News / Articles

GO CONGRESS MADE EASY: If the bother of addressing envelopes and licking stamps has been holding you back from registering for this year92s U.S. Go Congress in Rochester, today92s your lucky day! Now you can register on-line for eight fun-filled days of go from July 31 to August 8 at the RIT Inn & Conference Center. Visit http://www.gocongr ess.org for more information.

XIONG PERFECT IN GROESCH MEMORIAL: Yupei Xiong, an AGA 8d and 1d pro in China took top honors in last weekend92s John Groesch Memorial tournament in College Park, MD, posting a perfect 5-0 record. Twenty-nine players (including 12 dan players, 4 of whom were 4d or better) turned out for the annual Spring tournament April 17-18 at the University of Maryland Go Club, organized by Steve Mount and directed by Chuck Robbins.
     The complete winner92s report: Dan Section: 1st ($100): XIONG, Yupei, 7d (5 wins); 2nd-3rd (tie) ($25) LIU, Yubo, 3d (4 wins); QUIZON, Juan Pablo 3D (4 wins). Low Kyu Section: 1st: ($30) Carl, Joseph, 2k (4 wins); High Kyu Section: 1st-2nd (tie) ($10): HANAOKA, Brian, 10k (4 wins); CHOU, Jeffery, 15k (4 wins). John Groesch Memorial Prize Co-winners ($25): LIU, Yubo, 3d & CHOU, Jeffery, 3d. The John Groesch Memorial Prize is for the best performance by a player under the age of 20 who is new to tournament go (defined by less than two years of tournament play). This year, the $50 prize was shared by two players who scored 4 points; the trophy went to Jeffery Chou, who has been playing for a shorter time (both are new to the AGA).
     John Groesch was a local 8th-grader who played at the University of Maryland Go Club during 2002. He attended regularly and was quite serious about the game, his skill increasing rapidly from about 16 kyu to about 7 kyu. Club members, shocked and saddened to learn of his untimely passing due to complications from the onset of diabetes in December of 2002, named their annual Spring tournament in his memory and established the John Groesch Memorial Prize to honor his inspiring dedication to go. Read more at http://www.wam.umd edu/~smount/Groesch.html

ZHANG TOPS SF TOURNEY: Jinlong Zhang 1d took first place in the top division of the San Francisco Go Club Spring tournament, held April 10-11. Fifty-five players participated, including 31 children, 9317 of whom were from a high school go club run by Gina Shi,94 reports Tournament Director Steve Burrall. 93Thanks to the Ing Foundation for helping sponsor this event,94 adds Burrall, 93and thanks to Maeda Ryo 6dan of the Kansai Kiin for attending and playing simuls.94
Full results: Div. 1: 1st: Jinlong Zhang 1d, 2nd: Adam Miller 2d, 3rd: Jimmy Guo 1d; Div. 2: 1st: Philippe Vandermersch 2k, 2nd: Danny Swarzman 4k, 3rd: Eric Branlund 3k; Div. 3: 1st: Daniel Lam 10k, 2nd: Morgan Burks 11k, 3rd: Raymond Chan 8k; Div. 4: 1st: Joy Zhang 18k, 2nd: Albert Tao 25k, 3rd: Zack Liu 20k; Div. 5: 1st: Jennifer Yu 30k, 2nd: Julia Dang 28k, 3rd: Brandon Low 29k

MORE TESUJIS FROM S&S: Volume 5 of the Go Problems for Kyu Level Players series has just been published by Slate & Shell. This volume is a valuable collection of tesuji problems that reveals the kinds of possibilities that stronger players already know. 44 pages, $5, handy pocket size. Sample pages are posted on the Slate & Shell web site: http://www.slatean dshell.com

IN MEMORIAM: John Goodell
     John Goodell, one of the leading U.S. players and organizers of go tournaments and events in the 1950s and 1960s died April 4 in St Paul, MN. He was 94. A documentary filmmaker who was nominated for an Academy Award for the feature ``Always a New Beginning’’ in 1974, Goodell took up go in the 9150s and 93fell in love with the game,'' according to son Gregory Goodell.
     ``He taught everybody he met how to play ‘Go,''' Goodell told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and was so dedicated to spreading the game that he once imported 2 tons of go stones from Japan. In a 1991 Star Tribune interview, Goodell said, ``I just became enchanted with the game when I learned that it was simpler to teach than chess, but a far more profound game. It‘s almost like meditation. When you play ‘Go,' the world goes away.'' Look for further remembrances of Goodell and his contributions to American go in future editions of the E-Journal.

KERWIN BRINGS GEMS TO ROCHESTER: “Practice good technique first, understand later. Fully finish what you intended to do. Consider defending your last move. The 4th line is golden. Try and make the most efficient and effective moves. Avoid moves that have no value. ” These are just a few of the go teaching gems imparted by James Kerwin 1P at a workshop held April 10-11 in Rochester, NY.
Kerwin exploits the PDA, laptop, and SmartGo software technology well in his state of the art feedback and critique sessions. Kerwin92s teaching method is to compare and contrast at least three variations of alternate moves using 93SmartGo94 software very quickly.
93One of the biggest ways to learn go is to review your own games,” Kerwin told the more than 25 students, alumni and guests of the University of Rochester (U of R) and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) clubs who attended the two-day go workshop. “Later, you can show your games to stronger players. For beginners, this is more important than solving go problems or looking at pro games.94
The workshop‘s theme was 93defense,94 and Kerwin offered three levels of advice on the subject: 1) Dump or don92t dump stones; 2) Make eyes in place; 3) Run. It‘s also key not to make too many weak groups. Kerwin also cautioned against being in too much of a hurry. “Think of yourself as a brick by brick builder,” he urged, “not a racer! ”
-reported by David Boyer; check out his photo of game analysis at the Rochester workshop on the AGA92s homepage: http://www.usgo.or g/index.asp

HOTLINKS ARRIVE: Alert readers will have noticed that the E-Journal now has internal hotlinks that enable you to jump quickly from the table of contents to the rest of the newsletter. We hope this is helpful and welcome comments and suggestions on ways to continue to improve the E-Journal.


WORLD GO NEWS

GO CHAMPS IN AUCKLAND: The 2004 Auckland Go Championships have been scheduled for May 22-23 in Auckland, New Zealand at the SAS building in Greenlane. Get details and entry forms from Steve Taylor at tayste@clear.net.nz or call +64 9 3066836

CHINESE PLAYERS ELIMINATED IN FUJITSU SECOND ROUND: For the second straight year, all of China‘s hopefuls were eliminated in the second round of the 17th Fujitsu Cup, leaving one Taiwanese, five Koreans, and two Japanese players to compete in the quarter-finals scheduled for June. Song T‘ae-kon 6p and Yi (Lee) Ch‘ang-ho 9p defeated Kong Jie 7p and Wang Lei 8p respectively to end China‘s hopes. The other quarter finalists are: Ch‘oe Ch‘eol-han, Yoda Norimoto 9p, Pak Yeong-hyeon, Yu Ch‘ang-hyeok, Cho U 9p, and Zhou Junxun 9p. Junxun, representing Taiwan, is having a good year: He very recently won the 5th Chukan Cup, is the current Taiwan Kiin Cup title holder, and defeated China‘s number one player (Gu Li 7p) in round one and last year‘s Fujitsu champion, Yi Se-tol (Lee Sedol) 9p in round two of this Fujitsu. The Fujitsu, also known as the World Go Championship, was started in 1988 and was the first major tournament in which top players from all over Asia and the West competed. Game records for round two can be found at http://www.go4go.n et.
- reported by Dennis Hardman

O RISSEI WINS FOURTH CONSECUTIVE JUDAN TITLE: In the fourth game of the 42nd Judan title match, defending title holder, O Rissei 9p, fought off one of the strongest young Japanese professionals, Cho U 9p, to win by resignation, securing the overall title three games to one. O, who is nearly twice Cho U‘s age of 24, played Black and won the fourth game after only 127 moves, earning a paycheck of 14 million yen (about $130,000). O has been around the Japanese professional scene for quite some time. He is a three-time winner of the prestigious Kisei and has won numerous other Japanese titles over the years. Game records can be found at http://www.go4go.n et.
- reported by Dennis Hardman

CH‘EOL-HAN MAKES THE STONE BUDDHA FLINCH ONCE AGAIN: Although Yi (Lee) Ch‘ang-ho 9p is arguably one of the best go professionals in the world today (and possibly of all time), he has had quite a bad time with 18-year old Choe Ch‘eol-han 6d in recent months. First it was the 47th Kuksu, where Choe stripped Yi of the title he held for three years. Now Choe has won the 15th Kiseong title, again taking it from “stone Buddha” Yi, by winning Game Four of the best-of-five match by 2.5 points and winning the title overall by three games to one. Yi has held the Kiseong title since 1993 when he took it from his teacher Cho Hun-hyeon 9d. Choe now holds three major Korean titles (Chunwon, Kuksu and Kiseong) and is a quarter finalist in the Fujitsu. He‘s making some money too! The prize money for the Kiseong is 18 million Korean Won (about $15,000). Game records can be found at http://www.go4go.n et. Other interesting information about these players can be found at http://www.gogamew orld.com.
- reported by Dennis Hardman

NEHANICKY WINS TOYOTA-PANDANET EURO TOUR: On April 10th through 12th, the 2004 Paris International Go Tournament was held, with Hui Fan 8d taking first, Jean-FranE7ois Seailles 6d taking second, and Motoki Noguchi 6d taking third. The Paris International Go Tournament is the final stop for the 2003/2004 Toyota-Pandanet European Go Tour that began in Budapest, Hungary in May of 2003 and involved tournaments in 12 major European cities. Players win points in each of the tour stops and, after the final tournament, an overall tour winner is announced. This year, the overall winner is Radek Nehanicky, an amateur 6d player from the Czech Republic who, according to senseis.xmp.net, has a very special style in which ”... his position often seems really strange after beginning, but he is a great fighter (and fights a lot, when he is behind), and his endgame is superb.” Nehanicky had been a contender and winner in previous overall tour results. He placed 10th in 2001/2002 and won in 2002/2003. The tour, which started in 2000, is sponsored by Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Europe Marketing & Engineering, along with IGS-Pandanet. For more information about both the Paris tournament and the European Tour, go to HTTP://www.europea n-go.org.
- reported by Dennis Hardman

OTHER WORLD GO NEWS IN BRIEF
(compiled from various sources)
  - Denmark: Sondags Grand Prix - Torben Pedersen 3d won. Second place shared by Frank Hansen 4d and Per Schaechter 2d.
   - Sweden: Nordic Go Championship 2004 - Vesa Laatikainen 5d wins with Michael Yao 4d second and Thomas Heshe 5d third.
   - China: 16th Mingren - Yu Bin 9d (Qisheng title holder) and Wang Lei 8d among others advance to the first round.
   - Korea: 38th Wangwi - Yi Se-tol (Lee Sedol) 9d continues to lead league.
   - Korea: 4th Pro Senior - Jang Sooyoung 9d won first of best-of-three match against Kim Ilwhan 9d.
   - Japan: 29th Shinjin O (New Stars) - Hujii Shuhya 5d advances to second round.
   - Japan: 52nd NHK Cup - Hasegawa Sunao 9d defeats Honorary Gosei Otake Hideo to advance to first round.
   - UK: Stacey Grand Prix - Trophy to the player winning most “above the bar” games in UK tournaments each year. First place goes to Young Kim (26), second goes to Francis Roads (25), third is Alistair Wall (19), and fourth Li Shen (17).
- UK: Thames Valley Team Tournament - Swindon‘s Christian Scarff 2d, Paul Barnard 1d, and Matthew Griffiths 11 kyu won the Broken Go Stone Trophy. Go to http://www.britgo. org for details.
- reported by Dennis Hardman

GAME COMMENTARY: To Invade Or Not To Invade, That Is The Question
The stones are still warm in today92s game, Game Two in the 42nd Judan title (Japan), played on March 26, 2004. Cho U, 9p takes White against O Rissei, 9p on Black in a game that features a daring White invasion in the midst of massive Black thickness. The commentary is by Alexandre Dinerchtein, 1p from his subscription service at http://www.go4go.n et
The bonus problem today, appropriately, is from 93Keshi and Uchikomi: Reduction and Invasion in Go,94 by Iwamoto Kaoru, an AGA book published by Slate & Shell, http://www.slatean dshell.com
This week we92re also pleased to offer a special lesson for kyu players from 93Kaz94 Furuyama, this one on Star Point Basic Joseki.
        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

MOMENTS IN GO HISTORY: The Two Fujisawas, Part Two
By William Cobb
     The younger Fujisawa, Shuko or Hideyuki (the pronunciation of his given name that he prefers) is more famous than his relative Hosai. Born in 1925, Shuko (as he is almost universally known, especially in the West) has had a splendid, though at times controversial, career. He has won many titles, most famously the first six Kisei (1977-82), the most prestigious of the Japanese titles. Shuko was named permanent Honorary Kisei for this feat. He also won the Meijin the first time it was awarded on the basis of competition, in 1962, beating out Sakata Eio and Go Seigen.
     Shuko won the Oza in 1991 at the age of 66 and successfully defended it the next year against Kobayashi Koichi. Kobayashi was at the peak of his career at the time, and nearly thirty years younger than Shuko. No other pro has had such success that late in life. There have been numerous other titles and awards, and there probably would have been many more if not for his love of alcohol. He was notorious for sobering up for the Kisei title match each year, pointing out that he only had to win four games a year to remain at the top of the go world.
     In 1999, a year after his retirement, Shuko had a falling out with the Nihon Kiin over the price the Kiin charges for dan diplomas, which is a major source of income for the Kiin. Shuko began issuing diplomas himself for a smaller fee and was summarily dismissed from the Nihon Kiin as a result. This made him persona non grata for several years, but in early 2004, he was reinstated in the Kiin. A happy consequence of his reinstatement is that the Nihon Kiin has allowed his famous Dictionary of Basic Tesuji to be reprinted. Now in his late seventies, Shuko continues to be active. His picture and an analysis of one of his amazing moves can be found in the current issue of Go World. We92ve attached a record of that game for your amusement; the remarkable move is Black 13. 2004.04.19 SHUKO ORIGINAL MOVE.SGF
     Sources: The Go Player92s Almanac 2001, Sensei92s Library, http://gobase.org< /a>, Go World #100. For a sketch of Hosai, see Part One of this essay in the April 5th E-Journal.

GO CLASSIFIED: BOOKS, EQUIPMENT, ETC

WANTED: Copies of Go Monthly Review. 1960 1-12; 1961 1-4; 1965 1; 1968 1, 4, 5, 8, 12; 1969 1; 1971 1. Willing to pay a reasonable price. Contact T Mark Hall at tmark@gogod.demon.co.uk or at the US Congress at Rochester. (4/19)

AVAILABLE: Elegant kaya table gobans(thickness varies from 33mm to
69mm) and exquisite 7 inch japanese kaya goban with legs. Also I have
kaya bowls. jade stones, marble stones, agate stones and double convex
yunzi - best stone in China. More items will be added on regular basis. I teamed up with www.go4go.net and apermanent webpage has been set up
at http://equipment.g o4go.net Please contact Rui Wang at ruiwang@isi.edu
if you have any questions. (4/9)

WANTED: Go Reviews, older complete years, 60‘s & 70‘s. Send info on condition and price to flynp1@comcast.net (3/29)

AVAILABLE: A few very nice Japanese kaya table gobans (thickness varies from 33mm to 69mm) and one 7 inch japanese kaya goban with legs. Also I have kaya bowls. jade stones, marble stones, agate stones and double convex yunzi best stone in China. photos are available at http://cat.isi.edu /~ruiwang/gobanpic/ click fullsize for 2048x1536 photos and regularsize for 640x480 photos. Please contact ruiwang@isi.edu (3/22)

WANTED: The Treasure Chest Enigma Noriyuki Nakayama; new or used in very good condition. Contact Shavit at info@go-mind.com (3/22)

FOR SALE: the book “Enclosure Josekis” by Masaki Takemiya and published by the Ishi Press. Now out of print, it was purchased years ago by the Canadian Go Association and then forgotten so it is in new, unopened condition. Contact Frank Monks at pmonks@look.ca (3/22)


GO CLASSIFIED: GO PLAYERS WANTED

CARLSBAD, CA: mschlee@yahoo.com (3/22)

CHICAGO, IL (south suburbs): Jeff, tompygo@comcast.net (3/22)

ASHEVILLE, NC: ichliebedeinunderhosen@yahoo.com
(3/22)

NEW JERSEY SHORE: Contact Iangershman@hotmail.com (3/29)

Harrison NY: Mauricio Aguirre; maguirrel@hotmail.com (3/29)
STATE COLLEGE/CENTRE COUNTY, PA: (Penn State University, UP Campus). A small unofficial club has started with only five or so members, looking for more people to expand the club. Contact djs443@psu.edu for more information. (3/29)

Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach nearly 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

April 24: Middlebury, VT
Spring Tournament
Peter Schumer 802-388-3934 schumer@middlebury.edu

April 24: Fort Wayne, IN
1st Indiana Go Tournament
Jim Kiraly 260-710-3644 jim@fwgc.net

Apirl 25: Menlo Park, CA
First California High School Goe Tournament
Mingjiu Jiang 650-969-2857 mingjiu7p@hotmail.com
http://www.gomaste rs.com/

May 2: Seattle, WA
Monthly Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley 206-545-1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org
http://www.seattle gocenter.org/

May 8: Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Rapids Go Club Tournament
David Hast 616-791-8929 djhast@yahoo.com

May 8 & 9: Rochester, NY
Empty Sky Spring Tournament 2004
Gregory L. Lefler 585-424-2269 glacticjoke@hotmail.com

May 15: Arllington, VA
May Madness
Allan Abramson 703-684-7676 mediate8@worldnet.att.net

June 3-6: Round Top, NY
Guo Juan Workshop at The Woodlands
Jean-Claude Chetrit 718-638-2266 zorglub@brooklyngoclub.org
http://brooklyngoc lub.org/cgi-bin/disp_topic.iphtml?topic_id3D188

June 24-27: Hackensack, NJ
2004 New Jersey Yang 7p Go Workshop
John Stephenson 201-612-0852 jcs@wingsgoclub.org
http://www.wingsgo club.org/Yangworkshop.asp

June, July, August: KGS or Yahoo
2004 3rd RSC Team Youth Go Cup
Christopher Vu wasonlyyesterday@yahoo.com
www.geocities.com/ seaottergoclub/RSC.html

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: May 31

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.or g/usa/tournaments.asp

For the European Go Calendar see
http://www.europea n-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.or g 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.or g/org/index.asp#contactinfo

Published by the American Go Association

Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the E-Journal. Please direct inquiries to journal@usgo.org

Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association.

To make name or address corrections, notify us at the email address below. Story suggestions, event announcements, Letters to the Editor and other material are welcome, subject to editing for clarity and space, and should be directed to:
Editor: Chris Garlock
mailto:journal@usgo.org