Twenty years ago, at the 2006 World Amateur Go Championships in Hangzhou, China, None Redmond—Michael’s mom, who celebrates her birthday today—generously conducted a series of interviews for the E-Journal. As a birthday gift to her—and to you, dear readers—we’ve gathered those interviews together here. Happy birthday, None!
—Chris Garlock
5 MINUTES WITH: T Mark Hall, UK
T Mark Hall, the U.K.’s WAGC rep, lives in London, where he works with John Fairbairn to produce the encyclopedic Games of Go on Disk, better-known as GoGod. We interviewed Hall right after his second-round loss to Canada’s Yongfei Ge 7d and he was planning to use GoGod – “a large database of professional go games supported by an extensive fund of programs, data and articles to help existing players enjoy and benefit from these games” – to analyze his game. Hall is a retiree from the British Foreign Office; his first assignment was in Tokyo, where he learned go and spent three years playing whenever he could. His travels have taken him to places around the world, including Milan, Nigeria, Greece, Burma and a 1992 stint in Seoul. Hall plans to take advantage of his WAGC trip to China to explore the country through mid-June. Through the EJ’s extensive network of sources, we have learned that T is Hall’s legal first name, adopted after an employer insisted on using Hall’s first name even though he preferred Mark.
- None Redmond, special correspondent for the E-Journal; photo by John Pinkerton
NOTE: T Mark Hall died on 9th December 2013, aged 66, following a long illness. Read more here.
5 MINUTES WITH: John Gibson, Ireland
5 MINUTES WITH: Carlos Joels, Peru
5 MINUTES WITH: Vesa Laatikainen, Finland
5 MINUTES WITH: David Ormerod, Australia
5 MINUTES WITH: Francesca Mauri, Italy
5 MINUTES WITH: Ofer Zivony, Israel