American Go E-Journal

Coloquio de Go Mexicano Wraps Up

Tuesday September 1, 2015

The third and final day of the Mexican Go Congress began on Monday with round 5 of the Mexican Open, then during lunch Myungwan Kim 9P

lectured on manipulating the surrounding board situation to prepare for crosscuts. A well-

timed forcing move that may be bad locally because it seems to erase aji or makes an ugly shape can be perfectly situated to cause your opponent to collapse at the end of a crosscut sequence if you have made sure to read it out correctly. After the 6th and final round, Kim reviewed the top-board game (right) in which Congress director Emil Garcia finally managed to triumph over defending champion Abraham Florencia. Pictured in the lower right corner is a variation (not the real game) showing white collapsing after inappropriately choosing the small avalanche when the ladder is unfavorable.

– report/photos by Steven Burrall; photo at left: Newly-crowned Mexican Open champion Emil Garcia (right) gets a teaching game from Myungwan Kim 9p atop the pyramid at Teotihuacán.

Categories: Latin America

Li Named AGHS President; Seeks Officers

Tuesday September 1, 2015

The American Go Honor Society’s outgoing leadership has selected Yunxuan Li 7d as this year’s President. The organization runs multiple events every year: the School Team Tournament and the Young Lions are some of the most popular, and draw students nationwide. Li is excited to lead this year’s cohort of high school student organizers: “I am very glad to take the responsibility of AGHS this year. I hope through the effort we all put in together, we can spread go to a wider audience in North America.” He can’t do it alone, though – Li is calling on interested high school students to apply to be officers this year. The open positions include Vice President, Promotion Head, Webmaster, Tournament Organizer, Secretary, and Treasurer. To apply, download the application form on the AGHS’s website and send it in to AGHSpresident@gmail.com by September 19. -Julian Erville, E-J Youth Correspondent

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

The Power Report (2): 28th Women’s Meijin League starts; Japan eliminated from TV Asia Cup; New women’s tournament with biggest prize; Death of Cho Chikun’s wife

Tuesday September 1, 2015

by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

28th Women’s Meijin League starts: The first two games in the 28th Women’s Meijin League were played on August 20. The main interest this year is the debut of Fujisawa Rina (right) in the league. The sixteen-year-old lived up to expectations, defeating Kato Keiko 6P in her opening game. Taking black, Fujisawa forced a resignation. In the other game, Mannami Nao 3P (W) beat Chinen Kaori 4P by resignation. Xie Yimin has held this title for nine years in a row.

Japan eliminated from TV Asia Cup: The opening round (three games) and the first semifinal of the 27th TV Asia Cup have been played in Seoul. Unfortunately for Japan, its representatives have already been eliminated, so the tournament is now a contest between China and Korea. On August 25, the first two games in Round One were played. Lee Donghun 5P (Korea, at left) (W) beat Ida Atsushi 8P (Japan) by resignation. In the second game, Park Junghwan 9P of Korea (B) beat Liao Xingwen 5P (China) by resignation. The final game of this round was played on the morning of August 26. Yang Dingxin 3P (China) (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo 7P (Japan) by half a point. In the afternoon, the first semifinal was played, with Park (W) beating Lee by resignation. The second semifinal will be played on August 27. Yang will meet Lee Sedol 9P (Japan), who as last year’s cup winner was seeded into the semifinals. The winner of that game will meet Park in the final on August 28.

New women’s tournament with biggest prize: Financial incentives are getting better and better for women players in Japan. First of all, a new tournament, the Aizu Central Hospital Cup, founded last year, raised the bar by offering a record prize of seven million yen. That has now been topped by the Senko Cup, founded by the Osaka-based Senko Corporation. The Senko Cup Women’s Igo Strongest Player Tournament, to give it its full name, offers a first prize of eight million and a second prize of four million yen. The second prize in itself almost matches the three long-established women’s titles (to be specific, their top prizes are 5,800,000 yen for the Women’s Honinbo and 5,000,000 each for the Women’s Meijin and the Women’s Kisei). The new tournament is open to all professional women players in Japan and the preliminaries start in September. The main tournament, in which the top 16 participate, will start in January 2016 and the semifinal and final will be held in July. Fujisawa Rina, Women’s Honinbo, Xie Yimin (left), Women’s Meijin & Kisei, and O Keii, Aizu Central Hospital Cup-holder, will be seeded in the main tournament. The time allowance will be three hours per player.

Death of Cho Chikun’s wife: Cho Chikun’s wife Kyoko died of pancreatic cancer on August 7. She was 65 years old.

Categories: John Power Report

Mexican Go Congress: Kids 13×13 & Myungwan Kim 9P on Handling Crosscuts

Monday August 31, 2015

The second day of the Mexican Go Congress kicked off on Sunday with a children’s 13 x 13 tournament (right), and Mexican Open rounds 3 and 4 occupied the late morning and early afternoon, followed a lecture by Myungwan Kim 9P on handling crosscuts (left). Kim showed two recent games of Lee Changho’s in which Lee lost early due to not handling crosscuts as well as his younger opponents. Kim explained that the new generation of professionals receives much more in-depth training in reading out long and complicated sequences than was the case 15 years ago. Kim said that this was the most important single lecture topic for two reasons: handling a crosscut correctly may often mean the difference between establishing a superior position or completely collapsing, and learning to handle them requires practice of the reading skills that one should be applying constantly other aspects of the game. The Congress concludes on Monday with a final day of activities.

Report/photos by Steven Burrall; photos: (right) TD’s Emil Garcia and Daphne Rios supervise the children’s 13 x 13 action; (left) Myungwan Kim 9P lectures on the crosscut.

Categories: Latin America

Last Chance to Weigh In on Go Congress Survey

Monday August 31, 2015

“It would be great if there was a system in place to help people who want to play in the pair-go but don’t have a partner to find one”…”Live broadcasting was good, but I’d rather see live pro comments on a large room with many go players”…”Include the topics discussed on the pro lecture schedule board”…These are just a few of the many suggestions submitted on the US Go Congress Survey. Whether you’ve attended a Go Congress or not, Congress organizers are interested in your opinions on a few basic questions so that they can make future Congresses even better. Click here by midnight this Wednesday to take the brief survey; participants are eligible for go prizes!
photo: Feng Yun 9P plays in a simul at the 2015 US Go Congress; photo by Chris Garlock

Categories: U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America

The Power Report (1): Young players make Agon Kiriyama Cup semis; Iyama reaches Oza final; Yoda stumbles in top Kisei league, Kono wins A League

Monday August 31, 2015

by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Young players make Agon Kiriyama Cup semifinals: The remaining two quarterfinals of the 22nd Agon Kiriyama Cup were played recently. On August 10, Kyo Kagen 3P (B) (aged 15) beat Shuto Shun 7P by resignation. On August 13, Yo Seiki 7P (B) (aged 20) beat Matsumoto Takehisa 7P by resignation. Kyo and Yo will play each other in one semifinal; the other matches Iyama Yuta (aged 26) and Son Makoto 3P (aged 19). As you can see from the ages, all four are young players, though Iyama is already a veteran in experience. The recent results of the Taiwanese players Yo and Kyo show that they both have exceptional promise; they will probably be titleholders before too much longer.

Iyama reaches Oza final: The first semifinal in the 63rd Oza tournament was played on August 17. Iyama Yuta (B) beat Yuki Satoshi by resignation. The other semifinal pits Ko Iso 8P against Yo Seiki 7P. The winner will meet Iyama in the play-off to decide the challenger on September 7.

Yoda stumbles in top Kisei league, Kono wins A League: In a game played in the S League, the top league, in the 40th Kisei tournament, on August 13, Yamashita Keigo 9P improved his score to 3-1 when he beat Takao Shinji Tengen (W) by 2.5 points. At this point he was in second place. League leader Yoda Norimoto 9P (left) suffered a painful loss in the S League on August 20. Taking white, he lost to Yamashiro Hiroshi 9P by half a point. On 3-1, Yoda now shares the lead with Yamashita Keigo 9P, who has the advantage of being ranked higher (number one) ? there is no play-off within the Kisei leagues. Yamashiro goes to 2-2, so his chances of keeping his place improve. Kono Rin scored his sixth successive win in the A League in a game played on August 13. Taking black, he beat Cho Riyu 8P by 2.5 points. Everyone else in the league has at least two losses, so Kono wins the league regardless of his result in his final game. He also secured promotion to the S League next year. In the knock-out tournament, he will have to win four games in a row to become the challenger whereas the winner of the S League has to win only one game in what is called an “irregular best-of-three.” How this works is that Kono would have to beat the winner of the game between the B and C League winners (both of whom have to win five games to become the challenger), next win a game against the second-place-getter in the S League, then beat the winner of the S League twice in a row. The latter is given an advantage of one win in the final play-off, so his opponent can’t afford to lose a game. That means that in practice, there can’t be a third game in this “best-of-three,” as the winning score will always be 2-0.
Tomorrow: 28th Women’s Meijin League starts; Japan eliminated from TV Asia Cup; New women’s tournament with biggest prize; Death of Cho Chikun’s wife.

Categories: Japan,John Power Report

Second Go Congress Underway in Mexico City

Sunday August 30, 2015

Forty two go players signed up for the Mexican Open, a three-day, six-round tournament this weekend which is the main event of the second Coloquio de Go, or Go Congress, in Mexico City. “Enthusiasm for go is much newer in Mexico than in the United States, but they have a bright future with indefatigable organizer, registrar and TD Emil Garcia,” reports Steve Burrall. Garcia (seated in blue shirt) is also a very strong player, who placed sixth in the recent Prime Minister’s Cup. Saturdays’s two rounds were followed by a lecture from Myungwan Kim 9p on a game he played with Lee Sedol that was a watershed event in his go playing career. Kim then played a simultaneous match with 12 local players. The photo at right, the view from board #8 in the tournament room, shows the ruins of Tlatelolco, a former pyramid transformed into an adjacent church by the Spaniards.
– report/photos by EJ Special Correspondent Steve Burrall

Categories: Latin America

Mexico Holds 2nd Go Congress; Myungwan Kim 9P as Special Guest

Thursday August 27, 2015

The Mexican Go Association is holding its second Go Congress this weekend, August 29-31 at Centro Cultural Tlatelolco in Mexico City. The main event in the Congress is the second Mexican Go Open Tournament with total cash prizes of 9,000 Mexican pesos. Go and Origami workshops along with a 13 x13 blitz tournament and Hikaru No Go screening will take place for youngsters and the Myungwan Kim 9p will provide lectures, game reviews and simultaneous games, said MGA President Emil Garcia. USA and Europe are making great efforts to develop go in their regions, with Congresses and pro qualification, said Garcia. “Mexico and Latin America shouldn’t lag behind.” Click here for the Congress site; during the Mexican Open, players can follow top-board games on KGS through the GoMex1 and GoMex2 accounts.

Categories: Latin America

Yutopian Offers Extra 10% Discount; Two New Bozulich Essays at Kiseido

Thursday August 27, 2015

Yutopian Offers Extra 10% Discount: Buy two go books at Yutopian and, in addition to existing discounts, get an extra 10% off with free U.S. shipping (offer only good for shipping to US addresses). Yutopian has an extensive

collection of go books, from Nie Weiping on Go, Art of Capturing Stones, Yilun Yang’s Ingenious Life & Death Puzzles (Volumes 1 & 2) and more.

Two New Bozulich Essays at Kiseido: Kiseido has just uploaded two new essays on go by Richard Bozulich. The first essay, “Increasing your Concentration and Powers of Analysis through Visualization” explains how solving life-and-death problems by memorizing the position, then solving the problem in your head, is an efficient way to improve your analytical abilities. The second essay, “Microgo,” introduces a variant of the go rules that makes play on boards with grids as small as 2×2 possible.

Update (8/30): Yutopian was not able to add the special sale on their order form, so the discount will apply after they confirm your order.

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware

Chang Qi Cup Registration Breaks 100

Tuesday August 25, 2015

The inaugural American Chang Qi Cup, scheduled for September 26-28 at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, is shaping up to be an exciting event, and over 100 players have already registered.

The 2015 Chang Qi Cup is the first time that the semi-finals of an international professional tournament will be held in North America. Four top pros from China will compete for a berth in the Chang Qi Cup finals. This event will also include the inaugural American Chang Qi Tournament, an AGA-rated tournament with significant cash prizes. The American tournament features a top prize of $4,000 for the open section, and generous prizes for all division winners.

Hosted by the American Collegiate Go Association (ACGA) and the Shanghai Ing Foundation, special activities are planned, including the Tsumego Challenge, in which competitors solve rapid-fire go problems for small prizes. And for participating college students only, there will be an extra event: free bowling on Saturday night. Similar to the AGA E-Journal’s expanded video coverage at this year’s US Go Congress, local organizers are planning complete coverage of the event through video streaming. Professional commentary on the Chang Qi Cup games, commentary on the top boards of the American tournament, and even special interviews will all be broadcast.

Hotels for the weekend are filling up quickly, so the ACGA urges registrants to book soon. Visit the website for details and registration.

Categories: U.S./North America,World,Youth

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »