News from the American Go Association
May 15, 2006
Volume 7, #41
DC DEFEATS ROCKVILLE IN TEAM TOURNEY
TOP N.A. PLAYERS TO COMPETE
BYOP AT NOVA MADNESS
YOUTH PLAYER ALERT
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR 4 BOARD SEATS
ABRAMSON RESIGNS FROM BOARD
TAKAO WINS FIRST GAME IN HONINBO DEFENSE
RUI NAIWEI NEARS FINALS IN MAJOR OPEN TOURNEY
YODA LEADING MEIJIN LEAGUE
YOUR MOVE: Readers Write
CALENDAR
DC DEFEATS ROCKVILLE IN TEAM TOURNEY: The Greater Washington Go Club hosted and defeated the Rockville (MD) Go Club 4-2 last Friday, May 12 in the metro Washington area's first team event. Rockville will host a return match on June 9. The results from Round 1: Ben Bernstein (GWGC) d. Neil Bernardo; Todd Heidenreich (Rockville) d. Daniel Poore; Marian Edey (GWGC) d. Craig Anderson; Trevor Morris (GWGC) d. Juan Pablo Quizon; Neil Bernardo (Rockville) d. Betsy Small; Haskell Small (GWGC) d. Wesley Mao.
TOP N.A. PLAYERS TO COMPETE: North America's top players will compete for over $6,000 in prizes in the Masters Tournament beginning next month. Current champion Jie Li 9d and all American professionals who enter the tournament will be seeded into the A section, while the remaining players will make up the B section and participate in a single-elimination tournament to determine a representative to play the A section winner. The B section will play every Saturday at 4P EST on KGS starting on June 10th until a single player is left, at which point the play in the A section will begin. The finals will be held in Seattle, WA October 13-15 (not at the Go Congress, as reported in Friday's EJ). Criteria for playing: Full AGA Member for the prior year; AGA rating of greater than 6.0 in the past year; US or Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident; Living in the US for at least six of the last twelve months. Register by email to NAMT@seattlegocenter.org Include your AGA ID number; registration closes May 31.
BYOP AT NOVA MADNESS: NOVA May Madness tournament Director Allan Abramson is asking participants in this Saturday's tournament to bring a "mystery prize, something fun and not too expensive," so that everyone will go home with a prize. Tourney details at www.novagoclub.org
YOUTH PLAYER ALERT: Kids: Have you read the June 2006 Shonen Jump yet? Be sure to check out the ad on page 226 and complete the reader survey for a chance to win a $25 Border's gift card. And don't forget to mention the AGA E-Journal when they ask you where you heard about it! http://www.shonenjump.com/news/readersurvey/
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR 4 BOARD SEATS: Four American Go Association (AGA) Board Director seats are up for election this year, reports Arnold Eudell, who's coordinating this year's election process. The terms of four seats - one in each region and an At-Large seat - expire this September. Nominations are being accepted now and close on June 15; nominations must be made in writing by full members of the AGA. Send to elections@usgo.org NOTE: there is only one (1) Eastern Region position open, not two, as reported in Friday's EJ.
ABRAMSON RESIGNS FROM BOARD: American Go Association Board Chairman Allan Abramson has announced his resignation from the AGA Board. AGA President Mike Lash called the resignation "a great loss for the AGA," praising Abramson's leadership and expressing his hope that Abramson "continues to serve the AGA in a different capacity." Abramson's resignation is effective June 3; the Board has 30 days to appoint a replacement to complete the remainder of his term, which runs through September 2007.
TAKAO WINS FIRST GAME IN HONINBO DEFENSE: Takao Shinji 9P defeated challenger Yamada Kimio 9P to take the first game in the 61st Honinbo title match in Japan. Yamada had to work harder than usual to become this year's challenger when the Challengers League ended in a three-way tie between Yamada, Hane Naoki 9P, and Yoda Norimoto 9P, all of whom had 5-2 records in the league. Yamada had beaten Hane in league play by only a half point, but won by resignation in the play-off. He lost to Yoda by one and a half points in the league, but managed a half point victory in the play-off. Yamada has a plus record in previous games with Takao, but only by a margin of one in thirteen games. Takao took the title from Cho U 9P last year.
RUI NAIWEI NEARS FINALS IN MAJOR OPEN TOURNEY: Rui Naiwei 9P has reached the third round of the 3rd Electron-Land Cup in Korea. With two more victories she'll be in the finals of another major tournament not restricted to women. Rui is famous for being the first woman to win a major tournament that wasn't for women only, the Kuksu in 1999. She defeated Cho Hunhyun 9P but lost the title to him the next year. Another woman player is off to a good start in this tournament as well; Cho Hyeyeon 7P won her first-round game. Cho is just twenty, while Rui is in her forties. They have met twice this year in the finals of Korean women's tournaments: Rui defeated her to win both the Korean Women's Meijin and the Korean Women's Kuksu. Cho and Rui have met as the finalists in the Women's Kuksu four times, with Rui winning three of their matches.
YODA LEADING MEIJIN LEAGUE: Yoda Norimoto 9P is the current leader of the nine-player league to determine the challenger for the Japanese Meijin title, currently held by Cho U 9P. Yoda has a 4-2 record, and no one else has won four games. Yamada Kimio 9P and Takao Shinji 9P, playing in this league while they battle it out for the Honinbo title, both have three wins, as does Kobayashi Satoru 9P and Han Zenki 7P. Yamashita Keigo 9P and current Kisei title holder is almost certainly out of the running in this one with a 1-3 record.
YOUR MOVE: Readers Write
RIGHT CONTINENT, WRONG SITE: "The incorrect use of the old European Go Federation site in this week's E-Journal (Cho Seok-Bin Wins Toyota-Igs-Pandanet Euro Go Tour 5/8 EJ) prompted me to check the AGA Links page and found that too uses the old site," writes European Go Federation President Tony Atkins, who tells us the new site is http://www.eurogofed.org
May 20: Arlington, VA
May Madness Tournament
Allan Abramson allango@igc.org 703-684-7676
May 20: Des Moines, IA
All-Iowa (and Beyond) Go Tournament
Duncan H. Brown duncanbrown108@yahoo.com 641-919-9616
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
May 27: Corvallis, OR
Oregon Go Open
Josh Gum, josh@revgum.com
June 4: Seattle, WA
Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley jon@airsltd.com 206-545-1424
June 10 : Piscataway, NJ
Feng Yun Go School Monthly rated tournament
Feng Yun GoLesson@yahoo.com 973-992-5675
June 10: Sacramento, CA
Davis/Sacramento Quarterly Tournament
Fred Hopkins cfredhop@msn.com 973-992-5675
Classified ads are free for AGA members: send your ad to us at journal@usgo.org
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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