Lee Sedol has driven the AGA-Europe team to two stones in the ongoing AGA-Europe Pro vs. Sedol 10-Game Series on go9dan.com. In the most recent match, Lee defeated Catalin Taranu, making the overall score 6-0 in his favor. Lee will play Andy Liu on Saturday, March 16 at 10p EDT. Click here for the Round 6 game record; Taranu said he was thinking about 35 at 36 as an alternative, but Sedol commented that 35 was good. “25 should be at 41. 45 is too slow. Instead black should play at around 54 or 47 to grow b’s moyo. Black 93 would have been thick at 94, instead of creating two weak groups. White’s move 114 was strange. If b played 133 instead of 131, then it would have been better for black. But after black’s 45 and w was able to reduce b’s upper moyo at w46, the game is comfortable for white.”
American Go E-Journal » Go News
Lee Sedol 6-0 in AGA-Europe Pro vs. Lee Kadoban; Andy Liu 1P Plays on Saturday
Friday March 15, 2013
Lee, Park & Shi Lead in World Go League; Next Game Saturday Morning
Friday March 15, 2013
Lee Changho, Park Younghoon and Shi Yue lead go9dan’s World Go League Invitational, all with 4-1 records. Lee Sedol will play Xie He at 7a EDT on Saturday, March 16. Lee defeated Fan, Kong, Xie and Kim, losing to Shi; Park defeated Lee Sedol, Fan, Park Junghwan and Kim, losing to Kong; Shi beat Lee Sedol, Lee Changho, Xie and Chen, losing to Kong. Click here for game records and standings.
Blackie’s Baduk Academy to Offer Summer Camp in Korea
Friday March 15, 2013
Blackie’s International Baduk Academy (The Traveling Go Board 1/19/2013 EJ) will offer their first summer camp this June. “We hope that kids can join to our camp, but anyone is welcomed,” Kim Seung-jun tells the E-Journal. “No age or rank limit, just like in BIBA.” The camp will run June 24 through July 23 in Seoul, South Korea. In addition to helping students improve, the camp’s goals include facilitating cultural exchanges through the game of baduk (go). Highlights of the camp include game reviews and commentaries, studying life and death problems and professional games as well as games; teachers include Kim Seung-jun 9P, Diana Koszegi 1P, On So-jin 7P and Park Young-un 7d. Other activities include visiting the Hangkuk Kiwon and meeting with famous professional players, visiting the Kwon Gap Yong Baduk Academy in Seoul, as well as playing sports in a nearby park and visits to the sea. Click here for details and to register.
– photo courtesy BIBA
Lisy, Popov & Krushelnytskyi Top European Youth Go Championships
Thursday March 14, 2013
The European Youth Go Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary from March 8-10. Pavol Lisy 6d (right) won
the Under 20 event, Stepan Popov 3d (left) won the Under 16 and Valerii Krushelnytskyi 1d won the Under 12.
Complete results tables and latest European tournament results available on EuroGoTV’s website.
Kazan Players Dominate Polymetal Rapid Cup, Russia’s First Fast Go Tournament
Wednesday March 13, 2013
Players from Kazan dominated the first Polymetal Rapid Cup, held in Saint Petersburg, Russia on March 8-10. Ilya Shikshin 7d (far left in photo) of Kazan won the individual event, while the Kazan team (photo at right) swept the team event. Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The first official Russian fast go tournament, the Cup was sponsored by Polymetal plc, a leading precious metals producer in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Despite many Russian players being away at the European Youth Go Championship in Budapest, 39 players and 9 teams took part in the Polymetal Rapid Cup competitions. The Russian Go Federation and local go supporters ensured a friendly atmosphere for newcomers with public go classes for beginners, a tea ceremony and relaxing facilities.
Organizers hope the Polymetal Rapid Cup launches a new era of fast go events, including rapid, blitz and lightning. While these formats are very popular in the Russian chess world, they’ve not previously been tried out in general go competitions, where players are expecting to face more new and exciting go events.
Results: Individual: 1st: Ilya Shikshin 7d, 2nd: Dmitriy Surin 6d, 3rd: Alexander Dinerchtein 3P. Team tournament: 1st: Kazan team; Ilya Shikshin, Alexander Dinerchtein, Svetlana Shikshina and Igor Nemliy. 2nd: Moscow City; 3rd: Republic of Karelia. Click here for individual results and tournament photos.
– Daria Koshkina, EJ Russia Correspondent; photo by Michail Krylov/ Russian Go Federation
AGA Website Team Welcomes New members; EJ Seeks News Editors
Tuesday March 12, 2013
Yuqiao Shen, Yinli Wang, Chris Roose and Devin Flake have joined the AGA’s webmaster team, which manages the AGA’s website and online communications. They join Steve Colburn, who leads the team, Rachel Small, the new Pair Go Coordinator, who’s managing the new Pair Go Facebook page, Bart Jacobs, who’s coordinating our new Facebook page, and Jonathan Bresler, Andrew Jackson and Anna Wiggins, who are working on bringing the AGA Database back online. “We’re really fortunate to have such a terrific team of dedicated folks,” says Colburn.
The E-Journal team has openings for two news editors, as Ben Williams – who’s been editing world go news reports – and Taylor Litteral – who’s been editing European go news reports – move on to other projects. Anyone interested should email journal@usgo.org; no experience necessary but enthusiasm and a good sense of humor helpful. “We owe Ben and Taylor a huge round of thanks,” said EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “They took time from their own personal go boards to bring E-Journal readers go news from around the world, and we really appreciate all their great work.”
Jack Cary 6k Tops Vermont Moyo Madness
Sunday March 10, 2013
Sixteen enthusiastic go players turned out for the Vermont Moyo Madness tournament held Saturday, March 9th. Players from 14 kyu to 2 dan participated. The winner was Jack Cary 6k, with a perfect 4 – 0 record. Second place went to John Elder 5k with a 3 –1 record. Third place was taken by Andrew Daudelin 14k also on 3 – 1. Trophies, books, and souvenirs were given out to the top four places plus the venerable “fighting spirit” award to the player who demonstrated a great attitude with or without a winning record. “The Vermont Go Club will be well-represented at St. Michael College’s Spring Matsuri 2013 being held on Sunday, April 7th,” adds tournament organizer Peter Schumer. “We hope to attract lots of new players!”
Janice Kim 3P Workshop Announced in Northern California
Sunday March 10, 2013
Janice Kim, the popular 3-dan professional, will conduct a two-day go workshop in Berkeley, CA on Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5. She will focus on how research into what it takes to become an expert translates into reaching one’s potential in go. “I’ve adapted activities for the workshop from research and practice — not my own, thankfully — in fields as apparently diverse as competitive tennis, to body-building, to law school, to baking,” says Kim. “I find a common thread, in my own observations in go as well, in concepts behind these activities. People appear to excel, without spending unrealistic amounts of time, when what they do follows these concepts.”
Janice Kim 3P is co-author of the award-winning book series Learn to Play Go, and her lectures at the San Francisco Go Club and past workshops have been very popular. Last year she provided commentary at the Cotsen Open in Los Angeles, and this past December she teamed up with Michael Redmond 9P and the American Go E-Journal to provide commentary at the SportAccord World Mind Games in China.
“To sum up what we’ll cover,” Janice continues, “I’ll show you how maybe surprisingly, you may have to do less to get better, and then we’ll translate that into specifically what to do in a way you can replicate after the workshop. I’ll be presenting go material a little differently, but hopefully in a way that you’ll find interesting and useful. I promise not to go full Karate Kid and tell you to wax the floor if you want to get better at go.”
This workshop is organized by Bay Area Go Players Association. More information is available on this web page, and you can pay your entry fee with PayPal, credit card, or by putting a check in the mail. Register and submit payment before April 8 to get the best price.
photos by Chris Garlock (left) and Brian Allen (right).
Pourkavoos tops Simsbury Tourney
Saturday March 9, 2013
Aresh Pourkavoos took first place at the 1st Simsbury Open Scholastic Go Tournament, at the Simsbury Library, in Connecticut, on March 2nd. The tournament was held in conjunction with the Simsbury Scholastic Chess Tournament. “We had 6 fierce go competitors enter the tournament,” reports Mike Spaner. “This was the first go tournament for all of the entrants. Our young players not only battled for 5 rounds, but they also took the time to teach many curious onlookers from the chess side of the playing hall (there were roughly 90 chess players). Although outnumbered, our young go ambassadors (all new AGA members) did a wonderful job promoting the game of go. The kids were all very excited to meet others who share their love for the game. Between rounds, there were some great hallway discussions on suggested playing strategies and tactics. One of the chess player’s parents had not played go for many years and was excited to get in a game between rounds. As an observer, I was very happy to see how energized the kids were during and after the tournament. A small, friendly, but competitive tournament for our our youth really helps spark a deeper interest in the game that we love. The Central Connecticut Go Club would like to extend a special thank you to Gert Hilhorst for organizing the overall Chess and Go tournament. The entire event was flawlessly executed by Gert and his team with the helpful assistance of the library staff. We also would like to thank Mike Scudder for serving as our Tournament Director. Kiseido publishing graciously provided a discount on gift certificates for our prize winners, and the kids were thrilled with their prizes,” adds Spaner. Winners Report: 1st place: Aresh Pourkavoos; 2nd place: Sophie Spaner; 3rd place: Matt Miller. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Story and photo by Mike Spaner.
Going to Extremes
Saturday March 9, 2013
If regular go is getting too easy, you may want to check out the eXtreme Mindgame Challenge, which proposes to expand play to a staggering 57 x 57 board.
“The goal of this project is to make this 4000 year old game really extreme,” say the project’s organizers, who say they’re planning to recruit two teams to eight players each to play on the biggest board in the world. “Players will be quite strong so that they can focus on the whole game,” they add.
It’s not clear who’s behind the grandiose effort, which is trying to raise $5,000 for the summer 2013 project but has only attracted two supporters for a grand total of $60 thus far.
With 3,249 intersections in a 57×57 board, project organizers calculate the number of possible game positions at 10 to the 2,000 power.
– Thanks to Paul Barchilon for passing this along