Twenty-seven players took part on Saturday, June 22 in the annual National Go Center (NGC) tune-up tournament for the upcoming US Go Congress. Jake Game 3D, the overall winner, was one of a contingent of four players from Tennessee who drove all night to participate.
TN contingent – Joe Kimball, Jake Game, Jasper Emerton, Anthony Long
Other winners with 3-1 records were James Funk (1D), Ray Perlner (1K), William Dowers (6K), Anderson Barreal (7K), Brendan Kennedy (9K), Solomon Kritz (18K), and Tonya Lopez (19K)
TN Contingent – Joe Kimball, Jake Game, Jasper Emerton, Anthony Long
After the tournament there was a dinner at the nearby Yosaku Restaurant to give a send-off to Chizuko Sento who is returning to Japan. “She has been a good friend of the NGC, participating in classes and tournaments and volunteering,” said the NGC’s Gurujeet Khalsa. “We wish her a safe journey and hope to see her here again.”
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
China dominates 2nd Go Seigen Cup
The preliminary tournament and Rounds 1 to 3 of the 2nd Go Seigen Cup World Women’s Go Championship were held in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China, from April 26 to 29. Reaching the best four were three Chinese players and one Korean. Ueno Asami 2P from Japan made it to the third round, but there she was beaten by Rui Naiwei. The latter took revenge on Ueno for her loss to her in this tournament last year. In that game, Ueno captured a large group; this time Rui returned the courtesy. A tournament for AI programs was held at the same time and was won by the program Golaxy. An exhibition match was held, with the top four in the human tournament playing Golaxy on two stones. The program won all these games. The remaining two rounds will be played in November.
Hane to challenge for Gosei title
The play-off to decide the challenger for the 44th Gosei title was held at the Central Japan (Nagoya) branch of the Nihon Ki-in on May 9. It featured a clash between Hane Naoki 9P, one of the stars of the second half of the Heisei era (1989~2019) and Ichiriki Ryo 8P, one of the top players of the post-Iyama generation. The game was decided by a large ko fight, during the course of which the position tilted from Ichiriki in favor of Hane. The latter, taking black, won by resignation after 261 moves. The titleholder is Kyo Kagen, so this will be the first top-seven title match for quite a while not to feature Iyama Yuta. (To be precise, the last was the 53rd Judan title match between Takao Shinji and Ida Atsushi in 2015, which is 30 matches ago.) Hane’s last top-seven title was the 36th Gosei title in 2011 and his last top-seven title match was the 2012 Meijin. The match will get off to a start on June 30. Incidentally, Hane’s daughter Ayaka made her professional debut on May 6、so three generations of the Hane family are now in action. Her grandfather is Hane Yasumasa 9P. There are other examples of three generations of professionals in a family (the most notable being Kitani Minoru, his daughter Kitani/Kobayashi Reiko, and Kobayashi Izumi), but this is the first time all three generations have been active at the same. (Unfortunately, Ayaka lost her first game.)
Korea wins Tiantai Mountain team tournament
The 8th Tiantai Cup Women’s Team Championship was held in Zhejiang Province in China from May 10 to 12. Competing were three-women teams from China, Korea, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. Two teams, perhaps, got a bit of a shock. Recently Chinese players have been dominating international go, but at present Korean women players seem to have an ascendancy over their Chinese rivals. Korea sailed through the tournament without dropping a game, taking first place with a score of 3-0 (9-0). China beat the other two teams and took second place on 2-1 (6-3). The second shock was for Japan, which was beaten 2-1 by Chinese Taipei. On the top board, Hei Jiajia beat Fujisawa Rina by 2.5 points. Scoring 1-2 (2-7), Chinese Taipei forced Japan, 0-3 (1-8) into fourth place. Japan picked up its sole win when Xie Yimin beat Yu Lijun 2P of Chinese Taipei.
Iyama recovers from bad start in Honinbo challenge
Kono Rin 9P made an excellent start in his challenge for the 74th Honinbo title match, so Iyama Yuta seemed to be in danger of having his multiple crown whittled down even further, but the momentum switched to Iyama when Kono let slip a sure-win game. Now Iyama is on top.
The match got off to a start on May 11 and 12, with the first game being played at Ofuna Port, also known as the Ofunato City Disaster Prevention, Tourism and Exchange Center, in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture. Kono drew black in the nigiri. He took the initiative in the opening and maintained an edge throughout the game. The combination of 155 and 165 was a brilliancy that wrapped up the game, as these two moves set up a double threat. No matter how he answered, White faced disaster, so Iyama resigned on move 169. O Meien 9P, who served as referee, commented that it was rare to see such a decisive blow in a top game. Incidentally, this was the first title-match game of the new Reiwa era.
The second game was played at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Literature in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, on May 22 and 23. The circumstances of the game are a good indication of the place go holds in traditional Japanese culture. It was one of a number of events commemorating the 30th anniversary of the founding of the museum and was actually played in a traditional teahouse attached to the museum. The name of the teahouse is Soshin-an, which means something like Hermitage of the Simple (or Pure) Heart. The head of the museum is the poet Saigusa Takayuki; as one of about 30 spectators, he witnessed the start of the game. The sight of Kono carefully wiping the board before the game led him to write a tanka (a 31-syllable poem also called “waka”), which reads: Shiroki nuno/mote banjou/migakitari/hito wa kokoro ni/kagami wo moteri (note that the “n” in “banjou” is counted as a syllable). My poor translation: Polishing the board with a white cloth, we have a mirror into our hearts.
This game started out more peacefully than the first one, but the lead changed a number of times in middle-game fighting. Just when the game looked like going into a tight endgame contest, Iyama (black) made a major blunder and had to throw in the towel after move 166.
Trivia note: Iyama’s birthday was on May 24, so this was the last game of his 20s. These two losses may be an anticlimactic ending to his 20s, but it’s worth remembering that he has already won 55 titles; his nearest rivals in this respect are Cho Chikun and Cho U, who had both won approximately 30 titles by the age of 30.
The third game was played in the Goryokaku in Hakodate City, Hokkaido, on June 4 and 5. The venue is a fortress shaped like a five-pointed star built by the Tokugawa government in 1855 (a Net search of the name will bring up more information and photos). Playing black, Kono took the initiative in the opening and held it throughout, but, near the end of the endgame, he missed the best move a couple of times, losing a point each time. This let Iyama stage an upset and win by half a point. Kono commented that he had miscounted the score by a point, so he played facilely. The game ended on move 289. This was a costly reversal for Kono: the difference between 3-0 and 2-1 is enormous.
The fourth game was played at the Former Numazu Imperial Villa in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 13 and 14. This is a building that was once used as a summer residence for members of the imperial family, but is now a museum. Playing black, Iyama convincingly outplayed the challenger and won by resignation after 203 moves. It was his first good game of the series. The fifth game was played at the Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, on June 18 and 19. Playing white, Iyama won by 4.5 points.
by Chris Garlock, Managing Editor, The American Go E-Journal
It’s easy enough to find out that there are 389 people registered for this year’s U.S. Go Congress (just click here for the latest list), but how many different states are represented among the attendees? How many countries? How many kyu players and how many dan players? How many players named Chris? (ok, I just put that one in for fun) Send in your best guesses and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a prize TBD.
With just three weeks to go — the Congress runs July 13-20 in Madison, WI –, there’s still plenty of time to register for the biggest and best go event of the year; 8 days of non-stop go in gorgeous Madison, Wisconsin (go Badgers!). Also, for my fellow tennis-playing go players be sure to pack your racquets, as Director Dave Weimer has assured me that courts are available nearby so we’ll definitely be heading there for some off-board action! And as soon as I hear from soccer-meister Terry Benson, I’ll update you on those plans.
Also, we’re looking for a few good game recorders for join the EJ’s Congress team; if you’re interested, drop us a note at journal@usgo.org.
If anyone else has cool pre-Congress news to report, send it my way at the same email address; see you soon in Madison!
Chris Kirschner is running unopposed in the Western region while new comers Devin Fraze and Ashish Varma will be challenging incumbent Martin Lebl in the Central region and Dan Ritter is challenging incumbent Steve Colburn in the east. Chapters should check their membership status and member list to receive their correct number of ballots. Preliminary counts will be arriving soon. Election procedures, schedule, and candidate statements(if submitted) are available here. Questions must be directed to elections@usgo.org.
The Orlando Go Tournament was held June 1st and 2nd. Fifteen players and five matches over the two days included lots of re-connecting with old friends, laughter and serious playing. The first day went by too fast, and left everyone wanting more. Second day started off with dad jokes and puns, helping the players relax before their last two matches. In the end, the results were separated into two groups; the first was 6 kyu to 7 dan and the second group was 20kyu to 7kyu.
The results were as follows:
First group winner was Efrain Davila, followed by Brian Olive, Rab Beverly, Alex Blair, Chris Sagner, Xinpeng Du and Yoshio Tanaka.
Second group winner was Heather Crawford, followed by Phillip Brix, Benjamin Potter, Bart Lipofsky, Paul Wiegand, Eric Crawford, Berto Roe, and Emily Scherer.
Overall, everyone had a good time, and we are looking forward to more events later this year!
After a two-month hiatus for travel and other projects, Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock have returned with their latest AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo game commentary, Game 31 of the series. “Black plays the Chinese Opening, which was very popular before AlphaGo,” Redmond says, “but because of a move AlphaGo came up with as White, it’s not as popular now. After that, we get to see Black doing neat attacks, and White ignoring them; business as usual, you could say.”
Two dozen go players enjoyed stimulating competition in the North Carolina Annual Spring tournament on Sunday, May 19th. After four rounds of well-matched games the following winners were noted: in the top band, Jeff Kuang won all of his games and claimed the top prize; second place was a tie between Ji Wen and Haixin Yang, each with a 3-1 record and identical SOS scores. Band 2 was won by Tao Ma with a 3-1 record; Charles Alden placed second with a 2-2 performance and the highest SOS score, edging out the other 2-2 winners in that section, Jim Conyngham and Justin Blank. Russell Herman was the clear winner in Band 3 with the only other perfect 4-0 record of the day, and Will Daland claimed 2nd place as his SOS score placed him slightly higher than the other 2-2 performers, Ganning Xu, Dale Blann and Bhaskar Bharath. John Schollenberger won 3 of 4 games to lead the pack in Band 4, with Sky Wang placing second. The tournament was attended by many supportive parents, and we greatly appreciate their support. Jeff Kuang was the Tournament Director. Lunch was provided onsite by the Triangle Go Group. The beautiful playing area was provided courtesy of Triangle Go Group member Dale Blann. Thank you, Jeff and Dale! -reported by Jeff Kuang, Tournament Director
Organizer Bob Bacon (left) awarding prizes to Open Section winners Haixin Yang (middle) and Ji Wen (right)
Longtime member Charles Alden receiving his prize from Bob Bacon
Eric Lui 1P defeated Pavol Lisy 2P by 1.5 points in the 6th round of the Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship played June 9 on OGS.
Lisy (Black) took an early advantage by capturing white’s group on the lower side. When white attempted to reduce black’s moyo on the top, black chose an aggressive strategy, leading to a critical ko in the center. The game seemed clearly in black’s favor when black’s group lived in the upper-left corner. But, pressed by byo-yomi, Lisy didn’t realize his group was already alive, and missed a chance to solidify his advantage. The game became close as white captured a small black group in the center, but black was still leading by a narrow margin. Black’s final mistake was move 217, which allowed white to start an advantageous ko. White gained a few points from this ko fight, and managed to finish the game 1.5 points ahead.
The next round will take place on June 30, starting at 14:00 US Eastern time. Artem Kachanovskyi 2P will challenge Eric Lui. The game will be played on OGS and live-streamed on Twitch.
Current candidates are Chris Kirschner in the western, Steve Colburn in the eastern, and Devin Fraze in the central region. If you know of someone who you believe would offer guidance and service to the AGA consider making a nomination. Nominations, including self-nominations may be made by full members for the region in which the member resides and must be received by June 15, 2019. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.
Wang Chen, China’s representative to the 2019 World Amateur Go Championship edged out his Korean rival Lee Jaesong in a tense half-point game to take top honors, while the US player, Albert Yen, and Canadian Wu Qi You scored outstanding results at 4th and 6th place respectively. Along with Hungarian Pal Balogh in 5th and Ukrainian Dmytro Bogatskyi in 7th, half of the top eight finishers were from outside Asia. Third place went to Chan Nai San of Hong Kong and 8th to Kawaguchi Tsubasa of Japan.
Full results are here. Wang went undefeated in the eight-round, four-day event in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, Japan, securing the win at the end of the day three when he beat Lee. It was Lee’s only defeat.
Both players started the game very steadily, taking few risks, and in fact there was very little fighting at any point in the game. When white played the shoulder hit of 60, black opted to link his stones on the upper side with 61, but then white’s capture of 62–68 gave white a locally favorable result. Following that, white kept the game in his grip, and even with the successful invasion of black 121, etc., white was favored for the win. The decisive fight broke out with black 145. White’s defense was solid and, up to 175, he still held the lead. However, white 180 let black complicate the situation, when a jump at around f10 would have been good enough. White 186 is probably the losing move: black 187 captured six stones in the center, and although white could then return to capture four black stones with 194, black had profited slightly from the whole exchange. The rest of the endgame was played precisely by both sides, and it does not look like there was a way for white to avoid a half-point loss.
Among the players who won six of their eight games, the Hong Kong player benefited from having played the top four starters and defeating two of them, while Albert Yen lost only to China and Korea.
The Asada Shizuo Fighting Spirit special prize, awarded to the player who best shows good manners and sportsmanlike conduct, was given to Singaporean Kwa Jie Hui, who placed ninth. While Kwa’s award may have been given for his generous response to a clock mishap in his game with Japan, discussion at the playing site also noted his patient demeanor in the face of fearsome pairings. Kwa played against all of the top six starters, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, a French 7-dan, and a German 6-dan, and still came in 5–3. He also represented Singapore in 2018 and played against China, Korea, Taiwan, and strong players from Russia, Canada, and Finland, similarly scoring 5–3. – reported by Andy Okun; commentary by Antti Törmänen
AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo; Game 31: AG’s refutation of the Chinese Opening
Tuesday June 11, 2019
After a two-month hiatus for travel and other projects, Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock have returned with their latest AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo game commentary, Game 31 of the series. “Black plays the Chinese Opening, which was very popular before AlphaGo,” Redmond says, “but because of a move AlphaGo came up with as White, it’s not as popular now. After that, we get to see Black doing neat attacks, and White ignoring them; business as usual, you could say.”
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