Monday October 18, 2010
The New York Go Center has just announced the New York Go Center League. The League is a mon
th-long competition meant to encourage serious games as well as to push participants to improve. League games will be held every Wednesday and Sunday evenings starting at 5PM and 3PM, respectively. Click here for details.
Monday October 18, 2010
The US team of Curtis Tang and Wanyu Chen (left) placed 15th — out of 32 — in the the 21st 
annual International Amateur Pair Go Championships in Tokyo, finishing with a record of 3-2. Canada finished 3-2 in 10th place. Tang and Chen won against Slovakia, Sweden and Thailand, and lost to two strong Japanese pairs. The overall winners were the Korean pair of Song Hong Suk and Lee Yeongju. Second and third went to two Japanese pairs.
– report/photo by Allan Abramson; click here for more photos
Monday October 18, 2010
Pete Schumer 2k took first prize in the October 17 Massachusetts Go Association’s Fall Tournament, topping at 26-player field. Second prize to Jed Strohm 8k, and third was Becci Torrey 1d. “Pete and Jed both won all their games,” reports TD Eva Casey, “Becci lost only to Pete.” Players ranged in age from 8 (Kevin Xiong, 9kyu) to over 70. Two 4-dan’s participated (Keith Crews and Micah Feldman), and five women (Becci Torrey, Karen Ogg, Wanda Metcalf, Su Co Chon Duc, and Eva Casey). The Massachusetts Go Association’s next tournament will be held Sunday January 16, 2011.
Thursday October 14, 2010
At the Digital Contents Expo 2010 in Tokyo – which goes through October 17 – a 
man plays go as the images of the pieces are placed and moved by a projector with motion-sensitive camera sensors. Photo courtesy Reuters. Thanks to Mark Gilston for passing this along.
Monday October 11, 2010
Iyama Yuta 9P (l) defeated Takao Shinji 9P by resignation on October 6 and 7 in game four of the 35th Meijin title match, winning the title 
4-0. This is Iyama’s second consecutive Meijin title win.
– JustPlayGo
Monday October 11, 2010
Won Sungjin Wins Round 1 in Caltex Cup. Won Sungjin 9P defeated Park Yeonghun 9P by resignation in the first round of the 15th GS Caltex Cup
challenger decision match. The winner of this best-of-three series will face Cho Hanseung 9P who is the current Caltex Cup title holder. Last year’s Caltex Cup title match was between Cho Hanseung and Park Yeonghun, with Cho winning 3-1. Park Yeonghun vs. Won Sungjin in Myeongin Title Match. In the third and final round of the 38th Myeongin semifinals, Park Yeonghun 9P (r in photo) defeated Lee Changho 9P (l) by resignation after 253 moves. Park will now face Won Sungjin 9P for the title in a best of five series. This will be Park’s first Myeongin title match and Won’s second attempt at securing the title. Won lost to Lee Changho 3-1 in last year’s Myeongin.
– JustPlayGo; edited by Jake Edge
Monday October 11, 2010
Registration is now open for the Young Lions Tournament, run by the American Go Honor Society (AGHS). The tourney is scheduled for November 6-7. Depending on turnout, there will be a qualifying event on October 30. A list of pre-qualified players from the AGHS School Team Tournament is here. Participants must be 18 or younger and have solid, KGS or AGA ranks. To register, email your name, rank, and KGS username to aghsregister@gmail.com by October 23. All matches will be played on KGS in the American Go Honor Society room (Room List –> Social –> American Go Honor Society room). Trophies will be awarded to the top four in each division and plaques will be awarded to the winners of each division. Who knows? Maybe you will be the next leader of the pride. The AGHS also announced it’s new officers, Jasmine Yan and Jack Ye are Co-Presidents, Andrew Thacker is the Secretary, and Tim Savoie is the Treasurer. – by AGHS President Jasmine Yan
Monday October 11, 2010
Is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg a go player? Paul Barchilon found this evidence in a 2007 photo on the Fast Company website. 
Zuckerberg has been in the headlines a lot recently, thanks to his less-than-flattering portrayal in David Fincher’s new film, The Social Network and Zuckerberg’s $100 million contribution to Newark schools on September 25. We haven’t checked with the American Go Foundation (AGF), but we’re willing to bet that for a fraction of Zuckerberg’s generous investment in education – say 1% — the AGF would be happy to expand its go-in-the-schools programs. That’s assuming our friends in the chess world haven’t already beaten us to the punch…
Monday October 11, 2010
Beginning with the 2010 edition, the American Go Yearbook will be published as a full-color PDF with clickable links, rather than the hard-copy edition as previously. The American Go Association Board of Directors recently approved the change as a cost-saving move. “The AGA’s budget has been under severe strain because of the twin financial impacts of declining membership and the loss of the longtime and generous Ing support for go in the U.S.” said AGA President Allan Abramson. “Without the significant budget savings realized by eliminating the Yearbook printing and postage costs – which constitute the majority of the $14,000 in annual Yearbook expenses, we would be faced with drastic – and unacceptable — cuts in support for key events at the annual Congress as well as a range of go activities across the country,”said Abramson. “Yearbook and E-Journal Editor Chris Garlock has impressively demonstrated the advantages of new electronic publishing platforms, providing greater flexibility, active links, and faster publishing times,” as demonstrated with last week’s full-color PDF Special Report on this year’s U.S. Go Congress as well as the similar WAGC Special Report earlier this year. Garlock noted that the Yearbook printing/postage savings with enable the AGA to continue financing quality Yearbook and EJ content for members, including new features like top professional Michael Redmond’s game commentaries. The E-Journal also launched an RSS feed and daily short edition of the E-Journal several months ago that’s been gaining in popularity with readers who want to stay on top of breaking go news from around the world. “At the same time, the AGA is looking into a ‘print-on-demand’ option for those members who prefer a hard copy of the Yearbook,” Abramson said.
Monday October 11, 2010
Victor Chow won the 2010 South Africa Closed Championship last month. The tournament was held in the library of Bergvliet High School in Cape Town September 24th to 26th. Of the 8 players who qualified, four were based in the Cape and four in Gauteng. Chow, being so much stronger than the others, was given special permission to play his games beforehand, and as usual, there were a number of upsets, time pressure finishes, wins against the run of play and exciting battles. Notably Konrad Scheffler finished most games in byo-omi, his game against John Leuner requiring 8 moves in just 12 seconds. Second-place finisher Welile Gogotshe also won the 2010 Soweto Open Go Tournament, held on September 12.There was a great friendly atmosphere to the tournament which contrasted with the intense competitive spirit in which the games were played. On Saturday night the players and wives/children went to a local restaurant for a meal together. Click here for more news from South African go clubs.
WINNER’S REPORT: Champion: Victor Chow; 2nd: Welile Gogotshe (promoted to 2d); 3rd: Konrad Scheffler; 4th: John Leuner; Andre Connell, Andrew Davies, Sam Scott had 2 points each and Chris Welsh had one point.
– Lloyd Rubidge, South African Correspondent for the E-Journal