News from the American Go Association
November 21, 2005
Volume 5, #101
CHINESE AND KOREANS FACE OFF IN SAMSUNG SEMIS
ZHANG XUAN DOMINATES JIANGQIAO CUP
REDMOND WINS ONE IN TENGEN PRELIMS
HONINBO LEAGUE TIGHTENING UP
TIME RUNNING OUT FOR YEARBOOK, CHALLENGER DEALS
DISCOUNTED HANDICAP
REVIEWS WANTED
CALENDAR
CHINESE AND KOREANS FACE OFF IN SAMSUNG SEMIS: Luo Xihe 9P and Hu Yaoyu 8P of China will take on Choi Cheolhan 9P and Lee Changho 9P of Korea in the upcoming Samsung Cup semi-finals. The Samsung Cup, now in its 10th edition, is the largest international tournament in terms of participants, allowing any professional and some amateurs to compete in its preliminary rounds. This cup has been won by Koreans players seven times and Japanese players twice. This year none of the six Japanese (among the 32 players in the main event) survived the second round. In the third round, Lee Changho 9P defeated fellow Korean Yoo Chanhyuk 9P, while Hu Yaoyu 8P of China ousted Kim Myeongwan 7P of Korea. E-Journal readers will recall that Jie Li 9d of the US defeated Kim in a demonstration game at the last US Go Congress (unfortunately Li wasn't eligible to play in the Samsung). Also in the third round Choi Cheolhan 9P defeated fellow Korean Cho Hunhyun 9P to join Lee and Hu in the semifinals, but Lee Sedol 9P, who is listed as among the current top three pros in Korea along with Lee and Choi, lost out to Luo Xihe 9P of China. The semifinals , which will be best-of-three matches, will be held in December, with Luo meeting Choi and Hu playing Lee. Encouraged by the first-ever victory for the Chinese when Chang Hao 9P wrested the 5th Ing Cup from the Koreans earlier this year, the Chinese are hoping to take the Samsung Cup for the first time this year as well.
ZHANG XUAN DOMINATES JIANGQIAO CUP: Zhang Xuan 8P has won the Women's Jiangqiao Cup in China yet again. Zhang has now won this cup in each of its three occurrences, defeating Zheng Yan 2P for the second time in a row. The final is a best-of-three match, and Zhang won the first two games by resignation. Zhang, who is married to Chang Hao 9P, one of the top male pros in China, has had many triumphs since becoming a pro in 1982, starting out as a 4P. For photos and career highlights see http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?
name=Zhang Xuan . Zhang's opponent in the first edition of this cup in 2003 was Huang Jia, who is one of the many women pros in Asia about whom we are unable to find any information on English language sites. The Jiangqiao Cup has the largest prize among Chinese women's tournaments; the winner receives 100,000 yuan, about $12,000 US.
REDMOND WINS ONE IN TENGEN PRELIMS: Michael Redmond 9P, the California native who is a member of the Nihon Kiin, defeated Kanazawa Hideo 7P in one of the preliminary rounds of the 32nd Tengen in Japan on November 10th. We regret that we are unable to provide a link to an SGF file of the game.
KONO EVENS UP TENGEN: Kono Rin 7P, the challenger for the 31st Tengen in Japan against title holder Yamashita Keigo 9P, has come back to win the second game of the best-of-five match and even the score at 1-1. Both games were won by the player with White,
by 6.5 and 5.5 points respectively. The third game will be this coming Thursday. This is Kono's first ever challenge for a major title. He's in his early twenties and became a pro in 1996.
HONINBO LEAGUE TIGHTENING UP: In the League to determine the challenger for the 61st Honinbo in Japan, the competition is tightening up as four players are now at 2-0 and the other four are 0-2. The 2-0 group includes Cho U 9P and Hane Naoki 9P and current Kisei, along with Yamada Kimio 8P and So Yokoku 8P.
TIME RUNNING OUT FOR YEARBOOK, CHALLENGER DEALS: Time is running out on this month's free Yearbook deal and the 2006 Shodan Challenge! Anyone joining or renewing their AGA membership during the month of November will receive a free copy of the 2004 American Go Yearbook in addition to the forthcoming 2005 Yearbook. Join now at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp Plus, the deadline for joining the 2006 Shodan Challenge is December 1; for details on how to qualify for the Challenge, email us today at journal@usgo.org
DISCOUNTED HANDICAP: In response to the recent discussion of handicap go in the E-Journal, Slate & Shell is offering a special price on a set of three books that contain expert advice about playing handicap go as both Black and White and at every level from two to nine stones. The set includes three books: "How to Play Handicap Go" by Yuan Zhou and the two volumes of "Masterpieces of Handicap Go". This special price of $30 for E-Journal readers is a $54.00 retail value. Check out sample pages of the "Slate & Shell Handicap Combo" at www.slateandshell.com
REVIEWS W ANTED: Get published and get a $10 gift certificate too! The E-Journal is seeking reviews of the following go books: Get Strong at the Endgame by Richard Bozulich (Kiseido), The Chinese Opening by Kato Masao (Kiseido), In the Beginning by Ikuro Ishigure (Kiseido), Reflections on the Game of Go by William Cobb (Slate & Shell), Dictionary of Basic Tesuji, vols 1 and 2 by Fujisawa Shuko (Slate & Shell), All About Joseki by Mingjiu Jiang and Guo Juan (Slate & Shell), Lee Changho's Novel Plays and Shapes, vol 1 by Lee Changho (Yutopian), Beauty and the Beast: Exquisite Play and Go Theory by Shen Guosun (Yutopian), Cho Hun-hyeon's Lectures on Go Techniques by Cho Hun-hyeon (Yutopian), The Treasure Chest Enigma by Noriyuki Nakayama (Out of Print), Korean Style Baduk, vol 1, by Lee Changho. Email journal@usgo.org for details on review specs.
December 3: Hartford, CT
CCC Winter Tournament
Bill Fung chiw
aifung@netzero.com 860-648-1527
December 3: Piscataway NJ
Feng Yun Go School monthly AGA rated game
Feng Yun GoLesson@yahoo.com 973-992-5675
December 3: Chicago, IL
Heart Transplant of Darkness
Bob Barber komoku@earthlink.net 773-467-0423
December 3: Denver, CO
Te wo Tsunaide: a Pair Go Tournament
Jasmine Sailing jsailing@netonecom.net 303-388-4666
December 4: Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Fall Open
Peter Nassar pnassar@vet.upenn.edu 215-898-6271
Matt Bengtson mattbengtson@earthlink.net 215-704-4600
December 4: Amherst, MA
Western Mass Fall Go Tournament
Charles Sutton 413-253-9873 casutton@cs.umass.edu
http://www.cookwood.com/personal/go/wmgt/2005/2005.html
December 11: Princeton, NJ
Princeton Fall Self-Paired
Rick Mott rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu 609-466-1602
December 17: Arlington, VA
Holiday Helper
Allan Abramson
allango@igc.org 703-684-7676
December 17: Davis, CA
Davis/Sacramento Quarterly Tournament
Fred Hopkins cfredhop@msn.com 916-548-8068
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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