American Go E-Journal » Go Quiz

For a change, all of the folks who thought last week’s Quiz was too easy got it right, correctly identifying the Judan as the one title that no player has yet won five times in a row. Congratulations to Grant Kerr, this week’s winner, selected at random from those answering correctly, and thanks to the most recent Go World for inspiring the question.
After leading all year, Phil Waldron was caught in the last three weeks by Kim Salamony, resulting in a jigo in which they share the two top honors of Most Correct and Most Attempts this year. Both finished with 28 right and 3 wrong. Honors for highest percentage — with 50% participation — goes once again to Grant Kerr who was an impressive 18 for 18. Honorable mention goes to Steve Fawthrop for a very respectable 18/20 and to Reinhold Burger, who finished the year with a streak of 5 straight correct answers to finish at 15/15. The rest of the honor roll follows: Terry Fung 11/13, Peter Schumer 11/15, Brian Kirby 8/10, Jonathan Huber 7/7, Andrew Huang 7/12, Trevor Morris 7/13, Deborah McGlothin 6/10, Ramon Mercado 5/5, and Oliver Nava 5/5. My thanks to all 160 of you who participated in the Go Quiz this year, as well as the many others who responded to our polls. See you in January!
– Keith Arnold

Only a handful of hardy quizzers took a shot at last week’s anagram question, racking their brains with the usual Asian names for go. A couple, including quiz leader Phil Waldron, went as far afield as “shudan” or “handtalk” to try to make “Datsun” fit. One enterprising person actually made a program to look up all different permutations of “igo”, “baduk”, “weichi” and “weigi” and automatically produce a Google search which he then checked based on number of hits. Sadly, this effort only got him an ATV. A couple of you checked “Goe” (thank you Mr. Ing) but only got as far as some concept car called the “Ego.” The correct answer, from 4 of you, including now Quiz co-leader Kim Salamony, was based on Goe: the Chevy Geo. Congrats to this week’s winner Clark B. Wierda, this week’s winner, selected at random from those answering correctly. THIS WEEK’S QUIZ (’08 FINAL!): This will be the last quiz for the year, as we take our usual holiday break. As noted above, Phil Waldron and Kim Salamony have answered every quiz, and both have just 3 wrong at this point. Japanese go has a policy that if you hold a major title for 5 years in a row, you hold that title in an “Honorary” fashion upon turning 60, or retiring. This is the same reason I claim the title “HKA”, or “Honorary Keith Arnold”, after winning the “Keith Arnold” award in the Congress Self-Paired tournament 5 years in a row, and then retiring from the competition. Name the only Japanese “big seven” title where no one has yet to qualify for an “honorary” title upon turning 60 or retiring. Click here to send in your answer.
– Keith Arnold

I’m glad so many of you appreciated the irony of Takemiya “Cosmic Go” Masaki being unable to challenge for the Tengen (center point) title. Peter Schumer provides the details -“Takemiya has held the Meijin, Honinbo and Judan titles. In addition he has challenged for the Kisei as well as the Oza and Gosei. But he’s never made the finals of the Tengen title”. Congrats to Boris Bernadsky, this week’s winner, selected at random from those answering correctly. THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: “I like (last week’s) question,” writes Kim Salamony, “but I think I will need some harder ones if I am going to catch (Quiz leader) Phil Waldron.” In honor of the ongoing debate over the Big 3 Bailout, maybe this automotive question will shake up the Quiz leaders as well – although the answer is not necessarily limited to an American-made car. There is (or was) one model or brand name of car that is a perfect anagram for one of the names for the game we all love. I will give you a hint – it is not “Go”, but one of the other Asian inspired equivalents. What car name am I looking for? Click here for your best guess.
– Keith Arnold

Last week’s Quiz asked what the cultural phenomenon was in both Shonen Jump’s 2004 English edition of Hikaru no Go, Volume One and The Middle Game of Go. Many of you, knowing the Middle Game of Go is a serious book, and remembering that Sakata held a cigarette in his hand on the cover of your old copy, conjectured that smoking was the only “cultural phenomenon” that was part of the book. A closer look at the cover of the 2007 edition reveals that the cigarette has vanished. Similarly, in Hikaru no Go, as Cordell Newmiller points out – “a particularly rude player extinguishes a cigarette on a go board to arrogantly mark the correct move. The cigarette was changed to chewing gum in the US release.” 5 out of 14 smoked out the correct answer, including Reinhold Burger, this week’s winner, selected at random from those answering correctly. With just a few weeks left, the race at the top tightens: P Waldron 27/29, K Salamony 26/29, S Fawthrop 18/20, G Kerr 17/17, Reinhold Burger 13/13, T Fung 10/12, P Schumer 10/14, J Huber 7/7, T Morris 7/13, B Kirby 6/8, R Mercado 5/5, O Nava 5/5 and D McGlothin 5/9. THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: Takemiya Masaki (left), who attended this year’s U.S. Go Congress, has won 3 of Japan’s top 7 titles and challenged for 6 out of 7. What’s the one title in which he has ironically failed to qualify for the final? Click here to send us your answer.
– Keith Arnold; photo by Chris Garlock

“Finally, a question even an idiot like me can respond to,” was the comment from an anonymous Quiz respondent. Indeed, 23 out of 23 of you knew Chicago was the US Go Congress host city that contains the word has “go” – in consecutive order — in it, though Peter Schumer pointed out the site was technically Chicago suburb Oak Park. Steve Fawthrop and Reinhold Burger both noted that “OreGOn” which has hosted two Congresses would qualify as a state. Congrats to Patrick Rogers, this week’s winner, chosen at random from those (everyone!) answering correctly. THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: Fair warning: this is a tough one. Shonen Jump’s 2004 English edition of Hikaru no Go, Volume One and The Middle Game of Go (Ishi Press 2007) have nearly identical examples of an interesting cultural phenomenon. What is it? Pretty vague, and no multiple choice – but trust me, you will know it when, er, IF, you get it. Click here to submit your explanation.
– Keith Arnold