AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association June 3, 2002 In This Edition: - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Latest listings - SCOREBOARD: Wings Leagues - GAME COMMENTARY: The Amateur vs. The Honinbo - GO NEWS: Go Classifieds?; Everyone's A Critic; New Structure at the AGA; Congress Update: All Pros All the Time; Terri at the Maryland Open: The Next Best Thing to Being There; Maryland Feng Yun Go Workshop Set - YOUR MOVE: Readers Write: More on Turn-based Go; The Geometric Madness of Go Boards; Another Vote for UC Davis - AGA OFFICER CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) June 14: Washington, DC Yuan Zhou Lesson CANCELLED Watch for rescheduled date 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: Austin TX Austin Go Club Ratings Roundup Jeff Shaevel 512-733-0027 tournament@shaevel.com http://www.shaevel.com/Go/austingo.asp 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: Wings Leagues The Wings Go Club Spring Zone League closed out with Lionel the declared winner at 17 earned points (3 games), followed by Aussiemate in second at 15 earned points (4 games). These two players seem to be each other's nemesis, reports John Stephenson. The Wings May KGS League closed out with a tie for first place between Lionel and mitdahand, each with 43 earned points (6 games). Both contenders just missed their shot at a perfect 48 point score in their final game. Second place went to Allyaxis at 33 earned points (6 games). Third place was splice at 24 earned points (3 games). Fourth place was icedrake at 22 earned points (5 games). GAME COMMENTARY: The Amateur vs. The Honinbo "In a five stone game, a major factor is whether Black can make good use of the center stone," says Aoki Shimpei in today's commented game. "The reader should consider whether Black succeeds in this regard in this game." The 1962 game between Sakata Eio Honinbo, 9P and Keitaro Kondo was originally published in Go Review II (#3 1962) and features extensive commentary on Black's optimal plays in this handicap game. If you enjoy this game and would like to receive such games each week, please join the American Go Association at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp You'll get the weekly games with the Member's Edition of the EJournal, as well as the glossy Go quarterly American Go Journal. To view the attached game record (06.03.02 Kondo-Sakata 1962, 5 stones.sgf), simply save the file to your computer and then open it using an .sgf reader such as Many Faces of Go or SmartGo. Readers who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen's http://gobase.org/sgfeditors.html GO NEWS Go Classifieds? We've gotten a few queries recently from readers who are interested in swapping or selling Go stuff (books, equipment, etc). If there's enough interest, we're happy to set up a Go classified section of the Ejournal. Send a brief description of the item you'd like to sell or swap to journal@usgo.org. Please be sure to include your name and email address. Everyone's A Critic Send us a 150-word review of a Go book, software or equipment and - upon acceptance -- we'll give you a $25 Go gift certificate. Tell us what you liked - or didn't like - and how it helped (or didn't help) your game. Please be sure to include the book's or software's title, publisher, cost, your name and email address. Choose any book or software you like, from brand-new publications to old stand-bys that you keep going back to. We're also very interested in Go equipment reviews: boards, stones, clocks. New Structure at the AGA New AGA bylaws, which were just adopted a few weeks ago, have radically changed the way in which the AGA selects its President, Regional Vice-Presidents and Board of Directors. These officers, formerly elected directly by AGA chapters, will now be appointed by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors, formerly self perpetuating (it selected its own members.), is now elected by the Chapters. Please see the new bylaws on the AGA website for details. The new Board will be composed of two members from each region, elected by the chapters of that region, and one at large member elected by all chapters. The first responsibility of the Board will be to appoint the officers who, as in the past, will provide the ongoing management of the AGA. These officers may or may not include regional Vice-Presidents. Appointees may or may not be members of the Board. After that, the Board will have an ongoing responsibility to make AGA policy, fill vacancies as they occur, and otherwise provide the appointed officers with appropriate guidance to carry out the policies it has specified. The Regional Board members elected by the chapters in each region will represent the interests of the region in much the same way that the regional Vice-Presidents have in the past. Congress Update: All Pros All the Time Professional Go players confirmed so far for this year's Go Congress in Chicago: Jujo, Naiwei, Feng Yun (and therefore all or at least a strong majority of the female 9 dans in the world), Michael Redmond, Nakayama, Maeda, Kim and Lee from Korea, Kim and Kerwin from US, He from Canada, Guo Juan from Europe. Still pending: pros from China. Register today for the biggest American Go event of the year: http://www.enteract.com/~schattke/go2002.htm Terri at the Maryland Open: The Next Best Thing to Being There For notes and pictures from the recent Maryland Open, check out Wings Go Club founder Terri Schurter's report at http://www.wingsgoclub.org under "comings and GOings." John Stephenson also reports that the Wings June KGS League is now open for registration. "Just press the purple Leagues button on the Website," John says. Maryland Feng Yun Go Workshop Set Slate & Shell has organized a weekend workshop with Feng Yun, 9p, September 27-29 at Gordon Fraser's home in Germantown, MD. Feng Yun is one of just two female 9 dans in the world and has won the Women's World Championship. The workshop will be a combination of lectures and game analysis and participants may also have the opportunity to play a game with Feng Yun for the analysis session. Cost is $140 and space is very limited: for info or to register, email Gordon Fraser at Gordon@wui.net YOUR MOVE: Readers Write More on Turn-based Go Readers interested in turn-based Go (covered in last week's Ejournal) may want to check out Steve Rich's group of turn-based Go enthusiasts at http://finance.baylor.edu/rich/go/goguild.html suggests John Stephenson, who adds that "Those on a tight schedule who would still rather complete a whole game in one shot can check out the self-paired Leagues facility as part of the Wings Go Club, http://www.wingsgoclub.org" The Geometric Madness of Go Boards "I've just noticed that NO commercial Go board is a square," writes Myron S. Kaplan. "I've checked at least 47 boards thus far -- those in my collection, those owned by friends, those sold in nearby game stores, those sold in catalogs, those sold on eBay, those sold other places on-line, etc. One dimension is ALWAYS about 3/4" to 1-1/4" different from the other. Therefore, there are 324 rectangles -- very close to squares, but NEVER made precisely that way. I'm so confused! Is there reason behind this geometric madness?" Japanese boards are slightly longer in one direction to adjust the perspective so that the board looks square when you are sitting and playing, explains Peter Shotwell. "Also, the stones are slightly bigger so they nestle closely across the board and the black stones are made slightly larger than the white stones to compensate for the optical illusion that makes them appear smaller." Another Vote for UC Davis "The University of California at Davis has a small but vibrant Go club within walking or biking distance at the Davis location of the Davis, Sacramento Go club," reports Daniel Lee. "Carpooling to the Sacramento site would provide even more Go playing. Our biggest shortcoming is a shortage of Dan players, but we do have a four dan who provides more playing dates when he entertains in his home with his Go-playing children. Our club has four tournaments a year and several special events like simuls." SmartGo:Player Discount Available REMINDER: 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 at http://www.smartgo.com/ 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