Sunday May 30, 2010
The early registration deadline for this year’s U.S. Go Congress has been extended to June 15. The original deadline was 
May 31, but “Due to a programming error, we didn’t have rooms available for about a while,” says Congress Director Karen Jordan. “Sorry about that!” Click here to register and you can visit the Springs Go Club website for more info as well. Late payment fees will be $50 after 6/15, $75 after 6/30 and $100 after 7/17.
Friday May 28, 2010
Lee Changho 9d defeated Yoo Changhyuk 9d by resignation on Wednesday. Theirs was the last League A preliminary
game, and eight players now remain in the 6th Price Information Cup: Lee Changho, Park Yeonghun, Lee Sedol, Park Junghwan, Choi Cheolhan, Heo Yeongho, Won Sungjin, and Kang Dongyun.
– JustPlayGo
Thursday May 27, 2010
Park Jungsang 9d defeated Hong Kipyo 4d by 11.5 points in the inaugural Olleh KT Cup, a Korean professional tournament
sponsored by the Olleh KT telecommunications company. This tournament, with a total of nearly $600,000 (700 million won) in prize money.
-from JustPlayGo
Thursday May 27, 2010
Kim Seongjae 3P defeated An Kukhyun 1P by 4.5 points, giving both players a 1-1 standing in League A play of the 38th Myeongin. An Kukhyun’s earlier victory came against Lee Changho 9d (click here for more information on this match). Sponsored by High1 Resort, the Myeongin is currently the richest tournament in Korea, with about $712,000 in prize money.
-from JustPlayGo
Thursday May 27, 2010
Lee Sedol 9P advanced to the finals of the Price Information Cup after defeating Kim Jiseok 7P by resignation after just 
114 moves in the final game of League B play. Jiseok, who has experienced a bumpy start this year, was last year’s Price Information Cup winner. Lee Changho and Yoo Changhyuk will play the final league game on May 26th.
-from JustPlayGo
Wednesday May 26, 2010
Lee Changho 9P earned a win in the first stage of league play in the 2010 Korean Baduk League Cup when Jong Sungji 
resigned after 135 moves. Combined with wins from Kim Seongjae 3P and Song Taekon 9P, Changho’s win gave Team Netmarble a 3-2 victory over Team Kixx.
-from JustPlayGo
Wednesday May 26, 2010
With the 31st annual World Amateur Go Championships now underway and being held 
this year for only the second time in China, a look at the current status of the longtime rivalry between the three major go powers is instructive. There are nine currently active international tournaments – the Nongshim, Ing, BC Card, Jeongganjang, Asian TV, Fujitsu, LG, Samsung, and Chunlan — that involve China, 
Japan, and Korea. Half of the latest winners of these are Chinese, and the other half are Korean. The most recent victory by the Japanese was four years ago, at the 7th Nongshim Cup in 2006 when Yoda Norimoto 9P, in the final game, managed to defeat “iron door” Lee Changho 9P of Korea, who had finished off a win for the Koreans in the first six editions of this win-and-continue team tournament. Several titles have been completely controlled by the Chinese and Koreans. The Ing Cup, which currently has the biggest purse, has been won five times by Koreans and once by Chinese. The Japanese were runners-up twice. The 
international BC Card Cup, which includes a Taiwanese representative and has one-hour basic time and 30 seconds byoyomi, has been won once by a Korean representative and once by a Chinese. The Jeongganjang Cup, a team event for women pros, has been split five-three between Korean (five wins) and Chinese teams. Others, mostly longer-running events, have had occasional Japanese winners. The Asian TV Fast Game Cup (ten minutes and then thirty seconds) has been won nine times by Japanese players, most recently by Cho U 9P in 2005. Otherwise, the Koreans have seven victories versus five for the Chinese. This is the only event in this group won more often by the Japanese than by either of the other two countries. The Fujitsu is the longest-running of these tournaments and the most fully international. It guarantees a place in the main tournament for representatives from the Americas and Europe as well as Taiwan. On rare occasions one of these representatives has won a game. The Koreans have triumphed in it fourteen times, the Japanese six, but the Chinese only twice. The LG Cup saw the only win of one of this group of events by a Taiwanese player, Zhou Junxun 9P in 2007. Otherwise the Koreans have seven wins and the Chinese four, with the Japanese coming out on top twice. The Samsung is open to all pros and some amateurs in the early stages. It has been won twice by the Japanese, three times by the Chinese, and nine times by Koreans. The Chunlan also includes Western and Taiwanese representatives. It has seen four victories by Koreans, two by Chinese, and one by a Japanese representative. If international events that are no longer held were included, the percentage of Japanese victories would be greater since they had better results in earlier days. At present it is clear that the battle for international dominance is between Korea and China. Korea was clearly dominating until very recently, but China is now making a strong challenge for the top spot.
– Bill Cobb, based on reports on Sensei’s Library, Go News and GoGameWorld
Wednesday May 26, 2010
Csaba Mero 6d (r) of Hungary went 7-0 to win the Swiss Championship tournament, which was held in Lausanne May 22-24. Viktor Lin 5d of Austria was second at 6-1, only losing to Mero in round 5. John Walch 3d was third with a 5-2 record, and was the highest placing Swiss making him the 2010 Swiss Champion. Based on his result, Lorenz Trippel 1d will be the Swiss representative to the World Amateur Go Championship 2011.
– EuroGoTV, photo by Judith van Dam, EuroGoTV
Wednesday May 26, 2010
A week after his win in Madrid, Hwang In-Seong 8d (l) went undefeated again to win the Hamburger Affensprung, held in Hamburg, Germany May 22-24. The deciding game was played in round 4 when Hwang defeated long-time rival Cho Seok-Bin 7d who came in second with a 6-1 record. Antti Törmänen 6d of Finland came in third. Zeno van Ditzhuijzen, who was recently promoted to 1d, had a good tournament beating three 3d players and two 4d — a year ago he was 13k.
– EuroGoTV, photo by Judith van Dam, EuroGoTV
Wednesday May 26, 2010
Pair go is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and World Pair Go Association Vice President Hiroko Taki (l) looked back and ahead in an interview with Ranka on Tuesday. “When we started the pair go movement twenty years ago, we wrote a lot about the significance of fostering pair go, communication in black and white, international goodwill, and so on,” said Mrs. Taki. “At the time, there was a need to attract more players to the game of go, both in Japan and in western countries. There was a particular need to get more women into the game, and of course that would attract more men. We wanted to present pair go as a game played by ladies and gentlemen, to make it more accessible to women. Our no-smoking policy was a big change. Over these twenty years, I’d say that we have reached and exceeded our goals. In the future I hope to see pair go become an established part of every major go tournament.” Following on the success of the professional Pair Go World Cup held in Hangzhou last March, Mrs. Taki says “We’re hoping to hold more pair go world cups, not next year but perhaps once every four years, like the football world cup.” The next big international pair go tournament will be the Asia Games, where pair go will be one of the events. “Looking beyond that, the World Pair Go Association now has 64 member countries,” notes Mrs. Taki. “Our Chairman is Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, former Director-General of UNESCO, so we’re expecting to develop further under his leadership. We are also now participating in the International Go Federation, and will be working with them.” While the WPGA is developing pair go on the Internet, through Pandanet, Mrs. Taki stresses that “in pair go it’s always important for people to meet face to face over the board.”
– based on James Davies’ report on Ranka online; photo by Ivan Vigano