Thursday January 31, 2013
Our friends at Go Game Guru have just posted their 2012 album of favorite go 
photos, which are great fun to look at – the captions are amusing too — and many of which would make terrific screensavers or wallpaper. Click here for the 2011 collection.
Wednesday January 30, 2013
With the first-ever North American Go Convention just over a week away, over 
110 players have now registered for the Feb. 8-17 event. The field is shaping up to be fairly strong, with 30 players 5 dan and above, another 32 
players 1d-4d and 30 single-digit kyu players. The total prize purse is $3,170 and includes the NAGC Open, a Team Competition, Blitz Go and Pair Go (check here for complete, up-to-date info). The week-long event spans two weekends, beginning in Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ (2/8-12) and then moving to Arlington, VA (2/13-17); click here for the full schedule. A one-day option offers up to seven games per day, with trophies, books, and certificates awarded to 3- and 4-win players. Yuan Zhou 7d will be etaching at the DC event as Joanne Missingham 6P (right) – who will be welcomed to DC by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office — can only teach on 2/13-14 due to a professional tournament game scheduled on 2/17 in Taiwan. Shuttle buses may be available to NJ from New York City; click here to sign up.
Tuesday January 29, 2013
Go is returning to Hollyhock after more than a decade as Janice Kim 3P leads a 
workshop at the learning center in British Columbia June 28 through July 3. Kim promises to “Increase your go skill through interactive lectures, small and large group exercises, game practice and analysis,” as well as help players “Develop critical thinking skills and improve your confidence while exploring effective and positive real world decision-making.” An award-winning author and professional 3-dan, Kim brings decades of experience to her acclaimed workshops; in 1984 she won the World Youth Go Championship, took second place in the 1985 Fuji Women’s Korean Go Champion and in 2008 she placed 4th in the World Poker Tour Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. She’s also been a contributor to the American Go E-Journal, most recently contributing commentary at the 2012 Sport Accord World Mind Sports Games in Beijing.
Tuesday January 29, 2013
In a recent E-Journal article about Weiqi2Go, the new iPod/iPhone/iPad app for viewing recent tournament games, we complained that the players were 
only listed in Chinese, limiting its usefulness to non-Chinese reading users, and we’re pleased to report that game lists now identify events, games and players in English. Some game descriptions are still only in Chinese; there is also a Chinese option, and Korean names can be viewed in Korean. Nearly 1,000 recent pro games are available on the server, which is continuously updated with the latest top tournament games, organized in a way that I found difficult to browse; games from several tournaments are lumped together in one directory. A subdirectory structure for each tournament would be a welcome addition. The graphics are OK but still fall short of other programs. The stones seem too small for the board, which in turn could be larger on the iPod (which I used to review these products). If you want to look at games from the current tournament scene, Weiqi2Go looks like a good option. Just find the games online that you want to look at and download them to your device, then save them to a directory. All the events I looked for were there. I was however disappointed that there is no “Import” function, and “Export” is also missing, but that’s another story . . .
– Roy Laird
Monday January 28, 2013
Kevin Chou of Hillsborough, CA won the second annual San Diego Go 
Championship with a 3-0 record in the dan division. Nearly two dozen players contested for the $100 top prize at UCSD. Tying for first place in the single-digit kyu division with two wins were David Baran of Beverly Hills,Seth Cardew of Tennessee, Michal Lebl, and Peter D Schumer of Vermont. Julian A Koslow won the double-digit yyu division with a 3-0 record and Megan Elizabeth Duff of Orange won the women’s division. “It was a wonderful day of go,” said Ted Terpstra, President of the San Diego Go Club. photo courtesy Ted Terpstra
Sunday January 27, 2013
The first round of the Pandanet-AGA City League starts this Sunday January 27th. Tune in on IGS using the new GoPanda2 client and watch the opening round. Round and game information are posted on the Pandanet site’s right navigation bar to help you keep track of your local and favorite teams.
We will be posting game records once the games have completed as well. Tune in for some great games!
Sunday January 27, 2013
With the technical glitches solved, the twice-delayed game between Lee Sedol 9P and new American pro Andy Liu 1P took place Saturday morning on go9dan.com. Lee won by resignation but said that “Andy is much stronger than
I had anticipated,” adding that AGA President Andy Okun “must be really happy about how strong the AGA pros are!” Okun responded that “we really pleased and proud of our new pros. We are also grateful to Lee Sedol for giving them a chance to hone their skills and learn from such a champion.” The second round in the AGA-Europe Pros vs. Lee Sedol Lee 10-Game Series is likely to be held next weekend; stay tuned for details.
Thursday January 24, 2013
Organizational priorities and goals for the year ahead were the main topic of discussion at the January 13th meeting of the AGA’s board of directors. The top priority is to complete the rank certification program, followed by expanding the AGA’s presence on go servers, and creating a mentoring program. Although not chosen as a priority per se, the board also intends to create a reasonable reserve fund policy. Also on the agenda were the AGA president’s report and approving prize funding for the USYGC. An overview of the discussion of AGA priorities will be in the minutes, which will be posted as soon as they are approved at the next meeting, scheduled for February 3rd.
– Daniel Smith
Wednesday January 23, 2013
regions, divided into four leagues. The teams in each league will play round-robin team matches on the Pandanet Internet Go Server. Each league’s top finisher moves up to the next higher league at the end of the season, while the bottom finisher moves down to the lower league, etc.”Pandanet has provided a generous cash prize fund for the top leagues,” reports Thomas Hsiang. In addition, the teams are encouraged to seek regional sponsors to pay for the players’ game fees and other team activities.Tuesday January 22, 2013
Hopefully the third time with be the charm for go9dan.com. Technical snafus on Monday once again derailed the Andy Liu-Lee Sedol game, which had been rescheduled from Sunday, when lag problems on the server caused Lee Sedol’s clock to run out.
The game is now scheduled for this Saturday, January 26 at 8a EST. “We presume that the tech team can get the major bugs out in a few days,” says Michael J. Simon, CFO and Head of English Activities for 82 Limited, which is launching the new server. The Liu-Sedol game is the first in a 10-game series against the two new U.S. professionals, Andy Liu and Gansheng Shi, and Romanian pro Catalin Taranu 5P.
The pressure is on, as the new server is also set to host the first World Go League Invitational game at 7a EST this Sunday, January 27 between Sedol and Chen Yaoye. Ten of the world’s top professionals will play for $100,000 in prizes. Organizers plan to run tests this week “where a bunch of people from different continents will play and bet on the games, chat, and generally stress our system,” says Simon.