News from the American Go Association

February 11, 2005

In This Issue:
LATEST GO NEWS: Hsiang To Rep US At WAGC; Register Now For '05 US Go Congress; Chinen Takes First Game In Women's Kisei Title Match; Zhou To Challenge For Chinese Tianyuan; Miller, Stevenson & Bai Reader Alert Winners; Who's Tops Solved
GAME COMMENTARY: Beginner's Delight and A "Simple" Problem
GO REVIEW: Attack and Defense
ATTACHED FILES: 2005.02.11 Yang Commentary, Shodan Challenge.sgf; 2005.02.11 Go Review Problem.sgf

LATEST GO NEWS

HSIANG TO REP US AT WAGC: Thomas Hsiang 7d will represent the American Go Association at the upcoming World Amateur Go Championship in Nagoya City, Japan, in May 2005. Details in Monday's E-Journal.

REGISTER NOW FOR '05 US GO CONGRESS: Nine days of go in beautiful Tacoma, Washington are set for August 6-14 at the 21st annual U.S. Go Congress. The biggest North American go event of the year, the G o Congress features tournaments, lectures and simultaneous games with professionals from around the world, as well as Crazy Go, Pair Go, Team Go, and other unusual go events and demonstrations, including the first-ever Midnight Madness tournament. This year's Congress is hosted by Pacific Lutheran University, just east of Tacoma, and 45 minutes south of Seattle. Onsite attractions include athletic fields and gym, library, a 9-hole golf course, and swimming pool. "Register early for Luxury Singles as they will be in short supply," warns organizer Steve Stringfellow. "Also, those staying offsite should reserve rooms early as August is the peak time for tourism in the Pacific Northwest." Get more details and download the registration form now at http://www.go2005.org/

CHINEN TAKES FIRST GAME IN WOMEN'S KISEI TITLE MATCH: Chinen Kaori, current Women's Honinbo, defeated Mannami Kana, current Women's Kisei, in the first game of their three game title match by 3.5 points. Watch for more in Monday's E-Journal.

ZHOU TO CHALLENGE FOR CHINESE TIANYUAN: Zhou Heyang 9p, number 2 Chinese pro, beat the number 3 player, Kong Jie 7p, for the right to challenge Gu Li 7p, who is number 1. Kong's late leaning attack wasn't enough. Details in next Monday's E-Journal.

MILLER, STEVENSON & BAI READER ALERT WINNERS: Douglas S. Miller, Michael Stevenson and Yuchen Bai are our Reader Alert winners from the last few weeks, each winning a $10 go vendor gift certificate for spotting our Alerts hidden in game commentaries in the January 21, 28 and February 4 editions. Winners are drawn at random from those who spot the Alerts; keep a sharp eye out in the Friday Member's Edition and you could be a winner too!

WHO'S TOPS SOLVED: Although Kobayashi Koichi won more EJ reader's votes, it's actually Cho Chikun who's the only player to have been among the top ten prize winners in Japan every year since 1981 when records starting being kept. Keith Arnold is the winner of the $10 go vendor prize, with runner up Bruce Young the only other reader to know the correct answer.

GAME COMMENTARY: Beginner's Delight and A "Simple" Problem
      New players especially will want to take a close look at today's game commentary, in which Yilun Yang 7P gives a blow-by-blow analysis of a game between John Irving 17k, one of our Shodan Challengers, and a 16k player. Watch as Mr Yang explains the flow of the game and shows how easy moves could quickly shift the result.
      Our bonus file today is a deceptively simple life and death problem from Go Review, the English language go magazine published by the Nihon Kiin from 1961 to 1977.
      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. R eaders who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen's http://gobase.org/sgfeditors.html

GO REVIEW: Attack and Defense
Kiseido Elementary Go Series, Volume 5
By Akira Ishida and James Davies
Reviewed by Tom Obenchain 10k
      For me, reading Akira Ishida's "Attack and Defense" was the beginning of being able to discern indirect ways of playing in situations in the middle game where before I had seen only somewhat clumsy straight-forward moves. The authors begin with a discussion on the difference between territory and power and then turn to chapters on attacking, presenting both general concepts as well as specific attacking moves. Next come chapters on defense, forcing moves, inducing moves, reduction and invasion, and specific information on invading three-space extensions and on fighting ko. There is also a chapter of problems. I have read the book twice, once at about 22k and again at 15k. With each reading, I feel I ran across concepts to mull over as well as practical moves to use in my next game. I look forward to yet another reading in the near future.

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