News from the American Go Association
May 19, 2006
Volume 7, #42 (Member's Edition)
NON-STOP GO CAMP
CHINESE DOING WELL IN INTERNATIONAL LG CUP
TWO WOMEN PLAYERS MAKE THIRD ROUND OF KOREAN "OPEN" TOURNAMENT
ABRAMSON LETTER POSTED ONLINE
GAME COMMENTARY: A Classic from the Vaults
GO REVIEW: Weiqi in Culture, Volume One: Introductory Teaching Lectures
GO CLASSIFIED
ATTACHED FILE(S): 2006.05.19 Shiraishi-Kato, Go World #11
NON-STOP GO CAMP: "I enjoyed the almost non-stop go," says Youth Go camper Boris B. "I think we should have played even more. I would love to go again. I think I would get much more out of it now, because I feel I would understand it more. Bruce Wilcox rocks. Grouse hunters!" The East Coast Go Camp's Early Bird deadline is coming up soon: sign up now and take $50 off the camp fee! Applications available at www.usgo.org/gocamp/ Is cost an issue? Scholarships are still available. The instructors for the East Coast Go Camp are Michael Redmond (9P), XianXian Niu (3P) and Rob Muldowney (1 D).
CHINESE DOING WELL IN INTERNATIONAL LG CUP: After two rounds in the 11th international LG Cup, the field of eight remaining players includes four Chinese, three Koreans, and one Taiwanese. Details on Monday.
TWO WOMEN PLAYERS MAKE THIRD ROUND OF KOREAN "OPEN" TOURNAMENT: In a remarkable development, two of the eight players in the third round of the Electron Land Cup in Korea are women pros. Details on Monday.
ABRAMSON LETTER POSTED ONLINE: Read the full text of AGA Board Chairman Allan Abramson's open letter of resignation (Abramson Resigns From Board, 5/12) online at: http://www.usgo.org/board/ApprovedDocuments/aaresign.pdf
WEEKEND GO ACTION: Arlington & Des Moines
- 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
GAME COMMENTARY: A Classic from the Vaults
Today's game is a classic from the vaults, in which Shiraishi Yutaka 9P take on Kato Masao 9P in the 1978 3rd Meijin League to determine the challenger for the title match. The game commentary is taken from Go World #11 (Jan-Feb 1979) by permission and is designed for kyu players. The aim is to give some insight into the complexities of top level championship go by analyzing in detail the playing styles of the top tournament players. At the time of this game, Kato held both the Honinbo and Judan titles.
NON-MEMBERS: get game commentaries like this each and every week in the Member's Edition on Fridays. Sign up now at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp
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. Readers who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen's http://gobase.org/sgfeditors.html
GO REVIEW: Weiqi in Culture, Volume One: Introductory Teaching Lectures
by Wu Songsheng 9P
Translators: Damon K. Chan and Siu Hon Hung
Published by Yutopian Enterprises, 2006. (The original Chinese version, "Wenhua de Weiqi," was published in 2001, in China)
Reviewed by Ze-Li Dou 2k
"Weiqi in Culture" is designed as a primer on the rudiments of go. In just 83 pages (subdivided into 21 lessons) it covers a range of basic topics, from cutting and connecting to ladders, nets, enclosure, extensions and more. The translation from the original Chinese version is good. Interestingly, the counting method introduced is the Japanese one, though in Lesson 7 the Chinese method of counting both stones and territory is suddenly referred to without previous or subsequent explanation.
Unfortunately, this otherwise admirable book suffers from a serious disconnect between its title and content. Although ambitiously titled "Weiqi in Culture," it is not about go's place in culture, the evolution of go under a changing culture, or even about reflections of culture in go or its playing style. Instead, we get tantalizing but very brief cultural remarks at the head of each lecture. The book's subtitle is a more accurate description of the contents: "Introductory Teaching Lectures." The same problem shows up in the individual lessons, when, for example, the two lectures dealing with the basics of end-game play bear the improbable and mysterious titles "Iconic Culture in a Silent World" and "Spiritual World/Immortal Youth" respectively.
This book is the first in what will presumably be a multi-volume series. The author, Wu Songsheng, is generally regarded as the second-best go player in China from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, perhaps the most crucial period in the development of contemporary Chinese go. We therefore have good reason to hope for more substantive writing from the author in subsequent volumes.
TEACHER WANTED: Searching for go teacher in Florida, NY. If you know a teacher or are a teacher, please email me at hitokirisassasin@yahoo.com
WANTED TO PURCHASE: Go board wax in order to refinish a katsura board after sanding. Will buy directly, or tell me where I can get it. Contact: Duncan H. Brown, Fairfield (Iowa) Go Club, duncanbrown108@yahoo.com
FREE TO A GOOD HOME: Issues 58-61 of "Go World on Disk" on four 5-1/4" floppy disks. I also have 50 Go Problems (unknown levels of difficulty) on a 3-1/2" diskette. If you can read these disks, you're welcome to them. These were gifts to me, and I hate to see them go to waste just because I can't read them on my computer. Jean G. DeMaiffe, jean@dougandjean.com
OPPONENT WANTED: 4th or 5th grader who enjoys go to play an enthusiastic 10-year-old boy beginner. Baltimore and its environs. Email contact info to mham@redshift.com
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Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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