News from the American Go Association
December 15, 2006
Volume 7, #106 (Member's Edition)
MASTERS SCHEDULE UPDATE
ALLEN TOPS YOUTH TEAM TOURNEY IN SEATTLE
LEAHY WINS DAVIS/SACRAMENTO QUARTERLY
LASH TOURS NIHON KIIN, MEETS WITH NHK, IGF, PAIR GO LEADERS
REDMOND MOVES UP IN TENGEN
KOREANS BEHIND IN JEONGGANJANG
CHO U LOSES ANOTHER
CLOCK RUNNING OUT ON BIG DISCOUNTS ON GREAT GO STUFF
WEEKEND ACTION: Seattle, Arlington & Cedar Rapids
GO QUIZ: 14th THEN 1st
AGA HAPPENINGS: Year of the Youth
GAME COMMENTARY: Jie Li-Yilun Yang, 16 Strategies for Killers and More
ATTACHED FILE(S): 2006.12.15 NAMT YYang-JLi, Li .sgf, 2006.12.15 WoW Article 1.pdf, 2006.12.15 Ze Li Dou, Challenger, Yang.sgf
MASTERS SCHEDULE UPDATE: The schedule has been set for the 2006 Masters Tournament finals scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, December 18 & 19 in Seattle, WA. Jie Li 9d will defend his 2005 title against Feng Yun 9P beginning at 7P on Monday; Game 2 will start at 9A Tuesday, 12/19 and Game 3 (if necessary) will start at 2P Tuesday. The games will be broadcast live on both IGS and KGS.
ALLEN TOPS YOUTH TEAM TOURNEY IN SEATTLE: Luke Allen topped the 5th Annual Iwamoto School Team Tournament at the Seattle Go Center on Sunday December 10. Ten teams participated in the 4-round event. Full report in Monday's E-Journal.
LEAHY WINS DAVIS/SACRAMENTO QUARTERLY: Brian Leahy 2d won the upper division in the Davis/Sacramento Winter Quarterly Tournament, held December 9 in Sacramento, CA. Twelve players attended from the Bay Area to the foothills. Winner's report in Monday's E-Journal.
LASH TOURS NIHON KIIN, MEETS WITH NHK, IGF, PAIR GO LEADERS: During a recent business trip to Japan, American Go Association President Michael Lash visited the Nihon Kiin headquarters in Tokyo to meet with the NHK VP Kouichi Kobayashi. The courtesy call was a welcome opportunity for both organizations to strengthen their professional and personal ties. Mr. Lash toured the NHK facilities, which include the room where expert calligraphers handwrite ranking certificates for Japanese amateurs, the private playing room where top pros play major title games - which includes a small indoor Japanese rock garden to one side, tatami mats on the floor and cameras to broadcast the games -- and then the main amateur playing room. The meeting and tour were followed the next day by meetings at the Japanese Professional Pair Go Tournament, sponsored by Ricoh, at which famed American Michael Redmond, 9P was the guest commentator as all games were simulcast on the premises to a very lively and attentive audience. Lash met with the IGF Secretary General, Ms.Yuki Shigeno, and Mrs Taki, the head of the Japanese Pair Go Association. "Meetings like this bring results in the long run as people become familiar with each other and organizations work together in more coordinated ways," says Lash.
REDMOND MOVES UP IN TENGEN: Michael Redmond 9P defeated Ko Iso 7P to win a place in the main tournament for the 33rd Japanese Tengen. Details on Monday.
KOREANS BEHIND IN JEONGGANJANG: The Koreans lost two players in the first stage of the Jeongganjang Cup, the international women's team tournament, while the Chinese and Japanese lost only one each. Details on Monday.
CHO U LOSES ANOTHER: Before losing the Japanese Tengen title last week, Cho U also lost the playoff against the Chinese Agon Cup holder, Liu Xing 7P. Details on Monday.
CLOCK RUNNING OUT ON BIG DISCOUNTS ON GREAT GO STUFF: Just two weeks left to take advantage of the AGA's December offer of terrific go materials at deeply discounted prices! Cho Chikun's "GO: A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION" is a perfect introduction to the game and at our special price of just $5/copy -- less than half of retail! -- it's a great stocking stuffer. "GRADED GO PROBLEMS FOR BEGINNERS" ($5) fills the bill for that serious novice who needs practice applying basic concepts. And we've more than doubled our inventory of selected back issues of GO WORLD for just $3 each, which is just pennies per page for the must-have quarterly magazine for serious players since 1977. PLUS: order a complete set of 25 back issues (including #74-90 and special commemorative issue #100, as well other assorted issues listed in complete detail on the order form) - that's 1600 pages of outstanding games analysis and instruction -- for just $60, and your per-copy cost drops to less than $2.50! Supplies won't last long at these great prices, so click here now to order! http://www.usgo.org/usa/GoWorld.htm
WEEKEND ACTION: Seattle, Arlington & Cedar Rapids
- December 16-17: Seattle, WA
Yilun Yang Workshop
http://www.honte.org/workshop.htm
Andrew Gross workshop@seattlegocenter.org 206.545.1424
Jon Boley workshop@seattlegocenter.org 206.545.1424
- December 16: Arlington, VA
Holiday Helper
Allan Abramson allango@igc.org 703.684.7676
- December 16: Cedar Rapids, IA
Iowa Go Society Tournament
Jacob Uptain muchodelcrazy@yahoo.com
GO QUIZ: 14th THEN 1st
Gareth Williams of Hamilton, OH is last week's Quiz winner; his name was selected at random from those (8 of 14) who knew that Otake Hideo was both the 14th Meijin and the 1st Meijin. How's this possible? Otake was the 14th Meijin in 1975 when it was sponsored by the Yomiuri nedwspaper, and successfully defended his title in 1976, after the Asahi newspaper began sponsoring the tournament and restarted the numbering, making him the 1st Meijin (Asahi). As a side note, this sponsorship squabble resulted in the Yomiuri starting the prestigious Kisei tournament. Four of you correctly pointed out that Kobayashi Koichi was the 14th Meijin (Asahi), but he was not also the 1st. THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: since international tournaments began with the Fujitsu in 1988 and the Asian TV Cup in 1989, Korean players have dominated the growing list of World Championships. Who's the Japanese affiliated pro with the best record so far? Is it Cho Chikun, Takemiya Masaki, Yoda Norimoto or Cho U ? Click here to vote: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=330212370809
- Go Quiz Editor: Keith L. Arnold, hka
AGA HAPPENINGS: Year of the Youth
2007 will be a fantastic year for our Youth members as one new and one existing program grow. Walter Knox, who joined us at the US Go Congress, has agreed to help coordinate the Youth Summer Go Camps. Walter, a long time AGA sponsor, will help coordinate both an East and West summer camp along with some of our indispensable supporters -- Bill Phillips, Karen Jordan, Jon Boley, and Brian Allen -- we anticipate this will be our best year yet! Youths from age 8 to 18 enjoy a week of go fun. The camps will be held in Tacoma, Washington and Oakland County, Michigan this year in July. Visit http://www.usgo.org/gocamp/index.html for more information. Jie Li 9d's scheduled to appear at this year's East camp. You may have recently seen the announcement for the US Youth Go Championship (USYGC). Nicole Casanta has returned to active duty to coordinate this new tournament. Familiar with the workings of the AGA she will be an invaluable asset to this program. Beginning with eight regional qualifiers starting in January, and leading to the Championships in May, this tournament (aside from great fun) will select the international youth representatives for 2007. If you'd like more information email nicole@seraphine.us, or to help out, email volunteer@usgo.org.
- Kevin Purvis, Volunteer Coordinator
GAME COMMENTARY: Jie Li-Yilun Yang, 16 Strategies for Killers and More
In the giving spirit of the upcoming holidays, we present three attached files today; two game commentaries and a translation from World of Weiqi.
Jie Li 9d demonstrates his phenomenal reading ability in the October 15 Masters semi-final game against Yilun Yang 7P whose fierce fighting spirit shines through with every move. Reviewing this game is a great way to prepare to watch Li defend his Masters title on Monday and Tuesday (see "MASTERS SCHEDULE UPDATE" above).
"Neither amateurs nor professionals can avoid the subject of attacking," says Xiaoguang Liu 9P in "Sixteen Strategies for Killers" which originally appeared in The World of Weiqi (June 1, 2005). "Even if a player has a peaceful playing style, sooner or later the player has to encounter situations which can only be resolved by force." Writing with Dayong Zhang, Liu says "We hope you will be able to sharpen your sword after reading this article." Originally published in Chinese and translated by permission for the E-Journal by Owen Chen. Note: This is Part 1. Part 2 will be attached to next Friday's E-Journal.
Our last attachment is from the 2007 Shodan Challenge Program. Yilun Yang 7P does his usual thorough job analyzing a September 24 game between Challenger Ze-Li Dou AGA 2k and kjwr.
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
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