Tuesday October 15, 2013
At the Japan Festival at the Lauritzen Gardens, in Omaha, NE, October 5-6. “We handed out 96 flyers and some business cards, too,” 
says James Story. “I’ve had two adults call me about go this week, so far. Hopefully, this will help start some Scholastic Go Clubs, too! We had a number of kids come and learn and play and two adult women learn and play each other for a few games. It was really fun.” photo courtesy James Story
Monday October 14, 2013
Korea and China fought it out for the top spot in the 8th Korea Prime Minister Cup International Amateur Baduk Championship, held 
October 10-15. Korean student Park Jae-geun 6d, 17, took first place with a win over China’s Li Fu 8d, 39, principal of the Haikou FuLi Go Training Center. The US representative, Hugh Zhang 7d, came in 16th place with five wins, his only loss being to the 4th place finisher from Hong Kong. Canada’s Bill Lin came in a very strong 3rd place also with five wins and a loss, to the winner Park. The US player was seeded somewhat lower than Canada’s because of mixed US results in prior years, according to tournament organizers. The tournament attracted 62 players from all over the world to the small industrial city of Gumi in the province of Gyeongbuk-do. Gumi was the birthplace of the late Korean leader Park Jeong-hee and benefited from a great deal of industrial development during his 1961-79 time in power, growing from a village to a major city with Samsung, LG and other factories.
– report by Andy Okun; photo by Ling Shan
Monday October 14, 2013
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Iyama Increases Lead in Meijin: Iyama Yuta Kisei (right) now needs only one more win to regain the Meijin title. In the fourth game, played at the Agora Fukuoka Hilltop Hotel & Spa in Fukuoka City on October 9 and 10, Iyama (W) beat Yamashita Keigo Meijin by resignation after 196 moves. Yamashita lost further ground after his disastrous blunder in a winning position in the third game. What stood out in the fourth game was Iyama’s skill at shinogi, that is, rescuing a weak group without incurring a disadvantage. Go reporters covering the game used the term “attacking shinogi,” and Iyama proved that it was not an oxymoron. For much of the middle game, Iyama had a large eyeless group that was subject to attack. Yamashita made leaning attacks on other white groups to build thickness for attacking the weak group. Instead of saving it directly, Iyama took even more profit in neighboring areas but in a way that offered indirect assistance to his large group. When the crunch came, he cleverly secured two eyes for his forty-stone group. Way behind on territory, Yamashita had no choice but to resign. This whole battle was fought by Iyama under time pressure, as he went into byo-yomi on move 80. The fifth game will be played on October 16 and 17.
Women’s Honinbo Title Match Tied: Two games have already been played in the 32nd Women’s Honinbo best-of-five title match. The challenger, Mukai Chiaki 5P, made a good start by winning the opening game, but the defending champion, Xie Yimin 6P (left), fought back to even the series in the second game. The first game was played at the Kashoen Inn in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, on October 2. Mukai, taking black, defeated Xie by resignation after 143 moves. Xie played a little slackly in the middle game and let Mukai cut off and kill a large group. The second game was played at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya in central Tokyo on October 7. Mukai secured a slight advantage in the middle game, but Xie was able to stage an upset. She won by 3.5 points after 274 moves. There are some interesting statistics for Xie’s seven Women’s Honinbo title matches (including this one). She has a minus record in the opening game, having won only three out of the seven. However, she has never lost the second or third game. Mukai will have to break this pattern to take the title. The third game will be played on October 29.
Yamashita Wins Ryusei After Final Replayed: Between his Meijin games, Yamashita Keigo (right) found time to play the final of the 
22nd Ryusei tournament. However, once was not enough. His opponent was Kono Rin, and the game ended in a no-result because of a triple ko (Yamashita had black). Incidentally, the referee who adjudicated the game as a no-result was Michael Redmond 9P. In the replay, held on the same day, Yamashita again drew black and forced a resignation after 177 moves. First prize is six million yen
Kisei Leagues Concluded: All the fifth-round games in the 38th Kisei Leagues were played on October 3, but the only suspense involved was the question of which players would keep their places, as the league winners had been decided in the fourth round. The results were as follows. A League: Yamashita Keigo Meijin (W) defeated Kiyonari Tetsuya 9P by 1.5 points. Yoda Norimoto 9P (B) d. Kobayashi Satoru 9P by 2.5 points. Yamashiro Hiroshi 9P (B) d. Cho U 9P by 1.5 points. B League: 25th Honinbo Chikun (W) d. Murakawa Daisuke 7P by resig. Takao Shinji 9P (B) d. Kono Rin 9P by resig. Mizokami Tomochika 8P (W) d. Hane Naoki 9P by resig. Yamashita and Murakawa had already won their respective leagues. In the A League, Cho U and Kiyonari lost their places. Cho U, the immediate past Kisei, was able to win only one game. In the B League, Kono and Mizokami lost their places.
Murakawa Wins Agon Kiriyama Cup: The final of the 20th Agon tournament was held at the Kyoto headquarters of the sponsoring Agon Buddhist sect on October 5. The 22-year-old Murakawa Daisuke 7P of the Kansai Ki-in was matched against Shida Tatsuya 6P, also aged 22, of the Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in. Both players had won minor titles, but whoever won this game would take a new step in his career. Playing black, Murakawa beat Shida by 3.5 points after 246 moves. The prize money is ten million yen, which is the sixth-highest in Japan. Murakawa will represent Japan in the play-off with the winner of the Chinese version of this title.
Women’s Meijin League: Two games in the 26th Women’s Meijin League were played at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on October 10. Okuda Aya 3P, the previous challenger, scored her first win when she beat Yoshida Mika 8P (W) by resignation. The other game was between the joint leaders of this year’s league, Kato Keiko 6P and Suzuki Ayumi 6P, who were both on 3-0. Playing black, Kato won by 2.5 points, so she now has the sole lead; however, if she later loses a game she may be handicapped by her number five ranking in the league. This game was originally scheduled for November, but it was brought forward a month, as Kato is due to have a baby next month.
Monday October 14, 2013
“Join us for another year of exciting competition for glory and pride,” says American Go Honor Society (AGHS) Promotion Head Yunxuan Li 6d. The 2013 Young Lions tournament will be held November 16th and 17th on KGS. “The Young Lions is one of the biggest youth go competitions in America, and is usually a good indicator of how top players will perform in major tournaments for the rest of the year,” said Li. 2010 winner Vincent Zhuang 6d went on to win the US Youth Championships after his Young Lions win. Yunxuan Li himself won in both 2011 and 2012, and then won the 2012 Rocky Mountain NAIM qualifier, and also represented America at the 2013 Samsung World Baduk Masters Championship. “Who will be the leader of the pack this year? Who will be the victor of the 2013 battle? The answer shall soon be determined!” says Li. Players under the age of 19 can sign up now, through the AGHS website. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor
Monday October 14, 2013
Tournament organizers should note that the mailing address for the AGA Treasurer has changed. If you are submitting paper membership forms and checks, please use this address: Treasurer, American GO Association, PO Box 231225, Tigard, OR 97281-1225.
New membership forms with the new address have been sent to the Webmaster to be posted on the AGA site. “If you have a stash of old forms, I would recommend flipping them over and printing the new forms on the reverse, then drawing an X over the old side,” says AGA Treasurer Roy Schmidt. “Sending forms and checks to the Peoria address will cause a delay in processing as the forms will be forwarded periodically to the new address.”
Friday October 11, 2013
A multinational team, the Orientals (sic), took the Autumn London International Teams event at the Nippon Club in London, UK on 
October 6, winning all three rounds. The team was comprised of one Korean player, Young Kim 5d, one Chinese player, Yangran Zhang 4d, and one Japanese player, Kiyohiko Tanaka 3d.
Six teams in all, including an Asia team (which placed fourth) competed in this handicap tournament, for which the prize is a trophy donated by Yukata Kobayashi. The Central London Go Club, which organizes the event, fielded A and B teams, which came third and second respectively. Last season’s winners, Cambridge (Cambridge Wins London International Teams Trophy 4/19 EJ), was unable to defend their
Bento lunch
trophy when team captain Andrew Simons — who called the event “one of my favourites’ — was traveling and couldn’t organize a team. Click here for full results.
The entry fee also covered a choice of bento lunch (left), pre-ordered from Taro.
– Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the EJ. Photo by Kiyohiko Tanaka. Click here for photo journal of the day.
Friday October 11, 2013
Registration is still open for this weekend’s KGS 2013 Meijin tournament qualifier, the last one for the 2013 season. The single-elimination qualifier will be held on October 12-13, in American daytime schedule. Round 1 starts at 1p EDT/10a PDT. In this tenth qualifier, the winner will become a contender for the finals which will start in November. The runner-up may also become a contender if there are six or more rounds in the Qualifier. The final KGS Meijin winner will receive a minimum cash prize of $500 and a special Meijin icon. Click here for details and to register.
Thursday October 10, 2013
This Saturday’s Gotham Tournament in New York City is “basically full up,” reports organizer Peter Armenia. The space holds 82 and there are already 83 registered. There may be some no-shows or last-minute cancellations though, so if you’re interested in playing, go ahead and register here and if you’re registered but not able to attend, email Armenia at parmenia@earthlink.net.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, there’s still time and space to sign up for the popular Cotsen Open in Los Angeles, CA (free lunches, massages, pro commentaries, etc), October 26-27. Click here to register.
Click here for the complete upcoming go tournament/event calendar.
Thursday October 10, 2013
News has belatedly reached us of the death of two former Philadelphia go players, Hugh Albright and John Bender.
Albright, who died of heart failure at 82 in 2011, “was an avid go player in the ’80’s and ’90’s,” says former AGA President Phil Straus. He
“played regularly at the Philadelphia Go Club, which met in my house in the 80’s, and was a very active participant in East Coast tournaments.” A retired professor of mathematics and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at La Salle University, Albright was a Christian Brother who lived for 40 years in the Christian Brothers community in Mount Airy, Philadelphia. “Never did he show anger or impatience of criticism,” said fellow Brother Edward Davis. “He had a wonderful sense of humor and a passionate enjoyment of life.” Albright “enjoyed chess and played basketball in his younger years,” according to his obituary. He also played the piano and studied Gregorian chant.
The 44-year-old Bender — “the fastest-learning go player” Straus ever taught — “known on Wall Street as the troubled
genius who’d quit the billionaire track without explanation in 2000 and retreated to a fortified compound in the Costa Rican jungle” died there mysteriously on January 8, 2010, reports Ned Zeman in “Love and Madness in the Jungle,” published May 7, 2013 in Outside Magazine. Originally thought a suicide, authorities have since charged Bender’s wife with his murder. Bender “went from beginner to 4-dan very quickly,” says Straus. Bender “Gave a talk about go attitude at the 1987 Go Congress,” Straus says. “Didn’t think blunders were important. Only plans were important. ” “His progress in the game was amazing,” agrees Wing Luk, who knew Bender when he was a student at Penn in 1985. “John and I together went to North Philadelphia to play against the Koreans a number of times.” This and other remembrances of Bender are on Jonathan Kaplan’s blog. photo: John and Ann Bender at their 1999 wedding; photo courtesy Outside Magazine
Tuesday October 8, 2013
“The Pandanet City League is looking for a few more teams,” reports TD Steve Colburn. “We are looking for some more teams for this season to fill our roster.” Talk to your club members soon – deadline is October 12 — and sign up for the Pandanet AGA City League. There are openings in all of the leagues. Email Colburn at steve.colburn@usgo.org for more info or to register. League Managers are wanted as well; email the TD to inquire.