AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association May 21, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - SCOREBOARD: Denver, CO - GO CLUBS: Cuyahoga Falls, OH - GO NEWS: A Matter of Life & Death in Chile; Desperately Seeking Pro Coordinator; Summer Go Camp: Last Call! - JOURNAL SNAPBACK: Wasting Time is Relative (March, 1981) - GO REVIEW: Learn to Play Go - ONLINE Go: IGS-PandaNet Mail Magazine - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) THIS WEEKEND! 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 2: Davis, CA Davis/Sacramento Go Club Quarterly Tournament Fred Hopkins fred.hopkins@mckhboc.com 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: Denver, CO May 5th: Denver, CO Rocky Mountain Open Go Tournament TD: Bert Bates High Dan Section: 6 Players; 1st: Jung Hoon Lee, 8d; 2nd: Joseph Kim, 7d Low Dan Section: 10 Players; 1st: Burt Simon, 3d; 2nd: David Ring, 3d Kyu Section: 8 Players: 1st: Bob Sorenson, 3k; 2nd: Ron White, 3k. Go CLUBS: Cuyahoga Falls, OH The CuyahoGo Club of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, hosted its first tournament on April 28th, reports Tournament Director Joe Carl. "We were pleased that this first-time effort was met with such enthusiastic attendance by players of all levels, ages, and localities. Five dan level players joined us, and people attended from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Our youngest player was Adam Carl, age 8 years. Not only did we entertain many first time tournament attendees, but we also managed to increase the AGA membership while doing so. We were pleased that our tournament went so well and hope all of you and more can join us again next year." Four tournament rounds and a few quick matches during lunch apparently did not prove enough for some enthusiasts, who adjourned later to a local eatery for more, more, more, reports Carl, who invites "Any and all players to join us for an even better tournament next year - in fact, we'll save a seat for you." GO NEWS A Matter of Life & Death in Chile Former AGA President Bob High's profound commitment to human rights survives eight years after his death in a rafting accident in Chile. Bob was teaching math at the University of Santiago in 1973 when General Augusto Pinochet staged a coup to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. During the first days of the coup, Bob's close friend Charlie Horman (whose story is told in the Oscar-winning film "Missing") was murdered, along with hundreds of others, in Santiago's National Stadium. Years of murder, torture and repression followed Pinochet's rise to power, moving Bob so deeply that he abandoned his teaching career and spent the next ten years organizing protests here in the U.S. against the Pinochet dictatorship. An avid go player who had just been elected president of the AGA, Bob died on January 8, 1993 on the first commercial rafting expedition to attempt the Futaleufu River in Chile. In life, Bob High and Charlie Horman played go together; in death they continue to struggle for justice in the land they both loved so deeply. Charlie's widow, Joyce, has dedicated her life to bringing Pinochet to justice and learning the truth about Charlie's death; last summer, Pinochet was finally stripped of his immunity from prosecution in the Chilean courts. Help keep Bob's memory alive by supporting this courageous battle for justice: your tax-deductible contribution will fund vital research, legal fees, translations and other costs involved in pursuing the court case against Pinochet and other top military officers. Send your contributions to The Charles Horman Truth Project, PO Box 2331, New York, NY 10021. More info: Terry Assael, tassael@aol.com Desperately Seeking Pro Coordinator Wanted: Coordinator for Professionals at the 2002 U.S. Go Congress. Will train at the 2001 Congress. Eileen Barberi, barberi@chesco.com Summer Go Camp: Last Call! Young go players have just a few more days to register for this year's Summer Go Camp. The May 23 registration deadline is approaching fast. Go Camp registration stands at 32 youngsters, but "We can still accept a few more," says camp organizer Peter Rzepecki. 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 still 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 Journal Snapback: Wasting Time is Relative (March, 1981) On a visit to Einstein in Princeton, [Dr. Edward] Lasker presented Einstein with an autographed copy of "Go and Go-Moku" and in return received an autographed copy of "The Theory of Relativity." The great physicist asked, "You are obviously an intelligent man; clearly a great deal of work went into this book, but why for such a trivial and unimportant topic?" Lasker replied, "A friend of mine recently said the following, and I must say I agree with it: 'We are born and we die, and in between these two events of a lifetime, there is a lot of time that must be wasted. Now, whether it is wasted by doing mathematics, practicing law, or playing games, it is really quite insignificant!'" (Lasker was quoting Clarence Darrow.) - "Edward Lasker (1885-1981): An Appreciation" by Gerald E. Pinto, The American Go Journal, March, 1981 GO REVIEW: Learn to Play Go Learn to Play Go (four volumes) by Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-Hyun Published by Good Move Press; $17.95 (vol. 1); $14.95 (vol.2-4) Reviewed by Steven Robert Allen, 1k Experienced go players sometimes deride this series, suggesting it's overly simple. With go books, though, as with go itself, simplicity is very often a virtue. Containing large diagrams, witty asides, and plenty of interesting go history and trivia, this series is perfect for those who are new to the game. Later volumes contain information that even mid-level players will find useful. The first volume starts at the very beginning by explaining the rules and outlining some rudimentary strategies. In the back, a paper board with stones is included. (This is somewhat difficult to play with because the pieces are so small.) The second volume, "The Way of the Moving Horse," goes a couple steps beyond the most basic strategies. The third volume, "Dragon Style," contains some go aphorisms and a few analyzed sample games. The fourth volume, "Battle Strategies," contains more "advanced" strategies. Of all the books out there, these seem to me to be the very best for introducing beginners to go. Volume one, in particular, makes a perfect gift for someone approaching the game for the first time. The series will eventually include nine volumes. The fifth volume, The Palace of Memory, is expected shortly. ONLINE GO: IGS-PandaNet Mail Magazine by Terri Schurter Recently on rec.games.go there was an announcement of a monthly email "magazine" called The IGS Panda Net Mail Magazine. This magazine will provide subscribers with six commented game records each month via email. Games will be selected from among those played by users of IGS on the IGS server. They will be commented by professionals. The body of the text describing this service offers a link to download the program used for viewing the game records. This program also happens to be a fully functioning client for IGS. I downloaded the software (called "Panda Egg") and clicked on the link for the sample game which is commented by Michael Redmond, 9P. The Panda Egg software allowed me to progress through the game record at my own pace and when a comment appeared, the record would pause until I clicked on the arrow key for the game to continue. Comments on individual moves included variations limited to what is feasible using the approach of "if white A, then black B, then white C, then black D." Variation trees were not used, simply letters appearing on the board to represent alternate moves. This may be due to the limits of the client software, or to the desire to not deviate too far from the game record. I counted 12 screens of commentary in the sample game with the first screen occurring at move 26. The magazine is offered at 500 yen per month, which I understand to be slightly less than $5 U.S. To subscribe you must fill out a form with your credit card information and provide an IGS user ID. Six professionally commented game records at this price seems quite reasonable. Although double digit kyu players might benefit, I would certainly recommend it for stronger players of 5k and above. If you subscribe to this service and would like to comment on it, please send your comments to the eJournal. For the entire story, and to download the Panda Egg software: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&ic=1&th=16fa306a424284d5, 10&seekm=tweet.989622935%40igs.joyjoy.net#p Terri Schurter -- goddess@wingsgoclub.org -- 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: 202-857-3410 Fax: 202-857-3420