COAST-TO-COAST GO WEEKEND: Six go events this weekend span the country from Boston to Kalamazoo to Seattle. KZoo's 2nd Go Tournament is set for tomorrow in Kalamazoo, MI, the 1st Annual Ohayocon Tournament takes place in Columbus, OH and the Seattle Go Center Mid-Winter Tournament occurs in Seat tle, WA. The Massachusetts Go Association=92s Winter Handicap Tournament t akes place on Sunday. Although the January 15-18 Guo Juan Workshop Belcher town, MA is full, there are a couple spots left in the January 15-17 Yilun Y ang Winter Workshop in Evanston, IL. See below for contact info:
* KZ oo's 2nd Go Tournament: Benjamin Schooley, 989-287-0123; benjaminschooley@ho tmail.com
* 6th Annual Yilun Yang Winter Workshop: Mark Rubenstein, 8 47-869-6020; mark@evanstongoclub.org
* 1st Annual Ohayocon Tournament : elvenflare@aol.com
* Seattle Go Center Mid-Winter Tournament: Jon Boley, 206-545-1424 ; jon@seattlegocenter.org
* MGA Winter Handicap T ournament: Zack Grossbart, 617-497-1232; zack@grossbart.com
12 YEAR OLD TO BE CHINESE REP TO WAGC: A 12-year-old who w as something of a dark horse wound up on top of the top Chinese amateur tour nament, the Wanbao Cup, which ended on Tuesday. As a result of winning thi s tournament, Tang Weixing 6d will be the Chinese representative to this yea r's World Amateur Go Championship in Japan at the end of May. You can down load the decisive game, against Hu Yuqing, at www.go4go.net
www.go4go.net, which provides a wealth of mate rial about go as well as a subscription service for commentaries on both pro fessional and amateur games. The NHK Cup is a rapid-play tournament, 30 se conds per move with ten minutes in one minute units for thinking time. Win ning this game put Sakai, a former World Amateur Go champion, in the quarter finals, where he will play the winner of a match between Rin Kaiho 9p and Aw aji Shuzo 9p.
In today=92s bonus file, Kaz Furuyama says that =93to make life, play zigzag shape.=94 See how in this week=92s installment of Kaz=92 =93Important Fundamental Matters.=94 To view the attached .sgf file(s), simp ly save the file(s) to your computer and then open using an .sgf reader su ch as Many Faces of Go or SmartGo. Readers who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen's MY CORNER: A Ru nning Start For 2005
by Mike Lash, AGA President
Happy New Year! I began my new year happily playing go at the home of long-time AGA member Haskell Small with a small group of fellow go players from the metro Washington area. It is satisfying to see the common bond of playing go evolve into a real community; I hope every yea r begins like this.
We are off to a ru nning start for 2005. I want to start this column by thanking the newest A GA volunteer, David Hough, who responded to my call last month to work on a special project regarding old AGA records. David is taking on the Herculea n task of reviewing the sizable collection of AGA materials in the possessio n of AGA Archivist Craig Hutchinson. This collection contains some of the oldest AGA documents known to exist, dating back to very early in the 20th c entury, plus hundreds of go books in Japanese, German and English, and an in credible collection of English and foreign language articles spanning litera lly centuries that refer to go in some way, like the original edition of LIF E magazine from 1942 with an article about go that pictures the =93regular M onday night meeting=94 of the American Go Association and a photo of Ed Lask er making =93an expert move=94 at the goban. The AGA has a fascinating his tory and there's definitely a story here to be told. This project will tak e many months to complete and when it is done there will be an accessible, c omprehensive collection of AGA historical materials for reference and resear ch. Stay posted for more information.
&nbs p;I have begun to reach out to the strongest amateur players in the AGA, 7D and above, to work with me on issues of importance to them and the AGA. Wh ile the agenda of issues includes obvious topics such as competition in nati onal tournaments, selection for overseas play, and active participation in t he AGA, the forum is open to all relevant issues. Strong players intereste d in actively participating should contact me at president@usgo.org and le t me know what interests you.
Due to t he expanding nature of our commercial and corporate activities, the AGA has retained the law firm of Lally & Lally in New York to serve as our regul ar outside counsel. It is a small firm that handles corporate and commerci al law, some nonprofit work, and will serve our basic needs. Current issue s include ordinary administrative work such as corporate bylaws and articles revisions, reviewing potential contracts and better ways to structure some of our major transactions. Exploring the legal issues before making import ant decisions is one way in which the AGA will conduct its business in a pro fessional and orderly manner.
Recent m eetings of the 2005 Go Congress working group are advancing plans for the sh ow in Tacoma and I am very pleased with the planning efforts being put into this event. Now is a good time to start making travel plans for Tacoma sin ce August is a busy time for air traffic into Seattle.
&n bsp; Last but certainly not least, I urge you to sign up now for the Internet Team League! I have gotten many emails asking for information on how to sign up, how to form teams among members in different chapters, yo uth chapters, etc. Everything you need, including registration forms, is o nline at click here.