News / Articles

REDMOND DEFEATED IN JUDAN: Michael Redmond 9P has been defeated in the first round of the challengers' tournament for the 44th Judan, losing by resignation to Kobayashi Satoru 9P on May 19th. Redmond is not completely out of the running, however, since this tournament has a loser's bracket, giving him another shot. Redmond is joined so far in the loser's bracket by Yoda Norimoto 9P and Ishikura Noboru 9P.

CONGRESS REGISTRATION TOPS 200: Over 200 have now registered for this year US Go Congress, August 6-14 in Tacoma, WA. Zhang Wendong 9P, Vice Secretary General of Chinese Weiqi Association and Li Hai 5P have confirmed their attendance. Also confirmed is perennial favorite Maeda Ryo, 6P from the Kansai Kiin in Japan, as well as US pro Mingjiu Jiang 7P. In other Congress news, with burgeoning demand from rising strong Pair Go couples, the Pair Go Open Tournament at the Congress will be expanded to 8 pairs, double the usual four. More Congress info (including the complete registration list) or sign up now at http://www.usgo.org/congress/index.asp

IGS DISCUSSES OLYMPIAN GO: Thomas Hsiang, US representative to the International Go Federation (IGF), and a member of the IGF Executive Council, is attending the next IGF Board of Directors meeting in Nagoya, Japan, this week. The agenda includes go in the Olympics, an international player rating system, a proposed new organization called the "World Mind Sports Federation", and new affiliations of go associations from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Cyprus.
- reported by Mike Lash

CHINA DOMINATES LG CUP: Chinese players dominate the LG Cup after two rounds, holding six of the eight remaining places. Zhou Heyang 9P, Gu Li 7P, Wang Iqhui 7P, Qiu Jun 7P, and teenagers Chen Yaoye 4P and Piao Wenyao 3P will be joined by Lee Sedol 9P and Park Jungsang 5P of Korea when the next round is played in November. Sponsored by the LG Group in Korea, the international LG Cup starts off with 32 players, including representatives from North America (Huiren Yang 1P this time), Europe (Alexandre Dinerchtein 1P), and Taiwan (Zhou Junxun 9P). There are ten Korean players, six from Japan, and thirteen Chinese. Cho U 9P from Japan and Yu Bin 9P from China, last year's winner and runner-up, were playing again, though Yu lost in the first round and Cho in the second. After the first round on May 16th, only Chinese, Japanese, and Korean players remained. Huiren Yang lost by resignation to sixteen year old Chen Yaoye 4P of China and Alexandre Dinerchtein lost by resignation to Z hou Heyang 9P of China. The second round on May 18th was devastating for Japanese hopes, as all of their players were eliminated. Surprisingly, Lee Changho 9P was defeated by Chen Yaoye in a major upset when Lee lost a large dragon. The finals will be a best-of-five match. You can download all the game records at http://igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/lg.html .

BATTLE FOR GOSEI CHALLENGER INTENSIFIES: By defeating Cho Chikun 9P, Yuki Satoshi 9P has set up a replay of the last Kisei title match in the battle for the challenger's spot in the 30th Gosei in Japan. Yuki lost the Kisei match to Hane Naoki 9P, who defeated Nakaonoda Tomomi 9P earlier to reach the Gosei challenger finals, which will be on June 9th.

IMPRESSIVE RUN FOR KANG IN OSRAM CUP: The Osram (Korean Young Players) Cup, sponsored by Baduk TV in Korea, is a continuous knockout tournament in which one player continues to play opponents from the pool of players until losing. In order to get into the final round, a player must win at least twice. In the current battle, Kang Dongyun 3P, another of the up-and-coming Korean teenagers, has managed to win five games, which is quite a feat and puts him in the final group with Hong Sungji 4P (three wins) and Kim Jiseok 2P (two wins). Kang's next opponent is Lee Yongsoo 4P.

CONFESSIONS OF A GAME RECORDER: Don't Play
by Chris Garlock 3d
        Here's a wild and crazy idea: go to a tournament and don't play. Instead, offer to record the games on the top boards. Recording top games is great practice, not just for the obvious strategic and tactical skills, but for helping develop the intense detachment necessary for stronger play.
        It's difficult to forfeit the opportunity to play, but I'm convinced that the long hours I spent recording top games for E-Journal at the Amsterdam Ing and Cotsen Open recently have helped my own game finally break through to a new level. Just watching the intense concentration of the top players has spurred me to work harder in my own games.
        Professionals and top amateur players consistently say that one of the keys to improving is studying top games. If, like me, you find it hard to find the time or energy to spend two to three hours studying a single game, recording top games makes it easy to do so. Like an exhausted climber who finds new reserves of strength when he glimpses the top of the mountain, I find that recording top games not only gives me hope for my own game, but shows me a clearer path to the top.
        Another bonus of game recording is a little taste of go immortality, with your name in the game record as the official recorder, especially if you send the game in to the E-Journal and we publish it.
        See you on (or next to) the goban!

GO CLASSIFIED

WANTED: Teacher (or someone who wants to learn) in Port St. Lucie, FL. Blighia@aol.com

FOR SALE: 6.0mm Japanese glass stones from Ishi Press, $20; Dark-red ash Go Seigen style bowls from
Samarkand, $55. Buyer pays UPS Ground shipping, $10. Contact Anton Ninno at antonantonninno@yahoo.com

WANTED: Go Players in Asheville, NC area. Contact Rodney Keaton at ichliebedeinunderhosen@yahoo.com

BUY, SELL, OR TRADE equipment, books and go materials, find a go teacher, find someone to play go with! Complete go classifieds online at http://www.usgo.org/resources/classified.asp

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

May 27-30: Round Top, NY
Guo Juan Workshop
Jean Claude Chetrit 718-638-2266 jc@brooklyngoclub.org

May 28: Colorado Open
U. Tamm 303-466-2865 utamm@worldnet.att.net

May 28-29: Baltimore, MD
32nd Maryland Open (AGTC event)
Keith Arnold 410-788-3520 hlime81@comcast.net
http://home.comcast.net/~bjmoose/Maryland_Open.html

June 4: Chicago, IL
Summer Tournament
Robert Barber komoku@earthlink.net

June 5: Seattle, WA
Monthly Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley 206-545-1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org

June 11-12: San Francisco, CA
Northern California Open Goe Tournament
Ernest Brown 415-641-6255 ernest@goedharma.com

June 18: Milpitas, CA
1st Joey Cup Youth Go Tournament
Joey Hung 650-387-9422 egogames@yahoo.com

June 18: Richmond, VA
The Virginia Open
William Cobb 804-740-2191 bcobb@slateandshell.com

June 18: Kalamazoo, MI
Kalamazoo's 3rd Tournament
Benjamin Schooley 989-287-0123 benjaminschooley@hotmail.com

June 25: New York, NY
NYHSGA Summer Tournament
Alex Pak llyrias@gmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/nymhsga/tournament.html

June 25-28: Hackensack, NJ
Yilun Yang Go Workshop
John Stephenson 201-612-0852 jcs@wingsgoclub.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? 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 do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association.

To make name or address corrections, go to http://www.listlynx.com/MailUser1.asp 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