After a long period of low attendance, things are looking up for the Evanston Go Club. “The new location has sparked a lot of interest” says club
president Mark Rubenstein. “We started meeting at the new Starbucks in downtown Evanston (IL), and the response has been fantastic. Customers are showing an interest in the game, and we’re teaching more beginners than ever! This week I was setting up a board and stones at an empty table. I went to get my opponent, and when I returned I saw that two college students had sat down at the board and started playing Go Moku. They didn’t even know about the club!” Check out the club’s website for more information.
photo by Mark Rubenstein
American Go E-Journal
Evanston Go Club Bounces Back
Sunday February 22, 2015
European Go News Editor Wanted
Sunday February 22, 2015
The E-Journal is seeking a new European go news editor. Current European go news editor Annalia Linnan is taking a well-deserved break after two years of consistently excellent work. The volunteer position is responsible for editing reports from EuroGoTV and other sources; editing experience is helpful but not required. Those interested may email journal@usgo.org.
¥5000 Off for Osaka Go Camp Pre-Registrants
Sunday February 22, 2015
Register by February 28 and you’ll save 5000 yen (about $40) on Maeda Ryo 6P’s 3-week intensive go camp in Osaka, which runs June 
28 through July 18. Osaka Go Camp activities include intensive training by Kansai Kiin professionals, the opportunity to play go at the Kiin with professionals, play against top amateurs and former inseis, as well as sightseeing, cultural trips and making new go friends. The camp is sponsored by Kansai Kiin and the Osaka University of Commerce. Email Osaka.go.2015@gmail.com for more info or to reserve your space.
Go and Artificial Intelligence Tech Talk
Sunday February 22, 2015
Tim Kington, a software engineer at Fog Creek Software and 2-dan amateur go player, talks about go, Artificial Intelligence and attempts to 
create computer programs that can beat human players in “Go and Artificial Intelligence – Tech Talk,” produced for his Fog Creek colleagues. Kington gives an overview of go, explains how to play it and why go AI is hard. He finishes by describing the progress so far with go AI programs and what the future is likely to hold. The post includes a handy guide to the talk’s content and timing so viewers can jump to the area of interest, as well as a written transcript.
Your Move/Readers Write: Borges, Go & Math
Sunday February 22, 2015
“On your site, you’ve posted a poem about go by Jorge Luis Borges, and asked about his connection to the game (Go Spotting: Jorge Luis Borges
on “the astrological game of Go” 10/1/2012 EJ),” writes Scott Enderle. “I am not currently aware of any direct connection, but I think it’s worth mentioning that Borges’ writings explored the idea of combinatorial explosion more deeply than perhaps any literary writer before or since. His story The Library of Babel is a particularly notable example — there’s a fairly recent book about the mathematics behind it, William Goldbloom Bloch’s The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges’ Library of Babel (click here for a review). So the connection as I see it is more conceptual than historical. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Borges never actually played the game, but I imagine that he was immediately able to intuit some vague sense of its beauty because of his fascination with other sources of combinatorial complexity.”
Go Spotting: “Go Stone” Tweet
Sunday February 22, 2015
The Go Blog @thegoblognet recently tweeted some stills from the Korean go film “The Stone” (Go Spotting: New Korean Movie “The Stone” 11/28/2013 EJ). #baduk #weiqi #igo #囲碁 #바둑 #围棋 #gogame 
#moviestills ift.tt/1C98g3g .
Your Move/Readers Write: 1st US Go Congress, Not
Thursday February 19, 2015
1st US Go Congress, Not: “The group photo said to be of the 1st Go Congress in 1985 is not (Go Filmmakers Looking for US Go Congress 
Photos, Videos 2/16),” writes Michael Bull. “That photo predates the Congress and was taken in San Francisco, CA at one of the last of the East Coast/West Coast championships. The long time manager of the SF Go Club Shinji Dote is seated in the front and he never attended a US Go Congress, (he was unable to attend the 1999 Congress in SF because of poor health). The photo was taken by a SF Go Club regular known only as St. Clair.”
School Teams Tournament Open for Registration
Thursday February 19, 2015
The American Go Honor Society has announced the 2015 School Team Tournament (STT) will be held March 28 and April 4. “The STT is our annual flagship tournament, played in the classic Hikaru no Go team style where each school sends three representatives to compete against other schools,” said AGHS Co-President Hugh Zhang. All matches will be played online, and schools from Canada, the US, and Mexico are all invited. As a new top prize this year, the American Go Foundation is offering full scholarships (tuition + room/board) to the AGA Summer Go Camp. All three members of the top dan and top kyu team will win the scholarships. Prizes will also be awarded in the other divisions, including $75 cash for first place, $50 for 2nd, and $25 for 3rd, as well as medals, and the stylish new AGHS T-Shirt pictured at right. This year’s tournament will be held on March 28 and April 4. To register, fill out the form here, by March 20. More information may be found on the AGHS website. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.
Pandanet City League Round 3 is this Sunday
Tuesday February 17, 2015
The third round of the Pandanet-AGA City League is this Sunday, February 22. Watch the action live starting at 3pm ET/12pm PT. The games are heating up between all of the teams. The schedules for A League, B League, and C League can be found on the Pandanet site.
The Power Report: Iyama close to defending Kisei title; Ida to challenge for Judan title; Meijin League; Honinbo League; Promotions
Tuesday February 17, 2015
by John Power, EJ Japan Correspondent
Iyama close to defending Kisei title: The third game of the 39th Kisei title match was held at the Bella Vista Sakaigahama Hotel in 
Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, on February 5 and 6. Yamashita Keigo 9P (right) held his own in the fighting and in fact finished the middle game with a slight edge over the titleholder, but he slipped up in the endgame. Playing black, Iyama Yuta Kisei secured a win by 1.5 points. This was his third successive win, so Yamashita will face his first kadoban in the fourth game. Fortunately for him, there is a two-week break, so he has time to recover mentally from his bad start. The game will be played on February 19 and 20.
Ida to challenge for Judan title: The play-off to decide the challenger for the 53rd Judan title was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya, Tokyo, on February 5. Playing black, Ida Atsushi 8P (left) defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9P by resignation after 137 moves. The title match with Takao Shinji will start on March 5. This will be Ida’s second challenge for a top-seven title.
Meijin League: The February round, which is the third round, of the 40th Meijin League has already been completed. The two undefeated players, Takao Shinji Tengen and Ko Iso 8P, both lost their games, so there is now a four-way tie for first. Takao and Ko are joined by Cho U 9P and Murakawa Daisuke Oza. Third-round results are given below.
(February 5) Cho U (B) beat Takao Shinji by resig.; Kono Rin 9P (W) beat Kanazawa Makoto 7P by resig.
(February 9) Murakawa Daisuke (W) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig.
(February 12) So Yokoku 9P (B) beat Ko Iso by resig.
Honinbo League: Yamashita Keigo 9P is keeping up the pressure on the leader of the 70th Honinbo League, Ida Atsushi 8P. Yamashita 
won his fifth-round game, so he goes to 4-1. Ida is undefeated and will meet Kono Rin 9P (right) in the fifth round on February 19. Cho U 9P also won his fifth-round game and, on 3-2, is next in line. Both Yamashita and Cho have already lost to Ida, so they have to rely on other players to pull him back.
(February 12) Cho U 9P (W) beat Takao Shinji Tengen by resig.; Yamashita Keigo (W) beat Mimura Tomoyasu 9P by 3.5 points.
Promotions
To 8-dan: Rin Shien (150 wins)
To 4-dan: (Ms.) Kim Hyon-jon (50 wins)