December « 2010 « American Go E-Journal

Andy Liu 7d Wins N.A. Fujitsu Qualifier

Monday December 13, 2010

The online North American Fujitsu Cup Qualifier featured exciting games and a few surprising upsets last weekend on KGS. In the early rounds, 17-year-old Curtis Tang 7d knocked out Feng Yun 9P in a hard-fought match late Thursday night. Huiren

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Yang 1P ran short on time in byo-yomi to advance Dae Hyuk Ko 7d to the final, and Andy Zhiyuan Liu 7d defeated Jie Li 7d by just 1.5 points to advance to the final. On Sunday, Liu defeated Dae Hyuk Ko to win the right to represent North America in the upcoming 2011 Fujitsu Cup. Edward Zhang and Oren Laskin handled the extensive organizing and scheduling logistics for the event and directed the early rounds. Dennis Wheeler was the director for the weekend rounds with Yixian Yhou assisting. Big thanks, as always, to KGS server admins Akane Negishi, Ian Davis and Daniel Short. Click here for full game results and records.

Categories: U.S./North America

U.S. Youth Take on Canadians Sunday on KGS

Monday December 13, 2010

The 3rd US-Canada Youth Friendship Tournament will be held Sunday, December 19, on KGS. The popular team tourney pits the best youth in the US against the best youth in Canada. The US won the first tournament, two years ago, but were crushed 6-2 in last year’s event. The matches will be held in the AGA Tournaments Room on KGS, at 4p Eastern time (1pm Pacific), spectators are welcome. The US team features Calvin Sun 7d, Ricky Zhou 7d, Will Zhou 7d, Hugh Zhang 6d, Andrew Lu 6d, Ben Lockhart 6d, and Vincent Zhuang 5d. The Canadians have Ryan Li 7d, Gansheng Shi 7d, Tianyu Lin 7d, Jianing Gan 7d, Andrew Huang 6d, Daniel Gourdeau 6d, and Irene Sha 6d. Tune in this Sunday to catch the action and root for your favorites.
– Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

WORLD GO NEWS ROUND-UP December 4-13: Gu Li wins Samsung Cup; Korea takes 2nd Stage in Nongshim Cup; JustPlayGo returns

Monday December 13, 2010

China’s Gu Li 9P prevailed against South Korea’s Heo Yeongho 7P to win the 15th Samsung Cup. In the third and final match held December 10, Gu (r in photo) won by resignation to take the title 2-1. In the second match on December 9, Heo won by resignation to force the third match. Korea’s Choi Cheolhan 9P defeated Japan’s Takao Shinji 9P by 1.5 points in the final match of the second stage of the 12th Nongshim Cup, giving Korea the stage win. The match was played December 4. The other remaining players are Lee Changho 9P of Korea, Zhou Ruiyang 5P and Kong Jie 9P of China, and Yuki Satoshi 9P of Japan. The third and final stage will begin on January 19th, with Zhou Ruiyang challenging Choi Cheolhan in the first round. After a month-long hiatus, the JustPlayGo web site is back on the air, with its excellent English-language coverage of the Asian go tournament scene. Welcome back!
– JustPlayGo; edited by Jake Edge

Categories: World

Volunteer Slots Available At Go Congress

Monday December 13, 2010

Want to be part of the 2011 U.S. Go Congress in Santa Barbara? Volunteer positions are now available, from Registration Volunteers to Tournament Directors. Click here now to see what’s available! Nearly 150 attendees are already signed up for the 2011 US Go Congress and the Congress site has updated transportation information, photo credits, and contact information. “Watch for more updates, including pricing information, by the New Year,” promises Congress Co-Director Lisa Scott.

Categories: U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America

Couldn’t Hurt, Might Help

Monday December 13, 2010

Notice anything unusual about the female go player in the photo at right? Closer inspection reveals that she’s got acupuncture needles in her head. The photos is from the recent Asian Games, and sources tell us that “Many players on the Korean Pair Go team — Lee Chang Ho included — have used acupuncture needles to improve their performance.” For the record, the strong Korean team won three gold medals and a bronze at the Asian Games. The World Anti-Doping Agency does not prohibit acupuncture.

Categories: World

Tengxiao Yang 5D Tops Windy City Winter Tourney

Monday December 13, 2010

Despite dire weather warnings, “29 players fearlessly came to the December 11 Chicago Winter Tournament,” reports TD Bob Barber. “New players from Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and even Romania, by way of Northern Ireland,” turned out. “Noticeably absent was Rich Brown from Madison, WI, who chose cautiously to stay at home,” Barber notes. Tengxiao Yang 5d took first place in the dan division. Other results: 1st Place High Kyu: ROHDE, David, 5k; 1st Place Low Kyu: MARTINEZ ORTEGA, Jorge, 9k; 2nd Place Low Kyu: BOYLAND, Peter, 10k. “This was the first AGA tournament for Yang and Boyland,” says Barber. “We hope to see a lot more of them in the future.”
– photo by Mark Rubenstein

Categories: U.S./North America

Won Suh 6D Wins NOVA Slate and Shell Open

Monday December 13, 2010

Won Suh 6d (lower left) edged out fellow 6-dans James Park (r in upper right) and Edward Zhang (l in upper right) on tie breaks to take the trophy at the NOVA Slate and Shell Open in Arlington, VA last Saturday, December 11. The field of 22 players battled for books and cash prizes supplied by sponsor Slate and Shell. The top three players in the dan division, all with 3-1 records, split the cash prize and were awarded books. Other winners included undefeated Kelsey Dyer 2k, Gurujeet Khalsa 9k, Joseph Lee 10k, and undefeated Tariq Khan 19k, who also earned trophies, books and cash. Second place finishers George Wilson 5k, Joey Phoon 7k, and Deirdre Golash 13k received books.
– reported by Garrett Smith; photos by Gen Zhang

Categories: U.S./North America

GO SPOTTING: Go Makes Quiz Show

Monday December 13, 2010

The Double Jeopardy round of the quiz show Jeopardy for Monday December 13 had go as one of its categories, reports Joel Sanet. “The head of the column had a go grid and stones in the background,” Sanet told the E-Journal. “The answers in ascending order of value were China, black, samurai, atari, and liberties. The clues are left as an exercise for the student.”

Categories: Go Spotting,U.S./North America

Latest Issue Of GoGoD Released

Monday December 13, 2010

The Winter 2010 issue of the GoGoD Database and Encyclopaedia has just been released and sent to subscribers. “This issue contains over 65,000 games in the database, including previously unknown games of Go Seigen, Kitani Minoru, Hashimoto Utaro and many others,” reports T Mark Hall.

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware

CORRECTIONS: Shotwell Link Updates & E-books on the iPad

Monday December 13, 2010

Our Go Online post on E-Books And Steganography (12/5/2010) has been updated with correct links for Peter Shotwell’s writings and the steganography article as well as to a recently-posted short version of Shotwell’s Appendix V of the Origins article, the one that revamps early go history. Also, in that same post “Amazing Happenings in the Game of Go,” Volumes 1 & 2 are available on the iPad, not the Kindle, as we reported. “In fact,” says author Bob Terry, “I specifically wrote them for the iPad. The Kindle does not display color, and these books are filled with color photographs of Japanese festivals, television programs and other picturesque events that make use of the iPad’s capabilities. I want these books to reach as many people as possible, not just go players, so that they bring more people into the game. I hope that making go attractive in this way will help in that.”

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware,U.S./North America

American Go E-Journal » 2010 » December