American Go E-Journal » 2020 » September

Redmond live commentary this Sunday at 8p EDT

Friday September 11, 2020

Michael Redmond 9P returns with a new live game commentary this Sunday, September 13 at 8P EDT on the AGA’s Twitch channel. The game will be another one from the archives, played in 1951 between Go Seigen and Yamabe Toshiro.

Not as well-known as Go Seigen, Toshiro was one of the Three Crows (together with Fujisawa Hideyuki and Suzuki Keizo). He challenged for the 1959 Oza, 1965 Honinbo and 1980 Tengen titles, and became editor of the Gendai Joseki Jiten, a notable joseki dictionary. He is also remembered for playing the longest recorded professional game, 411 moves, against Hoshino Toshi in the 1950 Oteai.

In related news, Redmond’s AlphaGo vs AlphaGo series now runs through Game 42, posted on September 4, and the AlphaGo vs The World series just added Game 31, Li Qincheng 9p (W) vs. AlphaGo Master (B). “Watched them all,” says Mario Krenn. “Absolutely stunning!”

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Categories: Main Page,Redmond Reviews
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Go Spotting: All Is Fair In Love & Go

Thursday September 3, 2020

Andrew Okun reports that Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s book This is How You Lose the Time War and its inclusion of Go features in a new tor.com article called All Is Fair in Love & Go: Strategy Gaming in This is How You Lose the Time War. In the article, author Em Nordling states that “Go, in the context of Time War, is time travel. It isn’t just the 19×19 coordinate options that lend the game its complexity (though the 3^361×0.012 = 2.1×10^170 potential moves don’t hurt), but the positionality, the contingency. With the meaning of each move changing over time, its narrative is not linear. Where most strategy games unfold with the grace of a plotted story, Go moves map like a messy history, where meaning is made only in hindsight, where brilliance can turn obsolete and banality groundbreaking.” The book was first featured in Go Spotting by Adam Anaya in June of this year.

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Categories: Go Spotting,Main Page
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Go Spotting: The History of Home

Wednesday September 2, 2020

Tyler Keithley, president of the Southwest Missouri Go Club, reports that the second episode of The History of Home Narrated by Nick Offerman includes a mention of Go at 48:27 in a transition between explaining the historical importance of board games and the modern pastime of playing video games, and is again mentioned by Twitch streamer Sonja Reid (OMGITSFIREFOXX) around 50 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode.

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Womxn’s Online Go Club holds first meeting, looking for new members

Wednesday September 2, 2020

“We’re very excited to announce the formation of the Womxn’s Online Go Club, a women-led chapter of the AGA,” says founder Samantha Fede. “Our goal is to provide a supportive and friendly place for women to play go online without hostility or harassment.” Inspired by the success of the e-Go Congress in bringing together Go players from around the country as well as various clubs’ successes in continuing their social club feel through video chat meetings after suspension of in-person play, Fede reached out to Lisa Scott and together they contacted women from around the country with the proposal of forming a club.

The club held its first meeting on Thursday, 8/27. A total of 11 Go players ranging from 1d to 10k, including the club leadership and players who joined through word of mouth, got together on a video call and played games on KGS. Players were from all around the country, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey. “We are actively recruiting members to join the club!” says Fede. “Players who do not identify as a woman or a girl, particularly those who do not feel welcome in cis-men dominated spaces, are also welcome, as long as they are committed to the goals of the club.” The club meets weekly, alternating between Thursday and Saturday nights at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT. Players of all levels including beginners are welcome. To join or learn more, click here to go to our website or email us at womxnsonlinegoclub@gmail.com.

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Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America
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New AGA Chapters for August 2020

Tuesday September 1, 2020

The AGA is regularly asked for new chapters around the country. These are the newly registered chapters from August 2020:

Luther College Go Club – Contact me if you are interested in joining the Luther College Go Club. We’ll start having meetings once I find a location within Luther College and have a few members interested in joining. We will be meeting in person with a social distancing protocol if possible. – Contact Amey Shedinger

Womxn’s Online Go Club – Online. Email us for more information! All are welcome. – Contact Samantha Fede

Members should check their information from time to time. If you are not receiving the EJ make sure your email is up to date. Chapters can always update their current chapter through the AGA Membership Manager if they have changed.

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Categories: AGA Chapters,U.S./North America,Uncategorized
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AGAGD to become official ratings lookup for the AGA

Tuesday September 1, 2020

As reported before the e-Go Congress the Web Team has been working to upgrade the AGAGD to take over for the old Ratings pages. They have been working hard to make sure all of the information has been copied over and enhanced. In the last month we have heard from various Chapter heads and many others with ideas for updates. In addition to the existing features we have added the following recently: Paginated listing for tournaments and all player ratings, header icons to better help sort tables, rating and renewal due for quick searches, tournaments now show date rated. There are still some in-progress upgrades on the system. We are always looking for help, this is an open source project and any interest programmers can contact the volunteer coordinator or webmaster.

The Ratings pages will redirect to the AGAGD starting September 13th.

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