American Go E-Journal » Traveling Go Board

by Phil Straus

In early 1997, I played in a Baltimore tournament as a 45-year-old three-dan. I split the first two games. In my third game I was paired in an even game with a two-dan. Statistically I had about a 2/3 chance of winning. I lost, but what was shocking was that I resigned in less than 30 minutes. I had recently published, with Yilun Yang, Whole-Board Thinking in Joseki. The opening (fuseki) was by far the strongest part of my game. I was ahead at the end of the opening in at least 95% of my tournament games. I was shocked to be so far behind so early in a game. Normally, I have to get to my middle-game weaknesses before I fall behind.

I had spent the previous decade studying intently, hoping to reach the upper levels of amateur play. I looked across the board, and realized my opponent had better potential than I. He was seven years old. I withdrew from the fourth round, went home in time to get a babysitter and go to the movies with my wife. By Monday, I had stopped all my regular lessons and training, and became a full-time photographer.

This past Saturday, I played in the Philadelphia tournament as a 64-year-old two-dan. In my first game, I took six stones from Eric Lui, 1P. I was right. That seven-year-old in 1997 had had more potential. I was delighted that I didn’t lose this game until the fighting in the middle game. The six-stone handicap helped delay my second resignation against this fine player. It was a pleasure to lose again to this young man, who still has such great potential.

Straus is a former president of the American Go Association. He’s at right in the photo above, playing Eric Lui. photo by Henry Hathaway. 

Dropped in on the Gotham Go Club last Tuesday night during a visit to New York City to see longtime friend and go colleague Roy Laird. Despite Thanksgiving being just two days away, the club was bustling with activity, as it reportedly is each week. Had a fun time watching games and a quick pick-up game with a young student from China; it’s a great club well worth the visit if you’re in town!
– Chris Garlock, Managing Editor, American Go E-Journal. Check our Facebook page for more photos. Got go travel tales — or photos — of your own? Send ’em to us at journal@usgo.org!

On his BenGoZen blog, Benjamin Hong recently posted a nice report on his Hong Kong go adventure earlier this year. After spotting an ad for go on a bus, Hong was disappointed to discover that the Hong Kong Go Asso­ci­a­tion (HKGA) does not have a go salon where visitors can drop in for a game. “I was pretty bummed to hear that,” Hong, a 2-kyu who lives in the metro Washington area, writes. “After all, would my epic go adven­ture in Hong Kong be reduced to sim­ply vis­it­ing the HKGA and maybe tak­ing a few pic­tures? All hope was nearly gone until the sec­re­tary told my mom that I could take pri­vate lessons if I wanted to.” This launches an adventure across the city that will be familiar to anyone who’s tried to track down go in a foreign country. In addition to being entertaining, Hong’s tale has a happy ending and reveals the correct address of the HKGA, including a helpful photo of the sign to look for. Hint, not the one at right.

by Barry Pasicznyk

Every year go players from the Penn Go Society and Phoenixville Go Club teach go at Philadelphia’s Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival. This year an especially poignant moment occurred that I wanted to share with other go players.

While we were teaching people how to play go, a man approached our tables. He said that he wanted to donate a go set so we could pass it on. He mentioned that when he was in the hospital with cancer that someone came to the hospital to play go with him. Now he was cured of the cancer; I was under the impression that he had not expected to survive. He said that he was eternally grateful for the act of kindness in his most desolate time, and that he wanted to pass the go set on so others could enjoy the game.

So we accepted the go set and gave it to a group of young adults who seemed to be enjoying the game. We told them the story of the set so that maybe it would inspire them to acts of kindness.

Sometimes go is more than just a game.

photo courtesy BoomsBeat 

Gordon Castanza — former AGA Board member and EJ game recorder — passed along this report from his friend Ernest French of the Beijing Go Club, who sends this report and a collage of photos he took at the “Second Donghu Cup Amateur Wei Qi Invitational Tournament between China and Korea,” which was held on Saturday, September 7th in Beijing, China.

“Last Saturday we played in an amateur tournament up in Wangjing in northeast Beijing. It was outside in the middle of a park, on a beautiful, cool, blue sky morning. After the opening ceremony, we started our matches against local teams – time settings of 35 minutes per player, absolute. Altogether, I’d say 100+ go players showed up in total.

Participating for the BJGC were Sam, Karl, Carl, Gina, Chris, and me; each round was 5 games (1 person sitting out). The first round we had some tough games – I lost one I should have won, but we did manage to go 2 and 3. For 8 am, that’s a good result.

Next round we faced the kids and cleaned up 4-1 despite some questionable play on their part (but what’re you gonna do?) All in good fun. By this point it was heating up, and we were full of coffee and ready to go. Unfortunately, our final match-up was against the baitou team – a bunch of really good Koreans who had won every game of the day so far. My game was against an older gentleman who placed his (Chinese style) stones upside-down. He was quite good, and calmly took advantage of my questionable play. I broke into his giant moyo at the end of the game… but somehow it wasn’t enough and I lost by 15. Carl was the only one to defeat that team all day. That afternoon we continued an (unofficial) match against the Beijing Capital Airport team, who gave us some fun games. Thanks to Karl for finding & organizing this, and I definitely want to do it again sometime!” Click here for more photos.

by Jan Engelhardt

Western go players sightseeing in Japan won’t want to miss Innoshima in the Hiroshima prefecture. That’s the birthplace of Honinbo Shusaku, the most famous go player ever. Shusaku was born as Kuwahara Torajiro on June 6, 1829 in Innoshima. At the age of 10 he moved to Edo (now called Tokyo) to join the legendary Honinbo go house. Even after he became a professional go player, Shusaku returned to Innoshima for long stays. The people of Innoshima are very proud on Honinbo Shusaku and value his heritage, calling themselves a “Go playing city” where as much as ten percent of the 20,000 inhabitants play go and twice a year Innoshima hosts a a “Shusaku Honinbo Go Festival” for professional and amateur go players.

The “Honinbo Shusaku Igo Memorial Hall” is a fascinating museum honoring Shusaku’s life and accomplishments, showcasing many artifacts of his life, including the old goban on which his mother taught him go. In the museum’s back yard there is a reconstruction of the actual living house of the family. The museum’s memorial hall is also used for go events, including professional ones. There are always go boards available for guests and it’s amazing to see all the letters, game records and go material related to Shusaku’s fascinating life. Next to the hall one can find a shinto shrine constructed by a later Honinbo in Shusaku’s honor.

Not far away is Shusaku’s grave. It is said that one becomes two stones stronger by touching the gravestone, and it’s traditional for visitors to light an incense stick there in the great player’s memory.
– Engelhardt, who was in Japan recently to attend the Osaka Go Camp, is the E-Journal’s German Correspondent. photos by Jan Engelhardt