News / Articles

GU TOPS HOBOKEN TOURNEY: Jason Gu took top honors in the Hoboken Fall Handicap Tournament in Hoboken, NJ. Fifty players turned out for the October 3 event organized by Larry Russ and directed by Steve Bretherick and Chuck Robbins. “Approximately half of the players were youth, many of them students of the Feng Yun Go School, reports Steve Bretherick. The playing site included an “analysis room” for between round activities, or as one young player asked afterfinishing his first round game in fifteen minutes, “where is that room where you said I can go to make noise=3F” Adds Bretherick, “Special mention for sportsmanship goes to Nicolas Trieu. After he and his opponent had troublerearranging the stones after their Round 2 game, Nicolas graciously conceded that he thought he was behind. This ‘dispute’ was handled by two elementary school students with a maturity that should make any adult proud.” Bretherick also extended a special thanks to Chuck Robbins for WinTD assistanceand to Slate & Shell for providing discounted books for use as prizes.
      The complete winner‘s report:
Section A (2-3 dan): GU, Jason; WANG, Yi; CHEN, Mawshien; Section B (1K-1D): WU, Steven; SAMUEL, Mike; HARTSELL, Jon; Section C (2K-3K): ZHANG, Lionel; KIGUCHI, Christopher; BYRNE, David; Section D (4K-5K): LUCOTTE, Matthieu; LOWRIE, Matthew; BENYOWITZ, Joel; Section E (6K-9K): SHANG, Kevin; ZHAO, Zhongxia(Ricky); MARKOWITZ, Jonathan; Section F (10K-15K): BENGTSON, Matthew; DONNY-CLARK, Kerry; SHANG, Andrew; Section G (over 15K): JAIN-SHARMA, Vishank; DUAN, Michael; ZHU, Catherine
 
KGS OFFERS FREE LESSONS, LECTURES: Go players on KGS yesterday started the day with a free lesson from Guo Juan 5p and ended it with a free lecture by Feng Yun 9p. The Guo Juan lesson was the first in a series also featuring MingJiu Jiang 7p and sponsored by the Ing‘s Goe Foundation. The lessons will continue every Sunday at 11A EST For more details, click on: http://guojuan.demon.nl/goschool/ing.html   In her lecture last night, Feng Yun, 9 dan pro from China reviewed the Choi CheolHan 8p vs. Chang Hao 9p game from the recent Toyota-Denso World Oza Cup. This was the second outing for the KGS live audio system,as over 600 observers were able to listen to Feng Yun lecture live in English as she played through the game and variations. When KGS debuted the newsystem last month with a free lecture by Guo Juan, the audio crashed and she switched to text, but this time, with the server tweaked, everything ran smoothly.

S&S RELEASES VOL. 1 OF SHUKO‘S TESUJI DICTIONARY:Slate & Shell has just published the first volume of a translation of Fujisawa Shuko‘s famous Dictionary of Basic Tesuji. Shuko‘s Dictionary of Basic Tesuji is one of the most famous Japanese go books, but it has been of little use to those who don‘t read Japanese. Now it is being translated into English. This first volume deals with tesuji that are useful for attacking. Fujisawa presents particular situations and shows effective ways of dealing with them, along with the problems with the ineffective ways of playing that you are likely to have considered. Later volumes will cover tesujifor defense, as well as tesuji for the opening, capturing races, and the endgame. Tesuji are the highly efficient plays, a knowledge of which is the key to getting stronger in the tactical dimension of go. “This book will open your eyes to possibilities you never dreamed of,” promises Slate & Shell‘s Bill Cobb. Check out sample pages at http://www.slateandshell.com.
 
PLAY IT AGAIN IN NYC: Anyone planning to stop by the Asia Society‘s new exhibition on Asian games in New York City will also want to drop by the “Play It Again” show at E&J Frankel Ltd. where antique go equipment is on view, including a stone board in the form of an inkstone,a rare hongmu (rosewood) 12-panel 6-fold xiangqi/weigi board with huangyangmu (boxwood) inlays, a green stone weiqi board and more. The show runs through November 1; photos and details at: http://www.ejfrankel.com/exhibition.asp=3FexhibID=91  Our thanks to Andy Zimmerman for the tip.

YANG WORKSHOP COMES TO LANCASTER, PA: Popular go teacher Yilun Yang7p will hold a workshop November 4-7 in Lancaster, PA. For for details, contact Chuck Robbins at 717-892-7900 x22  or email chuck@ctipc.com

CANADA-JAPAN TIES MARKED BY TOURNEY: The 75th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Canada and Japan will be marked by the Embassy of Japan Friendship tournament on October 31st in Ottawa, Canada, presented by the Embassy of Japan in cooperation with the Ottawa Chinese Go Club. Only the first 60 registrations will be accepted, due to limited space: email Charles Chang at ab073@ncf.carleton.ca  details at http://www.go-canada.org  Find out more about the 75th Anniversary at http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/75thanniversary/

FREE MEMBERSHIPS OFFERED: Citing “more projects than ever before,” American Go Association President Mike Lash is offering free AGA memberships (or renewals) to 25 new volunteers for key projects and committees. “There is one catch,” Lash warns. “I am looking for people with energy, time and a sincere willingness to stick withtasks to the end.” Areas available include marketing and promotion, tournament administration, membership services, chapter services, budget planningand fundraising. “The AGA is a volunteer, non-profit corporation serving members across the entire U.S.,” says Lash. “We rely heavily on the commitment and generosity of our members and friends who are interested in more than just playing go.” The offer is open to both nonmembers and current members (except for Officers and Directors); email Lash at President@usgo.org

CLASSIFIED UPDATE: Looking for go players=3F Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy=3F The EJ‘s Go Classified section works! Reach over7,000 Go players worldwide every week; listings are free and run 4 weeks.And now you can easily find each week‘s new listings by looking for the NEW! designation. Send your ads to us now at journal@usgo.org

WORLD GO NEWS

YAMASHIRO CHALLENGES FOR OKAN: The Okan is one of the longer running tournaments in Japan. Sponsored by the Chunichi newspaper, it is limited to members of the Central Japan branch of the Nihon Kiin. Yamashiro Hiroshi 9p, who is in his upper forties and has won this title many times, will be the challenger this time against the current title holder, Hane Naoki 9p, who is almost twenty years younger and has won the title twice. Yamashiro defeated Shimojima Yohei 7p last Thursday to win the chance to take the title once again. The title match is only one game.

MIZOKAMI TAKES SHINJIN-O: The Shinjin-O (NewStars) tournament in Japan has been won by Mizokami Tomochika 7p, who won the final two games over Sakai Hideyuki 6p by a half point each, playing White both times. You can download the game records at http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp=3Fid=68  This was one of the few tournaments featuring a final between players from the Nihon Kiin and the Kansai Kiin; the Nihon Kiin triumphed this time. Sakai is having happier results in the preliminary rounds of the 30th Meijin tournament, having defeated Hikosaka Naoto 9p in round one and Ishida Akira 9p in the second round.

CHINESE DOMINATE SAMSUNG: In a happy development for Chinese fans, three of the final four places in the Samsung tournament have been claimed by Chineseplayers. All four games in the third round pitted a Chinese player against a Korean and of the Koreans only Lee Sedol 9p was able to win, defeating Wang Lei 8p. The Chinese winners were Wang Xi 5p over Song Taekon 7p, Zhou Heyang 9p over Park Yeonghun 9p, and Gu Li 7p over Choi Cheolhan 8p. Game records can be downloaded from http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp=3F&id=1 . The semi-finals will be three game matches to be held in November. The Samsung is the biggest international pro tournament interms of the number of participants. It is held every year and is hosted by the Korean Baduk Association.

PRO REVIEW: N.A. Pros Take on the World
      These are exciting days for American professional go. With more international professional tournaments being organized, the opportunities for North American pros to play has increased, and this past year has seen a significant amount of activity. The year began with Janice Kim 3p representing North America in the Haojue Cup in China in January, where she was defeated by Zheng Zhangping 1p of Taiwan in the first round. In March, Michael Redmond 9p was the North American representative in the Chunlan Cup, losing to GuLi 7p of China in the first round. Mingjiu Jiang 7p represented North America in the LG Cup, defeating Franz-Josef Dickhut 6d of Europe in the first round. Although he lost in the second round to Lee Sedol 9p of Korea, Mingjiu remains the only North American representative to win a game in an international tournament this year. North America was represented in the Fujitsu Cup by Huiren Yang 1p, who lost to Wang Lei 8p of China in the first round. Another international event was the Toyota-Denso World Oza Cup, in whichthere were two North American representatives: Feng Yun 9p, who was defeated in the first round by Chang Hao 9p of China, and Mingjiu Jiang 7p, who lost to Yoda Norimoto 9p in round one. Finally, Jimmy Minsoo Cha 4p was the North American representative in the Ing Cup in China, losing to Zhou Heyang 9p in the first round. One other opportunity this year for North American pros is scheduled: a new internet tournament sponsored by the Nihon Kiin later this month to celebrate its 80th anniversary, in which Feng Yun will be the North American representative. The first prize will be 2 million yen (about $18,000) in a three round knockout tournament between eight players. This will be a fast tournament, 30 seconds per move plus ten minutes thinking time in one minute units. The other players are Hane Naoki 9p and Kobayashi Koichi 9p of Japan, Gu Li 7p of China, Lee Changho 9p of Korea, Chou Chun Hsun 9p of Taiwan, Fernando Aguilar 6d for South America, and Alexandre Dinerchtein 1p from Europe.
- reported by Bill Cobb

GAME COMMENTARY: Shodan Challenge #2 & The Push
        Today‘s game commentary is the second in a series following the progress of the Shodan Challenge Gang, a group of players who have publicly taken on the challenge of making shodan by the 2005 Congress. The E-Journal has arranged for professional analysis to help the Shodan Challengers improve their games and in today‘s game Yilun Yang 7p takes a thorough, virtually move-by-move look at a September 6 game between Shodan Challenger Adam Bloom, a 7k taking two stones against 5k jias. Of particular note are the number of locally irrelevant moves that could have been played elsewhere.
        Our bonus file today is the latest lesson from Kaz Furuyama, who takes a look at a pushing tesuji. 
        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

MY CORNER: Progress on Several Fronts
by Mike Lash
       The last month has seen progress by the American Go Association (AGA) on several fronts, including youth go, membership and voting rights. There have also been interesting developments on the international front.
       YOUTH GO CAMPS: Next year, for the first time ever, the AGA has approved holding two go camps in one summer. The AGA East Coast Go Camp will be held July 2-9 at Hartwick College in New Jersey; David Dinhoffer will be the Camp Administrator, Mike Samuel will be Camp Director and FengYun 9p will head the teaching staff. The AGA West Coast Go Camp will be held July 16-23 at Mills College in Oakland, California; Jon Boley will be back as Camp Administrator, Steve Burrell will be the Camp Director and Ming Jiu Jiang 7p will return to head the teaching staff.  Attendance at both is possible and certainly encouraged for the truly dedicated. For more information, click on: http://www.usgo.org
       MEMBERSHIP: While our historic membership increases of the last two years seem to have leveled off, there are now new initiatives underway to make AGA membership more attractive for both new and existing members and a group of volunteers is working on developing ideas and incentives. Thoseinterested in contributing thoughts and suggestions can reach me at President@usgo.org 
       VOTING RIGHTS:The lively debate of proposals to revise voting rights within the AGA is continuing, led by Chairman of the Policy and Governance Committee Keith Arnold. The Chapter Assembly aired the issue at this year‘s U.S. Go Congress, and there are some interesting ideas about how best to achieve a functional, balanced and representative voting system. For members interested in this topic, contact your Chapter Representatives now and get involved.
       INTERNATIONAL GO: Finally, two interesting developments occurred on the international front. First, in early September, Terry Benson and Chris Kirschner represented the AGA at the 5th Ing Cup World Professional Goe Championship held in Guiyang, China, during which meetings were held about the advent of “universal” rules for playing GO, potentially at the Olympic level (“International Pro Rules Discussed”; EJ 10/04/04). This is a very exciting development that may allow the AGA to play amore prominent role in the development of international rules of play. Second, I recently conducted interesting talks with two people in Mexico City who are trying to start a Mexican go association. Their enthusiasm was refreshing and it was satisfying to realize just how much useful material we have available right now on the AGA web site for someone trying to start a newgo organization, demonstrating the AGA‘s value as a national organization and resource. With a few more people to fill some empty seats we can expandour reach to a whole new plateau as a service organization.

GO REVIEW: Tricks in Joseki
by Yang Yilun
Yutopian Enterprises, 2001.
Reviewed by Robert McGuigan
       The subject of joseki is both important and difficult for aspiring go players. It‘s said that learning joseki will make you two stones weaker; on the other hand we‘re told that learning joseki is an important part of becoming stronger.  This conflict is resolved when we realize the difference between rote memorization and understanding the meaning of each of the moves.  
       We‘ve all had trouble when our opponent played anunfamiliar move in a corner sequence. It could be a legitimate variation or it could be a trick. If we are not familiar with the move, all we can do is try to read it out. But this sort of reading is more difficult than life-and-death or tesuji problems because the goal is not as clearly defined.  Perhaps our opponent has made what we feel is an incorrect move, but how do we take advantage of it=3F  “Tricks in Joseki” helps by presenting 80 problems of just this type. 
       Handling joseki well requires us to have a grasp of shape and a sense of equal balance in a position.  Thus, in addition to providing reading practice, the problems in this book also help us to learn about shape and balance.  Furthermore, they help us get an idea of how much to expect in taking advantage of an opponent‘s unusual move.  Suppose we have decided that our opponent‘s move is improper.  If we take advantage of this, how much should we expect to gain=3F  There is a tendency to think that when our opponent makes a joseki mistake we should be able to make a large gain or cause our opponent‘s position to collapse. While is sometimes the case, more often all we will be able to do is weaken our opponent‘s shape, gain a few points more territory than usual, or get a little morepower.  Trying for too much can be as bad as trying for too little and can make a trick move or a joseki mistake into a good move. 
       Studying the problems in “Tricks in Joseki” can help develop a sense of what we can do and how to do it.  Itis a great complement to standard joseki books and is most appropriate for mid single digit kyu players through dan level.

GO CLASSIFIED

BOOKS, EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE, ETC:
FOR SALE: 8.0mm Japanese glass go stones. Complete set, 21.5mm diameter. Pair of brown plastic bowls included. $40, plus shipping. Email Anton at: antonninno@yahoo.com  (9/27)
FOR SALE: Quality go equipment including gobans/bowls/stones, ranging from entry level to elegant collectible items. http://equipment.go4go.net   or email equipment@go4go.net  (9/20)

INSTRUCTION, TEACHERS:
- Joey‘sGo School: Free lessons every Thursday night from 8-9P (EST)  on KGS! Joey Hung AGA 8d teaches online and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Find out more about Joey‘s Go School At 510-659-8220, egogames@yahoo.com or http://www.egogames.com  (10/4)
-  Cornel Burzo 6d Europe is accepting new students online on IGS or KGS, for details check http://www.golessons.com or email to cornelburzo@yahoo.com  (9/20)
- Looking for a sensei to improve your Go skills=3F Yang, In Lin, 5-dan from Taiwan is available for online lessons. email for8veryong@tom.com for cost details.(9/20)
- IGS 5dan offers one FREE LESSON for those thinking about getting a teacher. For more information contact icarii@zoominternet.net for more details or to schedule the lesson. (8/30)

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 ofTampa Bay to help create a club which 
might be located near USF. rruiz002@tampabay.rr.com  (9/27)
FL: Jacksonville; Gohan6412000@yahoo.com  (6/14)
FL: Jacksonville; regular, live game sessions.  Contact BjornTFoss@comcast.net  (5/31)
GA: Augusta; for playing and possible chapter; email Wesley Stewart at ICANSEEYOU7687@comcast.net  (5/31)
NEW! IL: Central Illinois, The Bradley Go Association is looking for go players in central Illinois.  Contact Roy Schmidt at roy@bumail.bradley.edu for meeting timeand place.
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)
IL: Downers Grove; 23k willingto play with anyone who wants a friendly game or will teach those in the area who want to learn. e-mail Kevin Steinbach at elpollomariachi@comcast.net  (5/31)
KS: Looking for players in Kansas (especially the Wichita area); contact Ted Dover at tsgtdover@carrollsweb.com (6/28)
NEW! KY: Looking for at least 3 players to start go club; any level welcome. Need to live around Casey County area. Brettalexande40@hotmail.com
MA: North Shore (Hamilton); for playing and possible chapter.  Email glen@organicdesign.org
NEW!MI: Traverse City area, players of any age or rank.  Contact: Orien Vandenbergh (17k) at: orien@icecode.com
NY: Go players wanted at or near SUNY Purchase in Purchase NY: dmc8814@hotmail.com
NY: Go playersin New York City.  The “Village Go Club” meets in Manhattan on Wednesday nights.  Our club is largely beginning players, but all levels are welcome. kerry@nyu.edu
NEW! OK: Tulsa; Looking for anyone in the Tulsa area living closer to or in Broken Arrow that could also provide feedback during games for a new and slow but patient player. Al E Keller, steeldriver@juno.com
TX: Richardson; go club meets at InfiniTea, located on the SW intersection of Coit and Cambell, Wednesdaysfrom 7P until midnight. If you have boards of your own, please bring them; any rank welcome. Jeff Heckman, acedetone@yahoo.com
Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy=3F 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

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

October 16:  Houston, TX
Autumn Tournament
Christopher Vu 281-480-8615 wasonlyyesterday@yahoo.com
www.geocities.com/seaottergoclub/entryrev.html

October 23:  Atlanta, GA
GA GA GA GO Tournament
Ken Labach 770-442-0952 ken.labach@gmail.com
www.gagagago.org

October 23:  Austin, TX
Austin Fall Go Tournament
Michael Heinich mheinich@yahoo.com 512-505-0055

October 23:  Burlington, VT
Burlington Go Tournament
Quentin Dombro 802-651-0734 quentin@together.net

October 30:  Arlington, VA
Pumpkin Classic
Allan Abramson 703-684-7676 mediate8@worldnet.att.net

October 30 & 31:  Portland, OR
Portland Go Tournament Fall 2004
Glenn Peters 503-753-4919 glenn@aenigma.com

October 31: Ottawa, Canada
Embassy of Japan Friendship Tournament
Charles Chang ab073@ncf.carleton.ca  or http://www.go-canada.org 

November4-7: Lancaster, PA
Lancaster Yang Workshop
Chuck Robbins 717-892-7900 x22  chuck@ctipc.com

November 7: Seattle, WA,
Monthly Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley 206-545-1424  jon@seattlegocenter.org

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=3F 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
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 donot 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
journal@usgo.org