American Go E-Journal » 2020 » April

Mark your calendar: Upcoming Redmond commentaries

Thursday April 30, 2020

Honinbo Shuwa-Genan Inseki or Honinbo Dosaku-Yasui Santetsu? That’s the choice for this Sunday’s live video commentary by Michael Redmond 9P on the AGA’s Twitch channel with E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. Click here to vote!

Then on May 9, Redmond will review one of his own tournament games.

And on May 17, Redmond and Garlock will review one of the AlphaGo-Lee Sedol games and discuss their new book AlphaGo to Zero. Click here to vote on which AG-Sedol game you’d like to see reviewed.

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New York Institute of Go Wins 2020 AGHS School Team Tournament

Tuesday April 28, 2020

“The 2020 AGHS School Team Tournament has concluded,” reports Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “Twenty-two teams competed in four rounds. Each round consisted of three games between two teams, and the team that won two or more games won the round. In Division 1, the New York Institute of Go Team 1 took first place after winning all four rounds. The New York Institute of Go Team 3 came in second, and the Feng Yun Go School Team A came in third. The team from CNY Chinese School won Division 2, going undefeated. In second place was the team representing Russellville High School, and in third was the Saint Ann’s School. All players and substitutes who competed in each of their rounds will receive a T-shirt participation prize, and the top three teams in each division will also be awarded trophies.” – Lionel Zhang, EJ Youth Correspondant

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Go video feast on AGA YouTube

Tuesday April 28, 2020

If you’re hankering for some more online go content, here’s our latest release schedule on the AGA’s YouTube channel:

April 28: Southeast Asia (SEA) Go Congress: Masters Round 6 (Yang Shuang 2p): US Masters runner-up Jian Zhongfan takes on top Korean amateur Kim Do Hyup in the top division of the Southeast Asia Go Congress.
May 5: Redmond’s Reviews, SEA Edition: Michael Redmond 9P reviews an assortment of Japanese professional games, as well as the third-place match of the Singaporean 7-dan title tournament.
May 12: SEA Congress, Singaporean 7-dan Title Match G2 (Yang Shuang 2p): Having won the first game in the best-of-3 final, can Lin Youzhi 6d go one step further to reach the summit of Singaporean Go?
May 19: China-US Internet Go Tournament, Day 1 (Kim Yoonyoung 8p): Six of the best players in the United States team up against a very strong line-up of Chinese top amateur players.
May 26: China-US Internet Go Tournament, Day 2 (Cho Hyeyeon 9p): The competition is really heating up on Day 2: will there be upsets, and who will survive the ultimate fights in byo-yomi?
Plus tune in on our Twitch channel Sunday nights at 7p EDT for more live broadcasts by Michael Redmond and Chris Garlock; details TBA soon!

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Nominations open for 2020 AGA board elections

Monday April 27, 2020

This year four American Go Association (AGA) Board of Director seats are open for the Eastern, Western, Central regions and the At-Large position. The current terms of office expire this September. If you know of someone who you believe would offer guidance and service to the AGA, please consider making a nomination. Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by full members for the region in which the member resides or without restriction for the At-Large seat and must be received by June 15, 2020. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.

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Redmond on AlphaGo vs AlphaGo Game 41 Sunday night on Twitch

Saturday April 25, 2020

Tune in to the AGA’s Twitch channel Sunday night at 8p EDT (note later time!) to catch Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock with their latest live game commentary on the AlphaGo vs AlphaGo series. SpaceTime Machine calls it “my favorite YouTube series hands down.” Tune in at 8p on Sunday, April 26; viewers will be able to ask Redmond and Garlock questions during the live commentary.
PLUS: Check out None Redmond’s captivating story about “11 year old Michael meets a legendary Go player” on Redmond’s YouTube channel.

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AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo; Game 38: Trippy stuff with ladders

Friday April 24, 2020

Michael Redmond 9p, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, reviews the 38th game of the amazing AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo selfplay games. The 50-game series was published by Deepmind after AlphaGo’s victory over world champion Ke Jie 9p in May 2017. Redmond: “This game starts with a complicated variation on the 3-3 invasion, then goes on to a completely different part of the game where a ko is the focus, and then there’s a lot of trippy stuff with ladders and finally there’s some life and death problems.” Garlock: “A little bit of everything.”
Produced by Stephen Hu, Allen Moy and Chris Garlock

[link]

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50 years aGO April 1970

Friday April 24, 2020

by Keith Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister

Deprived of face-to-face go, we gaze with great longing at this fantastic photo of the climax of the 24th Honinbo league on April 8, 1970 (right).

In the foreground at left is my favorite player, Fujisawa Hideyuki, forever to be known as Shuko.  A truly brilliant — if erratic — player, his passion for go was without equal.  And you can see him living the game in his face in this photo. We can surmise that perhaps poker would not be his best game, but of course we know go was.  A favorite player of my teacher, Yilun Yang, he played a prominent role in supporting go in China and his teaching boot camps were legendary.  We can access them through Hinoki Press’ two volume “Shuko: The Only Move, as well as Slate and Shell’s 4 volume “Basic Tesjuji” and finally (though first) Ishi Press’ “Reducing Territorial Frameworks”

Foreground right is Kato Masao, the kid in the room, and his manner evokes a quiet respect for his far more emotive elder.  Indeed, in all of my reading about this great player, who went on lead the Nihon Kiin, I have never read a word suggesting anything but kindness about him.  He game was far more aggressive, “Killer Kato” was his reputation, and he shared his skill in Ishi Press’ “Kato’s Attack and Kill”.  He was the first of the “Three Crows” of the Kitani school to make a name for himself, but the last to breakthrough.  He needs to win this game to catch another player in the room to challenge for the title.  Game record here.

Background right, hunched over the board, is Fujisawa Hosai – the older nephew of Shuko and the first Oteai 9 dan.  A player of extraordinary concentration and determination who once played a match with his letter of resignation in his pocket, Hosai was known for his deliberate play, which is evidenced by the far fewer stones on the background board.  Although he could not win the league, he is determined to make his opponent earn it.

His opponent is “Razor Sharp” Sakata, and his personality also shines in this picture.  Wiry and erect, cigarette in hand, Sakata seems amused by time Hosai is taking, his mind racing from one brilliant counter to the next to whatever ploy Hosai comes up with.  This is a man in his element, not showing the pressure of needing this win to become the challenger.  Hosai’s determination would take them until after midnight, and Sakata became the challenger.  Game record here.

April 25-26 featured what was billed the “First International Team Tournament” in New York city.  Fourteen three player teams competed from the USA, China, Korea, Canada, Japan and Yugoslavia.  The Chinese team emerged victorious, followed by Japan and the US.  The US team was Matsuda, Ryder and Kaslow – all 5 dan – as good as it got in those days.  The match was featured in the NY Times and we can clearly see (top left) the great Edward Lasker playing.  In an early moment of “fake news” the Times says the event took place at “The Chess House” but I trust Mr. Horiguchi’s report in Go Review stating the event happened in the Nihon Kiin Chapter House at the same address.

Finally the first game of the Honinbo title took place on April 27 and 28.  I am not sure challenger Sakata and Honinbo Rin Kaiho are actually interested in whatever Takagawa is saying in this staged photo (top middle).  We will be hearing a lot about Rin who was in the young and early stages of his dominance.  Reading Go Review it seems that the go press was not yet buying it, and seemed to expect Sakata to be the victor. We shall see…Game One record is here.

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China-US Internet Go Tournament’s second round concludes with wins for Chinese team

Monday April 20, 2020

After two days of games, the China-US internet Go Tournament concluded successfully. “The tournament went well,” says organizer Stephanie Yin 1P. “The CWA appreciated the AGA’s cooperation in this tournament, especially in such a short time.” Albert Yen 7d scored one win for the US team in the first round. “Albert had a good chance against Wei Xiaolin 7d on Board 2 of the second round,” reports broadcast host Stephen Hu. “There was an intense back-and-forth exchange, but eventually Albert lost a large group after a huge ko fight in byo-yomi and had to resign. This means that the final score of the event was 11-1 to China.” Live video commentaries were provided by Kim Yoonyoung 8P and Cho Hyeyeon 9P for the first and second round respectively. Recordings of the commentaries will be uploaded to the AGA’s YouTube channel soon, and in the meantime viewers can find these recordings on Twitch. The tournament was organized and coordinated by Stephanie Yin 1P for the AGA and the Chinese Weiqi Association.

Final results:

DAY 1 – CHINA 5:1 USA
Board 1: REN Ke 6d (B) vs. Albert YEN 7d (W)
Board 2: Andy LIU 1P (B) vs. HU Yuqing 7d (W)       [MAIN BOARD]
Board 3: CAO Ruxu 7d (B) vs. Aaron YE 7d (W)
Board 4: Alan HUANG 7d (B) vs. WEI Xiaolin 7d (W)
Board 5: CHEN Junyu 7d (B) vs. Kellin PELRINE 6d (W)
Board 6: Audrey WANG 6d (B) vs. XIA Jun 5d (W)

DAY 2 – CHINA 6:0 USA
Board 1: Andy LIU 1P (B) vs. HU Yuqing 7d (W)       [MAIN BOARD]
Board 2: WEI Xiaolin 7d (B) vs. Albert YEN 7d (W)
Board 3: Alan HUANG 7d (B) vs. CAO Ruxu 7d (W)
Board 4: CHEN Junyu 7d (B) vs. Aaron YE 7d (W)
Board 5: Audrey WANG 6d (B) vs. XIA Jun 5d (W)
Board 6: REN Ke 6d (B) vs. Kellin PELRINE 6d (W)

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2020 US Go Congress cancelled due to coronavirus

Friday April 17, 2020

The 2020 U.S. Go Congress has been canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The following statement was released on April 17 by the American Go Association Board of Directors:

At a Special Board Meeting held on April 15th, the AGA board, with the agreement of the Go Congress organizers in Colorado, voted to postpone the 2020 US Go Congress in Estes Park to a future year, meaning that there will be no US Go Congress in 2020. 

Over the next few weeks, the AGA and the US Go Congress will continue with the cancellation process, including refunding registration fees that were already paid. We expect these refunds to happen over the next month or so; you do not need to reach out to the Congress team to get your refund.

Given the seriousness of the Coronavirus epidemic, the AGA cannot in good conscience bring together our customary crowd from around the country and the world.  The AGA does not take this decision lightly, and plans to resume our annual US Go Congress in 2021, with as much play (both fun and serious) as always.

At this time, the AGA is recommending cancelling all in-person go events (both club meetings and tournaments) through the end of May, but feels that it is too soon to make recommendations about summer events, given that local conditions may vary.

Please stay safe and healthy

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Albert Yen 8d a winner in first round of China-US Internet Go Tournament

Thursday April 16, 2020

The first round of the China-US tournament, organized by the China Weiqi Association and the AGA and coordinated by Stephanie Yin 1P, was held on Tuesday evening, with Albert Yen 7d giving the US team its first win against Ren Ke 6d of the Chinese team. The second round will be held Wednesday evening April 15th on the Fox Go Server. Viewers can tune into the AGA Twitch channel to see the broadcast of the games and game commentary by Cho Hyeyeon 9P and hosted by Stephen Hu.

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