AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association [NOTE; WE'RE UPDATING OUR MAIN DISTRIBUTION LIST: PLEASE NOTIFY US IF YOU'RE GETTING 2 COPIES OF THE E-JOURNAL!) December 18, 2000 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS - GO NEWS: Chance Of A Lifetime: Ask Go Seigen; Prison Go: The Ultimate Tesuji?; Pros Come To Play At Zhu Jiu Jiang Goe Tournament - ONLINE GO: Virtual Go Club Spreads Wings - GO CLUBS: Atlanta, GA - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) January 6-7: Santa Clara, CA 9th Zhu Jiu Jiang Goe Tournament Ernest Brown, (415) 641-1452; Falcon@sfo.com January 13: Salem, OR Third Annual Salem Winter Go Tournament Jim Levenick, levenick@willamette.edu January 13-14: Lancaster, PA Pennsylvania Open; Held in conjunction with the Fujitsu Qualifer Chuck Robbins, (717) 203-9100; crobbins@wareunl.com January 13-16, 2001; Evanston, IL Yang Yilun 7P Workshop Mark Rubenstein, (847) 869-6020; workshop@easyaspi.com January 14; Boston, MA MGA Winter Handicap Tournament Don Wiener, (617) 734-6316; donwiener@earthlink.net January 20; Arlington, VA Winter Warmer; Allan Abramson, (703) 684-7676; mediate@tryi.com January 27; Chicago, IL Winter Tournament and Kid's Go Camp Reunion Bob Barber; (773) 467-0423; igo@uic.edu UPCOMING/ABROAD (see WWW.USGO.ORG for details) December 29-January 1: London Open geoff@kaniuk.demon.co.uk January 3-7: San Cristobal de la Habana Fourth International Go Tournament; Havana, Cuba; Rafael Torres, sinbo@ip.etecsa.cu - January 20: Furze Platt (Maidenhead, UK) best@vfree.com 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 CHANCE OF A LIFETIME: ASK GO SEIGEN What would you ask the most famous go player in the world? Pieter Mioch author of the monthly Joseki column "Gentle Joseki" wants to know! He's planning a follow-up interview with Go Seigen (check out the original at http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/go/special/goseigen.html) and found that "90% of the questions I was thinking of asking were meaningless or trivial." If you've got a question worthy of the most famous go player in the world, send it to us at journal@usgo.org and we'll pass it along to Pieter. PRISON GO: THE ULTIMATE TESUJI? A go program is developing at a prison in North Carolina, reports Bill Cobb. "The AGA was contacted by a prisoner seeking information about the game, and we were able to send in some copies of the Way to Go booklet as well as some Spanish language material developed by John Goon. Now a 'recent arrival' is a Korean American who is 8 Kyu, so it looks like the program will develop well. Unfortunately, the prison will not yet allow them to have any game equipment, so they are using aspirin as stones on hand-drawn paper boards." "In light of recent work on the use of go as therapy for various mental disorders," Bill says, "it seems reasonable that a good case can be made for its value for the rehabilitation of prison inmates as well. If your chapter is looking for an interesting outreach project, consider contacting your local prison." PROS COME TO PLAY AT ZHU JIU JIANG GOE TOURNAMENT In a follow-up to last week's report that five pros will be at the Zhu Jiu Jiang Goe Tournament January 6 & 7, organizer Mike Bull says that Feng Yun 9-Dan, Jiang Ming Jiu 7-Dan, Janice Kim 1-Dan and Chihyung Nam 1-Dan are all going to enter the tournament. "I hope that this will not discourage strong amateurs from coming. Or else I hope that these really good amateurs don't hear about it until they have paid the entry fee and started their first game. No matter what, this tournament is going to be interesting and fun," Bull promises. Sponsored by Ing's Goe Foundation; AGA Rated; Tournament Director: Reid Augustin. Info: Ernest Brown; 415-641-1452; Falcon@sfo.com OR Michael Bull; bull@lanminds.com ONLINE GO: Virtual Go Club Spreads Wings by John C. Stephenson The advent of go servers on the Internet may be the most important thing that's happened to go in its 4000-year history. It's now possible to get a game with players the world over any day, any time. The technology supporting Internet play is widespread, cheap and in reach of most players. The Wings Across Calm Water Go Club (Wings) is the first "virtual" chapter of the American Go Association. Its goal is to promote the fellowship of go over the Internet and develop a sense of cyber-community by leveraging existing servers to organize on-line events. Wings has attracted diverse members, some who live far from an active local chapter, some who are international AGAers, and some who enjoy both local face-to-face games as well as on-line games, but all of whom want more from go servers than just the random availability of strangers for single games. Wings has scheduled a four round on-line Winter Friendship Tournament starting January 21st, 2001. Also, Wings is currently designing an on-line team championship, to be opened to all AGA chapters. Interplay between clubs and groups across the country (and between national organizations across the world), without requiring physical travel or hotel rooms, has exciting potential. On-line and just-in-time teaching opportunities arising from such interplay should further enhance the enjoyment of these events. Play on the Internet is not without its unique issues. One of them is the efficacy of rated games. (If you hate ratings or rated games, there's plenty of non-rated action.) While some servers have an automated rating system, nothing prevents an online player from having a coach sitting next to them or messaging them with advice, or of having an open joseki dictionary on their desk. Although one may debate the state of mind of such players, such behavior is not as unusual as one might think. Nevertheless, go server's rating systems often successfully match players of relative ability. It is only when these ratings are interpreted as a rank (or as a virtual diploma) that problems could arise. So far, the AGA's official rating system requires actual face-to-face competition and requires a time limit not less than 30 minutes per player. By the way, having a good invisible coach at your disposal as you play and think might be a superb teaching technique for immediate positive or corrective reinforcement. Its social acceptability depends partly on one's goals and philosophy. I am not aware of an official "honor code" covering on-line rated tournament play, but perhaps its time for some thoughtful and knowledgeable player to propose a thorough one. If prize level or recognition level is significant, trusted local referees have been used to chaperone each remote side, but this adds greatly to the burden of organization and seems contrary to the spirit of the Internet. Wings is exploring many issues of on-line go play through combining organizational activities with the Internet experience. We explore by trying things out and seeing what works, with everyone agreeing to maintain a sense of humor. Help us break ground and contribute your insights. Come around. Join in. Membership is free. All are welcomed. Any AGAer not already a member of a chapter may affiliate with us as well. Check the website at http://www.wingsgoclub.org. Guest columnist John Stephenson is a former President of the American Go Association and co-founder of the Wings Across Calm Water Go Club. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the American Go Association. GO CLUBS: Atlanta, GA "The Atlanta Go Club meets every Wednesday night from 8 PM to whenever at the Student Center at Georgia Tech University," reports Jeff Kerlagon. Although there are no particular tournaments currently scheduled, "there will be various asian festivals closer to spring that will host go events," Jeff says. - Jeff Kerlagon; kerlagon@bellsouth.net 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@eudoramail.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, Letters to the Editor and other material are welcome - subject to editing for clarity and space -- and should be directed to: Editor: Chris Garlock email: journal@usgo.org Voice: 202-289-7174 Fax: 202-371-0168