AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association January 8, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS - GO CLUBS: More AGA Chapters! - YOUR TURN: READERS WRITE: Computer Go Program Strength Hard to Measure - ONLINE GO: Helping Go Newbies - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) 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 21: Online Wings Winter Friends Tournament Starts www.wingsgoclub.org John C. Stephenson [jcsteph@speakeasy.org] January 27; Chicago, IL Winter Tournament and Kid's Go Camp Reunion Bob Barber; (773) 467-0423; igo@uic.edu February 10/11: Charlotte, NC 2001 Carolinas Open Wayne Hansen (704) 536-4805 whanson319@aol.com. UPCOMING/ABROAD (see WWW.USGO.ORG for details) - 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 CLUBS: More AGA Chapters! A Record Number of AGA Chapters! There were 73 official AGA chapters at the end of 2000, reports AGA Chapter Services Coordinator Bill Cobb. "This is an increase of 20% over the previous year," says Cobb. "Some of the new chapters were established clubs that finally decided to sign up, but most of them are brand new groups just getting started. This is certainly an encouraging sign about the development of the go community in the US." YOUR TURN: READERS WRITE Computer Go Program Strength Hard to Measure "It is hard to measure the strengths of computer Go programs, because humans who play against them 'improve' rapidly as they learn their weaknesses," writes Nick Wedd in response to last week's query about the strength of computer go programs. "Most estimates of the strength of the strongest programs,such as HandTalk, put them at around 8-kyu." "The 3-kyu award (to HandTalk) had more to do with publicising the event and encouraging computer Go, than with assessing HandTalk's strength." ONLINE GO: Helping Go Newbies by Terri Schurter My tenth "commandment" for Online Go Etiquette last week was to help newbies: here are some suggestions on how. Players new to Go can be found on any of the go servers, but they abound on the Zone and on Yahoo because they are extensions of larger gaming servers offering many types of games. They are also easily accessible and, as a result, total newbies often wander into the Go area seeking to play the game. It is not uncommon to sit down with a player and see him make some pretty unorthodox moves in the opening. Try to sensitively feel out how experienced your opponent is. You might ask if he's familiar with the rules of the game. If he says yes, double check by asking about two eyes. (Sometimes they think they know and they don't.) Since teaching Go from scratch online is nearly impossible you should steer those in need of the absolute basics to a tutorial; Yahoo has a "how to play go" link, on the Zone the link is called "game help". There is also the "Interactive Way To Go" tutorial at http://playgo.to/interactive/ (It's also the first link at http://www.terriblue.com) Ask your opponent to read one of these tutorials and return after he has finished. It may sound cold to ask a newbie to read the rules before teaching him, but it's in everyone's best interest. Since teaching new players online is a great effort, doing so with someone who has made the effort to read the rules increases the likelihood that your efforts will bear fruit for your student and for the go community. Once your opponent returns (or if he knows the basics, but is very low level), insist on playing 9x9, and encourage him to seek out 9x9 games himself for awhile. My 4 dan mentor refused to play anything but 9x9 with me for over a year. Being a fairly weak player myself I tend to play one game even first, to judge strength, and then offer as much as a four-stone 9x9 if it seems warranted. I add one stone for each loss until we can trade wins and losses and then lower the handicap one stone if my opponent wins three in a row. It is important to gauge your opponent's frustration level as you proceed. Some want instruction right away, and some want to tough it out. Look for opportunities to illustrate killing moves and then offer to undo so your opponent can avoid the kill. (Since there is no undo on Yahoo this won't work there.) Introduce your new student to your circle of friends on line especially if you know that they are compassionate to new players. Encourage your student to watch you play 19x19 games, and to ask you questions in private messages as you play. And don't forget to steer him to http://www.usgo.org for information about the AGA. And it wouldn't hurt to mention http://www.wingsgoclub.org. Happy mentoring! Terri Schurter has been playing Go online since 1995. Her Go club, Wings Across Calm Waters [http://www.wingsgoclub.org], is a "virtual" chapter of the AGA. Wings meets week-nights on the Zone from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Eastern Time, and on Wednesday nights at 8P on KGS. Terri plays under the name goddess_of_go. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the American Go Association. 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 MAILTO: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 MAILTO:ratings@usgo.org AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST: President; Roy Laird: mailto:president@usgo.org Eastern VP; ChenDao Lin: mailto:vp-eastern@usgo.org Central VP; Jeff Shaevel: mailto:vp-central@usgo.org Western VP; Larry Gross: mailto:vp-western@usgo.org Treasurer; Ulo Tamm: mailto:treasurer@usgo.org Membership Secretary; John Goon: mailto:membership@usgo.org Chapters Coordinator; Bill Cobb: mailto:chapters@usgo.org Tournament Coordinator; Mike Bull: mailto:tournaments@usgo.org Education Coordinator; None Redmond: mailto:education@usgo.org Congress Liaison Officer; Chris Kirschner: mailto:cngrsliaison@usgo.org AGA website; Gordon Fraser and Chuck Robbins: mailto:webmaster@usgo.org American Go Foundation; Terry Benson: mailto: mailto:terrybenson@eudoramail.com AGA Librarian; Craig Hutchinson: mailto: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