World
Go News from the American Go Association
September 24, 2007; Volume 8, #67
U.S. GO: Guo,
Zhang & Shih Heading To Hangzhou; Four-Way In Philly; Jie Li To Lecture In DC; Liu & Kaz In Big Apple Double-Header;
Internet Pair Go Deadline Looms
CALENDAR: 6
Events, Tacoma to Israel
WORLD GO: Cho
U Evens Score In Meijin; Yamashita
To Challenge For Tengen; Ding-Kong
Battle Set For Mingren Challenge; Teen
Iyama Wins Second Japanese Title; Jaeup
Kim Wins British Swindon
PROFESSIONALLY
SPEAKING: Yoon Youngsun 5P on Marriage and Go
GO PHOTOS:
Artistic Go Boards
GO QUIZ:
Go Greatest
GO CLASSIFIED
MEMBER’S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: New
E-Journal contributor Rob
van Zeijst – the long-time Tokyo-based go writer
– kicks off his new EJ series with an incisive and detailed
commentary on the 11th round game between Cho U and Takao Shinji in the
15th Ryusei. “64 top players play in the Ryusei Tournament to
vie for a first prize of 6 million yen,” van Zeijst says.
“Last year, Cho U won the title by beating Yuki Satoshi in
the final. As last year's winner, Cho has a tremendous psychological
advantage and bears witness to his incredible strength in speed games.
On the other hand, Takao Shinji simultaneously holds the Meijin and
Honinbo as the 6th player in history. On top of that, he is one of the
few players who has a positive score against Cho U. Don't be fooled by
the 'blitz' aspect of this tournament - you will get all the reading
depth you want in this explosive environment.”
Today’s bonus files are this month’s endgame
problems – an easy and a hard one -- from Yilun Yang 7P.
Non-members: all this great content is just a
click away!
GUO,
ZHANG & SHIH HEADING TO HANGZHOU: Jimmy Guo 6d,
Lionel Zhang 5d and Jack Shih 5d will represent the United States at
the upcoming Hangzhou International City Go Tournament. The U.S. team
will be one of 30 from all over the world and China participating in
the tournament, part of the 2007 West Lake Exposition, a large Chinese
cultural event that runs Thursday, October 25 through Monday, October
29.
FOUR-WAY
IN PHILLY: The top prize at last weekend’s
Philadelphia Fall Open top prize was split four ways when ZhaoNian
Chen, Jie Liang, Yuan Zhou and Kevin Huang all posted 4-1 records in
the open section. The $1,500 Open Section prize pot was split evenly
amongst the four winners, with $375 in cash awarded to each player.
Forty-three players attended the 3rd annual event September 22-23,
which was directed by Peter Nassar and paired by Paul Matthews. In the
handicap section, Wei Mao took top honors with five straight wins;
Andrew Huang took 2nd, also posting a 5-0 record, while EJ Managing
Editor Chris Garlock placed third with a 4-1 record and Alexander Foti
took 4th, also with a 4-1 record. Photos
at left and top right by Chris Garlock
JIE
LI TO LECTURE IN DC: Jie Li 9d, the top-rated U.S.
amateur who recently relocated to the metro Washington DC area to
attend law school, will present a lecture on one of his recent games
this Friday night at the Greater Washington Go Club. The event is free;
Li’s last lecture in DC attracted a standing-room-only crowd.
The event will take place at GWGC, in the basement (opposite room 15)
of Cedar Lane Unitarian Church, 9601 Cedar Lane, on Sept. 28th at 8P.
LIU
AND KAZ IN BIG APPLE DOUBLE-HEADER: 2006 US Open winner
Andy Liu lectures at the New York Go Center this Friday at 7P, and Get
Strong at Joseki co-author – and E-Journal columnist --
Kazunari Furuyama 7D lectures at the Center Sunday at 3P. Click
here for details.
INTERNET
PAIR GO DEADLINE LOOMS: The registration deadline for
the Internet Pair Go Tournament is midnight on September 30. The first
U.S. national internet Pair Go tournament will be held online this
October and November. There are no entry fees and no prizes. Click
here for more details and registration info.
CALENDAR:
6 Events, Tacoma to Israel
September
28: New York, NY: Fridays
With Andy: Learn From A Champion
2006 US Open winner Andy Liu 8d (r), one of America's top ten players,
plays and teaches
Roy
Laird nygc@usgo.org 212.223.0342
September 29-30: Cary, NC:
Triangle
Memorial
Two Days, $400 first prize in top section
Paul Celmer pcelmer@earthlink.net 919.610.0927
September 29: Boulder, CO: Rocky
Mountain Fall Go Tournament
David Weiss dweiss51@excite.com 720.904.3524
September 29: Middlebury, VT:
Last Dango in Vermont
Peter Schumer schumer@middlebury.edu 802.388.3934
September 29: Tacoma, WA:
Back-To-School Fall Tournament
Gordon Castanza gcastanza@comcast.net 253.853.4831
September 30 - October 4: Ashkelon, Israel:
Succot
(Tabernacles) Go Camp
Mind Go Club and European Go Campus teachers give workshops and
training. Daily workshops and evening activities; accommodation and
food on site.
Shavit Fragman info@go-mindDOTcom +972.54.4500.453
CHO
U EVENS SCORE IN MEIJIN: Cho
U 9P (l) defeated Japanese Meijin
Takao
Shinji 9P by resignation on September 19-20 to even up their
title match 1-1. Takao, who also holds the
Honinbo title, took the title from Cho last year, blocking a
threepeat by Cho, who first won the title in 2004. Cho seems on the
verge of returning to a more dominant role in Japanese go. He has won
his section of the current Kisei League to determine the challenger, is
in the finals of the winners' bracket of the Judan, made it to the
finals of the Oza where he lost to Imamura
Toshiya 9P, and in August retained his Gosei title by
defeating Yokota
Shigeaki 9P 3-0. Cho also is in the finals for the Agon
Cup , which he won last year, and in the semifinals of the Ryusei
, which he also won last year. He is currently number one on the list
of pros winning the most games this year with a 39-14 record for a 74%
winning rate and topped the list last year with 49 wins and the same
winning percentage.
YAMASHITA
TO CHALLENGE FOR TENGEN: Yamashita
Keigo 9P (r) defeated teen Iyama
Yuta 7P by 1.5 points with White on Thursday, September 20th,
to gain the opportunity to challenge Kono
Rin 9P for his Tengen
title. Kono took this title from Yamashita in 2005 and is hoping for a
threepeat. Interestingly, Yamashita was also the challenger in 2006, so
for the third year in a row the Tengen title match is between the same
two players. T
he Tengen
is the only title Kono has won so far; he is in his twenties.
Yamashita, who will be thirty next year, has won several titles and
currently holds the number one Japanese title, the Kisei,
as well as another of the top seven, the Oza.
Kono holds a slight edge over Yamashita in their previous meetings,
having won nine of their sixteen games against each other.
DING-KONG
BATTLE SET FOR MINGREN CHALLENGE: Ding
Wei 9P (l) and Kong
Jie 7P (r) will battle it out in a best-of-three match to
challenge Gu Li for the Mingren
tournament title. One of the older
and more prestigious Chinese national events, the Mingen (Meijin, in
Japanese) was completely dominated by Ma
Xiaochun 9P for more than a decade when he held the title
from 1989 through 2001. Gu
Li 9P is the current Mingren and has held the title for the
last three years. Ding, who is in his upper twenties, was the National
Go Individual champion in 1997 and has won only one other title so far,
the CCTV Cup in 2000. Kong, who is three years younger, has won several
titles, including the 2007 Chang-Ki Cup, named in honor of the founder
of the Ing Foundation and the Chinese national tournament with the
largest prize fund. Kong has also had some good results in
international events, taking third place in the international Chunlan
Cup in 2001.
TEEN
IYAMA
WINS SECOND JAPANESE TITLE: Teen Iyama Yuta 7P (l) has
defeated Mochizuki Kenichi 6P by a score of 2-0 to win Shinji-O
(New Stars) tournament. Iyama, who set the record for the youngest pro
ever to win a title in Japan when he won the Agon
Cup in 2005 at the
age of sixteen, was the runner-up last year and continues to show every
sign of becoming a top
player. He is playing in the current Kisei League to determine the
challenger and is playing in the finals of the Tengen against Yamashita
Keigo 9P. He won his first game before losing out in the current Oza
and has won his first game in the current NHK Cup.
JAEUP
KIM WINS BRITISH SWINDON: Jaeup Kim, a Korean 5d who
lives in Reading, won the 11th Swindon Tournament on Sunday, September
23rd, in England. This was a one-day, three-round event with 45
participants. Kim won all three of his games, defeating the only 4d,
Alistair Wall of Wanstead, and two of the three 3d players present,
Paul Christie of Bath and William Brakes of Milton Keynes. Three other
players won all three games: Alexander Bell 2d of Oxford City, Jim
Clare 2d or Reading, and Helen Harvey 3k of Manchester. Fred Holroyd 6k
of Milton Keynes had two wins and a forfeit.
PROFESSIONALLY
SPEAKING: Yoon Youngsun 5P on Marriage and Go
Yoon Youngsun 5P (r), who took the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Women's K
uksu, as
well as the 1st Haojue Cup -- and who did some EJ commentaries at the
2007 European Go Congress last August -- will wed Rasmus Buchmann 2d
(l) of Germany this month. Interviewed last week in GoAma
#69 by Alexander Dinerchtein, Yoon confided that even though many
people think she plays and teaches her fiancé, “It
is not true. I play with him very rarely; I'm sorry about
it.” She also revealed that while her favorite actor used to
be Brad Pitt, that’s no longer the case, and she does play on
KGS, “but only teaching games.” Dinchertein noted
that “If you stay in Germany, you will not be able to play in
pro tournaments often. Will you try to keep yourself in good shape and
how?” “I know,” Yoon acknowledged.
“But when I came here I already gave up the game. I want to
teach a lot of children who have talent. Sometimes I study pro games.
(They are) really interesting!” Asked her thoughts on the
current system of Female World Go Championships -- Dinerchtein pointed
out that usually only Chinese, Koreans and Japanese are invited, even
though “Feng Yun can play for USA, you can play for Germany,
Guo Juan for Holland, Svetlana Shikshina for Russia.”
– Yoon said that “Actually I didn't think about it.
If I can play, it would be nice, but I would like to give them a
chance.” Yoon’s playing style is very aggressive
– click
here for an example – and Dinerchtein wondered
“Will it become softer after marriage?” Yoon
demurred, saying “Well, I don’t think so...I like
to fight. It is more fun and interesting.” Yoon has two books
out Think
Like a Pro Haengma and Think
Like a Pro Pae and has recently finished her third book.
“It is called ‘100 Tips for Amateur
Players’. I think people don’t need difficult or
complicated things. Basic is the most important.” Click
here to read the full original interview. Photo
courtesy GoAma.
GO
PHOTOS: Artistic Go Boards
Dutch artist Brigitte Cloosterman’s “De Naakte
Waarheid en Zo” (“The Naked Truth and
Alike”) exhibit opened the first weekend of September in
gallery deKunstclub.nl in Eindhoven, Holland. A painter and go-player
whose four children also play, Cloosterman’s game-tables are
cube-shaped, with the board on top and decorative painting on the
sides. The sides of one of the two go-tables are painted to look as
though it has book-shelves underneath and there are also cubes for
chess, backgammon and the game of goose. Oldest daughter Kirsten and
son Tommy have done well on the go board. Kirsten, 3k, a pair-go
champion of Holland with her partner Filip Vanderstappen 5d, took part
in the Pair Go Championships in Japan in 2003 and Tommy, 1k, won
several Dutch Youth championships and once took the silver medal in the
European Ing-Cup for under 12. All four kids are a bit famous in both
Holland and Japan, because they were twice invited to attend the
opening moves of the opening game of a Japanese top-title match
featuring Cho Chikun. Father Henk Hollmann 3d and Kirsten recently
visited the United States and dropped by the New York Go Center for a
few games. Cloosterman’s exhibit – which features
the game boards as well as nudes painted after a long recovery from an
injury -- runs through October 28. Phone: (0031) 40 252 00 46. Address:
Zeelsterstraat 147, NL 5652 EE Eindhoven.
- Report and photo by Peter Dijkema, Dutch correspondent for
the American Go E-Journal.
GO
QUIZ: Go Greatest
By any name, Go Seigen (Wu Qingyuan) (r) was the convincing winner of
last week’s greatest go player poll. Go’s 23 votes
swamped Shusaku’s 9, while Dosaku and Lee Chang Ho pulled just
3 each and Huang Longshi and Cho Chikun only 2 apiece. The following
impressive list received only one vote each: Sansa, Feng Yun, Kitani,
Takemiya, Cho U, Kobayashi Koichi, Fujisawa Shuko, and Sakata.
Surprisingly, Hikaru Shindo also got just one vote, while Jowa, Shuwa,
Shuei, Nie Weiping and Cho Hun-hyeon were chosen by no one.
Demonstrating an impressive hubris, one amateur kyu player ignored all
of the above and voted for himself.
Amidst the ever-tougher competition of
the last century, Go essentially forced the rest of the go world to a
one stone handicap - and still had a winning record. As Jing Wei Lim
noted, "it’s not just (Go’s) dominance as an active
player that is hard to top, his contributions to modern go, his
innovation and commitment to the game are all unique...IF there is any
doubt, just play out his games, even the ones he lost, and the
brilliance of every move is apparent." Shusaku’s 19 straight
castle game victories are unique, and as Laura Kolb points out "Many
people still learn a lot from his games played 150 years ago" Perhaps a
longer life might have given him a chance to make his claim even
stronger. The case for Dosaku seems hard to argue against. "Dosaku was
the last player to be nearly two stones stronger than all of his
opponents, Meijin by immediate unanimous consent...developed many
joseki and fuseki ideas along with a host of tesuji. He also invented
tewari analysis" offers Peter Shotwell. To me, the superiority of Go
Seigen's competition gives him the nod, but who knows? Lee Chang Ho and
Cho Chikun are, of course, contemporary strong players. Lannie Carter
points out that Lee Chang Ho has an impressive 72% win-loss record!
Lihu Ben-Ezri Ravin offers - "If Cho Chikun lives life the way he plays
go, he will never die." Perhaps many of you have not heard of the
17th-century Chinese master Huang Longshi, and that alone might suggest
he does not deserve his two votes, or even a place on the list. Go
Seigen himself not only says that Longshi “was at least as
strong as Dosaku," but that if he was alive today, he would be 13 dan!
THIS
WEEK’S QUIZ: WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE?
Ok, now we know who you think is the greatest, but who’s your
favorite go player? Many of you suggested that you had favorite players
that were different than your choice as greatest. Click
here to tell us who’s your favorite player and why,
and lets see if that 1 kyu votes for himself again.
- Quizmaster Keith Arnold, HKA. Photo
credit: Sensei's Library
GO
CLASSIFIED
SELL IT, BUY IT OR TRADE IT HERE with over 11,000 go-players
worldwide! Classified ads are FREE and run for 4 weeks; email your ad
to us now at journal@usgo.org Locate
go clubs worldwide
FOR SALE: Complete set of Computer Go magazines for sale. From the
first issue (number 1 Winter 1986 - 1987) to the last (number 16
Spring/Winter 1991), this 24 page publication featured contributions
from K. H. Chen, David Fotland, Anders Kierulf, Rob Pike, Martin
Muller, and Bruce Wilcox and many others on various Computer Go topics.
Every issue is in excellent condition, and is for sale only as a
complete set. Best offer before September 29 will take them all.
Contact robert.felice@comcast.net (9/17)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Franklin/Oil City, PA area. Meadville? Clarion? If
the Erie club is still meeting, could someone contact me since your
official contact seems to be gone. Ron: whiterg@acm.org (9/17)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Oldenburg, Batesville Indiana area. Contact:
dkobakofm@gmail.com Any level. Would like to begin a Go Club, or join
one. (9/17)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Holland, MI: Looking for players in Holland Michigan
area. We have 2 members and are thinking of starting a permanent club,
its tough getting a good club down, but I believe that with more
members we could get a more solid club formed. Contact Alex McNeal,
Email: TheClamxD@gmail.com or call 616-405-8562. (9/17)
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 price: $900 plus shipping &
insurance. Please contact bwbgo@yahoo.com (9/10)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Urbana-Champaign, IL: Go is played at University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign! If you want to play, or better still, help
form an official AGA chapter, please contact Phil Wall
(phil.wall@pobox.com). We've got a few players, but we're always
looking for more. (9/10)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Hartford, CT: Looking for players in Hartford, CT,
contact Benjamin Harter (benjamin.harter@pw.utc.com). We have only
about 3-4 people trying to get a regular meeting going over here,
almost enough to start a permanent club. It's rough going getting one
started... I'm sure there are other players in the area! (9/10)
PLAYERS WANTED: Players near Orlando, FL, all strengths welcome, for
more information please contact Masterman535@gmail.com; I'm AGA 1d.
(8/27)
Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be reproduced
by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that
commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or
made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the
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.
American
Go Association
P.O. Box 397
Old Chelsea Station