News from the American Go Association

December 1, 2006

Volume 7, #102 (Member's Edition)

NEW YORK CLUB HOSTS TOURNEY SUNDAY
ISRAELI GO CONGRESS WRAPS TOMORROW
CHICAGO GO GARNERS INK
EJ TO COVER '07 EURO CONGRESS
BETA-TESTERS WANTED FOR NEW TOURNEY SOFTWARE
REDMOND WINS FOUR
FENG YUN WINS ONE IN INTERNATIONAL CUP
YODA JAPAN'S LAST HOPE IN NONGSHIM
US 14TH IN WORLD AMATEUR PAIR GO
WEEKEND ACTION: Denver, Hartford, Piscataway, New York & Seattle
YOUR MOVE: Terms Of Resignation; More On Terms Of Resignation
THIS WEEK'S GO QUIZ: Getting Defensive
GAME COMMENTARY: Two Helpings of Spicy Noodles
AGA HAPPENINGS: A Day In The Life Of A Board Member
ATTACHED FILE(S): 2006.12.01 Nongshim7 Yamada-Peng; 2006.12.01 Nongshim8 Park-Peng

NEW YORK CLUB HOSTS TOURNEY SUNDAY: "It's not too late to sign up for the New York Go Club's Toyota Holiday Cup tournament this Sunday, December 3," reports club president Paul Anderson. "Nearly forty players have already signed up, with a wide range of strengths, so no matter what your level, you can count on some challenging, low-handicap games." For more info on the tournament, go to http://chapters.usgo.org/nygc/toyotaholiday06.htm  To see who else is coming go to http://ny-go-center.tripod.com/id18.html

ISRAELI GO CONGRESS WRAPS TOMORROW: The Israeli Go Congress and Annual Championship - hosted by the Mind Go Club, an AGA chapter - runs through December 2 in Matnas Lev Afek, Rosh Ha'Ayin Israel. The Annual Championship will select both an adult and youth champions; Leonid Entin currently holds the Adult title and Amir Fragman is the defending Youth Champion. The Congress features go teaching workshops, game reviews and more, with special attention given to youth players. Details at: www.go-mind.com

CHICAGO GO GARNERS INK: "Something happens when you play the ancient game of Go," writes Chicago Tribune reporter Trine Tsouderos in her 11/30 story. "Something positively weird. You begin to see the world as a big game of Go. Crowds on the 'L' turn into configurations of smooth black and white stones--the game's playing pieces. A sea of cubicles in an office becomes a grid--the game's board. Cereal boxes on grocery shelves appear as formations of stones on the grid--a Go game in action." The report features Evanston Go Club - and AGA Membership Services Coordinator - President Mark Rubenstein and other Evanston Go Club members, including Shodan Challenge co-Coordinator Laura Kolb. Read the whole story online at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/premium/printedition/Thursday/atplay/chi-0611290388nov30,1,2851886.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

EJ TO COVER '07 EURO CONGRESS: In a significant expansion of its world go coverage, the American Go E-Journal will cover the 2007 European Go Congress live in Villach, Austria from July 14-28. details Monday.

BETA-TESTERS WANTED FOR NEW TOURNEY SOFTWARE: Go enthusiasts with knowledge of and/or experience directing go tournaments are being sought to help beta-test a new tournament-directing application. No programming experience necessary. All platforms -- Windows, Linux, Macintosh, etc. -- supported. E-mail Christopher Sira at cbsira@gmail.com to pitch in and get more info.

REDMOND WINS FOUR: John Power reports that Michael Redmond 9P, the Californian who is a member of the Nihon Kiin, won four games in the last two months. Details on Monday.

FENG YUN WINS ONE IN INTERNATIONAL CUP: Feng Yun 9P, the US representative in the Dali Cup - a new international women's tournament being played in China -- was seeded into the second round where she defeated Ye Gui 5P of China. She then lost to Rui Naiwei 9P of Korea. Details Monday.

YODA JAPAN'S LAST HOPE IN NONGSHIM: Korean team member Park Yeonghun 9P defeated Chen Yaoye 5P of China and is paired against Yoda Norimoto 9P next in the Nongshim "Spicy Noodles" Tournament. Yoda is Japan's last hope in this international team tournament, while China and Korea each have two players left. Details Monday.

US 14TH IN WORLD AMATEUR PAIR GO: The US pair of Curtis Tang 5d and Wan Chen 4d took 14th place in the international amateur Pair Go Tournament in Japan. Korea won. Details Monday.

WEEKEND ACTION: Denver, Hartford, Piscataway, New York & Seattle
- December 2: Denver, CO
Te wo Tsunaide '06 Pair Go Tournament
http://cyberpsychos.netonecom.net/PairGo
Jasmine Sailing jsailing@netonecom.net 303.388.4666
- December 2: Hartford, CT
CCC Winter Go Tournament
Bill Fung cccgoclub@yahoo.com 860.906.7398
- December 2: Piscataway, NJ
Feng Yun Go School monthly rated games (open to everyone)
Feng Yun Golesson@yahoo.com 973.992.5675
- December 3: New York City, NY
Toyota Holiday Cup at Iwamoto Hall
http://chapters.usgo.org/nygc/toyotaholiday06.htm
New York Go Center nygc@usgo.org 212.223.0342
- December 3: Seattle, WA
Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley jon@airsltd.com 206.545.1424

YOUR MOVE: READERS WRITE

TERMS OF RESIGNATION: "I'm sure that John Power's Japanese is better than mine will ever be, but I think there is an error in the Ohashi Wins Quiz article (11/17 EJ)," writes Joel Sanet. "I have played a fair number of games in Japan and don't recall anyone pushing the stones into the center before removing them from the board. My impression was that the term 'naka-oshi' is figurative and only used for resigning to an overwhelming loss, not to, say, a 5-point resignation. In other words 'naka-oshi' refers to a figurative pushing of the center stones in order to destroy the position and avoid the embarrassment of a count. The way to resign for a small loss is simply 'makemashita' ('lost') or 'arimashita'" Is there a native Japanese reader out there who can give a definitive answer to the meaning of 'naka-oshi'?"

MORE ON TERMS OF RESIGNATION "Although not a native Japanese speaker," writes Jing Wei Lim, "I believe the common way to resign is to 'push' two stones into the center of the board. Hence the term 'center-pushing', although 'middle-pushing' is probably more accurate. Center refers to the fact that this occurs in midgame (or the middle of the game)."

THIS WEEK'S GO QUIZ: Getting Defensive
        GOsford Park was the "Go" film directed by Robert Altman, who died last week. This week's winner is Stephanie Xu 28k of Pasadena, MD, chosen at random from those answering correctly (24 out of 25). For those of you who wondered "Does this quiz have anything to do at all with go?" the answer of course is nothing except the two letters. Whatever you think of the quiz questions, we love to hear your comments, or, even better, your suggestions for future questions! This week the quiz returns to a more direct go connection, with an easy question: How many times has Cho Chikun successfully defended the Honinbo title? Was it 9, 10, 11 or 12 times? Click here to vote: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=330212370809
- Go Quiz Editor: Keith L. Arnold, hka

GAME COMMENTARY: Two Helpings of Spicy Noodles
       Hot from the boards of the Nongshim international team tournament, we're pleased to bring you two well-commented games today. Sponsored by the Korean Spicy Noodles Company, the tournament is famous for the fact that an undefeated Lee Changho anchored the winning Korean team for the Nongshim's first six editions, until Yoda Norimoto 9P of Japan finally defeated Lee last year and went on to win the tournament for the Japanese team. Yoda is the only Japanese player remaining (see "YODA JAPAN'S LAST HOPE IN NONGSHIM" above).
       In Game 7, played on November 24, Peng Quan 7P plays Yamada Kimio 9P. The commentary is translated and edited from several articles posted on the Chinese website tom.com, but mainly from a comprehensive account by a reporter using the nom de plume "Small Avalanche," while the game record was downloaded from go4go. In Game 8, played November 25, Peng Quan 7P plays Park Yeonghun 9P, with live online commentary by Choi Cheolhan 9P. Both games are exciting and the commentary is comprehensive and only available here for the first time in English.
       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

AGA HAPPENINGS: A Day In The Life Of A Board Member
         The AGA has seven board members representing our chapters. So what exactly does the board do? Take a look at October's monthly meeting to get an idea: after approval of the prior month's minutes, the conference started with the President's report. President Mike Lash discussed disbursement of the $46,000 in Ing funds just received, the financial commitment to the upcoming National Youth Tournament, and a proposal to produce some educational lectures on DVD. Board Chair Roy Laird updated progress on issuing amateur Rank Certificates. New business included discussion of professional players membership, selection of international representatives, progress on the search for a new Treasurer, and site selection for the 2008 US Go Congress. For volunteers, they're a busy group addressing a wide variety of projects. If you'd like learn more about the Board and its members visit http://www.usgo.org/org/index.html#Board. Thanks to Roy, Paul, Chuck, Bob, Roy, Willard, and Gordon for taking the time to volunteer their services.
- Kevin Purvis, Volunteer & Recruitment Coordinator

Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb

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