Wednesday December 4, 2013
According to informed sources, plans are under way to hold the 2014 U.S. Go Congress at the Hotel Pennsylvania in
midtown Manhattan from August 9-16. “It’s a terrific location with easy access all that New York City has to offer,” the highly-placed source said. The Pennsylvania has previously hosted the East Coast Oza qualifiers. More details on the 2014 US Go Congress are expected to be announced soon.
Wednesday December 4, 2013
If go was food, Berlin go players would surely be loosening their belts after a sustained feast of the game last week, with the Go to Innovation Tournament kicking off Berlin Go Week, topped off with the Berlin Championship and followed by the Kranich Tournament for dessert.
The Go to Innovation Tournament, with a first prize of 1,000 EU, was played November 22 – 24 at the Innovationspark Wuhlheide, 12555 Berlin. Unusually, it uses the Hahn system, whereby the tournament is won on a point score with game points awarded according to the size of win/loss. It was won by Korean Hwang In-seong 8d (right) for the eighth time, with Bernd Sambale 2d (left) in second place and Lluis Oh 6d third. Click here for Eurogotv’s report with photos, video and game records, here for full results, and here for an after-tournament interview with Hwang, in which he reveals plans to extend his Yunguseng Dojang internet go academy to American time zones in the near future. “I got this plan because I have about 10-15 American time zone go players in my go school and they can’t fully enjoy because the time (is better) suited for Europeans,” Hwang old the E-Journal. “Therefore, I will open one more go school which has same system but (a more) suitable time for American go players.” He expects the new classes to start in January 2014.
Berlin Go Week continued on Monday November 25 with a simultaneous prize challenge: Bernd Schutze, Michael Budhan and David Seibt (all 4-dans) v the Rest of the World. Tuesday saw the Iron-Man tournament with several go variations to compete in: Five-in-a-row, Tsunami go, Blind go and Globus go or Risigo. Then on Wednesday there was a two-hour workshop with Hwang Inseong and on Thursday the order of the day was to “bring a travelcard and a magnetic go set” for an evening of go games on Berlin’s Ring Railroad (Ringbahn).
The Berlin Championship 2013 (Berliner Meisterschaft) title match was held, according to tradition, at the end of Berlin Go Week on Friday November 29. The previous title-holder, Johannes Obenaus 5d, is currently studying in Taiwan, so the final was between Michael Budahn 4d and David Seibt 4d. The event, held at Humboldt University, Berlin, was beset by difficulties and errors, starting with Hwang In-seong being unable to deliver the expected live TV commentary due to a lack of equipment. The byo yomi of 5 stones in 5 minutes was not set properly at first, and then with both players in overtime, both lost groups under pressure. When Seibt then pressed the clock with the wrong hand and Budahn raised an objection, the game recorder thought it was all over and failed to record the subsequent moves as the game continued, thinking the players were simply analysing it. Finally, however, Seibt was declared the winner by 10 points and took the title of Berliner Meister 2013. Click here for the Eurogotv report, including photos, video and correct game record.
Last weekend, November 30 – December 1, Berlin Go Week gave way to the five-round Kranich Tournament (Berliner Kranich Turnier), also held at the Humboldt University, Berlin and featuring traditional Japanese food provided by a team of Japanese housewives as well as a calligraphy stand and bookstall. It was won by Czech student Lukas Podpera (left), who entered as a 5d and left as a 6d after seeing his European Go Rating (GoR) exceed 2600. In second place came Robert Jasiek 5d and third was Kevin Sanow 4d. Click here for Eurogotv’s round-by-round report, including photos, videos and game records, here for full results and here for an after-tourney interview with Podpera, his first ever.
Click here to connect with Berlin Go Club’s Facebook page with photos from the entire week.
Report by Tony Collman. Photos: Viktor Lin 6d (L) plays Go to Innovation Tournament winner, Hwang In-seong 8d; The Berliner Meister trophy; Kranich Tournament victor, Lukas Podpera 6d – all courtesy of Eurogotv. Photos of play by Judith van Dam.
CORRECTION: the player at left in the top photo has been updated to Bernd Sambale 2d, rather than Viktor Lin 6d as originally reported.
Wednesday December 4, 2013
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Second Round Of Nong Shim Cup Starts: Japan has made a bad start in the second round of the 15th Nong Shim Spicy Noodles 
Cup, which is being played in Pusan, Korea. In Game 5, played on December 2, Kang Tong-yun 9P of Korea (W) defeated Kono Rin 9P by resignation. Japan has yet to score a win, and only Yuki Satoshi 9P and Cho U 9P are left.
Severe Penalty For Lateness: Unfamiliarity with Tokyo trains cost Arakaki Shun 9P of the Kansai Ki-in nearly one half of his time allowance in a game at the Nihon Ki-in on November 21. Arakaki got on a train going the wrong way on the Yamanote loop line and so was 27 minutes late. According to the rules, the time a player is late is tripled and deducted from the time allowance. With the one minute Arakaki actually spent on his first move thrown in, that meant that he lost one hour 22 minutes out of three hours on his first move. Not surprisingly, he lost the game.
Obituary: Oka Mitsuo
Oka Mitsuo 7P died on November 19. Born on August 10, 1932, Oka became a disciple of Segawa Yoshio 9P. He turned professional in 1962 and reached 6-dan in 1978. He retired in 1998 and was promoted to 7-dan.
Promotion: Yo Chito
Yo Chito was promoted to 2-dan on November 29. The fifteen-year-old Yo made his international debut recently as a member of Japan’s Nong Shim Cup team.
Wednesday December 4, 2013
The European Go Federation (EGF) now has its’ own discussion forum. The new platform for European go issues is intended for use by go organizers throughout Europe. “You can use this forum also for your tournament announcements, if you want to spread the information throughout Europe,” says EGF President Martin Stiassny. “I will use this forum intensively, for announcements but also for answering your questions.”
One of the first posts on the forum is about a new team tournament in Guangzhou, China from December 19-26 “It is more or less a new team world championship,” says Staissny. “It will be an amazing event. It will be held every two years and should be the tournament with the highest prize-money in China. Guangzhou has a super Go-Club, like Hangzhou. Although the flight-costs are not covered by the organizers, the prize-money for the amateur-teams is really surprising, and I see very good chances for teams from Europe to win this prize-money.” Stiassny urges European players “to find three players of one country, so called ‘regions’ might be Scandinavia or Spain/Portugal, but not ‘Western Europe’ or ‘Balkan'”.
Tuesday December 3, 2013
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Newcomer Makes Good Start In Honinbo League: Three players are undefeated after two rounds in the 69th Honinbo League. 
Two of them are heavyweights, Yamashita Keigo 9P and Kono Rin 9P; the surprise is that the third is league newcomer Ida Atsushi 7P (right). Born on March 15, 1994, Ida started out the year as a 4-dan, but jumped to 7-dan when he won a Honinbo seat. He is a member of the Central Japan (Nagoya) branch of the Nihon Ki-in. Ida’s second win came on November 14, when, playing white, he beat Yuki Satoshi 9P by resig.
Ichiriki Wins Young Carp Tournament: The 8th Hiroshima Aluminium Cup Young Carp 
Tournament, open to Nihon Ki-in players 30 and under and 6-dan and under, was held on November 16 and 17. It was won by the sixteen-year-old Ichiriki Ryo 3P (left). Playing white in the final, he defeated Fujita Akihiko 4P, holder of the King of the New Stars title, by resignation.
26th Women’s Meijin League: In a game played on November 14, Chinen Kaori 4P (W) beat Okuda Aya 3P by 2.5 points. This extended Chinen’s score to 3-1, bringing her level with Suzuki Ayumi 6P. The league leader is Kato Keiko on 4-1. In another game, played on November 20, Yoshida Mika 8P picked up his first win by beating Ishii Akane 2P; Yoshida had black and won by resignation.
Aoki vs. Ishii In Women’s Kisei Play-Off: In the semifinals of the 17th Women’s Kisei tournament, held on November 18, Ishii Akane 2P (B) beat Chinen Kaori 4P by resignation and Aoki Kikuyo 8P (W) beat Konishi Kazuko 8P, also by resignation, so Ishii and Aoki will meet in the play-off to decide the challenger to Xie Yimin.
Mukai Finally Beats Xie: Mukai Chiaki (right) has finally succeeded in a title challenge to Xie Yimin. In the fifth game of the 32nd Women’s
Honinbo title match, held at the Nihon K-in in Tokyo on November 27, Mukai (B) beat Xie by resignation after 251 moves. This was an impressive win for Mukai, as she spent a large part of the game under severe pressure. She made a reducing move that was a little too deep, and for the next 100 moves or so a large group of hers was harried and harassed by Xie. Spectators thought that Xie would win, but Mukai found a brilliant move that secured a link with another group. Xie is the one known for staging upsets in tough positions, but here she was on the receiving end. This win earned Mukai her first title after six unsuccessful challenges, five of them to Xie. The latter is now reduced to two titles.
Hane Defends Okan Title: The Okan or Crown title decides the top player at the Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in. The 54th title match (just one game) was held on November 29. Hane Naoki (B) defeated the challenger, Nakano Hironari 9P, by resignation after 237 moves. This is Hane’s tenth Okan title. His father, Hane Yasumasa, also won it four times; as far as I know, this is the only case of two players in the same family winning the same title.
Tomorrow: Second Round Of Nong Shim Cup Starts; Severe Penalty For Lateness; Obituary: Oka Mitsuo; Promotion: Yo Chito
Monday December 2, 2013
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
All-Chinese Final In LG Cup: The quarterfinals and semifinals of the 18th LG Cup were held in Inch’eon City in Korea on November 11 and 13. Chinese players had dominated the tournament so far, taking six of the eight quarterfinal places, but for once Japan had 
done better than Korea, with Takao Shinji and Iyama Yuta taking the other two places. However, this was as far as their luck held out, as they were both eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinal results, Nov. 11: Chen Yaoye 9P (China) (B) defeated Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) by resignation; Tuo Jiaxi 3P (China) (B) d. Takao Shinji 9P (Japan) by 4.5 points; Li Zhe 6P (China) (W) d. Xia Chenkun 2P (China) by resig.; Zhou Ruiyang 9P (China) (B) d. Li Qincheng 1P (China) by resig.
Semifinal results, Nov. 13: Tuo (B) d. Li by resig.; Zhou (B) d. Chen by 4.5 points. The final is scheduled for February 10, 12, and 13. photo: 18th LG Cup semifinalists, from left: Li Zhe 6 dan, Tuo Jiaxi 3 dan, Zhou Ruiyang 9 dan and Chen Yaoye 9 dan; photo courtesy GoGameGuru
Yamashita To Challenge For Kisei Title: The play-off to decide the challenger to Iyama Yuta for the 38th Kisei title was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on November 14. Playing white, Yamashita Keigo 9P forced Murakawa Daisuke 7P to resign after 144 moves. Yamashita has won the Kisei title five times, first in 2003 and then from 2006 to 2009. This will be his chance to seek revenge for his loss of the Meijin title to Iyama this year. The first game will be played in Alcala de Henares, near Madrid, in Spain on January 11 & 12. With a first prize of 45 million yen (nearly $440,000 USD), the Kisei is Japan’s richest title.
Iyama Defends Tengen Title: The third game of the 39th Tengen title match was held at the Yutoku Inari Shrine in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture on November 28. Iyama Yuta (W) defeated Akiyama Jiro 9P by resignation after 176 moves, so he defended his title with straight wins. This is his third successive Tengen title; he now has a winning streak of nine wins in the Tengen.
Cho U Picks Up First Win In Oza Title Match, But Iyama Defends: Games Two and Three in the 61st Oza title match were held 
in quick succession at the Saryo Soen inn in Akiu Hot Spring, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture. It’s quite unusual to hold two games from a title match in a row at the same venue outside Tokyo; it was made necessary, of course, by Iyama Yuta’s crowded schedule. The second game was played on November 19; taking black, Iyama won by resignation after 243 moves. This gave him a 2-0 lead over the challenger, Cho U 9P. It looked as if the match might end very quickly, as the third game was played on the 21st, with only one day’s break. However, Cho (right) played a masterly game with black and forced a resignation after just 161 moves, making the series a lot more interesting. This was the fourth time two games have been played in a row like this and the first time the wins have been shared. The fourth game was played at the Sanyoso inn in Izu-no-kuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture on December 2. Taking black, Iyama won by resignation after 221 moves, so he defended his title with a 3-1 score. This is his second successive Oza title and it maintained his current tally at six of the top seven. He has also taken his overall tally to 22, which is even with O Rissei and Hane Naoki in 13th place.
The Oza title match was the last of the tournament year. This is the first year since 2001 that Cho U has failed to win a title. Iyama has proved to be his nemesis, but he is too good a player not to make a comeback. Incidentally, Iyama’s six first prizes and his TV Asia win have earned him 152.5 million yen $1.5 million USD). Various match fees and game fees have to be added to this, so his final total should be a new record by a big margin.
Iyama Reaches Judan Semifinals: The significance of this news item is that Iyama is keeping alive his chances of becoming the first player ever to win a genuine grand slam, that is, all seven titles in one year. To do so, he needs to become the Judan challenger and then to win it after defending his Kisei title at the beginning of next year. Iyama’s opponent in the semifinal is Mizokami Tomochika 8P. The other semifinal matches Hane Naoki against Takao Shinji.
Tomorrow: Newcomer Makes Good Start In Honinbo League; Ichiriki Wins Young Carp Tournament; 26th Women’s Meijin League; Aoki vs. Ishii In Women’s Kisei Play-Off; Mukai Finally Beats Xie; Hane Defends Okan Title
CORRECTION: The Kisei first prize of 45 million yen has been updated to reflect that it’s worth nearly $440,000 USD, not the $300,000 originally reported.
Monday December 2, 2013
Strasbourg Three-Peats as French Club Champs: For the third consecutive year, the Strasbourg Go Club has won the French
Club Championship. The 11th French Club Championship — also named “Master Lim Cup”, in honor of Eugene Lim, a great master in France since 1970 – was held November 23-24, with 14 teams competing in Dijon. The Strasbourg club team includes Motoki Noguchi 7d, Thomas Debarre 6d, Fred Donzet 5d and Antoine Fenech 5d. The Grenoble club took second, and Dijon, which hosted the event, finished third. Click here for team results and individual results. photo: the Strasbourg teams; photo by Antoine Fenech.
Dai Junfu Sweeps Paris-Meijin: Dai Junfu 8d swept the 31st Paris-Meijin on 
December 1, besting Fan Hui 8d in the final game. Held in Paris, this is one of France’s major tournaments, and featured 28 dan players. Benjamin Dréan-Guénézia 5d finished 2nd, Fan Hui 3rd , Motoki Noguchi 7d was 4th and César Lextrait 5th. Click here for results. photo: Dai JUNFU is 5th from left, Benjamin Dréan-Guénézia is 6th from left; photo by Jérôme Hubert.
– Laurent Coquelet, French Correspondent for the E-Journal
Monday December 2, 2013
Well-known Chinese pro Mingjiu Jiang 7P will do a weekend workshop at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR on Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27. “This is part of the Portland Go Club’s continuing effort to bring a variety of pro players to Portland to teach players of all strengths,” reports local organizer Peter Freedman. Those interested in participating must let Freedman know asap and pay to insure a spot. Reach him at peter.freedman@comcast.net, call 503-242-4203 or send $100* to the Portland Go Club, c/o Peter Freedman, 1710 SW Harbor Way, Unit 303, Portland, OR. *There are reduced rates for students and children: college students pursuing a degree: $50; Children and youth up to age 18: $25. photo by Brian Allen
Monday December 2, 2013
The following is a response to a discussion about increasing attendance at go clubs, which was initiated by Aulden Murch recently on the AGA-Chapters email list. It has been reprinted here with permission.
by Eric Jankowski
After running the Ann Arbor club for a decade, I moved to Colorado and have been largely invisible as an organizer for the last year. 
Having been both very and negligibly involved in running clubs, my feeling is that two ingredients are needed for sustainable growth: 1) a tireless advocate for the club who 2) understands the importance of creating an inclusive environment. I suspect we’ve all known someone with this rare combination at some point — the Susan Weirs, Paul Barchilons, Greg Leflers, and Guo Juans, to name just a few. Those of us who try to build clubs may have even been that person occasionally, and can appreciate it is not a trivial effort to maintain.
The great thing about the first ingredient is that it doesn’t depend on rank. Anyone that has been bitten by the beauty of the game can be that tireless advocate. The catch here is that it takes time and energy to be tireless: it can take a big bite out of time for other important life priorities such as work and family. The tireless advocate here is that person who is always at the club, dragging in all of their friends, putting on workshops at libraries and festivals. Someone with infectious enthusiasm. One great example back in Ann Arbor was Albert Guo’s mom; she didn’t ever play, but saw how much her son loved the game and would show up to cook egg rolls at our tournaments. You just can’t beat that for enthusiasm. When you show other people how much you want to be somewhere, they want to be there too.
The second ingredient is a little trickier; it requires leadership from strong players who are willing to teach and maintain a welcoming environment. When the top guns only play each other it creates a feeling of inapproachability. Back in Ann Arbor, we had a great mix 
of kids, college students, permanent residents, and even a few famed homeless folk, and I think it’s because we went to great lengths to emphasize an inclusive environment. We had an implicit rule: Ignoring or bullying younger players, weaker players, or anyone really, cannot be tolerated. In the most constructive and positive way possible, you need to set the tone: “This is a place for having fun, making friends, and a place to learn about this game; if you’re not helping that, you’re not welcome here.” It’s not enough to parrot that quote; you have to get to know the members of your club and set an example. Every so often, remind your strong players that they became strong because someone had helped them previously, by creating a place where they felt empowered to learn. Set an example by teaching new players. Emphasize that your rank has nothing to do with your value as a human. To grow, your club needs an inclusive culture, but this requires constant attention, and it can fade if you lose that strong player leadership. Sometimes as a strong player, you just want to play a game and try out that new trick you saw. Running a club and improving as a player are different things, but this can be easy to forget when there’s a board in front of you. Resisting that temptation is important if the aim is to grow your club.
So, my advice is: If you wish to grow your club, be tireless in your efforts to make a welcoming place to play. And as folks involved in the AGA, I suppose that we have a responsibility to show that these efforts are appreciated and worthwhile.
Jankowski (top right) is a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder . photo at bottom left: at the 2010 University of Michigan/Ann Arbor United Way tournament.
Monday December 2, 2013
David Michael Drexler, 58, passed away November 27, 2013 in his beloved home. He was born June 15, 1955 in Rochester, New York. In his brief lifetime he accomplished much. He was a founding member and past president of the Oklahoma Unix Club, instrumental in forming the first go club in Oklahoma City (OKC), recognized by the American Go Association for his volunteer efforts in outreach and promotion of the game of go. He was a member and officer in the Oklahoma Traditional Music Association, playing the mountain dulcimer with astounding beauty and grace. In the early 1990s Drexler established Internet Access Plus, one of the first internet service provider companies in OKC. His many other loves included hiking in the Wichita Mountains, traveling to see friends and family in California, New York, Hawaii, and Alaska, cooking and bicycling. A memorial service will be held at 3pm, Tuesday, December 3, at Memorial Park Historic Cemetery Chapel. -Text courtesy of Dignity Memorial Online. Thanks to Jim Story for letting the E-J know.