American Go E-Journal » 2021 » January

Registration Open for the 1st Girls who Play Go Tournament

Friday January 29, 2021

“Inspired by founder Reshma Saujani’s Girls Who Code, the American Go Honor Society has established the first-ever Girls Who Play Go,” says Promotion Head Jenny Li, “This event aims to promote and increase the number of young female players in the Go community. We welcome all female participants from across the globe who are under the age of 18 to this casual, four-round tournament.”

This event will be held on March 7th and March 14th on OGS this year. The registration deadline is 11:59 pm PT on February 28th, 2021. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the tournament.

Click here for rules and regulations.
Click here to register.
Email aghsregister@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

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Sundays are for watching Go

Wednesday January 27, 2021

Pandanet AGA City League Round 3 is this weekend! Sunday January 31st at 3pm EST/12pm PST starts a ton of great go this weekend. Load up Pandanet, head over to the AGA City League and AGA City League (Manual) rooms and grab your snacks. Settle in, find your regional team, and root on your City to win.

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Registration Open for the 2021 North American Kyu Championships, Redmond Cup and AGA Girls Cup

Tuesday January 19, 2021

While the pandemic may have put a pause on many tournaments, the annual suite of AGA youth tournaments will remain in full swing for 2021. Registration is now open for the 8th North American Kyu Championships (NAKC), the 28th Redmond Cup, and the 4th AGA Girls Cup. For all three tournaments, competitors must reside in North America and be a member of the his or her country’s national Go organization.

Youth competing at the US Go Congress

The 8th North American Kyu Championships will be held on February 20th and is a four-round, one-day tournament on the KGS Go Server for North American kyu players under the age of 18. Top junior (under 13) and senior (13-17) players in each division can win personalized crystal trophies, and the junior and senior champions of the top division will be invited to play in the Redmond Cup, which traditionally requires one to have a dan-level rank to compete. Players who complete all rounds of the NAKC will also be eligible for a $200 scholarship to the 2021 US Go Congress (USGC) in Cleveland, Ohio courtesy of the American Go Foundation. If there is no in-person USGC in 2021 due to the pandemic, the scholarship will be transferrable to the next in-person USGC. Registration for the NAKC closes on February 14th, and interested competitors can read about the rules and additional details for more information.

The 28th Redmond Cup and 4th AGA Girls Cup are premier tournaments for North American youth under 18 and females under 16 respectively. Players must have an accredited rank of 1-dan or higher to participate in the Redmond Cup, and an accredited rank of 10-kyu or higher to participate in the AGA Girls Cup. The Redmond Cup features both a Junior (under 13) and a Senior (13-17) division, while the AGA Girls Cup will feature one division. Both tournaments are online preliminaries to determine two finalists in each division who will be invited to play in a best-of-three match at the 2021 US Go Congress. The American Go Foundation will cover all reasonable expenses for the finalists of both tournaments to travel to and compete at the 2021 USGC. If there is no in-person 2021 USGC, the Finals will be played at the following in-person USGC. Players who complete all rounds of either tournament will also be eligible for a $200 scholarship to the next in-person USGC. Registration for the Redmond Cup will close on March 10th, with competition starting on March 15th. Registration for the AGA Girls Cup will close on March 17th, with competition starting on March 22nd. Interested competitors can read about the rules for the Redmond Cup and rules for the AGA Girls Cup for more information.

— Story by Justin Teng; photo by Paul Barchilon, AGA Youth Coordinators

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Go Spotting roundup: Darwin, the NY Times, Buzzfeed, Cyberpunk 2077

Saturday January 16, 2021

David Matson and Peter Freedman report an article published in issue 94 of Nautilus on understanding evolution through the lens of games, called Playing Go with Darwin.

Roy Laird reports on Go’s puzzle appearance: “#120 across in the Dec 20th NYT crossword puzzle: “Piece in the game go” – five letters, I wonder what it could be?”

Michael Goerss found two references to weiqi in 1636: The China Venture by Eric Flint & Iver P. Cooper. “A character showing photographs in China  (p. 188), ‘Here’s a print of you and your father playing weiqi.’ And in the epilogue (p. 426) while mentioning an omen in a letter, ‘This happened just as I was playing the board game Weiqi . . . with the Beijing minister of war.’

Goerss, along with reader Liam McFadden, also reported on the appearance of Go in the new video game Cyberpunk 2077. “Oddly enough, as you get further away from the board, the texture switches from showing a 19×19 board to a 10×10,” says McFadden. Goerss noticed this as well; “While the positions look like reasonable board positions, the board has ten lines.  However, stones are placed midway between intersections, too, which would make the board 19×19.  Maybe the graphics for a true 19×19 board were too hard?”

EJournal and Buzzfeed reader David Bogie reports on this list at Buzzfeed, book #28: “If you liked watching “The Queen’s Gambit”, you should read “The Girl Who Played Go”, by Shan Sa.”

-photos courtesy of Liam McFadden

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Categories: Go Spotting,Main Page
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Clossius launches Western Dan Challenge, prizes up to $1200

Saturday January 16, 2021

To encourage players to play on western Go servers and support the western Go community, Shawn Ray (Clossius) has launched the Western Dan Challenge. Sponsored by Ray, and as a result of various donations, the prize pool has steadily increased to $1200, with prizes being added for more divisions of the event. One sponsor, Aneok, has added prizes for players who choose to play exclusively on OGS. Three divisions overall include a dan division, a single digit kyu division, and a double digit kyu division, with a prize available for most ranked games played in February. Click here for Ray’s Youtube video on the event.

Rules:

  • Only games played in February will count
  • Must be a ranked game.
  • Must be on a western server like OGS or KGS
  • Must be on the same account. (Makes it easier to track)
  • Must not use AI. I will be having people check.
  • Minimum time settings of 1min 10sec x 5
  • Must use an overtime clock equivalent to the minimum time settings.
  • No Sudden Death
  • Only 19×19 games
  • Do not find flaws with the rules that defeat the spirit of the challenge.
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EJ seeks Assistant Game Editor

Friday January 15, 2021

The E-Journal is looking for a volunteer Assistant Game Editor to work with Bill Cobb, who’s assuming the duties of EJ Game Editor Myron Souris, who’s moving on to other projects. The weekly game commentaries by Guo Juan, Yuan Zhou, Kaz Furuyama, Gansheng Shi and Albert Yen – as well as life and death puzzles by Yilun Yang – have long been a favorite EJ feature. Anyone interested can email journal@usgo.org

“I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to outgoing EJ Game Editor Myron Souris,” said EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “Myron is an absolute joy to work with, and his eye for detail, superlative systems management and unending patience have been a constant inspiration.” Souris also worked closely with Garlock and Michael Redmond on Alpha to Zero and Garlock said that “Myron was the key to resolving many of the sticky technical and workflow challenges that came up on that project.”

Bill Cobb brings a tremendous amount of experience to the Game Editor position, thanks to his role as Slate and Shell publisher, and he’s also been part of the EJ team in various capacities over the years. “With such capable shoes to fill, we’re very fortunate to welcome Bill back to an active role on the team,” said Garlock.

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Registration open for the 2021 Eastern Youth Open

Wednesday January 13, 2021

“The Eastern Youth Open (EYO) is a 4-round open youth tournament hosted by the New York Go Association (NYGA) for players of all levels under the age of 18. Having started in 2019, the EYO provides an opportunity for young players to play in a high-standard formal tournament. Due to the pandemic, this year’s tournament will be held virtually on the KGS Go Server,” says Stephanie Yin, President of the New York Go Association.

The top three players in each division will receive certificates and trophies. This year’s tournament will take place on Sunday, February 21st with registration closing on February 14th. For more information and to register, please visit the NYGA event page. In addition, the NYGA is hosting a 5-day Spring Intense Training Camp from Feb 15-19. Come have fun with excited Go peers and prepare for the tournament!

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Registration Open for First AGHS Pair Go Tournament

Tuesday January 5, 2021

“Registration for the first AGHS Pair Go Tournament is now open,” says Promotion Head Jenny Li, “We welcome players from across the globe and of all ages. This two-round event will be hosted in the AGHS Tournament Room on KGS on February 6th, 2021, with the first and second round starting respectively at 4pm EST and 7pm EST. Each pair must consist of at least one youth player. To be eligible for a prize, each pair must also consist of one female and one male player, however, this is not a requirement to participate in the event.”

If you are looking for a partner, please enter your information in this document. The registration deadline for this year’s AGHS Pair Go Tournament is January 30, 2021, 11:59 pm PT. If you would like to play and still do not have a partner by the registration deadline, please indicate so on the registration form, and the AGHS tournament directors will assign you a partner. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the tournament. If you have any questions, please contact aghsregister@gmail.com. For more information, please read the rules and regulations.

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Santa Monica Go Club meetings resume Thursday online

Tuesday January 5, 2021

After over 23 years of meetings at the Un-Urban Coffee shop were interrupted by the pandemic, the Santa Monica Go Club is set to resume weekly meetings on KGS in the new Santa Monica Go Club room this Thursday. “Without even really announcing it yet, multiple players have joined the SMGC Room and played some games!” says room creator Patrick Ferl. “Our first thought was to reunite as many of the in person club members as possible, but anyone is welcome to join the room and participate to make new friends in the Go community. We hope to help foster the health of the online Go, and also are looking at the possibility of some inter-club online friendly matches.” Meetings will be held every Thursday evening from 6pm to midnight Pacific Time. The SMGC’s long-running annual tournament, the Coffee Cup, will be held online in the spring. 

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Pandanet AGA City League Round 2 this weekend

Monday January 4, 2021

The Pandanet AGA City League is getting into swing with the second round coming up this weekend. Sunday January 10th most games will be held in the AGA City League and AGA City League Manual Rooms. Watch LIVE Sunday at 3PM for most games to start. The full schedules for games can be found on each of the League pages.

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