March 31, 2008; Volume 9, #15

WU WINS IN RALEIGH: Duke Ph.D. student Changlong Wu 7-dan swept the open section to win the March 15 Spring Fuseki Go Tournament in Raleigh, NC. More than 30 players competed in the annual AGA-rated tournament jointly organized by the Cary Go Club, the NCSU Wolf Go Club and the Triangle Go Group. "We would like to thank all the participants and volunteers of the tournament who helped make the event a success," says organizer Owen Chen. "We would like to especially acknowledge the

REGISTER EARLY FOR YOUTH CAMPS & SAVE: Go kids, "Sign up for a Go Camp near you!" urges East Go Camp organizer Karen Jordan. "Register early to save money! Early registration deadlines are coming soon for both camps." Campers save $50 if they register for Go Camp West in Tacoma by April 9, reports Brian Allen, Go Camp West Coordinator. "This year the camp is just before Go Congress, running from Sunday July 27 to Saturday, Aug 2 at Pacific Lutheran University," says Allen. Two scholarship programs can be used for camp: the Youth Go Championship prize scholarships, and American Go Foundation needs-based scholarships. Click here for the East and West Go Camps. Matt Burrall 7d (l) blocks a move by Jimmy Guo 6d with what appears to be a really large white go stone at the 2007 Go Camp West; photo by Brian Allen

ORANGE COUNTY ADDS YOUTH QUALIFIER: The United States Youth Go Championship (USYGC) qualifier tournament planned for this past weekend in Tempe, Arizona has been moved to Southern California in mid-April. "Unforeseen circumstances made it necessary to change plans at the last minute," says USYGC Coordinator Nicole Casanta. The qualifier will now be held April 12-13 in Southern California, "where Orange County Go Club organizer Kevin Chao has stepped up to run the event," says Casanta. Due to time constraints, only youth with an AGA rating of 1 kyu or stronger will be eligible to participate, all other qualifiers remain open to all ranks. For more information, and to register, click here. NOTE: always check the AGA website for updates on tournaments; any last-minutes changes will be posted here!

HUNDREDS PLAYING IN ING SCHOOL TOURNEY: "Over 200 kids and teens are competing online in the Ing School Team Tournament," reports organizer Matthew Mallory, "with up to 80 youth either playing or watching games at peak times," The event is being run by the American Go Honor Society (AGHS) - Mallory chairs the board -- and will continue through April. "This is really great," Oakdale, CA, fifth grade teacher Vincent Eisman told the Journal; "I had some parents bring in snacks and watch a couple of games, and in the room across the hall another teacher asked me to show her how to log onto KGS so she could watch her student." Across the country, in West Virginia, Jackson Jr. High School teacher Ryan Full took the opportunity to give his team a boost, "I had the morning announcements congratulate each individual student on doing a good job. It was nice for them to get the recognition that is frequently lauded upon the athletes. I then printed up the sgf of the final board positions, affixed their name (in bright school colors) to their particular board, as well as a congratulatory message, and posted the entire thing in a prominent hallway. I have noticed teachers and kids stopping to look at this ‘odd' display of numbers and stones, and I have even seen the kids themselves regaling their peers with some stories about the games." Fifty teams competed in the first round, which took place over the first two weeks of March, while the second round was played in the latter half of the month. Many serious youth are competing, including top players in the United States Youth Go Championships (USYGC). Eleven-year-old Aleck Zhao 4d did double duty over the weekend of March 22nd. After winning the qualifier at the Feng Yun Go School, he then logged on Sunday night to compete against ten-year-old 6 dan Calvin Sun, who won the Junior division of the USYGC last year and represented the US at the World Youth Go Championships. Zhao lost by just two points against the stronger-rated Sun, despite playing even and with a 8-point komi. Full standings, as well as the next round pairings, are updated regularly on the web. Current two-round winners include: Mission San Jose High Team 1, Orange County Go Club, West Ottawa High School, Jasper High School Team 2, and Cary Chinese School Team 1.
- Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor

COMPUTERS & SUITES AT U.S. GO CONGRESS: Computers will battle it out at this year's US Go Congress for $1,000 in prize money provided by the Hierarchical Systems Research Foundation. Meanwhile, humans can attend the Congress in style, reports Co-Director Peter Freedman. "We have reserved three suites at the University Place Hotel, each with a king size bed," Freedman tells the EJ. Click here on the junior and presidential suites for more information. To make a reservation contact registrar@gocongress08.org. Register online for the Congress.

MEMBERSHIP & READERSHIP SET NEW ALL-TIME RECORDS: Membership in the American Go Association was up again in March, the seventh consecutive month of increases. Notably, six of the seven increases have been double-digit. Total membership is now a new all-time record 2,420, including 2,050 full members, also a new high for the national go organization. E-Journal readership also continued to climb steadily, with 12,430 subscribers worldwide, by far the largest for an English-language go publication. Click here for the benefits of membership, including the Member's Edition of the E-Journal.

FUJITSU QUALIFIER RESULTS: Complete round-by-round results for the 2008 North American Fujitsu Qualifying Tournament (Jiang Wins N.A. Fujitsu Qualifier, 3/24 EJ) are now available (see chart to right). The games were played February 23-24 on IGS; Michael Bull was the TD. The game records will be posted online soon. Note: Eric Lui took 4th place, not Feng Yun (who is ineligible to play), as previously reported. We apologize for the error.

CHINESE TEEN REPEATS TITLE WIN: Seventeen- year-old Chinese pro Gu Lingyi (l) 5P won the Southwest Qiwang (Xinan Wang) title for the second time on March 27th. This is a fast-play event with thirty seconds per move. Gu defeated Li Jie 5P in the final by resignation. Participants in this tournament come from the national weiqi teams in southwestern China. Gu and Li are both members of the Chinese A League team from Sichuan, which has won its first two meets this year.

CHO STRUGGLING TO HOLD ONTO JUDAN TITLE: Cho Chikun (r) 9P has held the Japanese Judan title, one of the top seven, for the last three years, but his reign may be coming to an end. In the current best-of-five-games title match with Takao Shinji (l) 9P, Cho has lost the first two games, putting the pressure on him to win three straight to retain the title. Takao has a twenty-year age advantage and holds the Honinbo and Daiwa Cup titles. He was Honinbo-Meijin until losing the Meijin title to Cho U 9P last Fall. Cho recently lost the other title he held, the fast-play NHK Cup, to Cho U 9P. Though he was also unsuccessful in his challenge for the Kisei title against Yamashita Keigo 9P earlier in March, for a player in his fifties he's having a remarkable year.

PARK JIEUN TAKES KOREAN WOMEN'S KUKSU: Park Jieun (r) 9P defeated Lee Minjin 5P 2-1 to take the 13th Korean Women's Kuksu title, winning the third game by 3.5 points on March 28th. This is Park's first win in the Kuksu, which like the other women's titles in Korea has been dominated in recent years by Rui Naiwei 9P. Lee, who knocked Rui out of the tournament in the semi-finals, is in her twenties and has yet to win a title. She did win the last five games in a row in the 2007 women's international team match, the 5th Jeongganjang Cup, to lead the Korean team to its third win in this event. In this year's Jeongganjang she is the last member of the Korean team standing, along with Kato Keiki 5P of Japan and Tang Yi 3P of China. Park defeated Rui 2-1 back in January to win the 1st Yuanyang Cup, a new international women's event. That win led to her promotion to be the third woman 9P in the world, along with Rui and Feng Yun 9P. She also won the international women's Dali Cup last year, defeating Rui in the semi-finals.

HIKARU CREATOR TO ATTEND EURO CONGRESS: Yumi Hotta, creator of Hikaru No Go will attend a Symposium during the first week of this year's European Go Congress, reports Congress organizer Henric Bergsåker. The Symposium is supported by the Japan World Exposition Commemorative Fund.

TARANU WINS SHUSAKU CUP IN ROMANIA: An undefeated Catalin Taranu 5P won the first Shusaku Cup Go Tournament, held March 29-30 in Targu Mures, Romania. 140 players participated. Catalin Taranu 5P took first place with a 6-0 record, Cristian Pop 7d second with 5-1 and Dragos Bajenaru 6d was third with 4-2.
- reported by Mihaela Burzo, special correspondent for the E-Journal

YOUR MOVE: Readers Write

CLICKING THROUGH: "I was disappointed when I clicked on the ‘Supporting Chapters' (3/24 EJ) link to read the full survey and all I got was the same story again," writes an EJ reader. After you click on the link, you need to click on "2008 AGA Chapter Survey Report" on the right side of the page.

LITTLE BOARD, BIG KOMI: "7.5 komi is not correct for 9x9 Go," (Man Defeats Machine In Paris 3/24) writes Jeff Boscole, "what was going on with the match parameters?" As we reported, the match conditions specified Chinese rules with 7.5 points komi. The general question about the appropriate komi for small-board go is still open to debate, notes Philip Waldron, who reported for the EJ on his matches against Mogo last year. "Optimal play, and therefore correct komi, on a 9x9 board is still unknown and arguments can be made for many values," says Waldron.

GO QUIZ: Many Paths, One Game
Forty-six reader shared stories about where you learned to play go, with many, many different sources. Predictably, Hikaru no Go led the way with 8, followed by a book (6), family members (5), university (5), general interest in games (4), someone at work (3), simply saw and bought the game (3), a movie (2 - and both "Pi" not "A Beautiful Mind"), a friend (2), and at a martial arts dojo (2). Unique responses included: from an anime but NOT Hikaru (Ramna 1/2), an in-school - pre-high school demonstration, in Vietnam, from D&D and from a Scientific American article. My winner for most unusual was Dr. Geoffrey Gray of Australia who responded "I was taught by my heroin addiction patients who had been taught by their psychiatrist to give them something to do while in hospital between therapy sessions." Interestingly, no one mentioned AGA outreach. Congrats to Laura Kolb, this week's winner, selected at random from those responding this week (Laura, who learned go from a friend in grad school, is also one of the Coordinators of the AGA/EJ's popular Shodan Challenge). HOUSEKEEPING: In response to Steve Fawthrop's complaint that this was not a quiz, Well, it was a question and clearly we get a lot of interest and responses when we run these polls. Steve points out for those who are interested that there are more than 50 such stories online. And for those who wondered why we ask for your name and email, that's so we can choose the prize-winners each week as well as track the year-long participation contest. Lastly, Carrie Lapidus, of course these are open-book questions!
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: Which of the following go greats is NOT in the Nihon Kiin Go Hall of Fame? Honinbo Sansa, Honinbo Dosaku, Honinbo Shusaku, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Honinbo Jowa, Go Seigen, Honinbo Shuwa or Baron Okura Kishichiro? Click here with your answer.
- Keith Arnold, Quizmaster

GO CLASSIFIED
SELL IT, BUY IT OR TRADE IT HERE with over 12,000 go-players worldwide! Classified ads are FREE and run for 4 weeks; email your ad to us now at journal@usgo.org

GO PLAYERS WANTED: Looking for players in Richmond, VA. Especially in and around the VCU area. Please email rutherfordjr@gmail.com (3/31)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia please email hikaru-no-go-07@hotmail.com (3/24)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: New Brunswick, NJ. The Rutgers Go Club is looking for new members of any level experience for its first official meeting on March 28th. Please contact Andrew at tenorfella@gmail.com (3/17)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: North Georgia or Chattanooga, TN. Looking for players in the Chattanooga area to play join newly-founded North Georgia Go Club. Please contact david.johnson.saunders@gmail.com (3/10)
FOR SALE: Complete set of Go World magazine, nos. 1-103. Pristine condition. Owned by retired librarian. Read only on Sundays. Make me an offer. Bob Barber. komoku@earthlink.net (3/3)
GO PLAYERS WANTED: Blowing Rock or Boone, NC. Looking for players in Boone or Blowing Rock to play casual games with. Please contact emily.mount@gmail.com (3/3)
KS: Looking for Go players in Kansas (especially in the Wichita area) to join the city's Go Club. For more information contact Andrew Wrinn email: wichitagoclub@gmail.com or visit our website (2/25)

Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
Professionals: Yilun Yang 7P; Alexandr Dinerchtein 3P; Fan Hui 2P
Contributors: Paul Barchilon (Youth Editor); Lawrence Ku (U.S. West Coast Reporter); Brian Allen (U.S. West Coast Photo Editor); Peter Dijekma (Dutch/European Correspondent); Marilena Bara (Romania/European Correspondent)
Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Ziejst; Roy Laird
Translations: Chris Donner (Japan); Bob McGuigan (Japan); Matt Luce (China)

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
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