AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association April 30, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - SCOREBOARD: NAMT update; Raleigh, NC; Houston corrections - GO NEWS: Honinbo Broadcasts Live on IGS; AGA Membership Steady; Kids: Think Summer, Think Go; New Book for Beginners; Igowin: 35,000 Downloads & Counting - GO REVIEW: Go for Beginners - Online Go: The Go Teaching Ladder - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) May 5: Corvallis, OR Corvallis Spring Go Tournament Robert O'Malley omalley@oce.orst.edu May 5: Rocky Mountain Open Denver, CO Eric Wainwright (303) 626-0103 ewainwright@decisioneering.com May 12: Lancaster, PA Mothers Day Tournament (Women enter tournament free) Sam Zimmerman (717) 892-1249 szimmerman@wareunl.com May 19-20: New Orleans, LA First Annual New Orleans Spring Tournament David Dinhofer (504) 626-1138 ddinhofer@cs.com May 26-27: Baltimore, MD Maryland Open Keith Arnold (410) 788-3520 hlime@clark.net May 31-June 3: Belchertown, MA Go Workshop with Feng Yun 9 Dan Bill Saltman (413) 323-8658 bsaltman@charter.net June 9 & 10: Denver, CO Yang Yilun Workshop Susan Howell showel3@attglobal.net June 16: Chicago, IL Bloomsday Basho Bob Barber (773)467-0423 igo@uic.edu 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: NAMT update; Raleigh, NC; Houston corrections NAMT Update Huiren Yang, 1P defeated Hosuk Yi, Ama in their Challenger Round match on Saturday. Next game is Sunday, May 6: Mingjiu Jiang, 7p v Hosuk Yi, Ama starting at 2:15p EDT, 1:15p CDT, 11:15a PDT. March 24/25: Games Galore Go Club 2001 Spring Tournament Raleigh, NC TD: David Allen; 16 players Section A: 1st: Paul Celmer, 2k; 2nd: Chuck Robbins, 1d Section B: 1st: Peter Armenia, 5k; 2nd: Quinn Swanger, 4k Section C: 1st: Thomas McCarthy, 18k; 2nd: Adam Bridges, 7k 2001 Houston Spring Tournament Corrections First Place in Handicap Section I was Christopher Hudnall, 3k, not Christ Hudnall as reported last week. In the same section, Jeff Shaevel, 3D (Austin, TX) came in 2ND, NOT William Newman 2D (Dallas,TX) as previously reported. The Chinese professional's name is Xuefen Lin, not Xue Fen Lin, and Bill Ownes should be Bill Owens. We regret the errors and any confusion they may have caused. GO NEWS Honinbo Broadcasts Live on IGS The Honinbo title match will be broadcast live on the IGS beginning May 14. Honinbo Oh Mein will defend against challenger Cho U. Sponsored by Mainichi. The first game is scheduled for May 14 & 15th; approximate starting time each day is 10A IGS local time (IGS local time is the current IGS time shown when the 'uptime' command is used). AGA Membership Steady Total membership was virtually unchanged at 1534 members (1535 last month). Full memberships dropped 15 from 1166 to 1151; limited memberships were up 9, going from 149 to 158. Chapters held steady at 67. Sponsors ($50-$100) were up 1 (40 to 41); sustainers ($100-$499) were up 3 (78 to 81) life members were up 1 (18 to 19). Kids: Think Summer, Think Go All go-playing kids are invited and encouraged to sign up for the 2001 Summer Go Camp. "We now have twenty-seven registrations but there's still room for more," says Camp organizer Peter Rzepecki, who adds that "There is not much time left to sign up." For more information visit: http://www.usgo.org/gocamp/index.html or write to Peter at AGAGoCamp@aol.com Financial help is also greatly appreciated, says Rzepecki. "Help us keep camp fees low and allows more kids to attend. Talk to your local go club and sponsor the camp! Even small donations can make a big difference." Tax deductible donations should go to the American Go Foundation at AGF attn Mary Laird, 211 W 106th St, 3C, NY, NY 10025 New Book for Beginners The Korean Badook Association USA has produced a new book for beginners: An Introduction of Korean Badook. An usually attractive go (badook) book, with high quality paper and lavish use of color throughout, it lays out the rules, basic shapes, and common patterns of the game quite thoroughly. An added attraction is that it allows the reader to learn key Korean go terms. This book is distributed by Slate & Shell and available at www.slateandshell.com Igowin: 35,000 Downloads & Counting Igowin, the 9x9 version of Many Faces of Go, was designed to be as addictive as possible, says Igowin author David Fotland. "It will challenge anyone from 30 kyu to 5 dan, by varying the playing strength and handicap. It makes its move almost instantly, so there is no waiting, and reports what it thinks your rank is. You have to beat it to earn a high rank. There are no settings. Of course it has the great Many Faces graphics, with rounded stones, wood grain, and shadows." Igowin also includes the complete tutorial from The Way to Go, and extensive information on the history of go, professional players, as well as a reference to the AGA web page on the final screen. "My hope is that Igowin will become as popular and addictive as minesweeper, and introduce thousands of new people to the game of go," says Fotland. "When I first released it, I put it on my regular user web site. After a couple of months they shut me down. There had been so much download traffic that the ISP thought I was running a porn site. Finally I got someone at the ISP to take a look at the file, and convinced him I was legitimate." About two-thirds of the downloads are from the USA, followed by Germany, Japan, UK, France, and Canada. Download Igowin from http://www.smart-games/igowin.html GO REVIEW: Go for Beginners by Kaoru Iwamoto Published by Pantheon Books, 1977 [$12] Reviewed by Matthew Burke, 15k I taught myself and several of my friends how to play Go from this book, and I suspect many other people can say the same. The book's clarity and thoroughness indicate why Iwamoto was so successful at promoting Go in the West. Go for Beginners is divided into two parts. The first part explains the rules of go. Rather than simply listing the rules and giving examples, Iwamoto walks us through a 9x9 game, presenting rules as necessary. I remember finding this to be a most compelling way of drawing me into the game. After leading the reader through playing and scoring, Iwamoto steps back and fleshes out the details of liberties, ko, seki, and other important concepts in the second chapter. The second part of the book presents an overview of techniques including life and death, ladders, and extensions. The book ends with good advice on how to improve and two example professional games. Online Go: The Go Teaching Ladder by Terri Schurter If you aren't yet ready to commit your time and money to professional lessons, the Go Teaching Ladder offers the next best thing. At this site you will find an archive of games reviewed by amateur players of all strengths. These players are generous enough to comment the games of their peers a few stones weaker than themselves and make their reviews public so we can all profit from their go wisdom. When you log on to the Go Teaching Ladder site at http://gtl.jeudego.org/ you are presented with links to navigate the site on the left of the page. On the right you will see an invitation to read the FAQ, and to submit a game for review following the guidelines. There is also a listing of the latest reviews, which is handy if you are a regular visitor to the site and you want to download what is new. You can also download commented games from the archive, which contains all the posted games reviewed to date. The archive can be searched by index number, strength, name, date, fuseki, and handicap. In addition to 19x19 games you will find some 13x13 and 9x9 games. Even if you are not a strong player yourself, you can contribute to the Go Teaching Ladder. A 20kyu can certainly give a tip or two to a 25kyu just starting out. Of course, one must always take even the best amateur advice with a grain of salt. As my 4 dan mentor is apt to say before holding forth, "I will pretend to know something, but only Yang (Substitute the name of your favorite teaching pro) knows the truth." 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: 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: mailto: 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