AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL

News from the American Go Association

February 19, 2003

In This Edition:

• GAME COMMENTARY: Blood on the Stones
• GO NEWS: DC Snow Update; 19th Annual U.S. Go Congress Set for Houston; Baduk Conference Accepting Papers; Ing-Redmond Invitational; Cotsen Travels; Community Outreach Pilot Program; 400 Years Of Go; PrezCon Road Trip; 18,000 Games in MasterGo Release; The Way to Go
• WORLD GO
• GO CLUBS: Bookmark Program
• GO REVIEW: Sabaki, How to Manage Weak Stones
• GO CLASSIFIED
• AGA CONTACT LIST

CALENDAR OF EVENTS (U.S.)

February 22: Toronto, Canada
Toronto Go Tournament
Monks@pmonks@look.ca 416-591-6414

March 1-2: Princeton, NJ
New Jersey Open
Rick Mott 609-466-1602 rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu

March 2: Sunnyvale, CA
7th Jujo Jiang Cup Youth Goe Tournament
Mingjiu Jiang 650-969-2857

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

GAME COMMENTARY: Blood on the Stones

A special bonus file today is "A Whole Board Strategy Problem" first published in Go Review IV, 6 (June 1964).

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GO NEWS

DC SNOW UPDATE:
Hillandale Go Club at Long Branch CC - no meeting this Thursday (2/20); Rockville Chess & Go Croup - No decision as yet. Will check street conditions on Thursday. Call John Goon at 301-394-4288 on Friday to confirm; Beltsville Strategy Games Club - we should be open on Monday.

19TH ANNUAL U.S. GO CONGRESS SET FOR HOUSTON:
The annual US Go Congress, set for August 2nd -10th, is always an exciting opportunity for the avid go player. Meet professional players from around the world, catch up with your long-time go friends and make many new ones. This year for the first time, the Houston Go Club and the AGA is bringing the US Go Congress to Houston, Texas. Houston can be hot and humid in August but all events will be held in the fully air-conditioned University Center. Meals and accommodation will be available in the fully air-conditioned Moody Towers Residence Hall just a few minutes walk away. If you prefer, you can make your own arrangements to stay at the nearby University Hilton Hotel. For more information and online registration, check out the AGA website at www.usgo.org and click on the 2003 US Go Congress link or visit the Houston Go Club website at www.houstongoclub.org and click on the Congress logo.

BADUK CONFERENCE ACCEPTING PAPERS:
Myong-Ji University's Department of Baduk Studies has scheduled the second International Conference on Baduk (go) for July 26-27 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Proposals for papers on baduk are due May 15; for details on length, subject and honoraria, contact Chihyung Nam, Professor of Dept. of Baduk Studies at Myong-Ji at dame_kr@yahoo.co.kr or check out www.egc2003.sp.ru

ING-REDMOND INVITATIONAL:
The Ing Foundation and the Redmond family invite young go players 30 years old or younger and 5d or stronger to enter the Ing-Redmond Invitational tournament this spring. All games will be played on IGS. First prize includes playing in the Ing Tournament at the 2003 U.S. Go Congress. Register with None Redmond at chinski@inreach.com before March 1st.

COTSEN TRAVELS:
"Recently I visited the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, to take a tour of their Library," reports Bob Barber. "I was very pleasantly surprised to see an exhibit of Japanese bamboo baskets, part of the collection of go player Lloyd Cotsen. It's a wonderful show; beautifully laid out and described. Dozens of gorgeous baskets, and a video as well. I'm afraid the show closes soon, but may travel to other museums. I wonder which came first: Mr. Cotsen's love of things Japanese, or his love of go."

COMMUNITY OUTREACH PILOT PROGRAM:
Anyone interested in promoting go in their local community may want to apply for inclusion in a possible nationwide pilot program, says AGA Community Outreach Coordinator John Goon. The program will dedicate promotional resources for selected target populations and encourage broader based regional planning and operations. "This concept has been applied to the Washington DC area for the past four years and the results are impressive," Goon says. "The purpose of the pilot program will be to determine if the Washington DC model can be transplanted to other regions. If adopted, this program will extend over 2-3 years so a long-term commitment is needed. The key tenets of the program are pro-active information centralization, open communications, advanced planning, material resource stability, and gradual but relentless improvements to the local support infrastructure." If interested, write Goon at outreach@usgo.org.

400 YEARS OF GO:
400 Years of Go in Japan, by Andrew Grant, is a new publication from Slate & Shell. A highly readable, illustrated review of the development of modern go from the beginnings in Japan until Japanese hegemony ended in the 1970's. See it at www.slateandshell.com .

PREZCON ROAD TRIP:
Todd Heidenreich and John Goon are planning an all-day trip to check out boardgaming convention PrezCon this coming Sunday in Charlottesville, VA. "If any go players in the area are also interested in this, let us know so we can hook up. A sizable go presence there just might open some new doors." jgoon@erols.com

18,000 GAMES IN MASTERGO RELEASE:
The February release of MasterGo includes 18,000 professional games for review, analysis or study. A new demo version has 1,181 games. Check both out at http://www.MasterGo.com

THE WAY TO GO:
In last week's E-Journal article about efforts to bring go to a prison near Syracuse, we noted that copies of "The Way to Go" and inexpensive plastic go sets are being provided; both items were produced by the American Go Foundation. For more information on obtaining materials or helping support these efforts, please contact Terry Benson at terrybenson@nyc.rr.com

WORLD GO

Yi Ch'ang-ho (aka Lee Changho) 9P has finally lost a game this year. After an amazing streak of twenty wins, his former teacher Cho Hun-hyeon 9P managed to defeat him in the second game of the final match for the 14th Kisung Title in Korea, tying the match at one each. Yi, still in his twenties, has the best claim to be the strongest player in the world, having won more international titles than anyone else.
- William Cobb, Assistant Editor

Michael Redmond 9P won his game in the second preliminary section of the 59th Honinbo tournament in Japan last week, defeating Iwata Hajime 8P by resignation.
- John Power, on the Nihon Kiin home page at http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/index-e.htm

GO CLUBS: Bookmark Program

GoReview: Sabaki: How to Manage Weak Stones

This slim little book is based on material presented by Mr. Yang during a recent "Yang workshop" in New Jersey. It is available via the Wings Across Calm Water Go Club web site. The book consists of two parts, the first illustrating important concepts and techniques necessary for creating sabaki (a flexible, light position) and the second a review of essential sabaki guidelines followed by sample problems and solutions.

This is an extremely slim volume for such a huge subject. Nevertheless, it should prove a useful addition to many player's go library. With so many books on various aspects of go now available, it is truly astonishing that this is the first book ever to be devoted solely to the subject of making sabaki (at least in English). Not only does this book provide the reader with a clear analytical framework for assessing sabaki situations, it introduces a number of important concepts not well discussed elsewhere. Even with this book, there is still a huge hole in the literature for one of the major publishers of go books to develop a much larger treatment on the topic with many more examples and practice problems. In the meantime, this seminal volume should enjoy a wide readership. The last time that John Stephenson transcribed material from one of Mr. Yang's lectures, (How to Destroy and Preserve, 2000), it rapidly disappeared from print. This book is even better and more useful than the last.

GO CLASSIFIED

WANTED: copy of First Kyu by Dr. Sung-Hwa Hong. d-barnes@pacbell.net.

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 john.hartman17@verizon.net Or email dobe.doinat@verizon.net

WANTED: Go players in the West Lafayette, Indiana/Purdue area; e-mail Chris Kubica at ckubica@insightbb.com

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

AGA CONTACT LIST:

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