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November 3, 2008; Volume 9, #56
IYAMA
FIGHTS BACK IN MEIJIN: Down 2-3 in his challenge for the Meijin, Iyama Yuta (left)
9P came roaring back after losing three straight to make the score 3-3
and take the match to a final Game 7 showdown. Defeating defending
champion Cho U 9P by resignation
after less than a hundred moves, the teen will now try to ride the
momentum in his quest to be the first teenager ever to hold one of the
top three titles in Japan. The final game of the best-of-
seven-game
match is scheduled for November 4th and 5th (U.S. time), and will be
carried live on IGS starting at 7 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday night,
enabling those interested in the U.S. Presidential election to follow
two historic contests.
CHO U TAKES FIRST GAME IN OZA: Cho U (right) 9P got off to a good start in his challenge of Yamashita Keigo 9P for the Oza title, winning the first game by resignation. Yamashita is hoping for a three-peat in the Oza, which he first took from Cho U in 2006. Cho had held the title for three years. Yamashita's only other current title is the Kisei. Cho also holds the Meijin, which he is currently defending against Iyama Yuta 8P, and the Gosei among the top seven, and he is the challenger for the Tengen. Cho will quite likely be engaged in three top-seven title matches at the same time. He is also the current holder of the Agon Cup and the NHK Cup. In terms of current titles Cho is clearly number one in Japan. The next game in the Oza match is scheduled for November 13th.
JIE
LI WINS N.A. STUDENT OZA: Jie Li swept to victory in this
weekend's North American Student Oza online qualifier on KGS, winning
all four rounds and the opportunity to represent North America in the
upcoming 2009 World Oza in Japan. Yue Zhang (2-2) was the runner-up,
losing to Li and Jeffery Fung (1-3) of Canada. And in a nail-biting
battle for third place, Kwo-Ping Ho (2-2) forced Xingshuo Liu (1-3) to
resign in Sunday's final round. "Many thanks to Phil Waldron, the AGA's
new Tournament Coordinator for organizing this event," says online
Tournament Director Dennis Wheeler, "and a terrific job by
newly-installed Online Tournament Directors Daniel Short, Oren Laskin
and Lawrence Ku, as well as our favorite KGS admin, Akane Negishi." Click here for final
results and game records.
SAUL
LAPIDUS TOPS ROCHESTER TOURNEY: Saul Lapidus 1d topped the
fourth annual Greg Lefler Memorial Tournament , held October 25-26 in
Rochester, NY. Thirty-three players from five states and Canada
gathered at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus. "Two of
the winners were deaf players," notes TD Steve Colburn. Winner's
Report: Dan 
Division:
1st: Saul Lapidus 1d, 2nd: Phil Waldron 6d, 3rd: Dan Short 3d. Single
Digit Kyu Division: 1st: Carrie Lapidus 6k, 2nd: Victor Kostyuk, 3rd:
Peter Wynn 5k. Double Digit Kyu Division: 1st: Jesy Felecia, 2nd: Kevin
King, 3rd: Brandon Chan.
ZHANG
REPEATS AT ING YOUTH CUP: Hugh Zhang 6d repeated as champion
of the Ing's Cup Youth Go Tournament on October 26. The 11th annual
event attracted 110 kids - including 36 first-time tourney players --
to the Chinese Cultural Center of Sunnyvale, CA, where youth ranging
from 6d to 30k vied for prizes and trophies. This year, tournament
organizers Mingjiu Jiang 7P and Reid Augustin 5d decided to combine all
of the 13x13 players into one large division., which Darren Huang won,
sweeping all five of his games. Winner's Report: Division A (Open):
1st: Hugh Zhang, 2nd: Justin Shieh, 3rd: Albert Chen. Division B: 1st:
Anthony Su, 2nd: Brandon Lin, 3rd: David Su. Division C: 1st: Daniel 
Liu. Division D:
1st: Binjih Lin. Division E: 1st: Alex Zhu. Division F: 1st: Matthew
Fu. Division G: 1st: Aaron Ye. Division H: 1st: Alan Hwang. Division I:
1st: Kevin Hung.
XIE
YIMIN TAKES LEAD IN HONINBO DEFENSE: Xie Yimin (right)
3P leads 2-1 in her best-of-five-game defense against challenger Suzuki Ayumi 4P for the Women's Honinbo title. Still a
teenager, Xie also holds the Women's Meijin title. She lost her
first title, Strongest Woman, to Kato Keiko 6P back in
July, though she made it to the finals, losing 2-0. At this point Kato
has the best record in the League to determine the challenger for the
Meijin. The fourth game in the Women's Honinbo title match is scheduled
for November 5th.
GU LI
WINS CHINESE AGON CUP: Gu Li (left)
9P defeated Chang Hao 9P by 5.5
points to win the 10th Agon Cup in China (Ahan Tongshan Cup). This is the
third time Gu has won this event, more than any other player. Liu Xing 7P won it in 2006 and
2007, and Zhou Heyang 9P in 2004
and 2000. Gu will play the winner of the Japanese Agon Cup in a dual
international meet. The Japanese event has reached the finals, which
will be between Takanashi Seiken 8P and Cho U 9P. Gu won this event in
2004 and 2005. Every time he has won the Chinese event, he has also won
the match against the Japanese winner. Cho won the Japanese event 
the last
two years and was defeated by Liu both times.
KANG
KANGYUN VS LEE SEDOL IN CHUNWON: Teen Kang Dongyun (right)
8P, who won a gold medal in the recent World Mind Sports, will play a
best-of-five-game match with Lee Sedol 9P for the Korean Chunwon (Japanese:
Tengen) title. Last year Kang took the King of Kings (aka Electron-Land
Cup) title from Lee Changho 9P by a score
of 2-1. Now he has a chance to do the same thing to the other of the
two top Korean players, Lee Sedol. It would be quite a feat. Lee Sedol
holds four international titles currently and two nationals. Only Gu Li 9P of China comes
close to that level; he has two international titles and five Chinese
nationals. Cho U 9P may soon have
that kind of dominance in national Japanese titles, but holds no
international ones. Kang played in the finals of the Chunwon last year,
as well, losing to Won SeongJin 9P.
GO DISCUSSIONS UPDATE: GoDiscussions.com is currently down. "The site will be coming back soon, so please don't worry," reports AGA webmaster Steve Colburn. "They are working hard to get the site back up and running for everyone soon."
CHRISTMAS
SALE AT KISEIDO: Kiseido is currently featuring a Christmas
sale of go equipment, large discounts on thick
shell and slate stones, Japanese kaya table boards and boards with
legs, and go bowls. Click here or see Special
Sale For Connoisseurs story below for
details.
WONDER GO FOR YOUNG LEARNERS: Seattle based WonderChess has added a prize-filled version of go to their product line. In WonderGo, when a stone is captured, the player removes it from the board, opens it, and claims a prize inside. The hollow stones can be filled with candies, stickers, or small toys, and provides immediate gratification to the game for young learners. Children as young as four can successfully be taught both first capture and go with the new system. "We introduced WonderGo to provide a compelling and unique go teaching set for young children," explains CEO Michel Alvarez, "we also wanted to provide a pathway for this classic game from Asia to capture the imagination of children in this country." The American Go Foundation has added WonderGo to their new online store, and is offering matching funds for qualified programs to help them purchase the set. WonderGo has earned internationally recognized awards including Creative Child Magazine's Top Children's Board Game 2007, and Dr. Toy's Best Products 2007. It was also selected as a "Top 10 Board Game" by the NY Times' About.com in 2007. -Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor; photo: 4-year-old Sophia cracks open a stone to claim her prize. Photo by Paul Barchilon, at the Boulder Kids and Teens Go Club.
FUNNY
GAMES: Check out Stephen Colbert's comedic take on
the recent World Mind
Sports
Games in the show's second segment, starting 9:45 into the show. Thanks
to Roy Laird for passing this along.
EURO
TOURNEY UPDATES: Hong Seul-ki 7D won the November 1-2
Groningen tournament in The Netherlands. Rudi Verhagen 5d took second
place. The new venue featured several adjacent small bars in the old
center of town and '09 Euro Congress co-organiser Réné Goedhart
3D smilingly acknowledged that "It was my idea to test these pubs as a
possible venue for unofficial evening lightning tourneys during next
years European Championship. It worked very well. We can easily have a
hundred people here for an exciting side event in town." In other
recent European tournaments, Rudi Verhagen 5d (NL) won the mid-October
'Bamboo' tourney in Bochum, Germany, besting Matthias Verwey 4D, while
Mark Ostendorf 8k was the only other player to remain undefeated. A
week later, Jin Zou 6d won in his hometown Leipzig 5-0 ahead of
countryman Yi Zhang 4d, also of Leipzig. Only Andreas Melzer 15k won
all his games as well. Both tourneys attracted some 50 participants.
Another weekend later, in Berlin with 68 players, Bernd Schütze 5d took
home the 3rd Japanese Ambassadors Cup with a clean slate, ahead of
Manja Marz (left, in purple) 4D from Leipzig. The
latter did not lose in Berlin, but she did not play all rounds. She
also did well in the German Pair Go Championship: in St. Augustin ten
pairs took part and three of them tied for the podium with 4-1.
Opponent's points decided the final outcome: 1st: Olga Silber 1k -
Benjamin Teuber 6d (Hamburg); 2nd: Manuela
Marz 4d -
German Go Federation President Michael Marz 3d (Leipzig); 3rd: Judith
Conradi 2d - Michael Budahn 3d. Click here for full
reports (in German).
- reported by Peter Dijkema,
European E-Journal Correspondent
AMSTERDAM
YOUTH TOURNEY: The Autumn Kids Championship of Amsterdam took
place on October 31, with twelve kids under 12 participating, many of
them pairs of brothers or sisters. In the first kids tourney, held last
Spring, identical twins Nelson and Mozes van der Kar, now 10, had done
well, as had Simone Admiraal, 11. After four games
at the
Autumn event, Nelson looked likely to repeat his Spring success, with a
come-from-behind victory against his twin brother in the 4th. However,
he then lost to 7-year-old Yuki de Groot, who with his 5-year-old
sister Aya were the only participants from outside Amsterdam, all the
way from Rijswijk, some 40 miles way. "Yuki started to play only six
months ago", explained his proud father Ger. That left three players
leading with 4-1. Of the leaders, only Simone and Yuki hadn't yet met
yet, but their play-off didn't clarify the lead and in the end, TD Leo
Dorst declared the three as equal winners. With only one winner's cup
available, Dorst awarded it to Yuki, as "the youngest of the winners,
also he traveled the farthest, so he can take this cup home, while
Simone and Nelson will receive their copies later." All the kids got
prizes for taking part and had a happy Halloween kick-off.
- report/photos by Peter Dijkema
CALENDAR:
Gardena, Baltimore, Tacoma, New York & Houston
- November 8-9: Gardena, CA: Tadashi Sasaki 8p
Workshop
Andy
Okun, abc@okun.name; 310-346-5850
-
November 8: Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins 7th Annual
Fall Tournament
Lisa
Scott, lscott28@jhu.edu; 816-651-6347
-
November 8: Tacoma, WA: 3rd Annual
Veterans' Day Tournament
Dr. Gordon E. Castanza, gcastanza@comcast.net;
253-853-4831; Mike Malveaux, mikem@hilltopgo.com; 253.906.0095
-
November 9: New York, NY: Masters Open
Boris Bernadsky, boris.nygocenter@gmail.com;
646-438-1338; Dae Yol Kim, pkrealtor@gmail.com
-
November 9: Houston, TX: Houston Fall Tournament 2008
Robert Cordingley, 281-333-1614
Photo: Children play a game of Go on a WonderGo
Board. Photo by Paul Barchilion.
GO
QUIZ: Seven For Austria
E-Journal Correspondent Peter Dijkema provided the details for the
answer to this week's Quiz: Austria held the "2nd Altenmarkt 1958, 5th
Baden 1961, 14th Brunn am Gebirge 1970, 19th Krems 1975, 25th Linz
1981, 34th Vienna 1990 and 51st Villach 2007".He goes on to explain
that Poland and Italy have held the event twice each, while France has
hosted three times. 19 of 22 were correct, including this week's
winner, Ramon Mercado. THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: BACK IN
THE USA: As we approach the close of this year's quiz competition, I
will try to ask some harder questions - this week is not so hard, but
at least no multiple choice. This year's US Congress will be held at
George Mason University. GeOrge - contains the word "go" in it, though
not consecutively. Can you name the one US Go Congress host city that
has "go" in it, consecutive letters and in order? Click here to enter.
- Keith Arnold
GO
ONLINE: Special Sale For Connoisseurs
In a previous column, we told you about some sites that offer great
bargains on basic equipment, cheaper in some cases than the average
board game at ToysRUs. Now let's go to the other extreme. The finest
equipment can cost $1000's, and if you've ever played on an kaya floor
board with slate and shell stones in quince bowls, you probably know
why. Have you been thinking about investing in equipment that is a joy
to use? If so, there's never been a better time! In Japan, where the
finest equipment is made, interest in go has declined in recent years,
and manufacturers are overstocked. Kiseido, the Japan-based publisher
of great go books and Go World magazine, has taken advantage of this
situation to acquire some extremely fine equipment for a special
holiday sale at discounts of 50% and more, as much as 70% in some
cases. You'll find stones as thick as 14.2 mm -- any thicker and they
would be marbles! -- a floor board made from a 600-year-old kaya tree,
and bowls created by a famous artisan. Even if you're not planning a
purchase, you'll learn fascinating facts about what makes top level
equipment the best. If you can afford it, this is the finest gift you
can give your favorite player -- even if that player is you!
- Roy Laird
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: Independence, MO: Open every Tuesday from 5-7P at the game cafe in Independence Square, 107 Lexington, MO 64050; cost is free, $2 for drinks (unlimited refils); the_emo_kyd@yahoo.com (11/3)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Lexington, KY: New Go club forming at the Lexington Public Library downtown First meetings are November 5th and 19th from 6-9pm, and players of all levels are welcome! Email dantenen@lexpublib.org for more information. (10/20)
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)
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.
American Go Association
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