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

 
 
 

MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Joey Hung 7d (AGA 8.71) takes a look at a game between a 4k and a 5k in today’s game commentary; Hung is one of the strongest amateurs in the US, runs a go school in California and regularly does game commentaries for the E-Journal. He was the 2006 US representative to the World Amateur Go Championship in Japan. Bonus files include After Joseki, by Wu Xinyu 6P, translated by Yuan Zhou 7d (AGA 7.96) from Weiqi World #2008.12, June 15, 2008, and the latest endgame problem from Yilun Yang 7P.
Non-members: join the American Go Association and get all this great content with every EJ! It's all just a click away!
Non-members: join the American Go Association and get all this great content with every EJ! It's all just a click away!

November 24, 2008; Volume 9, #59

SHI KNOCKS OUT JIANG & YANG IN N.A. FUJITSU; FINAL DELAYED: Canadian teenager Gan Sheng Shi (left) defeated both Mingjiu Jiang and Huiren Yang last weekend to earn a berth in the North American Fujitsu Cup championship final against Jie Li. The excitement continued Sunday when the final had to be adjourned because of technical difficulties. It was excitement on all fronts during the North American Fujitsu Cup championship. While top seeds Jie Li, Andy Liu and Huiren Yang made it through unscathed to the semi-finals, defending champion Mingjiu Jiang let a favourable position evaporate when he lost on time to Redmond Cup champion Gan Sheng Shi. The Canadian teenager then astonished a crowd of 500 by taking down professional Huiren Yang to earn a spot in the finals against perennial strongman Jie Li. The excitement continued when Jie Li suffered network problems at move 55 of the final game and could not reconnect to continue. The game has been adjourned and will be rescheduled at a later date. Click here for complete details on the tournament so far.
- Philip Waldron, AGA Tournament Coordinator

KO WINS NEW L.A. KOREAN TOURNEY: Dae Hyuk (Danny) Ko (right) 7D (AGA 8.712) took first place in the Myung In Tournament, held November 15-16 in Los Angeles, CA. The Los Angeles Go Club, a popular 7-day playing spot in LA's Koreatown, hosted the tournament, which was organized by the newly-formed Korean American Baduk Association. About 50 players, including a number from outside the Korean community, played in two handicap sections and one open section for $4,000 in prizes, won by Ko, of the Santa Monica Go Club. The tournament also featured an exhibition game between two Southern California professionals, Myung Wan Kim 8P and Yilun Yang 7P. "Sunday evening dinner was provided to all the players," reports Andy Okun, "and there was a raffle of donated goods as well, in which your correspondent unexpectedly won 40 pounds of rice." Korean American Baduk Association officials plan to hold more events in the coming year.

MORRIS SWEEPS WESTERN MASS TOURNAMENT: Trevor Morris (left) 7D swept the Western Massachusetts Go Club's Fall tournament, held November 23 in Boston. Morris was undefeated in four rounds to claim the first-place trophy, while three players had 3 wins each: Eric Osman 2d (3-1), Richard Buckman 7k (3-1) and William Luff 10k (3-1). Click here for a full report, including photos by Bill Saltman.

CHO U MAKES IT 2-0 IN TENGEN TITLE MATCH: Cho U 9P took the second game of his challenge for the Tengen title held by Kono Rin 9P to make the score 2-0 in the best-of-five-game match. Kono, who has held this title for the last three years, defeating Yamashita Keigo 9P in the title match each year, will have a hard fight to make it four. Cho's winning percentage so far this year is 79%, while Kono's is 60%, so the odds favor Cho's taking another of the top seven Japanese titles -- he already holds the Meijin and Gosei.

KANG STOPS TUO IN NONGSHIM: Korean Kang Dongyun (right) 8P snapped Chinese teen Tuo Jiaxi 3P's winning streak in the international Nongshim Cup, winning by 1.5 points Monday. Tuo, got the Chinese team off to a blazing start in the Nongshim team tournament by winning all four games in the first stage and eliminating two members of the Korean and the Japanese teams, lost in the first round of the second stage on Monday, November 24th to Korean Kang Dongyun 8P (another teen) by 1.5 points. There will be six games in this stage, which is being played in Pusan, Korea, one each day until November 29th. Coincidentally, the first Chinese player in the similar Jeongganjang Cup for women also won all four of the games in the first stage earlier this month. Song Ronghui 1P, yet another teen, will face a Korean player when that event resumes in early January. Photo from the World Go new blog

KOBAYASHI KOICHI NEAR THE TOP AGAIN: Kobayashi Koichi (left) 9P is one of the most popular pros of what is now the older generation in Japan. Though in his fifties, Kobayashi is still active, and won two titles as recently as 2004, though he rarely reaches the later sections of tournaments now. However, by defeating Shuto Shun 6P on Saturday November 22nd, he has reached the finals of the Daiwa Cup where he will face Kono Rin 9P and current Tengen. The Daiwa Cup is a fast-play event on the Internet and one of three events sponsored by the Daiwa Securities Company of Japan; the others are the Daiwa Ladies Cup, won back in September by Xie Yimin 3P, and the Daiwa Grand Champion Cup, won by Iyama Yuta 8P last July.

KOREAN GO SCHOOL DEADLINE NEARS: There's just over a month left to apply for an exciting new go study program in Korea. Applications for The King's Baduk Academy are due by December 31. Applicants must be between the ages of 10 and 25; There will be 10 fully-funded positions -- including paid travel, room and board, and tuition -- one for each country, and 50 self-paying positions. Those selected will join a class of fifty other promising young players from around the world for a 3-7-year rigorous course of study starting in March 2009. Contact both president@usgo.org and igf@usgo.org for more information.

PRESIDENTIAL GO? Princeton Go Club member Larry Bartels' (left) "Unequal Democracy" is among the books that President-Elect Barack Obama has read recently, according to the New Yorker magazine's November 17 edition. In the book, Bartels argues that the causes of inequality are essentially political, "an insight that suggests that Obama might use economic policy to begin reversing a decades-long trend," writes George Packer. Is this our best chance yet for a go-playing President?

NEW TOOLS FOR TEACHERS: A set of 200 Go Puzzles for Beginners, Oliver Richman's River Mountain Go Curriculum and Go For Kids author Milton Bradley's new Improve Fast In Go website are among several new materials The American Go Foundation is making available to go teachers on the AGA's Methods page, where numerous other curricula and materials are already available. The AGF recently learned of the existence of the Go Puzzles, developed by Paul Smith for the British Go Association, which also publishes numerous materials for teachers. The new links expand the range of materials for use in a classroom or after-school setting. "The AGF is doing more than ever to support go in the classroom and in after-school settings," says AGF Board member Roy Laird. "More than 70 active go teachers responded to our recent annual program survey, exactly double the number that responded last year. Among them they're reaching a total of nearly 1000 new players this year. We hope these materials and other new AGF programs, like our new Teacher Store, will help them to do even more. They are leading the way to our next generation of players." Photo: Six-year-olds play go on a hand-made go board at the Peninsula School, a progressive school in Menlo Park, CA; photo by Christopher Manning.

GO QUIZ: No Cosmic Challenge
I'm glad so many of you appreciated the irony of Takemiya "Cosmic Go" Masaki being unable to challenge for the Tengen (center point) title. Peter Schumer provides the details -"Takemiya has held the Meijin, Honinbo and Judan titles. In addition he has challenged for the Kisei as well as the Oza and Gosei. But he's never made the finals of the Tengen title". Congrats to Boris Bernadsky, this week's winner, selected at random from those answering correctly. THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: "I like (last week's) question," writes Kim Salamony, "but I think I will need some harder ones if I am going to catch (Quiz leader) Phil Waldron." In honor of the ongoing debate over the Big 3 Bailout, maybe this automotive question will shake up the Quiz leaders as well - although the answer is not necessarily limited to an American-made car. There is (or was) one model or brand name of car that is a perfect anagram for one of the names for the game we all love. I will give you a hint - it is not "Go", but one of the other Asian inspired equivalents. What car name am I looking for? Click here for your best guess.
- 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

PLAYERS WANTED: Abilene, TX: Starting a go club at Abilene Christian University & invite anyone attending any of the area colleges or who is living in Abilene or nearby to come and join us. We meet every Sunday at 2P in front of the Brown Library, where we then go to the location. Contact: Dustin Janssen, dkj07a@acu.edu (11/24)

FOR SALE: Volumes 1-11 of the Hikaru no Go manga (English version), in excellent condition: $40 plus shipping. Email Anderson Mills at nodog@konfuzo.net (11/17)

PLAYERS WANTED. Baltimore, MD: Lake Walker Go Club in north Baltimore area; we meet on Mondays at 8P. Contact Jim Pickett djpick@verizon.net 410-433-5257 (11/17)

PLAYERS WANTED: Murfreesboro TN: We meet every other weekend & might change location soon due to winter (our club is at a park); possible candidates should call first: 615-977-4528 (11/17)

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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