News from the American Go Association
April 24, 2006

Volume 7, #34

WON WINS SF SPRING GO TOURNAMENT
MISSION SAN JOSE REPEATS AT CA HS TOURNEY
CHEN TOPS FENG YUN TOURNAMENT
GU LI PREVAILS IN LG CUP, NOTCHES 3RD BIG WIN FOR CHINESE
CHO CHIKUN KEEPS JUDAN
REDMOND OUT OF JAPANESE OZA
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR TEACHER OF THE YEAR
GO ONLINE: AGA Archive Index Goes Online
CALENDAR

WON WINS SF SPRING GO TOURNAMENT: Jason Won 1d topped the annual San Francisco Spring Tournament April 22-23 at the Richmond Police Station community room. Twenty-four go players competed for honors in a field comprising over half of the players 1-dan and above, and where enthusiasts ranged from six years old to over sixty. The unique venue featured a constant stream of uniformed policemen walking around the station. Steve Burrall directed.
     Full report: Dan Division, 1st: Jason Won 1d; 2nd: Tony Zhang 2d; 3rd: place Yang Yang Shi 3d; Kyu Division, 1st: Jason Pfaff 7k; 2nd: Raymond Chan 8k; 3rd: John Irving 15k.
- Lawrence Ku, EJ West Coast reporter

MISSION SAN JOSE REPEATS AT CA HS TOURNEY: Mission San Jose's five players only lost one game in their successful defense of their California High School Go Champion title. Led by three dan players -- Calvin Lee, Hank Cheng, and Lawrence Ku -- and two strong novice players -- Maria Ma and Eric Tong -- Mission San Jose defeated the other eight schools in four rounds of intense fighting on April 23. "Our go club features three dan players and many single digit kyu players," said Hank Cheng, the Mission San Jose Go Club president. Mingjiu Jiang directed the tourney; 45 players from 9 schools participated.
      Tournament Results: 1st: Mission San Jose High School (4-0); 2nd: Saratoga High School (3-1); 3rd: Lynbrook High School (3-1); 4th: Piedmont High School (2-2).
- Lawrence Ku, EJ West Coast reporter

CHEN TOPS FENG YUN TOURNAMENT: Zhaonian Chen won the April 15 Feng Yun Go Tournament in Piscataway, NJ. Harrison Fu won the 13x13 section. The fourth annual event drew 81 players and was organized by Feng Yun 9P and directed by Chuck Robbins, Jonathan Hilt and Steve Bretherick.
      Full results: 19X19 RATED TOURNAMENT (69 players): Open Section: CHEN, Zhaonian; HUANG, Kevin; LUI, Eric; ZHAO, ChangKuo; XUN, Zhou (all 3-1); Group A: MULDOWNEY, Rob 4-0; ZHAO, Zhongxia 3-1; GU, Jingtao 3-1; SHANG, Kevin 3-1; Group B: LIN, Eric 4-0; HUANG, Michael 4-0; HE, Sean 3-1; LI, Jaron 3-1; Group C: YEUNG, Oliver 4-0; WU, Eric 3-1; AN, Terence 3-1; Group D: HUANG, Brice 5-0; SANIEE, Bijan 5-0; XU, Jincheng 5-0. 13X13 TOURNAMENT (12 players): Group A: FU, Harrison 5-0; WANG, Isabel 4-1; CHENG, Justin 3-2; Group B: WEN, Albert 5-0; HUR, Tommy 3-2; CHENG, Jeffrey 2-3; HUANG, Barbara 2-3; UANG, Sean 2-3.

GU LI PREVAILS IN LG CUP, NOTCHES 3RD BIG WIN FOR CHINESE: Gu Li 7P came back in the fifth game of the LG Cup on Friday to win his first-ever international title, 3-2. Young Chen Yaoye 5P of China had kept his chances alive by defeating China's number one player in the third and fourth games of their title match to even the score at 2-2, but Gu prevailed in the fifth and final round. Gu's prize is about $250,000 US, and he was immediately promoted to 9P by the Chinese Go Association. This marks the latest accomplishment on the international scene by the Chinese in a recent string of major defeats of leading Korean players. First, Chang Hao 9P defeated Choi Cheolhan 9P of Korea to win the Ing Cup last year, the richest international event. Then Luo Xihe 9P won the Samsung by beating Lee Changho 9P, Korea's number one. The finals of the LG Cup involved two Chinese, but Gu had eliminated Kor ea's Lee Sedol 9P to reach the finals. The Chinese have now defeated the top three Koreans in international tournaments. Their next big test will be in the Fujitsu. All three of the top Koreans survived the second round of the Fujitsu, along with two other colleagues, Park Jungsang 5P and Park Yeonghun 9P. The Chinese have only two players left: Chang Hao and Zhou Heyang 9P, and the Japanese only one, Yuki Satoshi 9P, who defeated Bu Li in the second round.

CHO CHIKUN KEEPS JUDAN: Cho Chikun 9P beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by a score of 3-1 to hold onto his Judan title. Cho's 69th title adds to his record for winning the most titles among Japanese pros. Cho's 2.5 point squeaker retains his only current title and he's off to a very good start in 2006, winning 76% of his games for a 13-4 record. He's tied for third among the Japanese pros in terms of the number of wins in 2006. Only Yoda Norimoto 9P and Yamashita Keigo 9P are ahead of him with sixteen wins each.

REDMOND OUT OF JAPANESE OZA: Michael Redmond 9P was defeated in the first round of the 54th Oza in Japan, losing to Ryu Shikun 9P by 1.5 points. Redmond, who went to Japan from California as a teenager and has risen to the top level of the Nihon Kiin pros, will be attending the US Congress this summer in North Carolina and is the lead instructor at the East Coast Summer Youth Camp in August.

SERIOUS FUN FOR KIDS: Kids! Serious about go? Then Summer Go Camp is for you! Every summer since 1998, kids from 8 to 18 from all over the US and abroad have met for a week to study go in a traditional summer camp setting. Play and instruction are supplemented by many typical camp activities at two camps: on the West Coast at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA from July 15-22 and on the East Coast at the Pocono Inn in Delaware Water Gap, PA from August 5-12. Details, photos, a video and registration info now at http://www.usgo.org/gocamp

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Nominations are now open for the 2006 Teacher of the Year, sponsored by The American Go Foundation. Candidates must have been teaching in at least one class of children regularly for the last 2 years, Started a youth club or involved students with the local go club and encouraged their joining the AGA as youth members or as affiliates of the local club, must be a full member of the AGA, entered his/ her students in available tournaments and let students know about the Summer Go camp, the Go Congress, CyberCamp and other AGA sponsored activities. The selection committee also considers other aspects of the teacher's activities including the effect of the teacher's activities outside his/her go group. The Teacher of the Year must be an example to other teachers both in teaching go and drawing young people into a love of the game. Send nominations to None Redmond at c hinski@inreach.com

GO ONLINE: AGA Archive Index Goes Online
By Roy Laird, AGA webmaster
     How did go come to America? The answer to this question and many others may reside in the AGA Historical Library/Archive, maintained in the Washington, DC area by longtime AGA archivist Craig Hutchinson. In recent years, Hutchinson has maintained an index of this massive repository of documents and other historical artifacts. Now he has gone one step further and made the whole index available online, at http://users.erols.com/crhutch/agagobib.html. This is a significant collection, including writings that date back as far as 1575. NOTE: The AGA is seeking a permanent home from this important collection. If you can help please write to archives@usgo.org
     If you're interested in historical stuff, you might also want to look at http://www.usgo.org/AGJournal/, where material that appeared in The American Go Journal from 1974-1999 is indexed by subject title, author, and chronologically. Hutchinson's archive lists additonal material at http://users.erols.com/crhutch/agahbk95.html#agjci, going back to the first issue in 1949. Most back issues are available for $5/issue, or, ask about discounts for large orders (more than ten issues).
     While we're reminding you about indexes, http://www.usgo.org/e-journal.asp contains access to every EJ ever published; click on this link to download nine free samples from the EJ's "Games Edition", as well as ten free commented games from the 2006 North American Toyota/Denso Oza Tournament, with our compliments! If you'd prefer to see this material in Yearbook format, you can also go to http://www.usgo.org/CD2003/, http://www.usgo.org/CD2004/, and http://www.usgo.org/CD2005/, to view the contents of the CDs included with those yearbooks. (NOTE: instructional material available only by purchasing each yearbook at http://www.usgo.org/yearbook/orderyearbook. pdf).
     Lastly, we assume you know about our comprehensive lists of web sites: http://www.usgo.org/resources/internet.asp books and other publications http://www.usgo.org/resources/books.asp computer go sites http://www.usgo.org/resources/computer.asp
     Of all the lists you'll find on our "Lists" page at http://www.usgo.org/resources/index.asp My personal favorite is the Bob High Memorial Library http://www.usgo.org/bobhighlibrary/ teeming with material on every aspect of go -- except how to play.
     Know of a web site that's not listed? Drop me a line at webmaster@usgo.org. We aim to maintain to maintain the most up-to-date, comprehensive list of go resources to be found anywhere on the Internet!

CALENDAR

April 29: Hartford, CT
Chinese Cultural Center Spring Weiqi Tournament
Bill Fung chiwaifung@netzero.com 860-648-1527

April 29: Sacramento, CA
Davis/Sacramento Quarterly Tournament
Fred Hopkins cfredhop@msn.com 916-548-8068

April 30: Somerville, MA
MGA Spring Handicap Tournament
Zack Grossbart zack@grossbart.com 617-497-1232

May 6: Piscataway, NJ
Feng Yun Go School Monthly rated tournament
Feng Yun GoLesson@yahoo.com 973-992-5675

May 7: Seattle, WA
Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley jon@airsltd.com 206-545-1424

May 20: Arlington, VA
May Madness Tournament
Allan Abramson allango@igc.org 703-684-7676

May 26-29: Round Top, NY
2006 Memorial Day workshop with Guo Juan
Jean-Claude Chetrit jc@BrooklynGoClub.org 718-638-2266 (h)

May 27-28: Baltimore MD
33rd Maryland Open
Keith Arnold hlime81@comcast.net 410-788-3520

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Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb

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