May « 2018 « American Go E-Journal

AGF Increases Congress Scholarships – Includes College Students

Monday May 14, 2018

The American Go Foundation (AGF) is increasing funding for young people attending the US Go Congress, and is also creating a new set of scholarships for college students. Traditional amounts for kids and teens under 18 were $200 for participating in any of the main AGA online youth events (Redmond Cup, National Kyu Championship, Girls Tournament), and an additional $200 for writing an essay. This year, as there is no Go Camp, the board decided to increase the essay scholarship to $300. To apply for the scholarship, read the information here, and then send your essay in by email. If you played in the youth events, and want your participation scholarship, email your request to youth@usgo.org. For the new college scholarships, participants must be 26 or younger, and actively enrolled in college. Graduate and under graduate students are both eligible, click here to apply. All scholarships are first come first serve, with 20 allotted for the US, and 5 allotted to be split between Canada and Mexico. – Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor.

Categories: Main Page,U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America,Youth

Strong Open Section at Seattle Spring Tournament

Sunday May 13, 2018

Three previous winners of Seattle Go Center tournaments competed in the Spring Tournament, held May 6. They were Sorin Gherman 6d, who won the 2018 Jin Chen tournament, Kai Fugami 6d, winner of the 2017 Anniversary Tournament, and Yue Zhang 7d, who won the 2016 Anniversary Tournament. Yue Zhang won the eight person Open Section with a 3-0 record, while the other two players had 2-1 records, along with Zhixiang Lou 5d.

The Handicapped Section had 20 players. In a change from previous tournaments, there were no bands in the Handicapped Section. Book and equipment prizes were given to all players who won three games. They were Zihong Yao 2d, Frank Brown 6k, Xiangnan Chen 7k, and Lucas Lu 9k, who also won the youth prize.

Your reporter also noticed a wide range of game recording techniques. Some of the strongest players just relied on memory, while other players used paper kifu, laptops, tablets, and video recording with a cell phone. First photo: Yue Zhang in center of photo. Photos/report by Brian Allen

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

Discounts on Day Off activities at U.S. Go Congress

Saturday May 12, 2018

With many activities to choose from in the Williamsburg area, the organizers of this year’s US Go Congress have negotiated discount rates for two of the most popular: Colonial Williamsburg and Busch Gardens. These group rates are available for July 25, the traditional Wednesday ‘Day Off’ at the mid-point of the Congress. Colonial Williamsburg is next to the William & Mary campus, and shuttles are being arranged for Busch Gardens.

Colonial Williamsburg is the world’s largest living history museum. Step back in time to the 18th century to the dawn of America. With historic trades and sites, two art museums, and interpreters recreating real historic figures, it is a great experience. Enjoy relaxing carriage rides or a sojourn to one of the four taverns.

Busch Gardens is a 383 acre theme park with rides, roller coasters, animals, shows, and special events. Experience family-friendly performances on outdoor stages or even enter a world of virtual reality with the Battle for Eire ride.

The group discounted tickets are available only through the Congress website . You can select them when registering, or if already registered, go to the “My Account” page in the navigation menu,and add the tickets by clicking on an attendee’s name. Tickets are found in the “Activities” section of an account. The discount rates are:

Colonial Williamsburg – $34 (ages 13+) and $17 (ages 6-12) – regular rates $40/$20
Busch Gardens – $59 (ages 10+) and $47 (ages 3-9) regular rates $90 at gate or $70 online.

“These are great venues to relax and enjoy for a day between all the other great events at Congress,” says Congress event organizer Yuan Zhou reports. “Come and enjoy all Williamsburg has to offer!” You can sign up now when you register and also learn more about events on the “Videos” page of the Congress mobile app . By registering for Congress now you can get the additional “early bird” Congress discount in addition to saving on event tickets.

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

45th Maryland Open coming up Memorial Day weekend

Wednesday May 9, 2018

Registration is now open for the 45th annual Maryland Open, coming up May 26-27 in Baltimore, MD. The long-running AGA-rated tournament attracts a large and strong field, with prizes in all sections. Five rounds are held over two days, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. First round starts at 11a on Saturday, May 26.

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

Players sought for Samsung World Division

Tuesday May 8, 2018

The AGA and CGA have received an invitation to select three North American players to participate in the 16-player World Division of the 2018 Samsung Cup. The tournament will take place July 3-6 in Korea, selecting a player by single elimination to play in the Samsung Cup’s main tournament round of 32 in early September. The other players will include four from Europe, one from South America, three from Asia excluding Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan, and four selected from foreign students enrolled in Korean go schools. The selected players will receive a $1,000 travel subsidy but will be responsible for all their travel costs. Eligibility is limited to amateurs and AGA-certified professionals who also meet the applicable standards of either AGA or CGA. The players must also be able to stay until the July 6 closing ceremony and, if selected, be willing and able to play in the September main tournament. Please send your name and details to Andy Okun at president@usgo.org by May 15.

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

The Empty Board: Philosophical Reflections on Go #5

Monday May 7, 2018

by William Cobb

I hope at least some of my readers felt at least a slight twinge at the statement in the last Empty Board (#4): “the player’s ultimate goal, which is of course to win.” If you are talking about the making of decisions about good and bad moves, the criterion is how the move relates to the goal of winning (except in teaching games), but for many players, it is misleading to suggest that they play the game in order to win. Certainly there is a sense in which you are trying to win, but I don’t think I’m the only player who would say that some of my most enjoyable games have been losses. I like to play the game, not just win the game. If we are talking about why we play, it seems more accurate to say that we play to enjoy the amazing challenges of trying to find the best strategy and plays, which may or may not result in our winning. So there are two somewhat different senses in which good and bad come up in go: 1) does this play contribute to victory? and (2) am I enjoying playing this game? This distinction surely applies in life as well. In life, as in go, it’s fairly easy to answer the second question. In life, however, the first question is very difficult to answer with confidence. You decide to play go, so you have some sense of what you are doing and why, but you don’t decide to be born. Maybe if we had a chance to play the game of life more than once, we could figure out what it is all about. In the meantime I recommend trying to play go more often.

photo by Phil Straus; photo art by Chris Garlock

Categories: Main Page,The Empty Board

Your Move/Readers Write: More on why we compete, and life and death

Monday May 7, 2018

More on go and why we compete: “I have read Janice Kim’s and William Cobb’s words with great interest,” writes Tony Collman. “While looking for something else, I serendipitously came across words from the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tsu (Zhuangzi), which touch on a point raised by William: “He who is contending for a piece of earthenware puts forth all his skill. If the prize be a buckle of brass, he shoots timorously; if it be for an article of gold, he shoots as if he were blind. The skill of the archer is the same in all the cases; but (in the two latter cases) he is under the influence of solicitude, and looks on the external prize as most important. All who attach importance to what is external show stupidity in themselves.”

More on life and death: “I’d like to add a little comment to Janice Kim’s response to William Cobb’s nice little piece,” writes Jaap Blom. “In real, physical, life, if you make a very serious mistake, you’re dead. In the idealized and stylized universe of the goban, if you make a very serious mistake, you have only lost the game. You can clear the board and start a new game together with your playing partner, your temporary ‘opponent.’ That enables us to learn by trial and error, a somewhat lazy but extremely effective method. And what else is the learning for but for the next game? Indeed a rich end in itself. After our bodies die, the thoughts we have had will for some time still resonate in the minds of other people. As long as this ripple lasts, your personality is still alive, albeit without consciousness. According to Euclid, a point is simply defined as a thing that together with another point determines a line. (As a line is a thing that is determined by two points.) Indeed nodes are the players; the games are edges.”

graphic: “The Butterfly Dream,” by Chinese painter Lu Zhi (c. 1550)

Categories: Main Page,Your Move: Readers Write

Reports, etc: MGA’s Yu Zhong passes; Seeking go clock apps

Monday May 7, 2018

MGA’s Yu Zhong passes: Yu Zhong (right) passed away May 2 after almost a year fighting with lung cancer. “He is AGA 5 dan and played a lot of Massachusetts Go Association tournaments,” reports Ke Lu. You can find a list of his games here.

Seeking go clock apps: Does anyone have a list of go clock apps for smart phones? “I’d like an app that has sudden death, byoyomi and Canadian overtime, and Fishcher timing,” writes Phil Straus. Email suggestions to journal@usgo.org

World rankings: “Several people have recently asked for a worldwide ranking comparison,” writes Guillermo Molano. “I think that the one found at Sensei’s Library is very accurate.” Bill Saltman adds that while “I can’t speak to the general validity of this chart…I have played on KGS and Pandanet (IGS) and the rank comparison seems valid between those two. I’m a 6K on KGS (last I checked) and 9K on Pandanet.”

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

Golaxy, ELF OpenGo and Fine Art carry on AlphaGo’s pioneering work

Sunday May 6, 2018

While AlphaGo officially retired nearly a year ago, other AI developers have picked up where the ground-breaking go-playing AI left off. A Chinese-developed AI program, Golaxy, defeated world #2 Ke Jie recently (right), and Golaxy chairman Jin Xing claims it can reach the same level of mastery as AlphaGo from playing much fewer games. And Facebook’s ELF OpenGo recently took on four top-30 human go players—running on a computer with a single GPU powering its computations—and won 14-0. Facebook is making ELF OpenGo available for free to other researchers. In other go AI news, check out this 40-minute documentary, Behind the scenes of Fine Art AI.

Categories: Computer Go/AI,Main Page

WAGC Update: Undefeated Taipei leads

Sunday May 6, 2018

Taipei’s Yi-Tien Chan leads the 2018 World Amateur Go Championships, with a 6-0 record and just two rounds to go. China’s Chen Wang, Korea’s Sangcheon Kim, Singapore’s Jie Hui Kwa, Hungary’s Csaba Mero and Poland’s Stanislaw Frejlak all have five wins each. Aaron Ye (right) of the U.S. is now ranked 23rd at 3-3, while Mexico’s Jose Abraham Florencia Islas is 4-2 and Canada’s Yongfei Ge is also 4-2. Latest reports and scores are on Ranka Online, including interviews with Thiago Shinji Shimada Ramos of Brazil, Torben Pedersen of Denmark and Ólafur Sigurðarson of Iceland.

Categories: Main Page,World,World Amateur Go Championships

American Go E-Journal » 2018 » May