AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL
World Go News from The American Go Association

 
 
 

MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Today's game commentary is an extensive commentary by Liu Jing 8P on the 21st Fujitsu Cup Quarter Final between Chang Hao 9P of China and Park Yeonghun 9P of Korea. It was played June 7 in Qiyuan, China and the commentary, originally published in Weiqi World, was translated by Yuan Zhou 8d. Today's bonus file is Yilun Yang's October Easy Endgame Puzzle. Non-members: join the American Go Association and get all this great content with every EJ! It's all just a click away!

October 13, 2008; Volume 9, #53

WSMG U.S. TEAM UPDATES: Jie Li is the only U.S. player thus far to make the finals in the World Mind Sports Games now entering the second week of play in Beijing, China. Li made the first round of the Amateur Individual event, but was knocked out by Youngwoo Ham 7D of Korea, who wound up taking 2nd place. See below for a quick status report on the WMSG U.S. team.
     Men's Individual: Michael Redmond finished 3rd in his division in the Men's Individual preliminary rounds, scoring 5-1 and losing only to division winner Xi Wang 9P of China who went 6-0. "Redmond was severely handicapped in the tie breaking," reports U.S. Team Leader Chris Kirschner, "having been paired with Mexico, who provided no tie breaking points. This was simply bad luck, as the pairings were random. With 24 players in each group, there was much talk of the need for a 7th round, as is being done in the women's and amateur events." The prelim results of the rest of the U.S. team; Xinyu Tu (3rd); Huiren Yang (6th), Matthew Burrall (6th); Lionel Zhang (7th). Final results: 1st place: Dong Yoon Kang (Korea); 2nd: Jung Sang Park; 3rd: Zhe Li, China.
     Amateur Individual: Jie Li made the finals of the Amateur Individual, with a 5-2 score, losing only to Yuqing Hu 8D of China, who has won the World Amateur Championship twice, and a 6-dan Chinese replacement player who was entered to make an even-numbered field. In the first round of the finals - an 8-player knockout -- Li faced Youngwoo Ham 7D of Korea, who won after a fierce battle in the late middle game in which Youngwoo was able to both connect a large threatened group and kill the corner group Li had sacrificed in trying to cut it off. Final results: 1st: Tae Won Jo (PRK); 2nd: Youngwoo Ham (KOR); 3rd: Yong Hee Lee (KOR).
     Women's Individual: In the Women's Individual, Tina Zhang scored highest of the U.S. team, taking 7th in her division, while Cherry Shen placed 8th and Kristen Burrall took 13th. "Here too, pairings were random within score groups," notes Kirschner, "which can lead to a good number of ‘lesson games' when pros are in the same group as amateurs." Cherry Shen faced three pros, Tina Zhang played only one pro and Kristen Burrall lost her first two games and did not play a pro. Final results: 1st: Ronghui Song (CHN); 2nd: Min Jin Lee (KOR); 3rd: Ji Eun Park (KOR).
     Men's Team Prelim: With five rounds still to play, the U.S. lost to China in the first round and defeated Spain in Round 2.
     Women's Team Prelim: After six rounds, the U.S. team is tied with DPR Korea for 3rd (in Division 1) with 8 points, behind Korea (12) and Japan (10). The U.S. defeated Canada in Round 1, lost to Germany in Round 2, beat The Netherlands in Round 3, defeated Spain in Round 4, lost to Korea in Round 5, and defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina in Round 6. At press-time, the U.S. was set to play Japan in the 7th and final prelim round.
     Mixed Pairs: The U.S. defeated Colombia in Round 1 and lost to China in Round 2, with five rounds to go.
     ONLINE COVERAGE: Click here for WMSG results, here for Ranka Online, and here for Chris Kirchner's online photo album. Photos: (above left) Jie Li (l) in the Amateur Individual; (above right) Yinli Wang in the Women's Team Prelim. Photos by Chris Kirschner.

CHO EVENS UP MEIJIN: Cho U (left) 9P has won the 4th game of his Meijin title match with Iyama Yuta 8P to even up the score at 2-2. This makes the match a best-of-three-game event now with Cho having the momentum. Nineteen-year-old Iyama won the first two games by 5.5 points and a half point respectively, but Cho's wins have both been by resignation. The fifth game with be on October 15-16. Iyama will be playing Yoda Norimoto 9P for the chance to be the Kisei challenger while Cho is the challenger against Kono Rin 9P for the Tengen title and the challenger against Yamashita Keigo 9P for the Oza title. Cho also is in the finals in the winners' bracket to be the Judan challenger; Iyama is still alive in the losers' bracket in this one. Cho holds the Gosei title; Iyama is in the challenger's tournament which has not begun yet. Cho could end up holding four of the top seven titles in Japan.

DONG HO KIM WINS SEATTLE TOURNEY: Dong Ho Kim 6d won the Seattle Go Center Anniversary Tournament, held October 11 in Seattle, WA. The Go Center held the free tournament to celebrate its 13th anniversary and Michael Austin once again provided prizes for the event, which this year included a 32" TV, a 10 megapixel camera, a set of Simpson's DVDs, a variety of go books, and 3 cash prizes totaling $100. Dong Ho Kim won the high dan section, while Nick Sibicky won the middle section (dan and single digit kyu) and Gordon Castanza won the double digit kyu section. Twenty four players competed, with most of them Yen-Chun Lin (Josephine) placed 2nd in the middle section, and Jay Zeng placed third in that section. Winners took turns choosing prizes, and several go books were taken before the 9th person chose the 32" TV. With players from as far away at Montreal, the 13th annual tournament included a gala dinner; John Hogan directed. Photo: (above right) Winner Dong Ho Kim (left) playing Jin Chen at the Seattle Go Center Anniversary Tournament. Photo by Brian Allen.

GO GARDEN: Visitors to the Portland Chinese Garden (left) Sunday afternoon had a chance to take in a go demonstration along with the autumn colors. Portland Go Club President Glenn Peters and visiting Tacoma Go Club President Gordon Castanza taught go in the Garden's Hall of Brocade Clouds; the Portland Go Club will hold a second go demonstration in the Portland Chinese Garden on October 19th.

FREE IGS APP FOR IPHONE/TOUCH: Kris Van Beal has released the free app "Tetsuki," reports Anders Kierulf. "With Tetsuki, you can use your iPhone or iPod touch to connect to IGS," Kierulf tells the EJ. "It seems highly popular -- it's currently listed as number 50 in the top hundred free game apps." Kierulf's SmartGo Touch has recently been featured by Apple in the App Store, and has made it into the top one hundred paid games, and "Subway Shuffle" a puzzle created by 2-dan go player Bob Hearn is listed as number 77.

KIM & SHEN HOLD MINI-WORKSHOP IN SANTA BARBARA: Almost two dozen Los Angeles-area go players attended the mini-workshop given the first weekend in October by US Open champion Myungwan Kim (seated in blue, back to camera) 8P, of Pasadena, and Jennie Shen (seated in pink, facing camera) 2P of Santa Barbara. The Santa Monica Go Club hosted the two pros, both recent arrivals in Southern California and active teachers looking to meet local players who might want lessons. Kim presented a review of one of his own games from the 2008 US Open, as well as amusing the audience with a difficult insei problem from his training in Korea. Shen reviewed attendees' games, asking "Why do that? Why not just kill?" Afterwards, both players, along with local Danny Ko 7d (AGA 8.71) played 3-on-1 simultaneous games.

BOLEY CHANGES ROLE AT SEATTLE GO CENTER: After nearly 10 years managing the Seattle Go Center, Jon Boley (right) 6d has passed the administrative duties of the Center over to Brian Allen. Boley will continue teaching at the Go Center, with beginner classes on Tuesday evening and a rigorous Kyu Class on Wednesday evenings. Go Center Board president Andrew Gross presented Jon with a lifetime membership, a teapot and fine teas at the 13th Anniversary Party. "It would be impossible to overstate the contribution that Jon has made to the Go Center," Gross wrote in a letter posted on the Center's website. The party was attended by over 50 people, including visitor Janice Kim 3P. New Go Center Manager Brian Allen has been the coordinator for the West Coast Go Camp for the last two years and has extensive experience with not-for-profit organizations, including the Photographic Center Northwest, where he teaches. He's also West Coast Photographer for the E-Journal.

BRITS STUDY ANCIENT GO DOCUMENT: A 1200-year-old manuscript containing go proverbs and other instructions is being studied and conserved at the British Museum, with the help of The Zen Machine, a British group headed by Peter Wendes. The manuscript, thought to be the oldest surviving go manual, was discovered in 1900 among 40,000 similar scrolls in a cave near Dunhuang, a city of about 150,000 people in northwestern China. Located near the junction of the northern and southern Silk Roads, Dunhuang was an important military stronghold and center of exchange between East and West more than 2000 years ago. Buddhist monks constructed nearly 500 temples, the nearby Mogao Caves, and began collecting manuscripts from travelers. In 1900, a self-appointed guardian of these temples discovered a huge collection of artifacts in a walled-off section of one of these caves, and sold them to Hungarian archaeologist Aurel Stein for just 220 pounds and many of those manuscripts -- including this one -- wound up at the British Museum. According to Wendes, the manuscript, which measures about 6" wide and 96" long, has never been translated. If you can help, contact him at the Zen Machine.
- reported by Roy Laird

XIE YIMIN TIES UP WOMEN'S HONINBO: Eighteen-year-old Xie Yimin (right) 3P took Game Two in her defense of the Japanese Women's Honinbo title against Suzuki Ayumi 4P to even up the score in the best-of-five-game match at 1-1. Xie won this title last year to go with the Women's Meijin which she also holds now, along with the Daiwa Women's Cup; she holds three of the five women's titles at the moment and is tied for 15th on the list of Japanese pros with the most wins. Her current record is 22 wins with 15 losses for a winning rate of 59%. Suzuyki is tied for eleventh on the list with 24 wins and a rate of 71%; she also has held the Stongest Woman title twice, in 2003 and 2007.

GO CALENDAR: Beijing, Ames, Tacoma & Somerville
October 3-17: Beijing, China: WORLD MIND SPORT GAMES
Click here for the latest report & photos.

October 18: Ames, IA: Cyclone Go Rated Tournament
Ramon Mercado 787.410.1977 cyclonego@iastate.edu

October 18: Tacoma, WA: Tacoma Go Club Monthly Ratings Tournament
Gordon Castanza 253.853.4831 gcastanza@comcast.net

October 19: Somerville, MA: Massachusetts Go Assoc. 4-round Handicap Tournament
Eva W. Casey 617.666.8934 eva@theworld.com

Photo: Playing go in Beijing, near the Forbidden City. Photo by David Fotland.

GO QUIZ: New Record
Smashing the previous mark -- 5 dan held by Yoda Norimoto and Takao Shinji -- Uchida Shuhei (right) 2 dan is the new holder of the Shinjin - O title. While most of you got the right answer, a few, including Quiz stalwart Kim Salamony, were behind the times, giving 5 dan as the answer. Congrats to Martin Mueller, this week's winner. Leaderboard update - P Waldron 23/24, K Salamony 21/24, S Fawthrop 14/16, Grant Kerr 13/13, R Burger 10/10, T Fung 9/11, P Schumer 7/10 and T Morris 6/10. THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: This week we stay with the Shinjin - O tournament, open to players 7 dan and below. What's the strongest rank held by the winner of this tournament, 5, 6, 7 or 8 dan? Click here to send us your answer.
- 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

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Flint, MI: Go players wanted to either start a club or to get together casually to play some live games. UM-Flint students highly welcome and encouraged! Please contact Dustin at dspluta@gmail.com (10/13)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Online: Looking for go players of all ranks to join Online Go Club. We will be meeting every Saturday around 1pm EST on the KGS. My KGS name is KangningMa if you want to contact me there, or you can email me at: kenntheconverse@gmail.com (9/29)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Montgomery County, PA: We meet Sunday's at Borders in Airport Square, Routes 309 and 202, North Wales, PA. Neil Zod nlzod@comcast.net (9/29)
GO CLASS IN VA: Go Class/Club at The Boys and Girls Club in Manassas, VA every Wed at 6:30P during the school year starting on Sept 17, 2008. Open to kids age 6-18, no experience needed. Click here for facility/membership information, contact Mike Dobbins mike1003@hotmail.com for go class/club specifics. (9/15)

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 Photographer); Keith Arnold (Go Quiz); Peter Dijkema (Dutch/European Correspondent); Marilena Bara (Romania/European Correspondent); Ian Davis (Ireland Correspondent); Jens Henker (Korea Correspondent)
Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Zeijst; Roy Laird; Peter Shotwell
Translations: Chris Donner (Japan); Bob McGuigan (Japan); Matt Luce (China)

Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the E-Journal. Please direct inquiries to journal@usgo.org

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.

 
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