American Go E-Journal

The Power Report (2): Cao wins World Go Legends; Cho Chikun first to 1500 wins

Wednesday May 10, 2017

by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Cao wins World Go Legends: The Japan-China-Korea World Go Legends Tournament is a special tournament (a one-off?) held in Zhejiang Province to commemorate the start of the City A League, which seems to be the most popular tournament in China. The sponsors invited a number of players who starred in international go in the late 20th century to participate. The results are given below. Long-term go fans will recognize the names, though there are some notable absentees (presumably not available). In the final, held on April 27, Cao Dayuan 9P of China (W) beat Kobayashi Koichi 9P of Japan by half a point (both these players were at their peak in the 90s). Results listed on the Nihon Ki-in homepage are given below, but are incomplete.

Round 1 (April 25). Cao Dayuan 9P (China) beat Kim Soojang 9P (Korea); Takemiya Masaki 9P (Japan) beat Liu Xiaoguang 9P (China); Ma Xiaochun 9P (China) beat Pak Seongho 9P (Korea); Yoda Norimoto 9P beat Yang Jaeho 9P (Korea); Nie Weiping (China) beat Suh Bongsoo 9P (Korea); Kobayashi Koichi 9P (Japan) (W) beat Hua Yigang 9P (China); Yu Bin 9P (China) beat Yamashiro Hiroshi 9P (Japan); Ko
bayashi Satoru 9P (Japan) beat Suh Neunguk 9P (Korea).

Quarterfinals (April 25). Yoda (B) beat Ma; Yu Bin beat (B) Kobayashi Satoru; Kobayashi Koichi (B) beat Nie; Cao (B) beat Takemiya.
Semifinals (April 26) Cao (W) beat Yoda; Kobayashi Koichi (W) beat Yu Bin.

Cho Chikun first to 1500 wins: On April 27, a win by Cho Chikun (right) against Kataoka Satoshi 9P in the second round of the 7th Masters Cup was his 1500th official win. He is the first player in Japan to reach this mark. His record is 1500 wins, 821 losses, 3 jigos, and 4 no-results, for a winning percentage of 64.6. Rin Kaiho is in second place with 1409 wins. Cho was surprised when a large of reporters came into the room, as he had had no idea he was approaching a landmark. As usual, this record generated a lot of trivia, so here goes. Cho’s age is 60 years ten months, and it took him 49 years to rack up 1500 wins. He has played games against 307 different opponents. His most frequent opponent is Kobayashi Koichi: they have played 129 games, of which Cho has won 66. He has scored most wins against the late Kato Masao, his record being 71-42-1 no result. Against Iyama Yuta, his record is a quite respectable 5-7. His top year just for wins was 2001, when he won 47 games. He has never had a minus record, the closest he came being 21-21 in 2009.

Categories: Japan,John Power Report

AGA Master Review Series, Game 31: Li Qincheng 9p [W] vs. Master 9p [B]

Wednesday May 10, 2017

“Li Qincheng is a Chinese player who won the Asian TV Cup in 2016 at the age of 18, and was promoted to 9P after that,” says Michael Redmond 9p in this video commentary, hosted by Chris Garlock of the AGA E-Journal, of the thirty-first game of Master (AlphaGo). “In this game Master plays a powerful fighting game, taking control early and chasing White’s weak group around the board.”

[link]

Categories: Master/AlphaGo Commentaries

Houston hosts Janice Kim workshop

Monday May 8, 2017

The Houston Go Club is hosting a pro teaching workshop with Janice Kim June 3-4 in Houston Texas. The weekend event will go from 9:00 to 5:00 both days, with lunch included. Ms. Kim (professional 3 Dan) will lead the workshop. The event will be held at the Houston City Club, One City Club Drive, Houston, Texas 77046. This event is offered with the financial help of the AGA, for just $20 per participant. There is limited seating, so you must pre-register. Preregistration can be done on the Houston Go club Facebook page under Events. Fees will be collected thru Eventbrite. Contact Paul Howard of the Houston Go club for more details. paulrhowardtx@gmail.com

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware,U.S./North America

Alabama club is a local hit

Monday May 8, 2017

A new club in Dothan, Alabama, founded in March, has seen a high level of participation in its opening weeks, with a total of 18 players at their first meeting. The club meets at the Fanatix game shop (2970 Ross Clark Cir #2, Dothan, AL 36301), Sundays at 3p. The club features more experienced players teaching beginners, so anyone is welcome. “I have been playing go on and off for a few years and could never find someone in my area to play against,” club founder Matt Clark told the E-Journal. “So I started this club to try and increase the interest in the game and help to better everyone involved.” Clark adds that “We are all so excited to be part of the go world and we look forward to many good times together.” Reach him at mclark@bondysford.com.

Categories: U.S./North America

The Power Report (1): Iyama defends Judan title; Gosei Play-off; Shin wins 4th Globis Cup

Monday May 8, 2017

by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Iyama defends Judan title: The fourth game of the 55th Judan title match was played at the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in in Kita Ward, Osaka on April. 21. This is the home ground of the defending champion, Iyama Yuta. After some fierce middle-game fighting, the game was expected by observers to be decided in the endgame, but the challenger, Yo Seiki (right), made an oversight, so he had to resign after 196 moves. With move 99, Yo plunged into a capturing race that he couldn’t win. He pulled out of it when he realized his mistake, but the damage was already done. He played on, but his efforts to stage an upset were unavailing. That gave Iyama a lead of 3-1, so he won the match. He defended the Judan title that had earned him his grand slam last year and also maintained his sextuple crown. This is his fourth Judan title overall and his 43rd title. The Judan prize is 7,000,000 yen. Incidentally, there was no party on the eve of the fourth game, which is a little unusual. The idea was to help the players concentrate on the contest.

Gosei Play-off: Motoki Katsuya 8P (left) will begin his challenge to Iyama Yuta for the Honinbo title on May 9. In the meantime, he has reached the play-off to decide the challenger to Iyama for the Gosei title, which shows that his Honinbo success is no fluke. This is the first time Motoki has reached the final, but his opponent is Yamashita Keigo 9P, who has played in seven Gosei play-offs and won four of them (he has won the title once, back in 2000). Results of the semifinals:
(April 17) Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo by resig.
(April 20) Motoki Katsuya 8P (B) beat O Rissei 9P by resig.
Incidentally, Motoki and Yamashita will also run into each other in the quarterfinals of the Tengen tournament.

Shin wins 4th Globis Cup: The 4th Globis Cup was held on the Tokyo campus of the main sponsor, the Globis Graduate School of Management, from April 21 to 23. It featured an all-Korean final, so it was certain that Korea would pick up its first win in this international tournament for teenaged players. The full name is the 4th Globis Cup World Go U-20 (players need to be under 20 as of 1 January). In the final, held on April 23, Shin Jinseo 7P (W) beat Byeon Sangil 5P by resignation after 250 moves. First prize is 3,000,000 yen. This result was another disappointment for the home team, which had got two players to the final in the inaugural tournament (Ichiriki Ryo beat Kyo Kagen), but it was some consolation to see Ichiriki take third place and the new young star Shibano Toramaru come fourth. The first stage of this tournament is four mini-leagues, in which two wins take you to the quarterfinals and two losses eliminate you. Full results are given below.
Group League Round 1 (April 21). Xie Erhao 4P (China) (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo 7P by resig.; Byeon Sangil 5P (Korea) (W) beat Kyo Kagen 4P (Japan) by resig.; Gu Jihao 5P (China) (B) beat Yo Chito 4P (Japan); Shin Jinseo (W) beat Mutsuura Yuta 3P (Japan) by resig.; Shibano Toramaru 3P (Japan) (W) beat Jian Jingting 2P (Chinese Taipei) by resig.; Zhang Ruijie 2P (Cho Zuiketsu, Japan) (B) beat Willis Huang 7D (USA) by resig.; Huang Yunsong 6P (China) beat Jie Hui Kwa 7D (Singapore); Shin Minjun 5P (Korea) (W) beat Viacheslav Kaymin 7D (Russia) by resig.
Group League Round 2 (April 21). Ichiriki (W) beat Huang by resig.; Jian (B) beat Kyo by resig.; Yo (B) beat Kaymin by resig.; Mutsuura (W) beat Kwa by resig.; Byeon (B) beat Shibano by resig.; Xie (B) beat Zhang by resig.; Huang (W)
beat Shin Jinseo by resig.; Gu (B) beat Shin Minjun by resig.
Group League (Round 3) (April 22) Ichiriki (W) beat Zhang by resig.; Yo (B) beat Shin Minjun by resig.; Shibano (B) beat Jian by resig.; Shin Jinseo (W) beat Mutsuura by resig.
Quarterfinals (April 22). Ichiriki (B) beat Huang by resig.; Shibano (B) beat Gu Jihao by 3.5 points; Byeon (B) beat Yo by resig.; Shin (W) beat Xie on time.
Semifinals (April 23). Byeon (B) beat Ichiriki by resig.; Shin (B) beat Shibano by resig.
Play-off for 3rd (April 23) Ichiriki (W) beat Shibano by resig.
The second and third tournaments were won by Chinese players. Ironically, the three Chinese representatives this year all qualified immediately for the quarterfinals with two straight wins, but were all eliminated in this round. This
was the first time that Japan got three players into the quarterfinals.

Tomorrow: Cao wins World Go Legends; Cho Chikun first to 1500 wins

Categories: John Power Report

Nominations open for 2017 AGA Board elections

Sunday May 7, 2017

This year three American Go Association (AGA) regional Board of Director seats are in play for the Eastern, Western, Central regions. 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 region in which the member resides and must be received by June 15, 2017. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.

Categories: U.S./North America

AGA Master Review Series, Game 35: Master [W] vs. Jiang Weijie 9p [B]

Saturday May 6, 2017

“The new moves that Master plays are often hard to understand, but Master makes them work,” says Michael Redmond 9p in this video commentary, hosted by Chris Garlock of the AGA E-Journal, of the thirty-fifth game of Master (AlphaGo). In this game, Master plays white against Jiang Weijie 9p. “In this analysis I attempt to explain two unusual corner sequences.” Jiang Weijie won the LG cup in 2012, after taking several Chinese titles.

[link]

Categories: Master/AlphaGo Commentaries

Shubert hands KGS over to new management

Wednesday May 3, 2017

KGS founder Bill Shubert has handed over management of KGS — the largest Western-based international go server in the world — to a new team. “Building and running KGS was incredibly exciting, and I’m very proud of how popular it is and how many people enjoy and use it every day,” said Shubert in a recent post. “But in recent years I haven’t been able to give KGS the attention and effort that it deserves. I’m thrilled that the AGF and the new KGS management team are ready to take it over! With their resources and skills we can all expect great changes for KGS.” The American Go Foundation has assumed stewardship of the server, and, according to the post, plans to stabilize it financially and support the upgrades needed to make KGS even more accessible and more usable to the go world.

“We’d like to thank Bill for his contribution to the game of Go and the Go community in the years he’s dedicated to this service,” said the KGS admin team, comprised of head Administrator Akane Negishi (KGS sweety), Lee Schumacher (KGS lelliot), who will handle KGS operations and Oren Laskin (KGS oren), who will focus on development. “We hope to continue to uphold his high standards and continue to make KGS the best go server.”

“This is a big moyo move for the AGF.” said AGF President Terry Benson. “To reach more kids and more players we need to build the community of online players into a force to spread the game.”

Categories: U.S./North America

Cuban Mind Sports Conference gets underway

Wednesday May 3, 2017

by Roy Laird
The first Cuban Mind Sports Conference got underway today (Wednesday) in Camaguey, the island’s second largest city, at the Santa Cecilia Conference Center in the Plaza de los Trabadores under the auspices of the University of Camaguey. Under the watchful gaze of several images of Che Guevara, seventy or so participants assembled for the kickoff. Dr. Lazaro Bueno, the principal organizer, introduced Thomas Hsiang, the Executive Director of the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), which helped to sponsor the event. Dr. Hsiang explained the rigorous criteria for admission to IMSA, and reviewed recent developments such as the University-Industry Cooperative Program, through which anyone who achieves dan level in go is guaranteed a job. The university, where the program began, now partners with more than 30 local businesses. After a brief discussion of Chinese go, Dr. Hugo Beltre spoke about various orthopedic injuries he has treated in many mind sports competitors, possibly the first such presentation at a mind sports conference. After a lunch break, the afternoon was devoted to a Cuban – American informal friendship matchup, and a demonstration of contract bridge.
To this observer, Cuba seems to be a remarkably friendly and welcoming place. I am staying at a “Casa Familiar,” a very picturesque small hotel with seven rooms, a rooftop bar, and its own restaurant. Prices are almost embarrassingly low. My lovely room is only $40 per night, and I found a decent slice of pizza for about $.25. At the same time, there are surprising challenges. No Internet, and some wireless phone plans do not work here. You have to purchase a card and be in the right place to use it. But that adds to the charm – no Internet dishes, no cell towers, and forget about any chain restaurant you have ever heard of. There are two separate currencies, with similar denominations, but one is worth 25 times the other, so keeping them straight is important. Fortunately, the unfailingly honest and helpful Camagueyans were always eager to help. The streets, often barely wide enough for one car, twist and wind through the city, but the downtown area is small and easy to learn. Street traffic includes bicycles, pedicabs, horse-drawn carts, and a few cars now and then, many of them vintage autos from the 1950s. On a nighttime walk, I felt quite safe. Many buildings that seemed abandoned during the day turned out to be occupied, and the residents had thrown their doors and windows wide open. In many cases they could have reached out and shaken my hand as I passed without getting up. A group of perhaps 50 people had gathered in a side street, listening quietly as a middle-aged woman spoke passionately to them. When I passed by later on my way home, they were still there.
The conference continues tomorrow and Friday, and appears to be a harbinger of great things to come, in Camaguey and perhaps throughout Cuba. Dr. Bueno told us that the university plans to begin a serious program of research into the benefits of competitive games. Considering Cuba’s prominence in the world of chess, it seems likely that we can expect great things from our neighbor to the south. The next time there’s an event in Cuba, sign up if you can!

Categories: Latin America

AGA Master Review Series, Games 29 and 50

Wednesday May 3, 2017

Game 29: Jennie Shen 2p, hosted by Andrew Jackson, translates Meng Tailing 6p’s commentary and adds her own analysis of Master’s (AlphaGo) 29th game. In this game, Master plays white against Mi Yuting 9p. Click here for the video.

Game 50: Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by American Go E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock, takes a look at another Ke Jie-Master game. In this game, Redmond says, “Ke Jie tries Master’s moves on the AI: up to Black 13, this is actually the same fuseki as in Game 20, with Master as Black and Park Junghwan as White. Ke Jie plays Master’s moves with Black, maybe to see how Master is going to handle it.” Click here for the video.

[link]

Categories: Master/AlphaGo Commentaries

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »