Longtime EJ contributor Janice Kim recently sent along this screenshot “from my favorite anime, Hunter x Hunter. In this longer scene, the King of the Chimera Ants learns Go from books, and takes on the national champion, winning after playing just ten games. His advisors had mentioned to him that Go is quite more difficult than chess or shoji (not agreeing, just reporting there :) and so he wanted a challenge while he’s waiting to take over the world.
“This is from episode 102, fourth season I believe. The first three seasons are on Netflix, but you have to go on crunchyroll to see episodes from there. The first episodes are a little slow, but there is a lot in there about training, that I’m perhaps somewhat hilariously extrapolating to Go, with I think good results.”
The National Go Center just announced its schedule of classes for the Fall. “This is the first time we have had a formal schedule of classes and we’re very excited about this step forward,” said Executive Director Gurujeet Khalsa. There will be a 6-week Saturday Children’s Beginner class for ages 6-12. This grew out of the Family Go program the NGC has been running for parents and children for the past two years. Josh Lee 6d will draw on his extensive experience at Family Go to lead the class. The kids will have a peer to look up to as well with Frederick Bao 5d assisting Josh fresh from his triumph at the US Open in Madison. “In another first for the NGC” says Khalsa, “we put an ad in Washington Parent magazine’s August issue, a prime spot for finding youth enrichment activities.” All of the children will be getting a copy of the first volume of the Level Up! Series as a workbook also with fun manga comics explaining the game.
There will also be a 3-week Adult/Youth(13+) Beginner Class. “New folks have always found the NGC to be a welcoming place to learn from others,” reports Khalsa, “but many people have expressed an interest in a class just for beginners to get started with go, and this is for them.” Daniel Chou 6d has volunteered to teach a 6-week class for Kyu level players to help them move towards Shodan and get more enjoyment out of playing. Rounding out the Fall schedule will be two monthly workshops led by Yuan Zhou. Zhou’s popular workshops are becoming part of the NGC curriculum with registration through the NGC website.
The NGC Classes page has links to all the classes with details and registration information. Says Khalsa, “This is just the beginning. We’ll be looking to expand in a Winter term with more classes, especially follow-ons for those taking beginner lessons.”
With this year’s U.S. Go Congress successfully concluded and rapidly fading into happy memories for the more than 400 go players who spent July 13-20 immersed in the game of go in Madison, WI, we wanted to take a moment to gratefully acknowledge to team of volunteers who made it all possible. Many of the folks below gave up the game for the week to make the Congress possible, and their dedication and commitment helped make this annual event the highlight of the American go calendar. Next year’s Congress is set for August 1-8 in Estes Park, CO; if you’d like to consider being a part of the Congress team, email lisa.scott@gocongress.org or journal@usgo.org if you’re interested in the E-Journal team.
2019
U.S. GO CONGRESS STAFF
E-Journal team; photo by Phil Straus
Congress Staff Director – Dave Weimer Deputy Director – Edward Ream Registrar – Susan DeVos Congress IT – Greg Steltenpohl Pro Coordinator – I-Han Lui Pro Coordinator Assistant – Satoru Inoue Pro Coordinator Assistant – Daniel Zhao Tournament Coordinator – Neil Ritter AGA Congress Coordinator – Lisa Scott Logo Design – Eric Piotrowski Staff – Dan Kastenholtz Staff – Yi Tong UW Memorial Union Staff – Laura Richards UW Memorial Union Staff – Lydia Dalton UW Memorial Union Staff – Hannah Scott
E-Journal Staff Managing Editor/Twitch stream host – Chris Garlock Twitch stream producer – Michael Wanek Assistant Twitch stream producer/host – Stephen Hu Twitch stream music – Dash8 Support manager and head barista – Todd Heidenreich IT department – Steve Colburn Twitch stream hosts – Julie Burrall, Samantha Fede, Tyler Oyakawa, Nick Sibicky Twitch stream Pro commentators – Yoonyoung Kim 8P, Yilun Yang 7P, Mingjiu Jiang 7P, Jennie Shen 2P, Ryan Li 1P, Stephanie Yin 1P Twitch interviews – Keith Arnold Head Game Recorder – Dennis Wheeler Game recorders – Austin Harvey, Bart Jacobs, Anthony Long, Jeffrey Losapio, Edward Stackman E-Journal Assistant Managing Editor – Karoline Li E-Journal reporters – Julie Burrall, Samantha Fede Future Staff – Quentin, Quentin
Special Thanks Josh Lee, Andrew Hall, Dan Ritter, Solomon Smilack, Andy Okun
The video games and commentaries for Games 6, 7 and 8 of the recent Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship have now been posted (see below). Commentators are as follows: Game 6 – Eric Lui 1p vs. Pavol Lisy 2p; commentary by Andy Liu 1p and Michael Wanek Game 7 – Artem Kachanovskyi 2p vs. Eric Lui 1p; commentary by Cornell Burzo 7d and Stephen Hu Game 8 – Ryan Li 1p vs. Ilya Shikshin 3p; commentary by Stephanie Yin 1p and Stephen Hu
This was a €10,000 EUR, single-elimination team tournament in which five AGA professionals matched up against five EGF professionals. Credits: Logo: Maria Chaplina; Layout: Mieke Narjes; Graphics: Stephen Hu; Producer: Michael Wanek; North American TD: Hajin Lee; European TD: Natalia Kovaleva; Tournament Sponsors: AGA & EGF To support this tournament and future tournaments like it, please support the AGA & EGF with donations or membership.
Jeremy Chiu 6d (left) vs. Aaron Ye 7d (right) in the 2019 Redmond Cup Senior Division Finals
This year’s Redmond Cup Finals at the 2019 US Go Congress in Madison, Wisconsin marked both the conclusion of a dynasty and beginning of a new era. 17-year old Aaron Ye 7d defeated 17-year old Jeremy Chiu 6d 2-0 to win his 7th Redmond Cup title, a record which will likely not be broken for many years. Taking black in Game 1, Chiu managed to pull ahead with a small lead through the early middle-game, but Ye’s successful reduction of Chiu’s potential and subsequent defense against Chiu’s attacks gave Ye a solid territorial advantage ending in Chiu’s resignation. In the second game, Ye took an early territorial lead while Chiu attempted to build potential in the center. However, Ye’s sharp endgame cemented his lead, and after 272 moves, Ye had won by 15.5 points and clinched this year’s Senior Division title. Ever since 2011, Ye and Chiu have been mainstays at the top of the North American youth scene, taking 11 of the 18 finalist spots (7 for Ye and 4 for Chiu) in the Redmond Cup over 9 years. It will be exciting to see who will rise to the top in the coming years.
Frederick Bao 4d (left) vs. Kevin Huang 6d (right) in the 2019 Redmond Cup Junior Division Finals
In the Junior division (12 and under), 12-year old 2018 Junior runner-up Frederick Bao 4d faced new competition in 11-year old newcomer Kevin Huang 6d who had placed first in the online preliminaries earlier this year. Ever since 4-time Junior champion Ary Cheng 6d graduated to the Senior Division (13-17) after last year’s tournament, the Junior field has been left wide open for young lions to take the vacant throne. Game 1 opened with fierce fighting from the beginning, with Bao taking a territorial lead in exchange for giving Huang the upper edge in the center battle. Bao made consecutive invasions into the potential Huang had created, but Huang was relentless in his attacks. In the end, the influence Huang had gained from attacking Bao’s invasions was enough to kill one of Bao’s large dragons and secure the first victory of the series by resignation. In game 2 the next day, Huang started with the now-archaic mini-chinese opening and took a large lead in the opening. A brilliant tesuji sequence to kill one of Bao’s groups seemed like it would seal the victory, but Bao fought back ferociously to close the gap. While he was able to chip away at Huang’s lead bit by bit, the territorial difference was just too much to overcome, and Huang secured his first Redmond Cup title after a grueling 340 moves with a win by 17.5 points. While Bao will be graduating to the Senior division next year, Huang will be the player for up-and-coming young players to beat in next year’s Junior tournament.
SGF files of this year’s Finals games as well as more information about the Redmond Cup can be found on the Redmond Cup page. Special thanks to Ashish Varma and Jake Fink for broadcasting the games live on KGS, as well as to the American Go Foundation for sponsoring this tournament. Registration for the 27th Redmond Cup will open in January 2020 with the online preliminaries starting in March. – Story and Photos by AGA Youth Coordinator and Redmond Cup TD Justin Teng
White: Albert Yen, 7D
Black: Helcio Alexandre Pacheco, 3D
June 2, 2019, in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Comments by Albert Yen, 7D
Game editors: Kiren Polara, Myron Souris
Albert Yen’s commentary is from his 2nd round win against Brazil’s Helcio Alexandre Pacheco. Albert gives even more variations for his favorite pincer opening. Although, the game is almost over by move 24, Albert continues the commentary with useful explanations of common shapes and tesujis. For the game moves, Albert also includes LeelaZero’s (AI) winrates.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.
White: Albert Yen, 7D
Black: Anibal Gomez de la Fuente, 1D
June 2, 2019, in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Comments by Albert Yen, 7D
Game editors: Kiren Polara, Myron Souris
Albert Yen’s commentary is from his 1st round win against Argentina’s Anibal Gomez de la Fuente. Although the game is effectively over by move 60, Albert covers instructive mistakes by both sides. For the game moves, Albert also includes LeelaZero’s (AI) winrates.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.
The dates for this year’s Cotsen Open have been set for October 26-27 in Los Angeles. The annual tournament is one of the major events on the AGA’s calendar of events and features cash prizes, free food truck lunches, a club competition and of course the ever-popular massage therapists (below). Registration details will be released soon.
If you’re a fan of the American Go E-Journal and have some
copy-editing skills, we’re looking to add a few editors to our team! Help get
the word out about the best game in the world to a global audience; email journal@usgo.org today if interested.
White: Albert Yen, 7D
Black: Jaesung Lee, 7D
June 5, 2019, in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Comments by Albert Yen, 7D
Game editors: Kiren Polara, Myron Souris
Albert Yen’s commentary here is from his 8th round loss against South Korea’s Jaesung Lee. Albert’s analysis covers the complicated middle game fighting, when one misread turns an even game into an almost immediate loss. For the game moves, Albert also includes LeelaZero’s (AI) winrates.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.
Albert Yen 7d on World Amateur Go Championship
Thursday July 25, 2019
[link]
White: Albert Yen, 7D
Black: Helcio Alexandre Pacheco, 3D
June 2, 2019, in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Comments by Albert Yen, 7D
Game editors: Kiren Polara, Myron Souris
Albert Yen’s commentary is from his 2nd round win against Brazil’s Helcio Alexandre Pacheco. Albert gives even more variations for his favorite pincer opening. Although, the game is almost over by move 24, Albert continues the commentary with useful explanations of common shapes and tesujis. For the game moves, Albert also includes LeelaZero’s (AI) winrates.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.