AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association October 16, 2000 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS - GO NEWS: STAY TUNED IN DENVER; Fall Journal Preview: The Empty Board; Car 54, Where Are You? - ONLINE GO: Internet Gaming Zone - SCOREBOARD: Hoboken, NJ - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) October 21: Newark, DE Delaware Fall Tournament Dick Hugh (302) 366-1824; rmhugh@conectiv.net 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 Robert O'Malley (541) 738-1690; omalley@oce.orst.edu October 28-29: Flushing, NY 2000 Eastern Open Chendao Lin (212) 826-3440; (212) 826-9908 cdlin5@yahoo.com October 28: Arlington, VA Pumpkin Classic Allan Abramson (703) 684-7676; mediate@mnsinc.com October 28-29: Houston, TX 2000 Texas Open & AGTC Tournament Mike Peng (281) 228-4233; pmpeng@swbell.net November 3-6:, Lancaster, PA Yilun Yang Workshop Chuck Robbins (717) 203-9100; crobbins@wareunl.com November 4: Chicago, IL Nader's Nadare Bob Barber (773) 467-0423; igo@uic.edu November 12: New York City, NY International Friendship match, featuring a tour group from Japan and four professionals -- Ms. Y. Shinkai 5-Dan, Ms. Ogawa Tomoko 6-Dan, Ms. K. Furucho, and Ms. Ko, China's first female 9-Dan, now living in Japan. NY Go Center, 323 E 52nd St.; 212-223-0342 November 15-19: Round Top, New York: Guo Juan Workshop Jean-Claude Chetrit jc@BrooklynGoClub.org www.brooklyngoclub.org/bgc/cgi-bin/disp_topic.iphtml?topic_id=29 November 18: Iwamoto Memorial Tournament (not AGA rated) All levels welcome. A strong top section is expected. NY Go Center, 323 E 52nd St.; 212-223-0342 UPCOMING/ABROAD (see WWW.USGO.ORG for details) - 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) - 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 STAY TUNED IN DENVER The Denver Go Association plans an event soon, watch for further details in future E-journals. FALL JOURNAL PREVIEW The Fall issue of the American Go Journal is in production now and will be on its way to subscribers soon. Meanwhile, here's a preview of what's in the issue... The Empty Board; Bill Cobb "There appears to be another dimension to the way Go is good for your mind... the Japanese have become seriously interested in the possibilities of using Go as a therapy for people with mental problems. Dr. Kaneko Mitsuo, a Japanese neuro-surgeon with an international reputation, has been working with older people suffering from senile dementia. Using PETA scans he has shown that there is a substantial area of the right brain that begins to atrophy in people who suffer from dementia. This turns out to be essentially the same part of the brain that is most active when engaging in musical activities and when playing Go. (look for the entire column in the forthcoming issue of The American Go Journal) CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? Please check the information on your chapter or club on the Chapters page on the AGA's web site at www.usgo.org to be sure it is both complete and accurate, especially email addresses and meeting times and places. We know that some of the information is no longer correct. If your club or chapter is not listed, please send the appropriate information to Bill Cobb at wmscobb@rcn.com . We continue to discover clubs that are not listed. This means they are missing out on a good source of new members. - Bill Cobb, AGA Chapter Services Coordinator ONLINE GO: Internet Gaming Zone by Terri Schurter Although the Internet Gaming Zone is a web based server and very similar to the Yahoo server, there are significant differences between these two servers. For one thing, since you must have a Windows operating system to use the Zone, Mac users cannot play there. When you first log on to the Go area of the Zone you are presented with a choice of seven different rooms to play in. However, all rooms but Lotus and Zen (for 5k and above) are usually empty. On the Zone you are able to undo moves for your opponent if he makes a mouse slip. It is also possible to take over the game for teaching purposes by entering analysis mode. Once in analysis mode you control all the moves for both sides. You can save a game to your desktop in sgf format for review. Since escaping is common among strangers you may want to resave periodically throughout the game. An interesting feature of the Zone is the automatic reloading of an unfinished game. This will occur if you sit down at a future time with your opponent at a new table in the same configuration of black and white. There is a strong social atmosphere on the Zone. Many players are regulars, and know each other well. Although even games are the rule, players who know each other often give handicaps, and stronger players are often generous enough to teach weaker players, and even to mentor them. Strong players can be found in the Zen room, but the occasional strong AGA 4D and above can also be found in the Lotus room. They come to "bottom feed" (to prey on weaker players, or just to be a little lazy after a hard day at the office). If you encounter one, consider yourself lucky to be the recipient of a free lesson from a much stronger player. Some "bottom feeders" are committed to teaching, and will review a game with you after it is over. Just ask. Terri Schurter has been playing Go online since 1995. 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: Hoboken, NJ Hoboken Fall Tournamen, October 15 The clear winner with 4-0 was John Ferguson; 3-game winners (and prize-winners) were Qi Qiao, Chuck Robbins, David Carper, Steve Bretherick, and Terri Schurter. The long-distance prize goes to Bill Cobb, who came all the way from Richmond, Virginia. - Larry Russ, Hoboken Go Club 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