American Go E-Journal » 2010 » November

The New York Go Center will close its doors this Sunday after fifteen years of operation on East 52 St. in Manhattan, according a message sent to their mailing list last Friday. The Center began operations in 1995, in a building donated by Kaoru Iwamoto 9P with the mission of promoting go in New York. In a letter informing the Center of the intent to close, the Nihon Kiin declared their “desire to continue to promote go in the New York area even after the sale of the Center.” Representatives of the Nihon Kiin will fly to New York next week to begin plans for this occur. For the immediate future, the Center intends to operate as a “Go Center without walls,” getting to know other groups of players in the New York area, so that the Center can become a common ground for all the playing communities in the world’s most diverse city when the Center regains a permanent home, hopefully some time next year. This Sunday November 28, the Center will open at 1p, and there will be a “closing/holiday party” in the evening. Dinner will be available for a small donation.  Please RSVP to manager@nygocenter.org if you plan to attend, so the chef knows how much to cook.

After a two-year hiatus, the Tacoma (WA) Go Club hosted a four round, Thanksgiving/Veterans’ Day tournament at the Seattle Go Center on November 21, attended by 13 participants. Zhao Ju, 5d, took first place in the dan/high kyu players division. Daniel Top, 2k took 2nd place, and Peter Mooyman, 4k took third place. Ken Masutomo, 11k took first place in the lower kyu division. Job Betcher, 8k took second place, and his brother, Jordan Betcher, 8k took third place.
– Gordon Castanza

The Syracuse Go Club hosted its Fall Ratings Tournament at the Betts Branch Library on Saturday, November 20. Seventeen players participated in this event, and although some were more successful than others over the goban, all players departed at the end of the day with new go books presented as door prizes, thanks to Slate and Shell.
– report/photo by Richard Moseson; photo: Ben Gonnella (foreground left) plays Jared Beck and Nick Jerge plays Jim Howard

The Huaxia Chinese School in West Windsor-Plainsboro, New Jersey is organizing its first mindsports games competition on December 5. The competition — open only to students, parents and teachers at Huaxia – already has about 200 players registered for half a dozen events, including chess, go, xiangqi (Chinese Chess), checkers, bridge and gobang. Feng Yun 9P is coordinating the event and Kevin Huang 7d is one of the favorites, reports organizer Rulin Sun. The largest school of its kind in the United States, Huaxia consists of 19 branches, serving over 7,000 students in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut areas.

How can your rating change even if you haven’t played any games? When an earlier tournament is submitted after more recent tournaments have been rated, we go back and recalculate all tournaments starting with the newly submitted one, explains Ratings Coordinator Jonathan Bresler. This may cause some ratings to move in non-intuitive ways. If there’s a path of played games from you to at least one player from the earlier tournament, your rating will change as a result of the newly submitted tournament. This ensures that the ratings system is not held up by delayed tournament reports. You can check your current rating here where you can also check the list of rated tournaments. You can also review your own tournament history or that of other players — in the American Go Association Go Database.

How to Fix A Board? The Boise Go Club recently acquired a lovely but badly damaged 3″ floor board. Refinishing all six sides and the feet is necessary. We have access to tools and skills to remove the surface with abrasives or planes. Which might be better? Once we strip and smooth this great block of wood, we must apply a grid and I’d rather not do it with a black Sharpie; should I try to find someone with a CNC plotter? Anyone used laser etching? Perhaps readers of the E-Journal can help us with some advice or point us toward some resources. David Bogie dbogie@idahopower.com