American Go E-Journal » 2017 » January

Review: “The Tengu’s Game of Go”

Tuesday January 3, 2017

by David Bogie

“The Tengu’s Game of Go” is the last in a four-volume fantasy by Lian Hearn, set in medieval Japan. Magic beasts with enchanted weapons, convoluted plots with betrayals and double-crosses galore. Go? Not so much.

The author is well-versed in Japanese lore and history and has based many of her books on ancient and traditional folk stories. She knows the equipment used to play go but I don’t think she has any real concept of the game’s territorial objective.

During the game mentioned in the title, the tengu (a magical being) tricks a human into stealing an enchanted bow from his opponent. This theft somehow shifts the game in his favor, implying the author thinks of go as a series of contests with tangible goals. Go actually appears in only three or four short passages that will not interest go players in the least.

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware

Registration Open for the 3rd North American Kyu Championships

Tuesday January 3, 2017

The third annual North American Kyu Championships (NAKC) will be held on February 4th this year on KGS. This one-day, 4-round tournament is open to all kyu-level players under the age of 18 from the United States, Canada, or Mexico. The best Junior (under 13) and Senior (under 18) players in each of five divisions will be able to win a fabulous crystal trophy, and the winners of the top division will also be granted entry into the prestigious Redmond Cup, which is traditionally open only to dan-level players. All players who compete in every round of the NAKC will also be eligible to receive either a $400 scholarship to the AGA Summer Go Camp, or a $200 scholarship to the 2017 US Go Congress, courtesy of the American Go Foundation. The deadline to register for the NAKC is January 29th; click here to register and here for the official Rules and Format. For dan players, registration for the 2017 Redmond cup will open in mid to late February.

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

Report from the 2016 Paris Meijin

Sunday January 1, 2017

Once again this year, many go fans were reunited on the two weekends of November 26-27 and December 3-4, as for the fifteenth time the Paris Ouest Go Club hosted the 34th Paris Meijin tournament. Regular supporters Canon France, the Asahi newspaper, the Nihon-Kiin, Nippon Transeuro and the Association of Expatriot Japanese from the Fukushima Region all supported the tournament.

Linh Vu TU winner of Sections B and C
Jiaxin GAO winner of Section A

During the first weekend 59 players, with strength ranging from 20 to 5-kyu, entered into five rounds of competition. Each year it seems that the level of play is higher, perhaps because many players train on the internet. At the end it was 12 year old Vu Linh Tu (5-kyu, right) who was the victor of Section C with 5 wins out of 5, whilst Antonin Masseau won the 10-kyu category. See full results.

During the second weekend there were 64 players whose strength ranged from 4-kyu to 6-dan. Players above 1-dan played in Section A, whilst the rest played in Section B. Amongst the 34 players in Section B was Vu Linh Tu, who had qualified from the previous weekend, and he won this section too, beating Frédéric Berthomier (1-kyu) in the final. See full results.

In Section A, Jiaxin Gao (right), a visiting 6-dan student from China, emerged victorious over all his adversaries. Jiaxin is studying Computer Science at Paris-Sud University and hopes to take part in more tournaments in France. See full results.

Based on the original article in Revue Française de Go by Jérôme Hubert, translated by Ian Davis

Categories: Europe

2016 American Go Yearbook Released

Sunday January 1, 2017

The American Go Yearbook 2016 Member’s Edition Collection was released on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2017. One of the benefits of membership in the American Go Association is the Member’s Edition of the American Go E-Journal, the largest English language go publication in the world. If you’re not yet a member, this is a great time to join!

The Member’s Edition includes game commentaries and other special content and the annual Yearbook collects it all into one handy online document. The 2016 edition includes game records from this year’s US Open, US Masters and Cotsen tournaments, as well as Globis commentary. Extra content includes Michael Redmond 9Ps Pair Go tsumego problems and his Cho v. Deep Zen commentaries, as well as Stephanie Yin 1Ps Women’s Championship commentary.

Once selected in the online Yearbook, game records or PDFs open up quickly and easily for review or download. We appreciate our member’s support of the AGA and hope that they will find the Yearbook a valuable and useful resource. Click here now to join the AGA and begin receiving the Member’s Edition. Special thanks to the Yearbook Games Editor Myron Souris for pulling all the 2016 material together.

– Chris Garlock, Managing Editor

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

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