AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association April 2, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - GO NEWS: NAMT Update; DC Go in the News - GO REVIEW: Understanding How to Play Go - Online Go: Across The Pond - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) April 7-8: San Francisco, CA 2001 San Francisco Go Club Spring Tournament Steve Burrall (916) 688-2858 sburrall@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 April 28: Sandy Springs, MD Sandy Spring Scholastic K-12 Chess and Go Tournament and Pizza Bash Anand Modak (301) 869-0327 amodak@mcps.k12.md.us June 9 & 10: Denver, CO Yang Yilun Workshop Susan Howell showel@attglobal.net 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 GO NEWS NAMT Update Huiren Yang, 1P defeated Jong Moon Lee, Ama by 7 points in their Challenger Round game on Saturday, 3/31. The Challenger Round game between Mingjiu Jiang, 7P and Xiaoren He, 5P will be played on IGS starting Sunday, Apr 8, 3pm EDT. DC Go in the News "It took me less than an hour to learn how to play Go. However, it will take a lifetime to master it," says 11-year-old Eric Lui, 5D, in a March 31 Washington Post article on the local go scene. Check it out at http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/weekend/A11458-2001Mar29.html GO REVIEW: Understanding How to Play Go Understanding How to Play Go by Yuan Zhou Slate & Shell, $16.50; 210 pp. Reviewed by Bob Felice Lately, I've been getting stronger. Perhaps it's because I've been watching high-level games on IGS. Or maybe it's because I've been reading "Understanding How to Play Go," by Yuan Zhou. Mr. Zhou is an AGA 7 Dan, and this book contains seven of his games. Each game is analyzed thoroughly, with only a few moves per diagram. Game 1, for example, occupies 40 pages of diagrams and text. There are no explicit lessons in the book. Instead, the reader gains understanding by seeing how a 7 Dan thinks about Go. In one game, Zhou points out, "Black gets a good benefit here, so White must try to find compensation." In another, "White must find a way to create severe complications in the hope that Black will make a mistake. It's the only way White can win." Many of the game diagrams end with questions, which invite the reader to think of ways he could "find compensation" or "create severe complications." What I learned is that one's opponent will inevitably get a good result somewhere during a game. When that happens, one must look for ways to restore balance. The book is directed at both kyu and dan level players. As an AGA 8 kyu, I expect this book will be useful to any kyu player ranked 15K or stronger. Bob Felice first learned about Go during a business trip to Toronto in 1980. He is the editor of The AGA Songbook, and co-author of The Palm OS Edition of the Many Faces of Go Joseki Dictionary. Online Go: Across The Pond by Terri Schurter There are many web sites filled with information about the game of Go. One of my favorites is the British Go Association web site at http://www.britgo.org The home page of the BGA site is uncluttered, with clear links to the mai n areas of the site, plus subtle text links for "what's new", "site index" and "site map" at the bottom of the page. These can help you find specific information if you don't come across it easily through the main links which are located in a column at the right side of the page. Four links on the left are given additional emphasis by way of simple graphic images. These links are "learners start here", "how to join", "Go Clubs in Britain", and "the BGA Bookstore". The site has a consistent look throughout thanks to its reliance on simple text links and a repeated background image of the wood grain of a Go board. The whole site is easy on the eyes. Although the site navigation is fairly straightforward I was unable to easily find the archive for this series of articles on Online Go, which has been maintained by the BGA since shortly after the inception of the series. The index came in handy for finding the articles: under "s" in the index and I found Schurter and a full listing of the articles. (Later I saw that the series was listed under "Go Servers" exactly where I had expected to find it, but the index was quite helpful in finding it quickly when I had missed it the first time.) Aesthetically the BGA site has it all over many other web sites which try too hard to look cool with moving text and graphics, which might be interesting individually, but which often don't integrate with the whole site. Information is what the BGA site is about, and it is easy to access on this no-nonsense site. You can learn the rules of the game, find out about Go servers, server clients, read software reviews, and learn about the British Go scene. Take a look at the web page of our sister organization from "across the pond". Terri Schurter has been playing go online since 1995. Her 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. Past columns are archived at http://www.britgo.org/gopcres/agaart/index.html 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 2,500 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