News from the American Go Association
June 2, 2006
Volume 7, #46 (Member's Edition)
JOEY HUNG SIXTH IN WORLD AMATEURS
MD OPEN WINNERS
BROWNELL TOPS OREGON OPEN
KERWIN DAY IN MINNEAPOLIS
NEW PROVERBS FROM BRADLEY
CAMPTIME
UPDATED RATINGS
YAMADA TIES UP JAPANESE HONINBO
GU LI FOUR-PEATS IN CHINESE TIANYUAN
4 BOARD SEATS OPEN
WEEKEND GO ACTION: Chicago & Seattle
GAME COMMENTARY: Something for Everyone
GO REVIEW: Dictionary of Basic Tesuji Volume 1: Tesuji for Attacking
GO CLASSIFIED
ATTACHED FILE(S): 2006.06.02 Challenge Simul, Tsai-Sutton; 2006.06.02 Lee-Rui, Korean Baduk League, Dinerchtein; 2006.06.02 McGuigan Series #17; 2006.06.02 Yang June Puzzle
JOEY HUNG SIXTH IN WORLD AMATEURS: Joey Hung 8d, the US rep to the WAGC, took sixth place among sixty-eight players, losing only two games; this is the best-ever finish for the US. Japan's Hiraoka Satoshi was first. Details on Monday.
MD OPEN WINNERS: As reported Monday, Zhaonian Chen 8d topped last weekend's 33rd annual Maryland Open, edging out 2nd-place Eric Lui 7d and 3rd-place Zhi Yuan Liu 7d on tie-break (all were 4-1). There were 73 participants, Sam Zimmerman was the TD and Keith Arnold organized. For the first time ever, the E-Journal broadcast all Board 1 games live on the IGS and the games are posted on the AGA website at www.usgo.org (click on Latest News). Full Winner Report: A Section: 1st: Gregory Rosenblatt 4d (3-2); 2nd: Xue Han 5d (2-3); B Section: 1st: Ray Hunley 1d (4-1); 2nd: Bill Fung 2d (3-2); C Section: 1st: Wei Mao 2k (4-1); D Section: 1st: Neil Bernardo 3k (4-1); 2nd: Robert Ferguson 3k (3-2); E Section: 1st: Jeffrey Choe 5k (4-1); 2nd: Sudhir Vel 5k (4-1); 3rd: Peter Zhang 5k (4-1); 4th: Wayne-Keith Leung 5k (4-1) (there were 11 5-kyus; the most players at one rank in Maryland Open history); F Section: 1st: Joseph Craig 7k (4-1); 2nd: John Gipson 6k (3-2); 3rd: Gregory Lysko 9k (3-2); G Section: 1st: Mathew Harding 18k (5-0); 2nd: Yu Jen Teng 11k (4-1) ; H Section: 1st: Joel Wooldridge 21k (5-0); 2nd: Isaac Craig 25k (4-1); Gregory Lefler Award (for the club bringing the most players to the tournament): Empty Sky Go Club of Rochester, NY; Fighting Spirit Prize: Sal Gionfriddo 3d, for going 2-3 using the "Stanley Style" Fuseki.
BROWNELL TOPS OREGON OPEN: Landon Brownell 7d took top honors in the May 27 Oregon Go Open in Corvallis, OR. "We had a great turnout with 32 people ranging from 30k up to 7d this year, including five of the top eight players in Oregon!" reports TD Josh Gum. Cash prizes were awarded in Dan, Single-digit Kyu, and Double-digit Kyu divisions, and go lessons donated by Cornel Burzo were also awarded to the Dan winner and the Double-digit Kyu winner "which made for a very nice addition to the prize money," says Gum. "Many thanks to Akane Negishi for helping to set that up."Winners Report: Dan Section: 1st: Landon Brownell 7d (3-0), 2nd: Masaya Tsukamoto 2d (3-0), 3rd: Zhe Fu 4d (2-1), Jim Levenick 2d (2-1); Single-digit Kyu Section: 1st: Akane Negishi 1k (3-0), Peter Drake 8k (3-0), Jonathan Geharkin 1k (2-1), Bob O'Malley 2k (2-1), Clark Brooks 3k (2-1), Paul Halpern 6k (2-1); Double-digit Kyu Section: 1st: Hongda Jiang 10k (3-0), Robert Taylor 14k (2-1), Sam Levenick 17k (2-1), Scott Card 17k (2-1), Fernando Medina 19k (2-1).
KERWIN DAY IN MINNEAPOLIS: Local go players in Minneapolis, MN are organizing a day of go-playing and a dinner in honor of Jim Kerwin 1P on July 15. "Jim has dedicated his professional life to the teaching of go," says organizer Steve Titterud. "He has made a unique contribution to the development of go in America and has touched the lives of many go players." Kerwin began his professional training under Iwamoto Sensei in 1973, became the first American to achieve a professional ranking in the Nihon-Kiin in 1978 and since returning to the U.S. in 1982, "has shared his knowledge with the American go community in a variety of ways - through workshops, published writings, individual lessons and group lectures, and as a go software consultant." The day's activities will include plenty of go-playing, followed by a dinner and "an opportunity for anyone to share experiences or observations related to Jim," says Titterud. RSVP by June 15 to mailto:sbtitterud@pivottableworks.net
NEW PROVERBS FROM BRADLEY: Yutopian (www.yutopian.com) has just published a new book: New Go Proverbs Illustrated by Milton Bradley. The book contains twenty-five proverbs, half of which Bradley says are "completely new". Adds Bradley, "Aimed especially at double digit kyu players seeking to improve, it's a FUN book that can be read pleasurably by all, and which contains at least some wisdom that will probably be new to players as strong as 5K."
CAMPTIME: "Can't wait to go back!" says East Coast go Camper Melissa D. Summer's here and the time is right to sign up for one of this year's Youth Summer Go Camps: find out more at www.usgo.org Adds Melissa, "I'm happy because until a few months ago, I was the only girl in the Springs Go Club. Now there are three of us! I'm so glad there are more girls playing go!"
UPDATED RATINGS: Ratings have been updated as of 6/1! See http://www.usgo.org/ratings/default.asp Recently rated tourneys include: Maryland Open Self-Paired Games, Baltimore, MD (May 27-28); Maryland Open, Baltimore, MD (May 27-28); All-Iowa (and Beyond!) Go Tournament, Des Moines, IA (May 20); NOVA May Madness, Arlington, VA (May 20); Feng Yun Self-Paired Tournament, Piscataway, NJ (May 6); Rocky Mountain Go Tournament, Colorado Springs, CO (May 6); Seattle Go Center Ratings Tournament, WA (May 4).
YAMADA TIES UP JAPANESE HONINBO: Challenger Yamada Kimio 9P won the second game of the match against Honinbo title holder Takao Shinji 9P to tie the best-of-seven contest at 1-1. Details on Monday.
GU LI FOUR-PEATS IN CHINESE TIANYUAN: Gu Li 9P made it four years in a row as Tianyuan title holder by defeating Zhou Ruiyan 3P 2-1. Details on Monday.
4 BOARD SEATS OPEN: Nominations are still open for the four AGA Board Director seats 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
WEEKEND GO ACTION: Chicago & Seattle
- June 3: Chicago, IL
Zoot Suit Alors!
Bob Barber komoku@earthlink.net 773-467-0423
- June 4: Seattle, WA
Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley jon@airsltd.com 206-545-1424
GAME COMMENTARY: Something for Everyone
There's something for everyone in today's bonus attached files. For those taking (or giving) big handicaps, we have a 9-stone game hot off the board from last weekend's online simuls with Shodan Challengers, as Charles Sutton 6k takes on Norman Tsai 4d. For pro game fans, Alexandre Dinerchtein 1P takes a look at last month's Korean Baduk League Game between Lee Changho 9P and Rui Naiwei 9P. And life-and-death junkies will want to check out Yilun Yang 7Ps new original June life and death problem (be sure to turn off "next move" if you don't want to see the solution!). Last but not least is the 17th installment of "Questions from Actual Play," Haruyama Isamu 9P's series of studies brought to us by Robert McGuigan in translation from "Jissen ni tsuyoku naru 80 dai (80 questions for getting strong at real play)." Enjoy!
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: Dictionary of Basic Tesuji Volume 1: Tesuji for Attacking
by Fujisawa Shuko 9P (translated by Steven Bretherick)
Slate & Shell; www.slateandshell.com
Reviewed by Robert Meisch 15k
Fujisawa Shuko 9P's Dictionary of Basic Tesuji has quickly become one of my favorite go books. Though I am not very fond of the dictionary style of go books, it works really well in this instance. The series is organized by type of tesuji, making it easy to find what you need. There are 11 subcategories in volume 1 ranging from tesuji used for separating, sealing in, spoiling shape, creating weaknesses and taking away bases to capturing and intimidating with ko. Each category gets a 1-2 page introduction, a few pages of moves that are not quite tesuji but exemplify the concept, and then each tesuji gets a page. Each tesuji page has a "Black/White to Play" diagram with a small blurb of text describing what is to be accomplished followed by 3 diagrams and paragraphs usually showing a common/less correct move or order, the tesuji, and a followup or alternate move order. Smattered throughout the book are examples of the tesuji used in real games as well.
The strength of the book lies in its ability to expose you to an enormous amount of tesuji. After thumbing through the book you will most certainly come away with some clever new moves to play. As a 15 kyu, just seeing these tesuji has made me more experimental while playing. Players of all strengths would benefit from exposure to these tesuji. The book is well laid out and organized, making it very easy to read and one of my top recommended go books.
FREE TO A GOOD HOME: Go World 1985-1988; American Go Journal 1991-2000. All in very good condition. Contact njpedersen@aol.com
GO TEACHER WANTED: Dan teacher willing to teach a young go player over the internet on KGS, Please contact me by my handle: AppleJacks or by email at: naruto555678@yahoo.com
SPEAKER/TEACHER WANTED: Aspen Meadows, home of the Aspen Institute, is looking for a speaker/teacher to do a segment on go and teach participants to play June 1-4. Contact Tiffany Long at tiffany@ampersands.net
PLAYERS WANTED, COLUMBUS, GA: If there is anyone who would like to play go in or around Columbus GA please email cloudsword1@yahoo.com Also, if anyone even remotely nearby or on the way wants to carpool to the Go Congress please let me know.
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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Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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