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

 
 
 

MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Today's bonus files include a brand-new difficult endgame problem from Yilun Yang 7P and our latest Hot Off the Press: Excerpts from New Go Books, in which we present a sample of 21st Century New Openings
by Kim Sung-rae, published by Yutopian Enterprises. This book presents the latest Korean thinking about several joseki and fuseki, illustrated with many example pro games. Non-members: join the American Go Association and get all this great content with every EJ! It's all just a click away!

November 10, 2008; Volume 9, #57

CHO TAKES THIRD STRAIGHT MEIJIN: Cho U (left) has retained his Meijin title after an exciting seesaw battle with Iyama Yuta that went the full 7-game distance. After losing the first two games in his Meijin title defense against teen Iyama 8P, Cho 9P then won three straight games to take a 3-2 lead but then lost Game 6 in less than 100 moves. Cho won the decisive seventh game on November 5-6 and so will hold that title for the third year in a row and the fifth time overall. Cho is now in the midst of a major run at the top seven Japanese titles. He already holds the Meijin and the Gosei, and he's the challenger for both the Tengen and the Oza (he's won the first game in the Oza title match), and he is in the finals to be the challenger for the Judan. In the Honinbo League, which has just started, he is 1-0. The only one of the top seven he is out of currently is the Kisei, although he came close to winning his section of that League. Iyama is also compiling an impresssive record. He won his section of the Kisei League, but lost the play-off game to Yoda Norimoto 9P; he is still alive in the Losers' Bracket of the Judan, lost to Cho in the finals to be the challenger for the Oza, and is playing in the challenger's tournament for the Gosei. 

N.A. FUJITSU PLAYERS FINALIZED: Sixteen of the continent's top players, led by Mingjiu Jiang (right) and Jie Li, have been selected to compete for the right to represent North America at the Fujitsu World Go Championship, reports Tournament Coordinator Philip Waldron. The N.A. Fujitsu will be held on the KGS Go Server on November 22-23; the winner of the four-round elimination event will represent North American at the Fujitsu in Japan. Additional notable names in the tournament include professional Huiren Yang, 2009 WAGC representative Eric Lui, past champion and 2008 KPMC representative Thomas Hsiang and 2008 Redmond Cup champion Gan Sheng Shi of Canada. Click here for a full list of players and tournament information.

TEEN PARK JIYEON IN WOMEN'S MYEONGIN FINALS TO CHALLENGE RUI NAIWEI: Seventeen-year-old Park Jiyeon 1P has won no titles yet, but she now finds herself in the finals of the tournament to determine the challenger for Rui Naiwei (left) 9P's Korean Women's Myeongin (Japanese: Meijin) title. This tournament is a double-elimination; after their first loss, the losers play each other in a separate bracket until only one is left. That player then plays the winner of the winners' bracket to decide who will be the challenger. This year Cho Hyeyeon 8P, who challenged Rui for it five times, winning in 2003 while still a teen herself -- and who is also the current Women's Kuksu -- is the winner of the winner's bracket. She beat Park in the semi-finals of that bracket, but Park won the final game among the losers, so she and Cho will meet again.

CHINESE-KOREAN FINALS IN LG CUP: The best-of-three-game finals of the 13th international LG Cup will be between Lee Sedol 9P of Korea and Gu Li (below right) 9P of China. In the semifinals November 5th, Lee knocked out fellow Korean Park Yeonghun 9P, while Gu eliminated Korea's Lee Changho 9P by 1.5 points. Lee Sedol won this event last year, as well as in 2003, and Gu won it in 2006. Lee Changho has won it four times. Overall, the Koreans have been victorious seven times, the Chinese and the Japanese twice each, and the Taiwanese once. The finals will occur in late February in Seoul.

JOEY'S GO SCHOOL BACK IN BIZ: AGA 8 dan Joey Hung has re-opened his go school in Fremont, California. Joey's Go School -- which shut down in August 2006 when Hung decided to focus on his MBA and investing - is located at 114 Yucca Court in Fremont and is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:30-5P. Contact him at egogames@yahoo.com or call 510-659-8220.

JENNIE SHEN TO TEACH IN PHILLY: There's still time to sign up for the upcoming Jennie Shen (left) 2P workshop in Philadelphia. The workshop - which includes lectures and gameDecember 12 and runs through the afternoon of December 14. Cost is $100 for the whole session, or $50 for youth or Penn Go Society members. Check out the Penn Go Society website for details; contact Matt Bengtson (matt@mattbengtson.com, 215-704-4600) or Peter Nassar (pnassar@vet.upenn.edu, 215-898-6271) for more info. Photo from Flickr user greyaenigma

IPHONE GO APPS: "There are now 4 iPhone apps relating to go on the App Store," reports Berlin-based Chuck Smith. "Your readers might be interested in a quick summary of them," he says, adding "Full disclosure: I'm the developer of Go Player."

- Stones (free): Play Go with someone next to you. Drag stones from two beautiful Go bowls onto the board. Click here.

- Tetsuki (free): Play or watch Go on the Internet Go Server (IGS). Click here.

- SmartGo touch ($9.99): A full rich-study experience full of options especially suited to stronger players. Click here.

- Go Player ($3.99): Geared more toward casual players, randomly chooses from over a thousand games to show which one can either play at a quick pace or slow down and play through move by move by tapping anywhere on the board. Click here.

WHEELER'S CONTRIBUTIONS RECOGNIZED: Noting that Dennis Wheeler "has served the AGA with distinction in the capacity as online tournament director," the American Go Association's Board of Directors issued a special commendation to Wheeler last week, thanking him "on behalf of the nation's go players." Wheeler is retiring from his post as the AGA's main online tournament director after several years on the job. The Board also issued Wheeler complimentary year's membership in the AGA for his service.

CALENDAR: Tucson (Twice), Ames, Charlottesville & NYC

- November 12: Tucson, AZ: Tucson Go Club November Rating Tournament
Self-paired rating tournament. We will start at 7PM and we will play till midnight. IHOP at I-10 and Grant. Our regular Wednesday location.
Martin Lebl 520.850.9213 martinlebl@gmail.com

- November 15: Tucson, AZ: Tucson Go Club November Rating Tournament
Self-paired rating tournament. We will start at 3PM and we will play till midnight. IHOP at Oracle and Limberlost (In front of Lowe's hardware store.) Our regular Saturday location.
Martin Lebl 520.850.9213 martinlebl@gmail.com

- November 15: Ames, IA: Cyclone Go Rated Tournament
Ramon Mercado 787.410.1977 cyclonego@iastate.edu

- November 15: Charlottesville, VA: Go Club at UVa Fall Tournament
Matthew Shufflebarger 703.835.7134 PlayGoUVA@gmail.com

- November 16: New York, NY: Rated Tournament
Boris Bernadsky 212.223.0342 boris.nygocenter@gmail.com 

GO QUIZ: ChicaGO
"Finally, a question even an idiot like me can respond to," was the comment from an anonymous Quiz respondent. Indeed, 23 out of 23 of you knew Chicago was the US Go Congress host city that contains the word has "go" - in consecutive order -- in it, though Peter Schumer pointed out the site was technically Chicago suburb Oak Park. Steve Fawthrop and Reinhold Burger both noted that "OreGOn" which has hosted two Congresses would qualify as a state. Congrats to Patrick Rogers, this week's winner, chosen at random from those (everyone!) answering correctly. THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: Fair warning: this is a tough one. Shonen Jump's 2004 English edition of Hikaru no Go, Volume One and The Middle Game of Go (Ishi Press 2007) have nearly identical examples of an interesting cultural phenomenon. What is it? Pretty vague, and no multiple choice - but trust me, you will know it when, er, IF, you get it. Click here to submit your explanation.
- 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: 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)

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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