Baek Hongsuk 7P (r) defeated Lee Sedol 9P (l) by 8.5 points in the 38th Myeongin (Meijin) League on Tuesday, May 4 to 
end Lee’s 24-game winning streak. This was Lee’s first loss since January.
– JustPlayGo
American Go E-Journal » 2010 » May
BAEK HONGSUK 7P SNAPS LEE SEDOL’S WINNING STREAK
Tuesday May 4, 2010
SPOT 1 “ELITE 8” GAME RECORDS POSTED
Tuesday May 4, 2010
The game records for last weekend’s Strong Player’s Online Tournament 1 (SPOT1) are now available on JustPlayGo and include MyungWan Kim vs. Yue Zhang, Xinyu Tu vs. Zhaonian ‘Michael’ Chen, Eric Lui vs. Calvin Sun and Yin ‘Sarah’ Yu vs. Jianing Gan.
WALCH UNDEFEATED AT LUZERN SPRING TOURNEY
Tuesday May 4, 2010
John Walch 3d went undefeated in the Swiss Luzern Spring 2010 tournament on April 24-25. Lorenz Trippel 1d lost only to Walch, while Andreas Hauenstein 2d lost to them both and won bronze. Organizers invited Hwang In-Seong 8d to comment on the games, in which 40 took part.
GO SPOTTING: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Tuesday May 4, 2010
”Chapter 15 of Muriel Barbery’s engaging novel ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ has an argument about the basics of go,”
writes Franklyn L. Bullard. Hal Small adds that the 2006 French novel “presents an overview and a very accurate description of the nature of our beloved game. It’s also a drop-dead funny book with scathing social commentary.”
NEW DAILY EJOURNAL LAUNCHES
Monday May 3, 2010
Beginning Monday, May 3, readers of the American Go E-Journal will be able to choose between a brief daily edition or a weekly compilation of the week’s go news. The daily edition — which officially launches tomorrow — is designed to 
provide more timely go news updates from around the world. Brief clickable stories now link to complete reports on the AGA’s website, which can also be quickly and easily searched by categories like U.S., world or European go news, as well as go classified ads, go books, software and hardware, and the go calendar. “With an increasing volume of reports from a worldwide network of go correspondents and sources, the daily E-Journal will enable its’ more than 14,000 readers to keep on top of the latest go news without being overwhelmed,” says AGA President Allan Abramson. The weekly edition will be a compilation of the daily reports (see below) from the previous week, in the order they were published; both editions are RSS feeds driven by posts on the AGA’s website. The Member’s Edition includes photos and graphics, as well as the usual special members-only content (see below, marked as “Members Only”). The default setting is for the weekly edition; to switch from one to the other at any time, simply click on the “update my profile” link at the bottom of the E-Journal. Also, as we switch EJ distribution to a new system, some people may be receiving this who didn’t before; to unsubscribe, please click the link at the bottom of the E-Journal. To receive the Member’s Edition, join here.
MYUNGWAN KIM 9P CRUISES INTO FINAL 4 TO REMATCH WITH 2009 US OPEN RUNNER-UP MICHAEL CHEN 7D
Monday May 3, 2010
Two-time US Open Champion Myungwan Kim 9P (CA) extended his winning streak to 16 games after defeating Canadian
champion Yongfei Ge 7D (ON) and former China Hebei Province champion Yue Zhang 7D (OH) last weekend in the Strong Players Online Tournament (SPOT1). Three other top amateurs made the Final Four, including Zhaonian “Michael” Chen 7D, Jianing Gan 6D and Eric Lui 7D. Chen (NJ), defeated Changlong Wu 7D (NC) and Xinyu Tu 7D (NJ), while Gan 6D (ON) prevailed over Hugh Zhang 6D (CA) and Sarah Yu 6D (ON), and Lui 7D (MD) outplayed Yinli Wang 6D (IN) and Calvin Sun 7D (CA). Jie Li 7D and Jennie Shen 2P gave live commentaries on the two games separately on KGS. Shen’s audio lecture attracted a large audience of almost 400, while Li managed his commentary despite a busy weekend before finals week in law school. The semi-final match-up schedule on KGS next weekend: MyungWan Kim 9P vs Zhaonian Chen 7D: Saturday, May 8, 1p; Eric Lui 7D vs. Jianing Gan 6D: Saturday, May 8, 1p.
SPOT1 Notes: “I think he is a pretty good player,” said Kim of Ge. “There were some very smart moves, like R2 and S15.” Chen was the 2006 North America Ing Masters Champion and the 2009 US Open runner-up, where he only lost to Kim (click here for game record ). “I was lucky to have come out ahead in the last battle,” Chen admitted. “It is very tough to play Kim 9P,” yet Chen’s plan for the next game is “play well, have patience.” Four other Sweet 16 matches: Yue Zhang 7D (OH) defeated Yuan Zhou 7D (MD); Xinyu Tu 7D (NJ) defeated Curtis Tang 7D (CA); Calvin Sun 7D (CA) defeated Jie Liang 7D (NH);
Sarah Yu 6D (ON) defeated Jung Lee 7D (CO).
– Reported by Tournament Director Zhiyuan “Edward” Zhang
Photo: Four-time US Open champion Jie Li 7D gave commentaries to over 600 fans on KGS during the Sweet 16 game between Kim and Ge.
PONOMAREV CAPTURES NOVOSIBIRSK TITLE
Monday May 3, 2010
Valerij Ponomarev 4d became the champion of the district of Novosibirsk last Sunday, edging out Sergej Pavlov 4d in the final round-robin. Ponomarev beat Pavlov head to head which served as the tiebreaker because both had 6-1 records. Eight players participated in the tournament.
– Peter Dijkema, EJ European Correspondent, reporting on EuroGoTV.
DRAMATIC FINISH IN KGS INSEI LEAGUE FOR APRIL
Monday May 3, 2010
In the A group of the Korean-style Insei League on KGS, Ali Jabarin’s 17-0 record was not enough to overcome the bonus
points awarded for Gabriel Benmergui’s (r) 25 games played (23-2), which led to a tie at the top. Both players were awarded $162.50, while third place winner Fredrik Blomback (13-1) won $75. In the B group, DrHazar took first and $100 with a 19-4 record, while Syptryn (22-7) and Kalmah (20-5) tied for the two third-place spots. In the C group, imagine was first and AYOCZI placed second. D group: first: Srgey, second: Macheeide. E group: first: Suitengu, second: Calwen72. A new league starts up in May.
– Peter Dijkema, EJ European Correspondent, reporting on EuroGoTV.
NEW GO WEBSITE LAUNCHED
Monday May 3, 2010
AllAboutGo.com is a new website dedicated to promoting the knowledge, culture and beauty of go worldwide. Organized both as a blog and as collection of useful links and articles, the site will feature blog posts from an international team that includes Alexandre Dinerchtein 3P, Hajin Lee 3P, and Youngil An 8P, with Tyler Reynolds from the Canadian Go Association, and Paul Barchilon from the AGA rounding out the contributors. A downloadable toolbar offers instant RSS updates from several go sites, as well as the ability to search on Sensei’s Library.
GO QUIZ: 37th Champions
Monday May 3, 2010
Folks found this one tough, with just four realizing that this year’s 37th Maryland Open Champion would join 37th Honinbo Cho Chikun, 37th Judan Kobayashi Koichi and 37th Oza Kato Masao as winners of the 37th version of the their 
respective titles.
THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: KATO MASAO – TO TELL THE TRUTH: We will return to multiple choice for this quiz about the late Kato Masao (r). Which of these statements, if said by Kato, would be untrue – “I was one of the ‘three crows’ of the Kitani Dojo,” “I was known as “Killer” in the early part of my career,” “I won all the top seven titles, except the Honinbo,” “I was Director of the Nihon Kiin when I died”. Click here to vote now.
– Keith Arnold