American Go E-Journal » 2018 » June

AGA City League Finals and Winners

Thursday June 28, 2018

2017.10.03_PANDANETThe Pandanet AGA City League finished its regular season play recently. Each team fought tough opponents this season. This season saw eight professionals play this year, four of them being AGA Professionals. The finals for the A League will be played in three weeks at the US Go Congress. The College of William & Mary will host Greater Washington vs New York City on Saturday July 21st at 3PM. The games will be broadcast in the AGA City League Room LIVE.

The winners of the league are:
A League:
Third: Canwa Vancouver 1
Fourth: New Jersey
Fifth: Edmonton
B League:
Winner: Ottawa
Second: Toronto 1
Third: Toronto 2
Fourth: Canwa Vancouver 3
C League:
Winner: Boston 3
Second: N Corvallis

Congratulations to all of the teams that played this year.

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Save $50, register for U.S. Go Congress before July 1

Tuesday June 26, 2018

If you’re thinking about attending this year’s U.S. Go Congress, register before this Sunday and save $50. The registration late fee2018.06.27_williamsburg increases $50 on Sunday, July 1st. The biggest U.S. go event of the year includes the U.S. Open, a six-day tournament of epic proportions, the U.S. Masters, where top players compete for $12,000 in prizes, lectures, game reviews, and simuls from American and Asian professionals, youth activities and tournaments including the Redmond Cup, a host of tournaments including the U.S. Women’s tournament, Seniors (55+), 9×9, 13×13, Die Hard, and more!

Plus: great evening activities including Crazy Go and Pair Go, teachers workshops, the first-ever Congress workshop to train Tournament Directors, all in a gorgeous location on the campus of America’s second-oldest institute of higher learning, next to Colonial Williamsburg, one of the most-visited tourist destinations on the East Coast.  “Make memories that will last the rest of your life!” say Congress organizers Nate Eagle and Diego Pierrottet.

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Peter Gao tops Evanston Go Club’s Summer Solstice tournament

Tuesday June 26, 2018

The Evanston Go Club’s Summer Solstice tournament on Saturday drew 21 players ranging from 25 kyu to 4 dan. For some, this 2018.06.27 Evanston Go Club’s Summer Solstice tournamentwas their first tournament ever; others have been coming to the Evanston tournaments for up to 14 years. “We run our tournaments self-paired, so players can play as many games as they want.” said tournament director Mark Rubenstein. “Chase Grange 11k and Thomas Gehrt 6k each played 8 games; that’s a lot of games to play in one day!” Prizes were supplied by Yellow Mountain, and awarded to 6 players; first and second place in each of three bands: dan, single digit kyu, and double digit kyu.”Chase Grange won the double digit kyu band, but unfortunately he had to leave before the prizes were awarded; so Mike O’Day and Mary Skolnik took home the prizes in that band.” said Rubenstein. As is the custom, pizza at Giordano’s capped off the day.
Winners:
#1 Dan: Peter Gao 4d: 4-0
#2 Dan: Daniel Dowell 3d: 3-2
#1 SDK: Satoru Inoue 1k: 3-1
#2 SDK: Laura Moon 2k: 4-2
#1 DDK: Chase Grange 11k: 6-2
#1 DDK: Mike O’Day 15k: 5-2
#2 DDK: Mary Skolnik 19k: 4-2
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New York Institute of Go Wins 2018 School Team Tournament

Monday June 25, 2018

STT_graphicThe New York Institute of Go took top honors in the 2018 American Go Honor Society (AGHS) School Team Tournament, which took place on KGS over the weekends of May 19 and May 26. The winning team consisted of Sophie Lin 2k, Patrick Zhao 3k, and Marcos Yang 3k. Second and third place went to Northwest Chinese School Team 1 and Team 2. In Division II, Northwood High School took first place with an impressive undefeated record, CNY Chinese School took second, and Northwest Chinese School Team 3 took third.​ ​This year, around 50 students participated in the annual youth team tournament, with prizes including trophies, plaques, and t-shirts. Jeremy Chiu, AGHS Tournament Director, says, “This tournament drew teams from all kinds of educational institutions from all parts of the country. Players of all skill levels competed in the competitive yet friendly environment, giving viewers fierce and exciting games.” -Lionel Zhang

Winner’s Report: Division I: 1st: New York Institute of Go Team 1, 2nd: Northwest Chinese School Team 1, 3rd: Northwest Chinese School Team 2; Division II: 1st: Northwood High School, 2nd: CNY Chinese School, 3rd: Northwest Chinese School Team 3.

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Eric Lui sweeps in DC as players prep for U.S. Go Congress

Sunday June 24, 2018

Eric Lui 1P swept the annual Congress Tune-up tournament 4-0 Saturday at the National Go Center. Eric’s undefeated streak in NGC tournaments now extends for over a year, and the local crowd is rooting for him in the prestigious Open Masters next month at the US Go Congress in Williamsburg VA. Justin Teng (6D) and Qingbo Zhang (5d) tied for second in the high Dan2018.06.24_hal t-shirt division.

Darren Bias (1K) went undefeated at 4-0 to win the 1K-3D division. Haskell (Hal) Small (2D) finished second but was only awarded his NGC t-shirt prize if the self-described “non t-shirt person” agreed to pose in it for a picture (right); Congress organizers wanted to be sure it got worn at least once. “If you see Hal at Congress this year, encourage him to wear his shirt proudly,” said TD Gurujeet Khalsa.

There was a three way tie for first in the 4K-9K division with Mike Lash (4K), Eli Ferster (6K), and Tevis Tsai (6K) taking home the honors. In the 10K-20K division, John Christensen (13K) made a strong undefeated showing, while second place was tied between Jack de la Beaujardiere (10K), Noah Mullinax (11K), and Joshua Johnson (14K).

“There was a lot of excitement among the crowd for the upcoming Congress” reports Khalsa. “We learned our lesson last year not to tamper with tradition when we renamed this tournament the Summer Sizzler only to have our air-conditioning fail in the middle of a huge heat wave. This year we got refocused on getting ready for Congress with the old name and all went well.”

Congress is less than a month away, so if you haven’t registered yet, you can still do so here. Also download the free Congress mobile app where you can see the bios of Eric Lui and other pros coming this year, and lots more.

photo by Betsy Small

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Go Spotting: Milton Keynes pub

Saturday June 23, 2018

“The pubs here rotate their ale and beer and occasionally have special beers and ales brought in for a short period,” reports Jose 2018.06.24_milton-keynes-goSantiago. “The picture here is of one on offer (recently at the Milton Keynes pub where go players meet on Tuesday nights). Not quite go – but it is ‘game of stones’ Fred had a pint and then a half.” Milton Keynes is located about 45 miles north-west of London.

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Go Spotting: SFO Terminal 2

Wednesday June 20, 2018

Philippe Alexis spotted this recently at an exhibit in Terminal 2 at San Francisco Airport. It’s a Maneki neko pair imitating the2018.06.19_art-at-SFO gods Daikoku and Ebisu playing go. One cat holds a wish-granting mallet and mimics Daikoku; the other holds a sea bream, a symbol of good luck, and mimics Ebisu, two of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune in Japan.

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In Memoriam: Leonard Baum

Tuesday June 19, 2018

Note: We just recently learned of the passing of Lenny Baum last year, hence the belated obit below. Please send us any and all go-related news at journal@usgo.org

Leonard Baum (Lenny, fondly known to many as Opa, and a regular at the annual U.S. Go Congress), died unexpectedly at the2018.06.19_LeonardBaum age of 86 on August 14, 2017 at his home in Princeton, NJ. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude in mathematics, from Harvard University in 1953 and received a PhD in Mathematics from Harvard in 1958. He worked for a couple of years at the University of Chicago before moving to Princeton, NJ to work at the Institute for Defense Analysis – a Defense Department think tank which specialized in cryptography. Lenny’s affiliation with IDA in Princeton spanned 1959 through 1978. He wrote over 100 internal papers there and is responsible for what has become the motto of IDA: “No idea is bad. A bad idea is good. A good idea is terrific.” Lenny’s public scientific legacy includes the Baum-Welch algorithm, which directly enabled the first effective speech recognition systems. Today, 50 years later, this work remains at the center of these systems – while its mathematical and algorithmic descendants and other relatives, have impacted many fields from genomics to weather prediction to finance. After leaving IDA, Lenny teamed up with Jim Simons to apply his mathematical modeling to the financial markets. He retired early, legally blind, seeing with only his rods, having lost all his cones to a dystrophy, but that didn’t stop him from travelling the world over, visiting many exotic places. He continued to trade for himself very successfully, often taking very contrarian positions. An avid go player, deep lover of science and seeker of truth, he continued working on math literally up until his death, spending the night before he died reading new math papers on prime numbers. “His greatest pleasure came from facing an opponent many decades younger – often losing but – like the kindly grandfather he was – enjoying every moment of the encounter,” says Terry Benson. The Leonard Baum Prizes are being established in his memory to encourage inter-generational play. “Lenny became part of the mid-Jersey go scene that flourished in the heady world around Princeton’s Institute for Defense Analysis and Institute for Advanced Study,” Benson added. “His visual affliction forced him to track his head inches over the board but was at least partially suited to go. With only rods and no cones he could see what you need to in go: black and white.”

–  Includes reporting originally published in The New York Times on Aug. 18, 2017. photo by Phil Straus

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N.A. players wanted for 4th Bailing Cup

Tuesday June 19, 2018

The Chinese Weiqi Association invites two men (professional or amateur) from North America to participate in the 4th Bailing Cup Championship. The first three rounds of the tournament will be held between July 24-27 in Beijing, China. (Note that this is during the US Go Congress and it will not be possible to attend both events.) The final will be held sometime in 2019. Full airfare, meals, and accommodations will be provided to participants. If you have any questions, or to apply to participate, please contact tournaments@usgo.org no later than June 30th.

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Categories: China,Main Page
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Go Spotting: “The Row” film

Monday June 18, 2018

“The Row,” a brand-new short film about life and death, prominently features go. The 16-minute film stars Vondie Curtis-Hall as2018.06.19_TheRow-film a prison warden who plays a final game of go with death row inmate Demetrius Grosse. The film is directed by Philiane Phang. “The filmmakers had chosen a game they thought reflected the situation, but wanted help with some equipment, showing the actors how to play the stones and such,” reports AGA president Andy Okun, who is acknowledged in the film credits.  The game depicted was the famous Honinbo Sansa Kashio Rigen triple ko game from 1582, with its suggestion of stalemate and ill fortune. 

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Categories: Go Spotting,Main Page
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