AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association September 25, 2000 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS - GO NEWS: Calling all Pre-'77 Members; More MSO - YOUR MOVE: READERS WRITE: Duplicate Announcement Solution; Sending Messages on Yahoo; Online Rating Differences. - ONLINE GO: The Internet Go Server - SCOREBOARD: Lancaster, PA - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) October 8: Boston, MA MGA FALL HANDICAP TOURNAMENT Don Wiener (617) 734-6316 donwiener@earthlink.net October 15: Hoboken, NJ HOBOKEN FALL TOURNAMENT Larry Russ (201)216-5379 lruss@stevens-tech.edu October 21-22: El Segundo, CA 2000 COTSEN OPEN & HANDICAP AGTC TOURNAMENT Larry Gross (310) 837-1855 le144@earthlink.net October 21-22: Portland, OR PORTLAND FALL GO TOURNAMENT Michael Alford malf@spiritone.com October 28/29: Flushing, NY EASTERN OPEN TOURNAMENT 2000 Chen-dao Lin 212-826-3440/826-9908; CDLIN5@YAHOO.COM UPCOMING/ABROAD (see WWW.USGO.ORG for details) - September 28: Utrecht (Netherlands) Jan van Rongen, 071-541-2084; c1628517@euronet.nl - September 30: Bucharest tournament - September 30-October 1: Australian Open Championships , Canberra, Australia; Neville Smythe, 02-6232-7255; neville.smythe@anu.edu.au - October 7/8: Amstelveen Indis 1( Netherlands); Hans Mulder, 010-420-1007; hansmu@xs4all.nl - October 7/8: Charleville-Meziere (France); Denis Moutarde, 03-24-33-32-21 - October 8: MGA Fall Tourney, Boston, MA - October 14: Wanstead (England); alison@acjamj,demon.co.co - October 15; Apeldoorn (Netherlands); Kees Pulles; 055-522-4614; - October 15-16: Lyon (France); Marie-Claire Chaine, 04-78-42-28-20; marie.chaine@wanadoo.fr - October 29: Wessex (England) Simon_Shiu@hp.com - October 29-30: Avignon (France); Pierre Peronnet, 04-90-87-70-34 Or Serge Noppen: Nops@club-internet.fr - October 28/29: Brussels (Belgium) - November: Round Top, New York: Guo Juan Workshop www.brooklyngoclub.org Jean-Claude Chetrit jc@BrooklynGoClub.org - August 4-12, 2001: Baltimore, MD: U.S. GO CONGRESS Keith Arnold hlime@clark.net NOTE: this listing is not all-inclusive, featuring only upcoming tournaments in the next month or events which require early registration. For a complete U.S. listings, go to http://www.usgo.org/usa/tournaments.html For the European Go Calendar see http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/go/tourn.html GO NEWS Calling all Pre-'77 Members If you joined the AGA before 1977, AGA Database Manager Sam Zimmerman needs to know when you joined (the AGA gave every member a new ID number that year, so the membership data base shows all pre-'77 members to have joined the AGA that year). Email Sam at szimmerman@wareunl.com More MSO More photos of Go (and everything else) at the recently- concluded Mind Sports Olympiad in England are posted at http://msoworld.com/history2000/jpg/index.html. The photos are by John Knoderer. YOUR MOVE: READERS WRITE Duplicate Announcement Solution "Often, I receive MANY duplicate announcements in email. What might be a practical solution to this problem ?" - Eric Encourage your fellow Go players – especially those with their own e-mail distribution lists – to subscribe to the E-Journal, the 1-stop source for up-to-the-minute Go news, features and tournament listings! The E-Journal is read weekly by over 1,300 Go-players across the U.S. and around the world. Subscribe at journal@usgo.org Sending Messages on Yahoo "On Yahoo, how do you send messages to your opponent?" Alex Terri responds: "Type them into the text extry area below the board. Your opponent and any observers will see messages you send this way. You can send private messages to your opponent on Yahoo by using the Yahoo Messenger, a chat facility similar to the AOL Instant Messenger." Online Rating Differences "Unless I missed something you haven't reported the differences in rank online." Josh Terri responds: "Thanks for asking about ratings, which I will cover in greater detail soon. Ratings do vary greatly from server to server (and from country to country for that matter). You can see a comparison of rating systems by typing "help rank" on NNGS, which lists equivalent ranks for the AGA, China, Europe, IGS, Japan, Korea, and NNGS. ONLINE GO: The Internet Go Server by Terri Schurter Although the name "The Internet Go Server" may seem a bit grandiose when there are so many places to play Go on the internet, the IGS was virtually "the only game in town" when it was originally christened. The IGS was not only probably the first English-language Go server, it is certainly still the largest and most well-known. The IGS is still primarily a client-dependent server: I have successfully used both WinIGC and Tgwin. IGS's rating system is about five stones stronger than the AGA's, so adjust accordingly. Once you have played 20 rated games, you will receive a starred rating. You may also choose to have an NR (non-rated) account, and may register multiple accounts on IGS, the purpose and ethics of which I will cover in a future column. You may play handicap games with other players on the IGS, based upon the difference in your ranks, just as you would at an AGA self-paired tournament. Game time limits can be set using a combination of regular clock time and byo yomi, which is of the Canadian type (25 stones within a period of time which you set). Fast games are the rule, rather than the exception, on IGS: You may have difficulty finding anyone willing to play slower then 1/10 (one minute of regular time and a renewable byo yomi of 25 stones in ten minutes). Games of 1/3 are common: I played one once... talk about adrenaline rush! But playing quickly is reputed to be bad for your Go, so think twice about making 1/3 games a habit. Commands are used to arrange matches, see who is on the server, see which games are being played, observe a game, kibbitz a game, talk with your opponents, email yourself game records, supply information about yourself, and accomplish many other functions. These commands can be typed directly into the command line of your client. The most useful command is "help" which explains the help system. Typing "help commands" gets you a full list of commands. Not all functions need to be accessed directly through the command line, however. Most clients have more user-friendly ways of sending commands to the server so your experience is more seamless. Although I recommend trying out and comparing a number of servers, you would do well not to discuss your comparison shopping on IGS itself. There are clearly-stated prohibitions against alternate server promotion on IGS, which you can read in your "welcome email" after you register. Please observe these guidelines for the best possible server experience on IGS. Terri Schurter has been playing Go online since 1996. Her Go club, Wings Across Calm Waters, is a "virtual" chapter of the AGA. Wings meets week-nights on the Zone from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Eastern Time. Terri plays under the name goddess_of_go. SCOREBOARD: Lancaster, PA September 24: Lancaster, PA ; JACK FROST SPECIAL (Lancaster Self Pair); Players: 21; Games: 45; Undefeated: Keith ARNOLD 5D; Robert MULDOWNEY 1K; Charles FRENCH, 3K; John SHAW, 9K. Most Games: 7 games each to Chuck ROBBINS 1D; Takaaki FUJII, 1D; Brian LEAHY 1K; Fred BALDWIN, 8K. Biggest Provisional Rating Increase: John SHAW, who moved from 11.6K to 8.15K. Longest distance: Bill COBB, who drove in from Richmond VA. GET LISTED & BOOST TURN-OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 1,300 readers coast-to-coast every week! List your Go event/news In the E-Journal: email details to us at journal@usgo.org Ratings are on the web! Check the website (www.usgo.org) for the full list. GET YOUR TOURNAMENT RATED! Send your tournament data to ratings@usgo.org AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST: President; Roy Laird: president@usgo.org Eastern VP; ChenDao Lin: vp-eastern@usgo.org Central VP; Jeff Shaevel: vp-central@usgo.org Western VP; Larry Gross: vp-western@usgo.org Treasurer; Ulo Tamm: treasurer@usgo.org Membership Secretary; John Goon: membership@usgo.org Chapters Coordinator; Bill Cobb: chapters@usgo.org Tournament Coordinator; Mike Bull: tournaments@usgo.org Education Coordinator; None Redmond: education@usgo.org Congress Liaison Officer; Chris Kirschner: cngrsliaison@usgo.org AGA website; Gordon Fraser and Chuck Robbins: webmaster@usgo.org American Go Foundation; Terry Benson: terrybenson@delphi.com AGA Librarian; Craig Hutchinson: archives@usgo.org Published by the American Go Association Material published in " AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL" may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. To make name or address corrections – notify us at the email address below. Story suggestions, event announcements and other material are welcome and should be directed to: Editor: Chris Garlock email: journal@usgo.org Voice: 202-289-7174 Fax: 202-371-0168