January 1, 2021 will bring more than New Year’s Day as Korean 9-Dan professional Mok Jin-seok joins the NY Institute of Go YouTube channel , co-host a new series — ‘The Best Moves in Go History’ — for the channel with Ryan Li 1P that launches on New Year’s Day. Mok Jin-seok, who turned pro in 1994 and is currently the head coach of the Korean national team, brings his expertise in the game of go to NYIG_Go, joining an already talented group of instructors that includes Stephanie Yin 1P, Ryan Li 1P and Michael Chen 7D.
American Go E-Journal
Mok Jin-seok to launch ‘The Best Moves in Go History’ series on NYIG YouTube channel
Saturday December 26, 2020
50 years aGO December 1970
Saturday December 26, 2020
by Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister
As of December 17th, Fujisawa Hosai 9 dan and Honda Kunihisa 8 dan hold the early lead at 2-0 in the 10th Meijin League.
Only one round has been played in the 26th Honinbo league. As we learned last month, Ishida qualified for the league, but dropped his first game against Kato Masao 6 dan. The victor is shown on the left in this match picture, with their teacher, the great Kitani, looking on. 2020.12.26-Kato defeats Ishida
The big news was the arrival of fellow Kitani disciple, Takemiya Masaki 6 dan 2020.12.26-Takemiya who, at age 19 became the youngest title challenger in history by defeating Fujisawa Meijin on December 1-2, and Sakata on December 16-17 to become the challenger to Ishida Yoshio in the Nihon Kiin Championship. He lost the first game, however, on December 23.
Finally, on December 27, the Nordrhein-Westfalen Championship was won by the strapping young man pictured. Veteran U.S. Go Congress-goers may recognize the German juggernaut Horst Sudhoff, who won the match in Dusseldorf. A regular feature at the Congress, Horst, win or lose, played the most games every year he attended, haunting the playing room and taking on all comers.
English translation of How to Play Go the AI Way published by BOARD N’STONES
Thursday December 24, 2020
BOARD N’STONES, the English-language branch of primarily German-language Go books publisher Brett und Stein Verlag, has published a translation of Yamada Shinji 6p’s book on AI techniques, which became available in Japan in December 2019 only. “How to Play Go the AI Way!” is intended for amateur players who would like to learn and employ the modern AI style. The style may seem confusing because there are so many tactics that differ from traditional thinking, but the study of the new techniques introduced by AI has already lead to their rapid spread and adoption. Today they are applied by pros almost as a matter of course. This book summarizes the findings from the study of AI techniques and explains them using illustrative diagrams. The new book is available through most online book shops. Credits for translation go to Peter Gebert.
-report by Gunnar Dickfield
Virginia showdown lights up Christmas weekend
Thursday December 24, 2020
The 2020 Virginia State Championship final is set in knock-out format on OGS on Saturday Dec. 26. After the Dec. 5 prelim – click here for results – four strong players have been invited to the final-four. Semi-finals start at 9am ET, and the final at 2:30 pm ET.
Players are welcome to watch and join in the chat on Baduk Club. Prior to the championship tournament, organizers reached out to all Virginia clubs and several language schools of major VA cities, to scout for more Go players who may have liked to compete. Joshua Lee is the defending VA champion from 2019, and though not in the competition this year, 2019 runner-up Qingbo Zhang has made it to the final four for a shot at the 2020 title.
–report by Capital Go Club
Tianyi Li and Zixuan Gao win 2020 Young Lions Tournament
Saturday December 19, 2020
“On November 22nd and 29th, over 140 youth players from across North America participated in the largest ever Young Lions Tournament, AGHS’ longest-running tournament,” says Promotion Head Jenny Li, “After four competitive rounds, two 4 dan players Tianyi Li and Zixuan Gao tied for first place and emerged as the champions for this year’s Young Lions Tournament.”
Winners report: Open Division 1st place: Tianyi Li, Zixuan Gao; Division A 1st place: Sophie Lin, 2nd place: Chase Lin, Juanshu Lan; Division B 1st place: Albert Tang, 2nd place: David Wu, 3rd place: Steve Zhang; Division C 1st place: Andy Zhou, 2nd place: Stephanie Tan, 3rd place: Jason Liu; Division D 1st place: Mathew Wang, 2nd place: Anna Zhou, 3rd place: Alexander Lo; Divison E 1st place: Joshua Wong, 2nd place: Lucia Moscola, 3rd place: Isaac Zhang; Divison F 1st place: Tianning Li, 2nd place: Tony Li, 3rd place: Amari González; Divison G 1st place: Irene Zhang, 2nd place: Yiting Liu, 3rd place: Ava Gao; Divison H 1st place: Eric Wang, 2nd place: Noah Carrafa, 3rd place: William Xiang; Division I 1st place: Woody Yin, 2nd place: Enzo Moscola, 3rd place: Austin Reyes; Division J 1st place: Kyle Tang, 2nd place: Michelle Wong, 3rd place: Andy Li
Registration Open for AGHS Weekly Go Problems Season
Friday December 18, 2020
“Registration for the American Go Honor Society (AGHS) Weekly Go Problems Season 1 is now open, and all players are welcomed,” says Promotion Head Jenny Li, “Each Sunday, we will provide Go problems with five different levels from the most beginner to the most advanced level. Practicing problems is a great opportunity to enhance your skills and will benefit you tremendously in your games. This year, we will be dividing the program into two seasons, one in the winter and the other in the spring. Each season lasts ten weeks, with prizes being awarded at the end of each one.”
Register here if you would like to participate
The deadline to sign up is January 9, 2021, 11:59 pm PST. Season 1 will begin on January 10th. If you have any questions, please contact aghsregister@gmail.com.
Bo Luan 6d sweeps the 2020 California State Go Championship
Tuesday December 15, 2020
Bo Luan 6d of Carpinteria, California won all five of his games this weekend in the Third Annual California State Go Championship, which was hosted online by the San Diego Go Club. The top seven players in the Open Division were all over 6 dan. Finishing second in the Open was Zhengbokang Tang, 8d, (4-1) from Boulder Colorado and third was Yixian Zhou, 6d (3-2) – a familiar figure in the Southern California go scene.
The 50 competing players weren’t only Californians; players also hailed from New York, Vermont, Florida, and Oregon, and were from 7 to 75 years old. Handicap players who went undefeated at 5-0 were Patrick Ferl 1d, from Valley Village, California and David Rohlfing 8k from Dublin, Ohio.
Also selected from the Handicap ranks were the best Under-16 girl and boy:
Tianyi Tina Li 2020 U-16 California State Go Champion.
Alexander Lo 2020 U-16 California State Go Champion.
Registration, pairings for 5-rounds, tabulation of results and calculating tie-breakers for fifty players was made easy using the GoClubs.org program. This is the third online tournament the San Diego Go Club has run for free since the pandemic has eliminated face-to-face competition. The other two were the San Diego Go Championship and the California Pair-Go Championship. The individual tournament results have been submitted to the new National Go Center online rating system. Although not rated by the AGA, the tournaments required AGA membership.
report by Ted Terpstra
South Central Go Tournament and Texas State Championship set for February on KGS
Monday December 14, 2020
From 2016 to 2020 the South Central Go Tournament has been held in Dallas on the Saturday and Sunday before Presidents’ Day. Because of the uncertain safety of in-person play during the COVID 19 pandemic, the 2021 tournament will go online. It will be held the Saturday and Sunday preceding Presidents’ Day – February 13 and 14, 2021. The Texas resident finishing best in the Open Section will become the 2021 Texas State Champion. Registration for the tournament is now open on GoClubsOnline (www.goclubs.org).
Basic Tournament Information
- Open and Handicap Sections. The Handicap Section will be divided into bands which group players near in strength for pairing purposes.
- Schedule: Saturday, February 13 and Sunday, February 14, 2021. Three rounds each day. Rounds start at 10 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM Central Standard Time.
- Where: KGS go server (www.gokgs.com)
- American Go Association (AGA) membership required.
More Information
The South Central Go Tournament is on Facebook. There is a “Book Now” button on the Facebook page which will take you to GoClubs.org to register. The Facebook page is also a good place to find updated basic information on the tournament and to see comments made by interested players. You can post questions there. You can also write to bobgilman.aga@gmail.com with questions or concerns.
report by Bob Gilman
Ninghan Duan 6d wins the 9th Virginia Open in tight race, Alexander Qi and Stephanie Tan claim Youth and Women’s titles, Ruoshi Sun leads going into VA State Championship Finals
Monday December 14, 2020
Last weekend the Capital Go Chapter held the 9th Virginia Open on OGS with over 80 participants ranging from 30k to 8d. Players enjoyed the four-round event and many won prizes and certificates. “Nearly half players were youths, U.S. Go’s future couldn’t be brighter,” says tournament director Devin Fraze. With so many players, the pool was broken into six divisions with over $500 cash in prizes, sponsored by Honest401k, going to the winners along with additional prizes for high-performing female and youth players. The tournament also served as the qualifier for the VA State Championship, which is set for 12/26/2020, and will be directed by NOVA club president Gary Smith.
“To lend the tournament a personal and special touch, co-director Qingbo Zhang also tirelessly prepared both award and participation certificates, and emailed them to each player individually,” says organizer Edward Zhang. He also noted the rapid improvement of many players in the tournament. “Some stretching self-promotions were allowed by TD, and many of these players played very well.” Zhang’s team plans to host more tournaments in 2021 using Baduk.Club, which made this OGS tournament simple for players and feasible for the TDs.
The tournament wasn’t all serious business; after one youth player turned him down for a friendly match, next year’s Go Congress Director Steve got his change to go up against her in the next round. Declaring her his arch rival he sadly didn’t stand a chance and resigned with only his honor left. TD Devin Fraze also had fun chatting with players between rounds; he ended up teaching some youngsters how to use ‘bbcode’ – a relic of the programming language PHP – so they could use colors and different sizes in the chat. The event chat on Baduk.Club was active all day. Some of our excited younger players posted to celebrate their 120+ point wins while others were fending off power-outages as ice and snow threatened to disconnect their games.
Winners
Click here to see the full winners report.
Open (Elite) 6-8D: 1st, Ninghan Duan; Tied 2nd, Shuaiheng Tao and Zhengbokang Tang.
Open: 1st, Ruoshi Sun; 2nd, Alexander Qi.
Women’s: 1st, Stephanie Tan; 2nd, Angel Zhou.
Expert: 1st, Patrick Zhao; 2nd Juanshu Lan.
Proficient: 1st, Hyunjun Roh; 2nd, Jason Yang.
Intermediate: 1st, Ragnarr Markssen; 2nd, Anderson Barreal.
Novice: 1st, Cody Tang; 2nd, Justin Collier.
Youth: 1st, Alexander Qi, 2nd; James Chih-Rong Sun.
Final standings
Top Divisions (4D+): beta.baduk.club/mac/9thvaopen
Main Section (>3D): beta.baduk.club/mac/9thvaopen-main
(Note: select ‘Games’ at upper-right to view game records of all ‘Boards’.)
report by Capital Go Club
Lost and found
Monday December 14, 2020
by Mark Rubenstein
I started playing Go in the 1970’s. I only knew one other person who played, a friend whom I had taught. I didn’t know much back then, but I was enthralled by the beauty of the game. My friend had a set of stones; I don’t know where he got them, but I thought they were spectacularly cool. I had a waterbed that he thought was cool. So we swapped.
Years went by, my friend moved away, and I put away my prized stones and stopped playing. I picked it up again in the mid 90’s. At some point I lost track of those stones.
Lately I had begun thinking about them, and started looking around the house for them. But I couldn’t find them. I started wondering if I had mis-remembered the swap all those years ago; did I trade the waterbed for the stones, or the other way around?
Then, while rummaging around in the basement looking for something else, I came across two small cardboard boxes. And there they were!
I washed them carefully and have been playing with them these last few weeks. I’ve never seen any stones quite like them. Each one is unique. I love the way they look and feel.
I remember reading once that Go stones are intentionally made slightly larger than the space allotted them on the board, so that the arrangement of stones will always be slightly irregular, never rigid. These are the only stones I’ve ever used that are like that. They fit perfectly on the long axis of the board, but are slightly too big to fit perfectly on the short axis. The result is a pleasing, if somewhat maddening, organic feeling of being jostled about.
This feeling, this organic, exuberant, messy tapestry is completely absent online. I’ve always thought my game suffers online; maybe it’s because it’s too rigid, too impersonal, too clean.
I’m playing well these days. I’ve rekindled my passion for the beauty of Go. And I’m looking forward to the day when we can all meet again over real boards with real stones… and I’ll bring mine.
