Monday September 20, 2010
Twenty six kids and adults played in the September monthly ratings tournament this past Saturday in Palo Alto, CA. Jean-Baptiste Chaubet 1d (right in photo), visiting from France, led the field of a dozen dan-level players with three wins. In the kyu division, Eric Hoffman 2k, Jay Chan 3k, Roger Schrag 5k, Tom Rike 6k, and Eric Sumner 17k picked up two wins apiece. Next month’s Bay Area Go ratings tournament is scheduled for October 16 in San Francisco.
Monday September 20, 2010
Reaching out to the region which just elected her, new American Go Association Central Region Board Director Lisa Scott (l) recently 
wrapped up a 13-state 7,000-mile tour of more than 30 go clubs. Scott’s goal was to “offer an opportunity for clubs to meet me in person and let me know how the AGA can help them.” Local club organizers from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa welcomed Scott to their clubs, and were happy to share their thoughts with her about ways in which the AGA could support their efforts. Among Scott’s findings are that “These clubs need assistance in organizing events, and in finding teachers who are strong players.” She also found that most clubs have 6-8 regular attendees, “but at most just two to three AGA members, proving that the region has huge potential for development.” Scott said that while “Some in the Central Region currently feel overlooked, I wanted to show that the AGA does care about this region.” Scott has been directing the Women’s Tournament at the US Go Congress since 2007, and is co-directing the 2011 US Go Congress in Santa Barbara, CA with Andrew Jackson. photo: Scott at this year’s Go Congress; photo by Chris Garlock
Monday September 20, 2010
The American Go Association’s 10-game requirement for international representation has been dropped. In a special meeting Wednesday night, reports AGA President Allan Abramson, the AGA Board voted to drop the rule requiring that potential participants in international events have played at least ten rated games in the preceding year. Pressure to drop the rule had been mounting, most recently by Feng Yun 9P, and the Board had agreed to review its status (AGA Board To Review 10-Game Rule 9/13 EJ). A statement by Board Chairman Andy Okun is expected to be issued soon.
Monday September 20, 2010
Share it, save it, post it. All E-Journal reports can now easily be emailed, bookmarked or posted to Facebook, Twitter and other social 
media. Just click “read more” on the story in the EJ and then click on “Share/Save” when it comes up in your web browser. It’s just that easy!
Sunday September 19, 2010
Clockwise from top right: kids work on solving Yang’s life and death problems; Juyong Koh 7d (l) and Seung Hyun Hong 7d review their Round 3 game; group effort on solving the life and death problems; Yilun Yang 7P plays Yigang Hua 8P from China live online; Congress Directors Lisa Scott & Andrew Jackson discuss the 2011 U.S. Go Congress with local players; young players review their game. Photos by Chris Garlock
Saturday September 18, 2010
photos by Chris Garlock
Monday September 13, 2010
North American representative Cathy Li 1p was knocked out by Park Jieun (Chieun) 9P in the first round of the Bingsheng Cup, a new international women’s tournament. The Bingsheng Cup is held at Qionglong Mountain in Suzhou, China. Click here for standings, game records and more on the tournament, which wraps up on September 14. Li, of Vancouver, Canada won the right to represent North America in online qualifiers held last month on KGS. The online qualifying matches were dominated by Canadian players, as disputed AGA tournament regulations (AGA’s 10-Game Rule Assailed By Feng Yun 9P 9/6 EJ) and little advance notice for this new event prevented many US women from being eligible to participate.
– Dennis Wheeler
Monday September 13, 2010
Park vs. Hei in Bingshen Cup finals. In the 1st Binshen Cup (AKA the Qionglong Cup), Park Jieun 9P (r) of Korea and Hei Jiajia 1P 
representing Oceania (Australia) both won their semifinal matches and will face each other in the title match September 14th. Park defeated China’s Tang Yi 2P by 7.5 points, and Hei defeated China’s Zheng Yan 2P by resignation. One of the more notable first-round matches was between Rui Naiwei 9P and Tang Yi, with Rui losing to Tang by 5.5 points. The Qionglong Cup is a women only international tournament. (game records) Samsung Cup down to 16 players. The final sixteen players for the 15th Samsung Cup (tournament bracket) were decided on September 10. Korea’s Choi Cheolhan 9P, Park Jiyeon 2P, Lee Changho 9P, and Park Yeonghun 9P all won their respective games, giving Korea a total of 10 players in the main tournament. China’s Gu Li 9P, Zhou Ruiyang 5P, Wang Tao 3P, and Kong Jie 9P all won their respective games, giving China a total of 5 players. Yamashita Keigo 9P clinched his spot in the main tourn
ament on September 9th, and is the only Japanese representative in this year’s final tournament. Keigo incidentally was the only Japanese player in last year’s final tournament as well. Of the eight remaining block-tournament matches, several are worth noting. Park Jiyeon, the only female player to advance to the main tournament, defeated Tuo Jiaxi 3P by resignation. Lee Changho was able to redeem himself against Tan Xiao 5P, after losing to him in the first round, and defeated Xiao by resignation. Xiao lost his second-round match against Han Sanghoon 5P, which then put him back into the losers bracket to face Changho. Despite his loss, Xiao played very well in this game. And finally, Gu Li defeated Korean amateur Min Sangyoun by resignation after 133 moves. (game records and more game records)
– JustPlayGo; edited by Jake Edge
Monday September 13, 2010
The 2010/11 Interprovincials — a competition based around Ireland’s four traditional provinces, or kingdoms — kicked off on KGS last weekend. Munster’s coach had sacked the entire team after their wooden spoon finish in last year’s competition, bringing in a novice squad full of fresh blood. Ulster meanwhile had chosen much the same team, the only new player being Karl Irwin, currently teaching maths in China. The novice Munster squad, captained by Anthony Durity, used their handicap stones very well and pulled off a well-earned victory 2-1. Dangerously for them though, they suffered some rank promotions in the course of their victory. Perhaps this will tell in their games against Leinster and Connaught. In other Irish go news, the Belfast Open is coming up in two weeks.
– Ian Davis, Irish Correspondent for the E-Journal
Monday September 13, 2010
Twenty of Europe’s top players have decided to form The European Professional Go Organization, in partnership with EuroGoTV, according to a press release that followed a meeting at this year’s European Go Congress. The founders include four players with Asian pro certification —Guo Juan 5P, Catalin Taranu 5P, Alexandre Dinerchtein 3P and Diana Koszegi 1P — along with sixteen other top players. EPGO will organize a yearlong European Professional Go League, resulting in annual certification certification of 12 EPGO “pros.” As we understand it, this will differ from the semi-permanent certification process in Japan, China and Korea. Pros will have to re-earn their status each year or face decertification.