AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL

News from the American Go Association

March 24, 2003

In This Edition:

• CALENDAR OF EVENTS
• SCOREBOARD: Arlington, VA; Michael Redmond Cup League Senior Division
• GO NEWS, US: Three Seats Opening Up On AGA Board; Ing Grant Manager Sought; NAMT Report Posted; MasterGo Upgrade, Videos Released
• GO NEWS, FOREIGN: Lee Changho World Champ
• GO CLUBS: New Haven, CT
• GAME COMMENTARY: 3-Point Cliffhanger
• GO ONLINE: Let Me Count The Ways, Part II
• GO REVIEW: Making Good Shape
• GO CLASSIFIED
• AGA CONTACT LIST

March 29: Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Tournament and Banquet
Phil Straus 215-568-0595 pstraus@post.harvard.edu

March 29: Tacoma, WA
Inaugural Tournament
Mike Malveaux, 253-297-6268, tacomagoclub@hilltopgo.com
http://www.hilltopgo.com/tacoma/mar29.html

April 5-6: College Park, MD
University of Maryland Spring Tournament
Steve Mount 301-405-6934 smount@umd.edu

April 5-6: San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Go Club Spring Tournament
Steve Burrall 916-685-1504 sburrall@attbi.com

April 13: Boston, MA
MGA Spring Handicap Tournament
Don Wiener 617-734-6316 donwiener@earthlink.net

April 19: Middlebury, VT
George Sporzynski Memorial Go Tournament
Peter Schumer 388-3934 schumer@middlebury.edu

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: Arlington, VA; Michael Redmond Cup League Senior Division

"Over fifty players participated in last Saturday's NOVA Cherry Blossom 2003 at the Sumner School in downtown DC," reports Allan Abramson. "Many new faces joined the old regulars on a beautiful day. The youngest player was five. The oldest was... well better discretion than embarrassment." NOVA Notes: the NOVA Go Club will be open tonight but closed Monday, 3/31; the next NOVA tournament will be a new one: the May Madness self-paired tournament on Saturday, 10 May, in Arlington VA.

2003 CHERRY BLOSSOM RESULTS:
1st place winners: Chuck Robbins, 2d, 4-0; Ray Hunley, 2k, 3-1; Ken Qiu, 3k, 4-0, promoted to 1k; Kathy Qiu, 5k, 3-1; Juan Quizon, 7k, 4-0, promoted to 6k; Seth Hoffman, 9k, 3-1; Ed Caldeira, 13k, 3-1; Peter LeFevre, 16k, 3-0, promoted to 15k; Eoghan Barry, 28k, 4-0, promoted to 25k.
2nd place winners: Keith Arnold, 5d, 2-1; Brian Kleiner, 4d, 2-2; Hal Small, 3d, 2-1; Longwen Deng, 2d, 2-1; Xin-Li Zhou, 2k, 2-2; Jeremy Banzhaf, 3k, 3-1; Sam Zimmerman, 4k, 3-1; Raymond Yeh, 7k, 3-1; George Wilson, 8k, 3-1; Joshua Simmons, 8k, 3-1; James McIlhargey, 13k, 3-1; Garrett Smith, 14k, 3-1; Kabe Chin, 20k, 2-2; Matt Kulikosky, 25k, 3-1.

10th Michael Redmond Cup League Senior Division
Round 1 results: Zipei Feng did not log on; Andy Liu won on W vs Kristen Burrall; Tiffany Tsai lost vs Mozeng Guan on B; Richard Liang won on W vs Gina Shi; Jin Chen won vs Matt Burrall on B; Jason Pan lost on W vs Ming Curran. " Speaking of 'no show' players," reports Michael Bull, "In 1992 I was the TD of the 9th World Youth Goe Championship in San Jose California. At the beginning of the final championship rounds a junior division player failed to appear at the start time. A thorough search was launched and we found the missing person swimming in the pool. He went on to win the Junior Championship for Korea. His name was Lee Sedol."

GO NEWS: US

ING GRANT MANAGER SOUGHT:
The AGA is seeking a volunteer with energy, initiative, and management skills to administer its $100,000 grant from the Ing foundation. The Ing Grant Manager will work closely with the AGA President, and will act as a liaison with the Ing Foundation, develop the annual grant budget for approval by the AGA Board, and design guidelines for the disbursement of Ing funds and equipment. Ing Foundation resources are earmarked for events and programs at both the local and national level. The Ing Grant Manager will chair a small committee to assist with grant administration. This is a major position on the AGA leadership team. For more information on this and other volunteer opportunities with the AGA, Contact AGA human resources at HR@usgo.org. Mention AGA Human resources in the subject space; NO attachments please.

NAMT REPORT POSTED:
A report on the controversial final match of the 2002 North American Masters Tournament has just been released by the NAMT Committee. Two documents have been posted on the AGAs website at http://www.usgo.org/NAMT/2002report.asp: the first is the report of the NAMT Committee; the second is a response to that report by one of the NAMT participants, Ms. Yun Feng. At the request of the Committee, its report and Ms Feng's response are posted as they were presented to the AGA President and Board. While there are clearly some disagreements, the Committee indicates in its report that it plans some changes in procedure to address issues raised by Ms Feng. The AGA Board and administration believe that the committee's intention is a proper response, and that it will result in a clearer procedure to ensure a proper environment for professional competition.

MASTERGO UPGRADE, VIDEOS RELEASED:
The March release of the MasterGo go software includes 18,335 professional games for review and study. A new demo version includes 1,207 games. Find both at http://www.MasterGo.com Also now available are demo/training videos for best use of MasterGo, available for download at http://www.mastergo.com/training.asp.

GO NEWS: FOREIGN

GO CLUBS: New Haven, CT

GAME COMMENTARY: 3-Point Cliffhanger

Also included this week is an interesting problem to test your endgame skills; in a game like this week's 3-pointer, a good endgame can spell the difference between victory and defeat.

The weekly game commentaries are available now in a special Games Edition, just $20 a year: sign up for it today at http://gm14.com/r.html?c=187071&r=186663&t=46044451&l=1&d=79667643&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp&g=0&f=79667649

Go Online: Let Me Count The Ways, Part II

The Japanese and Chinese systems were the prevalent conventions for playing Go throughout the world until the 1970's. Ing Chang-ki, a prominent industrialist and philanthropist based in Taipei, developed a new set of rules based on the "Stones + Spaces = Territory" principle. Using special equipment that counts to ensure that each player has exactly 180 stones, Mr. Ing developed an elegant system that in which both players fill their territory, leaving at least one space vacant inside the winner's area. The Ing rules also introduced the "super ko" principle, replacing special rules need to resolve double-, triple- and other complex ko situations with a simple dictum that no position can be repeated on the board. These rules, also translated by Davies, are available at http://www.usgo.org/resources/SST.asp. Korean pro Janice Kim comments further on Mr. Ing's "SST rules" at http://www.usgo.org/resources/KSS.asp

In the West, problems would occasionally arise at small events, where no one might be available who understood the finer points of any of the above rule sets. In 1991, the AGA adopted a rule set intended to bring Japanese and Chinese conventions together in one comprehensive protocol, suitable for use in all circumstances, including events where no one may be available. A concise version of this rules can be seen at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.concise.html. For a more detailed version, go to http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.html. Further commentary on the AGA rules can be found at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.commentary.html.

Today, players all over the world use Japanese, Chinese Ing SST and AGA rules to reach a mutually agreeable result. In addition to the these four rule sets, several other variants exist. Rules vary in their use of "territory" or "area" counting, free or specified placement of handicap stones, and in the amount of komi (Black's debt to White for the advantage of the first move) which ranges from 5.5 points to 8 points, and in other particulars. The Korea Baduk Association's official rules are posted at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/rules.htm. Commentary on the Korean rules appears by clicking "Korean Rules" on the menu at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/kiwigo.htm. (Careful,. you may wind up clicking a few other intriguing titles like "Early Go in Itago" and "Go With the Flow.") Some say that The New Zealand Rules at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/rules.htm do not really constitute a complete rule set because they specify no particular method of counting, but they are listed in the "Rules" section of The Go Player's Almanac. John Tromp and Bill Taylor have put forth what they call "Logical Rules of Go" at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/rules.html. The rules used on the Internet is described at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/igsrules.html. To see the simplest rule set, go to http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/simplest.html.

If you looked at more than a few of the above page, by now your head is swimming. Two sites offer simple side-by-side comparison of the various rule sets -- the British Go Association's chart at http://www.britgo.org/rules/compare.html, Jasiek's comparison at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/bascomp.html, and David Fotland's comparison at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/fotland.htm.

Now that you understand the various conventions in use around the world and the differences between them, you may have formed some opinions as to the relative merits of each system. Not surprisingly, others are also intrigued by these question. You can join a listserv the AGA maintains on the subject at by sending a message to webmaster@usgo.org with "subscribe go-rules" in the subject line. But first, you'll want to get familiar with some of the points that have already been raised as time goes by and lines of thought that have evolved from those points. Check out Tromp's pages at http://www.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html, in Robert Jasiek's collection of pages at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/rules.html and at Fred Hansen's pages, located at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/.

GO REVIEW: Making Good Shape

This new book is the missing piece of the puzzle. Yes, empty triangles are bad and dumplings are horrible, and never get split apart - but isn't all that rather obvious? After reading endless game comments stating that "Black makes good shape" or "White has bad shape," but never why, finally I am given rules and many examples concerning shape-thought. Following the section on theory and practice come 245 problems to pound the concepts into one's skull. Reasons and alternatives are provided with the answers. This is real teaching. The problems are a delight to work out. I set them up on a board and try various lines until I understand how to handle the situation. Many of the problems were encountered in other books, but never were explanations so lucid and valuable. The final section contains two games buttressed with very thorough commentary. Again, the "whys" are emphasized. This is terrific study material.

GO CLASSIFIED

FOR SALE: Goban from the Meiji period with beautiful lacquered sides. The bowls are decorated in similar style and include the original slate and shell stones. Price to be determined by interest. Email Geoffrey Gray at gray@hardnet.com.au (posted 3/10)

FOR SALE: Goban, 250 years old made of Yew wood. original black lacquer lines (lines are in perfect shape); Has large water stain on top and crack on side. Lance@KemperPainting.com (posted 3/10)

WANTED: info on organizations dedicated to promoting go among business people. I need the info for a book I'm writing using go as a metaphor and practice for paradigm shifting in business; I'd appreciate any assistance. Gay Hendricks; gay_h@hendricks.com (posted 3/10)

WANTED: Jade bowls and stones in very good condition. Contact mattman30yrs@hotmail.com (posted 3/3)

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 MAILTO:ratings@usgo.org

AGA CONTACT LIST:

Published by the American Go Association
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