American Go E-Journal » 2010 » February

U.S. TOURNAMENT NEWS: Chen & Yuan Win NJ Open; Mingjiu Jiang 7p To Rep N.A. At Chunlan Cup; Rueckriemen Wins VT Tourney; First-Timer Shin Wins Gold At Groesch Memorial

Monday February 22, 2010

CHEN & YUAN WIN NJ OPEN: ZhaoNian (Michael) Chen 7d, Zhi Yuan (Andy) Liu 7d shared top honors and New Jersey State Co-Champions last weekend, winning $300 each. 115 players turned out one of the strongest fields on the year at the 51st annual tournament February 20-21 in Princeton, New Jersey, organized by the Princeton Go Club. The E-Journal broadcast the Board 1 games live on KGS to crowds that topped 500 for the final showdown for the final round game between Chen and Yuan. The game records can be found on KGS under usgo1; a game commentary for the EJ by Alexander Dinerchtein on the final round game is attached. 5-game winners ($100 each): William Lockhart 6d, Justin Teng 4d, Huang Sida 2k, Brian Aronson 3k. 4-game winners ($60 each): Kevin Shang 5d, Jared Beck 4d, Li Shi 1d, Brandon Langley 2k, Amy Su 5k, Kim Ilhee 6k, Iris Lin 9k, Adam Newshan 14k, Joanne Huang 17k, Robert Cole 19k, Jessica Huang 21k. Beginner (15k and below) random drawing for a complete go set: Jonathan Hong. Paul Matthews and Rick Mott directed the tournament.

MINGJIU JIANG 7P TO REP N.A. AT CHUNLAN CUP: Mingjiu Jiang will represent North America at the North American Chunlan Cup after defeating Feng Yun to win the qualifier Sunday night on KGS. In the first round earlier in the week, Mingjiu Jiang won over Calvin Sun, and Jie Li won over Jason Gu. Feng Yun received a bye when her opponent could not meet the schedule. In the second round, Jie Li 7D had to withdraw due to his law school school schedule, leaving Feng Yun and Mingjiu Jiang to battle it out.The sponsoring Chunlan Group is a large conglomerate of electrical, electronic, and mechanical manufacturing companies, headquartered in Taizhou, China.  In 1999, Chunlan began sponsoring a world go championship, first as an annual event, then as a biannual event beginning in 2001. With a top prize of 1 million yuan (about $150,000USD), the Chunlan Cup is comparable in size to the Fujitsu, LG, and Samsung Cup. For the 8th Chunlan, 16 top players from around the world have been invited to participate in a knock-out that will begin in late March, and continues through the rest of the year until concluding with a final 3-game series in June 2011.Korea leads the Cup so far with four, Japan has one win, and China has won the last two. Jimmy Cha represented North America in 2008 and won his first round against Imamura Toshiya 9P from the Kansai Kiin, but lost to China’s Huang Yizhong 7P in the second round.  Alexander Dinerchstein played for Europe and lost in the first round.

RUECKRIEMEN WINS VT TOURNEY: Rolf Rueckriemen 2k won the February 13 From the Word Go tournament in in Middlebury, VT. There were 12 players from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Wnner’s Report: 1st: Rolf Rueckriemen 2k (4-0); 2nd (tie): Adam Luter 1k (3-1) & Lihu Ben-Ezri Ravin 4k (3-1); 4th: Henry Danaher 2k (3-1). Peter Schumer directed.

FIRST-TIMER SHIN WINS GOLD AT GROESCH MEMORIAL: First-time tournament player Joe Shin took home top honors at last weekend’s John Groesch Memorial. The 4-round tourney was held on February 20 in College Park, MD and attracted a dozen players. Zarathustra Goertzel also finished 4-0 and won the kyu prize. The John Groesch Memorial prize for the best performance by a player under the age of 20 who is new to tournament go (defined by less than two years of tournament play) was won by Alexei Avakov with 3 points. Steve Mount directed.

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WORLD GO NEWS: Yamashita Stays Alive In Kisei; Kong Jie Wins Round 1 In LG Cup; Kang, Park & Heo Advance In Chunlan Cup Prelim; Lee Younggu Advances In Caltex Cup Challenger; Xie Blanks Umezawa In Female Kisei

Monday February 22, 2010

YAMASHITA STAYS ALIVE IN KISEI: Yamashita Keigo managed to avoid a sweep by defeating Cho U by 7.5 points in the fourth round of the 34th Kisei. It will be an uphill battle for Yamashita to retain his title, with Cho U leading 3-1. Round 5 will be played on February 18th and 19th.

KONG JIE WINS ROUND 1 IN THE LG CUP: Kong Jie defeated Lee Changho by 2.5 points in the first round of the 14th LG Cup title match. This is Lee Changho’s sixth appearance, winning four of his five LG Cup title matches. The last time Lee Changho played as a finalist was in 2004. This is Kong Jie’s first appearance. The second game will be played on February 24th.

KANG, PARK & HEO ADVANCE IN CHUNLAN CUP PRELIM: Kang Dongyun, Park Yeonghun, and Heo Yeongho each won their respeective games in the preliminary tournament of the 8th Chunlan Cup and will advance to the next and final round.

LEE YOUNGGU ADVANCES IN CALTEX CUP CHALLENGER: Lee Younggu 8P defeated Park Seunghyun 6P by 1.5 points in Round 2 of the 15th GS Caltex Cup Challenger Tournament. The winner of the Challenger Tournament will face Cho Hanseung 9P, the current Caltex Cup title holder.

XIE BLANKS UMEZAWA IN FEMALE KISEI: Xie Yimin defeated Umezawa Yukari by resignation on January 28 to sweep the Female Kisei 2-0. Xie now has the distinction of holding all three of Japan’s female professional titles, the Kisei, Honinbo and Meijin, as well as the Daiwa Ladies Cup.
– based on reports on JustPlayGo

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U.S. GO NEWS: Seattle Hosts Pro Workshop For Kyu Players; Myungwan Kim 9p Workshop Set For Berkeley; Orlando Hosts Guo Juan 5p Workshop; Teacher Of The Year Nominations Open; New Go Club In Chi; Turn-Based Go App Released; Smart Games Adds Igowin Life App

Monday February 22, 2010

SEATTLE HOSTS PRO WORKSHOP FOR KYU PLAYERS: Kyu players in the Northwest will want to be in Seattle this weekend. The Seattle Go Center is hosting Jennie Chen 2P for a workshop for kyu players with a focus on their issues. The workshop will be divided into two groups, so that Ms. Shen can provide instruction that’s relevant to the strength of the player. The workshop is recommended for anyone who plays full-board games and is able to record his or her games. Dan level players are welcome to attend, but the discussion will not be centered on their questions. The workshop is scheduled for this weekend, February 27-28 at the Go Center. Rates are $55 for voting members of the Seattle Go Center, and for youth; $80 for all others. Email Brian Allen for more information at  brian@seattlegocenter.org

MYUNGWAN KIM 9P WORKSHOP SET FOR BERKELEY: The Bay Area Go Players Association will host a workshop with Myungwan Kim 9P  March 20-21 in Berkeley, CA. “Because of some generous donations the entry fee is just $50 for students under 23 and $90 for those 23 and over,” says Roger Schrag. The first pro sent to the U.S. by the Korean Baduk Association, Kim came to the Los Angeles area in June, 2008. He won the US Go Congress Open in 2008 and 2009. Today Kim – who was promoted to 9 dan about three months ago — runs a Go Academy in the Los Angeles’ Korean Go Club, teaching roughly three times per week. Click here  http://www.bayareago.org/workshop3.html for details and to register.

ORLANDO HOSTS GUO JUAN 5P WORKSHOP: The Orlando go club is hosting a workshop with Guo Juan 5P March 27-28 in Orlando, Florida. Click here http://goworkshopflorida.blogspot.com/ for details, or email Joshua Lee at Masterman535@gmail.com

TEACHER OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS OPEN:  Nominations are open for the  AGF Teacher of the Year, an excellence award that comes with an all-expenses paid trip to the US Go Congress. To be eligible, a teacher must be a member of the AGA, have been teaching Go to children for at least two hours a week for two years, and have helped kids enter any available tournaments. In recent years, winners have far exceeded these requirements, some running several programs at once.  Click here <http://agfgo.org/teacher.html> for more information. To nominate someone for this award, including yourself, please write to agf@usgo.org. The deadline is March 31.
– Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor

NEW GO CLUB IN CHI: There’s a new place to play go in the Chicago area, reports local organizer Bob Barber.  The Go Center in Arlington Heights is open seven days a week, with daily and monthly fees to choose from.  “Owner Yong Yu says there are 21 boards, with room to expand, especially in nice weather,” says Barber. “Plenty of free parking, several nearby restaurants, and Young Rhee, AGA 7 dan, is often on hand for lessons.” The club is located at 350 E. Golf Road; 847-640-6474

TURN-BASED GO APP RELEASED: The new Boardz is a different way to play go online on the iPhone and iPod touch. “Games played on Boardz are turn-based, meaning you can play your moves whenever you wish,” says Boardz author Christopher Maughan, “you don’t need to stay online until the game is finished.” Boardz also features authentic ‘shell’ stone and wooden board graphics, as well as smooth animations. Full territory statistics are shown at the end of the game, and you can play with friends or random opponents on 9×9, 13×13 or 19×19 boards. Search the app store for ‘Boardz’, or you click here http://www.snarlsoftware.com/boardz for more information. Boardz is $2.99, and in addition to go, can play shogi, XiangQi  and chess.

SMART GAMES ADDS IGOWIN LIFE APP: One of the fastest ways to get stronger at go is to practice life and death problems. David Fotland’s new Igowin Life gives you problems at your level, whether you are a 25-kyu beginner or a dan-level expert.  The app plays against you as you solve each problem.  It quickly learns your strength and gives you problems that challenge you to improve your skills. Igowin Life is available now in the iTunes application store for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.  This app ports the “Solve Go Problems” feature from The Many Faces of Go.  Over 2000 problems are included, graded by difficulty from 25 Kyu beginner problems to difficult Dan level problems.  Problems are shown in various orientations or with colors reversed, giving over 32,000 combinations.  A magnifying glass lets you precisely choose your spot to play.  Search the app store for Igowin to find all of the Igowin applications. Several more will be released in the next few months.

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Nakayama’s Monkey Ladder

Monday February 22, 2010

Noriyuki Nakayama 6P, who died last week (EJ Special Edition 2/19) was famous for creating original ladder problems, including a series with the black stones in the shape of the oriental zodiac signs.  The attached problem is for the sign of the monkey. Note that the monkey is winking its right eye.  The problem is translated by Bob McGuigan from Nakayama’s book Shicho no Sekai (The World of Ladders) published by the Nihon Ki-in in 1998.  Nakayama noted that several go players were born in the year of the monkey, including Sakata Eio, Cho Chikun, Sugiuchi Masao, Fukui Masaaki and Nakayama himself. The problem is Black to play at A; can he capture the white stone at Q9 in a ladder? The solution is 119 moves long; watch for the solution next week.

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EUROPEAN GO NEWS: Qing Wins Barcelona’s Go Seigen Tourney; Behrendt Blitzes Bochum; Mackowiak Wraps Up Bydgoszcz Rapid; Mateescu Master Of Trigantius; Cambridge First British Team Champ; Podpera Tops Czech Youth; Venturieri Wins Swiss Youth Title

Monday February 22, 2010

QING WINS BARCELONA’S GO SEIGEN TOURNEY: The UK’s Qing Du 7d won the Barcelona “Torneig Go Seigen” http://bcn2010go.blogspot.com/ February 20-21, winning all five games. The 2100 Euro prize fund attracted many top players from across Europe. Cornel Burzo 6d of Romania lost only to Qing and took silver, while Nikola Mitic 5d (Nis, Serbia) took home bronze on SOS. In the field of 146, only Jonathan Marcos 3k from France also won all five rounds. Click here http://lapedra.org/bcn2010/results/wl.txt for results. Click here (http://liopic.com) for Julio Martinez’ report; photos http://ves.cat/acKa & video http://ves.cat/acKh
– Peter Dijkema

BEHRENDT BLITZES BOCHUM: Jens Behrendt 1k won the first full handicap Bochum Blitz February 20 in Bochum, Germany, posting a 6-2 result while former German Champion ‘Kaiser’ Franz-Josef Dickhut 6d topped a group of five with 5-3 results. Among the 14 participants was also ‘kyu-killer’ Horst Sudhoff, well-known to U.S. Go Congress attendees, over 80 years old and 1d now, who also won a game with the ‘Kaiser’. The Winter Bochum Blitz was the first of what’s planned to be a quarterly event; next up is the Spring Blitz on May 8.

MACKOWIAK WRAPS UP BYDGOSZCZ RAPID: Dariusz Mackowiak 2k of Poznan swept the Bydgoszcz (Poland) Rapid 4-0 on Saturday, February 20. The tourney has an ideal formula for kyu’s from all strengths, with full handicap and 5 points reverse komi for every stone over 9, and half an hour plus overtime. Bruno Walaszewski 6k and Lukasz Wierzbowski 17k led a field of five locals with 3-1 each. In the final Mackowiak won against 9 stones plus 30 points of komi. Tomasz Buczkowski 11k (Wlodyslaw) went home undefeated (3-0). 21 players ranking between 1k and 25k took part.
– Peter Dijkema

MATEESCU MASTER OF TRIGANTIUS: Robert Mateescu 6d (Caltech) topped the Trigantius tournament in Cambridge February 20, defeating British hopeful Matthew Macfadyen in the final. Tim Hunt took third place. Further down the list were Baron Allday, Michael Pickles, Will Hornby and Alistair Turnbull, who also went undefeated. Click here http://www.britgo.org/results/2010/trigantius.html for results.

CAMBRIDGE FIRST BRITISH TEAM CHAMP: The team from Cambridge have won the first BGA online league with a match to spare. In the four matches played so far they dropped just one game to the fell hand of Matthew Macfadyen. The victorious Cambridge squad is composed of Alex ‘Infinity’ Selby, Dave Ward, Andrew ‘The Great Destroyer’ Kay, Andrew Simons, Phil Beck and Graham ‘Sensible’ Philips. Competition for second place is still fierce, with Durham, Dundee and St Andrews, and Leamington all in with a shout. – Ian ‘Javaness’ Davis to www.EuroGoTV.com. Click here http://league.britgo.org/league.php for the current standings in all four divisions.
– Peter Dijkema with Ian Davis

PODPERA TOPS CZECH YOUTH: Lukas Podpera 3d easily confirmed his status as best Czech youth, sweeping the under-16 national title 6-0 in Prague, February 13-14. The top three were boys, but girls dominated in numbers, with 10 of 15 players. A girl, Kamila Samajova 18k, won the under-12 title. Click here http://www.goweb.cz/node/2733 for results. A week later, Podpera also did well in Barcelona (see above), where he won four games; among his victims was Antoin Fenech 5d (France), while he only lost to Hwang In-seong 7d. A week earlier he had won bronze in Erdingen.
– Peter Dijkema, after www.goweb.cz

VENTURIERI WINS SWISS YOUTH TITLE: Luciano Venturieri 2k won the Swiss Youth Title, despite losing all his games. The Youth Champs were part of the regular “Solothurn Turnier” in Solothurn, February 6-7, where 39 took part, among them 4 youngsters. The ranking for the title was based on the final table. Rose-Marguerite Martin 6k won silver with one win, while Arthur Bassand 12k took home bronze with his 3 wins. Daniil Matveev 3d swept the Solothurn Title 5-0, ahead of Andreas Hauenstein 2d 4-1 (both Basel) and Lorenz Trippel 1d 3-2 (Zurich), who was third on SOS.
– Peter Dijkema, after www.swissgo.org

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Go Spotting: More Go Behind Bars

Monday February 22, 2010

Another tale of go behind bars – this one from Poland – comes from E-Journal European Correspondent Peter Dijkema. Seems that Slawomir Sikora picked up the game while serving a 25-year prison sentence for the brutal 1994 murders of two men who were blackmailing him and his business partner. The case became world-famous when the film “Dlug (The Debt)” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0225535/ came out in 1999. According to Dijkema’s sources (his wife is a Polish journalist), after learning go from a book his mother gave him in prison, Sikora and his fellow inmates made their own sets out of cardboard and paper, and when he soon had his cell-mates taking serious handicaps, they concluded he was the dan-player, while they were weak kyu’s. The film helped Sikora become a hero in the eyes of many and he was freed in 2005, pardoned by the President of Poland after many prominent Poles signed a petition on Sikora’s behalf. “We do not know of any of his games outside jail, nor how his dan-level would match up on the Polish ranking list,” Dijkema reports. Click here http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/2/dlug.shtml to read more about the case.

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Nakayama Noriyuki 6P Dies

Friday February 19, 2010

Nakayama Noriyuki 6P died on February 16. The prolific author, reporter and go writer was well-known to American go players who met him during his many trips to the United States over the last three decades. “Nakayama’s deep and abiding love for the game of go and his irrepressible sense of humor endeared him to everyone who was fortunate enough to cross his path over the years,” said American Go Association President Allan Abramson. “He’ll be missed by his many friends around the world.” Said Ji Li 7D, one of the top American amateur players, “Nakayama made significant impacts and contributions to the American go community.” One of Nakayama’s most popular books in the West, The Treasure Chest Enigma, was re-issued in 2005; he ghost wrote books for many top professionals and authored several for himself. Well known as one of the professionals who most toured the West to spread and teach go, Nakayama – born September 3, 1932 — loved to play amateurs and – a twinkle in his eye – would respond to their questionable moves by saying, with a quizzically cocked head, “Ah! New Joseki, neh?!”, or “Oohh! Strong move! But maybe… this (playing his move…) better!!!” Although Nakayama never won a title, “He was funny and approachable,” said longtime fan Keith Arnold 5d. “There was an unmistakable quiet dignity that did not ask for, yet clearly demanded respect. Respect for a dedication to the game, to teaching, and to spreading its joys, winning players with a smile.”
– Chris Garlock, includes reporting on Sensei’s Library; photo by Phil Straus; click here for his album of Nakayama photos

 

NAKAYAMA’S LAST LECTURE: Longtime Congress favorite Noriyuki Nakayama 6P announced at the 2006 US Go Congress that it would be the last year he’d be attending the U.S Go Congress. His wife had been ill recently and it was a great hardship for him to be away for the month it took to attend both the U.S. and European Congresses. At a standing-room only lecture at the Congress, the irrepressible Nakayama said that “I’m afraid the answer might be ‘jigo’ if my wife asks me which is more important, my American go friends or her.” Much-loved for his cherubic delight in teaching go to players of all strengths, Nakayama said “The best thing about go is that you make many friends.” At the lecture, he set up two life and death problems and invited members of the audience to come up and try to solve them, gleefully refuting the wrong moves until somebody solved the problem correctly. For the game section of the lecture, he showed part of the game he won to get promoted to 2P.
– Chris Garlock; Photo by Jian Zhang

 

LETTER FROM JAPAN: Goodbye, The Congress I Love

By Noriyuki Nakayama 6P

I participated in the US Go Congress this year (2006) as I have for last 21 years. The US Go Congress, which started in 1985, could just as well be described as “the US Open Go Festival.” Participants include players from European countries, Japan and many other countries who love this “Festival” as well as go enthusiasts and go maniacs from every corner of the United States. For many participants, these events are a vacation involving spouses and other members of the family. Many wives and children learn go and participate in events like Pair Go, the 9×9 tournament and Kid’s Go.

I have been engaged in activities to introduce and popularize the game of go in the USA before the US Go Congress was organized, but unfortunately, this year’s visit will be the last one due to my wife’s health problems. I know that I will miss the Go Congress and my friends there very much since I started this journey when I was 49 and it has lasted a full quarter-century since then.

On August 19, 2006, my last lecture started after all the Congress events were finished. It had become a kind of Congress custom for me to present a lecture as the final event but this year’s — literally “the last lecture” – attracted most of the approximately 250 people at the Congress. In the standing ovation which lasted long after I finished, overwhelmed by the emotion, I could not find the words to say Goodbye Go Congress, Goodbye America, Goodbye my dear American go friends!
– A longer version of this letter appeared in the October 9, 2006 edition of the Nihon Ki-in’s weekly Go magazine. Translated by Frank Fukuda and edited by Chris Garlock. This letter also appears in the 2006 American Go Yearbook.

As it turned out, Nakayama was able to attend one last U.S. Go Congress, in 2007…

 

PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING: Nakayama on How To Improve

“There are three steps to get better,” Noriyuki Nakayama 6P said at a lecture at the 2007 U.S. Go Congress. “Step 1: buy a book. Step 2: read it! Step 3: practice!” As entertaining as always, Nakyama kept the attentive crowd laughing appreciatively as he mixed game analysis of Takemiya’s games with fascinating and amusing anecdotes from the go world. “Replay professional games,” Nakyama advised. “Eventually you will start playing better moves because your fingers will know where to play. Not your mind, your fingers.”

“Ah, The Clam Shells Are Heavy”

Excerpted from The Treasure Chest Enigma; A Go Miscellany, by Nakayama Noriyuki

A little before six in the evening, Kajiwara, who had been glaring at the board hard enough to bore a hole in it, suddenly raised his head and glanced at the scenery outside in the gathering dusk. Not surprisingly, he bore signs of considerable fatigue.

The game recorder’s voice rang out. “Time is up. Kajiwara Sensei, please seal the next move.”

Kajiwara gave a deep nod of assent, then shifted his gaze back to the board. Some five minutes passed by. Suddenly he called out in a flurried tone, “What? The next move’s the sealed move.” His eyes were riveted on the board.

With his whole being concentrated on the go board, Kajiwara had only half taken in the game recorder’s words when he first spoke.

“Yes. The next move – is – the sealed move.” The game recorder replied slowly and carefully, enunciating each syllable clearly.

Kajiwara finally seemed to have grasped that the next move was the sealed move. He let out a long sigh. “Oh? The sealed move?” After a little while he sighed again. “I’m tired out,” he muttered. Preoccupied though he was with his own game, Tainaka happened to overhear these words. Glancing over at the neighboring board, he commented sarcastically: “Why? You’ve only played four stones.”

Kajiwara’s reply to this was a masterpiece. Glaring at the board with a look of complete exhaustion on his face, he muttered: “The clam shells are heavy today.”

The essays in Treasure Chest were translated from a collection titled Jitsuroku Igo Kodan. Gokyo Monogatari (Tales of a man crazy about go), reports Bob McGuigan

Photo: Nakayama and Yoshiaki Nagahara 6P watch a casual game at the 2007 Congress; photo by Roy Laird

 

IN MEMORY OF NAKAYAMA SENSEI: A number of Nakayama appreciations, tributes and memories has been posted on GoDiscussions.com http://www.godiscussions.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11152 , including a record of a game between Nakayama and Kojima Takaho, which made the Kido yearbook’s section on noteworthy games, posted by John Fairbairn.

 

Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
Website Editor: Gurujeet Khalsa
Games Editor: Myron Souris
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); Nicholas Roussos (Cyprus Correspondent); Horatio Davis (Australia/New Zealand Correspondent).
Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Zeijst; Roy Laird; Peter Shotwell
Translations: Bob McGuigan (Japan)
Formatting: Adam Wright

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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Big Tourney Weekend Coming Up

Monday February 15, 2010

Well over 100 players are expected at the New Jersey Open this weekend in Princeton, NJ. The 51st annual tournament is one of six events this weekend across the country, including the triple-threat Southern Cal Championship, US Youth Qualifier and NAMT/FUJITSU Qualifier in Alhambra, CA, the Chinese Spring Festival tournament in Columbus, OH and the John Groesch Memorial tourney in College Park, MD. “Princeton’s own Zhaonian (Michael) Chen ’11, who missed last year’s 50th anniversary NJO due to a schedule conflict, will play this year,” says NJO TD Rick Mott. “He has won in the past and it should be a great group of strong players contending for the title.” Also, Mott reports, “Feng Yun 9P has cancelled her classes for this weekend in order to allow her students to attend, so the expected total over both days is around 120 players.” Look for top boards to be broadcast live on KGS by the E-Journal. Look for top boards to be broadcast live on KGS by the E-Journal. Photo: young players review game at 2009 NJO; photo by John Pinkerton

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Feng Yun-Jie Li Win Pair Go Qualifier As Pair Go Celebrates 20 Years

Monday February 15, 2010

The Pair Go team of Feng Yun-Jie Li will represent North America at the World Pair Go Association’s 2010 World Cup, after defeating Jin Yu-Jing Yang in last week’s North American Qualifier. The Cup is scheduled for March 20-23 in Hangzhou, China. In related news, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the International Amateur Pair Go Championship, the Japanese Pair Go Association has just published ten essays about Pair Go. Manja and Micha Martz won first place with their thorough, entertaining and well-illustrated essay on the history of Pair Go in Europe and longtime U.S. go organizer – and IGS rep –Thomas Hsiang contributed A Few Memories of Pair Go, noting that “Pair Go has not only been accepted but flourished beyond anyone’s imagination. Aside from frequent regional tournaments held worldwide, Pair Go was featured as the only mixed-gender mind-sport in the First World Mind Sport Games in 2008 and will be a medal event in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games.” Hsiang also points out that “the US go scene that was once almost exclusively male-dominated now sees a much greater participation by female players, especially among the young….Pair Go has brought together many couples in US and Europe, and not a single couple has been broken up by it!” Click here http://www.pairgo.or.jp/event/pairgo20th/index-e.htm to read the Pair Go essays.

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Kirschner Hopes to Stage “Honinbo” at Go Congress

Monday February 15, 2010

Plans are afoot once again to stage the world premiere of “The Honinbo” http://www.usgo.org/resources/downloads/Honinbo.pdf go musical at the 2010 U.S. Go Congress. The full-scale parody of “The Mikado” was penned by former AGA president Bob High, and features a cast of go playing characters singing go-themed songs. “We have obtained cooperation from the UCCS Drama department to get facilities and some student assistance,” reports Chris Kirschner, who’s had a longtime dream of producing the musical. “Our job is to get a cast together and prepare to make good use of them.  Plans are just starting, so we are looking for volunteers to launch this production.  Mainly, we need people willing to get up on stage and play the parts.  There are 10 named roles, and several choruses.  Some musical ability is desirable, but don’t hesitate for lack of a voice of gold.  And we will want some production people back-stage as well.” Contact Kirschner at operations@usgo.org for details.

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