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AMERICAN
GO E-JOURNAL |
MEMBER’S
EDITION BONUS CONTENT: “This game
is about persistence and keeping your head clear even if you are under
heavy attack,” says Rob van Zeijst in today’s game
commentary, taken from an October 10 game between Han Zenki 7P and Yu
Ho 6P at the Ryusei Lightning Japanese Tournament. van Zeijst is a
Dutch player who lives in Tokyo, where he writes the Magic of Go column
in the Daily
Yomiuri Non-members: join the American Go Association and get
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January
14, 2008; Volume 9, #2
tournament,”
reports organizer
Keith Arnold. “The playing room will be open late into the
evening.” In Los
Angeles the reception is 6-8P, and “go boards will
be set up for impromptu games and an informal jazz band
playing,” reports organizer Andy Okun. There’s
still time to register
for either event, and pre-registration is highly recommended, as there
will be a $10 penalty to register at the door and same day registrants
who arrive after 9A will not play in the first round. Check-in is from
8-9:15A Saturday and Round 1 will be
at 9:30A sharp; click
here for the complete schedule of events. Live coverage
– including broadcast of top boards on KGS from both
locations, with commentary by Tadashi Sasaki 8P and Alexandre
Dinerchtein 3P – will be provided by teams from the American
Go E-Journal; watch the website
for photos, reports and more. The bi-annual event is sponsored by Toyota
and Denso,
organized by the American Go Association and the Nihon Kiin and hosted
by the Gilbert W. Rosenthal Memorial Baltimore Go Club, the University
of Maryland Baltimore County Go Club, the Santa Monica Go Club and the
Hopkins Go Club. Click
here for a complete list of all the sponsors, including GoGoD,
Yellow
Mountain Imports and Kiseido
Digital. Oza poster art by Mike Samuel.
erm," AGA
Board Chairman Roy Laird tells the E-Journal. “Mike has been
a tremendous and tireless leader through a critical time of growth for
the AGA,” says Laird. “The effects of his work will
be felt long after he steps down and behalf of the entire Board and
membership we thank Mike for a job extremely well-done.” The
Board has formed a search committee to select the next AGA president,
who will take over in August, when Lash's second two-year term expires.
"It has been an excellent experience developing and leading such a
great group of volunteers,” Lash told the EJ.
“We’ve accomplished more in the last few years than
I thought possible and the foundation has been laid for a huge amount
of growth. I’m looking forward to turning the reins over to
an energetic and fresh set of hands to continue the momentum. This is a
big and expanding job as the President's role shifts from managing
programs to managing program managers, and then supporting them with as
much resources as we can. It's a major time commitment but a labor of
love for the most part. " The Presidential search committee includes
nine ex-presidents, board members and leading organizers “who
will evaluate candidates and make a recommendation to the Board by
June," said Laird, who will lead the committee. "This is a big and
growing job as the AGA's Chief Operating Officer, with important
management responsibility requiring a major time commitment for at
least the next two years.” Laird notes that “Before
nominating someone, please confirm that they accept the nomination and
are prepared to lead the American go community as a top priority in
their lives." Any AGA member can nominate any member (including
him/herself) by sending an e-mail to roylaird@gmail.com, with
"Nomination" in the subject line. photo
by Chris Garlock
GU
LI WINS NEC CUP AGAIN: Gu
Li 9P (l) defeated Kong
Jie 7P on January 12th to take the Chinese NEC
Cup for the third time, tying Chang
Hao 9P's record. Gu also won in 2004 and 2006. This is a
fast-play event; the players have ten minutes of basic time and one 30
second overtime period. Kong, who has won the Chang-Ki
Cup twice, in 2005 and 2007, is in his twenties. Gu is about
three months younger, but has won many more titles. He currently holds
three national titles, including the prestigious Mingren
and Tianyuan.
Go also has two current international titles, the Chunlan
and the China-Korea Tengen.
top
of the Jeongganjang
Cup. The Jeongganjang is a women's team match that runs like
the Nongshim
Cup and is also sponsored by a Korean company. There are
teams of five players from China, Japan, and Korea, and the event is a
"play and continue" or "ring" tournament with players from the three
teams coming up in rotation. Winners play until they lose and the team
of the last player standing wins the Cup. In the first stage of 
five
games, played in Hangzhou China, on January 8th through the 11th, Lee
Sula 1P (l) of Korea, who is in her mid-teens, won the first
two games, eliminating Umezawa
Yukari 5P, current Women's Kisei of Japan, and Wang Han 1P of
China. Lee then lost to Aoki
Kikuyo 8P of Japan who went on to defeat Song
Ronghui 1P of China. So the Japanese are on top at the moment
with two wins and Aoki will play a Korean representative in the first
game of the second stage. The Chinese have lost two players and the
Koreans and Japanese one each. The second stage will be played in
Seoul, Korea, starting March 2nd. The Koreans won this Cup last year
and two other times. The Chinese have won twice. Perhaps this will be
the year for the Japanese. 
lost his fabled status as Honinbo-Meijin when Cho
U 9P defeated him in the Meijin
title match in 2007. But Takao seems determined to regain his special
status as the League
to determine the challenger for Cho U in 2008 gets started. Takao is
already 2-0 in the League, having defeated two heavy-weights: Cho
Chikun 9P, current challenger for the Kisei,
and Kobayashi
Satoru 9P, former Kisei, Gosei, etc. Sakai
Hideyuki 7P, former World Amateur Go Champion and member of
the Kansai
Kiin, is also 2-0 as he continues to threaten to break into
the big time. Meanwhile, Yoda
Norimoto 9P, another top title winner, is 0-2, having lost to
Sakai and to Kobayashi. Japan's amazing teen Iyama
Yuta 7P is also playing in this League, but has not yet
played a game. This round-robin event is often one of the more exciting
moments in Japanese go.