The twelfth annual North Carolina workshop with Yuan Zhou was moved online this year and successfully held Sunday, May 24th. Zhou’s lecture included a pro game review discussion the influence of AI on professional play, as well as reviews of games that the ten workshop participants had played with each other in preparation for the day. “Teacher Zhou put special emphasis at understanding joseki in light of new insights from AI, including new ways to look at the double approach against a stone at the corner star point,” reports a workshop participant. “‘We can learn from AI, but AI can’t talk. We still need humans to interpret, and understand the Go truths.’ Yuan said.”
Participants report that while there were some technical difficulties to be ironed out, the online format was successful. The workshop was sponsored by the American Go Foundation and the Triangle Go Group of North Carolina. Read a full report of the workshop and Zhou’s biography here.
–report and photo provided by the Triangle Go Group
Nominations have been coming in for the upcoming AGA Board of Directors election, reports Arnold Eudell. Lisa Scott in the Central region and Christopher Saenz in the West are running to retain their seats, while Ted Terpstra and Darrell Ashworth are contesting the At-Large seat. Thus far, however, there are no nominations for the Eastern seat. “If you know of someone who you believe would offer guidance and service to the AGA consider making a nomination,” Eudell urges. Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by full members for the region in which the member resides or without restriction for the At-Large seat and must be received by June 15, 2020. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.
Nominations for the American Go Foundation’s Teacher of the Year award are due by June 15th. The award is usually presented each year at the U.S. Go Congress. Although congress has unfortunately been canceled due to Covid-19, the AGF Board decided to still honor a teacher this year, and to simply delay the prize until next year’s congress. The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to the 2021 US Go Congress in Cleveland. To be eligible a teacher must be a member of the AGA and have been teaching go to children for at least one hour a week for two years – prior to March of this year. The award is now open to other kinds of teachers as well, including online efforts. Click here for more information. If you would like to nominate someone for this award, including yourself, email mail@agfgo.org. Nominations are due by June 15th and should include a description of the teacher’s activities, how long they have been teaching, and how many students attended their program. – Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Screen shots from 2019 Teacher of the Year Nick Sibicky‘s popular Go Lectures on Youtube.
Former AGA board member Gordon Castanza passed away on May 24, after a battle with cancer.
Gordon’s life was anything but boring and conventional. At the age of 20, he received a draft notice, and left college to serve in the Air Force for five years during the Vietnam War. Upon returning to civilian life, Gordon finished his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and went to work for the Alaska public school system. In 1984, when the school board wouldn’t let him take time off to compete in the Iditarod dog sled race, Gordon quit his job and competed anyway. (does this really surprise any of you who knew him?) He then spent several years in the 1980s working for a company that was instrumental in opening up free markets in China. He would later return to Alaska, obtaining his doctorate in his mid-50s while serving as a school district superintendent.
Gordon retired in July 2000, and moved to Gig Harbor, WA. In retirement, go became one of Gordon’s true loves, along with fly fishing and military history. He even found a way to get the story of the famous Atom Bomb Game incorporated into Don Farrell’s book Tinian and the Bomb. Gordon loved go’s beauty and historical significance, and was always delighted at the chance to introduce the game to others. I will miss spotting his wide-brimmed hat at future go events.
“I feel fortunate to have gotten to know Gordon,” said AGA president Andy Okun. “He took me fly fishing high up in the Rockies on the Wednesday off at the Colorado Congress in 2010, a chance to see him in his element, hat, shades, waders, and a quiet stream. He told me stories about his time in China, and witnessing the Tiananmen crackdown, being in the Air Force in Vietnam, his devotion to go, and getting to fish the ant fall on the San Juan River. Keep your line tight, Gordon.”
American Go E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock added that “Gordon joined the EJ Congress game recording team when we were just getting started and was always a reliable and steadfast game recorder, insisting on using his own laptop, an innovation we’ve since adopted for the whole team.”
photos by Chris Garlock (top) and Phil Straus (middle); Andy Okun (bottom)
While we all continue to take precautions for the health and safety of ourselves and our communities, the AGA wants to encourage people to continue to play Go and to socialize virtually with other people in the Go community.
The AGA is planning to put on some limited online programming during the first week of August to bring the AGA Go community together during the time in-person Go Congress has traditionally been held. We are still figuring out the details, and that’s where you all come in! If you are interested in participating, please take a minute to fill out this survey and help us plan a better event for you!
The KGS Go Server just got easier to join and use. The Java client for KGS has been an ongoing problem for some computers and blocked by many schools. The KGS Home Page features a new link to sign up for a free account. Using ShinKGS, a web-based client developed by Justin Kramer, phones, tablets, or computers can now play on the server while avoiding Java completely.
The American Go Foundation has been steadily working on improving KGS, but mostly behind the scenes until now. “This is the first of many upgrades to KGS that the AGF wants to see happen.” says AGF President Terry Benson. “To make KGS a better go community, we could use help on the open source ShinKGS code. While so many people are stuck at their computers, go is a great way to stay busy and connected to other people.” ShinKGS is still missing some features and has a few bugs, a list of areas that need work is here, access to the code is on Github here. GoUniverse, a plugin for the Chrome Web Browser developed by Ilya Kirillov, is another way to access KGS without Java, and has almost all of the features in the full client. GoUniverse is also open source, and can be accessed on Github here.
KGS has seen a boom in users with everyone staying home due to Covid-19, and many clubs now meet virtually on the site. The AGF hopes to expand that user base by improving services and growing the community. “Many thanks to lead KGS developer Lee Schumacher for his tireless work on behalf of the server. Our thanks also to Oren Laskin, on the development team, and to all the admins who work daily to keep KGS a safe and friendly space for all,” adds Benson. – Paul Barchilon, AGF Vice-President
The Austin Go Club has continued to meet twice per week online on Tuesday evenings from 6-12PM and Saturday afternoons from 1-5PM. Players meet up on KGS in the Austin Go Club room where a Google Hangout link is posted, so that players who join the hangout can still see each other and carry on conversations. “Just like our face-to-face meetings prior to COVID-19, anyone is welcome to attend and play some games,” reports Bart Jacob. “Though we miss being in the same physical room, this has allowed us to continue playing each other and keep up-to-date on our lives and well being. We hope you can come visit!”
For more information email austingoclub@gmail.com.
The AGA Board is meeting on Sunday, May 17th at 8pm EDT. Topics of discussion include: Financials, Investment Report, Budget, International Affairs, Update on Teaching, Update on Congress, a Privacy Policy, Online Ratings, and topics related to Coronavirus and no US Go Congress in 2020. For more information, you can find the detailed agenda here.
Are you an AGA member interested in listening in to the meeting? Please contact the Chairperson at lisa.scott@usgo.org for call-in information.
Are you interested in commenting on past board meeting minutes? You can submit your comments here, and they’ll be available to entire board and relevant officers. Past minutes are available here.
Brian Allen, Operations Manager, Seattle Go Center
Nick Sibicky in Cyberspace
The Seattle Go Center has been closed due to coronavirus precautions for almost two months now. I still go there to check on the building, and to do office work. The neighborhood is much quieter, due to a huge reduction in traffic on nearby I-5, and in jets crossing above. The veterinary clinic downstairs is still open for urgent care, so the building doesn’t feel too lonely. They recently changed their name to “Caring Pet Clinic”, and put up new signs.
The pet clinic pays us rent, so it is very good to see them still open. Our financial situation is stable for now, but I worry about the effects of a long closure on the Go Center. Meanwhile, the plans for developing the property, with space for us in the new building, are proceeding energetically, despite COVID-19 worries. The property is owned by our benefactor, the Nihon Ki-in of Japan.
Our March calendar showed that we were planning to be open five days a week. It also showed nine weekly meet-ups in the Seattle-Tacoma area, and two major festivals for outreach in April: Sakura-Con and Cherry Blossom Festival. Tuesdays were our big days; we had 20-40 visitors each Tuesday this winter. All that has changed. Some of those Tuesday players are meeting on go servers now at the same time of the week. Go Center Member Bob (Mingcun) Fan reports that he is now playing Mr. Yao on OGS, and then they have a phone call to review the game. This is happening with some of the meet-ups too. The Zoka coffeehouse group that used to meet in person on Monday and Friday mornings now meets on the KGS server, using the Go Center “room”. Member Frank Brown writes that about six players have made the transition, while three others have not, for various reasons.
Member Dan Cooper is sad that the Seattle Go Center closed. He really enjoyed watching other people’s games in person. Now he spends a lot of time watching games on KGS in his apartment. Deborah Niedermeyer misses “Go Center players’ quiet wry humor, accompanied by the rhythm of clicking stones.” Now she sometimes plays quick games online, sandbagging as “Goldilocks”.
Seattle Go Center members have been taking advantage of online Go education for years. Some have private online lessons with pros, while others are part of the American Yunguseng Dojang. Our Wednesday SDK class with Jonathan (Chin Jung) Cheng has now gone completely online. This class is designed for 9K – 1D players. He is doing a series on using opening moves suggest by AI. Jonathan teaches the class live on Wednesdays from 6-7 pm PDT through Zoom. He also posts the lectures afterwards on YouTube .
Before COVID-19, Nick Sibicky used to give his DDK lectures in front of a live audience at the Go Center on Monday nights, and then posted them on Youtube. Now he is recording them at home. He is up to lecture #387! Nick’s popular lessons were originally intended for double digit kyu players, but his scope has widened to include many issues of interest to stronger players as well. His most recent lecture at the Go Center was with Nihon Ki-in Pro Daiki Komatsu in early March.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee recently announced “Washington’s Phased Approach” to reopening, with four phases. The Seattle Go Center Board of Directors will meet online to decide how our organization fits into the opening rubric. Certainly, it will be a while before we open. In the meantime, I will finish washing all the go stones. Photo and Report by Brian Allen, Operations Manager, Seattle Go Center.
Dave Weimer reports that the April 25th to May 1st issue of The Economist includes an obituary for mathematician John Horton Conway on page 82, who died at age 82. He taught at Cambridge and Princeton, and was famous for inventing the Game of Life, which was widely played after it was published in Scientific American in 1970. He discovered “surreal numbers” and made contributions to a variety of fields in mathematics. “He seems to have been a bit eccentric,” says Weimer. “The following passage caught my attention: ‘Or, ensconced in some hallway nook, he would just observe a game. It had been while watching Go players that he realized each game contained many sub-games; and this had led him, first, to surreal numbers, and second to the light-bulb thought that playing games was not a distraction from mathematics. It was mathematics.'”
