AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association August 13, 2001 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings! - GO NEWS: Space Tesuji; Hillandale Go and Shogi Returns to Viet Palace - YOUR MOVE: Meaningless Stats - AGA Rating Changes - Before and After the Congress - Go Review: Intermediate Level Power Builder, Vol. 1 - ONLINE GO: Slate and Shell Website - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) August 25/26: Raleigh, NC Fall Tournament Chris (919)781-GAME; gggc@nc.rr.com September 1-2: San Francisco, CA 2nd Annual Dote Sensei Memorial Tournament Danny Swarzman danny@stowlake.com September 29: Durham, NC Joe Shoenfeld Memorial Marathon Go Tournament Paul Celmer; (919)779-7925 September 1-2: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Open Steven Donaldson; mailto:sdonaldson@jsquared.com September 6-9: Lake Andrusia, Northern Minnesota: James Kerwin Weekend Go workshop $400 includes tuition, lodging, and meals. Limited to 15 participants. Bill Petersen; 218-335-2428; mailto:peterw@paulbunyan.net September 8-9: Corvallis, OR: Go Workshop with Janice Kim Robert O'Malley 541-738-1690; mailto:omalley@oce.orst.edu Gail Cape; mailto:gailcape@home.com September 15: Lancaster, PA: Jack Frost Special Sam Zimmerman; (717) 892-1249; szimmerman@wareunl.com September 21-23: Gaithersburg, MD: Kerwin Weekend Workshop Gordon Fraser; (301) 540-2640; gordon@clark.net October 27/28: Houston, TX 2001 Texas Open Mike Peng (281)228-4233 pmpeng@swbell.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 GO NEWS Space Tesuji "Dan Barry, AGA 1K, is in space again today," reports Mike Peng. Dan was aboard the Space shuttle Discovery, which launched Friday. Mike passed along this report from the Associated Press: "Dr. Daniel Barry applied an incredible 13 or so times to become an astronaut. 'The first day I met my wife, I told her I was going to fly in space and she didn't believe me. That was 1976,'' he recalls. He called NASA in 1989 after numerous rejections and asked 'if they were just deep-sixing the application.' He was told to keep trying and was picked in 1992. "Barry, 47, who has a medical degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, worked as a rehabilitation specialist throughout the 1980s with a focus on skeletal muscle and prosthetics. He has five patents for running-shoe technology and medical devices. This is his third space flight. He will perform two spacewalks to attach equipment to the outside of the international space station. Dan hails from South Hadley, Mass. For more about the STS-105 mission, check out http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/STS-105/OVR207.htm Hillandale Go and Shogi Returns to Viet Palace The Hillandale (MD) Go and Shogi Club returns to its old location at the Viet Palace in the Hillandale Shopping Center (near 495 and New Hampshire Ave). This will be the permanent meeting site for the foreseeable future. YOUR MOVE: Meaningless Stats "The recent E-Journal included a collection of statistics about ratings of Congress participants," writes Roland Wilson Crowl. "Statistics by themselves are meaningless. They have significance only when interpreted. Are you prepared to offer an interpretation which tells us something about the rating system (the most likely subject) or about the players?" [Ed. Note: see "AGA Rating Changes - Before and After the Congress" below.] AGA Rating Changes - Before and After the Congress By Paul Matthews, AGA Ratings Statistician In the last issue of the e-Journal, Steve Barberi provided some preliminary rating change statistics based on the Congress data that he had at that time. The statistics in the following are based on the cleaned up data that were used for the official AGA ratings update. The first obvious question is, "Change comparing what?". There are AGA ratings before and after the Congress, the ratings recorded when players registered for various Congress tournaments (not all the same), the seed ratings used for the official ratings update (a weighted average), and the provisional ratings calculated at the Congress. Any pair of these might make sense, but have different meanings. Here, I will focus on the official AGA ratings. A total of 266 players played rated games at the Congress. One player is excluded from the present analysis, a child who needed to play at a much lower level than his/her nominal entry rating, leaving 265. To clarify the analysis further, these players are divided into groups according to their rating history, as follows. "Established" - 192 players had an active AGA rating (i.e., updated within the past five years), and played at their official rating. "Improved" - 19 players had an active AGA rating but convinced a tournament director that they should play at a higher rating. "New" - 54 players were unrated or their AGA rating was out of date. These three groups differ in how their seed ratings, used as input to a ratings update calculation, are set. The seed for established players is their AGA rating, with a sigma (uncertainty) that depends on how much time has passed since their last update. For self declared improved players, the seed is set somewhere between their AGA rating and the rating that they claim, with a sigma large enough to span both. New players are seeded at the rating they say they are, but with a large sigma. Given the seeds, ratings are driven up or down by game results, to maximize the likelihood of what was observed. The established group had an average rating change of -0.03, with median 0, max 2.9, and min -2.6. By themselves, these players would basically just trade rating points, changing relative position, but with no net gain or loss in the group as a whole. It is not quite that simple, because they are rated together with new and improved players. Also, in the longer term, the rated population changes as players drop in and out of competition, which can shift ratings in subtle ways. Incidentally, the common statistical effect that is sometimes called "regression toward the mean" suggests than many of the players near the max or min rating change (i.e., those who may have had unusually good or bad results) will move toward their former rating in future tournaments. The improved group achieved an average rating change of 2.65, with median 1.5, max 7.7, and min -0.3. In most cases, their game results validated their claim to a higher rating, but a few slid back. Keep in mind that these players had already been recognized by a tournament director as likely to be significantly stronger than their previous rating, so rating increases in this group are not surprising. The new group did not have current AGA ratings, so for them the comparison is with tournament seed ratings. Their average rating change was -0.08, with median -0.01, max 4.6, and min -3.3. This pattern is similar to that of the established group, but with greater variance. By distinguishing different cases, understanding rating changes should become a little easier. Go Review: Intermediate Level Power Builder, Vol. 1 By Wang RuNan Published by Yutopian Enterprises, 1997; $14 Reviewed by Barry C. Willey, 12k KGS Aimed at the mid kyu player, this book does a wonderful job at covering basic concepts, strategies and techniques. The first volume of this series in progress covers basic joseki and fuseki in openings, but in a method that integrates a global view. The author also spends a chapter discussing "oba" or big points and how they arise in openings. Starting with a survey of common openings, such as the Chinese, three and four point openings, various strategy and tactics are discussed in the context of these openings. Next the author spends several chapters on the best ways to invade them. One of the best aspects of this book is the method of presentation. The author uses a lesson format in which he asks a question and the students give their answers. The best solution is explained and then the weak point in the student's answer is examined. I found that very helpful when comparing my thoughts with the explanations in the book. It should also be noted that many of the games on which comments are made are taken from various professional games. I hope that Yutopian plans on publishing the next installment in this series soon. ONLINE GO: Slate and Shell Website by Terri Schurter Perhaps the newest vendor in the go community is Slate and Shell, located at http://www.slateandshell.com. When you first log on you are presented with an attractive black and white page with blue accents. The black and white echo the colors of the playing pieces, and the simplicity of the page is in keeping with the simple beauty of the game itself. The body text of the main page is a description of the game of go, and an explanation of the nature of the game. At the top of the page are four links: "browse our library", "join honte list", "join sente list", and "site extras". Browsing the library will take you to the product area where you will find 16 books available for purchase, with three others described, and listed as "coming soon". Clicking on a title gets you a description of the book, and a picture of the cover. The honte list is a mailing list, which will keep you informed of the latest additions to the Slate and Shell product line. The Sente list is a book club, whose members automatically receive all new publications at a 10% discount. Under "site extras" you can read about the formation of Slate and Shell, and about their special mission of increasing the amount of material available for weaker players, a worthy goal, and greatly needed. To this end, Slate and Shell has taken on the task of reprinting articles from Go Review. These articles were aimed primarily at kyu players, and were nearly the only source of English-language go literature in the sixties and seventies when they were first published. Without the new, revised, and enhanced editions Slate and Shell is offering, these materials would be available only to those lucky enough to come by a collection of old Go Reviews for sale. I found the Slate and Shell site attractive and easy to navigate. Their number of publications is growing at a quick rate, so keep your eye on the site, or better yet, join the honte club. The check-out process was simple and straightforward, with a secure server for ordering. 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. 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. 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: mailto:president@usgo.org Eastern VP; ChenDao Lin: mailto:vp-eastern@usgo.org Central VP; Jeff Shaevel: mailto:vp-central@usgo.org Western VP; Larry Gross: mailto:vp-western@usgo.org Treasurer; Ulo Tamm: mailto:treasurer@usgo.org Membership Secretary; John Goon: mailto:membership@usgo.org Chapters Coordinator; Bill Cobb: mailto:chapters@usgo.org Tournament Coordinator; Mike Bull: mailto:tournaments@usgo.org Education Coordinator; None Redmond: mailto:education@usgo.org Congress Liaison Officer; Chris Kirschner: mailto:cngrsliaison@usgo.org AGA website; Gordon Fraser and Chuck Robbins: mailto:webmaster@usgo.org American Go Foundation; Terry Benson: mailto:terrybenson@eudoramail.com AGA Librarian; Craig Hutchinson: mailto: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