Tuesday October 10, 2017
Register now for the fourth Gotham Go Tournament, coming up Saturday, November 18th in New York City. “We expect to reach our capacity of
80 players so register early,” says organizer Peter Armenia. You can register and pay online (“Don’t worry,” Armenia says, “if you can’t make it we will give you a refund.”) Players of all strengths welcome; breakfast bagels, snacks, coffee and goodies provided.
Tuesday October 10, 2017
scattered all over a private home. Jason Stearns was first in the top division; Carolyn Atterbury was first in the second division. Prizes were go books from Slate and Shell, and go-themed t-shirts. “Our club is planning to participate in a regional tournaments in Boulder, Colorado, and to send members to the upcoming Cotsen tournament and another in Plano, Texas early next year,” reports Lewis Geer.Monday October 9, 2017
Chen An tops Triangle Memorial Go tournament: Chen An 7d topped the open section with a perfect 4-0 score at the 17th Triangle Memorial Go tournament, organized by the Triangle Go Club 
and held on September 30. A total of 40 players participated in the competition. Qingbo Zhang 5d from Virginia won second place. In the 2d to 1k section, Suyoung Yoon 2d won first place and Xiaoping Wu 1d was the runner-up. Sergio Parreiras 3k and Bob Bacon 6k won first place and second place in the 2k-6k section. In the 7k-9k section, Thomas Roncoli 8k won first and Leroy Anderson 8k was secobd. Justin Su 20k and Ellen Zeng 10k won first and second place in the 10k and up section.
– Jeff Ku
ang; photo: Chen An (left, in blue jacket). Click here for more pictures.
Horn and Cha win in Davis-Sac: The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Fall Tournament on September 30 at the Rancho Cordova library in Sacramento. There was a small field of six players. Jeff Horn (left) won the upper division and Tai-An Cha the lower division. Both had 4-0 records.
– Willard Haynes
Monday October 9, 2017
The go club in Walla Walla, Washington is small, says Steve Tanner, “but dedicated.” The club, an AGA chapter, has been in continuous
existence for several years and local go players gather in a local pizza shop every Wednesday evening. “In an effort to get some new publicity and attention for the club, two of the members decided to set up their goban on the Walla Walla Main Street sidewalk and play a game,” Tanner reports. “The goban gets people looking,” the club reported on its Facebook page, where they posted some shots. They plan to do a similar setup in other public locations around town in the future.
Saturday October 7, 2017
Part 2 of the Game 10 commentary begins at move 113. “At this point, the game looked ready for a peaceful endgame, with White in the lead.”
says Michael Redmond 9p in his commentary. “By move 121, however, White has given away about 20 points, an unexpected trade that transforms the game radically. Back in a wildly dangerous middle game, complications that arise from a fight in the center will put ten groups in danger.”
Click here for Redmond’s video commentary, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock. (For Part 1, click here for the video commentary and here for the sgf file).
“Looking forward to these every week,” Leo Dorst commented on Part 1, echoing the sentiments of many viewers. “Such a great way to start the weekend after a late Friday night at the Amsterdam Go Club. Rereading my old Go World magazines I see Michael moving to Japan. If he had not done so and trained there, we might not now have these wonderful commentaries. Sometimes the world just makes sense…” Watch for a Q&A video here next week with Redmond in which he responds to selected comments.
The Game 10 videos are produced by Michael Wanek and Andrew Jackson. The sgf files were created by Redmond, with editing and transcription by Garlock and Myron Souris.
Friday October 6, 2017
“This game is like two games in one, and it starts with an unusual pincer by black and then a new move by white,” says Michael Redmond 9p in 
his game commentary on AlphaGo-AlphaGo Game 10. “Then there’s a series of fights that goes in a circle around the board, each one contained but each quite exciting.”
Click here for Redmond’s video commentary, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock.
The game is so complex that the commentary is being released in two parts; Part 1 goes through move 112 and Part 2, which will be released Saturday, October 7 at 6p EDT, contains the remainder of the commentary. Enjoy!
The Game 10 videos are produced by Michael Wanek and Andrew Jackson. The sgf files were created by Redmond, with editing and transcription by Garlock and Myron Souris.
Friday October 6, 2017
Applications are now being accepted for the American Go Foundation(AGF) college scholarship. The program recognizes high school students who have served as important youth organizers and promoters for the go community. To apply, download and complete the application form here. Applicants should describe their accomplishments and volunteer work in a short essay. Letters of recommendation may also be included. Applicants whose enthusiasm and ambition have helped spread go in under-served areas will be given special consideration. Strong players who spend much of their time voluntarily teaching will also be considered, although the award focuses on promoters and organizers who have made substantial contributions during their go career. Applications are due Nov. 5th this year. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.
Friday October 6, 2017
With less than two weeks to go to this year’s Cotsen Open, registrations are nearing the 100 mark. Pre-registration is required to get the
discount on registration and free lunch tickets for Saturday and Sunday. Registration closes on October 19 and the tournament runs October 21-22 at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “Please don’t wait to register,” says Tournament Organizer Christopher Saenz, who also recommends pre-paying using the PayPal link. “This will guarantee making the first round of play as long as you check in with the Tournament Director.”
The annual Cotsen Open is one of the most popular events on the U.S. go calendar, featuring free lunch both days, free shoulder massages, plus a strong field of competitors. Additional attractions this year are a continuous screening of The Surrounding Game on Saturday as well as the pro-pro game with Yilun Yang on Sunday.
Food trucks this year are Kogi Korean BBQ Taco Truck on Saturday and Belly Bombz Korean Wings & Sliders on Sunday.
“This will be a great year. Hope to see you all there!” says Saenz.
photo: enjoying a shoulder massage at 2015 Cotsen Open; photo by Chris Garlock
Wednesday October 4, 2017
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Iyama takes lead in Meijin title match: The third game of the 42nd Meijin title match between Takao Shinji Meijin and Iyama Yuta was held at the Kiyomi Mountain Villa: Hana-jukai, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture on September 21 and 22
. The match was level at 1-all, so this was a key game: the winner would gain momentum, and the loser would come under pressure. Fighting started early in the top right corner, but Iyama, who had black, surprised the players following the game with a tenuki with 17. After playing just two moves in the bottom left corner, he came back to the first fight. The spectators (via a TV monitor) couldn’t work out the point of the two moves in the bottom left, but, after some hard thought, Cho U 9P, the Asahi Newspaper commentator on the game, worked out that Iyama’s aim was to prevent Takao from playing a sequence that ended up in a ladder if Black kept playing the most aggressive moves. His moves at 17 and 19 acted as a ladder breaker. Takao modified his play and ended up taking profit in the top right while giving Iyama influence.
Both sides continued to play aggressively, making the game one complicated fight after another. After a ko fight won by Takao in the bottom left, he invaded Black’s bottom right territory and succeeded in living after fighting a number of kos. Again, Iyama took compensation with outside influence. More fighting followed, and up to move 145 the game was played at a very high level, with neither side making a mistake and the players agreeing in their analysis, but with 146 Takao made a slack move. It was slack presumably because it was purely territorial, saving some cut-off stones. Instead, he should have reinforced his sole remaining weak group. By harassing it, Iyama was able to expand his centre moyo, and there was no way for Takao to reduce it sufficiently. He resigned after Black 241. After the game, Takao commented that he was not too worried about falling behind because he felt he was playing well – putting aside just one move.
The fourth game was played at the Inn Kaiseki Notoya in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on October 2 and 3. Taking white, Iyama secured a resignation after 164 moves. I will give some more details about the game when available. Takao faces his first kadoban on October 16 and 17.
Fujisawa Rina does well in Gosei tournament: The first ambition of young players is to reach the Main Tournament of the top seven tournaments. This is the final section of a tournament that either produces a challenger or provides entry into leagues. Usually, it more or less means reaching the best 16 or the best 32, but the number may vary. In the previous Judan tournament it was the best 16, but in the previous Gosei tournament the best 29. These are all knock-outs, so in the Gosei some players were seeded into the second round. Historically, women players have not done very well gaining entry to main tournaments, with eight women achieving this goal nine times. (For those interested, the list goes: Honda Sachiko, Kobayashi Reiko, Kusunoki Teruko, Ogawa Tomoko, Yos
hida Mika, Kobayashi Izumi twice, Kato Keiko, and Kuwabara Yoko.) In a game played on September 21, Fujisawa Rina 3P (right) became the ninth woman, reaching the Main Tournament of the Gosei tournament. The last time this happened was nine years ago (Kato and Kuwabara both qualified in the Tengen). None of her predecessors won a game, so Fujisawa has a chance to set a record for women.
Xie makes good start in Women’s Honinbo: The first game of the 36th Women’s Honinbo title match, in which Xie Yimin (left) is challenging Fujisawa Rina, was held at the Kashoen inn in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture on September 27. Taking black, Xie secured a resignation after 257 moves.
Shibano wins King of the New Stars: The second game of the 42nd King of the New Stars title was held at the Nihon Ki-in headquarters in Tokyo on October 2. Shibano Toramaru 7P (black) beat Son Makoto 5P by resig. Often success in this junior tournament is a good omen for future success, but in Shibano’s case that success is already coming. As described in recent reports, he won the Ryusei title and a seat in the new Honinbo League. Since the Ryusei win earned him promotion to 7-dan (if he hadn’t won it, he would have got the promotion from his Honinbo success), he is not eligible to play in the King of the New Stars tournament again. First prize is worth two million yen (a little over $18,000).
Redmond AlphaGo Q&A released
Wednesday October 11, 2017
Michael Redmond’s series of commentaries on the fascinating AlphaGo-AlphaGo games has proven extremely popular, with nearly 90,000
views so far, and lots of comments from viewers. Today Redmond, along with host Chris Garlock, releases his first Q&A video, responding to some of those questions. “It’s been a wonderful challenge, not only trying to understand these complex, historic games, but figuring out how to explain them,” says Redmond, “so the response to the videos has been quite gratifying and we’re pleased to acknowledge and respond in this new series of Q&A videos.”