July « 2017 « American Go E-Journal

Video Commentary: “Giant-Killer” Ryan Li 1P on his Mlily win against Chen Yaoye 9p

Sunday July 30, 2017

Young North American pro Ryan Li 1P takes an in-depth look at his recent win in the MLily Meng Baihe Cup World Go Open Tournament against Chen Yaoye 9p in a brand-new 75-minute video commentary hosted by American Go E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “The tournament was a blast,” Li says. And though it wasn’t his first international tournament, Li admits it was “a real challenge to go up against players who have a lot more tournament experience than I do.” Li credits his study of Chen’s games and strong prep support from fellow North American player Stephanie Yin. “Just as in other sports,” Li says, “I think that a strong mentality is going to give you the edge in a tournament like this.”

Li, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in earth sciences at Yale, became the fourth AGA-certified pro in 2015. He has represented North America several times and scored wins over Asian pros before, including defeating Japan’s young talent, Mutsuura Yuta 2p, in the 2016 IEMG in China.

He will face Li Xuanhao 6p on August 24 in the top 16 of the MLily Cup. The winner receives about US $260,000 USD and the runner up close to $90,000.

[link]

Categories: China,World

Updates from Europe and Australia: EGF launches newsletter; What do Australian go players want?

Sunday July 30, 2017

EGF launches newsletter: The European Go Federation has launched a free twice-monthly newsletter that will include news from the European Championship, Go Congress and side events, EGF updates, announcements about big tournaments from all over the world, as well as international go news.

What do Australian go players want? If you’re a go player Down Under, the Australian Go Association wants to know what you want out of Australian club and tournament go. Click here to take their survey and let them know.

Categories: Australia,Europe

Slate & Shell releases “The New Territorial Style” on Amazon

Sunday July 30, 2017

Slate & Shell has a new book available through Amazon. Professional players have begun to play a territorial style that differs from the ‘old’ style in that it focuses on making solid territory early and then creating a large fight in the center. “The New Territorial Style” is a closely annotated study of this technique, by longtime author and teacher Yuan Zhou. As previously reported, S&S has ceased distribution of print books but publisher Bill Cobb reports that “Although we have run out of many of our titles, there are still some books available; visit the website to see the final price reductions.”

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware

2017 US Go Congress preview

Saturday July 29, 2017

With just a week left before the 33rd US Go Congress kicks off next Saturday at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California, the schedule for the week-long event is finally complete, reports Congress Co-Director Ted Terpstra. Currently there are 531 registered attendees including 26 professional go players.

There will be a ten-session Go Teachers’ Workshop for those wanting to learn the optimal ways of teaching go in the classroom. Many of the teachers’ session will be given by Myungwan Kim, 9P. Coordinating the workshop is Jonathan Hop <yithril@gmail.com>.

For young very-strong players, there will be a 10-session workshop sponsored and run by the Nihon-Kiin professionals: Yashashiro, 9P and Tsuruta 4P. Coordinating the very-strong players workshop is Ihan Lui <ihan.lui@gocongress.org>.

Each afternoon and evening after the US Open rounds (Sunday-Friday, except Wednesday), there will be lectures and game analysis by the more than 20 professional players from around the world. There will be sessions for the best players as well as the new players who are starting their climb to the top.

A special set of go classes will be given by European go teacher, In-seong Hwang <admin@yunguseng.com>. His lecture topics include Let’s get the Go-Avengers (includes Thor vs Hulk, Iron Man vs Black Widow and Captain America vs Nick Fury), Let’s make Go Easier and AlphaGo Games, the Future of Go.

“The summer in San Diego has been pleasant with almost no rain,” says Terpstra. The five-day forecast is for high temperatures of 77, 76, 77, 77, and 77 degrees, “Perfect for swimming in one of the three swimming pools at the Town and Country Resort. It should be a fine US Go Congress.”

photo: large white go stones embedded in the wall of the building next to the car rental facility at the San Diego Airport; photo by Ted Terpstra

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

Redmond Reviews: Kobayashi Koichi 9P v.Michael Redmond 9P

Saturday July 29, 2017

“I have Black in this Meijin A-League game against the legendary Kobayashi Koichi 9P,” says Michael Redmond 9P in this detailed video commentary, hosted by Chris Garlock of the AGA E-Journal. “I am surprised at my own unwillingness to play the moves that I am seeing in the self-played AlphaGo games. I believe that my intense study of Alphago has sharpened my reading skills and improved my positional judgement in the middle game.”

[link]

Categories: Redmond Reviews

Redmond Reviews: Michael Redmond 9P v. Matsumoto Takeshi 7P

Friday July 28, 2017

“This game is the final round of the Oza B section, and my opponent is Matsumoto Takeshi 7P,” says Michael Redmond 9P in this video commentary, hosted by Chris Garlock of the AGA E-Journal. “I had a good position in the middle game, but failed to fully make use of some aji in Black’s right side territory and fell behind in the final stages of the game.”

[link]

Categories: Redmond Reviews

More Redmond Reviews and a new AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo series

Tuesday July 25, 2017

More Redmond Reviews and a brand-new AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo series are coming soon. A brief video just released reveals that Michael Redmond 9P is working on a new series of video commentaries with E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock, focusing on the AlphaGo self-played games as well as recent tournament games by Redmond himself, that have been influenced by AlphaGo. “AlphaGo jumps into the middle game pretty quickly (and) the fighting in the middle game is amazing and there are a lot of moves that took me by surprise,” says Redmond. “Michael has been working incredibly hard to explain these incredibly complicated games so stay tuned and fasten your seatbelt!” Garlock added. The videos are being produced by Michael Wanek.

Categories: Redmond Reviews,U.S./North America

Updates: East Bay Go Club formed; Australian Go Congress set; Kiseido sale on go books

Monday July 24, 2017

East Bay Go Club formed: The East Bay Go Club has just formed and meets Thursdays from 6:30PM to 9PM “at the beautiful new Games of Berkeley” at 2510 Durant Ave. (near Telegraph Ave), reports Chris Russell. More details on the club’s website.

Australian Go Congress set: The Australian Go Congress is coming up September 28 – October 1 in Sydney. The third such event includes the 2017 Australian National Championships and has an iPhone/iPad-friendly site.

Kiseido sale on go books: Kiseido is having a sale of all English-language go books ordered through their book page. Recent and recommended books include The Basics of Life and Death, Handicap-Go and the Sanrensei Opening and An Encyclopedia of Go Principles. The sale runs through August 31.

Categories: U.S./North America,World

Yang Shuang 2P a hit at Northern VA summer camp

Sunday July 23, 2017

Yang Shuang 2P’s go class has been a big hit among kids attending the Hope Chinese School’s summer camp in Northern Virginia. In the first week of the 10-day program, two dozen students learned the basic s of the game, including liberties, how to capture, snap-backs, ladders, the double-atari, and life and death. Yang’s interactive teaching style has been effective at getting all the students involved, said camp director Dinny Li. “I am a bit surprised at how well kids respond to abstract go concepts taught by Ms. Yang,’ Li said. A leader at the Hope Chinese School and an advocate of go, Ms. Li thinks summer camp is a great place for kids to learn go.

Yang cofounded a go school in Shenyang, China over a decade ago. She has taught all levels, and will host a simul this Wednesday, July 26, 8p at the National Go Center in DC. She will also visit the NOVA Go Club next Monday, July 31, 7p in Arlington, VA and will be at the upcoming US Go Congress — August 5-12 — in San Diego.

The Hope Chinese School will continue offer afternoon go classes at the school’s summer camp August 14-25, where other Chinese arts will be offered, including fine art, music, kungfu. Contact 703-371-3414, hcscamp.va@gmail.com

– reported by Edward Zhang

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

Go Spotting: AlphaGo and Beyond; Robopocalypse Now? Kubo and the Two Strings

Sunday July 23, 2017

AlphaGo and Beyond: The national security blog Lawfare last month posted an article called “AlphaGo and Beyond: The Chinese Military Looks to Future ‘Intelligentized’ Warfare,” reports Kyle Highful. “Among other things, this article discusses alleged Chinese censorship of AlphaGo’s match with Ke Jie, recent advances in American and Chinese artificial intelligence, and possible military implications of AI breakthroughs like AlphaGo.”

Robopocalypse Now? The 2017 Summer issue of “The Bent” has an article titled “Robopocalypse Now?” that includes several paragraphs on AlphaGo as an example of the recent progress in Artificial Intelligence, reports Jeff Newmiller. The Bent is the official news magazine of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. “The title was a bit of fluff… the conclusion of the article is that AI is more likely to yield surprise responses to unexpected input than to purposely mislead us.”

Kubo and the Two Strings: “Last weekend I watched the movie Kubo and the Two Strings (right), released in 2016 by Laika Entertainment and currently available on Netflix,” writes Alicia Seifrid. “It is a stop-motion fantasy film set in feudal Japan. Early in the film, the main character Kubo goes into the village, and you see the villagers going about their everyday lives, including two men playing go. Thanks as ever for sharing so much enjoyable and interesting go news!”

Categories: Master/AlphaGo Commentaries

American Go E-Journal » 2017 » July