News from the American Go Association
July 3, 2006
Volume 7, #55
ZHAONIAN CHEN & JUNG HOON LEE IN MASTERS B-LEAGUE FINALS
FENG YUN STUDENTS OFF TO CHINA
FUJITSU FINAL TODAY
WAGC GAME BONUS
YAMADA HANGING ON IN HONINBO
LEE CHANGHO STARTS STRONG IN WANGWI
TAKEMIYA REACHES SEMIFINALS IN JAPANESE TENGEN
38K GAMES IN SMARTGO 2.2
NEW GO PUBLICATIONS
YOUR MOVE: Yamada A Top 7; Bell Current BGA President
CALENDAR
ATTACHED GAMES: 2006.07.03 WAGC game 5 Joey HUNG-Vesa Martti LAATIKAINEN.sgf; 2006.07.03 WAGC game 7 Satoshi HIRAOKA-Joey HUNG.sgf
ZHAONIAN CHEN & JUNG HOON LEE IN MASTERS B-LEAGUE FINALS: Zhaonian Chen and Jung Hoon Lee advanced to the finals of the Masters B-League last Saturday, July 1. "Over 130 players watched Zhaonian Chen defeat Eric Lui in a spirited game with both players killing sizeable groups," reports TD Jon Boley. "Unfortunately for Eric, Zhaonian was able to convert his lost group into an overwhelming position with a very strong squeeze." In the other semi-final, Jung Hoon Lee defeated Yuan Zhou. Chen and Lee will play each other next Saturday July 8 on KGS at 4P to determine who will represent the B league in this years Masters A League. More info at http://www.seattlegocenter.org/namt
FENG YUN STUDENTS OFF TO CHINA: A dozen students from the Feng Yun Go School in New Jersey are leaving for Beijing, China on July 9, reports Feng Yun. "The young players will join 30 local young players there," Feng Yun tells the EJ. "This program is designed for young go lovers to have an intensive go training during the summer. It will also give our players a great experience of study both go and Chinese culture, play go with local players, as well as an opportunity to visit Beijing." Details at: http://fygc.com/FY_Go_School/FYGS_SC2006.htm
FUJITSU FINAL TODAY: Zhou Heyang 9P and Park Jungsang 6P play today in the Fujitsu final. The semifinals of the 19th international Fujitsu Cup were held last Saturday, July 1st. There were three Koreans and one Chinese player involved, but since the Chinese player, Zhou Heyang 9P was playing Lee Sedol 9P, the general expectation was of an all-Korean final. However, Zhou surprised by forcing Lee to resign and giving the Chinese a shot at yet another international title. The game started peacefully and then erupted in an early ko from which Zhou was able to gain the initiative. The match between Choi Cheolhan 9P and Park Jungsang 6P was seen as something of a toss-up, but the much less accomplished Park won by resignation after only 160 moves when he managed to kill a large group. You can see both game records at http://igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/fj.html where the final result will also be posted later today.
WAGC GAME BONUS: As a special Fourth of July holiday bonus, we're pleased to include two games from the recent World Amateur Go Championships, both featuring the US representative Joey Hung 8d. In Game 5, Hung ekes out a half-point win against Vesa Martti Laatikainen of Finland; in Game 7, Satoshi Hiraoka demonstrates the skill that won him the WAGC this year for the second time. Enjoy the games and the holiday!
YAMADA HANGING ON IN HONINBO: Yamada Kimio 9P, back to the wall, down three games to one in the best-of-seven title match against Japanese Honinbo Takao Shinji 9P, has managed to pull out a second victory. Yamada, who has never won a major tournament, had to work hard to get into the title match. The Challenger's League ended in a three way tie, so he had to defeat both Hane Naoki 9P and Yoda Norimoto 9P to have a shot at Takao. Now he'll have to win both remaining games to take the title. Interestingly, the five games in this title match have all been won by resignation. Both players also competed in the recent first round of the current Judan, Takao losing to Cho U 9P and Yamada defeating Mimura Tomoyasu 9P.
LEE CHANGHO STARTS STRONG IN WANGWI: Lee Changho 9P has won the first game in defense of his Wangwi title in Korea against challenger Lee Yeongku 5P. Yeongku, who is almost twenty, has never won a title. Changho has held this title for ten consecutive years, defending it successfully last year against another of the young Korean upstarts, Ok Deukjin 2P, who caught several players off-guard last year upon returning from required military duty.
TAKEMIYA REACHES SEMIFINALS IN JAPANESE TENGEN: The 32nd Tengen has reached the semifinal stage, and a face not often seen at this level these days is part of it: Takemiya Masaki 9P of the famous "Cosmic Style". He'll be playing current Honinbo Takao Shinji 9P. The other semifinal match is between O Rissei 9P and Yamashita Keigo 9P.
38K GAMES IN SMARTGO 2.2: SmartGo 2.2 -- now with 38,049 professional games -- has been released, reports programmer Anders Kierulf. "One of the new features helps you review games played on a server: SmartGo can automatically find the 10 moves that took the longest time, so you can easily review the moves where you had to make a hard decision. Thanks to Philip Waldron for suggesting that feature."
NEW GO PUBLICATIONS: The Russian Go Federation is now publishing a free go journal in English on the Internet that includes interviews with pros, problems and game commentaries. Check it out at http://gogame.info/ Also, Chris Kubica reports that he's starting a new go magazine and is seeking writers, editors, advisors, translators and idea people. "The magazine is in its planning stage," says Kubica, "so any input as to what would make the best international go magazine is welcome and needed." Contact him at chriskubica@yahoo.com
YOUR MOVE: Readers Write
YAMADA A TOP 7: "Yamada won the Oza in 1997, which he lost in 1998," notes Jing Wei Lim (we had reported that Yamada had never held one of the top seven Japanese titles in our 6/12 TAKAO RETAKES LEAD IN HONINBO story).
BELL CURRENT BGA PRESIDENT: Welsh Open fifth-place winner Simon Goss 2d of Bracknell is a former BGA president; the current BGA President is Ron Bell (MACFADYEN EXTENDS WELSH OPEN STREAK TO 68 6/19 EJ). Thanks to European Go Federation President Tony Atkins for the correction.
July 8: Chicago, IL
'Baduk on the Beach' Handicap Tourny
http://www.lakeviewgoclub.org/tournament.htm
Jason Allen scotch.rolaid@gmail.com 773.227.1629
July 8-9: Manitoba, Canada
Manitoba Open Go Tournament 2006
http://senseis.xmp.net/?ManitobaOpen
Arax Orantz allfather@mts.net 204.222.1310
July 8-21: Belmont Sur Rance, AV
Summer French Go Camp
http://stages.jeudego.org/
Veronique Lamour verotte2@wanadoo.fr 33.06.16.44.09.32
July 15: Kalamazoo, MI
Kalamazoo's 5th tournament
Benjamin Schooley benjaminschooley@hotmail.com 269.672.7466
July 16: Somerville, MA
MGA Summer Handicap Tournament
Zack Grossbart zack@grossbart.com 617.497.1232
July 22: Arlington, VA
Congress Tune-Up
Allan Abramson allango@igc.org 703.684.7676
July 22: Iowa City, IA
Race for the Kaya All-Iowa Go Tournament
First Prize: Kaya go board
http://www.researchuse.org/Go/
Duncan H. Brown duncanbrown108@yahoo.com 641.472.7066
Jacob Uptain muchodelcrazy@yahoo.com
July 22: New York, NY
Youth Tournament
World Journal readers@wjnews.com 718.746.8889 x6361
July 29-30: San Francisco, CA
Northern California Goe Tournament
Ernest Brown ernest@goedharma.com 415.641.6255
July 29: San Antonio, TX
San Antonio Go Club Summer Tournament
http://sagoclub.org/tournament
Levi Self levi.r.self@gmail.com 210.367.9759
July 29: St. Paul, MN
Minnjin- Minnesota Meijin Go Tournament
Nathaniel Ming Curran respectablebusinessman@hotmail.com 612.232.1105
August 12-20: Black Mountain, NC
The 22nd US Go Congress
http://www.gocongress06.org/
Paul Celmer congress@usgo.org 919.779.7925
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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