American Go E-Journal » 2015 » June

More Go Players Streaming

Thursday June 18, 2015

More go players and teachers are starting to stream their games on Twitch, the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers. More than 45 million gamers gather every month on Twitch to broadcast, watch and chat about gaming. Several go players are getting in on the action, including Shawn Ray 4d, who reviews games and holds lectures; Battousai 5d, who teaches and has lectures using different go servers; and Xiaocheng-Stephen Hu 3d, who goes over many go concepts.

Shawn Ray will have Yoonyoung Kim 4p, a pro from South Korea, in his next lecture this Saturday at 8 pm central time, on June 20th. “This should be a fun event as well as my first professional guest on stream. If it goes well I also plan to do more events like these,” Ray notes. The event can be watched on Ray’s Twitch channel here. He also has a list of teachers that are streaming reviews and teaching games, which can be found here.

Xiaocheng-Stephen Hu, also known as xhu98, is the host of an ongoing tournament between teachers found on OGS and KGS. The schedule and participants can be found here. “I am really enjoying the tournament,” says Triton Perrin, “of course I am not strong enough to get far, but it has inspired me to work just a little bit harder to do my best against other teachers I look up to. To me, it seems like this tournament is helping the go community come together and get more people involved.” Hu has a lecture every Friday for all ranks, and occasionally has players join him in his lectures. Times can be found on the spreadsheet link from Shawn Ray above.

Josh Allen, also known as Battousai, has been doing lectures for years, and now puts his videos on his website, as well as Twitch and YouTube. Click here to visit his site. Allen has lectures every Wednesday afternoon from 3pm to 9pm EST. “I love games and problems, but I don’t even play go,’ says username Wreqt, “I stick around because I like you. Your instruction and teaching is fantastic, and it is a blast to hear your commentary on this game. Thanks for such a great channel!”
– Special report by Austin Freeman. Image: Battousi’s cartoon version takes on bots, from www.dwyrin.tv.

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

Baltimore Club Uses Chapter Rewards to Pay Dues

Thursday June 18, 2015

The Baltimore Go Club was the first to take advantage of paying their annual chapter dues with AGA chapter rewards points. “It was simple. I just sent an email to rewards@usgo.org requesting to renew with points,” club President Keith Arnold said. “They checked that we had the necessary 35,000 points and that was it.” All point totals earned through April can be found here.
– Gurujeet Khalsa

Categories: U.S./North America

Register for US Go Congress by July 1 & Save; Day-Off Activities Include Stillwater Riverboat Ride and a day at the Uptown Lakes

Wednesday June 17, 2015

If you’re considering attending this year’s US Go Congress, register before July 1 and save $50. That’s when the late registration fee goes up to $100. This year’s Congress runs August 1-9 in St Paul, Minneapolis.

In addition to lots of go — tournaments, lectures, pro simuls and more — the Go Congress offers exciting options for the traditional day off on Wednesday. “The votes from our online survey are in: the riverboat ride in Stillwater, MN and spending time in the Uptown region of Minneapolis generated the most interest for day off activities,” reports Aaron Broege.”If you choose to join the group going to Stillwater, this will include time to explore the picturesque downtown Stillwater and, of course, go on a 2.5 hr boat ride on the St. Croix river, complete with food and music. The Stillwater main street is home to numerous bars, coffee shops, restaurants, and antique shops.

If you prefer to stick around the city, the Uptown area is a perfect place to spend your day off, Broege says. “The highlight of this region is the chain of four lakes (Cedar, Lake of the Isles, Calhoun, and Harriet), all of which have separate biking and pedestrian paths around them.” Near Lake Calhoun you can rent bikes, canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, paddle boats, and more. “Lake Calhoun and Harriet have beaches if you just want to take a dip.” When you’re ready to take a break from the activities, the adjacent area is filled with restaurants, shops, and theaters. Within walking distance from Uptown is the Walker Art Center, which focuses on modern artistic exhibits. The outdoor sculpture garden associated with the Walker, home to the Spoonbridge and Cherry — aka the cherry spoon — is a must-see landmark of the Twin Cities. This area provides a great example of how the Twin Cities beautifully blends urban living with natural beauty.

“For those with other interests, we are going to include recommended outings in the Congress booklet,” Broege adds. “There is so much to explore in the Twin Cities that we want to give individuals the chance to put together their own adventure.” Keep up-to-date on even more news and things to do in the Twin Cities through the 2015 Go Congress Facebook page.
photos: (top right) A riverboat on the St. Croix River passing under the bridge in Stillwater; (bottom left) downtown Minneapolis as seen from Lake Calhoun.

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

Go Spotting: Go and the President in Scientific American

Wednesday June 17, 2015

A go-playing President of the United States would probably be a better president. That’s according to David Z. Hambrick, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University who wrote recently in Scientific American that “my colleague Brooke Macnamara and I found that fluid intelligence—the general ability to reason and think logically—was a strong positive predictor of skill in the board game GO, as measured by a laboratory task that was specially designed to measure a GO player’s ability to evaluate game situations and select optimal moves. In turn, performance in this task was strongly related to a player’s tournament GO rating.” Hambrick adds that while IQ isn’t the only predictor of presidential success, “what science tells us is that a high level of intellectual ability translates into a measureable advantage in the Oval Office.”

Thanks to Mark A. Brown for passing this along. Photo credit: Sam Boulton Sr. via Wikimedia Commons

Categories: Go Spotting

Slate fixed for 2015 Board Elections

Tuesday June 16, 2015

Incumbents Chris Kirschner and Martin Lebl are running unopposed to retain their seats in the Western and Central regions, respectively while newcomers Diego F. Pierrottet and George Lebovitz will be contesting the Eastern region.

“Chapter reps, please take time to insure your contact information is correct for the both the AGA chapters list and the chapter membership/contact information,” says Arnold Eudell. “You should have already received your preliminary voting rights report. Any further information about the election will come through these sources.” Contact Elections@usgo.org with any questions.

Categories: U.S./North America

Your Move/Readers Write: No Japanese Pros?

Tuesday June 16, 2015

No Japanese Pros? “I see the E-Journal is reporting the pros coming to the Go Congress (Top Pros Confirm for US Go Congress 6/8)” writes Bill Chiles. “I’m a bit shocked there are no Japanese pros coming. Why is that?! Maeda Sensei is almost always there at the very least.”
We should have specified that this was a preliminary list; the Nihon Kiin and Kansai Kiin in Japan and KBA in Korea have not yet provided the names of their pros who will be in attendance.

About the Liebniz piece: “Most of this information about Leibniz’s acquaintance with go (Go Spotting: Leibniz calls go “ingenious and quite difficult” 6/11) can be found in The Go Player’s Almanac (2001) in Jaap K. Blom’s essay, Go in the West in the 18th Century, pages 38 to 42,” writes Richard Bozulich from Kiseido.

Categories: U.S./North America,Your Move: Readers Write

Go Spotting: Hikaru no Go in Symmetry Plus

Tuesday June 16, 2015

Symmetry Plus, a magazine for young mathematicians in the UK, published an article about Hikaru no Go and math in its latest issue. Calin Galeriu, a professor at Becker College, writes that go is a “board game with an incredible amount of mathematical content.” Young people reading Hikaru learn about area, the coordinate plane, deductive and inductive reasoning, and more. The problem solving techniques Hikaru and his friends use for go problems are similar to those used when solving mathematical problems.

But the manga does even more than introduce mathematical concepts, Galeriu argues. Hikaru no Go promotes a “message of hard work and dedication” that applies to more than learning go. It teaches kids about the values of staying calm, of using intuition, of perseverance, and of working together. Hikaru no Go is an introduction to go and mathematics, but it also “offers our youngsters an authentic learning philosophy” that lasts for life. Galeriu’s article can be read in full here.
– report by Julian Erville. Image from Hikaru no Go © 1998 by Hotta Yumi, Takeshi Obata/Shueisha Inc.

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

Saki Fujita 5D & Yizhi Wang 5D Tie to Top NOVA Congress Tuneup

Sunday June 14, 2015

Saki Fujita 5D and Yizhi Wang 5D tied to top the 2015 NOVA Congress Tuneup tournament on Saturday, June 13 at George Mason Law School in Arlington VA. Twenty-six players participated. “In an unusual situation in the top band, three players finished 3-1, each losing once to one of the others,” reports organizer Allan Abramson. SOS tie-break showed that two tied for first place, with the third alone in second. “In another unusual situation, there were no players at 2,3, or 4 kyu, resulting in a greater number of higher handicap games than normally is the case,” Abramson noted.

Gurujeet Khalsa bade a fond farewell to Ning-Yuan Ernest Wang, saying “We first met him a year ago when he showed up at a NOVA tournament with a band of fellow go players from the revitalized go scene at John Hopkins University in Baltimore. His cheerful presence at go events this past year has been wonderful and we wish him a warm sendoff as he heads back to his native Taiwan.”

Full results:

First place: Saki Fujita 5D and Yizhi Wang 5D, tied; Quinn Baranoski 1K, 3-1; Mike Lash 6K, 4-0; Ning-Yuan Ernest Wang 11K, 4-0; and Sarah Crites 13K, 4-0

Second place: Josh Lee 6D; David Reed 5K, 3-0; Robert Cole 12K and Betsy Small 12K, tied, 3-1; and Antonina Perez-Lopez, 2-2

(6/16) This report has been updated with a correction to the spelling of Ning-Yuan Ernest Wang’s name and the addition of Gurujeet Khalsa’s farewell to Wang.

Categories: U.S./North America

Gotham Go Group’s Steph Oppenheim Dies

Sunday June 14, 2015

Gotham Go Group member Steph Oppenheim died Wednesday, reports Peter Armenia. Oppenheim (right) had been fighting cancer for over two years

“He was always one of our most enthusiastic players and promoters of the game,” says Armenia. “He was always willing to teach beginners, and he spent a good deal of time helping teach go to students in local schools. He will be missed, but we are happy to have watched him beat the predictions of his doctors by over a year. And he made the most of that year.”

There will be a funeral at 11:15 on Monday, June 15 at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 W 76 St, with refreshments and food afterwards.

Categories: U.S./North America

Garlock’s Wales Walk Going for $3K

Sunday June 14, 2015

Thanks to the generous contributions of many go players, E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock’s upcoming Wales Walk has already surpassed its original goal and is now going for raising $3,000 to support the American Go Foundation. “Wow!” said AGF president Terry Benson, “Go’s path is long – and so is Chris and Lisa’s – and the more support we receive, the farther we can go.” The AGF is dedicated to promoting go in the U.S. and has enabled thousands of American children to learn go in hundreds of schools, libraries and community centers across the country. “We also provide scholarships and resources for youth who play go, and we support go in institutional settings such as prisons, and senior centers,” Benson adds. The Garlock’s walk starts at the end of June; click here to contribute to the Walk and support the AGF.
photo: Garlock on a recent training walk; photo by Lisa Garlock

Categories: U.S./North America

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