AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association June 25, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - SCOREBOARD: Chicago, IL; 8th Redmond Cup Internet League Final Results - GO NEWS: Feng Yun Drops from NAMT; Youngsters Invited to Redmond Cup Tournament; Go Party Set on CWS; - YOUR MOVE: The Go Player's Almanac In Print; Keep the Guide; E-Journal Connecting Overseas; Cross-Cuts 3: Listen to the People - GO REVIEW: Go World (the magazine) - ONLINE GO: Samarkand Online - GO RESOURCES: Jungsuk In Our Time - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) June 30: Richmond, VA: Virginia Open William Cobb (804) 740-2191; wmscobb@rcn.com July 4: Eastern US Open Amateur Baduk Tournament Richard Gray (W) 215-641-7195; (H) 215-949-3366 "Don" Lee, (610)-558-7839 RSSRTG@rohmhaas.com July 14: Arlington, VA: Congress Tune-Up Allan Abramson (703) 684-7676; mediate@mnsinc.com July 15: Boston, MA: MGA Summer Handicap Tournament Don Wiener (617) 734-6316; donwiener@earthlink.net July 21-29: York PA: U.S. Go Congress Keith Arnold, Director; (410) 788-3520; hlime@clark.net ABROAD July 7-8: Scottish Open (Edinburgh) Donald Macleod; donald@sandwood.demon.co.uk http://www.faldara.co.uk/Go/Scottish.html July 21-August 4: European Go Congress (Dublin, Ireland) John Gibson +353-1-490-8779 john@mhg.ie 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: Chicago, IL; 8th Redmond Cup Internet League Final Results June 16: Bloomsday Basho, Chicago, IL 51 players; 8 players won all their games, and therefore the prize money. Dan level: John Harriman, 2D Low Kyu: Nancy Xu, 4K; George Kataman, visiting from the Czech Republic, 7K; Lannie Carter 9K High Kyu: Marc Visser, 15K; Richard Zhang, 17K; Ben Xie, 20K; Yijiang Chen, 20K Nancy, Richard and Ben are all students of Ms. Huang Liping 4p. Nancy is also her daughter, and the granddaughter of professional Huang Yongji. 8th Redmond Cup Internet League Final Results 1: Eric Lui; 2: Richard Liang, Jin Chen; 4: Gina Shi; 5: Justin Wang; 6: Jesse Chao; 7: Louisa Chan; 8: Kentaro Toyoda; 9: Matthew Curran; 10: Johnny Liu; 11: Kristen Burrall (fighting spirit award). The tie between Richard Liang and Jin Chen will be broken by a three game match played at a time and place to be announced. GO NEWS Feng Yun Drops from NAMT Feng Yun has withdrawn from the remainder of the North American Masters Tournament (NAMT) because her husband is in the hospital, reports Don Wiener. Since Feng Yun has already played some of her games, the NAMT Committee has decided that she will forfeit her remaining games (with Mingjiu Jiang and Jong Moon Lee). Therefore Mingjiu Jiang wins the Challenger Round, with a score of 5-0, and will play the best-of-three Final Match with his brother, Zhujiu Jiang. "The final match cannot take place at the Congress, however," says Don, "because Jujo will be playing in the Samsung Cup Tournament in Korea that week. We will try to have the Final Match played on IGS before the Congress if possible." Youngsters Invited to Redmond Cup Tournament Young North American Go players are invited to join the ninth Redmond Cup Tournament and the fifth Redmond Handicap Tournament. Michael Redmond 9-Dan and his family, the American Go Association, the Ing Wei-Ch'i Foundation and IGS encourage young people 17 years or under (as of August 2001) to participate. There are two divisions in the Cup; the Junior league for those aged less than 12 years and the Senior league for 12-17 year-olds. All players must be residents of the U.S., Canada or Mexico. All games are played on the Internet, courtesy of IGS, except for the finals which will be played at the 2002 American Go Congress. Travel expenses are paid for the finalists, also their congress room, board and registration fees are paid by the Redmond Cup, thanks to the Ing Foundation. The finals are played using the Ing rules of Goe. The Redmond Handicap Tournament is for young people 16 years or less August 2001. This is a tournament for kyu players, played on the Internet for fun and help in learning how to use IGS. There are two leagues organised according to the strength of the participating players. Registration for either tournament with None Redmond at chinski@inreach.com before December 1st 2001: Name, address, phone, date of birth, email address, AGA rating, citizenship, Go Club. Go Party Set on CWS Charlie Young (Chen-Yui Yang) has organized a Go Party on CWS (Chinese WeiQi Server) on July 14. The number of attendees is limited to 12; register by 7/3. Send name, rank, email address, phone #, years playing Go (optional), reasons for participating in the Go Party (optional) and other personal information (optional) to Charlie at: ccy@att.com YOUR MOVE: Letters from Readers The Go Player's Almanac In Print "In my recent review of The Go Player's Almanac," reports Steven Robert Allen, "I wrote 'Though The Go Player's Almanac is currently out of print, it's available at several Internet vendors of go equipment. An updated edition is rumored to be in the works.' "Actually, a new, updated edition has just been published and is available at www.kiseido.com" Keep the Guide "Please retain the Guide to Go," writes Lon Atkins. "As I am a Californian, that will give me something to read during the rolling blackouts when my computer is down." E-Journal Connecting Overseas "I would like to request a subscription to your online journal," writes Mary Forszt. "I´m an American who´s lived in Germany for more than 20 years. I have been playing Go since 1994 and am about 11th kyu but still hoping to improve my strength. "As the new coordinator of association-sponsored go evenings for the Berlin chapter of the German Go Association (Deutsche Go Verband) I´d also be interested in doing whatever possible to encourage contacts between German and American Go players. I will try to include some information in English about our go evenings ("Spielabende") to make it easier for visitors to find their way to us." Berlin-bound Go players can reach Mary at mary@gov.de Cross-Cuts 3: Listen to the People "Rather than engaging in an endless political debate ("Cross-Cuts Offensive")," writes Dan Kim, "I invite the readers and editors of the AGA Journal to show the cartoon to people of Asian ancestry who grew up in American society, and listen to what they have to say. I believe, Janice Kim's defense of the cartoons notwithstanding, that the majority of Asian-Americans would find the cartoons to be at least an occasion for eye-rolling and momentary discomfort, if not downright offensive. "The ultimate question is not whether, on some metaphysical level, the cartoons should or shouldn't be considered to be offensive. The question is whether these cartoons are, in fact, troublesome to Asian-Americans, and whether therefore these cartoons have any place in the AGA Journal." GO REVIEW: Go World (the magazine) Go World (the magazine) Published quarterly by Kiseido ($28 for 5 issues) Reviewed by Lon Atkins, 15K Imagine the excitement of unearthing buried treasure — gold doubloons, jeweled goblets, silver daggers. I've discovered buried Go treasure; not precious metals but a wealth of wisdom in every issue of the magazine Go World. Go World (subscriptions available at www.kiseido.com) is truly a hoard of goodies. Number 91, hot off the press, features an article on Takemiya ("A Player with Heart"), a column by Michael Redmond on the opening, annotated games from current title matches — complete with reports on the players, four special sections for kyu players, and an article on Go in the West in the 81th Century. The buried treasure is found in back issues, many of which are in stock. At the Kiseido site I marvel at the cover graphics. The covers are historical art involving Go. All are interesting and some are of striking beauty. Back issues of Go World contain an informal course of study for kyu players seeking to improve. The 5x5 endgame studies, for example, are ideal for demonstrating specific techniques. In the back numbers I also found the best illustrations of sabaki I've run across, problem solutions that tell you how to refute moves that most books leave to the student, little quizzes on joseki and endgame counting, a compilation of the favorite tsume-go problems of Japanese pros, and many other jewels. Of course, the annotated games are superb; the background material invaluable. No matter what your rank, you'll find good things in Go World. ONLINE GO: Samarkand Online by Terri Schurter Until fairly recently consumers of Go books and equipment in the United States have found themselves purchasing from Go vendors either through the mail or by phone. Now most vendors have joined the world of eCommerce by offering their wares for sale on the web. One of these vendors is Samarkand, the company founded by Janice Kim 1 dan professional, whose site you can find at http://www.samarkand.net/ The site is attractive and easily navigated, and, more than just a source of Go products, is also a source of go information. At the main page of Samarkand you have a choice of the following links: "What's New", "Online Store", "Learn Go", "Game Base", "Go Links", and "Your Host" where you are welcomed by Janice Kim. You can also order a catalogue if you would prefer to browse the merchandise off-line. The "What's New" page will give you a list of the latest additions to the Samarkand line of products with links to the details on each. Samarkand offers a "Guide to Go Equipment" page with information about boards, stones, and bowls to help you make your selection. There are attractive beginners sets available at reasonable prices for the new player as well as their "Go Starter Sets" featuring a 9"x 9" board. The online tutorial on how to play Go is referred to as "the Samarkand Go Academy". Currently there is only one lesson on the page, but more are promised. At the Game Base page you can view the latest games played by Korean professionals in your web browser. The "Go Links" page is a list of Go resources including servers and Go clubs. I was pleased to see that my own virtual club "Wings Across Calm Water" had earned a link on the page. The online store provides a search engine as well as a beginning page that includes categories such as "complete go sets", "boards", "bowls", "stones", "books", "software", and "accessories". Pictures of merchandise are attractive and the ordering process is easy and straightforward. Terri Schurter -- onlinego@usgo.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. GO RESOURCES: Jungsuk In Our Time Jungsuk In Our Time by Seo Bong-soo 9 dan and Jung Dong-sik 5 Dan translated into English by Nam Chihyung 1 Dan 351 pp. This work covers "somok", or 3-4 point, jungsuk or standard sequences (called joseki in Japanese). Hundreds of diagrams and clear explanatory text covers not just the primary sequences and main variations, but also puts the sequences in the context of actual play. Written by a former World Champion who has been the one of the top players in Korea for more than twenty years, the book, with its emphasis on practical and playable modern jungsuk with a Korean flair, fills a major gap in English Go literature. The first of several volumes in English planned by the Korean Baduk Association. An important addition to the Go library of intermediate and advanced players. New from Samarkand: www.samarkand.net 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. 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