AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association July 16, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - GO NEWS: U.S. Go Congress Preview; NAMT Update - GO REVIEW: The Middle Game of Go - ONLINE GO: Yutopian Online - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) July 21-29: York PA: U.S. Go Congress Keith Arnold, Director; (410) 788-3520; hlime@clark.net ABROAD 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 GO NEWS U.S. Go Congress Preview Just six days to the highlight of the American go year: the U.S. Go Congress! Nearly 300 people have registered for this year's Congress in York, Pennsylvania, which begins this Saturday. Check-in starts at 9A and runs all day; the popular Self Paired Tournament starts noon Saturday, and you'll meet old friends and new at the welcoming ceremony at 7P. The action kicks of immediately following the welcome ceremony Saturday night, with the 9x9 tournament. The main event - the U.S. Open - begins Sunday morning at 9A. Other, selected highlights: the Ing Tournament (invitational for top-level players) begins Sunday night; the Redmond Cup (youth event) also begins Sunday night; 13x13 Tournament (Sunday night); Lightning Go (Monday night); Crazy Go (Tuesday night); Pair go (Thursday night); Awards Banquet (Saturday night). Game analysis, professional lectures and simultaneous games with professionals are scheduled every day. On Wednesday people can choose between tours of the area (including Gettysburg and the Baltimore Inner Harbor) or hunker down in the 4-round Die-Hard Tournament. Sunday, for anyone who hasn't gotten enough go yet (or folks who couldn 't make the main Congress), there's a new item: the Baltimore Eights Tournament, a 3-round tournament. There's still space available at the Go Congress! For more info or to register, go to http://www.usgo.org/congress/congress2001.html or call 717-815-1391 NAMT Update Defending champion Zhujiu Jiang won the first of the North American Masters Tournament Title Match games, but Last weekend challenger Mingjiu Jiang evened the score to 1 game apiece, reports Jeff Shaevel. The third and final game of the title match will be played this Friday, 7/20 at 8:15P EDT (7:15 CDT, 5:15 PDT). The final will be played live on IGS. Don't miss this exciting conclusion to the 2001 North American Masters Tournament. Game records for the first two games (and all other games) may be found at http://www.usgo.org/NAMT. GO REVIEW: The Middle Game of Go by Sakata Eio Kiseido, publisher Reviewed by Michael Morrison, 13K Although this book appears to be for intermediate kyu players and above, I found its discussion of erasing a kogeima shimari quite interesting, and have tried it in some in my games. Although the results have been mixed, I have certainly tried much bolder moves and I think I am learning more quickly than I would otherwise. (For diagrams and analysis based on one of these games, visit the Sensei's Web http://senseis.xmp.net/ This is a very interesting website which encourages interactive go discussions on the web.) And while Sakata goes into much more detailed variations than I find necessary, I find it useful to come back after playing a game and see where we diverged from the analysis. Presumably, stronger players would benefit even more from the detailed variations. Of course, the author is discussing the best moves for a particular position, and where the larger position differs, the local best move may as well. This is one area where it is good to have a stronger player explain, because weaker players like me are often unsure what situations Sakata's analysis applies to. In my case, I take such questions to the Sensei's Library (see above). I can't say for sure that my game has improved from reading this book, but I do think that playing has been more interesting lately. I also suspect I need some time for the ideas in this book to sink in, and I may not see the real results for a while. In any case, Sakata provides some useful ideas for when the josekis run out. 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: Yutopian Online by Terri Schurter For a site that offers such a wealth of go books and equipment, the Yutopian Site can initially be quite confusing. In fact, because the site offers so much more than just go books and equipment, go enthusiasts who log on to http://www.yutopian.com/ could well get impatient and leave before finding what they're looking for. However, those who stick around will find that Yutopian has a good deal to offer. One of the fastest ways to get to the go products on Yutopian is to scroll down until you see two columns of large blue links along the right of the screen. In the right column click on "shopping", then from the many links at the top of the page select "go" which will take you to a page that lists categories including 288 go products, including 101 books (47 in English), and 80 equipment items. Selecting "Magnetic Go Boards", for example, provided a view of a listing of five different sets, including a picture of each set. Meanwhile, an indented menu of go items on the left of the screen enabled me to click on a nother link to view another category of product if I changed my mind about what I wanted to browse for. Yutopian has a wealth of products for the go enthusiast and ordering was simple, straightforward on a secure server. 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. 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