Friday August 24, 2018
Over 100 people watched online Thursday night as Ming-jiu Jiang 7P eliminated Ryan Li 1P in the 4th round of the Tiangfu Cup Preliminary. Jiang will play Andy Liu 1P Friday night at 7p — also on KGS — in the final game. The winner will be the second North American representative to the Tiangfu Cup, joining Eric Lui, who secured the first spot earlier in the week.
– Jeff Shaevel, Tiangfu Cup Preliminary Tournament Director
Wednesday August 22, 2018
Eric Lui 1P defeated Andy Liu 1P on Wednesday night to become the first North American representative to the Tianfu Cup. Eliminated from the competition on Wednesday night were Stephanie Yin 1P and Huiren Yang 1P. Winners Ryan Li and Ming-jiu Jiang will compete Thursday night at 7:45pm on KGS as the lower bracket continues. Andy Liu will play the winner of that round on Friday for the second representative slot.
– Jeff Shaevel, Tianfu Cup Preliminary Tournament Director
Tuesday August 21, 2018
Feng Yun 9P and Dalhoon Ahn 9P were eliminated in the second round of the Tianfu Cup Preliminary, played online on KGS on Tuesday. The first round was played on Monday. In the third round, to be played Wednesday on KGS at 7P EDT in the AGA Tournaments Room, Andy Liu 1P will play Eric Lui 1P in the top bracket and the bottom bracket will feature Stephanie Yin 1P (who defeated Feng Yun) vs. Ryan Li 1P and Ming-jiu Jiang 7P vs. Huiren Yang 1P (who defeated Dalhoon Ahn). The five-round double-elimination tournament runs through Friday and will select two professional representatives to represent North America in the first Tianfu Cup in China. AGA National Tournament Coordinator Jeff Shaevel is the Tournament Director.
Monday August 20, 2018
“This is a game that has serious appeal to me,” writes independent filmmaker, website designer “and sometimes teacher” Chris Knight in recent blog post, “Do Not Pass Go: An evening with the world’s oldest board game.” “I’m looking 
forward to playing again, and trying to improve.”
Knight, who lives in North Carolina, first saw go in “Pi,” Darren Aronofsky’s 1998 directorial debut. His curiosity about the game portrayed in the film led him to an iPad app and then to his local go club in North Carolina, where a lesson with Brendan got him hooked. “Go seems to have a really good community around it, and quite a diverse player base,” Knight says. “And I can’t help but think that in time, though it may be decades from now, it’s going to become as popular among Americans as is already chess, checkers, and Cards Against Humanity!” In additional to a number of cultural references, the blog post includes a description of how to play, with helpful photos.
Saturday August 18, 2018
Monday August 13, 2018
Officer applications for the American Go Honor Society (AGHS) have been released. The AGHS is an organization run primarily by high school students to promote go throughout America, and hosts events such as the Young Lions Tournament, School Teams Tournament, and Youth Go League. The application is due on September 7; all high school go enthusiasts are encouraged to apply! For more information, including officer descriptions, please visit the application form here.
Sunday August 12, 2018
The second Latin American Go Congress has been scheduled for October 12 to 15 in Antigua Guatemala. Last year’s inaugural 
event was held in Cancun, Mexico and attracted players and professional teachers from as far away as South Korea and Japan. “The Latin American Go Congress appeals to many go players as it is both inexpensive and short compared to other go congresses,” reports William Luff, who attended last year’s. The Congress begins on Friday and wraps up on Monday. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit World Heritage sites holding Mayan ruins. The Congress includes the second Latin American Youth Go Championship, the third Ibero-American Pair Go Championship, the second Latin American Pandanet Team Championship and the 20th Ibero-American Go Championship, which is being held in memory of Hans Pietsch, the young German professional murdered while on a promotional tour for the Nihon Ki-In in Guatemala in 2003. Anyone who knew Pietsch who would like to contribute to a short tribute video which will be played at the Congress’ opening ceremony should contact Luff at will122166@gmail.com
Friday August 10, 2018
US Go Congress videos uploaded: All the 2018 U.S. Go Congress videos have now been edited and uploaded to the AGA’s 
YouTube channel; click here to check them out. “All the intermissions/breaks are edited out so people won’t have to skip around,” says Stephen Hu, who directed this year’s video coverage. The 24 videos – watched live on Twitch by audiences of up to 12,000, include US Masters top board commentaries, the Pandanet-AGA City League and Pair Go finals, Redmond Cup finals, the Facebook ELF Open Go event, as well as an interviews with Chinese pro Ding Wei, 2018 Congress Co-Director Nate Eagle, 2019 Congress Director Dave Weimer, and a 2018 Congress re-cap with Hu and producer Chris Garlock. photo: EJ video team in action: (l-r): Joel Cahalan, guest 
commentator Eodeokdung (Leo) Lee 2P, Stephen Hu, Nathan Epstein; photo by Chris Garlock
Comedy podcast visits Go Congress: Action Comedy Nerd Show co-host Jerry Jaffe 1d (right) dropped by the 2018 US Go Congress and produced an episode of the podcast, with interviews with Andy Liu, Yuan Zhou, Nate Eagle, and Josh Lee. Click here to check out the podcast (also available through iTunes and Stitcher). In the episode, Jaffe also teaches podcast co-host Dan Brown about the game, “as well as schooling him on which movies Will Smith is or is not in.”
More Open games posted: US Open players continue to send us their 2018 sgf game files and it’s not too late to get your games preserved for posterity on the US Open crosstab; email them to us at journal@usgo.org (be sure to make sure all the player info, including result, is completed).
Tuesday August 7, 2018
by Bethany Nyborg 18 kyu
I attended my first US Go Congress seven years after I first learned to play, and yet I could count on the fingers of one hand how many times I had played against someone who knew what they were doing. Go came to Bedford, Virginia seven years ago when my brother and I watched Hikaru No Go, joined the AGA, and started a go club at the Bedford Public Library, which garnered us some coverage in the local paper (right). We learned very quickly that no one knew about the game. Our only option was to teach as many people to play as we could. As teenagers, we had more success teaching children than adults. I knew I would not live in that area for long, so my goal was to create a pocket of people who had heard of go. When the next person passionate about go came along, I wanted them to find their work already begun.
Even though my dad’s new job was in Northern Virginia, I realized my obstacles had not decreased: I had just started going to college full time, and I didn’t have a driver’s license or a car. Go was put on the back burner for the next four years, but I always listed it in my top three favorite hobbies. Then I saw that the 2018 Go Congress would be at William and Mary College in nearby Williamsburg. With the support and blessing of my new husband (and a scholarship from the AGF), I decided to make this year’s US Go Congress my first AGA event.
On the way to the Congress my nerves tensed as I wondered what people would think of my inexperienced, self-taught go. I rarely played online because I was afraid p
eople would think I was wasting their time by playing such bad moves. Still, I had positive experiences the three times I had been to an AGA go club, and I had high hopes for the Go Congress.
Starting at registration, I met people who were as excited about go as I am and by the end of the first evening’s 9×9 tournament my fears had evaporated. I found that years of studying go problems on my own had given me important skills, and through the tutelage of good players I was able to improve my game in the areas that had intimidated me before. It did not matter that my game was lopsided going in, I was there to learn and improve. Much to my surprise, I came away with two medals, winning the 9×9 kyu championship and coming in second in my division at the Women’s Tournament. Every day I reveled in being surrounded by people talking about go and playing morning, afternoon, and evening. I achieved all my goals, made new friends and, armed with my AGA teaching certificate, I look forward to jumping back into promoting go in my community and creating new spaces for people to play.
AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo; Game 21: Less alien, plus exciting fighting
Saturday August 25, 2018
In AlphaGo self-play game 21, the AI’s play is “a little less alien,” says Michael Redmond 9P in his latest game commentary,
hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, adding that the game features some moves that human 
players have been playing recently. “And then towards the end of the games there’s just a lot of exciting fighting.” Redmond’s commentaries return after a late-summer break; he’ll also be doing some live commentaries on Twitch in early September during a visit to the National Go Center in Washington DC; stay tuned for more details soon.
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