“It’s not so helpful to suggest folks tune into a Twitch broadcast ‘tonight’ when the E-Journal comes out many hours after said broadcast has finished,” writes Rick Rubenstein. “Perhaps you should get into the habit of announcing these in the prior day’s journal instead.”
Our apologies; that commentary — Golden Panda Cup, Iyama Yuta 9p (W) vs Mutsuura Yuta 7p (B), with Michael Redmond 9p – is available here. Tomorrow night (Sunday, June 21) at 8p EDT, Redmond will do another live commentary on the AGA’s Twitch channel, this one on a 1939 game between Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru.
American Go E-Journal » Your Move: Readers Write
Your Move/Readers Write: Timing is important
Friday June 19, 2020
Your Move/Readers Write: Gray power; Neil deGrasse Tyson on Go? Drawing the line(s)?
Wednesday January 1, 2020
Gray power: “Being 67 years old and still enjoying competing in tournaments, I was happy to hear that Haskell Small won the NGC Winter Warmer tournament,” writes Eric Osman. ” It’s great to show that we older folks can still give the youngsters a run for their money. As for giving go books out to the winners, how about giving go books to the losers. Don’t they need them more?”
Note: this post has been updated; Eric Osman wrote in, not Bill Saltman.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Go? “A friend just emailed me and mentioned that he had seen NdeGT last night talking about Go,” writes David Doshay. “I did not get anything with several Google attempts, so … Does anybody else out there have anything that would point the interested Go player in the right direction to see what he had to say?”
Drawing the line(s)? “Kurikowgoishi’s website states that they redraw lines (on Go boards),” writes Anthony Craig. “I was wondering if there’s a US equivalent?”
EJ Mailbag: Joseki guide for kyu players; Don’t mourn, organize; Columbus discovers Go; Gameboy Go?
Sunday December 15, 2019
Columbus discovers Go: “Devin Fraze can teach you how to play Go in about two minutes.” That’s the lead in the “It’s always Go time for enthusiast of ancient game” report last month in ThisWeek Community News, about the Columbus Go Club in Ohio. “To try and teach yourself the game can be confusing and frustrating, but to sit down across the board from an experienced player is a great way to learn,” Fraze said.
Joseki guide for kyu players: Learn Go Joseki for kyu players is a new way to view common joseki for kyu players designed, coded and populated by Neil Moffatt. They’re drawn from the 21st Century Dictionary of Basic Joseki volumes one and two, with a few exceptions.
Don’t mourn, organize: “I am saddened by Bill Cobb’s article,” writes Jean de Maiffe. “I find internet play soulless and am grateful to live where I have been able to start two different Go clubs in my town, at different times in my life. My heart goes out to Bill for his isolation. I started my first Sunnyvale CA club about a year after my husband and I moved here. When I turned that first club over to someone else, I learned that while I didn’t need to drive for an hour to attend, I did have to drive a narrow, twisty, dirt road in the Coastal Range to get there. During the rainy season, when the sun retires early, I found it terrifying to drive to and from there. Hence my starting a second club in our nearby Senior Center, which is within walking distance and which is open during the day only, a blessing for me in my 70s. Best wishes to Bill on finding a new GO home in the Arkansas mountains or nearby.”
Gameboy Go?: “I’m very interested in Go and used to own a portable chess game similar to the Gameboy,” writes a usgo.org visitor. “Do you know of any electronic go handheld games available today? I have tried for hours to find something that’s not on the app store.” Email journal@usgo.org with suggestions.
Your Move/Readers Write: Remembering the No Exit Go Club; Why the Western Mass. Go Club doesn’t meet in a library
Saturday June 29, 2019
Remembering the No Exit Go Club: “When I got married in 1980, my wife and I found an apartment in Rogers Park,” writes Bob Barber (Your Move/Readers Write: No Exit update? 6/26/19). “I had no idea that this was THE neighborhood where non-Asians played Go. I spent countless happy Monday nights at the No Exit, (which) hosted go players for decades. It was a coffee shop, complete with Open Mike, poetry readings, lots of tie-dyed. A great place to hang out. And inhale some cigarette smoke. The focus on Go now has moved a few miles north, to the Evanston Go Club, ably run by Mark Rubenstein.”
Why the Western Mass. Go Club doesn’t meet in a library: “Thanks for the article (The Traveling Board: One library at a time 6/28/2019) about playing in the public library,” writes Eric Osman. “The only reasons that the Western Mass. Go Club doesn’t meet in the library are 1) We love to drink coffee and eat dessert while we play and the library doesn’t allow food and drink 2) We play on Thurs. eve later than the library is open.”
Your Move/Readers Write: No Exit update? LeeLa Zero go bot site
Wednesday June 26, 2019
No Exit update? “I played at the No Exit club a few times many years ago, but had no idea it was gone (Go Spotting: Remembering the No Exit)” writes Dewey Cornell. “Perhaps someone could add a few sentences of explanation for readers who do not have insider knowledge.”
LeeLa Zero go bot site: “I would like to inform you about a new website zbaduk.com you can use to play against the go bot ‘LeeLa Zero’ from your webbrowser without registration,” writes Bram Vandenbon. “But even more important, if you do create an account, then it also offers a ‘smart review’ tool, which uses a powerful GPU server to review your game records. The website can also be used on smart phones and tablets. And you can store your games online.”
Your Move/Readers Write: Why we play Go
Monday June 24, 2019
By Mark Rubenstein
Why do we play this game? Some might say it’s just for fun, but I believe it goes deeper than that. I think many of us have discovered that Go is more than a game; it’s a space where we can experiment with a way of thinking that helps us engage more fully in life.
When we play Go, the fundamental question we are asking throughout the game is; what’s important? Every move we play, we ask ourselves; where is the most important place for me to be playing now? Every time our opponent makes a move, we ask ourselves; is that move important? What does he want? Why is he playing there? Do I need to respond to that move? Do I agree that what he finds important is also important to me? These questions resonate deeply within us, even when they are only being asked in the context of a game of Go. They trigger a way of thinking that we find engaging and meaningful.
Some people say that you can see aspects of someone’s personality in the way they play Go. I think there’s some truth in that. Do you live and let live on the Go board? Do you try to kill everything? Do you shy away from a fight? Are you willing to sacrifice unimportant stones? I think as we ask these questions on the Go board, we also see their application in our daily lives. If these questions only applied to the game of Go, I don’t think we would all find ourselves as deeply interested in and enamored of the game. I think these questions tap into something more fundamental in our nature, and stimulate our desire to express our personalities more fully in the world.
As we review our games, we are replaying our thoughts and feelings. We aren’t looking for the perfect move we missed; we’re looking for the thought that kept us from seeing that move. The game story is not a list of the moves that were played; it’s a narrative of a conversation each player is having with himself and his opponent.
In this new era of AI, I fear that we are orienting ourselves to a narrow goal; to win the game. Of course, we all want to win games. But there’s much more to each game we play than just winning; there is the discovery of what we find important, and how that affects the course of the game… and maybe the course of our lives.
Rubenstein runs the Evanston (IL) Go Club
Your Move/Readers Write: Even the Gray Lady and her pundits know about Go
Tuesday February 5, 2019
by Terry Benson
In an Op-Ed in The New York Times on Wednesday Jan 30th, columnist Thomas Friedman noted the success of AlphaGo and correctly reported on AlphaZero learning from itself in declaring that the word for the year should be “deep.” Computers are taking us “deep” and in Friedman’s opinion our institutions are not prepared for it.
Go players were shocked by AlphaGo’s success – we were toppled off the mountain – and we are trying to process what we’ve learned about Go. What happens when machines can run – not faster – but longer processing years of experience in hours and finding deep patterns – one thing we’ve always considered the essence of being human and of our very human game?
For Friedman, the power of AI machines in the hands of “bad actors” (as he characterizes some whole governments) by going “deep” is scary.
Go players know to look at the whole board and see the flow of the stones. We lose if we get caught paying attention only to our own corner or blindly following our opponent – a crafty machine – around the board. How can we go as deep? How can we see what the machines cannot? In game terms, how can we keep control of the evaluating function: our right to decide what is important for people, what should be known, what should be shared, and who will be in control of the machines.
It’s too late to pull the pull. It’s not possible to put this new genie back in the bottle. The ancient warning is the same: be careful what you wish for.
Benson, president of the American Go Foundation, is a former president of the American Go Association and former editor of the American Go Journal.
The E-Journal welcomes your thoughts and comments about the game of go and all things related. Email us at journal@usgo.org
Odds & Ends: Yin to rep N.A. at Qionglong Mountain Bingshend Cup; Go set source? ; Poughkeepsie players wanted
Wednesday October 31, 2018
Yin to rep N.A. at Qionglong Mountain Bingshend Cup: Stephanie Yin, 1p won the recent qualifier for the Qionglong Mountain Bingshend Cup against Wan Chen, 5d and will represent North America at the event.
Go set source? “I was wondering if there were any websites, or locations, that hadn’t yet made it on the ‘Buying Go Equipment and Supplies‘ page,” writes James. “I’m interested in buying a new set, but Yellow Mountain Imports has informed me that they’re uncertain of when the items I inquired about will be back in stock. Due to them offering me a potential wait time of two months, and with even that not necessarily being enough, I am forced to look elsewhere. After numerous obvious scam sites and ‘Unavailable’ legitimate postings, I thought I’d try asking here as the only alternatives remaining seem to be buying something considerably more expensive or something comparable to my current lower-grade set. Any assistance you may offer would be greatly appreciated. While online is my preference, I am not opposed to driving if you know of any shops within 1 – 3 hours drive from Victorville, CA. I tried Chinatown in Los Angeles recently, but that turned up nothing.”
Poughkeepsie players wanted: “I have been trying to find local players in the Poughkeepsie, NY area and have not had any luck,” writes David. “It seems the majority of events/clubs are too far from my home for me to attend.”
Email your suggestions to journal@usgo.org
Your Move/Readers Write: The Einstellung Effect
Saturday September 22, 2018
“In response to Bill Cobb’s message of the importance to play moves out of our comfort zone (The Empty Board: Philosophical Reflections on Go #10 9/19 EJ),” writes Eric Osman, “I offer the following: A 7d player on kgs alerted me to the concept of Einstellung, which is the propensity we have for solving a problem in life (or on the go board) by using the methods we have learned, even though for this particular problem there’s a better way!”
Your Move/Readers Write: Where to score a scoresheet; Connecting to other go players
Monday September 17, 2018
Where to score a scoresheet: In response to Glen Hart’s query about “Where to score a scoresheet?”, Jim Hurley sent this link where he’s posted some printable game recording files.
How many Nakayama? “I’m wondering how can I find out how many books Nakayama Noriyuki wrote in Japanese,” wrote Kent Olsen recently. Richard Hunter sent along this Japanese Wikipedia link, which includes books and essays Nakayama authored, as well as those he edited or ghost-wrote for others, like Kajiwara and Takemiya.
Connecting to other go players: David in Poughkeepsie recently posted that he’s looking for other nearby go players. “I find one current AGA member in Poughkeepsie and two others lapsed within the last five years,” says AGA Chapters Coordinator Bob Gilman. “If David is willing to share his email address, I would be happy to write to email these individuals, tell them of his interest in playing, and provide his email address to them should they wish to get in touch with him. I am happy to provide such a service to other go players interested in making contact with other players in their area.” Reach Gilman at bobgilman.aga@gmail.com