“Hiroto,” Dad said as he shook me awake. “Pack up your things. It’s time.” My small suitcase was ready. I just had to put my Go set into it. Dad gave this to me when I was five, and the times we played were my favorite hours of the day. From the story “Mono no aware” by Ken Liu, published in the June 2013 issue of Lightspeed and sent in to us by A. Wadja.
This story is also included in “The Final Frontier,” a recently-published science fiction anthology, edited by Neil Clarke. The story includes go as a metaphor for patience and larger thinking, writes David Bogie. “The Japanese protagonist, young Hiroto, makes sure his go set is among the few articles his family is allowed as they prepare to abandon Earth. While trying to teach go to a young American, Hiroto is told, ‘All the stones are the same…boring. There are no heroes in go!’ The story calmly unfolds into tragedy proving there are heroes in space.”
Go also features in “Shiva In Shadow,” by Nancy Kress (also included in “The Final Frontier,”), which takes place on a star ship visiting a black hole. “Go is proposed as mental and social training intended to bring two scientists closer together as the team attacks a quantum physics discovery,” writes Bogie. “This does not end well.”
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Ueno to challenge for Hollyhock Cup: The semifinals and finals of the main tournament in the 6th Aizu Central Hospital Women’s Hollyhock Cup were held in the Konjakutei inn in Higashiyama Hot Spring, Aizu Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 18 and 19. The final was won by the 17-year-old Ueno Masami, who has already won two Women’s Kisei titles. She will challenge Fujisawa Rina for the title, with the first game of the best-of-three being played on June 16. Results follow: (Semifinals) Ueno Asami, Women’s Kisei, (B) beat Hoshiai Shiho 2P by resig.; Suzuki Ayumi 7P (W) beat Nannami Nao, Senko Cup-holder, by resig. (Final) Ueno (W) beat Suzuki by resig. The result of the title match is given later.
Nakamura Sumire update: Sumire is still waiting to play her second official game in Japan. In the meantime, she received a special invitation from the tournament sponsors to take part in the international qualifying tournament for the 4th MLily Cup. This is a Chinese-sponsored international tournament; the official name seems to have changed a little: it is now the MLily Dream Lily Pressureless Mattress Cup Open Tournament (“MLily” is in Roman letters and means “Dream Lily”). Sumire took part in the 2nd round, held on May 21, where she played Wang Chenxing 5P, a top Chinese woman player. Taking black, Wang won by resignation after 185 moves. Games in the qualifying tournament have no game fees and are not recognized as official games by the Nihon Ki-in. Subsequently, the tournament sponsor invited Sumire to play in the main tournament, in which 64 players start out. The first round will be played on October 8.
On
June 6, Sumire visited Seoul to play a game with Korea’s number two woman
player, Oh Yujin 6P. The game was played at the Han Jongjin dojo, where Sumire
was formerly a pupil. Playing time was 40 minutes each plus byo-yomi of 40
seconds x 3. Sumire took white; presumably there was a komi, but Go Weekly does
not mention it. Inevitably Oh won, with Sumire resigning after 153 moves. In
Japan, the game was broadcast on the Net. Like the game above, it was an
unofficial game, so Sumire’s official professional record remains 0-1.
On
June 30, Sumire was invited to attend a go event, the World Go Festival,
organized by Takarazuka City in Hyogo Prefecture. She played yet another
unofficial game, this time against Murakawa Daisuke, holder of the Judan title,
before an audience of about 300 fans. Taking black, with no komi, Sumire played
aggressively. She handled the early fighting fairly well, but fell behind on
territory and resigned after 154 moves.
The two international games above show that there is a lot of interest in Sumire’s debut in China and Korea. The go media are making a great fuss over her, but is arranging games for her with top players whom she has little chance of beating really beneficial? It might be kinder to give her a year or two to secure her place in the professional go world in competition with her peers in the early rounds of the professional tournaments.
Tomorrow: Ueno to challenge for Hollyhock Cup; Nakamura Sumire update; Korea wins 9th Huanglongshi; Fujisawa defends Hollyhock; Ueno tops Most Wins list; Mixed success for Japanese team in Chinese B League
With the recent closing of Pie by the Pound (Gotham Go Group’s new location, 6/30 EJ), “this is a good time to remind everyone where in-person go can be played in NYC,” reports local organizer Peter Armenia. Tuesday evenings 6-10:45p: Hungarian Pastry Shop – 1030 Amsterdam Ave – between 110th and 111th Wednesdays evenings 6-10p: Barnes & Noble (Union Square) – 33 E 17th St. In the cafe on the 3rd floor. Sundays 12:30p: Barnes & Noble (Union Square) – 33 E 17th St. In the cafe on the 3rd floor. Anytime: Fat Cat – 75 Christopher St, at 7th Ave. – They have a couple sets of boards and stones behind the bar. Korea Baduk Club –Daily 11AM-12 Midnight – 36-18 Union Street (Flushing) – Call Sammy Park (718-353-4646) for more info. – Old school, smoky and English sporadically spoken, strong players routinely humbled.
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
24th LG Cup: The first and second rounds of the 24th LG Cup were held in Gimpo City in Korea on May 27 and 29. As in the previous cup, China took five of the quarterfinal places and Korea the other three. Iyama Yuta survived the first round, but lost to Ke Jie of China in the second. Some of the results are given below. Round 1 (May 27) Iyama (B) beat Li Xianhao 7P (China) by resig.; Zhao Chenyu 7P (China) (B) beat Cho U 9P (Japan) by resig.; Tao Xinran 7P (China) (B) beat Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) 8P (Japan) by resig. Round 2 (May 29). Ke Jie 9P (China) (W) beat Iyama by resig.
Korea wins 9th Huanglongshi: Unlike the Nong Shim Cup, the women’s team tournament Huanglongshi is split into just two rounds. The second round was played in Taizhou City in the province of Jiangsu in China from June 9 to 12. The opening round was dominated by China (see my report of May 11), but, thanks mainly to the efforts of Oh Yujin 6P, backed up by Choi Jeong 9P, the tournament was won by Korea. This is its fourth win in this tournament. First prize is about $65,000. Results in the second round: Game 8 (June 9) Oh Yujin (Korea) (B) beat Zhou Hong 4P (China) by resig. Game 9 (June 9) Oh (B) beat Nyu Eiko 2P (Japan) by resig. Game 10 (June 10) Oh (B) beat Li He 5P (China) by resig. Game 11 (June 10) Oh (W) beat Ueno Asami 2P (Japan) by resig. Game 12 (June 11) Lu Minquan 5P (China) (W) beat Oh by resig. Game 13 (June 12) Choi Jeong 9P (Korea) (B) beat Lu by resig. Game 14 (June 12) Choi (B) beat Yu Zhiying 6P (China) by 4.5 points.
Fujisawa defends Hollyhock: With three titles to her name (Women’s Honinbo, Women’s Hollyhock, and Women’s Meijin), Fujisawa Rina is Japan’s top woman player. This year the challenger for the 6th Aizu Central Hospital Women’s Hollyhock Cup was the number three player, Ueno Asami, holder of the Women’s Kisei title (Mannami Nao is number two by virtue of holding the Senko Cup), so this was a good pairing. However, the Hollyhock Cup is a best-of-three and the games are not spread out, so the match seemed to be over in a flash. In the first game, held at the Konjakutei inn in Aizu-Wakamatsu City in Fukushima Prefecture on June 14, Fujisawa (W) won by resignation after 174 moves. In the second game, played two days later at the same venue, Fujisawa (B) won by resignation after 211 moves. She has now held this title for three years in a row and it is her 11th title overall. This puts her in a tie for second place with Aoki Kikuyo (top is Xie Yimin with 27 titles). First prize is worth 7 million yen (about $64,000).
Ueno tops Most Wins list: For the fourth week in a row, Ueno Asami has topped the list of most wins. As of June 7, her record was 21-10. Ironically, she suffered four losses over the next two weeks, but no one caught up with her wins. This week she won two games and is still on top of the list with 23-14. I can’t confirm this, but it’s the first time I can recall a woman player topping this list.
Mixed success for Japanese team in Chinese B League: Tournaments for teams representing localities, as in soccer, have not caught on in Japan, but they seem to one of the most important activities in Chinese go. There are three levels and also a women’s team tournament, and they all attract a lot of an interest. In recent years, overseas teams from Japan and Chinese Taipei have also been invited to take part. A Japanese team, participating for the eighth year, has been playing in the B League and so far has been frustrated in its ambition to earn promotion to the A League, though it did ascend from its starting point in the C League. This year the B League tournament was held in Zhejiang Province from June 14 to 23. Over those ten days, the teams each played eight matches, making it a pretty heavy schedule, at least by Japanese standards. The Japanese team was made up Kyo Kagen, Shibano Toramaru, Motoki Katsuya, and Yo Seiki. It won three matches, drew one, and lost four, earning it 9th place out of 16 teams (only the top two get promoted to the A League). Each member of the team had four wins to four losses. Players are also recruited individually by these teams. In one of their games, the team ran across Onishi Ryuhei, playing on board one for a Hebei team. He also scored 4-4, but his team came fourth.
Tomorrow: Shin Jinseo wins 31st TV Asia; Park Junghwan wins Chunlan Cup; Hane wins first Gosei game; Promotions; Obituaries
On the season finale of Season One of Arrested Development (available on Netflix), Maeby Funke can be seen playing Go with her adopted Korean cousin “Annyong,” reports Greg Kulevich. The Go board they are using appears to be the mass market board sold in bookstores with small plastic stones. The board position is realistic for 20+ kyu players, which is probably the case. However, Maeby places a black stone, Annyong places a white stone, and then Maeby places a white stone, so they are not following the rules of Go. In addition, six minutes into Episode 2 of the show ‘Humans’ (streaming on Amazon), “there is the end of a Go game and some following discussion,” reports David Doshay.
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Kono keeps lead in Meijin League: As of my previous league report, (May 12) Kono Rin was the sole undefeated player. He tripped up in the May round, but his nearest rivals, Shibano Toramaru and Hane Naoki, also suffered losses. Kono won his June game, and, on 5-1, retains the sole lead. He is followed by three players on 4-2: Iyama Yuta, Shibano, and Yamashita Keigo. Recent results: (May 16) Iyama Yuta (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by resig.; Son Makoto 7P (B) beat Kono Rin 9P by resig. (May 30) Mutsuura Yuta 7P (B) beat Suzuki Shinji 7P by 4.5 points. (June 13) Yamashita Keigo (B) beat Murakawa Daisuke Judan by resig. (June 27) Iyama (B) beat Son by resig.; Kono (B) beat Hane by resig.
44th Kisei Leagues S League: This league is proceeding slowly, so there is not much to report. After just two rounds, there is only one undefeated player: Murakawa Daisuke. Recent results: (May 9) Murakawa Daisuke Judan (W) beat Kyo Kagen Gosei by resig. (May 30) Kono Rin 9P (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by 1.5 points; Murakawa Daisuke Judan (B) beat So Yokoku 9P by resig. A League: Ichiriki Ryo, on 4-0, has the sole lead. Two players follow him on 3-1: Cho U 9P and Shida Tatsuya 8P. B Leagues: In the B1 league, Hane Naoki has the provisional lead with 4-1. He is followed by Yoda Norimoto 9P, Tsuruyama Atsushi 7P, and Onishi Ryuhei 4P, all on 3-1. In the B2 league, Motoki Katsuya 8P has the sole lead on 4-0.
Shibano wins 10th Gratitude Cup: This is a tournament for players 30 and under. The 16 players who survive the preliminary round meet in the main tournament, which this year was held in “Gratitude Alley” in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, on May 14 and 15. The sponsors are a group of tourism-related restaurants and shops. Conditions are NHK-style, with 30 seconds per move plus ten minutes of thinking time (to be used in one-minute units). First prize is 3 million yen (about $27,000), which is quite reasonable for a unofficial junior tournament. In the semifinals, held on the morning of the second day, Adachi Toshimasa 6P (B) beat Kyo Kagen Gosei by resig.; Shibano Toramaru 7P (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P (I don’t know the margin). In the final, Shibano (W) beat Adachi by resig. In the play-off for 3rd place, Ichiriki (W) beat Kyo by resig.
Tomorrow: Ueno to challenge for Hollyhock Cup; Nakamura Sumire update
The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Summer Quarterly at the Arden-Dimick library in Sacramento on June 29th . The upper division was won by Ki Young Choi 2d (left) and Valerie Wong 19k won the lower division. Both had 3-1 records.
