American Go E-Journal

From the Archives: Go Seigen vs Robert Ryder 1971 game record

Monday March 19, 2018

IMG_1292Robert M. Ryder, an active AGA administrator, kept meticulous organizational records as well as careful records of what seems to be the majority of his games. He played many others, and some names are easily recognized, as in this record of a game he played with Go Seigen in Murray Hill, New Jersey in November of 1971. Anyone familiar with Go Seigen’s visit or Robert Ryder’s activity in the AGA is encouraged to contact AGA Archivist Karoline Li at archives@usgo.org.

report/photo by Karoline Li, AGA Archivist

AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo; Game 17: Fun with kos

Sunday March 18, 2018

Michael Redmond 9p, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, reviews the 17th game of the amazing AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo2018.03.16_AG-KJ-self-play17_screengrabselfplay games. “There’s a bit of fun with kos,” says Redmond. “And there’s a new move that’s become popular in pro play. It’s an interesting and close game and AlphaGo finds a very unusual way to finish it off.”

“Master versus Master games are my favorite go videos” says Alek Erickson. “I love these self-play games,” agrees Melinda Green. “Amazing game and beautiful analysis,” adds GerSHAK.

Click here for Redmond’s video commentary, and see below for the sgf commentary. To support this content, please consider joining or renewing your membership in the American Go Association; click here for details.

Video produced by Michael Wanek and Andrew Jackson. The sgf files were created by Redmond, with editing and transcription by Garlock and Myron Souris.

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The Power Report (1/2): Korea wins Nong Shim Cup; Fujisawa defends 30th Women’s Meijin; Kato & Iyama win Pair Go

Sunday March 18, 2018

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal2018.03.18_19noshin10_1-2

Korea wins Nong Shim Cup:
  The final round of the 19th Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup was held in Shanghai from February 26 to March 1. Recently, victory in this three-way team tournament had been monopolized by China, but this time they were thwarted by Korea.
To recap, the first Korean player, Shin Min-jun 6P, gave his team a great start by winning all four games in the opening round, held from September 19 to 22. In the second round, held from November 24 to 28, he picked up two more wins before losing to Dang Yifei of China (at right in photo). Dang closed out this round with two more wins, so only two players had any success in the first two rounds.
In the first game of the final round, Game 10, Dang played Iyama Yuta 9P of Japan, who was his country’s last hope. Dang (W) won by resignation, so this was another international failure for Iyama, following on his loss in the LG final. In Game 11, played on February 27, Dang (W) beat Shin Jinseo 8P of Korea by resignation so he extended his winning streak to five games. In game 12 (February 28), Kim Jiseok 9P of Korea (W) scored a dramatic win over Dang by just half a point, so he prevented Dang from matching Shin’s record. In game 13, played on March 1, Kim (B) beat China’s top board, Ke Jie 9P by resignation. This secured Korea its first victory in the Nong Shim Cup since the 14th term without having to call upo2018.03.18_30fmeijin2_2n their top board, Park Junghwan. Korea scored eight wins to three losses, China 5-5, and Japan 0-5. Japan came third for the 12thyear in a row, but it was only the second time it failed to pick up even one win.

Fujisawa defends 30th Women’s Meijin: Recently, most of the women’s title matches have featured Xie Yimin playing Fujisawa Rina, but this year’s Women’s Meijin title match was different, with a member of an older generation trying to make a comeback. The challenger was Yashiro Kumiko (below left), who won a couple of titles over a decade ago, and the defender was Fujisawa Rina, who holds three of the top five women’s titles. The first game 2018.03.18_30fmeijin2_3was played on February 28 in the Arisu Building at the Heian Jogakuin University, an Anglican-linked women’s university also known as St. Agnes’ University. The Arisu Building is a former nobleman’s resident that is on the campus. According to Go Weekly, Fujisawa’s play “overflowed with fighting spirit.” She held the initiative throughout and forced a resignation after 196 moves (she had white). The second game, which was played on the campus of the Osaka University of Commerce on March 7, developed differently, with Yashiro taking the lead. However, she let Fujisawa pull off an upset late in the game and win by 3.5 points. This meant that Fujisawa defended her title with straight wins. Surprisingly, this is her first successful defence, which is not what you would expect of a player who not so long ago held four of the top five women’s titles. First prize is 3,500,000 yen (about $32,000).

Kato & Iyama win Pair Go: The final of the Professional Pair Go Championship 2018 was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya, Tokyo, on March 4. This is a knockout tournament, with 16 pairs competing. Reaching the final were the Kato Keiko 6P/Iyama Yuta 9P pair and the Suzuki Ayumi 7 P/Ko Iso 9P pair. The latter drew black in the nigiri, but lost a game full of hectic fighting. They resigned after 218 moves.

Tomorrow: Iyama wins first Judan game; 73rd Honinbo League; 43rd Meijin League

Categories: Japan,John Power Report
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San Diego club promotes go at Cherry Blossom Festival

Sunday March 18, 2018

For the seventh year in a row, the San Diego Go Club had several tables for demonstrating and teaching go during the annual 2018.03.18_san-diego-cherry-blossomCherry Blossom Festival this weekend at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. This year the festival stretched over three days: Friday – Sunday. The club was given a choice spot, just inside the entrance, right next to a crowd favorite: the large well-stocked koi pond. Thousands of people streamed through the garden, even coming through a light rain on Saturday (Note: plastic go stones do not float on wet vinyl go boards.)

Club members played demonstration games against go playing visitors as well as taught go to people who had heard of the game but never played. Dozens of copies of “A Way to Go,” the go pamphlet given to AGA chapters every year by the AGF, were distributed. The club added several new potential players to its email list.

– photo: Long-time AGA member (AGA #439)  Les Lanphear III (right) playing a serious game with a visitor from Minnesota; report/photos by Ted Terpstra, President, San Diego Go Club

Ki Choi tops Davis/Sacramento Go Club Spring Tournament

Sunday March 18, 2018

The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Spring Tournament at the North Highlands-Antelope library on March 3. There was a 2018.03.18_Ki Young Choi-croppedfield of eight players including Valerie Wong, who was playing in her first AGA tournament. Two 2018.03.18_Tyler Moore-croppedpatrons of the library expressed interest, and were given copies of “The Way to Go” and a brief introduction the game. The Upper Division was won by Ki Choi 2d (right), with a 2-2 record and the Lower Division by Tyler Moore 4k (left), with a 3-1 record.
– Willard Haynes

Chicago Math Teachers Learn Go

Saturday March 17, 2018

IMG_20180210_105212038“As an educator, I have been advocating using go as a math manipulative in schools, and dreaming about the day that students in every classroom will learn go,” writes 2015 AGF Teacher of the Year Xinming Simon Guo. At the Metropolitan Mathematics Conference of Workshops, an annual event for math educators in the greater Chicago area, professor Xiuwen Wu and Guo organized a workshop for teachers in February. “Teachers in the workshop had never heard about go. We first showed teachers how to play, and then they explored how the game is related to math standards in schools. After several games on mini boards, I shared the most important conclusion from our prior research — about 60% of math content from kindergarten to third grade can be covered in just one game. I also showed some authentic classroom videos on kids learning and playing go for further discussion.”

“My co-speaker professor Wu shared her experience on how to use go in  teacher preparation methods courses, and shared pre-service teachers’ suggestions on how to integrate go in math instruction. Finally, she highlighted the benefits of this game-based learning method, including student ownership of learning, wide coverage of math standards, low cost and easy maintenance. Classroom teachers, especially in early elementary grades, are in the ideal position to implement this teaching method. We need to raise awareness among educators involved in making decisions about effective math learning tools and materials, including teachers, school administrators, district education directors and superintendents. As educators learn about go, they will come to see the ease with which teachers can use the game to teach every learner a multitude of math concepts and skills,” adds Guo. – Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor.  Photo by Xinming Simon Guo

Redmond Reviews: Michael Redmond 9P vs Rin Kaiho 9P

Monday March 12, 2018

As a young player, Michael Redmond was in the legendary Rin Kaiho’s study group –where Rin’s wife served them all a meal 2018.03.11_redmond-rin-goseibefore they commenced playing go –) but in this week’s video game commentary, Redmond faces Rin in a Gosei tournament game, Redmond’s first tournament game of the year. “It was an unusual chance to get to play against such a famous player so early,” says Redmond, “and very special, as well.” Chris Garlock of the AGA E-Journal hosts; click here for the video.

“It’s amazing how one small mistake in midgame can make the difference between a white collapse and white advantage,” says Keldor314. “Go is just scary that way.”

“Another great review, thanks,” says Ewen Pearson. “Just joined the AGA. Are there SGFs for all of Michael Redmond’s reviews on usgo.org? If so where are they?” Click here for all the Redmond Reviews.

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Jung Hoon Lee wins Colorado Spring Tournament

Sunday March 11, 2018

Jung Hoon Lee 7D won the Colorado Spring Tournament held on March 10th in Denver, CO, topping a field of 29 players. 2018.03.11_CO-spring-tourney

Complete results:
Dan section:
1st: Jung Hoon Lee, 7D
2nd: Kent Evenson, 1D

Single-digit Kyu section:
1st: Lev Marcus, 8K

2nd: Hannah Jung, 9K
Double-digit Kyu section:
1st: Issac Hatfield, 14K
2nd: Levi Goncharov, 27K
reported by Eric Wainwright, Chapter president, Boulder Go Club

S&S news: “Rethinking Opening Strategy” #1 new release; Iwamoto classic returns

Thursday March 8, 2018

Slate & Shell’s new book, “Rethinking Opening Strategy: AlphaGo’s Impact on Pro Play” by Yuan Zhou, was recently the number2018.03.03_rethinking-opening-strategy one new release in board games on Amazon, reports publisher Bill Cobb. “It is selling like hot 2018.03.03_invasion-iwamotocakes” Cobb tells the E-Journal.

In other Slate and Shell news, Iwamoto Kaoru’s classic book “Invasion in Common Go Positions,” is available again. This book was originally published as part of “Keshi and Uchikomi: Reduction and Invasion in Go.” After substantial revision, the “Keshi” section was republished as “Invasions.” This definitive work analyzes both how to invade common situations in go games and how to defend against such invasions. “These are normal situations that regularly occur, making the discussion useful in everyday play,” says Cobb.

 

Historic go at Princeton’s Fine Hall

Thursday March 8, 2018

In the January 10 edition of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, there is an article by Elyse Graham called “Adventures in Fine Hall: The weirdness of math’s golden age.”  She writes of the hijinks of the great mathematicians of the 1930s gathering in the Princeton 2018.03.03_Math-EinsteinNew_0University Mathematics Department and the Institute of Advanced Studies: Albert Einstein, John von Neumann, Kurt Friedrich Gödel, Hermann Klaus Hugo Weyl.

Speaking of Fine Hall, the center of mathematics at Princeton, she writes, “To blow off steam, many students got into games, as players and creators both…. During the day, a visitor to the common room might see the nation’s mathematical brain trust absorbed in games of Go, bridge, double solitaire, or chess, played classic or whimsical variants.” She also writes that “A favorite was a double-blind variant of chess called Kriegspiel,” which Terry Benson has adapted for go at his Crazy Go nights each year at the U.S. Go Congress. “The boast went out that Fine Hall ‘could produce a champion in any game that was played sitting down.’”
– Ted Terpstra
photo (l-r): Luther Eisenhart, Albert Einstein and Walther Mayer

Categories: Go Spotting,Main Page
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