News from the American Go Association

September 1, 2006

Volume 7, #75 (Member's Edition)

YOUNG US PLAYERS PLACE IN WORLD YOUTH
EUROPEAN CONGRESS UPDATE
CHO U AND LEE SEDOL FACE OFF IN WORLD OZA
YAMASHITA TO CHALLENGE CHO U FOR JAPANESE OZA
NEW MEMBERSHIP DRIVE BEGINS
BOARD MINUTES POSTED
CHAN WINS GO QUIZ
THIS WEEK'S GO QUIZ
GAME COMMENTARY: 33 Congress Games!

YOUNG US PLAYERS PLACE IN WORLD YOUTH: Youngsters Calvin Sun and Curtis Tang both placed an impressive 4th in the just-concluded World Youth Goe Championships, the highest of any Western players. In the Under-12 section, which featured 8 players, Na Hyun of Korea took 1st, Lou Yun Xiao of China won 2nd, Kohsuke Takeuchi of Japan took 3rd and 9-year-old Sun (US) won 4th. "Many in Korea expect the young Na Hyun to be the next Yi Chang-ho," reports Peter Schumer, who accompanied the young American players. In the Under-18 section (12 players) 1st was Peng Li Yao (China), 2nd: Kang Yu-Taek (Korea), and 3rd: Rei Terayama (Japan) and 13-year-old Tang (US) took 4th. "Curtis was the only player to defeat the Chinese player, Peng Li Yao, who's a 2-dan professional," adds Schumer. Held in Shenzhen, China, the 23rd World Youth Goe Championship was sponsored by the Ing Foundation and by local sponsor the Shenzhen Chess Circle "who arranged for some wonderful sightseeing tours and fun activities during free time and the day off, such as a golf outing, visit to a fabulous amusement park, and some very special restaurants," Schumer tells the EJ. "There were also many pros on hand to review games and play casual simuls. The players, sponsors, and team leaders spent a huge amount of quality time together and really got along very well. Although conversations often involved several layers of language translation, the players got to know each other well and displayed great friendship, poise, and good spirit. It was truly a splendid event and a great way to display our warm, shared feelings for the wonderful world of go." Next year's event will be held in Boston, MA. Full 2006 results available online at http://wygc2006.blogspot.com/2006/08/final-results.html

CHO U AND LEE SEDOL FACE OFF IN WORLD OZA: The finals of the 3rd Toyota Denso World Oza will be between Cho U 9P of Japan and Lee Sedol 9P of Korea. Details on Monday.

YAMASHITA TO CHALLENGE CHO U FOR JAPANESE OZA: Yamashita Keigo 9P defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9P to win the right to challenge Cho U 9P for the Oza title in Japan. Details on Monday.

EUROPEAN CONGRESS UPDATE: The results of the main tournament at the recent European Go Congress in Italy can be found at http://egc2006.blog.aruba.it/  Apparently the only US player this year was Wayne Nelson 1k from New York, who had a 3-7 record playing as a 2k. There were 292 players this year. The third European Masters was held at the European Congress. This invitational tournament aims to determine the best European player and determines who gets to represent Europe in Asian invitational tournaments. The winner this year was Svetlana Shikshina 1P of Russia, followed by her brother Ilya Shikshin 6d. Third was Alexandre Dinerchtein 1P, also of Russia. Dragos Bajenaru 6d of Romania was fourth, and Ondrej Silt 6d of Czechia fifth. A full report is at http://www.eurogofed.org/results/masters/em2006 .htm

NEW MEMBERSHIP DRIVE BEGINS: A major new membership campaign that provides incentives to Chapters that recruit and retain AGA members is now underway, reports AGA President Mike Lash. "There is a need to expand membership recruitment efforts and bring new members into Chapters," says Lash. "While we have hundreds of new members come and go each year, I believe that connecting brand-new members directly to AGA Chapters from the start will lead to higher retention rates and larger Chapters because the players will be part of the go community right away." Details of the campaign were unveiled at the National Assembly held at the 2006 Go Congress. Rewards include cash for use at the next Go Congress or certificates to buy go equipment: each chapter can win over $600 in rewards. The membership campaign is open to every AGA chapter. "To maximize the chances for all chapters to win, there are two categories for rewards," sa ys Lash: under 10 members, and 10 or more members . The campaign drive starts September 1 and ends March 31. More details will be posted on the AGA website or email president@usgo.org

BOARD MINUTES POSTED: The minutes of the August AGA Board meeting, and the agenda for the Board's next meeting on Sept 17, are posted at http://www.usgo.org/board/ApprovedMinutes/

CHAN WINS GO QUIZ: Wren Chan of Brooklyn, NY is the winner of our most recent Go Quiz; his name was selected at random from those who correctly answered that Jie Li 9d was the US amateur who defeated a Japanese pro in the finals of an official tournament. Li beat Suzuki Ayumi 3P in the 5th Tokyo Seimitsu Cup finals. Chan wins a copy of Reducing Territorial Frameworks by Shuko Fujisawa.

THIS WEEK'S GO QUIZ: In which of the following states has there never been a US Go Congress: Ohio, Massachusetts, or New Jersey? If you know, click here to vote in our Go Quiz Question of The Week: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=912922533677. One winner will be drawn at random from the correct answers and will be awarded a go book or $15 gift certificate from one of our fine go vendors.

GAME COMMENTARY: 33 Congress Games!
       All the Board 1 and Board 2 games in the 2006 Ing Cup and U.S. Open - many with commentary - are now posted online at http://www.usgo.org/congress/index.html The collection includes 11 Ing Cup games, 14 US Open games, a few additional top games, plus Pro-Am and Nakayama games. Some of these games were previously posted online during the Congress but have now been updated and cleaned up. We hope you enjoy reviewing these games as much as we did recording them.
       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

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

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