World
Go News from the American Go Association
August 13, 2007; Volume 8, #61
KOREA SWEEPS WORLD YOUTH
EAST COAST CLUBS HOST PROS
FENG YUN 9P & YU PING 6P OFFER
SPECIAL YOUTH WORKSHOP
GO CONGRESS UPDATES: More Ing Games
Posted Online; Congress
Scrapbook
WORLD GO NEWS: Koreans Dominate
Zhonghuan Cup; Xie
& Izumi Battle To Challenge For Japanese Women's Honinbo;
Serbia’s Rising Young Star
GO QUIZ: Stuck On Congress Time
CAN'T STOP THE MONKEY JUMP:
A Beginner Studies Life and Death
GO CLASSIFIED
MEMBER’S EDITION BONUS CONTENT:
Park Yeonghun 9P’s 1.5-point win over Lee Changho 9P in last
month’s Fujitsu Cup final; the
latest installment of Haruyama Isamu 9P’s
Questions from Actual Play; an
“easy” endgame problem
from Yilun Yang 7P and an excerpt from Richard
Hunter’s brand-new “Key Concepts in Life and Death:
Inside Moves and Under the Stones Techniques.” Non-members:
all this great content is just a
click away!
KOREA
SWEEPS WORLD YOUTH: Korea swept both the Senior and
Junior Divisions of 
last week’s World Youth Go
Championships, held in Waltham, MA. U.S. reps Will Zhou 6d (top right)
and Calvin Sun 6d (l) wound up with 2-3 and 3-2 records, respectively.
"The opponents were very strong," said 10-year-old Calvin Sun, who,
like Zhou, missed the cut for the semi-finals round Saturday, defeating
Saitou Masaki of Japan in the 4th round and losing to ultimate Juniors
champion Seung-Joo Han of Korea in the 5th on Friday .
“Anyway I enjoyed the whole tournament and had
fun,” Sun told the EJ. In other WYGC news, see below for
Lawrence Ku’s profile of Dusan Mitic 4d,
“Serbia’s Rising Young Star.” Senior
Division winners: 1st: Ming, Sang-Yeon (Korea); 2nd: Liao, Xing Wen
(China); 3rd: Lo, Sheng-Chieh (Taiwan); 4th: Dugin, Artem (Russia).
Junior Division: 1st: Han, Seung-Joo (Korea); 2nd: Cao Cong (China);
3rd: Wang, Yuan-Jyun (Taiwan); 4th:Saitou, Masaki (J
apan).
- Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor, with additional
reporting/photos by Gordon Castanza, team leader for the US Youth Team.
EAST
COAST CLUBS HOST PROS: The New York Go Center (NYGC)
and the Massachusetts Go Association (MGA) both hosted appearances by
visiting pros last week. On Sunday, August 5, Myungwan Kim 8P of the
Korean Go Association and Ruan Yungsheng 8P of the China Weiqi
Association visited the NYGC, where Kim played an 8-on-1 and Ruan did a
game analysis. On Thursday, August 9, Zhao-Yi Wu 9P and 
Yu-Chia Yang 6P visited the
MGA, where Wu played a 12-on-1. photos: Myungwan Kim (l)
courtesy Roy Laird; Zhao-Yi Wu (r) courtesy Su Co Chon Duc
FENG
YUN 9P & YU PING 6P OFFER SPECIAL YOUTH WORKSHOP:
Young go players have a chance to boost their skills and connect with
other players later this month at a special workshop with Feng Yun 9P
and Yu Ping 6P. The youth go workshop runs August 27-31 in Somerset,
NJ. “A variety of intensive training will be
provided,” says Feng Yun, “including tournament
games, lectures, teaching games and game review, we would also like to
hold a pair-go event if we have enough girls to join.” Other
activities like sports will be also be included. Click
here for details.
MORE
ING GAMES POSTED ONLINE: Fifty-nine top-board games from
major U.S. Go Congress tournaments are now posted
online (use the first left-facing arrow to go back one page).
In addition to top-board US Open and Ing Masters game records that were
broadcast live on KGS during the Congress, other Ing Masters game
records have also now been posted, including the Round 2 games between
Garcia-Yu and Zhou-Khan, and B League games including Ku-Burrall (Rd
1), Kwon-Liang, Burrall-Rosenblatt & Zhao-Ku (all Round 2),
Burrall-Liang (Round 3) and Liang-Zhang (Round 4). This is part of an
E-Journal project to transcribe and post all the 2007 Ing Masters game
records, coordinated by Dennis Wheeler. Additional games will be posted
as they’re transcribed.
CONGRESS
SCRAPBOOK
Four-color go (r) at Crazy Go night at the recent U.S. Go Congress. Photo
by
Richard Moseson
KOREANS
DOMINATE ZHONGHUAN CUP: It’s Park, Park, Lee
and Cho in the Zhonghuan Cup semis. Held in Taiwan, the Zhonghuan is
sponsored by the Zhonghuan Corporation of Taiwan and JP Morgan Chase
& Co. The players this year included four from Japan, and six
each from Korea and Taiwan (China refuses to participate). Although
three of the Japanese and one from Taiwan survived the first round, at
the end of the second round, only Korean players remained standing for
the semis. Park Jungsang 9P will face Park Yeonghun 9P and Lee Changho
9P will play Cho Hanseung 9P this Wednesday, August 15th in Taipei,
guaranteeing the Koreans a lock on this international cup, now in its
third edition. Choi Cheolhan 9P won last year, with Lee Sedol 9P as
runner-up, and the first winner was Park Yeonghun with O Rissei 9P of
Japan coming in second.
XIE
& IZUMI BATTLE TO CHALLENGE FOR JAPANESE WOMEN'S HONINBO:
Xie Yimin 3P (l) and current holder of the Strongest Woman title
will meet Kobayashi Izumi 6P (r) in the finals of the tournament to
determine the challenger for the Women's Honinbo title in Japan, now
held by Yashiro Kumiko 5P. Kobayashi held this title for three years in
2001 through 2003 and recently won the 1st Daiwa Women's Cup. Xie, who
is a still teenager, won the Strongest Woman title at the age of 17
years and one month, setting a record as the youngest woman title
winner in Japan. Her name is also written as Shei Imin. These two are
also scheduled to meet in the semifinals of the Women's Meijin
tournament.
SERBIA’S
RISING YOUNG STAR: Sixteen-year-old Dusan Mitic 4d (KGS
6d), is still basking in the glory after taking second place in the
European version of the US Youth Go Championship, held March 8-11 in
Zandvoort, the Netherlands. Dusan earned the opportunity to represent
his native Serbia as one of four players from Europe who competed in
the World Youth Go Championship in Waltham, MA. Through playing go,
Dusan tells the E-Journal that he “hopes to make new friends
and explore the world while having fun.” Mitic’s
lifelong journey in the world of go began when he was six, watching his
father play, though he didn’t take the game seriously for
some time. Now he studies go for about two hours every day, with
occasional help from Hungarian Mero Csaba 6d, although Mijodrag
Stankovic 5d has been his teacher since he was 9 kyu. As to advice for
beginners, he thinks that “it's best to play as much as
possible.” Although Dusan thinks it would be nice to turn
professional, his goal is to become 6 to 7 dan in the EGF because
“becoming pro would be nice but it looks
impossible.” Mitic notes that go in Europe has developed at a
hectic pace over the last few years because many Europeans who traveled
to Japan and Korea to study as inseis have now returned with vast
amounts of new knowledge to share with European go players. Although
there are only 70 active go players in Serbia, Dusan believes that go
will continue to thrive and expand over the next few years.
- reported by Lawrence Ku, EJ West Coast & Youth
Correspondent
GO
QUIZ: Stuck On Congress Time
I enjoyed meeting various quiz responders in Lancaster at the Go
Congress, particularly Karen Jordan and Ramon Mercado, as well as
spending time with leaders Phil Waldron and Kim Salamony who
I’ve met previously. Meant to get a photo of our two
leaders...oh well. The answer to the last just-for-fun Congress Quiz
question, btw -- how many times did US Open tournament director Chris
Sira, using a new pairing system, have to pair the first round of the
US Open? – was just once. THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: After
23 U.S. Go Congresses, how many different states have hosted at least
one? 13, 14, 15 or 16? Click
here to let us know.
- Quizmaster Keith Arnold, HKA
CAN'T
STOP THE MONKEY JUMP: A Beginner Studies Life and Death
by Motoko Arai
"Hey Motoko - I think I've got it!"
The late night phone call. I was also someone who called people at any
time of day or night (which is to say, I often worked right into the
middle of the night), so to get a call at this time didn't seem all
that crazy. Still, my husband was a businessman, and furthermore it
seemed like common sense that you generally didn't go about calling
people after 10:00 or so. But in this case, common sense was out the
window, so to speak.
"What? Do you mean that life and death problem? It's been three hours,
have you really been thinking about that since you went home?"
"Yup, the whole time."
This was hardcore. And here I had just been cleaning around the house
for the past three hours.
"Anyway, we're going to need our go boards..."
"Just a second, I'm on the main line, not the cordless. I'll transfer
to the extension and get the board set up. Then I'll get right back to
you, all right?"
"Roger. I'll prep my own board and be waiting for you."
Ah, what is this—some kind of big disaster and I'm the
emergency room getting set up or something? We're going to need our
boards..., Prep my board...—it sounds kind of like that when
I put it down on paper.
I went over to my own board and set up the problem, then called him
back.
"All right, I'm all set up."
"Okay. So now, remember the answer that you thought was right? That was
on the first line of the board, right? So count up three points from
there. Now, forget about the lines on the board and just count over
three white stones from the left—that's where you played
next, right? And then White's response—from that stone count
over..."
Wow, this reminds me of when I was trying to write about going over
masters' games.
Doubtless someone out there is thinking to themselves, if this is
supposed to be a go story, wouldn't it be better to use go terminology?
Of course "third line" and "fourth line" are ways to pinpoint specific
places, but beyond that there are other ways to locate the stones. Not
"go diagonally one to the right and then jump one space," but keima
(knight’s move). There are proper go terms, you know.
But at this time none of use knew any of this go
vocabulary—guzumi (a bad looking shape that is good in
context) and throw-in and so on. Without knowing these words and often
miscounting a line or a stone or something, still we were trying to
talk about life and death problems on the phone. It was just a mess.
"Um... okay, I've played that stone."
"Okay, up till now we've always captured that stone, right? But now if
we don't take it... from the left side of the board count over...."
Back to this impossible way of talking. When I recall it now, I think
it was kind of cute—trying so hard and still just beginners.
With all my heart and soul I am jealous of those who've reached the pro
dan levels in go, but when I recall this little episode I don't feel
quite as jealous anymore. I mean, not to remember ever having so
desperately wanted to understand, or perhaps not to have had such a
time when you just didn't understand—in a way, that's a
terrible thing.
These memories are things we amateurs can cherish.
Motoko Arai is an award-winning science fiction author in
Japan. Translated by Chris Donner from the Nihon Kiin’s Go
Weekly, January 15, 2007 issue.
GO
CLASSIFIED
NEW THIS WEEK!
PLAYERS WANTED: Hunter College: Members wanted to start go club in
Hunter College NY; please contact Boris Bernadsky;
wessanenoctupus@aol.com 646-821-5588 (8/13)
NEW CLUB FORMING: Barnesville, Georgia: Go club starting in the Fall
'07 semester at Gordon College. If interested, please contact the club
main advisor at go_gordonga@yahoo.com. The club will teach new and old
players, and will have tournaments with other clubs either online or in
person. Also, Gordon College Club will be appearing at Anime Weekend
Atlanta for free go lessons on September 21-23 at the Renaissance
Waverly Hotel & Cobb Calleria Centre, Atlanta, Georgia. (8/2)
PLAYERS WANTED: Syracuse, NY: The Syracuse Go Club has set up a second
weekly go group on Thursday nights in a new location - the Recess
Coffee House at 110 Harvard Place in the Syracuse University
neighborhood. 7-10pm. This new alternate location is more convenient
for SU students and city residents. The Monday night meetings at Dewitt
Wegmans will continue as our home base. (8/2)
PLAYERS WANTED: New Port Richey, Florida: Looking for someone to play
with or maybe a go club I'm not aware of. I'm AGA 5k. Email
Queselk@gmail.com (8/1)
NEW GO WEBSITE: Relatively new website Ichi Ni San Go! is up, please
post feedback or suggestions on forums or e-mail Nik.s@Telus.net (8/1)
PLAYERS WANTED: Detroit, MI: Players of all strengths & ages
and/or willing to do teaching games and teach others how to play.
Justinman949@yahoo.com (8/1)
FOR SALE: Complete collection of Go World issues #1 through latest
(#111).
Issues #1-10 are protected by hard binding. All issues are in perfect
condition.
Asking $1000 plus shipping & insurance. Please contact
bwbgo@yahoo.com (7/16)
PLAYERS WANTED: Charleston, SC: beginning player looking for players in
the area. Nels Lindberg; nelslindberg@gmail.com (7/16)
PLAYERS WANTED: Northern Illinois, Lake County. Player from Antioch, IL
would like to find players in the Lake County area interested in
starting a go club, or anyone who would just like to play! If
interested, contact Dave at epiman89@sbcglobal.net (7/9)
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
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by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that
commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or
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Editor of the E-Journal. Please direct inquiries to journal@usgo.org
Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the
American Go Association.
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Go Association
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