0 record. Results from this weekend's qualifier in Boston were unavailable at press time. Registration for the sixth and final qualifier of the season runs until Tuesday. See the Ing tournament webpage for full details.
CHOU WINS MARYLAND OPEN: Daniel Chou 7d won the 36th Maryland Open, held May 23-24 in Baltimore, MD. Chou led a field of 55 players, the “lowest turnout in a decade,” reports organizer Keith Arnold. Stephen Tung 1k was the Kyu Champion, Blair Chisholm 7k won the Fighting Spirit Prize Rochester’s Empty Sky Go Club won the Greg Lefler Award, and Sam Zimmerman was the TD. Winner’s Report: Open: 1st: Daniel Chou 7d; 2nd: Zhiyuan Zhang 6d; 3rd: Andrew Huang. A Division: 1st: Patrick Allen 3d; 2nd: Mathew Bengston 3d. B Division: 1st: Leishan Chen 1d; 2nd: Lei Shi 2d. C Division: 1st: Stephen Tung 1k (Kyu Champion); 2nd: Lisa Scott 2k. D Division: 1st: John Gipson 6k; 2nd: Samantha Fede 5k. E Division: 1st: Stephen Allen 8k; 2nd: Amanda Rofe 9k. F Division: 1st: Mathew Chow 14k; 2nd: Larom Lancaster 12k.
CHINESE DOMINATE LG CUP: In a clear sign of the rising tide of Chinese pros, five of the eight players in the third round of the international LG Cup are Chinese while only three are Korean. The two Japanese in the
 second round did not make it to the third: Lee Changho 9P of Korea defeated Iyama Yuta 8P and Gu Li 9P of China defeated Hane Naoki 9P. The other remaining players are Piao Wenyao 5P, Hu Yaoyu 8P, Kong Jie 7P, and Qiu Jun 8P of China, along with Park Yeonghun 9P and Choi Cheolhan 9P of Korea. Gu Li holds no less than six international titles currently, one of them the LG Cup itself and two of them won earlier this month, which should make him the favorite. Lee and Choi also each hold an international title at the moment. Choi won the Ing Cup just last month, but Lee won the Zhonghuan Cup back in 2007. That event has not been held again yet. The third round of the LG Cup will not be played until November. - Bill Cobb
 TARANU DOWNS MOGO 3-1: Catalin Taranu 5P won three out of four games against the MoGo computer program on May 22, winning the first three by resignation and resigning the last. Unlike last year, when Taranu defeated Mogo 2-1, the program this year was running on a super computer in the 9x9 challenge in Rennes, France. "I was much more concentrated than last year,” Taranu told the E-Journal, “because I did not want to have any surprises this year. MoGo has improved a lot and has become as strong as a professional player on the 9x9 board.” Taranu complimented event host Espace Des Sciences for “very good conditions for this competition” and thanked the Romanian students who turned out to support him. A live video of the match will be posted this week. Meanwhile, advances in computer go continue to generate headlines, most recently in the May 18 Science Daily which reported on the February wins over pros Jun-Xun Zhou and Li-Chen Chien by Dutch national supercomputer Huygens. And in the May 19 edition of Dr. Dobb's Update, editor Jonathan Erickson wrote that “after Deep Blue beat Kasparov at chess, the game of Go seems to have replaced chess as *the* testbed for AI research. Go is one of the few board games that humans can still whip computers at -- for the time being, anyway. New algorithms and more powerful computers may be changing that, too.” Reviewing Monte-Carlo Tree Search algorithms and the recent wins by Huygens, Erickson notes that “Go poses scientific problems that are difficult to solve. Even if the game is determinist in theory, meaning that it can be programmed without any special difficulties, it would take an astronomical amount of computation time to obtain the solution, say researchers. However, in this case, the parallel algorithms use computational grids to solve problems concerning the sequencing of possibilities and of planning. The sequencing of possibilities amounts, for example, to thousands of millions, and the objective is to find the most efficient order in this mass of possibilities. The bottom line, say researchers at INRIA, is that the game of Go is thus a good model for developing and testing new techniques for solving this type of sequencing problem.”- includes reporting by Peter Dijkema, Marilena Bara and Marc Jégou
HONOR SOCIETY TO HOLD BRUNEI-USA FRIENDSHIP CUP: The American Go Honor Society is organizing an online Brunei-USA Friendship Cup beginning June 6 on KGS. A second round will be held June 13, with finals scheduled for June 20-21. A small sultanate in Southeast Asia, Brunei is attempting to become the newest member of the International Go Federation. Contact Christopher Vu for details and to register.
KGS DAY AT THE NYGC: Members of KGS are sponsoring an unofficial KGS'ers Day at the New York Go Center (link) on Saturday, June 13 from 2-5P. “Come meet NYDY, XY0908, bigbadwolf, ketchup, dsaun and other KGS regulars from the NYC area !” says organizer David Saunders. The NYGC is offering a special group rate admission fee of $5 per person -- $3 for high-school and college students – on the 13th; players may arrive early or stay late during the club’s normal operating hours of 1-10P.
ZOU SWEEPS FIRST FUSEKI IN NUREMBERG: Zou Jin 6d won the first Fuseki tournament in Nuremberg May 16-17 without dropping a game, ahead of his friend Zhang Ji 4d. Both from Leipzig. Among 49 taking part, only Richard Haas 9k also won all five games.
- Peter Dijkema, European correspondent for the EJ, based on dgob.de
 DAI BOUNCES BACK IN STRASBOURG: Dai Junfu 7d topped 16 contenders to win the first International Tourney in Strasbourg, France on May 16-17. Dai, from Lyon, bounced back from his two half-point losses in Paris at the recent Eastern championships. He defeated Noguchi Motoki 7d of Tours in the semi-final and in final he defeated favorite Hwang In-seong 8d from Frankfurt. Locals Thomas Debarre 5d and Antoine Fenech 5d survived the first round, only to go down to defeat at the hands of the finalists. Click here for complete results. Another 65 players participated in a regular tournament held at the same time. Click here for photos by Judith van Dam.- Peter Dijkema; photo: Dai Junfu (l) plays Noguchi Motoki 7d in Strasbourg
FINNS PROMOTE GO IN ESTONIA: The fourth annual tournament in Estonia was held in Tallinn, the capital city, on May 16. Since 2005, players from neighboring Finland have helped organize the event to promote go in Estonia, and 19 players signed up for the 4-round tournament, including one from Riga, Letland, where go – and tournaments -- are also rare. Finland’s Matti Siivola 5d, who’s led the initiative to support go to Estonia, was again favored to win, despite reduced handicaps, as he was the only dan-level player, although strength is rising among local players, many of whom are now strong kyu players. No results have been posted yet; click here for the list of players.
- Peter Dijkema
 JANICE KIM GO WORKSHOP SET FOR JULY: The Bay Area Go Players Association is hosting a weekend workshop with Janice Kim 3P on July 11 and 12 in San Francisco, CA. Kim is co-author of the award-winning Learn to Play Go book series and her entertaining lectures at the 2008 U.S. Go Congress in Portland, OR drew big and enthusiastic crowds. The workshop will include lectures, game analysis, interactive exercises, and question and answer sessions. “Each participant will get a go book and kifu pad, and one lucky participant chosen at random will take home a set of beautiful shell and slate stones donated by Janice Kim,” reports organizer Roger Schrag. Saturday night there will be an optional no-host dinner with Kim at a nearby restaurant. The workshop is being held a stone's throw from the San Francisco Go Club, and there are affordable hotels within driving distance for out of town participants. Click here for details and to register.CLOCK TICKING ON AGA BOARD NOMINATIONS: Less than a month remains for nominations for the Board of the American Go Association. “Things are off to a quiet start with Gordon Castanza nominated in the Western region and no nominations so far for the Eastern and Central seats,” reports Arnold Eudell. Nominations close on June 15. Full members of the AGA may nominate candidates in writing or email at elections@usgo.org; details of the qualifications for office and election schedule are online. Eudell urges AGA chapter representatives to make sure their contact information is up to date “so you will receive timely election information.”
 Photo: At the Honmyo-Ji Temple in Tokyo’s Sugamo neigborhood. Honmyo-Ji is also known as the tomb of the Honinbos, where the ashes of twenty Honinbos -- the go masters of their day – rest and go pilgrims pay their respects by placing go stones on their tomb markers. Click here to read more in Garlock’s 2002 report. WORLD AMATEUR PLAYER PROFILES: United States, Cyprus, Portugal, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, Uruguay
Players from 70 countries and territories will compete in the 30th annual World Amateur Go Championship May 27-30 in Kakegawa, Japan. The American Go E-Journal will once again provide full coverage of the 8-round tournament, posting daily updates on the web and in the EJ, including news, features, photos and game records. We’ll profile some of the WAGC over the next couple of weeks; today we’re pleased to introduce the players from.:
 UNITED STATES: Eric Lui 7d is a 20-year-old student in Ellicott City, Maryland. He’s been playing since the age of 5 and recent titles include the 2007 and 2008 Maryland Opens. Hobbies include music, and his favorite thing about go is it’s “mystery.” CYPRUS: Thirty-year-old Nicholas Roussos 4k is a chartered accountant in Nicosia. He’s been playing go for seven years. PORTUGAL: Cristovão Neto 1d is a visual artist from Porto. He’s exhibited artwork worldwide, from the UK to the US, Portugal and China and has been working with the music and theater industries, and has worked in various areas with clients such as Alexandre MCQueen, Kylie Minogue, Damien Hirst and Rowan Atkinson . He took 1st place in the 2008 and 2007 Porto Opens, 2nd in the 2008 Portuguese Nacional and 3rd in the 2007 Portuguese Nacional. He’s been playing 6 years, first learning when he was 27 and says his favorite thing about the game is “Its poetical evocative nature, its depth and the way it relates with physical and conceptual notions of space and time.” He’s married and hobbies include philosophy, mathematics and cinema. He was elected president of the Portuguese Go Association for the 2008-2010 term; this will be the third time he represents Portugal at the WAGC.
SERBIA: Mijodrag Stankovic 5d is an electronic engineer in Nis. Four-time Serbian champion, the 55-year-old has been playing for 35 years. He’s married and has a 21-year-old son; his hobbies include basketball and teaching children go. His favorite thing about go is “wisdom.”
 SINGAPORE: Jia Cheng Tan 6d is a student in Singapore. The 23-year-old has been playing since he was six and says his favorite thing about the game is that “It’s exciting due to the number of possibilities and tactics required in the game. Each move can result in very different outcome.” SOUTH AFRICA: Andrew Davies 2d of Cape Town, South Africa, has been playing go for 25 years. The 50-year-old electronics engineer is part of team developing satellite antennas -- used for many forms of communication, including internet access while flying -- for Boeing, Airbus and private aircraft. He won the Cape Town Open in 2004 and 2007 and the Stellenbosch Open in 2003, 2006 and 2007. He’s married, with two children. Hobbies include hiking, chess, rock climbing, reading, guitar playing, flying and traveling. His favorite thing about go is “The challenge of solving a problem. With go, the simplicity of the rules but the complexity of the game fascinates me.”UNITED KINGDOM: Matt Cocke 5d of Epsom in Surrey is a 37-year-old actuary who’s been playing for 22 years. Titles won include the 2008 Isle of Man, Three Peaks (2008) British Pair Go champion (2005) and the British Open Champion (1993). He received his PhD in pure maths in 1998 and qualified as an actuary in 2003. Hobbies include poker, backgammon, scuba diving and swimming. “I like the complexity of the game. It is an amazingly balanced game and the strategy is incredibly rich.”
 URUGUAY: Martín Benenati 3d of Montevideo is a 24-year-old math teacher who’s been playing for almost five years, winning the Uruguayan title in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Hobbies include gardening, aquariums and aikido. “Each game is unique, and the creation is never ending.”YOUR MOVE: READERS WRITE
SHUKO NOT ALONE IN PROMOTING GO IN CHINA: “When doing an article on Yasunaga Hajime recently I was most impressed by the time and energy heput into spreading go in China,” writes longtime go author Pieter Mioch. “There are a number of pros and strong amateurs who have spared neither time nor expense to make the game of go popular again in China. Although I can understand how Mr. Arnold feels when writing about a go genius (“for no one has done more to make sure that go flourishes in the nation of its birth than he has,” A Real Guy: An Appreciation Of Shuko, 5/11 EJ), perhaps it would be more complete to also mention Yasunaga and Iwamoto Kaoru, to name but two.”
CORRECTIONS: 9X9 RESULTS AT COMPUTER GO TOURNEY: There were two tournaments at the 14th Computer Go Olympiad (ZEN WINS GO OLYMPIAD 5/18 EJ). Fuego won the 9x9 tournament, beating MoGo and Yogo, which took 2nd and 3rd.
THE TRAVELING BOARD: The Star Nine Go School
 By Chris Garlock In a small house on a hill in Tsunashima two young boys sit motionless. Outside, the warm May afternoon beckons, but they are oblivious. They are students at Isamu Takekiyo 4P's Star Nine go school, where 20 youngsters aged 7-15 study go. While some hope to eventually turn pro, many do not, and are just there to learn the game, "and get some mental training," teacher Kazumori Nagayo told me Saturday, during a visit to the school. Nagayo, attired in the standard black Japanese suit, looked on as his students intently played visitors, including our guide Michael Simon 5d and his friends Toshiya Yatagawa and Kenji Murakawa, who are members of Simon's "go mame" group of go buddies. The school was founded in 2006 and has attracted a cross-section of youngsters, some brought in by Hikaru No Go and some who'd been introduced to the game by a family member, usually a father or grandfather who plays. The young go players attend the school several times a week - except for the senior student, an 18-year-old who lives in the house - studying a combination of pro gam  es and problems. Intensity of study is the only distinction between the possible pros and those destined for a lifetime of amateur play. Admission to the school "is not about strong or weak," Nagayo says, "but about spirit and whether they can concentrate." There are over 500 schools like this across Japan, he estimates, many participating in inter-school tournaments. "I would like to be a pro, if possible," says 11-year-old Inoue Harunori, a shy but self-possessed 3-dan. "But who knows? We will see." Ten-year-old Imai Mikio 4k says "I'd like to be 6-dan," but his eyes really light up when he talks about his baseball video games and playing soccer. Outside the house on the hill, crows caw and wheel in the blue sky, oranges hang heavy from a tree out back and an inviting spring breeze rustles through the bamboo and tugs at the curtains. But the boys have returned to the gobans and all is still except the click of stones on the boards. - Garlock is in Japan this week to cover the 30th World Amateur Go Championships, which begin Wednesday. Photos by John Pinkerton. Thanks to Michael Simon for translation assistance. | |
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