AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association
April 5, 2004
In This Edition:
U.S. GO NEWS: Go World Hits 100; Still Room At Yang Hackensack Workshop; You Could Look It Up; February Board Minutes Posted; Corrections; Bretherick Loses Games, Wins Contest
WORLD GO NEWS: Ch‘ang Ho Proves He92s The Best In The World (Again); Gu Li Defends Tianyuan With Straight Wins; Naiwei Comes Back Strong To Win Maxim; 37th British Go Congress In Milton Keynes; Other World Go News In Brief
CLOSE-UP: China 93B94 Team Wins Upset in CSK Powerhouse
GAME COMMENTARY: Steady Play, First Monday and Keeping Kaz Awake
THE TWO FUJISAWAS, PART 1
GO CLASSIFIED
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
ATTACHED FILES: 2004.04.05 Yu-Kato, www.gogameworld.s gf; 2004.04.05 Yang April Beginner Problem.sgf; 2004.04.05 Yang April Intermediate Problem.sgf; 2004.04.05 Yang April Advanced Problem.sgf; 2004.04.05 Furuyama--Tesuji 204-L10.pdf; 2004.04.05 Two Fujisawas, Mirror Go.sgf
U.S. GO NEWS
GO WORLD HITS 100: Go World, the successor to Go Review started by Ishi Press and John Power in 1977 and continued by Kiseido and Richard Bozulich has just published its 100th issue. This special 100 page issue contains an extended commentary on all six games of the recent Honinbo title match between Kato Masao and Cho U, as well as a report on the game in which the teenage Cho Hye-yeon defeated Rui Naiwei for the Women‘s Kuksu title. There‘s also an article on recent Korean joseki innovations, and lots more, including a brand-new comprehensive searchable online Go World Index at http://www.yk.rim or.jp/~kiseido/GWINDEX/gwi.html
STILL ROOM AT YANG HACKENSACK WORKSHOP: There92s still time to register for the 2004 NJ Yang 7p Go Workshop, reports organizer John Stephenson. Set for June 24-27 in Hackensack, New Jersey, the workshop features go author and teacher Yilun Yang, who Stephenson says 93has an uncanny knack to help players of all rankings, is able to pull profound lessons out of amateur games of any level, and will show you through an amazing analysis of your own games.94 Find out more and register at http://www.wingsg oclub.org/YangWorkshop2004.asp
YOU COULD LOOK IT UP: What92s a two-letter word for a Japanese game for two, played on a board ruled with 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines? You can look it up in the College Edition of PocketLingo, a PDA dictionary available at http://www.pocket lingo.com/
- Phil Straus
FEBRUARY BOARD MINUTES POSTED: Readers who are interested in AGA politics will want to check out
http://www.usgo.o rg/Board/ApprovedMinutes/index.asp, where the minutes of the February 2004 Board meeting have just been posted. Minutes are also available from the Board‘s other meetings since the new by laws were implemented last year.
CORRECTIONS
* 9392The Master of Go92 did not with the Nobel Prize,94 (Go Review, EJ 3/29/04) writes David Erbach, 93because the prize is not awarded for individual works. It‘s awarded for lifetime oeuvre. 91Meijin92 is just one of Yasunari Kawabata‘s marvelous and evocative novels, albeit the one best-known among go players. My personal favorite among the others is 91Snow Country,92 but they are all worth reading.94
* The Cherry Blossom Section K winner (EJ, 3/29) was Jonathan Markowitz (not Markiwitz); we regret the error.
BRETHERICK LOSES GAMES, WINS CONTEST: Steve Bretherick correctly identified our homepage heroes as Roy Laird and Joe Carl, claiming that 93Roy‘s greatest achievement in American go was doubtless making off with a corner‘s worth of my stones in round 2 of the 2004 NJ Open. Joe‘s major contribution was to kill one of my big groups in Round 3. The white blur in the corner of the photo is the back of my hunched up, tension gripped shoulder.94 Both are also E-Team members; Roy writes the Online Go column and serves as our webmaster, while Joe92s one of our intrepid reporters.
THIS WEEK92S PHOTO CONTEST: Speaking of the 2004 New Jersey Open, this week92s AGA Homepage photo of a line-up of proud (and nervous?) go parents is just crying out for a clever caption. Check it out at http://www.usgo.o rg/index.asp and send us your best caption suggestion (one per person, please!) at journal@usgo.org Winner gets the usual go vendor gift certificate and braggin92 rights.
WORLD GO
CH‘ANG HO PROVES HE92S THE BEST IN THE WORLD (AGAIN): On April 1st, defending champion Yi (Lee) Ch‘ang ho 9p so thoroughly dominated his opponent, Mok Chin seok 7p, in game four of the 8th LG Cup championship match, that Mok resigned after only 107 moves, making the final score in the best of five match 3:1 and giving Yi his fourth consecutive LG Cup championship. One corner was completely empty except for Mok‘s white star point! This is Yi‘s sixth LG Cup and his sixteenth international championship since 1992 when he won the 3rd Tongyang Cup. Even though Mok finishes in second place, his performance in this and recent tournaments has allowed him to be promoted to 8p. This last game of the LG Cup was played on the Korean resort island Cheju Do. Game records can be found at http://www.go4go. net.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
GU LI DEFENDS TIANYUAN WITH STRAIGHT WINS: Chinese professional Gu Li 7p, defeated not quite 20 year old Xie He 5p by 3.5 points in game two of the 18th Tianyuan (Tengen) title match to win the overall title with a score of 2:0. Li, who will represent China in most international events this year, appears to be taking his place among other Chinese go greats Nie Weiping, Ma Xiaochun, and Chang Hao who have all won the Tianyuan multiple times. The Tianyuan is sponsored by the Xinmin Wanbao she Newspaper, the China Go Association, and the magazine Xinmin Weiqi.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
NAIWEI COMES BACK STRONG TO WIN MAXIM: Rui “Iron Lady” Naiwei 9p played Black and defeated Yu Ch‘ang hyeok 9p by 4.5 points in game three of the best of three 5th Maxim Cup to win overall with a score of 2:1. Rui, who is one of the few women pros who has won tournaments not restricted to women, lost several of her titles this last year (i.e., Myeongin, Kuksu, and Jeongganjang Cup). However, according to http://www.go4go. net, Rui‘s win/loss record so far in 2004 is 16:3, a sign that she is coming on strong once again.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
37TH BRITISH GO CONGRESS IN MILTON KEYNES: The 37th British Go Congress was set to occur last weekend in Milton Keynes, UK, starting with the British Lightning Tournament on Friday and finishing up with a 6 round McMahon tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned for a full report next week.
- reported by Dennis Hardman from the British Go Journal at http://www.britgo org
OTHER WORLD GO NEWS IN BRIEF
(compiled from various sources)
- ITALY: Tortellino Go Tournament; 1st place Francesco Marigo 4d (Pisa), 2nd place Atsushi Omoji 3d (Padova), and 3rd place Dragos Mihai Tanasescu 5d (Modena).
- AUSTRALIA: 8th NEC Open Handicap Tournament; To be held in Melbourne, April 24th and 25th 2004.
- JAPAN: 43rd Judan sen (preliminary tournament); Kataoka Satoshi 9d advances. Michael Redmond 9d to play Kobayashi Izumi (Women‘s Honinbo).
- KOREA: 14th BC Card Cup (New Star); An Choyeong 8p to play Lee Yeongku 3p starting on April 7th.
- KOREA: 23rd KBS Cup; Choi Cheolhan advances to 3rd round.
- TAIWAN: 5th Chukan Cup; Huang Xianren 3p to play Zhou Junxun (Tiawan Kiin Cup title holder) on April 6th for title.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
CLOSE-UP: China 93B94 Team Wins Upset in CSK Powerhouse
by Zhiiping You
China92s upset victory in the recent Power House Team Match has been the occasion for much celebrating in the Chinese weiqi (go) community. Competition was fierce: Japan, which swept the Match last year, wanted to hold onto the title, while South Korea was determined to win the top honors that eluded them last time around.
While Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all sent teams made up of top players, including some title-holders, China sent what many jokingly referred to as the 93B team.94 Instead of sending the “top” players, China not only held qualifying rounds to select players, but made them one-game elimination rounds, thus dramatically increasing chance as a factor. Since only two of the five top-ranked Chinese players made the team, nobody harbored high hopes for China92s chances this year.
In the Power House Team Match, each 5-member plays every other team in a round-robin format; whichever team wins three or more games wins that round. Surprising everyone (except maybe themselves), the Chinese 93B-team94 team did exceptionally well, edging out Japan 3:2 and beating Taiwan 4:1 before facing Number 1 contender South Korea, which had only lost one game in the first two days, shutting out Taiwan 5:0 and trouncing Japan 4:1. With this convincing 9-1 record, South Korea92s dream team seemed unstoppable but the Chinese underdogs were unimpressed, allowing South Korea just one win on their way to a 4:1 rout. Japan lost to Taiwan 2:3 in the final round; final standings were China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
The whole Chinese weiqi community has been giddy with the joy of victory since their team92s Powerhouse Team Match win, with the leader of the China WeiQi Institute jokingly claiming they can form four such 93B94 teams. Interestingly, the only player from South Korea‘s team who won all his games was Lee Chang-Ho and my own personal view is that he is still a little above everybody. The rest of the players are about equal in strength, and China clearly has many strong players.
- Zhiiping You 5d lives in the Boston area, where he teaches a weiqi class in a local Chinese school.
GAME COMMENTARY: Steady Play, First Monday and Keeping Kaz Awake
This week92s game commentary features steady play between two top-level pros, Kato Masao, 9p and Yu Bin, 9p, facing off in the 3rd Nong Shim Cup Ring Contest in a game played December 1, 2001. Running commentary throughout the game is by various Chinese pros; the game is provided by permission from http://www.gogame world.com, a subscription service for commented pro games.
If it92s the first Monday of the month, it92s time for another original set of life and death problems from Yilun Yang: enjoy these brain-teasers and look for the solutions next week!
93Seeing you make this shape would keep me awake at night,94 says 93Kaz94 Furuyama in our bonus file this week, Kaz92 latest lesson, this one on attachments. Be sure to check it out; we don92t want Kaz to lose sleep!
To view the attached .sgf file(s), simply save the file(s) to your computer and then open using an sgf reader such as Many Faces of Go or SmartGo. Readers who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen‘s http://gobase.org /sgfeditors.html
THE TWO FUJISAWAS, PART 1
By William Cobb
Many students of modern go are confused by the presence of two prominent Japanese 9 dans with the same family name: Fujisawa. In fact, they are related; the older, Hosai, who died in 1992, is the nephew of the younger, Shuko.
One of Hosai92s most famous achievements was besting Go Seigen in a ten-game match (jubango) in 1944. He was the only player to defeat Go Seigen in a jubango, though he did it with a handicap of playing Black in every game, while others alternated between Black and White. Hosai tried twice in the early 9150s at the even handicap, when he and Go were the only 9 dans in the world, but lost both times. After the second loss, Hosai temporarily resigned from the Nihon Kiin and changed his original given name of Kuranosuke to Hosai.
Hosai played at the top level, but did not capture many titles. He won the Oza in 1958 and the Judan in 1964, as well as the Igo Championship in 1962 and 1965. He was the first player to reach 9 dan under the Oteai system, in which promotion was won through competition with other pros in the Nihon Kiin in regularly scheduled games, and was the only 9 dan for almost a year.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Shuko, like Hosai, is also known by more than one given name, in a sense. He prefers Hideyuki, the alternate pronunciation of his given name, rather than Shuko, but the Shuko pronunciation is more popular in both Japan and the West. (His original given name was Tamotsu.)
Hosai was noted for his fondness for playing mirror or mimic go when he had White. A game between the two Fujisawas in which Hosai plays mirror go is attached for your amusement. Would you have continued the mirroring, or stopped sooner? Hosai loses the game.
(Sources: The Go Player92s Almanac 2001, go.base.org, Sensei92s Library.)
GO CLASSIFIED: BOOKS, EQUIPMENT, ETC
FOR SALE: Eighteen pre owned go books. Complete info at:
http://members.ao l.com/bhaber/gopage/books/books.html (4/5)
WANTED: Go Reviews older complete years 60‘s & 70‘s send info on condition and price to flynp1@comcast.net (3/29)
AVAILABLE: A few very nice Japanese kaya table gobans (thickness varies from 33mm to 69mm) and one 7 inch japanese kaya goban with legs. Also I have kaya bowls. jade stones, marble stones, agate stones and double convex yunzi best stone in China. photos are available at http://cat.isi.ed u/~ruiwang/gobanpic/ click fullsize for 2048x1536 photos and regularsize for 640x480 photos. Please contact ruiwang@isi.edu (3/22)
WANTED: The Treasure Chest Enigma Noriyuki Nakayama; new or used in very good condition. Contact Shavit at info@go-mind.com (3/22)
FOR SALE: the book “Enclosure Josekis” by Masaki Takemiya and published by the Ishi Press. Now out of print, it was purchased years ago by the Canadian Go Association and then forgotten so it is in new, unopened condition. Contact Frank Monks at pmonks@look.ca (3/22)
AVAILABLE: beautiful t-shirts for the Brooklyn Go Club, designed by Michael Samuel and about to be made. $12. Jean Claude Chetrit 718-638-2266 zorglub@brooklyngoclub.org
http://brooklyngo club.org/ (3/15)
WANTED: Someone with a Macintosh computer running system 10.3, Panther, who has successfully downloaded sgf software to read the games in this newsletter who is patient and willing to provide assistance so I can successfully download such software and read the games. Contact Andrew Whitmont at Yakpsyche@yahoo.com Please identify your purpose in the header of the email so I don‘t think its spam. (3/15)
WANTED: Materials showing steps in traditional go stone manufacture. Needed for children‘s classes and outreach programs. Would like a shell and piece of slate with holes from stone blank removal and possibly some unshaped blanks as well. A few sample finished stones would also be appreciated. Willing to compensate. Any leads on proper contacts would be very helpful. Please e-mail johneckelkamp@yahoo.com (3/8/04)
WANTED: Logo for the new Cyprus Go Association: http://cyprus.eur opean-go.org Contact Nicholas Roussos at roussos@alum.rit.edu (3/8/04)
GO CLASSIFIED: GO PLAYERS WANTED
CARLSBAD, CA: mschlee@yahoo.com (3/22)
FT. COLLINS, CO: Our club is currently looking for more members, beginner to dan level. Feel free to contact Steve for more information at liquidpophybrid@aol.com (3/8/04)
CHICAGO, IL (south suburbs): Jeff, tompygo@comcast.net (3/22)
ASHEVILLE, NC: ichliebedeinunderhosen@yahoo.com
(3/22)
NEW JERSEY SHORE: Contact Iangershman@hotmail.com (3/29)
SANTA FE, NM: 7-12 grade players in the area to join our Santa Fe Preparatory School Go Club. We are also looking for a strong local player willing to mentor the members from time to time. Contact: James Taylor (jtaylor@sfprep.org). Our club website is http://www.sfprep org/clubs/SFPrepGo/index.htm, and we meet Thursday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:00. (3/15)
Harrison NY: Mauricio Aguirre; maguirrel@hotmail.com (3/29)
STATE COLLEGE/CENTRE COUNTY, PA: (Penn State University, UP Campus). A small unofficial club has started with only five or so members, looking for more people to expand the club. Contact djs443@psu.edu for more information. (3/29)
Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach nearly 7,000 Go players worldwide every week at Go Classified! Listing are free and run 4 weeks; send to us at journal@usgo.org
GO CLASSIFIED: TEACHERS
5-DAN TEACHES ONLINE: Free evaluation lesson with a 5 dan on any server; if you would like to know more email icarii@zoominternet.net
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
April 10 & 11: Rochester, NY
Kerwin Workshop
Lee; LF004K@mail.rochester.edu
April 10 & 11: San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Go Club Spring Tournament
Steve Burrall 916.688.2858 sburrall@comcast.net
April 17: Seattle, WA
Seattle Cherry Blossom Tournament
Jon Boley 206.545.1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org
http://www.seattl egocenter.org/
April 18: Seattle, WA
Seattle Cherry Blossom Youth Lightning Tournament
Jon Boley 206.545.1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org
http://www.seattl egocenter.org/
April 17 & 18: Toronto, ON, CANADA
Victoria Education Centre Toronto Open
Frank Monks 416.591.6414 pmonks@look.ca
http://www.go canada.org/
April 17 & 18: College Park, MD
2004 John Groesch Memorial Tournament
Steve Mount 301.405.6934 smount@umd.edu
http://www.wam.um d.edu/~smount/umdmain.html
April 18: Boston, MA
MGA Spring Handicap Tournament
Zack Grossbart 617.497.1232 zack@grossbart.com
April 24: Middlebury, VT
Spring Tournament
Peter Schumer 802.388.3934 schumer@middlebury.edu
April 24: Fort Wayne, IN
1st Indiana Go Tournament
Jim Kiraly 260.710.3644 jim@fwgc.net
April 25: Menlo Park, CA
First California High School Goe Tornament
Mingjiu Jiang 650.969.2857 mingjiu7p@hotmail.com
http://www.gomast ers.com/
May 2: Seattle, WA
Monthly Ratings Tournament
Jon Boley 206.545.1424 jon@seattlegocenter.org
http://www.seattl egocenter.org/
June 3 6: Round Top, NY
Guo Juan Workshop at The Woodlands
Jean Claude Chetrit 718.638.2266 zorglub@brooklyngoclub.org
http://brooklyngo club.org/cgi bin/disp_topic.iphtml?topic_id3D188
June 24 27: Hackensack, NJ
2004 New Jersey Yang 7p Go Workshop
John Stephenson 201.612.0852 jcs@wingsgoclub.org
http://www.wingsg oclub.org/Yangworkshop.asp
For the European Go Calendar see
http://www.europe an-go.org/TOURNAMENTS/TListbyDate.htm
GET LISTED & BOOST TURN OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 6,000 readers every week! List your Go event/news In the E Journal: email details to us at MAILTO:journal@usgo.org
Ratings are on the web! Check the website; http://www.usgo.o rg for the full list.
GET YOUR TOURNAMENT RATED! Send your tournament data to MAILTO:ratings@usgo.org
AGA CONTACT LIST: For a full list of AGA officers, contacts & their email addresses, go to:
http://www.usgo.o rg/org/index.asp#contactinfo
Published by the American Go Association
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