While other Go Congress attendees were taking advantage of Southern California’s great weather and many attractions on Wednesday, 106 players put in a full day on the boards in the 4-round Die Hard Tournament. Five players scored a perfect 4-0 result: Oliver Wolf 3d; Yunxuan Li 2d ; Linden Chiu 1d; Jeffrey Zhang 4k and Garrett Smith 11k.
– Andy Olsen, Die Hard Tournament Director; photo by Daniel Smith
American Go E-Journal
106 Clock in for Die Hard Tourney
Thursday August 4, 2011
U.S. Go Congress Game Records, Pro Commentaries, Pairings & Results (thru 8/4)
Thursday August 4, 2011
Tournament Crosstabs: Pairings & Results
- 2011 US Open
- 2011 North American Masters Tournament
- 2011 Redmond Cup Junior Division
- 2011 Redmond Cup Senior Division
- 2011 Strong Players Open
U.S. Open Pro Game Reviews
Round 1 Board 1 reviewed by Mingjiu Jiang 7p
Round 2 Board 1 reviewed by Maeda Ryo 6p
Round 2 Board 2 reviewed by Li Ting 1P and Maeda Ryo 6P
Round 3 board 1 reviewed by Jennie Shen 2P
Round 4 Board 1 reviewed by Jennie Shen 2P
Round 4 Boards 2 and 3 reviewed by Michael Redmond 9P
North American Masters’ Tournament Pro Game Reviews
Round 1 Board 1 reviewed by Hajin Lee
Round 2 Board 1 reviewed by Li Ting and Maeda Ryo
Round 2 Board 4 reviewed by Jennie Shen and Maeda Ryo
Redmond Cup
Round 1 Senior Division by Curtis Tang
Pair Go Tournament
Round 1 Board 1 – Hugh Zhang & Jasmine Yan vs Aaron Ye & April Ye
Round 1 Board 2 – Dae Hyuk Ko & Wan Chen vs Patrick Allen & Lisa Scott
Round 2 Board 1 – Yuan Zhou & Roxanne Tam vs Hugh Zhang & Jasmine Yan
Round 2 Board 2 – Dae Hyuk Ko & Wan Chen vs Lionel Zhang & Amy Su
photos: Main playing area (left); Michael Redmond 9P (r) and Jennie Shen 2P (l) do live game commentaries (r) on top U.S. Open games Thursday morning on KGS with EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock; photo by Todd Heidenreich
Brian’s Go Photo: Go Congress Moves Outdoors
Thursday August 4, 2011
The Youth/Adult Pair Go Tournament strong room was held outdoors on Monday afternoon. photo by Brian Allen
Brian’s Go Photo: Go Players Hit the Beach
Thursday August 4, 2011
Go players at the U.S. Go Congress in Santa Barbara, CA enjoyed the nearby beach, sunshine, a light breeze, perfect temperatures — and of 
course a game of go — on Wednesday, the traditional Congress mid-week rest day. Other beach-going go players watched porpoises, sea lions, and pelicans diving for fish.
– photo: Congress Director Lisa Scott (l) enjoys a rare moment of relaxation; photo by Brian Allen
Shusaku Number, Corrected
Thursday August 4, 2011
In our recent “Shusaku Number ” article (What’s Your “Shusaku Number?”), we mistakenly reported that Hoensha founder Honinbo Shuho faced Shusaku in four of the “Castle Games.” Shuho actually never had the chance to play in those matchups. However, records of 38 games between the two masters have been preserved. The oldest dates from 1850, when Shuho was just twelve years old; most notable is the ten-game series (jubango) that Shuho and Shusaku played in 1861. In that series, playing mostly Black with no komi, Shuho managed six victories and one tie. For more details including copious historical material and several commented game records, you can consult Invincible: The Games of Shusaku, generally regarded as one of the most important go books to ever appear in English.
– Roy Laird
Phil’s Portraits: Familiar Faces
Wednesday August 3, 2011
Tuesday’s gallery of photos from EJ photog Phil Straus: 
PRO GAME COMMENTARY: NAIM Round 2, Board 4: Maeda & Shen on Hu-Chen
Wednesday August 3, 2011
2011 US Go Congress
North American Masters Tournament
Round 2 Board 4
W: ZiYang Hu 1p
b: ZhaoNian Chen (Mike) 7d
Commentary by Maeda Ryo 6P, Jennie Shen 2P, transcribed by Chris Garlock
Recorded by Solomon Smilack
Pandanet-IGS Announces New Client
Wednesday August 3, 2011
Next February, IGS (the Internet Go Server) will be twenty years old. In those two decades, IGS has gone through many major changes, 
especially since it was acquired by Pandanet. These days, in addition to hosting hundreds of players at any hour of the day or night, IGS simulcasts many major tournaments, attracting as many as 1,500 online observers, hosts two of its own online events (The Pandanet Cup and the Cho Chikun Tournament.) On Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Go Congress, nearly forty Congress attendees gathered for a presentation from Pandanet-IGS on the latest upgrade.IGS President Hiroko Taki (in E-Journal hat and Pandanet t-shirt in photo) and Pandanet staffers Hidekazu Hirai and Keiko Sota , who had traveled from Japan announce that PandaGo, a new, improved, Java-based client, was released in April. They also noted that a client, Tetsuki, is available for the iPod/iPhone/iPad, a feature not currently available from KGS, the other server prominently used by Western players. Click here or here to view a Tetsuki video that Mr. Hirai and Ms.Sota presented. A client for the Android is scheduled to roll out in November. A general discussion of IGS followed; players were especially interested in the ranking system. AGA International Liaison Thomas Hsiang explained that the system is extremely transparent, and is explained at length here. It’s a conservative system, moving slowly through a large numbers of grades – each level is split in half, so for instance a 3K must earn their way to 3K+ before advancing to 2K. Grades tend to run about 3 ranks below AGA ratings. Attendees were also interested to know how IGS handles the problem of “escapers.” Mr. Hirai responded that players who log off their games forfeit within five minutes. A bug that currently boots iPhone users offline when their phone rings is being fixed. With 75,000 active users, Pandanet-IGS hopes to attract more interest from Western players and urged online players to take the new clients out for a test drive, and write to developer@pandanet-igs.com with comments and suggestions.
– Roy Laird; photo by Phil Straus
Zen, Go bot and The Daily
Wednesday August 3, 2011
“A recent victory for a program called ‘Zen’ — which last month beat a highly ranked amateur player from Taiwan — has the Go programmer community buzzing,” reported Benjamin Carlson in the July 31 edition of The Daily. Carlson notes that “In games ranging from chess to ‘Jeopardy!’ powerful computers are making short work of human champions — with one notable exception.” “Can this be a turning point in the history of Go?” asked Zen co-creator Hideki Kato in a Go forum after the victorious results. The “Go bot” story — which discusses recent advances in go and AI through Monte Carlo Tree Search — goes on to quote Jie Li 7D, who calls go “one of the most artistic board games” as well as go programmer David Fotland, who says ““It’s so hard to look at a position and figure out who is winning.”
