Tuesday June 14, 2016
China’s Baoxiang Bai (right) defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Cheng Hsu to win his second world amateur championship with a 
perfect 8-0 record. Korea’s Kibaek Kim was second, and Chinese Taipei’s Chia Cheng Hsu was third. Benjamin Lockhart of the US was 13th, Manuel Velasco of Canada was 28th and Emil Garcia of Mexico was 36th. The tournament took place June 5-8 in Wuxi, a city of six million located slightly northwest of Shanghai. Full results here. Click here for more WAGC reports on Ranka.
Sunday June 12, 2016
There’s just a week left to register for Padanet’s 13×13 Internet Go Tournament. Registration is free but you must sign up by 
June 19. “This year we are holding an open tournament in which all games are played on even and a handicap tournament based on Pandanet ratings,” Pandanet’s Keiko Sota tells the E-Journal. The open tournament is for players 3-dan and higher; the winner will earn the right to challenge Yuki Satoshi 9-dan in a 13×13 game and the second place winner will earn the right to challenge Sakai Hideyuki 8-dan, also in a 13×13 game. The handicap tournament is divided into A class (2-dan~2-kyu) and B Class (3-kyu and under); there are no handicap stones; the handicaps will be in komi. Click here for details and applications; if you are not already a member of Pandanet, register and get an ID here first.
Monday April 4, 2016
The 33rd World Youth Goe Championship is open for registration, reports Mingjiu Jiang 7P. The event is open to US citizens only. The Senior Division is for youth aged 12—15, and the Junior for kids under 12. Players cannot be on the team, in the same age division, more than twice within 3 years. The initial qualifiers will be held on KGS with Ing rules, April 30th and May 1st. The top two players in each division will play the final games face to face, on May 14th and 15th, at the Ing Foundation in Menlo Park, California. Round trip airfare to Menlo Park, and lodging, will be paid by the American Ing Goe Foundation. The final winners will then compete in the 33rd World Youth Goe Championship, to be held in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 3—8. The players’ airfare, food and lodging will be covered by the organizers.
Registration is due by April 23, 2016. To register, email your name, date of birth, division, rank, KGS id, phone and address to mingjiu7p@hotmail.com. You may also call Mingjiu at (650-796-1602)
Sponsored by: Ing’s Goe Foundation. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.
Saturday March 26, 2016
Elementary schools in Mexico City and Portland, OR, squared off on KGS on March 12th, reports organizer Peter Freedman. Portland came out on top this time, with an 8-6 record. 14 children participated from the two cities, and Portland won each of two rounds by the score of 4-3. Two game winners: Portland: Emmett Perkins, Miles Gray and Oliver Kuerbis; Mexico City: Bruno Michaca, Kevin Aceves. –Photo: Mexican contestants used both tablets and laptops to play. Photo by Sid AvilaSunday March 13, 2016
Lee Sedol 9P made a comeback Sunday after three consecutive losses, to beat AlphaGo in the fourth game of the Google 
DeepMind Challenge. Playing as white, Lee won by resignation after 180 moves. AlphaGo held a strong position for the first half of the game, but commentators noted that Lee Sedol played a brilliant move 78, followed by a mistake by AlphaGo at move 79. “Today’s game was another example of AlphaGo playing a very interesting, good game,” said English commentator Michael Redmond 9P. “However, move 78 by Lee Sedol was really brilliant — and enabled him to win.“ Song Taegon 9P, the Korean commentator, said that “It seems Lee Sedol can now read AlphaGo better and has a better understanding of how AlphaGo moves. For the 5th match, it will be a far closer battle than before since we know each better. 
Professional go players said that they became more interested in playing go after witnessing AlphaGo’s innovative moves. People started to rethink about moves that were previously regarded as undesirable or bad moves. AlphaGo can help us think outside of the box.“ As in the previous games in this match, Lee used up all of his time and two periods of byō-yomi overtime, playing nearly two hours on his last period. With the match score 3-1, AlphaGo has already secured victory in the Google DeepMind Challenge Match, but Sunday’s loss heightens the drama going into the final game, Game Five, which will be played on Tuesday, March 15 at 1pm KST.
photo (left): AlphaGo’s Demis Hassabis and David Silver review Game 4 with Michael Redmond 9P; photo by Chris Garlock. photo (right): Lee Sedol, courtesy Geordie Wood for Wired.
Click here for Michael Redmond’s Match 3 Game Highlights and here for the Match 4 Livestream commentary by Michel Redmond 9P with Chris Garlock. Click here for complete commentaries on games 1-4, as well as brief game highlights for each round.
The fifth and final game in the 5-game Lee Sedol-AlphaGo match will be Tuesday, March 15, 1P KST (Monday night 9p PST, midnight EST). The match will be livestreamed on DeepMind’s YouTube channel with commentary by Redmond and Garlock. And catch Myungwan Kim 9P’s commentary with Andrew Jackson starting at 10P PST on the AGA’s YouTube Channel.
Friday March 11, 2016
Over 60 people watched the broadcast of the first game between Lee Sedol and the Google Deepmind AlphaGo program at the Seattle Go Center. They enjoyed pizza, fresh bread baked by Chris Kirschner, and some Korean take-out food. About 25 people stayed until Lee Sedol resigned at 11:30 pm local time. The second game attracted a smaller group — they only had two pizzas, compared to the six ordered the night before.
The watch parties attracted a few new players, most of whom were invited by go playing friends. More noticeable were the old friends from the Eastside of Lake Washington, where the Microsoft campus is. Rush hour traffic often makes it hard for Eastside residents to come to the Go Center for the evening, but since these games started later, at 8 pm, it was easier for them to drive.
The Seattle will have watch parties for all of the remaining games, with Dennis Wheeler as host. “There will be three more, as Lee Sedol has committed to play the entire five-game match,” noted Go Center Manager Brian Allen. The schedule will be posted on the Go Center Google Calendar. Photos: Left: Finishing a game on a goban as the first AlphaGo game starts, Right: Exploring variations during the 2nd game. Photos/report by Brian Allen.
Friday February 26, 2016
The Nongshim Cup is a win-and-continue team match between Japan, China, and Korea. On Feb 29th, Gu Li — on a 3-game winning streak after beating Choi Cheolhon, Kono Rin, and Park Jungwhan — will face Japan’s next player, Murakawa Daisuke. Lee Sedol will face the winner of that match up, and the AGA will continue to broadcast games as long as Lee keeps winning; the remaining games are scheduled for March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.Wednesday February 24, 2016
Three children from North America are being invited to Japan, for international friendship matches. The sponsors of the trip are paying all expenses while in Japan, and a stipend of 100,000 yen (around $893 at press time) for airfare. Fifty-four children under the age of 13, and at least ten kyu, are being invited from ten countries: Japan, China, Korea, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Thailand, Canada, and the US. The kids will stay at the Maisima Lodge, in Osaka Bay, and will have opportunities for cultural exchanges as well as for playing go. The AGA will select three kids, two from the US and one from Canada, based on participation points earned from attending various AGA events. The matches will be held July 25-28, and AGA Go Camp Director Fernando Rivera will lead the team. All expenses are paid for the kids, but parents who wish to come will need to pay their own travel and lodging expenses. If you are interested in attending, please fill out the form here. Any questions should be addressed to youth@usgo.org. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Participants at last year’s Life International Go Meeting. The event is sponsored by Life Sports Foundation, and NPO Life Kids Go Club, with the cooperation of the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in.
Monday February 22, 2016
The legendary Lee Sedol, the top go player in the world over the past decade, will take on computer program AlphaGo in a landmark five-match, million-dollar tournament March 9-15. AlphaGo’s 5-game sweep of professional Fan Hui 3P
rocked the world in late January (Game Over? AlphaGo Beats Pro 5-0 in Major AI Advance 1/27/2016 EJ)
“Regardless of the result, it will be a meaningful event in baduk (Go) history,” said Lee Sedol (left). “I heard Google DeepMind’s AI is surprisingly strong and getting stronger, but I am confident that I can win, at least this time.” AlphaGo has been developed by Google DeepMind, whose CEO and co-founder Demis Hassabis said “Go is the most profound game that mankind has ever devised. The elegantly simple rules lead to beautiful complexity. Go is a game primarily about intuition and feel rather than brute calculation which is what makes it so hard for computers to play well. We are honoured and excited to be playing this challenge match against Lee Sedol, a true legend of the game, and whether we win or lose, we hope that the match will inspire new interest in go from around the world.”
AlphaGo will play Lee Sedol in a five-game challenge match to be held from Wednesday, March 9 to Tuesday, March 15 in Seoul, South Korea. The games will be even, with $1 million USD in prize money for the winner. If AlphaGo wins, the prize money will be donated to UNICEF, STEM and go charities.
“The whole world is interested in this event as this is the first stage where humans and computers are competing in intelligence,” said Park Chimoon, Vice Chairman of the Korean Baduk Association. “I am proud that this historical stage is baduk (Go). I hope Lee Sedol 9 dan will win this time in order to prove humans’ remarkable intelligence and preserve the mysteries of baduk.”
Sunday February 21, 2016
The first IMSA Elite Mind Games (IEMG) are being held from February 25 to March 3 at the New Century Hotel Huaian, China. A re-branded 
event of SportAccord World Mind Games, IEMG will feature five mind sports: go, chess, bridge, draughts, and xiangqi. Thirty top players from around the world will be competing for total prize money of 200,000 EUR in three medal events: Men’s Team, Women’s Individual, and Pair. The International Mind Sports Association is organizing the event and Ranka Online will provide full coverage of the event.
– adapted from a report in Ranka Online, which includes the list of players, tournament outline and schedule.
See also Strong North American Go Team Headed for Huai’an for Inaugural IMSA Games.