American Go E-Journal » 2012 » September

Hikaru Author Hotta Yumi Interviewed

Monday September 3, 2012

Hikaru no Go author Hotta Yumi was interviewed on film at the International Go Symposium on August 5th, 2012. For those who missed the live stream, the Tiger’s Mouth website has printed the entire text of the interview. The AGF is currently editing the videos from the symposium, all of which will be available online at a later date. A few choice highlights from the Hotta interview are below, you can read the full article here.

On how the series began, Hotta says “I wanted to learn go, so I paid a go school and started to attend classes once a week with a pro. He was mean, and never let the students win the teaching games. This was frustrating to me, because I was thinking ‘Why am I paying to lose all the time?’ I wished that I had a guardian angel or a ghost that could help me beat him really bad. It was at that moment that Hikaru no Go was born.” When asked about how go has affected her life, Hotta replied: “Honestly, I had no idea that so many kids would want to learn how to play go. Not just in Japan, but all over the world. Especially kids in other countries where there aren’t many teachers or resources for playing go. Nowadays many more kids can play go thanks to the efforts of teachers, professionals, and groups that are helping to bring go to kids around the world. For my own life, Hikaru has made it very hard for me to attend go tournaments. So many people will watch over my shoulder during my games, and I’m not a very strong player so it is very embarrassing!” – Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Translation by Akane Negishi and Solomon Smilack. Photo: Hotta Yumi, by Paul Barchilon.

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

Hikaru Trivia Winners

Monday September 3, 2012

Thirteen readers submitted answers to the E-J Hikaru no Go trivia contests, published on Aug. 6, but only four readers got all the answers right. The winners are Hena Garcia, Linden Chiu, Elizibeth Comer, and “Jeffrey” who did not provide a last name. All four win a free month of KGS+. The questions and answers are below. Q:Who drank his coffee black, even when he was in middle school? A: Kishimoto. Q: Who was Isumi’s roommate in China? A: Yang Hai. Q: What is Akira’s mother named? A: Akiko (best wrong answers: Mrs. Touya and Sue Me). Q: How is Hikaru able to take the Insei test, even though he missed the deadline? A: Ogata vouches for him. Q: On what day does Sai disappear, and how can you tell? A: Children’s day, May 5th. You can tell because of the carp streamers in the window. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Questions by Paul Barchilon and Justin Teng.

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

12-Year-Old Albert Yen Tops Chi Tourney

Monday September 3, 2012

Twelve-year-old Albert Yen 6d (at right in top photo, playing Changyu Han) took top honors in the September 1 “Me Tarzan” tournament in Chicago, IL, undefeated in the Dan division. “Congress attendees will remember High Kyu division winner Zihang Yin (below left), who is even younger,” says TD Bob Barber. “He swept all before him as 3k then, and repeated as 2k in Chicago. In his spare time, I saw him multiplying and dividing square roots on his I-pad.” Thirty-four players participated in the Labor Day weekend tournament.

“We had many new players, including Deke and Marcus Gould, father and son in from Moline, IL,” notes Barber. “And your humble TD was especially happy to have John Hogan join us. We haven’t seen each other in years, and I recall fondly all the work John did for us during the 2002 Chicago Congress.”

Winner’s Report: 1st Place Dan: YEN, Albert, 6d; 1st Place High Kyu: YIN, Zihang, 2k; 1st Place Mid Kyu: DAVID, Brian, 7k; Tie 1st Place Low Kyu: LIN, Crystal, 16k & SONG, Kevin, 18k.
photos by Mark Rubenstein

Categories: U.S./North America

Fall Semester Enrollment Open at Guo Juan’s Internet Go School

Monday September 3, 2012

Guo Juan’s Internet Go School is currently accepting new students for group classes for the next term, which begins October 6/7. Group class participants also receive a 20% discount on a year’s membership for Guo Juan’s audio lectures. In addition to Guo Juan 5P, the school’s teaching faculty includes Jennie Shen 2P, Young Sun 8P and Mingjiu Jiang 7P. Click here for details on Guo Juan’s Internet Go School.

Categories: World

Frank Luo Wins AtlantaTournament

Sunday September 2, 2012

Frank Luo won the Atlanta tournament August 25 when the Atlanta Go Club and the Chinese Go Association teamed up with a local Korean Baduk salon for a weekend one-day tournament. The tournament featured two divisions, a High Dan Division consisting of players 4-dan or greater and a Dan/Kyu Division consisting of players 3-dan or less to about 5 kyu.

“Although this was not an AGA-rated event the 19 participants had a great time,” reports local organizer Jeffery Kerlagon. Each division played three rounds. “Luo’s final win in the High Dan division featured an exciting tesuji that captured his opponent’s corner,” reports Kerlagon.

“We really wish to thank Mr. Song Kim, owner of Oriental Chess,” says Kerlagon. “Mr. Kim’s establishment — 3182 Steve Reynolds Blvd. Suite 101 Duluth, GA 30096 678-508-6578 — features 10 go boards in half of the building and several poker tables in another part of the building for Texas Hold Em. The Atlanta Go Club encourages any AGA member to visit Mr. Kim. He is 4 Dan and welcomes all players. The entrance fee is $5 to play all day and hours of operation are from 11 AM until after midnight, 7 days a week.”

Winner’s Report: High Dan: 1^st: Frank Luo; 2^nd: Yaofeng Wang; 3^rd: Neirong “Neil” Xiao. Dan/Kyu: 1^st: Hunq Y Lee & Darrell Spence; 2^nd: Dalan Robertson; 3^rd: Youn Lee.

Photo from left to right: Yaofeng Wang, Lixian Liu, Junfeng Gu, Vladimir Rerikh, Yongming Zhuang, Jeff Kerlagon, Huan Tan, Song Kim, Youn Lee (in front of Mr. Kim’s Baduk Salon)

Categories: U.S./North America

SmartGo Kifu Half-Price Through Sept. 15

Sunday September 2, 2012

SmartGo Kifu is on sale for half-price until September 15. Building on the acclaimed SmartGo Pro for the iPhone, SmartGo Kifu offers a go board with tools to study go: professional game records, go problems, and annotated games enabling users to replay master games, solve problems, play against the computer, and record their own games. The first-ever sale for SmartGo Kifu, it may also be the last, says SmartGo author Anders Kierulf. “The main reason for the sale is to give SmartGo Pro users a fair way to upgrade to SmartGo Kifu. SmartGo Pro, now discontinued, was iPhone-only, and has since been superseded by SmartGo Kifu, which works on both iPad and iPhone. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t provide a solution to upgrade users from one app to another.” At the sale price of $9.99 — instead of $19.99 – “This is your chance to upgrade to SmartGo Kifu, or simply get SmartGo Kifu at half off,” says Kierulf. “The next release of SmartGo Kifu will include joseki matching. Get ready by upgrading to SmartGo Kifu now.” For more information, see Kierulf’s blog post.

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware

Your Move/Readers Write: Whence the Seattle Portable Set?; No Politics

Sunday September 2, 2012

Whence the Seattle Portable Set? “In a world of on-the-go go, it is really difficult to find a portable go set that is satisfying to play with,” writes Ramon Mercado. “But I think I’ve managed to find it. I was searching for a set to take to the club meetings on the coffee shop, and to have available for a quick middle-of-the-day game break at work. Thus, one of those magnetic non-standard size sets was not enough; I wanted a full standard-size board. So imagine my excitement when one day a member of the Des Moines Go club shows up with this perfect folding go Japanese-standard board. No hinges or interlocking pieces, and when opened, the lines perfectly aligned. Great sounding wood too! I asked excitedly ‘where did you get this?” and was told ‘This board is from Seattle.’ Apparently the board dated back to the early days of the Seattle Go Center and the board’s owner has never seen anything like it again. After a few months of searching I did track one down on eBay, but I’m wondering if someone could tell me more about this board, what is its relation to the Seattle Go Center, what it’s made of, and most importantly, can someone make more?”
Email information to journal@usgo.org

No Politics: “Please do not include political pieces in future journals,” wrote Mason this week (Ron Paul Using Go Strategy to Advance Agenda at GOP Convention? 8/26 EJ). “There is no place for them.”
The E-Journal is dedicated to covering go-related news without fear or favor. Sometimes that news may have political or social aspects but our focus is always on the game of go and it is never our intent to imply support or endorsement of any particular political or social view.

Categories: Your Move: Readers Write

Jasiek Releases “First Fundamentals”

Saturday September 1, 2012

Designed to “help beginners to rise above their current level and become intermediate players as quickly as possible,” First Fundamentals has just been released by author Robert Jasiek. The 212-page book (also available as a PDF) is also intended to help intermediate players “abandon their remaining mistakes,” says Jasiek, who notes that “A lack of awareness and understanding of mistakes is the by far greatest obstacle for improving.” First Fundamentals includes clear and simple principles about the fundamentals of strategy and tactics and illustrates the principles with examples from beginners’ games. “Apply these principles and improve several ranks!” says Jasiek. Click here for sample pages.

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware

Your Move/Readers Write: The Elegant Hedgehog Pops Up Again

Saturday September 1, 2012

“My wife Kathy Kline’s book group recently read The New York Times best-seller The Elegance of the Hedgehog” writes Terry Benson. “Pages 112-114 in Muriel Barbery’s book (translated from the French) have a wonderful go reference.”

“The main character is a precocious 12-year-old girl who comments acerbically about the adults around her and knows more about go than the father of a friend who is making a movie of The Girl Who Played Go. She uses go as a philosophic metaphor, saying that ‘One of the most extraordinary aspects of the game of go is that it has been proven that in order to win, you must live, but you must also allow the other player to live. Players who are too greedy will lose: it is a subtle game of equilibrium, where you have to get ahead without crushing the other player. In the end, life and death are only the consequences of how well or how poorly you have made your construction. This is what one of Taniguchi’s characters says: you live, you die, these are consequences . It’s a proverb for playing go, and for life.’”
(Previously reported in GO SPOTTING: The Elegance of the Hedgehog 5/4/2010 and The Return of the Elegant Hedgehog 10/24/2010. NOTE: The novel was adapted into a film The Hedgehog (Le hérisson) released in the U.S. in 2011, starring Josiane Balasko as Renée Michel, Garance Le Guillermic as Paloma Josse, and Togo Igawa as Kakuro Ozu, with a score by Gabriel Yared. Click here to see a trailer)

Categories: Go Art,Your Move: Readers Write

U.S. Go Congress EJ Team Recognition

Saturday September 1, 2012

The American Go E-Journal’s comprehensive coverage of the recently-concluded annual U.S. Go Congress has become such a part of the fabric of the event that the extraordinary amount of work that goes into broadcasting dozens of top games, commentaries, reports and photos is now routine and taken for granted. Our work is highly visible, while the workers themselves are largely invisible. Which is how we want it: the focus should always be on the players and the game we all love so deeply. Click here for pro game commentaries (scroll down to Game Review) and here for final results in the NAIM, US Open and Strong Player’s Open.

So it’s a real honor and pleasure for me to recognize here those individuals who contributed so much of their time, effort and talent to help bring this year’s U.S. Go Congress – as well as the first-ever Tygem Pro Tournament immediately preceding the Congress – to our global audience.

First and foremost, deepest thanks, gratitude and kudos to the crack core team of Todd Heidenreich (E-Journal/Broadcast Coordinator), Steve Colburn (EJ IT/Website Coordinator/Video Feed) and Dennis Wheeler (EJ Broadcast Room Manager), without whom our coverage could not happen. They’re talented, dedicated, fun to hang out with, and they love bacon, too.

Our lovely and unflappable KGS Admin team of Akane Negishi and Dan Short was joined this year by Mr. KGS himself, the inimitable William Shubert; we enjoyed having Bill on board and look forward to seeing some great new tweaks to the system soon!

Karoline Burrall, the fierce but fun-loving TD for the US Open, NAIM and SPO, was a full partner with the EJ team, this year enabling us to post pairings sometimes as early as the night before, a great service for players as well as for the EJ team. Karoline was ably assisted by Assistant TDs Steve Burrall and Bob Bacon.

Our game recording team was a wonderful mix of experienced hands, including the amazing Richard Dolen, indispensable Gordon Castanza and, doing double-duty, KGS admin Dan Short. Other returning recorders were Andrew Jackson who did wonderful work on Board 1, Myron Souris (moonlighting from his usual job as EJ Games Editor) and Dave Weimer. Newbies Patrick Allen, Calvin Clark, Pete Gousious, Greg Pongracz and Marshall Quander fit right into the team, especially Allen, who handled a couple of extraordinarily long games with aplomb.

Todd Blatt was better than ever as our nimble-fingered Game Commentary Broadcaster, transcribing pro game commentaries live at the speed of light, and EJ photographer Phil Straus always managed to get an even better shot than we asked for.

EJ Youth Editor Paul Barchilon managed our youth coverage while also running numerous youth events at the Congress; aspiring young go journalists should be sure to volunteer to help out next year. Better yet, get started now by emailing Paul c/o journal@usgo.org Paul’s EJ Youth Game Recording team included Justin Teng, Tom Bahun, and Yunxuan Li.

Last but definitely not least are our Honorary EJ Team Members, 2012 Congress Directors Paul Celmer and Peter Armenia, who not only pulled together a memorable and fun Congress, but who made sure that the EJ team had whatever we needed to bring the Congress to you.

Thanks again to each and every one of these terrific volunteers. And if you’re interested in being on the team next year in Seattle, just drop us a note at journal@usgo.org!

– Chris Garlock, EJ/Broadcast Managing Editor
photo by Phil Straus & Lisa Garlock

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

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