AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association May 14, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! SCOREBOARD: Corvallis, OR; Lancaster, PA - GO NEWS: Go Camp 2001: Still a Few Slots Available; Go Player's Woodstock; Go New Zealand - GO RESOURCES: "Go Problems for Kyu Level Players" Reissued - JOURNAL SNAPBACK: A Go Master in New York (June, 1951) - GO REVIEW: In the Beginning - Online Go: Online Joseki Dictionary - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) 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 ABROAD May 26: Panama; local go tournament from 2-7P. - José Díaz Seixas; digon@sinfo.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: Corvallis, OR; Lancaster, PA May 5: Corvallis Spring Go Tournament Corvallis, OR TD: Robert O'Malley; 25 players 3-0: Chris SHELLEY, 2k; Robert O'MALLEY, 3k;, David TAFFS, 11k; Maren PEASLEY, 20k. 2-1: James NAM, 3d;, Masaya TSUKAMOTO, 2d; Jacob HENNER, 4k; Greg GAGE, 6k; Bill FAUST, 8k; Matt SAFFELl, 10k; Scott PEGAU, 19k;, Kirsten PETERSEN, 26k. Note: there were 4 youths at this tournament: three were beginners, and the fourth was 12-year-old James NAM, 3d from Korea. May 12: Lancaster Mother's Day Tournament Lancaster, PA TD: Sam Zimmerman; 16 players Ping LUE, 1d: Champion, Hurricane, Keith Arnold Chris SPEARS, 20k: Champion, Hurricane Juan QUIXON, 20k: Dedicated Mozheng GUAN 3D: Grasshopper Mozhend Guan played as a 4k in the NJ Open and went 3-2. In the Lancaster Self-Paired he entered as a 3d and went 2-1. That is seven ranks in 12 weeks! GO NEWS Go Camp 2001: Still a Few Slots Available Go Camp registration stands at 30 youngsters, but "We can still accept several more," says camp organizer Peter Rzepecki. "We must have all registrations by May 23," Rzepecki says. Visit the Go Camp web site for more information: http://www.usgo.org/gocamp/index.html or write to Peter at AGAGoCamp@aol.com Financial help is also greatly appreciated. Tax deductible donations may be sent to the American Go Foundation at AGF attn Mary Laird, 211 W 106th St, 3C, NY, NY 10025 Go Player's Woodstock The Brooklyn Go Club has a few rooms left at the Woodlands from June 30 to July 4. This yearly event was dubbed "The Go Player's Woodstock" in the American Go Journal. For more details, go to http://brooklyngoclub.org/generic_club/cgi-bin/disp_topic.iphtml?topic_id=39 To reserve space, e-mail Jean-Claude Chetrit: jc@BrooklynGoClub.org Go New Zealand If you happen to be in New Zealand in early June, don't miss this opportunity to play Go at The Auckland Go Champs, June 3-4. Colin Grierson, +64 9 2733002 or email mailto:coling@ihug.co.nz (Thanks to Steve Taylor for the info). GO RESOURCES: "Go Problems for Kyu Level Players" Reissued The pocket-sized little red books of "Go Problems for Kyu Level Players" have been one of the more popular recent products from the AGA and now been reissued as little yellow books, reports Bill Cobb. "The quality of the cover, the printing, and the paper have been improved," says Cobb. "Hundreds of copies of the red version have been distributed, and the new yellow version now can be obtained from Slate & Shell www.slateandshell.com or 1425 Westshire Lane, Richmond, VA 23233. JOURNAL SNAPBACK: A Go Master in New York (June, 1951) Mr. Masayoshi Fukuda, a professional Japanese Go master of the 6th degree, arrived in.New York on March 29th and left on May 8th, having played with almost every player in the area. His tour was extended to include Washington, and a number of games were played at Princeton, in which Mr. Fukuda expressed to Dr. Einstein the great admiration of the Japanese Go Association (Nippon Kiin) and the Japanese people. .On the evening of his first day in New York, in spite of the fact that he had not arrived at the airport until four o-clock in the afternoon, Mr. Fukuda visited the Marshall Chess Club and played three games - two with Mr. Arnold Proujansky, and one with Mr. Edward Lasker. All three games were at a six stone handicap, and Mr. Fukuda won all of them. It was fascinating to watch Mr. Fukuda play. Each stone was placed with deliberation, and each play as a rule preserved sente. One had to revise one's notion of what constituted a safe group! .The general level of play improved by about one stone due to his instructions. Excerpted from "A Go Master Visits the U.S.," The American Go Journal, June 1951. GO REVIEW: In the Beginning In the Beginning by Ikuro Ishigure Kiseido, 151 pp. Reviewed by Jason Baghboudarian, 10k As in many creation stories, we have darkness, and then light. So it is from the very first stone of a game of go. Ishigure takes us on an exploration of these beginnings, my favorite time of the game. Because of its open and abstract qualities, the opening is by its very nature difficult to teach with authority, simply because there is none. There are many approaches to the opening, the basic structure and strategies of which have evolved over time. I find it fascinating, and a tribute to the flexibility of the game itself, that for as many thousands of years as go has been played, there have been significant new developments in opening style in just the past hundred years alone. In addressing the opening, Ishigure is giving us a philospohy of the game as a whole. He handles the subject matter with skill. He shows us how to build solid bases from which to attack and pincer. We see different shimari and kakari, but instead of an emphasis on joseki, Ishigure stays true to the nature of this time in the game by focusing on a broader context. We are shown the values of different areas, relative to position. There are problems throughout the text, and in their own section as well.. All of this leads us through nine concepts which will help guide us through developing our own style of opening. These are principles of balance, on which every rank of player needs to act. Reading this book has given me more insight into the state of mind required to play go well. This of course brings more appreciation of the game; and also of the cultures which have embraced it. Easy Money Send us a 150-word review of a go book or go software and - upon acceptance -- we'll give you a $25 gift certificate to the go vendor of your choice. Tell us what you liked - or didn't like - and how it helped (or didn't help) your game. Include the book's title, publisher, cost, your name and email address. Choose any book you like, from brand-new publications to old stand-bys that you keep going back to. Also, be sure to indicate what level player is best served by the material. ONLINE GO: Online Joseki Dictionary by Terri Schurter An excellent resource on the Jansteen Page is the WWW Joseki Dictionary located at http://www.cwi.nl/~jansteen/go/joseki/index.html Those interested in an in-depth look at joseki can follow links to explore six different categories of joseki including komoku, mokuhazushi, taka-mokuhazushi, hoshi, san-san and miscellaneous hoshi josekis. Take "Part 4 (4-4) hoshi" as an example. Clicking on that link presents you with three diagrams. Each has the 4-4 hoshi stone plus one of three approaches to the stone: a knight's move, a one point jump, and a three point jump. Clicking on any of these three diagrams takes you to additional diagrams which represent continuations arising from the chosen approach move. Clicking on the knight's move approach presents you with 28 variation diagrams. Clicking on any of these will present you with a Go Base Query Report, which lists the games in the Go Base containing the variation. When I chose the last of the 28 variations for the knight's move approach to the 4-4, I was shown a report including 50 instances of the position in games. From there I was able to look at information about any of the players and to download any of the games for review. Downloading requires registering and obtaining a password, which is free. The jokeki page also includes a "Gentle Introduction To Joseki" written for beginners 5 kyu and below. The direct link to this section is http://www.cwi.nl/~jansteen/go/joseki/basic/index.html This limited introduction is a less overwhelming overview of basic joseki than one would receive by diving into the entire joseki dictionary. It shows 24 patterns and provides explanatory text. 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! 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