American Go E-Journal

London Go Centre to Host Not-The-London-Open

Saturday March 24, 2018

London is getting a new go tournament. Sort of. The Not the London Tournament will run May 26th – 28th. Sponsored 2018.03.24 I'm not from Londonby London Go Club and the BGA, and made possible by the T Mark Hall Foundation, the Not the London Tournament is meant to both compliment the year-end London Open, as well as refocus London go to the new London Go Centre.  The Go Centre plans on running the NTLO tourney the weekend of the second May public holiday and the London Open at its normal time, between Christmas and New Year.

The NTLO tourney will also run in parallel with the final stages of identifying the challenger for the British Championship.

Registration for NTLO will soon be available here. Pre-registration may be done via e-mail. A map to/from the London Go Centre can be found here.

Gerry Gavigan, West London Go Club secretary and chair of the London Go Centre, says a yet-as-confirmed go professional will be in attendance:  Catalin Taranu is a possibility, though both Nihon Ki-in and the KBA  have also expressed some interest in sending a pro to the tournament. Details will be updated on the site when finalized.

The McMahon system will be used to pair players. All other details, to include local travel, &  hospitality, fees, and sight-seeing  can be found here.

– Charles “Doc” Sade; graphic from I’m Not from London, which has nothing to do with the go tournament. 

Go Spotting: Counterpart

Friday March 23, 2018

The opening title montage for Starz’ new scifi, noir-spy series Counterpart is arresting: One black stone on a spotless white2018.04.01-Counterpoint S1-E1 - The Crossing go board separates into two stones, which then divide into numerous black and white stones across an endless board. This theme repeats throughout the rest of the series in both explicit and suggestive patterns, intimating that while the conflict you’re about to witness originates from a rigid black and white ideology, it is best played by the intuitive, shifting strategies of go.

Go players are taught early to “see the whole board.” That is nearly impossible in Counterpart, as the “board” grows and shrinks throughout the series, even as the acquisition and defense (or knowledge of ) territory remain essential.

The first episode, “The Crossing,” opens with a go game between the story’s central protagonist, Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons), and his friend Andrei (Silk is playing black, Andrei white)  in progress at an outdoor cafe in Berlin (above).

And it just gets better from there; there are several references to go and go memorabilia (including books), throughout the season’s episodes.

2018.04.01_Opening Scene_COunterpart_Episode5In episode 5, Shaking the Tree,  Silk –a heretofore weak player– nearly bests Andre (left). This is integral to the story as it tells us something important about this Silk (yes, there is more than one. I did mention this a scifi spy tale, right?) different from his counterpart.

According to cinematographer Martin Rhue, go was always integral to the show’s writers, which is why the game’s motif was incorporated into the title sequence.

Rhue confesses neither he nor Counterpart‘s creator /producer Justin Marks actually play go…yet.

But Rhue said a true go player would stage the board for each shot, as well as instruct the actors on how to handle the stones. Rhue did not know whether past famous games were  staged on the board or just a game from the contracted go player’s personal past.

If your are fond of noirish (scifi) spy tales reminiscent of le Carré’s Smiley’s People, as well as go, Counterpart — which wraps up its first season on Sunday, April 1 — might be just the series for you.
– Charles “Doc” Sade

Categories: Go Spotting,Main Page
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From the Archives: The First International Amateur Go Tournament 1963

Thursday March 22, 2018

IMG_0203The Nihon Ki-in hosted the first International Amateur Go Tournament in 1963, which was attended by AGA administrator Robert M. Ryder of New Jersey. The packet included in Mr. Ryder’s papers in the archives includes the rules, schedule, and ephemera from what is marked as the first international go tournament held in Tokyo, Japan. Participating countries: Austria, England, West Germany, The Netherlands, The Republic of China, The Republic of Korea, The United States of America, Yugoslavia, and Japan.

Mr. Ryder was very active in the AGA through the 1970s. Anyone who knew him or worked with him is encouraged to contact AGA Archivist Karoline Li at archives@usgo.org.

photo/report by Karoline Li, AGA Archivist

NYIG Open Go tournament set for April 21

Wednesday March 21, 2018

Registration is now open for the first New York Institute of Go Open Go Tournament, scheduled for Saturday April 21. Click here2018.03.18_nyig-graphic  to register. The tournament will be held at the New York Institute of Go, 255-05 Northern Blvd, 2FL, Little Neck, NY 11362. Space is limited to 90 players, “so please register early,” says TD Tianhao Xiong, adding “Players of all ages and all strengths welcome!” For more information please check ny-go.org or email td.nyig@gmail.com

Hai Li 5P plans to spend more time teaching US amateurs after a successful US Go Congress experience

Tuesday March 20, 2018

4.pic_hdImpressed with the dedication and focus of amateur players at the US Go Congress, Hai Li 5P is planning on coming back to the US to teach in the LA area. Attendees at the 2017 US Go Congress in San Diego will recognize him as one of the pro teachers, and the leader of a large delegation of his students and their families from China. Fourteen students aged seven to eleven and ranging from 2d to 5d came with Mr. Li (photo at right) to the Go Congress and participated in many of the tournaments and youth events, including the US Open. According to Mr. Li, they had a wonderful experience and felt challenged by their tournament games, which Mr. Li hopes will motivate them to study even harder after their return to China. All fourteen students expressed the desire to return for the next Go Congress, and Mr. Li hopes that he can bring an even larger group of students to this year’s Go Congress in Williamsburg, VA.

While observing tournament games at the Go Congress in San Diego, Mr. Li was struck with the focus and attention given to the games by the amateur players, particularly the kyu-level players. As a teacher, Mr. Li has trained many top players, including Shi Yue 9P, but now focuses most of his teaching on his go school in Tianjin, China that he built from just three students. JinHai Go School now employs nine other professional teachers – seven full time, two on contract – who train over 200 students in the main campus and satellite campuses around Tianjin. The focus of the go school is young amateurs, based on the belief that training in go is beneficial for the formation of good habits – focus, manners, intelligence, and improved academic performance. 20180101_084503The students also train to improve their ranking, of course, which they can do at a large annual tournament around the turn of the new year. This past January, Mr. Li’s Bohai Rim Tianyuan Go Tournament (photo at left) concluded successfully, with nearly 800 players from Tianjin and five surrounding provinces participating – and even a few players from the US – participating. Mr. Li hopes that more go lovers from the US will attend the tournament in the future.

Mr. Li was moved by the importance with which the amateur players at the Go Congress treated the one-on-one playing experience, particularly the adult kyu-level players. This inspired him to return to the US to promote Go to these players and more generally, and he is hoping to help grow the American go player base more actively by starting a branch of his go school here in the US this year, beginning in the LA area. Stay tuned!

photos provided by Hai Li 5P
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

The Power Report (2/2): Iyama wins first Judan game; 73rd Honinbo League; 43rd Meijin League

Monday March 19, 2018

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal2018.03.19_56jyudan1_4

Iyama wins first Judan game: The Judan best-of-five got off to a start on March 6. It was played at the same venue as the Women’s Meijin game, as detailed above. These two titles share a sponsor, the Sankei Nerwspaper, and it has been the practice in recent years to link them in this way. The challenger is Murakawa Daisuke 8P, who has been the top young player at the Kansai Ki-in for some time now. This is his fourth title match with Iyama. His first challenge was the only successful one: he scored 3-2 and took the 62nd Oza title from Iyama in 2014, but the following year he lost it to him 0-3. He also lost the 41st Gosei title match to Iyama by the same margin in 2016. This is the reverse of the usual pattern, in which a young player fails in his first challenge but does better later. 2018.03.19_56jyudan1_5Murakawa’s record so far against Iyama is three wins to 14 losses: his only wins have come in their first title-match clash.
In the first Judan game, Murakawa drew black in the nigiri. The tenor of the game was set quite early when Iyama played a cleverly timed sequence that turned an earlier move of his into an efficient forcing move. After that, the game developed peacefully for a while, but that was misleading; in the end, it turned into a capturing race between two large groups. This was won by Iyama, so Murakawa had to resign after 156 moves. The second game will be played on March 22.

73rd Honinbo League: The Honinbo League is one round and one game away from finishing. As before, Ida Atsushi 8P has the provisional lead, but he hasn’t yet played his sixth-round game against Yamashita Keigo 9P. Motoki is on 4-1. Yamashita on 3-2, and Ko Iso 8P on 4-2. One of these three will be the challenger. Results of recent games are listed below.
(March 1) Ko Iso 8P (B) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P by resig.
(March 8) Motoki Katsuya 8P (B) beat Yo Seiki 7P by resig.; Kobayashi Satoru 9P (B) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig.

43rd Meijin League: After four rounds of the league, two players share the lead: Cho U 9P and Shibano Toramaru 7P. both 2-0 (both have already had their byes). Recent results:
(March 1) Hane Naoki 9P (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by resig.; Cho U 9P (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke 8P by resig.
(March 8) Kono Rin 8P (B) beat Takao Shinji 9P by resig.
(March 15) Shibano beat Yo Seiki (don’t have details yet).

Promotion
To 3-dan: Tanimiya Ayako (40 wins; as of Feb. 27). Tanimiya earned her promotion after 37 years as 2-dan.

Go Classified: Crazy Stone emulation? Sunnyvale CA players

Monday March 19, 2018

Does Crazy Stone Deep Learning run on a Mac in Emulation? Looking for someone(s) who has(have) experience in running Crazy Stone Deep Learning on a Mac using emulation such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion.
Reply to  rudvalis@math.umass.edu

Sunnyvale CA players wanted: Go players and wannabe Go players aged 50 years and over, please join us in the Sequoia Room of the Sunnyvale Senior Center, 550 E. Remington Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94087, from 2-4pm on Fridays. Contact: Jean deMaiffe, (408) 930-5888; jean@dougandjean.com

 

 

Categories: Go Classified,Main Page
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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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