AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association May 20, 2002 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings - SCOREBOARD: Denver, CO - GAME COMMENTARY: Inappropriate Tenukis - YOUR MOVE: Readers Write: Guide to the Best Go Colleges - GO NEWS: AGA Board Nominees Almost Complete; Go for Your Wall; Know The Monkey Jump; - Chapter Notes: Aurora, CO - GoReview: SmartGo Board/SmartGo Player for PC (INCLUDES SPECIAL OFFER FOR AGA MEMBERS!) - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) May 25-26: Baltimore, MD 29th Maryland Open (AGTC EVENT) Keith L. Arnold 410-788-3520 hlime@earthlink.net June 1: Davis, CA Davis/Sacramento Quarterly Tournament Fred.Hopkins@mckesson.com 916-636-8758 June 2: Seattle, WA Monthly Ratings Tournament Jon Boley 206-545-1424 go@seattlego.org June 15: New York, NY Feng Yun Lecture New York Go Center 212-223-0342 ftakayama@nyc.rr.com June 15: Chicago, IL Bloomsday Basho Bob Barber 773-467-0423 igo@uic.edu June 15-16: San Francisco, CA Northern California Open Danny Swarzman 415-221-7194 ncal@stowlake.com June 22: Richmond, VA Virginia Open William Cobb 804-740-2191 wmscobb@rcn.com June 27-30: Mawah, NJ 2002 N.J. Yang 7p Go Workshop John C. Stephenson 201-612-0852 jcs@wingsgoclub.org 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 18: Denver, CO Rocky Mountain Open Sponsored by Mile High Go Assoc. TD: Eric Wainwright Players: 18 Open Section: 1st: Jung Hoon LEE, 7d; 2nd: Joseph KIM, 7d Dan Section: 1st: Lu BIENG, 3d; 2nd: Eric WAINWRIGHT, 1d Kyu Section: 1st: Will MORROW, 13k; 2nd: Leonard KANE, 4k GAME COMMENTARY: Inappropriate Tenukis "B14 should not tenuki now...B20 is a mistake, another inappropriate tenuki...B38 is another inappropriate tenuki. Black must jump out to H9 to save the group on the side." Today's lesson is when (and when not) to tenuki, as explained by Yuan Zhou in today's game commentary. The 5-stone game between Angela Nielson, 14k and David Hast, 8k originally appeared in the Spring 2001 American Go Journal. To receive the E-Journal's Member's Edition with commented game records, join the AGA today at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp and receive weekly .sgf game records, discounts on selected Go merchandise, the glossy quarterly American Go Journal and more! YOUR MOVE: Readers Write Guide to the Best Go Colleges College-bound Go players have plenty of options, judging by the enthusiastic response to Joey Chen's query about "the best 'Go' college in North America" last week: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY "Empty Sky Go Club at Rochester Institute of Technology!!!" writes Dave Caputo. "We meet three times a week for about 4-6 hours and also in between classes for lunchtime Go. We try to attend at least 3 tournies a year. Right now we are planning on a trip to Japan next summer." Players at RIT range from low dan/low kyu to new beginners and the club averages about 10 - 15 players per meeting. "We have big plans for our club," adds Caputo. "The college just gave us money to buy a whole lotta books and some more equipment and also fund our trips to tournies and hopefully to Japan. We have about 15 players driving to to Baltimore this weekend for the Maryland Open." - Dave Caputo; dmc8814@rit.edu or check out www.rit.edu/~mtskywww University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI "The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan offers the highest class education in addition to being able to play Go here," reports Eric Jankowski, President of the U of M Go Club. "Many Go players are engineers, and our engineering programs are all rated 11 or higher by US News and World Report. Our club is recognized by the university, which has allowed us to receive funding to subsidize room rentals for tournaments, and our Yang workshop last weekend. This allows for nice prizes and payoffs in our tournaments. We also have the occasional Go party. Club members of all levels attend meetings regularly, from lots of new players (we've been growing fast recently) to 6 and 7 dans, everyone can be assured a quality game." Jankowski notes that "It would be very beneficial to all clubs if we had intercollegiate tournaments once in a while. If there's one thing the funding allocation people like, it's to see their money go towards competition. Clubs could get more money and publicity this way." - Eric Phillip Jankowski; erjank@engin.umich.edu University of Washington, WA "I'm not sure what is the best, but certainly in the running should be the University of Washington," writes Joe Mabel . "The Seattle Go Center, with at least one AGA-rated tournament a month, a good stream of lessons, a Go library, and a steady supply of very strong players is only six blocks from campus. There are also places to play casual coffeehouse Go in Seattle (some of them also near the University) probably half a dozen other reasonably major tournaments a year (notably the Cherry Blossom Tournament sponsored by the Japanese Consulate) and at least one other go club (a Chinese club located in the International District). Plus Seattle is at least a contender for most times hosting the US Go Congress. - Joe Mabel; jmabel@speakeasy.org U.C. Davis, Davis, CA "I nominate my alma mater -- U.C. Davis," writes Jeff Horn. "They have a thriving GO Club and I frequently drop in when I'm in the area!" GO NEWS AGA Board Nominees Almost Complete Nominations for the new AGA Board of Directors are almost complete; candidates are encouraged to submit brief (200 word max) profiles and campaign statements for publication in the E-Journal: journal@usgo.org Go for Your Wall New from Kiseido are six unusual Go Ukiyo-e Reproductions. They are of a quality unlike any you have ever seen. Check out the details at the Kiseido Go art collection. http://www.kiseido.com/printss/reproad.htm Know The Monkey Jump New Book from Slate & Shell: Monkey Jump Workshop by Richard Hunter is now available. This 150 page study of the monkey jump is based on material that was first published in the British Go Journal and Go World that has been reworked and expanded. Hunter examines the monkey jump in both endgame and life and death situations, and provides lots of study problems. The book can be ordered from www.slateandshell.com . Chapter Notes: Aurora, CO The latest addition to the list of AGA chapters is in Aurora, CO. The club meets in Havana Billiards, Go, Ping-Pong at 2080 S. Havana Street and is open daily from 11AM to midnight. Eric Kim is the contact person, phone: 303-671-8533. This brings the total number of chapters in Colorado to an amazing six, second only to California's nine. GoReview: SmartGo Board/SmartGo Player for PC By Anders Kierulf Available from Smart Go, Inc. (http://www.smartgo.com/) Reviewed by Lon Atkins, 13K At the Congress in York in 2001, I was fortunate to see Anders Kierulf's presentation of SmartGo. I'd already heard of the Smart Go Board as a superior games editor for the Mac and was excited to hear it would soon be available for the PC, as well as now playing Go as well. SmartGo: Player placed fifth in the 21st Century Cup computer tournament at York. When I got my copy of SmartGo (PC), one of the first things I did was duel the SmartGo:Player. Valuation marks, zones and candidate moves flashed on my screen as the program executed. It was Anders' presentation reborn! Although it seemed the preliminary level of analysis wasn't visible, what I could see was fascinating. The power of this logic, as well as that of three powerful tactical engines, can also be harnessed for game analysis. While SmartGo:Board by itself offers an incredible rich repertoire of annotation and recording tools, the Player adds a dimension of independent perspective when I analyze, be it dan-level battles from the Web or my own inexact meanderings. The primary roles I give to SmartGo are those of friend, ally, and recording secretary. There's not another program that provides the synergy Anders' brainchild does. Let's take SmartGo for a virtual test drive and see how its features help me study. I use Kogo's Joseki Dictionary as one of my basic tools for learning opening patterns. (If you don't have Kogo's, it can be located at http://home1.gte.net/res0kgks/index.htm.) Gary Odom of Portland, Oregon, USA, is a Go hero for maintaining this great dictionary. The friendly interface of SmartGo shows me the Kogo nodes efficiently on the left of the board. I can rapidly navigate, guided by the comments, then play through all the key variations on the board. I add moves or comments at baffling places or at junctions where some opponent played a new move. I mark my comments with a three-part code that (1) identifies that the new move or comment was added by me, and (2) specifies the type of addition and (3) gives the date. Thanks to SmartGo's search function, I can instantly find my current hot areas for research and learning. When a new release of the dictionary comes out, I can locate all my existing comments and transfer to the new version the ones worth preserving. SmartGo also lets me add board, move and position evaluation marks. Two of my favorites are the Hotspot and Double Hotspot. I use the checkmark to indicate corroboration of a variation from a recent pro game. You can invent your own system and use it to make your study base a "living document." A second way I'm using SmartGo is to compile a library of invasions and reductions not found in the books I own. When I find such a position in a pro or high dan game, I open a second window with SmartGo and copy the position so that it becomes the starting point of my new file. As the library grows, the components can be combined into a single file using a text editor. Under SmartGo's "game collection" feature, each sequence becomes a node in the game tree. In the future, Anders plans to expand this feature to allow creation and maintenance of collections within SmartGo. Of course, I replay and annotate my own games using SmartGo's many features. It's easy to analyze alternative moves, and it's nice being able to check life and death situations to see if I read correctly. The Life and Death engine is based on GoTools (by Thomas Wolf), so it performs at dan level with enclosed positions. SmartGo is always ready to suggest a move, after which the board reflects its thinking process, and that's interesting in itself. Add in SmartGo's thorough documentation, sophisticated marking and annotation capabilities and you have a powerful package as well as a huge bargain. Check out the generous upgrade policy on the download page of the SmartGo Website. You can't go wrong. SPECIAL OFFER FOR AGA MEMBERS: For a limited time, AGA members get a $5 discount on SmartGo:Player. In the Optional Information section of the online order form, specify your AGA number as your personal code and specify AGAeJournal as your discount coupon. This offer expires June 30 so act soon! GET LISTED & BOOST TURN-OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach nearly 4,000 readers every week! List your Go event/news In the E-Journal: email details to us at 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 ratings@usgo.org AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST: President; Roy Laird: president@usgo.org Eastern VP; ChenDao Lin: vp-eastern@usgo.org Central VP; Mike Peng: 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 Recording Secretary: Susan Weir: susan@weirdolls.com Chapters Coordinator; Bill Cobb: chapters@usgo.org Tournament Coordinator; Mike Bull: tournaments@usgo.org Youth Coordinator; None Redmond: education@usgo.org Congress Liaison Officer; Chris Kirschner: cngrsliaison@usgo.org AGA website; Chuck Robbins: webmaster@usgo.org American Go Foundation; Terry Benson: terrybenson@nyc.rr.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