Saturday September 4, 2021
Applications for the 2021-2022 American Go Honor Society (AGHS) officer team are closing soon. The American Go Honor Society is an organization driven primarily by high school students to promote go among young players throughout America. Tournaments, leagues, and other go events catered towards youth are hosted throughout the school year by the AGHS.
Please fill out this form to apply.
The application deadline has been extended to Friday, September 10, 2021 at 11:59pm PST.
Thursday September 2, 2021
The North Carolina State Go Championship Tournament will be a two day event September 25 and 26, 2021, at Umstead State Park in north Raleigh. The State Go Champion must be an amateur Go player who has resided in North Carolina at least 50% of the past year. Students meeting these criteria are eligible. The tournament will be held at shelter #2 at the Reedy Creek entrance to the park.
Preregistration will be required to be paired in the first round. To play in the first round you must register before 6:00pm EDT Friday, September 24th. Register online and read more details on the website. Jeff Kuang will be the Tournament Director for the six round tournament, with three games on Saturday and three games on Sunday. Players will have one hour main time, with five byo-yomi periods of 30 seconds each. This is an AGA rated tournament. Players should be sure they have a current AGA membership or renew their membership before the tournament begins at usgo.org.
Entry fees will be $25 for adults and $15 for youths and students. Players may register for a single day of play only for a reduced tournament fee of $15 for adults and $10 for youths and students. There will be generous cash prizes and trophies in all sections. Participants must attend both days to be eligible for prizes.
Since this is an open-air tournament, COVID risks are reduced. Organizers will provide masks and hand sanitizer and players are encouraged to use them. Players older than 12 years old must be vaccinated to participate. Lunch will be provided onsite on Saturday and Sunday, courtesy of the Triangle Go Group and the AGA. Players can join the group and enjoy easy communication with other area Go players at the Triangle Go Group Facebook page.
Thursday September 2, 2021
Kevin Yang 6d went undefeated to win the San Diego Go Club Matsuokai/Sakakibara Go Tournament held at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park on Sunday. Kevin beat his brother Tony Yang 5d – who finished tied for 2nd – in the final round of a strong Open Section to claim the championship. Adam Miller 3d, who flew in from Palo Alto, was the other second place finisher in the Open. A total of 42-players contested for the title in the first open in-person go tournament in Southern California in over a year.
Following Covid-19 protocols, all adults had to be vaccinated and everyone wore masks in the playing room. Many games were played one per table, and several players opted to play outdoors on the picnic tables. Bottles of hand sanitizer were available on every game table.
Two professional players were in attendance to watch their students play: Hai Li, a Chinese 5P, who has Go schools in Irvine and San Diego, and Han Han, also a Chinese 5P, newly arrived and living in Temecula, CA. “It was great to note that almost half of the players were youth and half of those were girls,” reports San Diego Go Club president Ted Terpstra. ‘Many of these young players were playing in their first AGA rated tournament and have now been added to the memberships of the AGA and SDGC.”
Winners in the Handicap Sections:
Division 1: 2-dan to 4-kyu
1st Place – Pasco Kwok 2d
2nd Place – Lester C Lanphear 1k
3rd Place – Enrique Garcia 3k
Division 2: 5-kyu to 9-kyu
1st Place – Angel Shunying Zhou 5k
2nd Place – Angelina Zhao 5k
3rd Place – Warren T Andrews 6k
Division 3: 10-kyu to 24-kyu
1st Place – Zoe Tan 15k
2nd Place – Lucia Moscola 10k
3rd Place – David Saponara 17k
Southern California Go tournaments coming up:
The Dapu Cup North America Go Open: Sunday, October 17, 2021 in Temecula
4th Annual California Go Championship: November 27&28, 2021, San Diego
-report and photos by Ted Terpstra
Thursday September 2, 2021
The Iwamoto North American Foundation (INAF) is pleased to sponsor two more lectures produced by the Nihon Kiin. The first, “the Art of Sacrificing Stones,” is a dan-level lecture in English by Michael Redmond 9P based on a game between the greatest master of the Edo period, Honinbo Dosaku (本因坊道策), and the multi-talented genius Yasui Santetsu (安井算哲). The second, “Useful Techniques for Capturing Race” by Tsuruyama Atsushi 8-dan, is a kyu-level lecture given in Japanese with English subtitles.
-report and screenshots provided by Thomas Hsiang
Monday August 30, 2021
By Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister
From August 10 we see Ōtake Hideo 9d in triumph over Katō Masao 7d in the All Japan First Place Title. Ōtake’s 2-0 victory meant that he now had held the title for 4 straight years. (Game records: Game 1, Game 2.)
The first game of the Meijin Title took place on August 20 and 21. Fujisawa Shūkō, the title holder, confidently dominated his young challenger, Rin Kaihō…until he made one of his fateful blunders on move 131, going on to lose the game. Sakata Eio watches as Rin shares his thoughts with a dismayed Shūkō. (Game record: Meijin Game 1.)
On August 15, the ladies of Koyukai once again took on the best foreign players for the fourth time. The games ended 4-4-2 so for the first time the guests did not win. Wins by notables Manfred Wimmer, Horst Mueller, and James Davies were offset by losses by Richard Bozulich and James Kerwin.
On 29 to 30 August, Nihon Ki’in’s young professional players went on a biking trip at the Cycle Sports Center in Izu, by invitation from the Japan Bicycling Promotional Association (Nihon Jitensha Shinkōkai, which later would be absorbed into the present-day Japan Keirin Autorace Foundation).
Photos courtesy of Go Review, Go Weekly, and Igo Club, game records thanks to GoGod
Wednesday August 25, 2021
The North American Youth Go Open is an annual open tournament sponsored by the American Go Foundation for all young players of all levels under the age of 18. “Since the US Youth Go Championship was discontinued many years ago, we all missed having it,” says Stephanie Yin. “The goal for the NAYO is to provide an opportunity for young players to once again compete in a high-standard North American tournament. We are proud to host the 2nd NAYO this year and believe to make this event the largest open youth Go tournament in North America.” Originally intended as a face-to-face competition, the first tournament was held online due to the pandemic. Organizers plan to hold the tournament in-person in the future, sponsored by the New York Institute of Go as well as the American Go Foundation.
The day will begin with a short and greeting ceremony, which all participants can join, at 11:30 – 11:45 AM EDT on Saturday, September 4, 2021. There is no rank requirement to enter. The top three players in each division – based on rank – will receive certificates and trophies. For registration, schedule, and rules, tournament video requirements, please visit the tournament website. Registration will close Wednesday, September 1. “Players can join other young fighters preparing for the tournament at the NYIG summer Go camp!” concludes Yin.
-report by Stephanie Yin
Sunday August 22, 2021
The Iwamoto North American Foundation, with co-sponsorship by the Nihon Kiin, has just released a special YouTube game analysis in English by Ichiriki Ryo 9p, current Japanese Gosei title holder. His opponent is the 7-crown champion Iyama Yuta, and the occasion was a December 2020 challenge match in the Tengen title series, dubbed “Gosei vs. Kisei”, the clash between the top two Japanese pros of 2020 – 2021.
Saturday August 21, 2021
by Yuan Zhou
Most western go players are probably familiar with the top professional titles in Japan, but less so with those in China and Korea. Here’s a quick primer.
The top three tournaments in Japan are the Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo, all currently held by Iyama Yuta 9p, who’s been dominant for some years. The Honinbo is the oldest pro title in the world, first held in 1941: the current occurrence of the contest for that title is the 77th. The other four big Japanese titles are Gosei, Oza, Judan, and Tengen. They also have been running for many years, and in terms of a long, stable tournament history, Japan is the best in the world.
The oldest title in Korea is the Myeongin, equivalent to the Japanese Meijin and to the Chinese Mingren. Currently being contested for the 44th time, it was discontinued for several years, but is being actively fought for this year. The last previous winner was Lee Sedol 9p in 2016. The final match this year is a five-game contest between Shin Jinseo 9p, who holds several other Korean titles and is currently considered number one in Korea, and Byun Sangil 9p. Shin Jinseo also holds several other Korean national titles and the Asian TV Cup. He defeated Ding Hao 6p of China for the latter title.
The oldest title in China is the Tianyuan, which was contested for the thirty-fifth time this year: Gu Zihao 9p defeated the previous holder of the title, Yang Dingxin 9p, by a score of 2-1. The next oldest Chinese national title is the Mingren, which was won most recently by Mi Yuting 9p. Ke Jie 9p, who has won more international titles than any other player currently active, has not done as well at the national level, but he does hold four national titles currently, including the Changqi Cup, which is one of the more prestigious titles, and the Qisheng. As a result he is considered number one in China.
There are also pro titles in Taiwan, of course, though the Taiwanese pros have not had much success at the international level. This is partly because the best Taiwanese players usually moved to Japan to play very early in their careers. Some of these have done quite well in Japan, such as the well-known Cho U 9p, Rin Kaiho 9p, and O Rissei 9p, all of whom have held some of the top Japanese titles. In fact, O Rissei 9p recently won the 1st Shinan International Senior Baduk Cup, playing for Taiwan and defeating such famous older players as Japan’s Kobayshi Koichi 9p and China’s Yu Bin 9p as well as Seo Bongsoo 9p of Korea. Both Cho U and O Rissei won the Japanese Kisei title three times in a row when they were playing as members of the Nihon Ki-in. O Meien is also a native of Taiwan who joined the Nihon Ki-in and won the Honinbo title in 2000 and 2001.
Friday August 20, 2021
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Promotions
To 8-dan: Uchida Shuhei (150 wins; as of July 30)
To 7-dan (120 wins): Minematsu Masaki (as of July 6), Kato Yuki (as of July 9)
To 4-dan (50 wins): Takahashi Masumi (as of July 6); Otani Naoki (as of July 16); Seki Kotaro (as of July 27)
Retirement: Kanagawa Masaki
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture on June 26, 1955, Kanagawa was a disciple of Abe Yoshiteru 9P. He became 1-dan in 1975 and reached 8-dan in 2017. He retired on July 31 and was promoted to 9-dan. He took second place in the 2-dan, the 4-dan, and the 5-dan section of the Kisei tournament in 1976, 1979, and 1983 respectively.
Obituary: Harada Minoru
Harada Minoru died of a heart attack on July 10, aged 85. In his prime, he was one of the top amateur players in Japan while also pursuing a business career at Hitachi Manufacturing. He won the Amateur Honinbo tournament seven times, the Amateur Best Ten four times, and various other amateur titles. He was known as one of the “Top Four” amateurs, along with Kikuchi Yasuro, Hirata Hironori, and Murakami Bunsho. They monopolized the amateur titles and could all have been successful as professional players if they had wanted to, but perhaps they might not have become so well known.
Thursday August 19, 2021
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Sumire suffers setbacks but recovers
As reported on June 4, Nakamura Sumire saw her winning streak come to an end and in fact suffered successive losses to two 9-dans. Although she won what was her third successive game against a 9-dan, she then lost four games in a row, the worst losing streak of her career so far. However, she is now balancing losses with wins, including her first win in an international tournament against a formidable opponent.
(June 3) Sumire (W) beat Nakane Naoyuki 9p by 1.5 points Prelim. B, 60th Judan tournament).
(June 4) Sumire beat Iwasaki Seito (2 stones) by 4. This was an unofficial game. Iwasaki is blind in his right eye and has 0.01 vision in his left eye. With the cooperation of the Nihon Ki-in, he has become an insei. He started out in April in D Class, but quickly moved up to C Class. He attends a school for the blind, and, like Sumire, is in the first year of middle school. He plays on a board, called “aigo,” adapted for use by players with vision disabilities. A 2-hour commentary (in Japanese) on the game can be found here.
(June 10) Sumire lost to Takeshita Ryoya 1p (Prelim. B, 47th Gosei).
(June 15) Sumire (W) lost to Nyu Eiko 3p by 6.5 points (semifinal, 8th Hollyhock Cup?see article above). Reaching the final four is Sumire’s best result in a tournament so far.
(July 1) Sumire (B) lost to Shuto Shun 8p by 1.5 (46th Kisei, C League).
(July 5) Sumire (W) lost to Koyama Terumi 6p by 3.5 (Round 2, main tournament, 40th Women’s Honinbo.) This was her fourth loss in a row.
(July 8) Sumire (W) beat Ueno Risa 1p by resig. (Round 1, main tournament, 6th Senko Cup). This was her first win in an official game for five weeks.
(July 15). Sumire (B) beat Muramoto Wataru 3p by resig. (Prelim. A, 60th Judan. This game was played at the Kansai headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in.)
(July 18) Sumire (W) beat Kim Jaeyoung 6p (Korea) by half a point. (Sumire was given a sponsor’s wild-card seed in the 4th Wu Qingyuan [Go Seigen] Cup; see report above. Kim won this tournament in its first year, so this is an excellent result for Sumire and her first international win.)
(July 19) Sumire (W) lost to Zhou Hongyu 6p (China) by resig. (Round 2 of tournament above.)
(July 22) Sumire (B) beat Endo Yoshifumi 8p by 2.5 (Prelim. C, 70th Oza.)
(July 29) Sumire (W) lost to Iyama Yuta Kisei in round one of the New Ryusei tournament. This is an unofficial tournament, presumably because of its very short time allowance. Players start with one minute and get an extra five seconds every time they play a move (a system known as Fischer time, after its inventor Bobby Fischer). There are 32 participants in a knock-out; Sumire was chosen as one of two special seeds. After the game, she commented that she was “cut to pieces.” (The above information comes from the Net. The Nihon Ki-in is withholding news of the result until the game is televised on August 28.)
(August 2) Sumire beat Antti Tormanen 1p (Prelim. C, Tengen) (details not yet available).
Sumire still has the second-most wins of all Nihon Ki-in pros but no longer the best winning percentage; see below. However, I have a problem. Go Weekly (and the Nihon Ki-in HP) gave her score as 29-8 as of July 16, compared to 26-8 as of July 9, but I can find only one result, listed above, for that week. A Net site that tracks her results didn’t have the two “missing” games either.
Most wins (as of July 31)
1. Ueno Asami, Women’s Kisei: 35-13
2. Nakamura Sumire: 31-10 (75.6%) (note that the last two games given above are not included)
3. Fukuoka Kotaro 2p: 27-4 (86.6%). Fukuoka was on a winning streak that stopped at 13, so he is level with Sumire for the best winning streak so far this year.
4. Fujisawa Rina: 23-10; Motoki Katsuya 8p: 23-11; Kyo Kagen Judan: 23-12; Nyu Eiko 3p: 23-28. Tsuneishi Takashi 4p: 22-2 (at 91.6%, the best winning percentage); Ichiriki Ryo Tengen: 22-5 (his 12-game winning streak stopped a few weeks earlier); Seki Kotaro 4p: 22-7.
At present, there are four women players in the top ten.
Best winning streak
11: Tsuneishi Takashi
9: Otake Yu. Sumire’s father, Shinya 9P, briefly entered the list with 5-in-a-row, but was unable to keep his streak going.