AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association March 19, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - SCOREBOARD: Philadelphia, PA; NAMT - GO NEWS: Going Abroad; 2001 Congress; 2 Weeks Left for March Bonus - YOUR MOVE: Readers Write - GO REVIEW: Fighting Ko - Go Playing Youth Update: Learning & Winning - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) March 24-25: Raleigh, NC Spring 2001 Go Tournament Joe Berry (919) 787-4358; gggc@nc.rr.com March 24: Austin, TX Austin Go Club Spring Tournament Clay Chip Smith (512) 302-0908; ChipSmith@IEEE.org March 31: Arlington, VA Cherry Blossom (Part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival) Allan Abramson (703) 684-7676; mediate@mnsinc.com April 7-8: San Francisco, CA 2001 San Francisco Go Club Spring Tournament Steve Burrall (916) 688-2858; burrall@home.com April 8: Hoboken, NJ Hoboken Spring Tournament Larry Russ (201) 216-5379; lruss@stevens-tech.edu April 14: College Park, MD Univ. of Maryland Spring tournament Steve Mount; http://www.wam.umd.edu/~smount/Spring.html; sm193@umail.umd.edu April 21-22: Houston, TX 2001 Houston Spring Tournament Mike Peng (281) 228-4233; pmpeng@swbell.net April 22: Boston, MA MGA Spring Handicap Tournament Don Wiener (617) 734-6316; donwiener@earthlink.net April 28: Cuyahoga Falls, OH Cuyahoga 2001 Go Tournament Joe Carl (330) 493-1663; jcarl@neo.rr.com July 21-29: U.S. Go Congress York College, York PA Keith Arnold, Director; (410) 788-3520; 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 SCOREBOARD: Philadelphia, PA; NAMT Philadelphia Go Tournament and Thai Banquet (Update) March 3, 2001 Winning dish at the Banquet: Red Snapper with spicy Thai sauce (beat out the beer with a Thai break) North American Masters Tournament Report Jong Moon Lee (amateur) defeated Hosuk Yi (amateur) in their NAMT Challenger Round game on Sunday, 3/11. Xiaoren He, 5P was scheduled to play Hosuk Yi, amateur on IGS yesterday. GO NEWS Going Abroad "We now have a very nice publication in Spanish that appears on a regular basis," reports Hugo Scolnik, President of the Asociación Argentina de Go. "You can subscribe by contacting nikkai@yahoogroups.com" If you're looking for a game of go in Germany, drop a line to new e-journal subscriber p.schwan@t-online.de who reports that "there are two opportunities each week to play go with others in Frankfort, and four or five in you're willing to travel to Darmstadt or Mainz, only a stone's throw. If anyone from America is planning a visit to Germany, I'd be happy to serve as contact person to hook them up with opportunities to play. There are go clubs in most cities in Germany." 2001 Congress Registration Form Now Available Register now for this year's U.S. Go Congress, the highlight of the annual go calendar. Email Keith Arnold at hlime@clark.net for a registration form! We hope to have the form available on the website soon; stay tuned. 2 Weeks Left for March Bonus For Renewing Or Lapsed Members! Current or lapsed members who renew their AGA membership in March receive a special FREE bonus this month: your choice of either the AGA's Starter CD-ROM or one of the great new pocket series published by Bill Cobb. Choose either the CD-ROM or one of the pocket series: Go Problems, Vol. 1: Life and Death; Vol. 2: Uplifting Exercises; Vol. 3: Whole Board Opening Problems or Learning from the Masters, Vol 1. This offer is good for any current or lapsed AGA member who renews their full membership this month. Join online at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.html or mail a check to us at: American Go Association Dept. E, PO Box 397 Old Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10113-0397 PLEASE BE SURE to note your bonus choice -- CD-ROM or one of the books -- in the "Remarks" section of the questionnaire at the end of the application form. YOUR MOVE: Readers Write The Story So Far "I am planning on writing a go review for the e-journal," writes Matt, "Since I've only been getting it for a couple of weeks, I was wondering if there was an archive of back issues so that I don't duplicate something that's already been reviewed." Our archives are not online yet but here's the list of what's been reviewed so far: "Golden Opportunities" by Rin Kaiho (1/29/01); "Restless" Directed by Jule Gilfillian (1/29/01); Pro-Pro Handicap Go, edited by the Nihon Ki-in (2/5/01); Attack and Defense (Elementary Go Series, Vol. 5) (2/12/01); The 1971 Honinbo Tournament (2/19/01); Many Faces of Go Joseki Dictionary (Palm OS Edition) (2/26/01); Graded Go Problems for Beginners (Vols 1-4) (3/5/01); Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go (3/12/01). GO REVIEW: Fighting Ko Fighting Ko by Jin Jiang (Yutopian, 1995, original Chinese version February 1987), 146pp Reviewed by Clayton Wilkie, 1D This is a handy pocket-sized book that relies mainly on teaching by example. It amounts to a thorough survey of how ko situations can arise, how they fit into the overall logic of the game, and what the effects of avoiding them would be. Most of the book is suitable for middle to high kyu players, but the final chapter and concluding problems move up to the dan range. Fighting Ko contains a few pages dealing with capturing races, including the best explanation I have seen of a basic principle governing them. Unfortunately, it is presented with no special emphasis, right along with the less satisfying rules of thumb you have probably seen elsewhere. Further, this section should logically lead to a discussion of capturing races involving ko, but the only related topic, on approach-move kos and the like, precedes the capturing races. What the book does not provide are hints on how to find ko threats, and how to play so that when a ko arises, you do not find yourself devoid of ko threats. There are only a few examples of effective ko threats in the book. Study of this book should help a wide range of players to recognize ko possibilities in their games, but it will not help you fight them. Go Playing Youth Update: Learning & Winning By None Redmond, Education Coordinator Some exciting things have been happening recently for children who play go. To begin with, cybercamp has started up again on Sundays on KGS. James Chien directs this program with the help of Jonathan Wang. Cybercamp is in good hands, as both James and Jon are excellent go players and good teachers; some of their pupils carry off prizes regularly. Recently we even had a visitor from England, when teacher Nick Wedd came to see how American children play. Nick is talking about setting up a Children's Room on a Saturday at times when children from continental Europe and the British Isles could play with young people across America. When we have Cybercamp fully started, we'll think about a Transatlantic Children's Room We are now hearing constantly of tournaments run by clubs across the country where children are winning prizes. Our go-playing youth are getting stronger and more serious. Many thanks are due to those of you who give generously of your time to teach and to guide these youngsters as they play and study. Club tournaments, interscholastic tournaments, and tournaments on the net can be very exciting and rewarding for children and when they participate in these occasions it has other benefits of learning courtesy and respect as well as discovering more about playing the game. In Asia, young children who show sign of go talent are often sent to a dojo where a Go Master will teach and groom them into professional players. It's a life of dedication and resolve. It's hard work. The young people have to be serious and they have to love the game. Here in America, there are many demands on our children's energy. Soccer and baseball, dancing lessons and piano class all claim time and interest. Also we don't have that many professional players and many of them are concerned with conserving their strength and time to compete in professional tournaments. Fortunately, there is the Internet, where a pro can interact with children and although it is not the same thing as a "live-in" dojo, it is the next best thing. Last month an experimental program began for four fortunate young people. They are enrolled in a study group under the care of James Kerwin-Sensei. Their homework includes amongst other things studying a professional game, studying life and death problems and playing with other children. It is hoped that as they play with others their new understanding of the game will be observed by the go friends they play with and so the teaching will spread out to a wider circle. The program will continue until Memorial Day weekend and their game will then be assessed to see how they have improved. If this experimental study group is judged a success, other groups may be started. The children have been charged a nominal fee for the 16-week program and Mr Kerwin has been characteristically generous with his time. The American Go Foundation is supporting the study group program presently but if it is opened up to children generally, a scholarship fund drive may have to be launched. Teachers who have students who they think would benefit from this program should keep in touch with me at education@usgo.org GET LISTED & BOOST TURN-OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 2,500 readers coast-to-coast every week! 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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