Top European players on AlphaGo and the future of go: “I was in shock,” says Thomas Debarre 
6d of France. “I felt a bit disappointed with the quality in the sense that not one game was countable at the end,” said Merlijn Kuin 6d of The Netherlands. “The 21st century is and will be ‘the age of go,” says Mateusz Surma 1p of Poland. “The future of go isn’t easy, but not because of AlphaGo,” says Diána Kőszegi 1p of Hungary (photo). Kim Ouweleen interviews with top European players on AlphaGo and the future of go are available on the European Go Federation’s website.
BGA Go Crossword: “I see from your recent item, Catching Up: Obama on go, AlphaGo helps predict the future, and more, that Roy Laird is a crossword fan,” writes British Go Journal Editor Bob Scantlebury. “Others with a love of crosswords as well as go may like to check if their British Go Association (BGA) membership is up to date if they have one (or sign up , if not), as the upcoming Winter edition of the quarterly British Go Journal (BGJ) will feature a bumper, go-themed
19×19 competition cryptic crossword.” But be warned, Scantlebury says, “this is a British-style cryptic crossword, as featured in UK broadsheet dailies — and with a difference.” The BGJ is free to BGA members; the Winter edition will be out in early January and sent out in hard copy, as well as being available in pdf online to those who are members.
Go in New Master of Orion: “I was recently playing the new Master of Orion video game, a remake of the renowned turn based strategy classic video game,” writes Guillermo Molano. “This game takes place in a fictional galaxy where many races compete while expanding by colonizing solar systems. While playing I found a solar system named Go, another one named Fuseki, and a last one named Tesuji. I don’t know if there are more systems with more Go references. Perhaps its not that surprising since Master of Orion is a strategy game and it was developed by a studio in Argentina. That country has the strongest players in all Latin America.”
