SPECIAL OFFER FOR NEW AGA MEMBERS! All the great go stuff at Yutopian is now 5% off
for AGA members! Improve your game today and save money on go books, software and
equipment at
http://gm14.com/r.html?c=171523&r=171125&t=46044451&l=1&d=63368761&u=http://www.yutopian.com/&g=0&f=63368763
Just join the AGA today at
http://gm14.com/r.html?c=171523&r=171125&t=46044451&l=1&d=63368755&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp&g=0&f=63368763
and mention the E-Journal promotion when you order: the friendly folks at Yutopian
will be happy to take care of you!
January 27, 2003
In This Edition:
March 1-2: Princeton, NJ
New Jersey Open
Rick Mott 609-466-1602 rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu
March 13-16: Germantown, MD
Greater Washington Go Club's Yang Workshop
Anand Modak 301-513-8233 amodak@mcps.k12.md.us
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
5d-5k Section Winners: 1st: Gregory LEFLER, 3k, 4-0; 2nd: John CHAMBERLAIN, 4k, 4-0; 3rd: Won KIM, 5d, 3-1.
6k-22k Section Winners: 1st: Susan SCOTT, 21k, 4-0; 2nd: Leif GERJUOY, 13k, and Gregory ROSENBLATT, 16k tied with 3-1.
BONUS: This week we're pleased to include a brand-new set of life and death problems from master tsume-go creator Yilun Yang, 7P. Try your hand at solving the problems, which range in difficulty from beginner to intermediate and advanced. Watch for the solutions in next week's E-Journal!
The weekly Games Edition is a terrific bargain at just $20/year: sign up today at
http://gm14.com/r.html?c=171523&r=171125&t=46044451&l=1&d=63368755&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp&g=0&f=63368763
Michael Redmond 9P has won his first and second round games in the current
Gosei Tournament in Japan. Redmond's second-round win was over Yamashita,
who had just beat Cho Chikun in the Honinbo League. Redmond went on to
defeat Sonoda Yuichi 9P playing Black by 3.5 points on December 12th and
Yamashita Keigo 7P by resignation playing White on January 23rd. His
opponent in the quarterfinals will be either Otake Hideo, Rin Kaiho, or Cho
Chikun. That will be one to watch!
-William Cobb, Assistant Editor
Catch up on the active Nordic tournament scene at the websites below or email Erik Ekholm at erik.ekholm@telia.com
Swedish Go Assoc: http://go.polopoly.com/go/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=110
Danish Info: http://users.cybercity.dk/~dko7155/cgc.html
Finnish Go Assoc: http://www.helsinki.fi/~msiivola/sgl.html
Norwegian Go Assoc: http://norway.european-go.org/
The Board also took steps toward developing a statement of ethical standards
to help guide members of the Board and AGA officers and has begun work on
developing a mission statement for the AGA that will provide officers with
guidance on priorities and present the AGA to the world. Over the next few
months, the Board expects to begin discussions about the role of
professional players in the AGA and the operation of the ratings system, as
well as to develop a practical way to hold more public Board meetings.
- Dave Weimer, Chair
I just spent over ten hours in the past two days recording the games of North America's top players in the 2003 Fujitsu tournament. I do not think I have ever been so engrossed in games I was not playing. The power, strength, and concentration of these men were no surprise, although beyond my ability to fully appreciate. More comprehensible, and in some ways more admirable, was their easy grace in handling the outcome of each game, despite the effort and pressure of the games. I can never hope to play as well as them, but I can strive to bring my own best effort to my game, and to share their humility and acceptance in victory and defeat.
I pleased and surprised to find that I do share something completely and deeply with these men: the absolute joy of this game. With the greatest prize in American go on the line, these guys were having fun, the same pleasure I feel when I sit across from a worthy opponent and create a good game (a pale imitation of what I just watched perhaps) but no less joyful. In go, there are wonderful surprises around each corner and they are reflected in the face of your opponent. Or in the pit of your stomach.
We can only create this shared experience face to face, across the board. I play on the internet all the time but it is not the same. Go players, turn your computers off and go to the club and to your local tournaments. Organizers - start your own clubs and hold tournaments. This is important and rewarding work.
One day at a racetrack, Abe Yoshiteru 9P is said to have remarked, "It is so sad for horses that they can not play go. Really." So let's spread the word, and play the games. We must try to keep sente for if we wait, we may never get a chance to make the best play. I am sure that Hans Pietsh was looking forward to a long endgame, but some sequences are impossible to read, no matter how strong you are.
Oddly enough, one of the most valuable go-related things you can do online is to find materials that are best printed and perused offline. If you know where to look, you can find printed materials that aren't even available in print. By "printed materials", I mean text and diagrams presented in a format that is easier to use in print than online, in contrast to the many online resources we have discussed previously. Whether you want to strengthen your game, learn more about the amazing history of go, or sing a silly go song, you can do it in your easy chair, using freely available downloads.
Let's start with a site maintained by the Wings Across Calm Water Go Club, the AGA's only official online chapter. Go to http://www.wingsgoclub.org/, click on the button on the left labeled "Books." Here you will find three outstanding full-length books, worth $60 or more if they were available in print -- which they are not. Wings member Steve Bretherick has translated the popular two-volume "How to Play Against the Stronger Player," and John Stephenson prepared the manuscript of this valuable addition to the growing body of work devoted to handicap go. Through a special arrangement as an AGA chapter, Wings makes these materials available to English-speaking go players at no cost. Over 10,000 users have downloaded these books. Also available is the massive "Go on Go," a detailed commentary on some of Go Seigen's greatest games by the master himself, translated by Jim Yu. Download up to 4 MB and print out over 1000 pages of great material available nowhere else!
Two reams worth of free material for study isn't enough? No problem. For starters, check out the "Articles" section of the mammoth gobase.org site at http://gobase.org/studying/articles/. This is a deceptively rich page: many of the links contain dozens of articles. New players should especially check out the "Hanging Out at Dan's" series, by Teach Yourself Go author Charles Matthews. Several chapters of a new book explaining the concept of "shape" in simple terms are also available at http://gobase.org/studying/articles/matthews/shape_up/.
If you've printed out all the good stuff we've found so far, it's time to check your cartridge, reload the paper drawer and forge ahead to http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/igo_e/igomenu.htm. Here you will find more than 200 installments of "The Magic of Go,", a weekly English-language column started by Kiseido founder Richard Bozulcih and continued presently by Dutch pro Rob Van Ziejst.
There's lots more instructional material -- see http://www.usgo.org/resources/internet.asp for details -- but the list of online articles about go doesn't stop there. If you didn't know that go has played an important role in Asian culture for millennia, expand your appreciation of go by checking out some of the historical material that's available. For a general grounding in the subject, the articles you can find at http://gobase.org/information/history/ will get you started. John Fairbairn's articles at http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/go/special/gofeatures.html go into greater depth in a number of areas.
Those who believe that go is just a game can skip this paragraph, but those who know otherwise can find some anecdotal writings on subjects as diverse as dragons, Albert Einstein, and sex discrimination in go can be found at http://gobase.org/stories/?id=intro. But when it comes to whimsical and non-technical material, the Bob High Memorial Library at http://www.usgo.org/bobhighlibrary/, is the mother lode. Still want to know more about the role of weiqi in Chinese society? Could go somehow help bring North and South Korea together? Why can't computers play go? Does playing actually strengthen the brain? Where and how did go begin? Here you will find links to essays addressing all of these questions, plus annotations of go "sightings" in Western literature, and much more. For the ultimate in pun-ishing whimsy, don't miss "Adventures of Go Kiburi", professional player extraordinaire who wanders through time with his sidekick, iki Jibiki. Or try out a few of the silly go songs on offer there, before settling down to study your new acquisitions.
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
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 ratings@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