American Go E-Journal » Go News

At a memorial set up for Yoshi Sawada – the popular go player and translator who died unexpectedly in late February – attendees at the 2011 U.S. Go Congress shared their memories. Here’s a selection:

I’ll miss his witty banter with Maeda, I’ll miss the energy and joy he brought to a room.
– Anonymous

He was always so happy, and it made me happy to see him. The Congress just is not the same without him. – Anonymous

With his warm heart and experience he often helped many of us from Japan who sometimes felt unfamiliar traveling abroad.
–    Miyoko Miyama

His kindness and generosity was overflowing. He was always there with a broad smile and welcome.
– None C. Redmond

He radiated sunny good humor and cheer. I wish I had been able to play with him longer.
– Chris Scammon

He loved go, but he didn’t just keep it to himself – he shared it with everyone, along with his joyful and generous spirit.
– Roy Laird

Yoshi was always a bright spot in our day, helpful and generous with his laughter.
– Steve and Eileen Barberi

Yoshi made Maeda’s lectures great fun. Rock-paper-scissors. You are missed dude.
– Frank B

Yoshi Sawada: A Brief Biographical Sketch
by Steve Burrall
Yoshi Sawada was born in 1950 in the Belgian Congo while his father was stationed there working for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They moved to Belgium and then back to Japan where he attended elementary school and high school, although he attended junior high in Geneva.

His father was a very strong amateur go player and though Yoshi often watched his father play, he was not allowed to touch go equipment and did not actually play go while growing up.

After attending college in France, he went to work for the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Paris, where he began playing go as well as developing expert golfing skills. A few years later he came to the U.S. where he nearly became a professional golfer.

Shuttling back to Japan in the off-seasons allowed Yoshi to take lessons from professional go players and mingle with top pros like Ishida, Rin and the Kobayashis. He ended up in Sacramento helping establish the Japanese American Community Center and worked there until Proposition 13 eliminated its funding. During those years he received his 1 dan and 3 dan diplomas from the Nihon Kiin.

During the early ‘80s he trained personnel for Furrow’s Hardware and his legendary generosity led to his next career change. After completing an arduous task as a favor to a Japanese businessman while at Furrow’s, he soon had a hectic career as a highly sought-after international business consultant. He was also a professional tennis instructor at the Laguna Racquet Club.

– this is an edited version of the biography Burrall wrote for the Sacramento Go Club newsletter in 1998; photos by Chris Garlock (top right) and Debbie Siemon (bottom left)

2011 US Go Congress
North American Masters Tournament
Round 2 Board 4

W: ZiYang Hu 1p
b: ZhaoNian Chen (Mike) 7d
Commentary by Maeda Ryo 6P, Jennie Shen 2P, transcribed by Chris Garlock
Recorded by Solomon Smilack

Next February, IGS (the Internet Go Server) will be twenty years old. In those two decades, IGS has gone through many major changes, especially since it was acquired by Pandanet. These days, in addition to hosting hundreds of players at any hour of the day or night,  IGS simulcasts many major tournaments, attracting as many as 1,500 online observers, hosts two of its own online events (The Pandanet Cup and the Cho Chikun Tournament.)  On Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Go Congress, nearly forty Congress attendees gathered for a presentation from Pandanet-IGS on the latest upgrade.IGS President Hiroko Taki (in E-Journal hat and Pandanet t-shirt in photo) and Pandanet staffers Hidekazu Hirai and Keiko Sota , who had traveled from Japan announce that PandaGo, a new, improved, Java-based client, was released in April. They also noted that a client, Tetsuki,  is available for the iPod/iPhone/iPad, a feature not currently available from KGS, the other server prominently used by Western players. Click here or here to view a Tetsuki video that Mr. Hirai and Ms.Sota presented.  A client for the Android is scheduled to roll out in November. A general discussion of IGS followed; players were especially interested in the ranking system. AGA International Liaison Thomas Hsiang explained that the system is extremely transparent, and is explained at length here. It’s a conservative system, moving slowly through a large numbers of grades – each level is split in half, so for instance a 3K must earn their way to 3K+ before advancing to 2K. Grades tend to run about 3 ranks below AGA ratings. Attendees were also interested to know how IGS handles the problem of “escapers.” Mr. Hirai responded that players who log off their games forfeit within five minutes. A bug that currently boots iPhone users offline when their phone rings is being fixed. With 75,000 active users, Pandanet-IGS hopes to attract more interest from Western players and urged online players to take the new clients out for a test drive, and write to developer@pandanet-igs.com with comments and suggestions.
– Roy Laird; photo by Phil Straus