American Go E-Journal » Go News

Discussing China on CNN Sunday, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that “One has to understand the Chinese intellectual game, which is what we call go (and) they call weiqi.” Explaining that “it’s a game of strategic encirclement,” Kissinger said that “our intellectual game is chess. Chess is about victory or defeat. Somebody wins.” Kissinger contrasted chess in which “all the pieces are in front of you at all times, so you can calculate your risk” with go, where the pieces “are not all on the board, and your opponent is always capable of introducing new pieces.” Historically, Kissinger said, the Chinese use strategic analysis based on “the go way.” Despite Kissinger’s cogent understanding of the game, CNN mistakenly used video of Chinese Chess to illustrate the segment. Click here to see the interview; the comments about go begin at 7m32s.
Thanks to the many readers who alerted us to this interview.
UPDATE: Noting that “The goal is less victory than persistent strategic progress,” Kissinger made similar comments in a 2004 Newsweek column. (Thanks to Roy Laird for finding this)

Hanxi Zhang has organized a Canadian online super go competition on KGS between top players in Ottawa/Gatineau and Montreal/Quebec City. The next game — round 3 — will be this Wednesday, January 26 at 9p EST, when Yingzhi Chen (Yingzhi) will play Pascal Tremblay (Pasukaru). You can follow the games online on KGS and on Twitter.

Twenty go players ranging from 4 dan to 12 kyu attended the Evanston Go Club’s recent Winter Workshop with Yilun Yang 7P. “Mr. Yang is uniquely able to present concepts that are equally applicable to players of all levels,” reports local organizer Mark Rubenstein. One of the workshop’s highlights was a lecture on the second day. Yang “noticed in the game reviews that most of us were confused about when to make a one-space jump from a stone on or near the side star point, and when not to,” says Rubenstein. “He was able to give us some simple concepts to guide our decision in any situation. That’s the beauty of his teaching methods. Good play comes from understanding what is going on, and being able to answer”brings a deeper understanding of the game than simply memorizing patterns, and makes every move meaningful,” adds Rubenstein, who hosted the 12th annual event. photo by Mark Rubenstein

GoClubsOnline now has “dozens of new features and extra options to make GoClubsOnline  easier to use for club organizers and volunteers,” reports Robert Cordingley. Highlights include a new dashboard to add tables and charts enabling club organizers to follow statistics and review historical trends of club membership, tournament attendance levels and tournament finances. Also added: more Membership Card Options, more themes, and Tournament Publish, so that tournament organizers can mark a tournament as “published” when it’s ready to be viewed by site visitors.”GoClubsOnline has over 300 subscribers waiting to register online for your tournaments!” adds Cordingley.

by Allan Abramson, AGA President
It was cloudy and cold early Wednesday morning, as we went through the White House security lines. Feng Yun 9P and Paul Matthews had risen at 2 am in northern New Jersey to drive to DC and Paul Celmer and Frank Salantrie had driven in from North Carolina on Tuesday. Feng Yun and Paul had to wait an hour for clearance, as her name had been reversed on the guest list for the welcoming ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao. We had all been invited because of the go community’s contributions to President Obama’s gift last year to President Hu of an America-made go board and bowls, plus fine jade Chinese stones donated by Feng Yun (Go Community To Attend White House Event Welcoming Chinese President 1/17 EJ). Companies from all the military services assembled on the South Lawn, including one dressed in Revolutionary War red. A band played before the 9 am ceremony started. It was a full military review, with upwards of 400 invited guests, plus dignitaries. Small U.S. and Chinese flags had been given to us to wave before the press cameras. Presidents Obama and Hu began with a walk on the lawn to inspect the assembled companies, and then they shook hands with invited children from schools with Chinese language  and cultural instruction, before going up to the podium. Each made a speech, full of promises and pledges for cooperation between our countries. Then they went up the stairs into the White House, ending the formal ceremony. The go community’s presence at this meeting between the two leading superpowers provides a metaphor for peaceful competition. It also offers us a glimpse of a positive future, when go becomes an integral part of our society. Once again, we are challenged to make this happen.
photos by Allan Abramson; top right, l-r: Salantrie, Celmer, Feng Yun & Matthews. Click here for an online photo album

Fittingly – and not surprisingly – it was the Brothers Jiang who battled it out for the top prize at the recent Jujo Jiang Tournament, held January 8 in San Francisco, CA. MingJiu Jiang 9P prevailed in the climactic 4th-round game against his brother — and tournament namesake — Zhujiu “Jujo” Jiang 9P (at left in photo) , winning the championship, which was sponsored by ZhiQiang Guo. “Mr. Guo participated in the tournament two years ago and enjoyed it so much that he decided to be a sponsor this year,” reports organizer Ernest Brown. The final was broadcast live on KGS. There were eight prizes in each of four divisions in the handicap portion of the tournament as well as four cash prizes in the open section. Matthew Burrall 6d took second place and tourney namesake Jujo Jiang 9P was third, while Qucheng (Roger) Gong 6d placed 4th and Hugh Zhang 6d was 5th; all had 3-1 records. Aaron Ye 2d topped the Handicap Division with a 4-0 record and Eric Su 3d was second, also with 4-0; Justin Shieh 4d took third place with 3-1.

The 19th-annual tournament “was well populated by youth dan level players,” Brown told the E-Journal, adding that “During the tournament go lessons were provided free to the public.” Next year’s 20th anniversary tournament is already being planned, and will again be held at the Chinese Culture Center in the Financial District Hilton Hotel in San Francisco.  “We look forward to hosting many of the professional players who have participated in the tournament over the years from around the world,” says Brown. Click here for tournament photos.