Tuesday February 19, 2013
Despite the simplicity of its rules, go remains something of an open problem for the game AI community. In Playing Go with Clojure, Bay Area software developer and go player Zach Tellman discusses the inherent difficulties of the problem, provides a survey of current approaches, and explores how they can be efficiently implemented in Clojure, a dialect of the Lisp programming language.
– Thanks to Steve Colburn for passing this along.
Monday February 18, 2013
The Mexican Youth Go Community drew 31 pairs to their first Pair Go Tourney, held in December in Mexico City. “The kids wanted to play go with their parents but they didn’t know how, so they asked us for workshops and lessons,” reports organizer Siddhartha Avila. “Then we thought, why not make go an activity that can be enjoyed by the whole family, this way each family will spread the game even when their kids grow up and leave elementary school. We had a great response, with pairs including the kids, parents, relatives, or friends,” said Avila. Winners Report: 1st place Mariana (5th grader) and her mom; 2nd place Melanie (2nd grader) and her dad; 3rd place Diego Armando (1st grader) and his mom. A special thanks goes to the Principal Marcela Zepeda, Go teacher Marcos Arámbula and Israel Rodriguez President of Asociación Mexicana de Go, who helped us with the pairings. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Report and Photo by Siddhartha Avila.
Monday February 18, 2013
“We’ve just put our new extended trailer on YouTube,” reports The Surrounding Game co-director Cole Pruitt. “Plus, thanks to help from several American go contacts, we’re working with the Nihon Ki-in to schedule a trip to Japan sometime later this summer, hopefully to coincide with a big amateur go festival in August. In March, at the Spring Go Expo, we’ll interview a Japanese 4p who will be coming to the US for a month for promotional purposes.”
Sunday February 17, 2013
The Princeton Go Club will host the 54th annual New Jersey Open the weekend of March 2-3, reports co-director Rick Mott. The 2-day, 5-round event has been running for more than half a century, and on the Princeton campus for 23 years. Registration is 9-10A Saturday, March 3. Email co-director Mott for full details at 
rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu.
Go has a long history at Princeton. The Princeton club was founded by Professor Ralph J. Fox of the Department of Mathematics in 1945, who continued to promote go in Princeton until his untimely death in 1973. Professor Fox brought a number of Japanese professionals to visit Princeton, and often hosted them at his house. His late wife Cynthia bequeathed some of his books, photographs and papers to the club archives.
Perhaps the most famous association of Princeton with go is an opening scene in the film “A Beautiful Mind”, depicting the life of Nobel laureate John Nash Jr., in which Nash is challenged to a game by a fellow graduate student.
The Princeton club hosted the fifth US Go Congress in 1989. The following year, the long-standing New Jersey Open, one of the earliest regional events in the US, moved to the Princeton campus where it continues to be held. The tournament has drawn up to 120 players from Virginia to Massachusetts, with occasional visitors from as far away as Europe and Asia.
Past NJO winner and former club president Zhaonian (Michael) Chen ’11 (AGA 7D) is the highest-rated player to date to be part of the Princeton community. He was part of the first group of students from the nearby Feng Yun Go School to reach college age. Freshman Zhongxia (Ricky) Zhao ’16, AGA 7D, also studied with Feng Yun (photo). “In recent years, we have had an influx of college club players, notably Stony Brook and Rutgers. This year, Cornell has told us they will be sending a group as well,” Mott tells the E-Journal.
photo: Feng Yun analyzing a top-board game at the 2010 NJO; photo by John Pinkerton
Saturday February 16, 2013
Thirty go players from North America, South America and Africa have already 
signed up for the Osaka Go Camp (Maeda Osaka Go Camp Details Released 2/8 EJ), June 30-July 20 in Osaka, Japan. Click here for details and to register before the camp fills up.
Saturday February 16, 2013
“Most people go to the Hungarian Pastry Shop expecting a little peace and quiet—and maybe a shot of espresso,” wrote Tracey Wang in the Columbia 
Spectator on February 8 (Gamers find home at Hungarian Pastry Shop). “But on Tuesday nights, the shop on Amsterdam Avenue at 111th Street plays host to a more energetic crowd—a group of gamers who challenge each other in the ancient Chinese game of Go.” The report on the Gotham Go Group includes a short video on the club and quotes club founder Peter Armenia as saying that the joy of go lies in its simplicity. “There’s an abstract beauty about it,” he says. “It has a little more grace than chess.” Jasper DeAntonio, a math teacher in Harlem, said that he has been coming to weekly games at Hungarian since November and that the way go surprises him has kept him coming back. “I just enjoy the patterns and the critical thinking of it,” he said. In related news, New York photographer and Gotham Go Group regular Marilyn Stern has created a photo slide show of the GGG tournament last month that she has posted on YouTube. Also, there is now another weekly meeting of go players in the Village on Thursday nights from 5:30-10:30 at Pie By the Pound (124 4th Ave, between 12th & 13th streets).
Saturday February 16, 2013
The Cacomo iPhone game is now available in the Apple app store, as of Feb 
12th. Cacomo is a casual, go-like card game, where players try to capture each other’s stones on a board, but unlike go, players can only play a stone on a spot if they have the card for that spot.
Cacomo is perfect for relatives and friends who want to learn go but find its complexity intimidating, or for go players looking for a casual, portable go experience.
The card game was invented by Hiroko Shinkai 5P of the Nihon Ki-in. It was made into an Apple app by Danielle Hyatt, a Seattle Go Center member. The two met at the Seattle Go Center Anniversary Party in September of 2012.
– Brian Allen
Friday February 15, 2013
Little Rock, AR: The Little Rock Go Club has been re-started in Arkansas, reports Aulden Murch. “ We have six enthusiastic members so 
far but have not found a place to meet yet.” In the meantime, reach Murch at Littlerockgoclub@gmail.com or call 501-337-3451.
Silver Spring, MD: The Arthur Lewis Go Club has moved to the Mid County Community Center (2004 Queensguard Rd, Silver Spring MD 20906); 240-777-6820 • montgomerycountymd.gov/rec where it meets Tuesdays from 6-8:45p.
The AGA maintains go club contact info on our website; if you are the current head of a go club you can edit and update that information yourself. Just log into the membership database with your user account and you can not only be able to edit your own personal information but also your club’s. Once you log in, look for “Manage [Go Club’s Name]” where you can edit the club’s data, which will automatically update the information on the club listings on the AGA’s web site.
Thursday February 14, 2013
SmartGo is 
sponsoring the February and March qualifiers for the KGS 2013 Meijin tournament. Smallbird won the 2012 KGS Meijin inaugural effort, with some of the strongest players on the server competing for the final prize: $500 and a special icon. The 2013 KGS Meijin season has already started, with Alex12 winning the first 
spot in the qualifiers (finals will be held starting in November). SmartGo’s February round has 18 entrants thus far, with ranks up to 6 dan. The single-elimination tournament will take place February 16-17; see the tournament web page for more details.
Thursday February 14, 2013
The United States Youth Go Championships (USYGC), held Jan. 19th on KGS pulled in 63 players. The withdrawal of the Ing Foundation from the event did not appear to have any effect on attendance. Kids and teens competed in five different bands, with players ranging from 7 dan to the double digit kyus. First place winners will be receiving crystal trophies in the mail, while second place winners will get a Sai plushie. All players can also now claim $400 scholarships to the AGA Go Camp, or $200 scholarships to US Go Congress, on a first come first serve basis. The scholarships are courtesy of the AGF, which helps bring dozens of young players to the Congress every year. Dan level kids were also competing for entry into the four player finals, and the big prize of a free trip to the US Go Congress. Sixteen-year-old Calvin Sun 7d (at left) finished first in the qualifiers for the Senior Division (under 18) while ten-year-old Jeremy Chiu 5d (at right) placed first in the Junior (under 12). The finals are double-elimination, and the first two rounds were held Jan. 20. The finals for the Senior Division will continue over the next few weeks, while Jr. Division kids will square off in person in March, at the BAGPA ratings tourney in Menlo Park CA. For full qualifier results, go here. The senior finalists were Calvin Sun 7d, Albert Yen 6d, Andrew Lu 6d, and Andrew Huang 6d; The Junior Division had only five players, and used double elimination from the start. Jeremy Chiu 5d, and Aaron Ye 5d are the last two still standing. Winners Report: 1st place Sr. 1-4 dan: Jerry Shen 4d; 1st place Sr. 1-5 kyu: Larry Qu 1k; 1st place Jr, 1-5k: Eric Liu 5k; 1st place Sr. 6-10 kyu: Royce Chen 10k; 1st place Jr. 6-10 kyu: Tianyi Tina Li 10k; 1st place Sr. 11-15 kyu band: Henry Hathaway; 1st place Jr. 11-15 kyu band: Frederick Bao 13k; 1st place Sr. 16-30 kyu band: Sarah Amano 18k; 1st place Jr. 16-30 kyu band: Alex Kuang 23k. The tournament was run by Paul Barchilon and Hugh Zhang. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor