World Go News from the American Go Association
July 2, 2007; Volume 8, #49

TOP STORIES: Nakayama & Nagahara Coming To U.S; Xie Wins In Houston Ing, Chen & Burrall In Seattle; Jing Yang Wins IGS ING Qualifier; European Tourney Reports; Shodan Challenger Update; Here Come The Europeans (Part 1); Go Times
UPCOMING EVENTS: First Israeli Go Camp; U.S. Players Invited To China Tourney; Feng Yun Children’s Workshop Set
WORLD GO NEWS: Takao Threepeats In Honinbo; Lee Changho Fighting Hard To Hold Only Current Title; Kobayashi Izumi Wins New Women's Cup In Japan
MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Haruyama & Yang’s Easy Endgame
THE TRAVELLING BOARD: Israel
GO CLUBS: Vermont Ramblings
GO PHOTOS: At The Hang Zhou Qi-Yuan; Inside The Nihon Kiin
GO QUIZ: Resigning a Won Game
KERWIN'S ROAD MAP FOR BEGINNERS: Corner, Side, Center
GO CLASSIFIED

TOP STORIES

NAKAYAMA & NAGAHARA COMING TO U.S.: Japanese pros Noriyuki Nakayama (above) and Yoshiaki Nagahara (left) have just confirmed their attendance at this year’s US Go Congress, report Congress organizers, who added that the June 30 early registration deadline has been extended to midnight Thursday. Anyone registering before then will save $50. The ever-popular Nakayama -- who has attended almost ever U.S. Go Congress -- had announced last year to disappointed Congress attendees that family commitments would preclude his attendance at this year’s Congress, but just confirmed that he can make it after all. Nagahara, the famous author of the seminal “Strategic Concepts of Go” and “Basic Techniques of Go”, and who conducted a go tour of the U.S. some thirty years ago, will be making his first Congress appearance. Look for an interview with Nagahara online later this week. photos, left and top right, by John Pinkerton

XIE WINS IN HOUSTON ING, CHEN & BURRALL IN SEATTLE: Rui Xie took top honors in the June 16-17 Central Region North American Ing Championship (NAIC) Qualifier in Houston, TX while Jin Chen and Matthew Burrall tied for first in the June 23 NAIC Qualifier in Seattle, WA. Houston’s 3rd-place winner Mike Peng qualified for the NAIC due to Ing qualification considerations. Click here for latest standings
Houston Winner’s Report: 1st: Rui Xie; 2nd Dong Soo Kim; 3rd: Mike Peng; 4th: Yue Wu; 5th: Jonathan Sobieski; 6th: Michael Kim; 7th: John Hendrick; 8th: Stephen Sun. TD - Robert Cordingley.
Seattle Qualifier: 1st (tie): Jin Chen, Matthew Burrall; 3rd (tie): Sang Il Choi, Eddie Kim; 5th (tie): Kyeung Kim, Jayme Fosa, Chris Kirschner. TD - Chris Kirschner

JING YANG WINS IGS ING QUALIFIER: Jing Yang of Canada took the 1st place prize money of $240 the North American Ing Championship (NAIC) Qualifier held June 30-July 1 on the IGS, winning all four rounds. Eric Lui took 2nd, I-han Lui placed 3rd, with Young Kwon 4th, then Yuan Zhou, Gus Price, Kevin Hong, Ricky Zhao, Jon Boley, and Lawrence Ku. “Final results are still being verified,” note TD's Dennis Wheeler and Christopher Vu, “based on eligibility requirements, etc. for the awarding of Ing qualifying points.” Click here for complete tournament results. “There is one more Ing Qualifier,” scheduled for July 14, says Wheeler, “but registration is now closed in order to make final preparations for the event, with 12 players registered at press time.”

EUROPEAN TOURNEY REPORTS: Over 100 players participated in the Korean Ambassador's Cup last week in Kiev, Ukraine, reports Goama. Winners included: 1st: Alexander Dinerchtein 1P (Russia) 6-0; 2nd: Ilya Shikshin 6d (Russia) 5-1; 3rd: Dmytro Bogatskij 6d (Ukraine) 4-2; 4th: Arkadij Bogatskij 5d (Ukraine) 4-2; 5th: Dmytro Galchenko 5d (Ukraine) 4-2. In other European go news from last week: Russian Go Congress: 1st. Alexander Dinerchtein 1P, 5-0; 2nd: Lee Hyuk 7d, 4-1; 3rd: Alexey Lazarev 6d, 3-2. European Pair Go Championship: 1st: Kovaleva & Surin (Russia) 5-0; 2nd: Kalsberg & Bogdanov (Russia), 4-1; 3rd: Dubiel & Kaminski (Poland) 3-2. European Woman Go Championship: 1st: Natalia Kovaleva, 4d (Russia) 4-1; 2nd: Aigul Nureeva 2d (Russia) 4-1; 3rd: Klara Zaloudkova 2d (Czechia) 4-1.

SHODAN CHALLENGER UPDATE: The 2007 Shodan Challenger program is winding down, reports coordinators Lee Huynh and Laura Kolb, with just a few weeks left before final results are calculated. “Ze-Li Dou and Nikolas Stimpson won the most recent Book Review contest earlier this month,” Huynh tells the EJ, “SmartGo gave them prizes.” Look for a final report soon on who achieved their 2007 goals, as well as an announcement on when registration will open for the 2008 Challenge. Meanwhile, expect to see nearly two dozen Challengers at the Go Congress, including Andrew Dudzik, Andrew Okun, Anthoy Postert, Austin Kupon, Bart Lipofsky, Daniel Poore, Daniel Top, David Rohde, Gordon Castanza, Henry Hunt, Jason Preuss, Joe Jordan, John Moore, Jonathan Hop, Justin Urban, Mark Rubenstein, Ramon Mercado, Todd Blatt and of course Kolb and Huynh, who’ll also be on the EJ team covering the Congress.

HERE COME THE EUROPEANS (Part 1): Over 700 go players have now registered for the upcoming European Go Congress (EGC) in Villach, Austria. The 51st edition of the 2-week extravaganza of go with players from across Europe and around the world is being held July 14-28 (there’s still time to register!). For the first time, the E-Journal will cover the EGC, with live broadcasts of top boards, daily updates on the website and special editions of the E-Journal. This week, in Part 1 of a special EGC Preview, we introduce you to some of the top players who will be competing in the European Go Championship in Villach.
    ARKADII BOGATSKYI 5D is a 48-year-old go programmer, writer and trainer from Kiev, Ukraine. He's been playing go for 31 years. Titles won include the 2006 Cup of Ukraine, 13th place at the 1999 World Amateur Go Championships, 1998 Championship of Ukraine. CORNELL BURZO 6d (r) of Baia Mare, Romania has been playing go for 13 years. He won the Romanian championship in 2004 and took 3rd place in the European Go Congress in 2003, as well as winning several Grand Prix events, including Milano 2003 and Berlin 2003. Burzo is a regular US Go Congress attendee, and has won the unrated U.S. Lightning Tournament. MERO CSABA 6D is a 27-year-old student in sociology/statistics in Budapest, Hungary. He's been playing 13 years. He was co-winner (with Guo Juan, Cristian Pop and Catalin Taranu) of the 2003 Ing Memorial tournament.VLADIMIR DANEK, 50, lives in Prague, Czechia and has been playing go for 30 years. ANTOINE FENECH 5D (l) studies mathematics in Strasbourg, France. He's been playing go since he was 3 years old. Fenech was the 1996 and 1997 under-12 European Youth Champion and under-18 Champion in 2003; he was also the 2006 French vice-champion last year and his Strasbourg club won the 2006 French team championship. SANG-DAE HAHN, 66, lives in Seoul, Korea, where he's a Professor at Myongji University and an adviser to the Korean Amateur Baduk Association (KABA). He's been playing for 40 years. ROBERT JASIEK 5D hails from Berlin, Germany. The go rules expert, author and business game designer has been playing go for 16 years. Jasiek's greatest achievements include the 2006 German Lightning Champion, 2006 Berliner Champion, placing 25th in the 2005 European Go Championship, and 2nd in both the 2006 and 2004 European 13x13 Go Championships. Next week: KULKOV to WOOK.

GO TIMES: “There is one game in which the computer is still no match for Man,” wrote Ben Macintyre June 29 on Times Online , “a game in which a competent teenager can beat the world’s most sophisticated computer program with ease: and that is the ancient Chinese board game Go, the oldest game in the world, and the only one at which man remains the undisputed champion.” Macintyre’s article, “Why computers can’t surpass Go and collect $1 million,” notes that “Despite the expenditure of millions of pounds, the promise of prize money and several decades of deep-mine research, attempts to create a program to challenge professional Go players have made little headway. Even the most sophisticated programs can only compete with experienced players on a reduced grid.”

UPCOMING EVENTS

FIRST ISRAELI GO CAMP: The first Israeli Go Summer Camp is being held July 8-19 in Rosh HaAyin, reports organizer Shavit Fragman, president of the Mind Go Club. Registration is still open for the camp, which features several European 5-6 dan teachers, including Dr. Vladimir Danek and Filip Vandestappen, as well as Amir Fragman. The schedule includes lecture, workshops, game reviews, simultaneous games, a tournament and prizes.

U.S. PLAYERS INVITED TO CHINA TOURNEY: U.S. players have been invited to participate in the August 20-24 GuiYang Weiqi Competition in GuiYang, China. There will be nine rounds, and players may compete as a team or as individuals; fees are $50 for a team, $20 as individuals. Other expenses include $30 per person per day, which includes room and board and local sightseeing. “GuiYang is one of the top spot for summer vacations in China as it is very scenic and not hot in the summer,” say organizers. Registration deadline is July 10. Contact goguiyang2007@163.com or fax the Guiyang Chess Association at 86-851-581-1369 or the Guiyang Lincheng Go Promoting Corp at 86-851-582-4142.

FENG YUN CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP SET: Feng Yun 9P is organizing a Children’s Go Workshop August 27-31 in Somerset, NJ. “This workshop is designed to give young go players a boost in their skills and offer them a platform to meet and connect with other go players,” says, Feng Yun, who will be teaching children at all levels in the intensive five-day program. The program includes lectures, rated tournament games, playing and game reviews, as well as teaching games “and a variety of intensive training” and afternoon sport activities. Costs: $480/player full program (tuition, meals and lodging); $350/player day training only 9A-9P; $50 registration fee will be waived for registrations before August 20. For more info, email golesson@yahoo.com

WORLD GO NEWS

TAKAO THREEPEATS IN HONINBO: Takao Shinji 9P (l) defeated Yoda Norimoto 9P on Monday-Tuesday, June 25-26, successfully defending his Honinbo title for the third year in a row by a score of 4-1. Unusually for title matches these days, most of the games were very close, with Takao taking the last two games by 5.5 and 2.5 points and Yoda winning the second game in the match by just 1.5 points, after Takao won the first by 0.5 points. Only one game was decided by resignation, Takao's win of the third in the series. Yoda continues to be without a current title, while Takao maintains his hold on both the Meijin and the Honinbo. The League to decide his challenger in the Meijin is currently led by Cho U 9P with a 5-1 record with two games to go. Cho is the only member of the League with five wins. Yoda and Sakai Hideyuki 7P both are at 4-2.

LEE CHANGHO FIGHTING HARD TO HOLD ONLY CURRENT TITLE: Lee Changho 9P (r) defeated nineteen year old Yun Junsang 6P by 1.5 points in the fourth round of the Korean Wangwi on Wednesday, June 27th, evening their best-of-five-game title match at 2-2. Lee has won 131 titles in his lifetime, including 17 international titles, but the Korean Wangwi is the only title he currently holds -- and he has held it for the last eleven years straight. Yun took away Lee's Kuksu title earlier this year by a score of 3-1. In the current battle, Yun won the first by resignation, Lee won the second game by a half point, and Yun won the third by 3.5 points. The fifth and decisive game is scheduled for July 18th.

KOBAYASHI IZUMI WINS NEW WOMEN'S CUP IN JAPAN: Kobayashi Izumi 6P (l) won her first title in three years on Saturday, winning the final of the first Daiwa Women's Cup by 1.5 points. Sponsored by the Daiwa Securities Co., the Daiwa Women's Cup included 16 of the top Japanese women pros, with all the current title holders. In the June 30th final, Kato Keiko 5P, current Women's Meijin -- her first title – lost to Kobayashi, who has held several titles in the past, including successfully defending the Women's Meijin and winning the Strongest Woman title in 2004.

MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: In the latest installment of Haruyama Isamu 9P's "Questions from Actual Play", Haruyama takes a look at how to handle a high extension. It's Black to play in Yilun Yang 7P's " Easy Endgame Problem." Watch for the hard one next week!

THE TRAVELING BOARD: Israel
    “I'm still out here in Israel,” reports University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Go Club organizer Todd Blatt, “and have been playing at the local club here in Jerusalem, as well as the one across the country, about a hour away in Tel Aviv. I played an interesting game with Amir Fragman (in the green shirt), the son of former Israeli Go Association President Shavit Fragman. Amir, a 14-year-old 4 dan, played in Korea as the representative for the World Youth Amateur. The Jerusalem club meets in the Korean Culture Center, and the Tel Aviv club meets on the floor in a hallway at a local mall. I'll be here until July 17th and will be home just in time to teach go at Otakon at the Baltimore convention center since we run a workshop there for about 200 people. photo courtesy Todd Blatt (in blue t-shirt)

GO CLUBS: Vermont Ramblings
By Quentin Dombro
    We have a pretty active go club up here in Vermont, where we meet every Wednesday evening in the local coffee shop. We worry that we're taking up too many tables so we double up where possible, and some of us try to play earlier in the afternoon. It's a small club so our rankings can be a little strange. I play even with my friend Pete Schumer but Pete takes four stones from another fellow that I give four stones to. Speaking of Pete, he held a tournament in Middlebury last month. Our tournaments are lots of fun, with great food nearby. We did have that one rather contentious protest at our previous tournament, but, boy, did that make it exciting! Of course, my big goal is to reach shodan after some thirty years of trying to learn something of this game. These days, I'm trying to teach my new son-in-law how to play. As soon as I explained to him the necessity of two eyes, we created a seki and I think I may have lost a bit of credibility. But he loves the game, so he will do just fine. Like many players around the country, I'm anxiously awaiting the Congress at the end of the month. I have recently been allowed to play as a 2 kyu on KGS, but I find myself with a big losing streak at the moment. I've been to this rank twice before, only to be ushered back to 3 kyu after only very short visits. Speaking of the Congress, I plan to organize a daily morning run there, so runners, be sure to bring your running shoes. I'll take a look at the area and try to come up with something that we can complete in less than an hour. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Running is one of my ongoing hobbies, the others being go and trying to learn to speak Italian. I don't plan on holding Italian conversational sessions at the Congress. But, if you just happen to speak Italian, hmmm...

GO PHOTOS:

AT THE HANG ZHOU QI-YUAN – Hang Zhou Go Academy – in Hang Zhou, China. Photo at left by Peter Nassar, who participated in the Feng Yun Summer Go Camp.

INSIDE THE NIHON KIIN: During a break in the action at this year’s World Amateur Go Championships in Tokyo, Shunich Suzuki gave us a quick tour of the Nihon Kiin, with Ryoho Fujiwara translating. Here are some of the highlights. - by Chris Garlock, photos by John Pinkerton

RIGHT: The 5th-floor room where top championship games are held; the kaya goban cost at least six million yen and the stones are top quality slate and shell.

(LEFT) The Nihon Kiin’s “diploma factory” issues thousands of official Nihon Kiin diplomas annually, printed on special paper, signed by top pros and costing hundreds – or even thousands – of dollars. Click here for more photos.

GO QUIZ: Resigning a Won Game
    “I accept.” These were my startled words when Chuck Robbins resigned this leading position as white in the 3rd round of the 2006 U.S. Open. Chuck had dominated the game with his relentless yet calm attack on my central group. As Joe Maia pointed out, "Shouldn't Black have resigned some time ago?" Chuck’s strong play was marred only by an oversight that allowed me to capture five stones on the upper side. When he reviewed the game, Mr. Yang opined that Chuck never got over the loss of those 5 stones. Of the 11 who suggested White’s move was to resign, six had seen the game before, and indeed one --Scott Waldron – actually saw it happen. Once again, Kim Salamony amazed by not only guessing it was one of my games, but then finding where I had shown it to Mr. Yang on KGS, and thus learning the answer. 22/55 of you chose B, a huge move which is the calmest way to protect White's lead. 12 suggested C, with some arguing that it was sente against the corner and even if it is not, you still get one of A or B as well. This is good thinking, but I would have responded by playing one above B, hoping to wreak havoc on the left -- or at least reduce in sente and then save my group -- and let you do your worst with a follow up to C, complications that White does not need right now. 10 chose D, which is big, but just points. Congrats to Joel Sanet, this week's winner, chosen at random from those responding.
    THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: More fun with who is coming to the Congress, now just a few weeks away. Which family name is currently NOT among the top 6 most common last, or family names, registered for the Congress? Is it Bresler, Burrall, Chen or Kim? Click here to vote.
- Go Quiz Editor: Keith L. Arnold, hka

KERWIN'S ROAD MAP FOR BEGINNERS: Corner, Side, Center
By James Kerwin 1P
    So far we’ve worked on building up your ability to see the patterns the black and white stones make together. Now it’s time to start learning about the board. The first thing to know about the board is that the corners, sides and center have different importance and meaning.     You can take territory most efficiently in the corner because the board protects the territory on two sides, so you only have to build two walls to secure it. On the side the board provides one wall, so you must make three. In the center you must make all four walls yourself. Roughly speaking, a corner move gives you twice as much territory as a center move, and fifty percent more territory than a side move. The corner territory is a 4x4 box. The fifth line is the seam between the corner and the side. The fourth line is the seam between the side and the center.
    Corner play tends to follow fixed patterns that give positions of equivalent value, called joseki. There are thousands of joseki because the corner can be divided up in a huge variety of ways.
    Look at the joseki in Dia. 1 (r), which shows one way to divide the corner. You may have already played it. The interesting feature of this joseki is that the players get very similar values, just in different places. Black gets a bit of the corner and a position on the left side. White gets none of the corner, so far, and a position on the upper side. Both black and white have secure positions. At this point both players leave the area.
    Now look at Dia. 2 below. This joseki makes a strong contrast with Dia. 1. Here the players have very different values. In this case white gets the entire corner territory while black gets a power position dominating the upper side and strongly influencing the left side. It may look to you like white’s territory is better, or perhaps black’s power looks better. But the two player’s values are quite equal.
    One thing to understand from these two examples is that while corner moves are big moves, that does not mean your corner moves will necessarily give you corner territory. Wherever you get value from your corner moves, it will be big.
    Some players memorize as many joseki as they can, but that is a mistake and a waste of time. Joseki are a model of excellent tactics, and most of the tactical moves in go show up in joseki. For this reason, study of joseki can be valuable for a more advanced player. For now, just focus on the many different ways the corner can be divided.

GO CLASSIFIED

PLAYERS WANTED: Mid-Ohio Valley: I'm based out of the Parkersburg, WV area and would like to find some local players. Contact Ryan at xmiyux@gmail.com (7/2)

PLAYERS WANTED: Independence, MO: A new go club is opening in Independence, Missouri. Located on Highway 24, the club will open at 6P on Tuesday, July 3 and will be open every Tuesday thereafter. Details/more info: theresanevilmonkeyinmycloset333@yahoo.com (6/25)

GA CLUB FORMING: Go club starting in the Fall '07 semester at Gordon College (Barnesville, Georgia). If interested, please contact the club main advisor at go_gordonga@yahoo.com. If wanting to come and visit to teach a class, please tell me which would be a good time for you, so I can plan the schedule in advance. The club will teach new players, and will have tournaments with other clubs. (6/11)

PLAYERS WANTED: Branford, CT. Looking for players in the area of all
skill and age levels. Contact gregory.santone@gmail.com (6/4)

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

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