World
Go News from the American Go Association
May 30, 2007; Volume 8, #43
SPECIAL WORLD AMATEUR GO CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION:
CHINA TAKES LEAD IN WAGC
LIU DROPS 6TH ROUND
FLYING STONES
CONGRESS WATCH: US Earlybird
Deadline Extended!
KOREAN WOMEN DRUBBING SENIOR MEN
YOUR MOVE: Miscount In
Half-Pointer? Putting Li Li In The Picture; Love The Photos; Dreams Of
Tokyo; Getting Past Appearances
CHINA
TAKES LEAD IN WAGC: China’s 13-year-old Zi
Teng Shan 8d (r) defeated Dong-Ha Woo 7d of Korea in Wednesday
afternoon’s exciting 6th round showdown between the top two
undefeated players. Joining Korea with 5-1 records are Canada, Japan,
Romania, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands and the Russian Federation. Click
here for full WAGC results, photos, game records and more.
LIU
DROPS 6TH ROUND: Andy Liu 6d lost his 6th-round WAGC
game Wednesday 
afternoon to Andrey Kulkov 6d, a 24 year-old
college student from the Russian Federation. Liu is now 4-2 overall and
in 9th place, with two rounds to go. “I just made too many
mistakes,” Liu told the E-Journal after the game, which
involved a number of complicated life and death problems. In Wednesday
morning’s 5th round, Liu had forced a resignation after just
122 moves from Denmark’s Kasper Hornbaek. Although Liu
invaded a corner too early in the game, Hornbaek failed to capitalize
on the opportunity to take a quick lead. Instead, mistakenly thinking
he was behind, Hornbaek launched a more severe attack than necessary,
leading to complications and a collapse of his position when Liu was
able to counter-invade. Both game records, including comments and
variations by Chen Ka-ei 9P on round 5, are attached
- reported by Chris Garlock; photo by John Pinkerton. Liu, on
left, plays Kulkov, with EJ
Managing Editor Chris Garlock recording and Zi Teng Shan (l) and Dong-Ha
Woo on the next board.
FLYING
STONES: With a grueling schedule of two rounds a day,
you might think the
WAGC competitors would
take a break after playing their games, but the press/analysis room
adjoining the main playing area on the second floor of the Nihon Kiin
is always full of players reviewing their games -- or watching other
player’s game reviews -- with one of the professional go
players who are on hand to lend their expertise to these top amateurs
from around the world. And with players from 68 countries, translation
of the comments can be quite a challenge. Although English is by far
the most widely spoken language, there are many players who
don’t speak it, and often several translators are necessary
to help explain things. Of course, everyone speaks the universal
language of go, and even when the words are hard to find, the stones
seem to get the message across just fine, as fingers fly and patterns
and shapes appear and disappear with amazing speed.
- Report/photo by Chris Garlock
CONGRESS
WATCH: US Earlybird Deadline Extended!
The deadline for saving $100 off the registration fee has just been
extended to Monday June 4 at 11:59:59P, reports US Go Congress
organizers. Attendance now stands at over 300, putting a 500+ Congress
well within reach. Everyone who registers between May 28 and June 7
saves 10% off go supplies from Congress sponsor Yellow Mountain
Imports. “In addition to go,” reports Congress
Co-Director Petter Nassar, “ we will also be offering
cultural events with an Asian flair: a class and hands-on demonstration
in Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), a demonstration of a Japanese
Tea Ceremony, and more. Click
here for more info.
PLUS: The US Youth Go Championship final game
between William Zhou 6d and 
Jimmy
Guo 6d is attached; we neglected to include in our previous
edition...For complete information on the upcoming AGA Board elections
– candidate nominations due by June 15 – click
here
KOREAN
WOMEN DRUBBING SENIOR MEN: The GG Auction Cup is a new
fast play tournament in Korea, pitting twelve women pros against twelve
male pros over 50. It has turned out to be a rather one-sided contest,
with most of the seniors un
able to
win a game, while none of the women have been defeated without winning
at least once first. At this point the seniors are down to their last
player, Cho Hunhyun 9P (r), who is also their strongest. But the women
have used only five of their team and still have players like Rui
Naiwei 9P, Park Jieun 7P, Cho Hyeyeon 7P, and Lee Minjin 5P in reserve.
Teenager Kim Eunsun 3P (l) was holding the fort with a string of four
victories until the last senior, Cho Hunhyun managed to win one for the
seniors on Tuesday, May 29th. Now Cho faces the challenge of defeating
the remaining seven women to win the Cup for the senior team. His next
match is against Lee Minjin 5P on Monday, June 4th. Perhaps he can hold
on for a rematch with Rui Naiwei. Rui took the Kuksu title from Cho
back in 1999--the first time a woman won a title not restricted to
women; he retook it the following year.
- Bill Cobb
YOUR
MOVE: Readers Write
MISCOUNT IN HALF-POINTER? “I just reviewed Andy's 4th round
game record,” writes Greg Rosenblatt, “and unless I
somehow miscounted, or don't understand the rules in place, it looks
like he actually should have won by 0.5... Did they miscount
somehow?” A number of EJ readers caught this but
unfortunately, no, according to Andy Liu. Game Recorder Chris Garlock
must have made an recording error in the fast and furious endgame with
multiple kos; we apologize for the error.
PUTTING LI LI IN THE PICTURE: “In between Go Seigen and Yuki
Shigeno in the (5/27 EJ) photo was, I am willing to bet – Li
Li Nui, Michael Redmond’s sister-in-law and attendee of the
first Rochester Congress,” notes Keith Arnold.
LOVE THE PHOTOS: “Congratulations on the coverage of the
WAGC, which has been excellent,” writes Rick Mott.
“I've really fallen in love with the new format including
lots of photos. It really gives the E-Journal some extra punch. Great
job!”
DREAMS OF TOKYO: “Thank you so much for Chris
Garlock’s reports on the Tokyo go scene,” writes
Luana Alika. “I enjoyed them hugely. Having lived in Japan in
the 60's it was like breathing the Tokyo scenes again. Alas, I've only
been learning go for the past year and a half, having heard of it years
after my three-year stay in Japan. I have a dream of traveling there
again, perhaps even finding a go club and playing a game or three and
getting some lessons, too. That’s what made these articles so
enjoyable. I hope you do more traveling reports on different go clubs
in the future.”
GETTING PAST APPEARANCES: “It's about time you stop referring
to Yukari Umezawa's physical appearance,” suggests Richard
Hayes. “You have never referred to a male professional player
as ‘a real hottie’ or ‘the most lovely
male professional in the world.’ (And) in no issue of the
E-journal have male owners of go clubs been described as
‘strikingly beautiful,’ either. Maybe, in your
universe, men are strong and smart and women are either beautiful or
ugly -- but the rest of us have gotten past the mental state of an
overly eager 12-year-old boy.”
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the
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