March « 2016 « American Go E-Journal

Ideas for Adding Buzz to Your Go Club Program

Sunday March 20, 2016

If you’re looking to add some excitement, ‘zip’ or ‘buzz’ to your go club program, GoClubsOnline’s Robert Cordingley has some suggestions. “One way is to run face-to-face tournaments in which players compete to win prizes, improve their ratings or just accumulate accolades!” says Cordingley. Another idea is running a Pair Go tournament. A popular feature of the annual US Go Congress, “Pair Go might be a little daunting for a club to run but is now much easier because they are supported in the latest release of GoClubsOnline,” says Cordingley. From registration to forming teams, calculating team ratings and generating pairings, GoClubsOnline gives TDs the tools they need. Click here for details.

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

Mark Lee and Michael Chen lead hunt for New Jersey championship

Saturday March 19, 2016

Leading contenders for this year’s New Jersey Open championship are Mark Lee 7d and Michael Chen 7d, both 3-0 after the first day of play. Eric Lui 1P and Zhengbokang Tang 7d are also in the mix at 2-1. The first round of the Open began promptly at 10a on Saturday, thanks to required online pre-registration. The 154 players got three rounds in by 6p, helped along with Fischer timing, and will return for the two final rounds on Sunday.

Click here for tourney data, including round-by-round pairings/results, and updated player ratings. Click here to see tourney photos on the AGA’s Twitter feed.
report/photo by Chris Garlock; photo: TD Paul Matthews assists with counting Chinese-style

Categories: U.S./North America

Matthew Cheng Tops Davis-Sac Spring Tourney

Saturday March 19, 2016

The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Spring Tournament at the Arcade library in Sacramento on March 5th. There were eleven players, most from the San Francisco Bay area. Matthew Cheng 2D (right) won Division I, and Tai-An Cha 4K (won Division II for the 12th time in our last 15 tournaments. Both players had 3-1 records.
– Willard Haynes

Categories: U.S./North America

AlphaGo-Lee Sedol Match: Game Records

Saturday March 19, 2016

The complete SGF game records for the incredible display of go prowess from the recent AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p match appear below:
AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p, Game 1
AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p, Game 2
AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p, Game 3
AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p, Game 4
AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p, Game 5

The E-Journal has extensively covered this now world famous historic match. For a starting point on post-match coverage and references, click on this E-Journal article .

For extensive and insightful commentary on the games, also visit the YouTube channel: AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol 9p , in which Michael Redmond 9p analyzes every facet of the games with E-Journal Editor Chris Garlock.

Categories: Computer Go/AI,Korea

Hikaru no Go a Hit With Grade Schoolers

Friday March 18, 2016

“I want to offer a huge thank you the AGF,” writes third grade teacher Ben Ellenwood, from Portland, OR. “I can’t tell you how into these books the kids are! There is a sign up list half a page long and one student has already read 4 of them. We will take good care of them and they will be well loved.” All 23 volumes of Hikaru no Go are available for free, to schools and libraries, from the American Go Foundation. AGA chapters can also now order the sets as long as they are for club (and not personal) use. More info on Hikaru is here. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo by Ben Ellenwood.

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

2016 Go Congress Registration Opens

Friday March 18, 2016

Registration for this year’s US Go Congress — July 30-August 7 in Boston, MA — is now open: click here.

“The organizers of the Boston Go Congress are very excited to welcome all attendees,” says Director Walther Chen. “We’ll be doing our best to provide lots of fun go activities and an overall great experience.”

Check back regularly for more updates on tournaments, activities, attending pros, and more.

Important: this year, the policy for minors is more stringent, please contact the registrar directly at registrar2016@gocongress.org to make sure that you have completed all procedures before Go Congress.

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

AlphaGo-Lee Sedol Match: Game 5 News Coverage

Friday March 18, 2016

Chris Garlock will discuss the AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match Friday March 18 on the “World’s Finest Show” on WCHE 1520 AM, tune in worldwide via the listen live button at the top. Garlock commented the match with Michael Redmond 9P.

In Two Moves, AlphaGo and Lee Sedol Redefined the Future
Wired

AlphaGo seals 4-1 victory over Go grandmaster Lee Sedol
The Guardian

Game over! AlphaGo takes the final victory against Go champion Lee Sedol to finish the $1 million contest 4-1
The Daily Mail

AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol 4–1 in Google DeepMind Challenge Match
GoGameGuru

What we learned in Seoul with AlphaGo
– Demis Hassabis, CEO and Co-Founder of DeepMind

Categories: Computer Go/AI,Korea

xkcd on “Difficulties for Games of Various Computers”

Thursday March 17, 2016

Click here to see the original.

Categories: Computer Go/AI,Korea

AlphaGo Watching Parties in SF & AZ

Wednesday March 16, 2016

The Arizona Go Club met at Old Chicago Restaurant for pizza and wings “to view the burial of human superiority in go, otherwise known as Game 3 of the AlphaGo v. Lee Sedol match,” reports Martin Lebl. “Viewing was successful, although humanity lost, as many have predicted after game 1 and game 2 of the match.” Having watched the first two games at Denny’s, the viewing party for the deciding game was upgraded to Old Chicago “due to their better tasting food, and availability of appropriate liquid refreshments for a wake,” Lebl adds. “The final burial came at 1:30 local time, when AlphaGo decisively proved not only could it fight complicated ko fight, but would convert it into more complicated and bigger ko fight in the process, if given half a chance. Fun was had by all.”

“Here’s a picture of us watching game two of the incredible Alphago vs. Lee Sedol match at Noisebridge hackerspace (left) in San Francisco,” reports Mishal Awadah. The SF Go club is offering a 10 week beginners go class starting on March 20th for anyone interested in learning the game.

And Lee Schumacher sent in this shot of a watch party at the Google Mt. View campus (right).

Categories: Computer Go/AI

New Jersey Open This Weekend; Pre-Registration Required

Wednesday March 16, 2016

The New Jersey Open will be held this weekend in Princeton, New Jersey in the Frist Campus Center. Pre-registration and pre-payment are required this year: register here by Thursday, March 17. When you arrive, there will be a check-in sheet at the registration desk and initial pairings will be posted. Check your name off on the list. DO NOT START PLAY until the designated start time of 10 AM. Announcements and attendance check will begin at 9:50. If you are not there, you will be removed from the first round. Cell phones don’t work at the site, but if you’re lost or late, call 609-851-6351 during the last half hour of check-in. Trains from NY/Phila arrive at 9:36. We suggest a taxi to Frist in order to arrive on time.
– Rick Mott, Princeton Go Club
NOTE: top boards will be broadcast on KGS by Chris Garlock (just returned from the Lee Sedol-AlphaGo match in Seoul) and John Pinkerton

Categories: U.S./North America

American Go E-Journal » 2016 » March