American Go E-Journal

TD Workshop to Debut at U.S. Go Congress

Thursday May 3, 2018

Have you thought about running a go tournament in your area but weren’t sure where to start? Or have you run tournaments and would like to hear from other experienced TD’s about how they publicize and manage these events? A new workshop at the U.S. Go Congress this July is meant for you.

“We have four afternoon sessions scheduled this year that will cover everything from how to organize your first tournament to computer programs to help manage pairings and AGA results reporting,” says workshop Director Mark Rubenstein. “It’s very rewarding to run a successful tournament, and this workshop is designed to help all TD’s get better at doing so.”

Topics to be covered include basics, like how to run your first tournament: handicaps, AGA membership requirements, handling ranks, pairings, and reporting. Also covered: publicity and pre-registration; regulations, code of conduct, registration management, conflict management; pairing systems – Swiss, McMahon, round robin, knockout, self-paired, etc., and the reason for choosing one pairing system over another; computer pairing and reporting programs. There will also be Q&A with experienced TDs.

Rubenstein reports that “We already have the schedule in the Congress mobile app, and will put descriptions for each session there so you can choose to come to the whole workshop, or just the topics of most interest to you.” Congress registration is open now covering this workshop and all the tournaments, pro lectures, and events in Williamsburg VA this July 21-28. Send TD Workshop suggestions to mark@evanstongoclub.org.

photo: at the recent Carolina Spring Tournament; photo by Bob Bacon

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

Nominations being accepted for 2018 AGA Board Election

Thursday May 3, 2018

It’s election time again. This year four American Go Association (AGA) Board of Director seats are in play for the Eastern, Western, Central and at Large positions. The current terms of office expire this September. If you know of someone who you believe would offer guidance and service to the AGA, consider making a nomination. Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by full members for the At-Large or for the regional seat in which the member resides and must be received by June 15, 2018. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

School Team Tourney Deadline Extended

Wednesday May 2, 2018

The School Teams Tourney (SST) has been rescheduled for May 19th and 26th, and the registration deadline is now May 12th. Modeled on Hikaru no Go, the STT is North America’s premier K-12 team go tournament, and will be held on KGS. Over $1,000 in prizes, including cash and trophies will be given out. Participants this year will be eligible to receive a free AGHS T-shirt as well. All public or private institutions in the US, Canada and Mexico, from kindergarten to high school, are allowed to form teams of three to compete. There will be 2 rounds on each day. To register, click here. Rules and more information can be found here. –Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America,Youth

Ing World Youth Qualifier May 6

Tuesday May 1, 2018

The 35th World Youth Goe Champion will be held in Germany, at Stahleck Castle in Bacharach, from July 18 to 23. Food and lodging will be covered by the organizers, and Ing’s Goe Foundation will provide $1500 for the air ticket. The qualifying tournament is this Sunday, May 6th, and players must register by Thursday, May 3rd. Games will be played on KGS, with Ing rules, 1hour 3/30 each. Skype video will be required for all games. The top four players in each group will then play a single elimination tournament. The winner will represent the US at the Ing World Youth Cup in Germany.

Eligibility: US Citizens, Resident of the US for at least 6 months for the past 12 months; Senior Group (Age 12—15) Junior Group (Age under 12). Players cannot be part of the the US team in the same group more than twice within 3 years.

Registration: By email or phone mingjiu7p@hotmail.com (650-796-1602) by May 3, 2018

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

The Empty Board: Philosophical Reflections on Go #4

Tuesday May 1, 2018

by William Cobb

Decisions about good and bad moves have a big role in go. It’s often not that easy to determine, but a move either promotes or hinders the achievement of the player’s ultimate goal, which is of course to win. Whether playing the game is good or bad is a different issue. To decide that you have to appeal to some goal independent of the game. This is a way in which go is not so much like life. Not because life situations are more complicated, but because the ultimate goal or purpose of life is much more difficult to determine. So deciding what is good and bad in life is much more difficult. As a result there is a lot of muddling through and a lot of just following along. That’s why in most cases we just don’t think about this very much. But if you want to be able to feel more confident about making decisions about good and bad in life, you will have to make an effort to determine what the goal of life is. Nevertheless, playing go can be very relaxing and comforting. It’s nice not to have to worry about what we are really up to.

photo by Phil Straus; photo art by Chris Garlock

Categories: Main Page,The Empty Board

“Twitch Plays Go” broadcast introduces the game to thousands

Monday April 30, 2018

Streaming giant Twitch.tv’s all-day livestream about go attracted nearly 20,000 viewers last Saturday. “Being able to introduce so many people to the game in such a unique way was a thrill,” said Hajin Lee, the former professional player and popular commentator.

The broadcast was hosted by Lee, Twitch streamer Stephen Hu, and directors of the “Surrounding Game” documentary Will Lockhart and Cole Pruitt, and featured a variety of go content for beginners as well as more experienced players.

Lockhart and Pruitt kicked off the broadcast with a segment on the rules of go (left). Next viewers enjoyed a special showing of The Surrounding Game, during which the twitch chat-room was abuzz with comments. “It was so much fun to follow the chat as the movie played” says Lockhart. “Part-way through, we were elevated to the featured video on Twitch’s front page, and all of a sudden the number of live viewers jumped to over 15 thousand!” Viewership hit a high of 17,500 during the livestream.

After the film, Lockhart hosted an interactive 9×9 game between the Twitch audience and Hajin Lee 4p (Haylee), in which viewers could vote between move options. With just a 2-stone handicap, the audience fought valiantly, but in the end the pro prevailed. “Although most of the audience was new to go, the chat consistently chose better options,” said Lee. “I think this interactive group play format has a great potential as a beginner class tool.”

The broadcast continued with live commentary on back-to-back high-level tournament games. Stephen Hu 6d joined Haylee to cast the semi-finals of the 2018 Creator’s Invitational Tournament between Justin Teng 6d (USA) and Peter Marko (Hungary). In the end Marko eked out a 0.5-point win, advancing to face winner Norman Tsai and Stephen Hu himself in the CIT finals next week.

Pruitt returned to host the final segment: the Collegiate Go League Championship. The strength of the West Coast was in full display, with UCLA and UC Irvine competing in the finals. In an exciting and dramatic result, with boards 2 and 3 split, the championship was decided by the board 1 result with another 0.5-point game. Shengjie Zhou 6d of UC Irvine escaped with the narrowest of victories over UCLA’s Cheng-Yi Huang 3p to notch Irvine’s first CGL championship.

“This was a tremendous opportunity to promote go,” said Hu. “Thanks to everyone who participated, and to BattsGo, the National Go Center, CatsPlayGo, and many more for providing entertaining promos for their channels.”

If you missed the livestream, an archived version of the “learn to play” segment is here and the rest of the stream is here.

Categories: Main Page,World

World Amateur Go Championships return to Japan this week

Sunday April 29, 2018

The World Amateur Go Championship returns to Tokyo this week, after a nine-year hiatus. Sixty three players from around the globe will compete in the 39th edition – known as the Gurunavi Cup – World Amateur Go Championship — May 4-7 at the Nihon Ki-in. Click here to see the full list of players. Fifteen-year-old Aaron Ye (right) will represent the U.S., while veteran player Yongfei Ge will play for Canada and Jose Abraham Florencia Islas will represent Mexico. Starting May 4, Ranka online will provide full coverage of the championship.

Categories: Japan,Main Page,World,World Amateur Go Championships

Evanston Go Club prepares for PechaKucha round 2

Saturday April 28, 2018

Mark Rubenstein and Bob Barber are preparing to do their second presentation about go at PechaKucha. Pecha-wha?

PechaKucha was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. PK is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. “PK Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts… just about anything, really!” Rubenstein tells the EJ. There are PK events in over 1,000 cities around the world.

“We did a PK presentation in 2011, and it was a blast!” said Rubenstein. “We wanted to give people an interesting and engaging introduction to Go, and in PK you’ve only got 6 minutes and 40 seconds in which to do it. We worked really hard, putting together slides and writing a script. With the recent events around AlphaGo, we thought it would be appropriate for us to do another one focused on that.”

The event that Rubenstein and Barber will be presenting at will be held June 5 at Martyr’s, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago. You can click here to download and watch their previous presentation.

“We encourage everyone to find a PK event in their hometown, and consider doing a presentation about Go.” said Rubenstein. “It’s a ton of fun, and a great way to increase the visibility of the game.”

Click here for more information about PK.

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

Eric Zhang wins NC Spring Tournament (again)

Saturday April 28, 2018

Perennial champion Eric Zhang won the North Carolina Annual Spring tournament on Sunday, April 22nd, topping a field of 38. “It was a beautiful sunny day on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill,” reports organizer Bob Bacon, “and after four rounds of intense competition the following winners were noted: in the top band, Eric Zhang won all of his games; second place was a tie between Brian Wu and Suyoung Yoon. Band 2 was won by Tao Ma with another 4-0 record; Paul Celmer placed second. There was a 3 way tie for first place in Band 3, with Eric Tillberg, Harrison Pedigo and Tom Roncoli each achieving a 3-1 record. Raul Crisan won all 4 of his games to lead the pack in Band 4, with Justin Su and Ganning Xu placing second. Band 5 was handily won by Ajay Dheeraj, with another perfect 4-0 record; Annie Yuan and John Schollenberger tied for second, and Sophia Yang was 3rd.

The local go community was encouraged by the many first- and second-time tournament participants. The tournament was attended by many supportive parents “and one special guest, local Professional Ying Shen 2P,” Bacon says. “Ying Shen 2P offered suggestions and encouragement to many of the participants, and her presence was greatly appreciated.” Jeff Kuang was the Tournament Director. Lunch was provided onsite by the Triangle Go Group. The site was arranged by the Cary Go Club.
photos by Bob Bacon

Categories: Main Page,U.S./North America

Redmond’s Reviews, Episode 11: Redmond 9p v. Numadate 6p

Saturday April 28, 2018

Michael Redmond 9p, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, for Episode 11 of Redmond’s Reviews. In this game, Michael plays against Numadate Sakiya 6p.

On the line for Redmond in this game was a seat in the C League on the road to challenge for the Kisei title. “Numadate is one of the more prominent of the younger players, thouigh he hasn’t yet had any big successes,” says Redmond. “His games are really interesting, and I was pretty sure I’d be facing a 3-3 invasion, so we’ll see that in this commentary, and I’ll share my current thinking about how to handle such invasions.” The game itself is really exciting, “especially toward the end.”

[link]

Categories: Main Page,Redmond Reviews