World Go News from the American Go Association
July 16, 2007; Volume 8, #51

TOP STORIES: Euro Congress Kicks Off; Free KGS+ For New Congress Sign-Ups; Latest GoGod Released
U.S. NEWS: Reid & Huxtable Tie To Top MGA Tourney; 6k Sam Tregar Tops NY Tourney; Go West, Young Campers; U.S. To Participate In World Chinese Youth Cup; Medford Gets Go Club
UPCOMING EVENTS: Tacoma & Lancaster
WORLD GO NEWS: Cho U To Challenge For Meijin; Park Yeonghun Wins His Second Fujitsu; Crosby, Lewerenz & Podbiol Top Party Go Tourney; Go Denmark
PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING: Nagahara on Go, Art and Saving The World
MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Fujitsu, EGC & Kaz
GO PHOTO:
GO QUIZ: A Book For Each Corner
GO CLASSIFIED

TOP STORIES

EURO CONGRESS KICKS OFF: The 51st European Go Congress is now underway in Villach, Austria, with complete coverage by the EJ for the first time ever. The 900-year-old town is the cultural center of southern Austria, and the Go Congress is being held in the town’s appropriately-named Congress Center, a modern conference and event facility overlooking the Drau river, which meanders through the center of Villach. Well over 700 go players have gathered here from virtually every corner of Europe, as well as from as far away as Japan, Korea, China and even a handful of players from the United States. This being Europe, things are well-run but leisurely. Saturday was registration day and an opening ceremony featured Itaru Umezu, the Japanese Ambassador to Austria, after which the first couple of rounds of Party Go – a variant of Pair Go -- were held (see CROSBY, LEWERENZ & PODBIOL TOP PARTY GO TOURNEY below). Sunday morning saw the final two rounds of Party Go and plenty of casual games as well, before the first round of the main European Championship, a 10-round MacMahon tournament with a “supergroup” top open section of 34. Although computer problems delayed the 2P start nearly two hours, no-one seemed to mind much and as the sun headed slowly toward the nearby mountains the next two weeks of go stretched out ahead like a long summer afternoon.
24-7 MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE: The top three boards of the EGC Championship are being broadcast LIVE daily on the IGS, beginning at 10A local time (US EST –6H); once completed, the game records are posted online along with photos by Chris Garlock and Martin Chrz as well as video broadcasts. And look for a special EGC Congress Edition of the E-Journal later this week! Photos: (top right, Martin Chrz) go bowls; (top left, Chris Garlock) at a local cafe Sunday after the main Congress playing area has closed for the night; (right, Chris Garlock) Party Go with the mountains in the background

FREE KGS+ FOR NEW CONGRESS SIGN-UPS: Anyone registering for the 2007 US Go Congress between July 16 – 23 will automatically be eligible to win one of 10 free 2-week subscriptions to KGS+, report Congress organizers. Play go against people around the world and get the best in live and archived go lectures by pros like Juan Guo and Mingjiu Jiang. Download a free copy of KGS and Learn more about KGS and KGS+ and register for the US Go Congress today. Current KGS+ members will be eligible to receive a free 2-week extension to their present subscription.

LATEST GOGOD RELEASED: Featuring almost 47,000 authenticated games, the latest update of GoGoD Encyclopaedia and Database has just been released, reports T Mark Hall. “A special feature is that all games data is in English and is backed by massive tournament and biography sources in the Encyclopaedia, with almost 300 tournaments and 3700 players covered,” adds Hall. Also included are "new" games of Honinbo Shuho, Hashimoto Utaro and Go Seigen, along with a major update of an incomplete game record of one of Go Seigen's games. The many book-length features in the Encyclopaedia now include The Go Consultants, a translation of a book published about the 1934 consultation game between Segoe Kensaku and Suzuki Tamejiro, playing White, and Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru, playing Black. The game took over 6 days to play and the book includes details about the thinking of top pros, plus lots of digressions. Copies of the latest GoGod are being mailed to subscribers, and Hall will have copies available for purchase at the European Go Congress in Villach, Austria. Photo: T Mark Hall (r) shows Peter Dijkema the latest GoGod at the EGC; photo by Chris Garlock

U.S. NEWS

REID & HUXTABLE TIE TO TOP MGA TOURNEY: Eric Reid and Robert Huxtable tied for first place at the Skip Ascheim Memorial Tournament, sponsored by the Massachusetts Go Association.There were 32 players, reports TD Eva Casey, ranging from 20 kyu to 4 dan at the Massachusetts Go Association's premises in Davis Square, Somerville. Pete Martin was the third place winner. photo by Eva Casey

6K SAM TREGAR TOPS NY TOURNEY: Six kyu Sam Tregar finished atop the upper division at the July 8 New York Go Center monthly tournament, claiming the event’s first cash prizes by winning three out of his four matches and taking home the gold medal. “After four rounds of intense play by twenty competitors, no one was without a loss in the top divisions for an outright undefeated victory,” reports TD Christopher Vu. “The Empty Sky Go Club had a strong showing with two players, Nathan Borggren 3k and Carrie Gustavson 7k, who finished with a 3-1 record as well, to round out the medal podium. Howard Wong 16k won the lower division, winning all of his impressive matches to claim his first NYGC title.”

GO WEST, YOUNG CAMPERS: Go Camp West has returned to the campus of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Thirty three campers and twelve adults gathered on Saturday, July 14 for a weeklong blend of serious go – with instruction from Mingjiu Jiang 7P, Jon Boley 6d, Scott Arnold 3d, and Yoshi Sawada 2d -- and summer camp fun. About half the campers were from Washington, while the other half traveled from locations as far away as Idaho, Texas, and California. The first full day of camp was capped by the Silly Olympics, directed by Jin Chen and Karoline Burrall (r).
- report/photo by Brian Allen

U.S. TO PARTICIPATE IN WORLD CHINESE YOUTH CUP: The US team for the World Chinese Youth Cup has been finalized, as AGA President Mike Lash announced last week. Only the second time the Cup has been held, this will be the first time the US has participated. Chinese youth have become so strong that the age bracket for “youth” is now considered 14 and under. The four brackets will be for kids up to the ages of 8, 10, 12, and 14. The U.S. team will feature ten-year-old Hugh Zhang 5d, 12-year-old Lionel Zhang 5d, 14-year-olds Jimmy Guo 6d and Tony Zhang 5d. The organizers have also made an exception to allow 17-year-old Calvin Lee 5d to compete. Lee will also be providing exclusive coverage of the event for the E-Journal. The competition will be held in Hong Kong from August 19th - 23rd. The US team would not be possible without Hugh Zhang’s mother, Lisa Shan, who volunteered to take the kids and provide adult supervision. “I am originally from that area and have some old friends, which could be handy when there is a need,” Shan told the EJ. “I am a school teacher, and don't have classes during the summer, so when I heard there was a need for a coach I volunteered,” adds Shan. Jimmy Guo told the EJ “I'm currently 15, and will be a sophomore in Burlingame High School (California) next year. I have a lot of tournament experience, having played in them for almost 4-5 years now, and I finished 2nd in the US Youth Go Championships. Going to China to represent the US would be a wonderful and exciting experience! I am Chinese, and have not been to China since I was 4 years old.” And 17-year-old Calvin Lee reports “the reason I want to go is I feel like this is the last opportunity I have as a youth player to do something significant. I started go my freshman year of high school, way too late in comparison to all the other youth players, so dreams of representing the U.S. were unrealistic. Naturally I jumped at this new opportunity to play on behalf of the U.S. I've never been to Hong Kong before, so it'll definitely be a rewarding experience.”
- reported by Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor

MEDFORD GETS GO CLUB: “We have started playing go at our public library in Medford Massachusetts” reports Su Co Thich Nu Chon Duc (Marjorie Hey). The club meets Wednesdays from 4 to 9P. “We encourage kids in the afternoon and older teens and adults in the evenings but generally all are welcome when ever they can come during those hours. We have some boards and stones and someone will help anyone who hasn't played before.”

UPCOMING EVENTS: Tacoma & Lancaster
July 21: Tacoma, WA Bi-Monthly Ratings Tournament Dr. Gordon Castanza gcastanza@comcast.net 253.853.4831
July 28 - August 4, 2007: Lancaster, PA The 23rd Annual US Go Congress Congress Directors congress@usgo.org 7178987911

WORLD GO NEWS

CHO U TO CHALLENGE FOR MEIJIN: Defeating Kobayashi Satoru 9P by a half point on Friday, July 13th, Cho U 9P (r) earned the right to challenge Takao Shinji 9P for the Meijin title. This win gave Cho a 6-1 record in the League and no one else had the possibility of getting five wins. Five players had four wins but each had three or four losses, so even though some had a game left to play, it was all over. The first round in the best-of-seven-game match is scheduled for September 6and 7 in Hiroshima. Cho held this title in 2004 and 2005, but lost it to Takao in 2006. Cho is also involved in a title match for the Gosei, which he won last year, where he holds a 1-0 lead against challenger Yokota Shigeaki 9P.

PARK YEONGHUN WINS HIS SECOND FUJITSU: Park Yeonghun 9P (l) defeated Lee Changho 9P by 1.5 points on Monday, June 9th to win the international Fujitsu Cup for the second time. Park also won this event in 2004, defeating Yoda Norimoto 9P of Japan that time. This is the tenth consecutive victory in the Fujitsu for Korea; Korean players have won thirteen of the twenty editions of this international cup. Lee Changho won it in 1996. Two players have won the Fujitsu three times: Lee Sedol 9P and Cho Hunhyun 9P, both Koreans. In the match for third place, Yoda Norimoto beat Cho U 9P by 3.5 points. Yoda was defeated by Park in the semifinals by only a half point. Park also holds the current Korean Kisung title.

KIM TAKES FIRST GAME IN DALI CUP FINALS: Kim Hyeoimin 4P (r) defeated Park Jieun 7P by 1.5 points on Monday, July 16th, to take the first game in the best-of-three-game finals for the international Dali Cup. Both players are Korean pros. The Dali Cup is restricted to women and is sponsored by a Chinese travel company. The North American representative, Feng Yun 9P, was seeded into the second round and defeated Ye Gui 5P of China to make it to the third, where she was defeated by Rui Naiwei 9P, who plays for Korea. Getting into this final match is the highpoint of Kim's career so far; she's in her early twenties. The Women's titles in Korea are dominated by Rui these days, but Park, who is also in her twenties, did win the Myeongin in 1999. She also won the Women's international Jeongganjang Cup in 2004, before it became a team event.

CROSBY, LEWERENZ & PODBIOL TOP PARTY GO TOURNEY: Out of 68 players, only three -- Matthew Crosby 2d (GB), Bernd Lewerenz 2d (D), and Krzystof Podbiol 5k (Poland) -- managed to win all of their games in the Party Go tournament Saturday and Sunday at the European Go Congress. In the just-for-fun tournament, pairs of players compete, and after every round the pairs are broken up and new pairs formed, so that your partner on game may well be your opponent the next. Strengths varied from 7 dans like Hong Seal-Ki, Park Seok-Bin and Park Jong-Wok -- all from Korea -- to 20 kyus Anna Marconi from Italy and Thomas Mozgan (A) from the team of Austrian organizers. Other nations represented included Belgium, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Slowakia and the U.S. Two rounds were held on Saturday and the final two on Sunday, with the field narrowed down to eleven boards for the final round.
- reported by Peter Dijkema; photo by Martin Chrz includes Joanne Phipps of the US at far left.

GO DENMARK: We’re very pleased to welcome the members of the Danish Go Association (DGA) as EJ Member’s Edition readers. Founded in 1981, the DGA organizes the annual Danish Championship and promotes go in Denmark. The Danish government provides annual sponsorship based on the number of members, which was 82 as of 2005. The DGA also publishes a go magazine, Nordisk GoBlad, a joint project between the go associations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. There are three major Danish clubs: the Copenhagen Go Club , led by president Uffe Rasmusen, gribben_volture@hotmail.com, is the most influential and oldest (founded in 1972), and “the only Danish club where you can regularly find Dan-strength players”; the EDO Go Club , president Lene Jakobsen, lene@jakobsen.dyndns.dk; the Odense Go Club , president Michael Steffensen, formand@OdenseGoKlub.dk. There are at least two other clubs, the Århus and Ringsted Go Klubs, which are both listed on the Copenhagen club website. Special thanks to DGA Secretary Kasper Frederiksen for his assistance.

PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING: Nagahara on Go, Art and Saving The World
“Go is an expression of the heart,” Yoshiaki Nagahara 6P said, “Go enriches us, just like music and art.” To spend a few hours with Nagahara is to catch a tantalizing and thrilling glimpse of the depths of the game far beyond the moves on the board. Attendees of this year’s U.S. Go Congress will get that opportunity in a few weeks, but here’s a preview, thanks to Hirotaka Kuroki of Kuroki Goishiten, who hosted a wonderful evening of conversation, food and drink with Nagahara during the recent World Amateur Go Championships in Tokyo. At 67, Nagahara still brims with an infectious enthusiasm, not just for the game of go, but for life itself. The author of two seminal go books in the West, Strategic Concepts of Go, and Basic Techniques of Go (with Haruyama Isamu), Nagahara has made something of a career of traveling widely to help spread go around the world. He fondly remembered his go tour of nearly two dozen stops across the United States several decades ago, as well as his many European go travels. On a much sadder note, he was accompanying German go professional Hans Pietsch on the fateful go-instruction tour of Guatemala in January 2003, when they were both robbed at gunpoint and Pietsch was murdered. “Go teaches balance and form,” Nagahara told the EJ over a feast of sushi, grilled meats and plenty of top-shelf shochu. “Go transcends even our modern technology, which can’t eclipse our art.” Nagahara can – and did -- deliver a fascinating disquisition on why the go board is 19 lines by 19 lines (“365 days of the year minus four for each season”) and why the stones are black and white (“Night and day, ying and yang, sun and moon, shell from the sea and slate from the mountain”), and then turn on a dime to discuss the future of the ancient game in a computer age (“They’ll get stronger, but dame will make it tricky.”). “I’ve been all over the world teaching go,” Nagahara told the EJ. “The fact that so many young people today are learning go is not just terrific; it’s how we’ll save the world and bring peace.”
- reported by Chris Garlock, with special thanks to Jeremy Banzhaf, who translated Mr Nagahara’s comments. Photo by John Pinkerton.

MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Fujitsu, EGC & Kaz
We've got a bumper crop of Member's Edition special material today, including the game record from last week's 20th Fujitsu Cup final between Park Yeonghun 9P and Lee Changho 9P, Seok Ui Hong 7d's second-round win over Alexander Dinerchtein 1P in the European Go Congress Championship, and the latest installment of Kazunari Furuyama's "Fundamental Matters, in which he takes a look at how to take advantage of mistakes.

GO QUIZ: A Book For Each Corner
“How many English-language go books has Yoshiaki Nagahara authored or coauthored?” Quite frankly, your quizmaster might have missed this one, as did quiz stalwart Phil Waldron. The correct answer -- four -- comes from the always precise Grant Kerr. Nagahara authored “Strategic Concepts of Go,” co-authored “Basic Techniques of Go” with Haruyama, “Handicap Go” with Bozulich and “Get Strong at Handicap Go” with Bozulich. Kerr notes that "’The Basics of Go Strategy’ by Bozulich borrows heavily from ‘Strategic Concepts’" Seven out 18 of you were correct, 5 with complete lists. Three forgot to "Get Strong", and two did not study Handicap Go at all. Congrats to Grant, this week's winner, who was not only right this week, but lucky as well, with his name being chosen at random from those responding correctly. Standings tighten - Waldron 21/24, Salamony 20/21, Kerr 12/12, Fung 10/10, Denis 10/11, Hayes 7/9, Mercado 6/6.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: BOOK GROUP: Recent news has added Nagahara, Nakayama and Feng Yun to the list of pros coming to the Congress, all three have written books which have been published in English. How many total authors or co-authors of books about go are coming to the Congress? Just to be clear for you sticklers, this means the authors or co-authors must be the, or one of the, authors of something that was actually bound and published about go. So, for example, Bob Felice's excellent work as editor on the AGA Go Songbook does not count (but we thank him!). Nor does John Stephenson's two little books - although he put these books together from lectures, he gracefully gives Mr Yang full author credit. And Steve Bretherick's excellent translation work does not put him on the list. Ok, so I’ve just given you 4 from the list; is the total 10, 11, 12 or 13? Click here to answer (with list - just the authors – don’t kill yourself with a list of all the books) or guess (without).
- Go Quiz Editor: Keith L. Arnold, hka

GO CLASSIFIED

FOR SALE: Complete collection of Go World issues #1 through latest (#111). Issues #1-10 are protected by hard binding. All issues are in perfect condition. Asking $1000 plus shipping & insurance. Please contact bwbgo@yahoo.com (7/16)

PLAYERS WANTED: Syracuse Go Club has formed a second weekly meeting on Thursdays, 6-9pm, at the Second Story bookstore, 550 Westcott St. in the Syracuse University neighborhood. We've had 4-5 players showing for the past few weeks, and want to add more. Contact Anton Ninno at antonninno@yahoo.com or visit our club's website http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/syracusegoclub/ (7/16)

PLAYERS WANTED: Charleston, SC: beginning player looking for players in the area. Nels Lindberg; nelslindberg@gmail.com (7/16)

PLAYERS WANTED: Northern Illinois, Lake County. Player from Antioch, IL would like to find players in the Lake County area interested in starting a go club, or anyone who would just like to play! If interested, contact Dave at epiman89@sbcglobal.net (7/9)

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)

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Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb

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