American Go E-Journal » 2020 » November

Pandanet AGA City League Returns Dec 6

Monday November 30, 2020

With the return of other sporting leagues so does the Pandanet AGA City League. Sunday December 6th starts the first round of this long running tournament. Watch some of your favorite and local teams battle their opponents from across the US and Canada. If you’re new to the tournament; our A League has a spattering of professionals and top players from across the continent. The B League is super sized this year with many strong teams, avg 6d+ ratings. They’re all going to be fighting hard for that A league promotion. The C league is a 5d-1d selection of teams which will be home to many interesting games. The D League is our handicap league with many strong kyu players. Don’t discount any leagues, there are strong players abound!

The first game was already played Sunday night between Canwa Vancouver 2 vs Greater Washington. Nick Jin and Yuan Zhou put on an exciting first match. They’ll have another match Saturday night 9pm EST/6pm PST. For the rest of the leagues, most will play LIVE Sunday at 3pm EST/12pm PST.

A LeagueB LeagueC LeagueD League

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50 years aGO – November 1970 Part Two – Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister

Saturday November 28, 2020

This month’s mystery pro question turned out to be much harder than I thought.  I asked you to identify the man in the picture at right, share his importance to Western go and finally, explain why we celebrate him this month.

Well, we only received one correct answer, and that only to the first two parts of the question.  I will let former AGA President, former International Go Federation (IGF) Director and current American Go Foundation (AGF) Treasurer Barbara Calhoun take it away. “I’ll take a stab that it is Yusuke Oeda. Don’t recognize the hair but it could be his face. Oeda was Michael Redmond’s sensei and was a prime mover in establishing the World Amateur Go Championship and the International Go Federation.”

Yusuke Oeda 9 dan, 1935-2010 was a student of Nobuaki Maeda.  In his E-Journal obituary, Barbara further elaborated on her friend’s efforts bringing the Meijin Tournament to New York, remarking “He was an emotional man who could relate to and communicate with people culturally different from him.”  Michael Redmond said that the lessons he learned from Oeda were not just about the game that became his career, adding that “Mr. Oeda was also generous with his knowledge of the fine points of Japanese language and culture, and he gave me a basic understanding of the country I live in” (7/26/2010 EJ).

My fondest memory of Mr. Oeda was watching him play simuls.  If you have had the pleasure of playing a simultaneous game with a professional, you understand the awe of watching their calm strength as they guide the game to a result that tests the amateur player.  They do not resort to strong player tricks but rather slowly wear down each opponent, happily winning or losing based on our performance.

That was not the Oeda way.  He preferred pairing himself with a young female professional, sharing the effort, but also playing moves designed to make his partner laugh, hilarious to watch as the young pro was torn between trying to maintain her professional demeanor and her natural reaction to Oeda’s mischief.

The final answer to this month’s quiz is explained in this picture of Ishida playing Oeda on November 12, 1970.  With his victory in this game, Ishida qualified for the Honinbo League and this game is the first one featured in Iwamoto’s (and Davies’) “The 1971 Honinbo Tournament” book, one of the great early Ishi press masterpieces.  The photo shows the moment where Ishida played move 11 (at the lower right corner of the book) “a new joseki developed at the Kitani Dojo”.  Oeda navigated the surprise move well, but gradually was out-maneuvered in an exciting game. (game record here).

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Categories: 50 years aGO,Main Page
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Ninth Virginia Open welcomes all, features cash prizes and VA State Championship Prelim – register by 11/30

Saturday November 21, 2020

The Capital Go Club is proud to announce the 9th Virginia Open and 2nd VA State Championship Qualifier to be held on OGS and BadukClub on Saturday, December 5th and Sunday, December 6th. Players will compete across four divisions for four rounds: Open (4D+), Expert (1-4D), Intermediate (5-1K), and Novice (6K and below). Prizes will be $100, $50 and $25 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the Open Division respectively, and $20 and $10 for 1st and 2nd in all other divisions. Female and youth winners (aged 17 and below) will be awarded additional $10 (minimal 2 wins). Go books are also available as rewards, sponsored by Hinoki Press. Prizes are sponsored by the Honest401k team. The first three rounds of the Open Division will be held Saturday 12/5 with the 4th round on Sunday 12/6. Other divisions will have all 4 rounds on Saturday 12/5.

The top four finishing Virginia residents will be invited to compete for the VA Champion in January of 2021 in a safe format, details to be announced. Last year Joshua Lee 6D defeated Qingbo Zhang 5D in the final and declared the first Virginia State Champion. “We encourage more youth players and more female players,” says organizer Edward Zhang. “Our perpetual trophy will be awarded to not only the VA State Champion, but also to the VA Youth Champion and VA Women’s Champion if more than three contenders compete in each subdivision.”

Pre-registration is required to participate in the tournament. The deadline for pre-registration is 5pm ET Nov. 30. Click here to sign up. The Registration fee is waived for AGA members, and $10 for non-AGA members. Players may pay by PayPal with reference to the player’s name. All games will be played on OGS, with pairing and results information available here. For questions or inquiries, please email Jeff Zhang at AGATD1@gmail.com. For more details and to register, visit the Washington Go Festival website. Thanks go to Jeff Zhang 5D for gathering tournaments history from AGA E-Journal featured on the website, including an Open Division winners list for tournaments of the Greater Washington metro area for the past 13 years.

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Support American Go during the holiday season and beyond

Monday November 16, 2020

During this holiday season you’re going to do a lot of online shopping. While you’re on Amazon help American Go by donating a portion to the AGF. Amazon Smile helps by donating a portion of purchases through their Smile website. Please set your charity to “US GO FOUNDATION, dba American Go Foundation”. There are browser extensions (Chrome – Firefox) that will help redirect your browser to always support the Smile Program. Most purchases give back to this program and support Go in the US. Sign up today!

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Categories: AGA Chapters,Main Page
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Tony Yang 5D sweeps NGC Fall Online Tournament

Sunday November 15, 2020

Seventy six players from across the country participated in the National Go Center’s first online tournament on Saturday, November 14, competing via Zoom and KGS. Tony Yang 5D was the overall tournament champion with a perfect 4-0 score. All three- and four-game winners are being sent an NGC t-shirt in the style and color of their choice as a prize. Co-TD’s Gurujeet Khalsa and Garrett Smith kept the rounds running on time. “It helped a lot,” reports Smith, “to have an optional training session on Zoom the night before the tournament so everyone knew how to use the technology. We learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t and will use that in future online tournaments.”

The tournament was also the pilot of the online ratings system that Josh Lee and the NGC have developed. Says Khalsa, “After reviewing the numbers with Josh, we will publish the results online for community comment.”

Winner Report
4 Game winners: Tony Yang (5D), Jared Nishikawa (2D), Mario Espinoza (6K), David Rohlfing (9K)
3 Game winners: Soren Jaffe (5D), Rujun Ding (5D), Sophie Lin (2D), Alan Yang (1D), Jerry Jaffe (1D), Jeroen Meijer (1K), Peter Schumer (2K), Austin Robinson (2K), Michael Sherman (2K), Gordon Fraser (3K), Eric Yang (3K), John Gipson (5K), Ragnarr Markssen (5K), Theodore Terpstra (5K), Caleb Lesher (6K), Bradley Johnston (10K), Howard Cornett (10K), Juliet Zhang (11K), Adam King (13K), Lewis Reining (13K), Vaughn Hannon (14K), Nicholas Liddington (17K), Patrick Blackstone (18K)

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Michael Redmond 9P joins Osaka Go School teachers

Friday November 13, 2020

After two months of successful operation, the Osaka Go School staff is excited to welcome new teacher Michael Redmond 9P, who joined the school in November. The Osaka Go School opened in September with 25 students, including 10 American players. Redmond joins teachers Ryo Maeda 6P, Francis Meyer 1P, and Ting Li 1P of the Kansai-Kiin. “Mr. Redmond will play special teaching games every month,” reports Ryo Maeda 6P, who founded the school and is one of the primary organizers. The school offers players teaching games, game reviews, and professional lectures all online every month, giving players a chance to continue to study and have fun with Go during a time when much activity is restricted due to COVID-19. Mr. Maeda invites all interested players to the International Osaka Go School website for more information. “Please come join us!”

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Categories: Japan,Main Page,World
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Redmond vs O Meien Sunday night

Friday November 13, 2020

Michael Redmond 9P’s next live game commentary will be on his recent game with O Meien (right), known for his quick fuseki and fighting ability. He became a pro in 1977, two years after moving to Japan, and advanced to 9 dan in 1992. A very determined fighter, with plenty of kiai, in February 25 2010, O Meien hit the 900 landmark by beating Ko Iso in the final prelim of the 35th Kisei. O won the Honinbo title in 2000 and held it the following year before losing it to Kato Masao in 2002. O took the Oza title from Cho Chikun in December 2002. In July 2012, O Meien won his sixth title, the 2nd Igo Masters Cup, beating Cho Chikun.

The live commentary is set for this Sunday, November 15, 7p EDT on the AGA’s Twitch channel, and will be hosted by American Go E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock.

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50 years aGO – November 1970

Wednesday November 11, 2020

by Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister

Fujisawa Shuko Meijin followed up on his victory with another title final. However, perhaps exhausted by his effort against youthful Rin Kaiho, he was defeated by his longtime rival, Sakata Eio, who returned to the world of titleholders with the Oza. Sakata won the first game in a mere 65 moves on November 5, and won the best-of-three match on November 19 (picture, game records).

A Go expo was held on November 6 at the Tokyo Department Store. It included a fourth match between the Koyukai ladies and the “Western” team, which was victorious including players Richard Bozulich, James Davies and Stuart Horowitz.

Go History Quiz! Pictured on the right in this GoWeekly ad is a professional go player – Who is he? if you know the answer, part two of this quiz will be easy – what is his significance to Western go? And finally, and a bit harder, why do we ask about him this month? We will share your responses in a follow up column later this month.

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Categories: 50 years aGO,Main Page
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Registration for 2020 Young Lions Tournament Closing Soon

Tuesday November 10, 2020

“The AGHS Young Lion’s tournament is just a few weeks away,” says Promotion Head Jenny Li, “This is one of AGHS’ longest running events and will be held on November 22nd and 29th this year. All eligible participants must be 18 years of age or younger, or currently enrolled in high school, and are citizens/permanent residents of North America.”

The Young Lions Tournament is funded by the American Go Foundation.
Registration deadline is 11/15/2020 at 11:59 pm PST.

For rules and regulations, click here
For registration, click here

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Last week to Register for the Pandanet AGA City League

Monday November 9, 2020

This is the final week to register for the Pandanet AGA City League . Check  the rules for the tournament. Talk to your club this week.  Register by November 15th to get your team in this year competition. Be a part of the strongest tournament in North America. Looking forward to see your team play this season!.

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