News
from the American Go Association
April 6, 2007
Volume 8, #29 (Member's Edition)
ERIC LUI COMPLETES 2-TOURNEY
SWEEP
YUANXIN XI WINS DAVIS-SAC TOURNEY
CRUMPLER & MILLER TOP ALL-IOWA
LIEF TOPS IN OAHU
IBEROAMERICAN/TOYOTA TOURNEY SET
FOR ECUADOR
EURO CONGRESS TOPS 400
3 US PROS CONFIRMED FOR US GO
CONGRESS
TWO US YOUTH CAMPS
MOGO REVIEW PREVIEW
HU YAOYU DEFEATS CHANG HAO TO TAKE RICOH
CUP
SAKAI HIDEYUKI WINS SIX STRAIGHT IN
RYUSEI
WEEKEND
ACTION: Chicago & Baltimore
GO QUIZ: OH!
CANADA?
GAME COMMENTARY:
Chunlun Cup & Top US Youth
GO REVIEW: The
Basics of Go Strategy
ERIC
LUI COMPLETES 2-TOURNEY SWEEP: In an impressive
back-to-back performance, Eric Lui 8d won the dan section at the
University of Maryland John Groesch Memorial tournament on April 1,
adding to his March 31 NoVa Cherry Blossom Tournament trophy (ERIC LUI
SWEEPS DC CHERRY BLOSSOM 4/2 EJ). Eric Eller won the John Groesch
Memorial Prize for the best result by a player under the age of 20 who
is new to tournament go. Complete report Monday. Photo
above right, Lui (l) plays Matthew Bengston with TD Chuck Robbins
watching; photo by Stephen Mount.
YUANXIN
XI WINS DAVIS-SAC TOURNEY: Yuanxin Xi 2d won the March
31 Davis/Sacramento Spring Quarterly in Davis, CA, topping a field of
twelve. Full winner report Monday.
CRUMPLER
& MILLER TOP ALL-IOWA: Ken Crumpler and Matt
Miller (left, with his prize) topped the April 1 All-Iowa Tournament,
while the Cyclone Go Club retained the All-Iowa Cup for the fifth
straight time. Full report in Monday's EJ. photo by Ramon
Mercado.
LIEF
TOPS IN OAHU: Aaron Lief 12k topped the 5-player Kailua
District Park Go Tournament on March 31, in Kailua, Hawaii. Details
Monday.
IBEROAMERICAN/TOYOTA
TOURNEY SET FOR ECUADOR: The Iberoamerican Go
Tournament/Toyota Cup will be held in Quito, Ecuador from October 12-14
at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Quito. Details in Monday's EJ.
EURO
CONGRESS TOPS 400: Registration for the 51st European
Go Congress has now topped 400, a large and strong field from across
Europe, along with contingents from Japan and Korea. Check out a new
preview of the event in Austria on gobase
or go directly to the Congress
site
3
US PROS CONFIRMED FOR US GO CONGRESS: With nearly 100
already signed up for this year's US Go Congress, "the latest news is
that we have not one, not two, but three American professional go
players attending thus far!" reports Co-Director Peter Nassar. The US
pros are James Kerwin 1P, Yilun Yang 7P and Xuefen Lin 1P. Kerwin,
author of the new EJ series "Kerwin's Road Map for Beginners," and Mr.
Yang, author of "The Fundamentals Principles of Go," are "well-known
for their inspired teachings and national workshops," says Nassar. Register
today to secure your place at their lectures at this year's
Congress, and save $100 off registration.
TWO
US YOUTH CAMPS: "Youth go summer camps are a great place
to become
immersed in go and to meet and play with
other enthusiastic go players of all ages and skills," say camp
organizers. Click
here for details on the two camps: Michigan Go Summer Camp
July 1st to 7th in Ortonville MI with Jie Li 9d, and the West Go Camp
July 14-21 with Mingjiu Jiang 7P at Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma,
Washington.
MOGO
REVIEW PREVIEW: "Breakthroughs in computer go are often
greeted with both interest and skepticism," writes Phil Waldron in his
review of the MoGo go-playing program. "and a recent Reuters report of
a go program 'not far from reaching the level of a professional go
player' was no exception. 'Put up or shut up' is my usual reaction, and
I was delighted when one of MoGo's authors agreed to a test match." See
the full review - and some of Waldron's games with MoGo -- in Monday's
EJ.
HU
YAOYU DEFEATS CHANG HAO TO TAKE RICOH CUP: Hu Yaoyu 8P
came out on top of the 48-player field in the Chinese Ricoh Cup,
defeating Chang Hao 9P by resignation. Details Monday.
SAKAI
HIDEYUKI WINS SIX STRAIGHT IN RYUSEI: In the "win and
continue" Ryusei tournament in Japan, Sakai Hideyuki 7P has an amazing
six-game winning streak going. Details Monday.
WEEKEND
ACTION: Chicago & Baltimore
- April 7: Chicago, IL; Spring Tournament & Youth Qualifier;
Bob Barber komoku@earthlink.net 773.467.0423
- April 7: Baltimore, MD; 5th
Annual Hopkins Go Tournament; Lisa Scott lscott28@jhu.edu
816.651.6347; Scott Waldron sorcerer@jhu.edu 410.236.4668
GO
QUIZ: OH! CANADA?
How many Canadians get the E-Journal? They're certainly
well-represented in this week's
Quiz
participants, with 5 of 22 (at least, by email address) of the guessers
this week, and 5 of the 15 correct folks who knew that it's Takagawa
Kaku (photo courtesy of GoBase) who's facing
Sakata on the cover of Modern Joseki and Fuseki, Volume One. Several
identified the other two figures in the photo - the great Go Seigen,
and Kobayashi Reiko, formerly Kitani Reiko - daughter of Kitani Minoru,
wife of Kobayashi Koichi, mother of Kobayashi Izumi (the wife of Cho
U). The ever helpful Phillip Waldron (Canada) tried to figure out which
game, but was only able to narrow it down to two - either from the
final of the loser's section of the 1965 Judan Title or the final of
the 1964 Nihon Kiin Championship. They played the exact same opening -
at least as far as we can tell from the photo. Since Tagagawa lost in
1964, this seems rather stubborn of him...but he won the second try, by
5.5. Waldron still leads 13/13, Denis 10/11, Salamony 9/10, Kerr
(Canada) 5/5, and Mercado and Richard Hayes at 4/4. We also now have
another sort of leader - who shall remain anonymous - at an impressive
0/7! Congrats to Michael Bull, this week's winner, chosen at random
from those answering correctly.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: ANOTHER ISHI "HARD" ONE:
The book from last week was published in hardback by Ishi Press; how
many total books did Ishi both publish and distribute in hardback? Was
it five, six, seven or eight? And, for bonus points, show us you're not
guessing by listing them in "Comment" section. Click
here to vote.
- Go Quiz Editor: Keith L. Arnold, hka
GAME
COMMENTARY: Chunlun Cup & Top US Youth
When is a successful result not a successful result? When it just looks
like one. See how Peng Quan 7P's good-looking result against Xie He 6P
in the March 25 6th Chunlan Cup match winds up being very painful in
today's game commentary. The comments are by Alexander Dinerchtein 1P,
whose go4go.net website contains a wealth of information about the
world of go as well as commentaries on both pro and strong amateur
games that are available by subscription.
Get a look at some of the top young US players in today's bonus game
commentaries from the March 24 US Youth Go Championship qualifier in
San Francisco, CA. Hugh Zhang 2d plays Christopher Kiguchi 4d and Jimmy
Guo 5d plays Calvin Lee 6d in two games commented by Mingjiu Jiang 7P.
Special thanks to TD Steve Burrall for his help with the game records.
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 click
here to get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen's Gobase.
GO
REVIEW: The Basics of Go Strategy
Mastering the Basics Series Vol. V
by Richard Bozulich
Kiseido
, 216 pages $18
Reviewed by Peter Shotwell
If you've been following Bozulich's remarkable series, this is probably
the most important book because it reviews the key strategic subtleties
that make go so wonderful. The Basics of Go Strategy is an expansion
and improvement on his classic, but long-out-of-print, Strategic
Concepts of Go. Bozulich starts out by illustrating the delicate
balance between the need for retaining aji, and the need for playing
forcing moves, which eliminate it. Then he shows how probes continue
this dialogue because the opponent is forced to answer in one of only a
few ways.
Next is how to avoid-and attack-heavy stones. The proverb says, "Play
urgent points before big points," because if you play on big points
before securing your weak stones, you end up with heavy ones.
Unfortunately, these are all too often too big to sacrifice, so, as you
run away, you are left with dameba -- points of no value -- while the
attacker profits with every move.
If there are heavy stones in go, then
there are light ones, so a short chapter on sabaki follows, and many
examples scattered through the book show how to use them. These basic
themes of 'bad' vs. 'good' then continue in a chapter on the
differences between junk stones and key stones.
Putting all these concepts to work on a
grand scale, the final chapter on thickness shows how you can end up
over-concentrated if you forget four crucial proverbs.
"Don't play near thickness!" means,
don't get too near your opponent's solid stones. "Don't use thickness
to make territory!" because you will nearly always end up having played
too close to your own. Instead, "Use thickness to attack!" and "Drive
your opponent in the direction of your thickness!" and success will
follow.
The book ends with 101 problems that
will keep everyone from 10 kyu on up to somewhere past shodan
comfortably busy for quite a while, but the results will be worth it.
Shotwell, a longtime go writer, is the author of Go Basics:
Concepts And Strategies for New Players.
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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