June 9, 2008; Volume 9, #29

GO CAMP WEST ADDS FOURTH TEACHER: Jin Chen (l in photo) 7d has been added as a fourth teacher for Go Camp West in Tacoma. Jin Chen taught at the 2005 and 2006 camps as well. A recent graduate of the University of Michigan, he is currently traveling and studying go in China. "We now have room for a few more go campers," reports Brian Allen, coordinator for the camp. Go Camp West is the week before the Go Congress in Portland Oregon; there will be charter bus going directly to the Congress at the end of camp. Click here for camp application forms. Photo by Brian Allen

NEW BEGINNER'S BOOK FROM SHOTWELL: Beginning Go is Peter Shotwell's latest book from Tuttle Publishing. "Using 9x9 and 19x19 games played by both beginners and professionals, it addresses the biggest problems that cause discouragement in a new way," says Shotwell. These include how to know when a game is over, how to know what is alive and what is dead and what the score is. "Designed to help understand the vast amount of go material on the Internet, it also has sample 9x9, 13x13 and 19x19 boards that can be copied and enlarged for easy, inexpensive playing using coins or beans," says Shotwell.

BONDING THROUGH GO IN IRAQ? A go Starter Set is on the way to SPC Joseph W. Hamilton of the U.S. Army. Hamilton, stationed in Iraq, "was introduced to the game by the movies Hero and Pi" and has been "trying to teach some of my comrades how to play." Hamilton, in a recent email to the AGA, added that "last but not least, being in PSYOP, we are constantly trying to make connections with our host nation. Is there an Iraqi Go Association that we could visit? If not, would you be interested in helping us start one? This could be a great opportunity in building bonds with our host nation." The only member of the International Go Federation in that region is Israel. Responding on behalf of the American Go Foundation - which is sending the Starter Set - Roy Laird said that "Our mission at the AGF is to support the American go playing community (and while) we have never gotten involved in international development, we would be willing to discuss specific ways we might help other national associations to get started."

AGA & CGA ADOPT NEW TOURNEY RECIPROCITY RULES: With international amateur play increasing in recent years, Canadian Go Association and American Go Association Presidents James Sedgwick and Michael Lash last week announced adoption of new rules governing players from both countries. The Tournament Reciprocity Agreement is effective June 1. "As both national organizations grow and more players compete for more overseas opportunities and prizes, we recognized a growing need to clearly regulate the consequences and impact of these cross-border players based on experience and fairness to all parties," said Sedgwick and Lash. AGA and CGA members attending events across the border "should expect to have their national membership already completed and confirmed locally online," they added, urging "players attempting to qualify internationally who participate in both Canadian and US qualifiers (to) read the new rules carefully."

IGF REPORT POSTED ONLINE: A full report on the recent International Go Federation meetings in Tokyo (WMSG DOMINATES IGF MEETING 5/29 EJ) has now been posted online. Included in IGF rep Thomas Hsiang's report is the IGF's "resolution to set up procedures for opening up future WAGC's for bidding by other countries, starting in 2010," as well as a new international event to be held in Korea in September. The team tournament, the Hi Seoul World Businessmen Baduk Fair, runs September 21-27 in Seoul. "Teams from US are welcomed but should organize themselves," reports Hsiang, "players only need to buy airfare, all other expenditures will be provided by KABA." Click here for the full report and here for more photos of Hsiang playing with Pierre Audouard, the vision-impaired WAGC rep from France. Thomas Hsiang (l) plays "Blind Go" with France's Pierre Audouard in Tokyo recently, photo by Yuki Shigeno

LAIRD STEPS ASIDE AS CHAIR AS RECALL IS LAUNCHED: AGA Board Chairman Roy Laird announced Sunday that he was stepping aside as Chair in the wake of a formal recall effort launched last week to remove him from the Board. "Chairing the Board while a recall petition is being evaluated seems to me an insoluble conflict of interest," said Laird, "so I think it best to step aside, allowing the process to move ahead smoothly." AGA President Michael Lash expressed his "appreciation for Roy's gesture in the best interests of the AGA, and affirm(ed) that he has been a valuable contributor to the growth of the AGA and as a board member." The Board selected Central Region representative Roy Schmidt as interim Chair Sunday night; Laird, who is running for re-election as the At-Large representative, remains on the Board. The recall effort - instigated by Ji Li 9d (who confirmed today he's a candidate for the At-Large seat; see story below) and submitted on June 2 by Xuefen Lin 1P -- is based on Laird's role in the recent controversy over the selection of the U.S. representative to the North American Fujitsu Qualifier ("N.A. FUJITSU SELECTION CHALLENGED" 5/19 EJ). AGA bylaws permit the removal of a Director by a vote of two thirds of the Directors or a vote of at least 60% of all weighted Chapter Representatives. Such vote may be initiated by petition of at least 6 chapter representatives. The recall petition was signed by 10 go clubs, six of which are currently registered as AGA chapters. "I have confirmation that 6 registered chapters support the recall so it will go forward." said AGA President Michael Lash, adding that "I will work with the AGA Secretary to initiate the voting process on the recall." Click here for Jie Li's Open Letter and here for Laird's response.

LAST WEEK FOR BOARD NOMINATIONS: Nominees for the AGA Board of Directors thus far include Roy Laird, Daniel Short and Jie Li (At Large), Roy Schmidt (Central), Andrew Okun and Gordon Castanza (West) and Chuck Robbins (East). The deadline for nominations is this Sunday, June 15th. There are four seats open this year, one for each region and the at-large seat. Nominations must be made by email or letter by current AGA members. Send nominations to elections@usgo.org and include nominee's contact information. Any member affiliated with an AGA Chapter may nominate any full AGA member to be a director to represent the region where the chapter is located. Any member may nominate any qualified person for the At-Large position. Make sure the nominees accept the nomination by email or letter and meet the requirements by June 15. Click here for details.

NEW MEMBERS BOOST AGA MEMBERSHIP: Nearly 100 brand-new members of the American Go Association joined last month, taking advantage of an offer of a free copy of the 2007 American Go Yearbook (which are being sent out now). The influx helped swell AGA membership to a new record high of 2,440. For the next year, the new members will enjoy the benefits of membership, including the Member's Edition of the EJ, the annual Yearbook, discounts on tournament fees and more; find out more on the AGA's website. New members: Alford, Bill; Anderson, Tim; Angerman, Chris; Arrowood, Jeff; Basque, Paul; Bernstein, Ryan; Bissesar-singh, Vianka; Booth, Michael; Bouras, Eric; Castagna, Richard; Catlett, Maurice; Chavez, Andres; Cheng, Sai Far; Chiu, Harrison; Cole, Andrew; Colon, Frank; Combs, Brett; Eldred, Tyler; Enyeart, Peter; Estrada, Phillip; Evans, Richard; Farkas, Jacob; Faulkner, Jonathan; Fisher, Skylar; Forrest, Chris; Fraley, Andrew; Garling, David; Garratt, Donald A.; Goldman, Neal; Goss, Chris; Granger, Gary; Greenwell, Zachary; Hamons, Chris; Holcombe, Bradford; Hornbaek, Kasper; Howard, Sam; Hsieh, KH; Huang, Xiao (Alan); Ip, Lawrence; Jackson, John; Jeong, David; Jesson, Jared; Jones, David; Kim, Jungju; Koritzer, Brittany; Kvaltine, Nick; Lambrechts, Ben; Lee, Donald; Li, Victor Dai; Li, Zheng; Lin, Yen-Chun; Love, Naropa; Lu, Zachary; Lum, William; Maguire, Matthew; Manhave, Johannes; Martin, Nathan; Marvel, Jerry; Mathews, Rick; Metts, Duncan; Muzzerall, Joel; Nguyen, Long; Oiu, Alan; Powell-Cohen, Jessica; Quinones, Paul; Rao, Yang; Rataczk, Derek; Razanauskas, Ed; Roth, Stephanie; Schulz, Steven; Sheng, Christoper; Sipes, Eric; Stein, Chase; Teng, Justin; Thiessen, Rosemarie; Trimble, Aaron; Tsai, Alex; Tsai, Katherine; Tsai, Ken; Valvo, Joel; van Esch, Mark; Welch, Kristina; Weller, Greg; Wilson, Bruce; Wilson, Fiona; Wilson, Jack; Wiltshire, Mary; Wu, Ann; Wu, Derek; Wu, Jeff; Yoo, Bradley; Zhang, John; Zheng, Ben.

GO CALENDAR: Santa Monica & NYC
June 14: Santa Monica, CA: Santa Monica Coffee Cup
Andrew Okun abc@okun.name 310.346.5850
June 15: New York, NY: NYGC Big Tournament-3
Boris Bernadsky boris.nygocenter@gmail.com 646.438.1338

LEE SEDOL TAKES ASIAN TV CUP: Lee Sedol (right) 9P of Korea has won the Asian TV Cup for the second time in a row, in yet another international event dominated by the Koreans. The Cup is a match between the players from China, Japan, and Korea who have come in first or second in their national TV fast-game tournaments, plus the winner of the international event from the previous year, who was Lee Sedol 9P this time. This year's event brought together some of the best known names in pro go: Sedol, Cho U 9P, who won this event in 2005, and Cho Chikun 9P of Japan -- both of whom were eliminated in the first round -- and Lee Changho 9P of Korea, who beat Cho Chikun by 1.5 points in the first round but lost to his compatriot Cho Hanseung 9P in the semifinals. Slightly less well-known Cho Hanseung 9P of Korea fell to his fellow countryman Lee Sedol in the final match by a mere half point. Japanese stand-out Cho U lost to Xie He 7P of China in the first round, but Xie was beaten by Lee Sedol in the semifinals. The other Chinese rep, Li Zhe 6P, lost to Cho Hanseung in the first round. The final match between Lee Sedol and Cho Hanseung is attached for your enjoyment.

WOMEN DOWN TO FINAL FOUR IN KOREAN GG AUCTION CUP: The women's team is down to their last four players in the GG Auction Cup, the Korean win-and-continue match between twelve older male pros (the seniors) and twelve women pros. The women won last year, despite a heroic effort by the last senior player Cho Hunhyun 9P. This year the men got off to a good start when Jimmy (Monsoo) Cha 4P defeated five women before losing to Lee Minjin 5P by a half point. Lee went on to defeat three more seniors before falling to Kim Jongsoo 6P, who has now defeated two more women. So the women are down to four players, while the men still have eight. However, the four women include Rui Naiwei (left) 9P and Park Jieun 9P, who are among the strongest women players in the world, as well as Cho Hyeyeon 7P, who has defeated Rui several times.

CHINESE DOMINATE FUJITSU SEMIFINALS: The final four in the 21st international Fujitsu Cup consist of three Chinese players and a lone representative from Korea, Lee Changho 9P. Lee defeated the only Japanese still standing in the previous round, Yoda Norimoto 9P. The three Chinese left each knocked out a Korean in the previous round: Gu Li (right) 9P beat Lee Sedol 9P, Chang Hao 9P defeated Park Yeonghun 9P, and Liu Xing 7P topped Cho Hanseung 9P by 1.5 points. Korean players have won this event the last ten years in a row, but the Chinese seem to have the edge this time. Lee Changho won the Fujitsu in 1996 and 1998, and he came in second last year so he can't be counted out. Chang Hao was second in 1998 and 2000. None of the other players have ever made it to the finals of this lucrative tournament--the winner's prize is about $150,000 US. The tournament concludes in early July in Tokyo.

GO PHOTO: Going for a Recorder in Holland: Leo Dorst (l) of the University of Amsterdam plays EuroGoTV's Harry Weerheijm. The game was recorded for use by Dorst's students, who want to write a video-based go recording program. Recognizing the challenge of the project, Dorst says "At least some of my students (who attend his weekly club at the University) learn to play go this way."
- report/photo by Peter Dijkema, EJ correspondent in The Netherlands

GO QUIZ: Fourth Best So Far
Laurent Heiser (right) of Luxembourg's best WAGC finish was 4th place, and, as usual, Kim Salamony and Phil Waldron agreed on this. They disagreed on when, however. Phil says 1990 and Kim says 1992; my info says 1991, the 12th championship is correct, but Phil and Kim were right about Laurent being 4th. Kim is this week's winner, selected at random from those answering correctly.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: Check out Who's Coming to this year's U.S. Go Congress: at quiz time 257 folks are registered so far. Which state has the most registrants - other than host state Oregon and California (not fair - they have all those Burralls!)? Last year Maryland nosed out New Jersey in this question. Is it Maryland, New Jersey, New York or Washington? Three lucky winners will get copies of the 2008 Ranka magazine! EJ managing Editor Chris Garlock brought back copies of the 32-page publication, which features reports and games from the 2007 WAGC as well as the 18th International Pair Go Championship. Click here to vote.
- Quizmaster Keith Arnold

GO CLASSIFIED
SELL IT, BUY IT OR TRADE IT HERE with nearly 13,000 go-players worldwide! Classified ads are FREE and run for 4 weeks; email your ad to us now at journal@usgo.org

TEACHER WANTED: Seeking teacher (1 dan or above) for 13 kyu student in Lake County, Illinois (Grayslake area). Fee and number of lessons to be negotiated. Please e-mail mnewcomballen@juno.com if interested. (6/9)

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Bluffton SC/Hilton Head SC; Starting a go club, need members, any level of strength is welcome. Need to get members in order to start fundraising for equipment. If interested, please contact me at: teamochi@mac.com (6/9)

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Maine: Looking for go players who would like to start a go club in the State of Maine. I've always been interested in go, and I love teaching beginners. email kenntheconverse@gmail.com (6/2)

GO PLAYERS AND/OR CLUBS WANTED: Tampa, Florida, near USF. Email Brandon Berger at gemhunter6000@aol.com (6/2)

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Bluffton, SC: Starting a go club, need members, any level of strength is welcome. This would be one of the only clubs in the state. If interested, please contact teamochi@mac.com (6/2)

Go PLAYERS WANTED: Southern WV around the Athens to Bluefield area. Andrew Lewis; water_mage98@yahoo.com (6/2)

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Alamogordo NM and surrounding area: Looking to find some players for regular games - any skill level! Contact Doug Simpson at kdougsimpson@earthlink.net (6/2)

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Juneau, Alaska. email Charles McKenry at: kyouhon_chuck@yahoo.com (5/19)

Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
Professionals: Yilun Yang 7P; Alexandr Dinerchtein 3P; Fan Hui 2P
Contributors: Paul Barchilon (Youth Editor); Lawrence Ku (U.S. West Coast Reporter); Brian Allen (U.S. West Coast Photo Editor); Peter Dijkema (Dutch/European Correspondent); Marilena Bara (Romania/European Correspondent); Ian Davis (Ireland Correspondent)
Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Zeijst; Roy Laird; Peter Shotwell
Translations: Chris Donner (Japan); Bob McGuigan (Japan); Matt Luce (China)

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Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association.