July « 2020 « American Go E-Journal

e-Go Congress Registration Tops 450; Bob High Memorial Song and Poetry Contest open

Tuesday July 21, 2020

Registration for the e-Go Congress continues to climb, passing 450 registrants on Monday, July 20. “We just hope everyone can actually attend – it’s so wonderful to be able to bring a solid week of go events to people during this pandemic!” says Congress Coordinator Lisa Scott. Registrants hail from 46 countries, and every age group from toddler to senior.

Registration includes 120 double-digit kyu players – far more than usually make it to the US Go Congress. With such high registration, caps will be put on some tournaments, with new registrants joining a waitlist. The first two tournaments to be capped will be the Double-Digit Kyu Tournament and the Relay Go Tournament. “Relay go is proving more popular than we’d expected!” says Tournament Director Audrey Wang. “To make sure that everyone can participate fully, we will cap the tournament at 100 registrants.” Registration for that tournament is currently at 82 people. The Double-Digit Kyu Tournament will be capped at 120 people, with current registration at 91.

In addition to tournaments, the e-Go Congress will feature some opportunities to “hang out” with Go friends, as well as the Bob High Memorial Song and Poetry Contest. For more information about the contest, check out the rules and entry form here. For the first time, e-Go Congress attendees and viewers will be able to vote for the winner from among the finalists! More information about that to come.

For a complete schedule of events, check out the website here!

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

Registration open for third NY Go League

Tuesday July 21, 2020

The NYGHS is proud to announce that registration for the third iteration of the New York Go League is now open. Entry to the league is completely free and the only eligibility requirement is a stable rank with a national association or online go server. Register through our Google Form here, and click here to view our rules and regulations.

Due to a large part of our community taking part in the recently announced e-Go Congress, we have moved our starting date and registration deadline back one week to August 10th and August 8th, respectively, to avoid overlap. We want the community to have as many chances to play and learn as possible, especially during theses challenging times.

The league is a round robin format with around 8-10 people in each division. The prize for winners will be a 50% discount for a NYIG Adult trial class (kids are eligible as well). We believe that this prize corresponds with our motivation of creating this league with the intention of giving people a chance to play competitively and develop their skills in the game. We hope that the community will be able to use this league as a means of playing serious matches.

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

Undefeated Yixian Zhou wins Ninth Annual San Diego Go Club Championship, California State Championship planned for Thanksgiving weekend

Tuesday July 21, 2020

The 2020 San Diego Go Championship was conducted on KGS due to the Coronavirus. Twenty-eight players entered and completed the 5-round event over five weeks, playing one game a week. The winner of the Open section of the Ninth Annual SD Go Championship, with an undefeated record of 5-0, was Yixian Zhou 6d. Kevin Yang, a soon-to-be high school student, posted a strong record beating both 4d and 5d players.

Undefeated players with 5-0 records in the Handicap sections were Arunas Rudvalis 6k (winner of the high kyu group), and Anna Zhou 16k (winner of the >15k group). Michael Sanders 7k and Angelina Zhao 8k, tied with 4-1 records in the 7k-14k group.

Kevin Yang was selected as the 2020 San Diego Boys Go Champion.
Angelina Zhao was selected as the 2020 San Diego Girls Go Champion.

The San Diego Go Club is currently hosting the 2020 California Pair Go Championship online. There are 11 pairs of players competing in the Open and Handicap sections. KGS and GoClubs.org are both set up to handle Pair Go (Rengo) pairings and play.

The 2020 California State Championship run by San Diego Go Club will be held over Thanksgiving weekend. It will be a 5-round tournament with Open, Handicap, and Youth (13×13) sections. Registration will open November 1 when the determination will be made if it will be a face-to-face or online tournament. The 2019 California State Championship drew 65 players from 7d to beginners, with Evan Lin the champion.

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

Upcoming annual meetings: AGA Board, AGF, and Chapter General Assembly scheduled for August 8 and 9

Monday July 20, 2020

The AGA board of directors met on June 28th for an ad hoc meeting. The board authorized a Committee for Diversity and Inclusion to create and implement programs to improve representation and equity in the AGA. The board also decided to explore online ratings, discussed changes to membership categories, and reviewed privacy and conflict of interest policy adoption. The meeting was attended by several observers who gave feedback on membership and priority discussions. You can find the minutes of that meeting here.

The AGF will hold its Annual Meeting on August 8, 2020, at 4pm EDT. If you are interested in listening in, please contact the AGF President at terrybenson617@gmail.com.

The AGA Board will hold its Annual Meeting on August 8, 2020, at 7pm EDT. The topics of discussion include the Annual Report, updates on various AGA programs and events, online ratings, AGA privacy policies, and long-term goals and priorities. For more information, you can find the detailed agenda here. Are you an AGA member interested in listening in to the meeting? Please contact the Chairperson at lisa.scott@usgo.org for call-in information. Are you interested in commenting on past board meeting minutes? You can submit your comments here, and they’ll be available to the entire board and relevant officers. Past minutes are available here.

If you are an AGA member interested in watching a live stream of the AGA Chapter General Assembly meeting, scheduled for August 9, 2020, at 6pm EDT, you can do so here. The stream will not be available after the meeting. If you would like to participate, please contact the AGA President at president@usgo.org ahead of the meeting for call-in information.

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

China Shenyang Dongqi Go School defeats California Go Association (Li Hai Go School) in online friendship match

Thursday July 16, 2020

The China Shenyang Dongqi Go School faced off against the California Go Association (Li Hai Go School) in a one-round friendship team match on July 10th. Held on the Xinbo Go server, 14 youth players from each team competed against each other, with the first board broadcast on Yikeweiqi. The match concluded in a 13-1 victory for the China Shenyang Dongqi Go School, with Seowoo Wang 5d managing to score the California Go Association team’s sole win against Jin Xitong 5d on the first board.

“The goal of this friendship match was to overcome the difficulties during the pandemic through Go,” said organizer Li Hai 5P. He believes that through these kinds of international friendship matches, young players will significantly improve. Li Hai plans to organize more events in the future and hopes that more youth players will be able to participate.

—report by Seowoo Wang

Categories: Main Page,Youth

e-Go Congress registration soars; AGA meetings announced

Thursday July 16, 2020

Just days after registration opened for the 2020 e-Go Congress, more than 300 have already signed up. In addition to Americans and Canadians, players from 31 other countries have registered. “I’m floored by how this event really seems to have struck a chord with people around the world,” said Congress Coordinator Lisa Scott. “It’s wonderful to see how well this event has come together”

And for those interested in finding out more about the American Go Association and other ways to participate in the go community, a full schedule of informational, business, and training meetings have been scheduled for the following week (see schedule).

If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the e-Go Congress, want to help put on TD or Teacher Workshops – or have other ideas for online events you’d like to help the AGA put on – contact the Congress Coordinator at lisa.scott@usgo.org. “The AGA would love to run more online events over the coming months, all we need is you to volunteer!” said Scott.

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

Registration still open for New York Youth Open

Tuesday July 14, 2020

The New York Youth Open is coming up soon and will be held on Saturday July 25th. Players under 18 of all strengths are encouraged to register for this four-round, non-handicapped tournament. Registration is open until July 20th with a fee of $15. Games will begin at 12:00 PM ET, and all players who complete all four rounds will receive a one-month FREE subscription (worth $9.99) for NYIG_Go YouTube class membership. The top three players in each division will also be awarded certificates and trophies. “Young Go players improve their skills and gain experience through participating in NYYO, which prepares them for competing in bigger stages,” says organizer and founder of the New York Institute of Go Stephanie Yin 1P. Click here for tournament rules and registration.

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

Go Spotting: Distinguishing humans from computers in the game of go: A complex network approach

Monday July 13, 2020

EJournal reader Mel reports that other readers may be interested in an article from the October issue of EPL (Europhysics Letters) focusing on telling the difference between human and computer players. He notes that the article is not free to read, but the abstract is available.

Distinguishing humans from computers in the game of go: A complex network approach
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1209/0295-5075/119/48001
Abstact:
We compare complex networks built from the game of go and obtained
from databases of human-played games with those obtained from
computer-played games. Our investigations show that statistical
features of the human-based networks and the computer-based networks
differ, and that these differences can be statistically significant
on a relatively small number of games using specific estimators. We
show that the deterministic or stochastic nature of the computer
algorithm playing the game can also be distinguished from these
quantities. This can be seen as a tool to implement a Turing-like
test for go simulators.

Categories: Go Spotting,Main Page,Uncategorized

Registration is Open for the 2020 e-Go Congress

Monday July 13, 2020

You can now register here for the 2020 e-Go Congress, taking place online August 1-9, 2020.

Although work continues on the 2020 e-Go Congress website, you can find updated information about the e-Go Congress schedule here. “We are so excited about how well this is coming together!” says AGA Congress Coordinator Lisa Scott. “There has been so much interest from volunteers and players, as well as professionals interested in teaching – we can’t wait to bring this ‘mini-congress’ to Go players!”

Look for more updates – including more events with professionals – in the coming days.

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

Triangle Go Group/Cleveland Go Club Online Friendship Match

Monday July 13, 2020

Twenty-two players and a sprinkling of spectators enjoyed two rounds of online Go in the Triangle Go Group/Cleveland Go Club Friendship Match held Sunday, July 5th, in the Triangle Go Group club room on KGS.

It was an exciting event with the Triangle Go Group holding a one game lead after round one, and finishing the day with a total of 12 wins against the Cleveland Go Club’s 10. Players winning both of their games include Chen Yuan, Jerry Jaffe, Tao Ma, Alex Lillie, Manny Jauregui, Justin Su and Christina Wang. Game results are available here.

It was a great way to enjoy the day after the 4th of July. Thank you to the players, to Yuan Zhou for organizing the event, and to team captains Paul Celmer and Jerry Jaffe.

-report and photo by Bob Bacon

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

American Go E-Journal » 2020 » July