Monday May 9, 2011
The E-Journal is seeking a volunteer to help post the 2011 collection of game commentaries online as part of the 2011 American Go Yearbook. No coding involved; all the files have already been uploaded, and you’ll be working with 2010 collection editor Brian Kirby and Yearbook Managing Editor Chris Garlock. This is a great opportunity to provide a great service to the go community with a small investment of time. If interested, send us a note at journal@usgo.org
Monday May 9, 2011
“Readers may be interested in the current May/June issue of Archaeology magazine,” reports Janice Kim. “There is an article 
‘Archaeology of World War II’ that includes a section ‘The Archaeology of Internment’ that describes some findings at the Kooskia camp in Idaho, where American citizens of Japanese ancestry were interned during World War II. It notes that archaeologists ‘… are uncovering evidence that people not only survived, but also struggled to maintain their identity and dignity even in the most restrictive and dehumanizing environments’, with a picture of go stones discovered at the site. In light of recent events I think it’s important to reflect on this chapter in our history, and I was heartened by the Journal’s reporting of fundraising events for Japan by the US go community.”
– photo: go players in the Wyoming Heart Mountain internment camp in 1943; photo by Tom Parker, The War Authority via The National Archives
Monday May 9, 2011
Anders Kierulf is fairly well-known in the go community as the author of SmartGo, but he also invented the widely-used sgf format, was 
the U.S. Othello champion in 1992 and is also an avid joggler. Go Game Guru recently published an extensive interview with Kierulf, who last month launched SmartGo Books for iPad and iPhone.
Monday May 9, 2011
“Go is not just a a simple game,” said Yuan Zhou 7d (r) at the 4th Yuan Zhou North Carolina Go Workshop, held May 6-8 in
Raleigh, North Carolina. “It is deeply connected to the philosophy of life. That is one reason why parents want their children to learn go. It teaches values and decision making skills that are important.” Fourteen people from the local clubs, Virginia, and 
Maryland participated in the three-day event. Zhou employed his characteristic combination of humor, philosophy, and rigorous game analysis to help elevate the games of players of all ranks, with particular emphasis on the need to understand the value and efficiency of each move. The workshop was sponsored
by the Triangle Go Group of Durham, North Carolina.
– Paul Celmer, Chapter Head, Triangle Go Group
Sunday May 8, 2011
The Ing Foundation, MIT Go Club, and the Massachusetts Go Association are joining forces to co-host an unusual event on May 19 featuring visiting Chinese go leaders working to promote go across the world. “The President of the Chinese Qiyuan (Chess Institution), the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Ing Foundation, and the Former Chinese University Tournament champion will be visiting Boston in May to gain insight into how to promote a thriving New England go community,” reports Walther Chen. On May 19 at MIT in Boston, from 6:30-10p, “there will be a special event to honor our Chinese guests as well as provide opportunities for networking and, of course, playing go,” says Chen. RSVP by May 10 with your rank to help setting up matches: americaninggo@mail.com
Sunday May 8, 2011
Jimmy Yang 4D went 4-0 to take the top section at the annual May Madness tourney in Fairfax, VA on May 7. The May Madness event is known for its gift exchange where each player brings a wrapped gift and takes a different one home. A new feature was the Life and Death contest where players received a set of five life and death problems at registration and had until the start of the first round to complete them. Ethan Baldridge 2D took home the prize for Dan level problems, and Kevin Chin 1k, with the only perfect score of five correct, won the prize for kyu level.
The other sectional winners in the tournament were Kelsey Dyer 2K 4-0, Robert Ehrlich 5k 3-1, Alan Chen 11k 3-1, and Yang Tang 28k 3-1. Second place winners were Wesley Wu 3D 2-2, Yukino Takehara 2k 3-1, Joey Phoon 6k 2-2, Jason Long 8k 3-1, and Anderson Barreal 22k 3-1.
– Gurujeet Khalsa, Tournament Director
Monday May 2, 2011
Nearly 100 go players have already taken advantage of the American Go Association’s special membership offer of as 
much as 1700 pages of Go World. “Don’t wait until the last day,” urges AGA President Allan Abramson, “join or renew now!” For a limited time – offer expires May 31 — the AGA is offering as many as 27 issues of Go World magazine to those who join, re-join or renew their memberships. Go World, Kiseido’s quarterly publication, is the ultimate source of go knowledge in English, each 64-page issue is packed with extensive review of at least ten major title match games by top professionals as well as problems, instructional articles and series, and coverage of historical, cultural and other aspects of the game. Click here for complete details on how to take advantage of this offer – made possible by the American Go Foundation— plus download a free sample of Go World.
Monday May 2, 2011
Three American Go Association (AGA) Board of Director seats are up for election this year, reports Arnold Eudell, who’s coordinating this year’s election process. The terms of three seats – one in each region – expire this September. Nominations are now being accepted and will close on June 15; nominations must be made by email by full members of the AGA. Send to elections@usgo.org Click here for complete election information and qualifications.
Monday May 2, 2011
Eric Osman 2d (l) edged out a win in the Western Massachusetts Go Club Spring 2011 tournament on April 30. The 
tournament in Amherst, MA “had a modest turnout of 16 hard-core players not lured away by one of the most beautiful spring New England weekends yet this season,” reports organizer Trevor Morris. Three players went into the final round undefeated “but none were able to convert to 4-0 and we ended up with 7 players at 3-1” and Osman won on tiebreak to claim the top prize on a month membership to the KGS Insei League. Other first place finishers were Richard Buckman 5k and Stan Silver 14k. Additional 3-1 winners were Micah Feldman, Joseph Chaves, Ralph St. Louis and Ruban Mitchel. “Thanks to the sponsorship of the KGS Insei League, we’ll be donating over $100 in proceeds from the tournament to Japan relief efforts,” adds Morris. Click here for photos.
Monday May 2, 2011
”Last week’s Tsunami Relief Tournament in New York City raised over $400 dollars that will be donated through the 
Japan Society in New York,” reports organizer Boris Bernadsky. Over 30 players attended the April 23 event, some of whom had just started playing earlier this year, 
including four from the newly-formed Lycee Francias De New York go club. Ben Lockhart 6D won first place with a 3-0 record, winning a month of participation in the KGS insei-league, donated by Alexander Dinerchtein. Other prizes were teaching games donated by Goh Juyeon 8P and Lee Hajin 3P of Korea. The playing space was donated by Randy Au of Meetup.com, whose NY Mostly Go Club meets semi-regularly. Click here http://www.meetup.com/mostlygo/photos/1361253/22934425/ for tournament photos.
– photos by Randy Au.