AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association SPECIAL OFFER FOR NEW AGA MEMBERS! Eight go dictionaries, 48 different kinds of go software, 37 varieties of boards & stones: all this and more is now 5% off for AGA members at Yutopian! Make a New Year's resolution to improve your game today and get all the books, software and equipment you need at http://gm12.com/r.html?c=169706&r=169308&t=46044451&l=1&d=61042348&u=http://www.yutopian.com/&g=0&f=-1 Just join the AGA today at http://gm12.com/r.html?c=169706&r=169308&t=46044451&l=1&d=61042345&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp&g=0&f=-1 mention the E-Journal promotion when you order and the friendly folks at Yutopian will be happy to take care of you! January 20, 2003 In This Edition: CALENDAR OF EVENTS SCOREBOARD: San Francisco, CA; Arlington, VA; Salem, OR GAME COMMENTARY: The Daring Dragon GO NEWS: Lee Dethrones Cha In Fujitsu Upset; AGA Membership Up For 7th Straight Month; Hikaru No Go Collectibles GO CLUBS: PGC Now PGA; Feng Yun Event Photos; Free Bowls To A Good Home LESSONS OF A GAME RECORDER THE EMPTY BOARD: The Power of the Wall GO REVIEW: The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go GO CLASSIFIED AGA CONTACT LIST CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.) March 1-2: Princeton, NJ New Jersey Open Rick Mott 609-466-1602 rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu March 22: Arlington, VA Cherry Blossom Allan Abramson 703-684-7676 mediate8@worldnet.att.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 YOUR MOVE "My favorite Palm OS program for Go game recording is PilotGOne," writes Scott Ellis in response to a query last week from Marc Willhite. "It allows you record your games, browse previous games, explore variations and more. It stores the games in the industry standard SGF format in notepad records, which can be copied to/from files through your sync program. Best of all, it's free." More information at http://minas.ithil.org/pilotgone/pilotgone.html "The Many Faces of Go Palm Joseki Library is also a great resource for Palm/PDA users, although not for recording games," Ellis adds. The full version is $20; download a free trial that allows you to explore 3-3 josekis at http://www.smart-games.com/PalmOS.html SCOREBOARD: San Francisco, CA; Arlington, VA; Salem, OR San Francisco, CA: January 4-5 11th Jujo Jiang GOE Tournament Open section: 1st: Jiang, Zhu-jiu (Jujo); 2nd: Jiang, Ming Jiu; 3rd: Hung, Joey; 4th: Chen, Wei-Yu; 5th: Hong, Seung; 6th: Chien, James; 7th: Bull, Michael; 8th: Xu, Patrick; 9th: Yao, Jin; 10th: Kemper, Lance; 11th: Phipps, Ned; 12th: Wang, Justin. Handicap section: 1st: Tang, Curtis 4d; 2nd: Wang, Xunfeng, 5d; 3rd: Van, Kiet Chanh 3d; 4th: Shi, Gina 4d; 5th: Burrall, Steven, 4d; 6th: Hao, Jerry 3d; 7th: Min, Hong-yu 5d; 8th: Harris, Mark, 4d; 9th: Phipps, Joanne, 3d; 10th: Chen, Wan Yu 3d; 11th: Fotland, David 3d; 12th: Zucker, Joshua 3d; 13th: Brown, Ernest 3d; 14th:Kass, Michael 5d. 2d-1d: 1st: Tsai, Tiffany, 2d; 2nd (2-way tie): Elchert, Ken 2d & Shiah, Samuel, 2d; 4th: Tang, Isaac 1d; 5th: Mang, Josef 1d 1k-4k: 1st: Marvit, Dave 3k; 2nd: Tang, Stephen 3k; 3rd: Oto, Robert 1k 5k-10k: 1st: Shen, Hao 6k; 2nd: Sonnenblick, Eddie 10k; 3rd: Zhang, Tony 9k 11k & up: 1st: Liu, Kevin 11k; 2nd: Shieh, Ray 29k; 3rd: Lim, James 13k Arlington, VA: January 11 NOVA Winter Warmer Go Tournament 20 players Organizer: ALLAN ABRAMSON DANS: 1ST: Brian KLEINER, 4d, 3-1; 2nd: Hal SMALL, 3d, 2-2 1-4 KYUS: 1st: Ray HUNLEY, 1k, 3-1; 2nd: Sam ZIMMERMAN, 4k, 2-2 6 KYUS: Kathy QIU, 6k, 4-0 (promoted to 5k); 2nd: Raymond YEH, 6 K, 3-1, 7-10 KYUS: 1st: Seth HOFFMAN, 9k, 3-1; 2nd: Louise INGRAM, 8k, 2-2 11-14 KYUS: 1st: Todd HEIDENREICH, 14k, 3-1 15 AND UNDER KYUS: 1st: Greg MCCALL, 17k, 4-0 (promoted to 15k) Salem, OR: January 11 5th Salem Winter Handicap 32 players, inc. 8 youth players, youngest age 9 3 rounds, Ing Sponsored, DAN: Three way tie for first (all 2-1): Jun, ByungSu, 6d; Hakala, Ben 1d; Letts, Peter, 1d SINGLE KYU: Three way tie for first (all 3-0): Shelley, Christopher 1k; Wahl, Ed, 7k; Riehl, Dave, 7k DOUBLE KYU: Tie for first (3-0): French, Aaron, 21k; Davis, Caleb (14) 27k; Three way tie for third (2-1): Bliss, Chris, 15k; Hodge, Trevor 17k; Klymak, Jody, 18k; Gaty, Cynthia, 26k GAME COMMENTARY: The Daring Dragon We'll have the exciting Fujitsu final between Jimmy Cha and John Lee for you next week but in the meantime regular E-Journal contributor Yuan Zhou takes a look at his first-round game with Ted Ning. Ning is the USA representative for the 2003 World Amateur Go Championship and one of the strongest players in the United States, while Zhou, a former Shanghai champion, now teaches and writes about go in the U.S. In today's dramatic game, Zhou dares Ning to kill his big white dragon. To receive the weekly Games Edition, sign up today at http://gm12.com/r.html?c=169706&r=169308&t=46044451&l=1&d=61042345&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp&g=0&f=-1 GO NEWS LEE DETHRONES CHA IN FUJITSU UPSET In a stunning upset, John J-S Lee defeated Jimmy Cha in yesterday's North American Fujitsu. The 6-dan amateur forced the defending champion, a 4-dan professional, to resign after just 153 moves; the exciting game, with comments by Lee, will appear in next week's E-Journal. Lee, who also defeated Eric Lui and Hui Ren Yang, will represent North America in the international Fujitsu tournament later this year. Jimmy Cha, who has won the North American Fujitsu more times than anyone else, took second, defeating Lianzhou Yu and Thomas Hsiang before losing to Lee in the final. Lianzhou Yu came in third (winning a coin-toss tie-break with Thomas Hsiang), winning over June Ki Beck and Yuan Zhou and posting his only loss against Jimmy Cha. In fourth place was Thomas Hsiang, who beat both June Ki Beck and and Hui Ren Yang and losing to Jimmy Cha. Hui Ren Yang was fifth, with a win against Yuan Zhou and losses against John Lee and Thomas Hsiang. Coming in sixth was June Ki Beck, who defeated Eric Lui and lost to Thomas Hsiang and and Lianzhou Yu. Yuan Zhou was seventh, winning against Eric Lui and posting losses to both Hui Ren Yang and Lianzhou Yu. In eighth place was Eric Lui, who lost to John Lee, Yuan Zhou and June Ki Beck. AGA MEMBERSHIP UP FOR 7TH STRAIGHT MONTH Membership in the American Go Association continued to break new ground in December, increasing for a record seventh consecutive month. Although the 1634 total membership edged up just slightly from November, the 33 new members continued a healthy growth trend that could well put the AGA over 1,700 members this year. HIKARU NO GO COLLECTIBLES "People into unusual go collectibles might be interested in this," reports Joel Sanet. "Anime Castle is offering figures of seven of the characters from Hikaru no Go." Check it out at www.animecastle.com/hikarunogofigures.html GO CLUBS PGC Now PGA: The Pittsburgh Go Club is now the Pittsburgh Go Association and has an updated website with current meeting location and time info at http://www.pittsburghgo.com/ FENG YUN EVENT PHOTOS: Lots of photos from the Feng Yun doubleheader on January 11 are now posted at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/fengyun/FY_Go_Center/FYGT.htm FREE BOWLS TO A GOOD HOME: The Fun Coast Go Club is offering empty Ing Bowls, quantity four (two sets) for any club in need of replacing broken or damaged bowls. These are in good condition and all mechanisms work fine. We have placed our stones in "traditional" bowls and offer these for cost of shipping only. email g.u@juno.com LESSONS OF A GAME RECORDER By Chris Garlock, 2d My moves are like a river, deep, powerful and flowing inexorably to the sea of victory. Except they're not mine. The next best thing to being a 6-dan is to record a top-level game at an event like last weekend's Fujitsu. On Saturday, it meant giving up playing in the amateur Fujitsu but the opportunity to immerse myself in good play was just too good to pass up. Three exhausting games later, here's what I think I learned: never be sure about anything. The difference between a top-level amateur and the rest of us is that the entire board is constantly in play. Virtually no position is settled and sente is king as they search for opportunities to play away. As I tried to follow the games I recorded, I found it nearly impossible to count and assess the balance of territory and power, as both shifted dramatically, often from one move to the next. Even areas that seemed to be sure territory could not be counted on because huge kos would erupt and then it was open season on any and everything. These guys may put their pants on one leg at a time just like you and me but as far as I'm concerned they're living, breathing go gods. That they walk among us is a gift we don't appreciate nearly enough. On the most fundamental level, John, Jimmy, Thomas, Lianzhou, Hui Ren, Yuan, June Ki and Eric are all tremendous human beings, as humble as they are strong and generous to a fault. Saturday night, after nearly twelve grueling hours of take-no-prisoners battle on the board, I watched almost the entire gang of Fujitsu competitors continuing to analyze games in a swirl of languages, and Sunday afternoon as soon as Jimmy Cha resigned he and John Lee launched into an hour-long blow-by-blow analysis of the game, playing out variations so rapidly that the stones seems to literally fly on and off the board. Every player this weekend behaved the way I'd like to but so often struggle with: truly magnanimous in victory, gracious in defeat and always committed to finding the best move. If a touch of that grace and commitment rubs off on me it'll repay me a hundred times over for my time last weekend. THE EMPTY BOARD: The Power of the Wall by William Cobb Language shapes the way we perceive the world, and nothing has a bigger impact in this regard than metaphors. This is as true in go as it is in love, politics, and war. A striking example of this is a metaphor that James Kerwin often uses. In discussing styles of play, he likes to speak of "the power game". Kerwin is referring to the phenomenon often called "thickness". This, of course, is a group of stones that do not have a base on the edge but are well connected and face an open area in the center of the board. This sort of pattern is usually achieved by allowing/encouraging your opponent to take territory on the edge while you take "influence" toward the center. The resulting structure of your stones is often called a "wall". Kerwin wants to call this "wall" "power". What difference does it make? How do we choose metaphors? A "wall" is a strong structure, nearly invulnerable to attack, but this is a static image. It is easy to think of a wall as the side for a building--of territory. However, that attitude is universally condemned by strong players: "don't use thickness to make territory." What happens if we refer to this structure as "power"? This is a dynamic term. Power is something you use to act more effectively, more assertively, and that's the point: use thickness to attack. With "power" you easily think about pounding on the other player's positions, exploiting weaknesses, and invading more deeply because you have such powerful back-up. This attitude makes for much more efficient and much more exciting go. So, quit building walls, go for POWER. GO REVIEW: The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go Ma Xiaochun, 9P Yutopian Enterprises, $16 Reviewed by Andrew Cseh Ma's interesting book explores the resemblance between warfare and go tactics and strategies, based on the ancient Sanshiliu Ji [The Thirty-six Stratagems]. The stratagems, structured in six sets of six schemes each, are illustrated in the same number of brilliantly selected and commented games. Briefly explaining the meaning of the military stratagem, Ma continues by presenting a selected game that illustrates a similar go tactic, accompanied of course by thorough strategic and tactical analysis and explanation. Although the traditional maxims of go cover the tactics and strategies of the game, this book succeeds in bringing a completely unique and new approach that might be closer to our thinking and is one of the most entertaining go books I have read. In addition to learning a lot, it's also a real pleasure to read. GO CLASSIFIED AVAILABLE: The Fun Coast Go Club is offering empty Ing Bowls, quantity four (4) (two sets) for any club in need of replacing broken or damaged bowls. These are in good condition and all mechanisms work fine. We have placed our stones in "traditional" bowls and offer these for cost of shipping only. email g.u@juno.com FOR SALE: Sets of old "Go World" magazines: 1-48 and 1-15; 17-25; 50-56 and individual copies #22, #40, #43, and #51. Check them out at http://www.eskimo.com/~dobe/Dobe_ForSale_GO_Worlds01.htm Or email dobe.doinat@verizon.net FOR SALE: Refrigerator Go sets for displaying (or playing) the game on the large laminated board attached to the metallic surface (for example, a refrigerator - see http://www.promptpublishing.com); $45 from Michal Lebl, storyspyder@aol.com FOR SALE: Go boards made of 2.5" mahogany or pine, about 17X19", with 19X19 grid (cut with small saw, not drawn) and a 9X9 or 13X13 grid on the back. Sanded and waxed, without feet. $260 ea or $170 ea for 10 or more. Jim Thomas; waldomesa@cybermesa.com WANTED: Go players in the West Lafayette, Indiana/Purdue area; e-mail Chris Kubica at ckubica@insightbb.com WANTED: Copy of the go novel "First Kyu." Mark Lybrand; maryesme@shore.net WANTED: MasterGo Team volunteer to enter data into a player biography database. No pay but get your name on the MasterGo website and, possibly, get a free copy of the program. Charles G. Robbins, crobbins@ctipc.com WANTED: "All About Life and Death, Volume 1," by Cho Chikun; "The Breakthrough to Shodan," by Naoki Miyamoto. John Pinkerton, john.pinkerton@watsonwyatt.com WANTED: Issues of 'Go World' from the past couple of years. Prefer someone who has several issues to offer. sfragman@netvision.net.il Got Go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach more than 5,000 Go players worldwide every week at Go Classified! Send to us at journal@usgo.org GET LISTED & BOOST TURN-OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 5,000 readers 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; http://www.usgo.org for the full list. GET YOUR TOURNAMENT RATED! Send your tournament data to MAILTO:ratings@usgo.org AGA CONTACT LIST: President: Chris Kirschner: president@usgo.org Secretary Susan Weir: Secretary@usgo.org Treasurer Ben Bernstein: Treasurer@usgo.org VP - Communications: Chris Garlock Journal@usgo.org Archivist Craig Hutchinson: Archives@usgo.org Chapter Management: Paul Celmer chapterservices@usgo.org Nicole Casanta: Chapters@usgo.org Community Outreach: John Goon Outreach@usgo.org Congress Liaison: Judy Debel Congress@usgo.org Education Coordinator: Lee Ann Bowie Education@usgo.org Equipment Distribution: Paul Celmer Equipment@usgo.org HR & Recruitment: Terry Assael Hr@usgo.org Membership Services: John Goon membership@usgo.org Policy & Governance: Keith Arnold Governance@usgo.org Professional Players' Representative: Zhu-jiu (Jujo) Jiang Professionals@usgo.org Ranking Issues: Jeff Shaevel Rank@usgo.org Ratings Coordinator: Paul Matthews Ratings@usgo.org Tournament Coordinator: Chuck Robbins Tournaments@usgo.org Tournament Regulations: Duane Burns Regulations@usgo.org Webmaster: Roy Laird: webmaster@usgo.org Youth Coordinator: Noné Redmond youth@usgo.org American Go Foundation: Terry Benson terrybenson@nyc.rr.com Database Manager: Sam Zimmerman database@usgo.org AGA Board of Directors Dave Weimer (Chair): weimer@lafollette.wisc.edu Chen-dao Lin: cdlin5@yahoo.com John Stephenson: Jcs@wingsgoclub.org David Dinhofer: David.dinhofer@alum.mit.edu Harold Lloyd: Hlloyd@core.com Bob O'Malley: omalley@coas.oregonstate.edu Jon Boley: Jon@airsltd.com 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