June 23, 2003
In This Edition:
BOB MENDENHALL'S LAST LESSON
By Paul Barchilon
Bob Mendenhall died on Saturday, June 14. He was my teacher, he was my opponent and he was my friend. Bob, who succumbed after a six month battle with cancer, is survived by his wife and two young children. Bob had a more than thirty-year love affair with go and before he died he revolutionized our go club. I can think of no more fitting memorial for him than to share his story with the larger go community in the hopes of inspiring them to action.
When I first came to the Boulder Go Club in Colorado, I hadn't played in over 12 years and I was very nervous. The club was small and comprised entirely of dan-level players and just a few high-kyu players. Everyone there gave me nine stones to begin with. As anyone who has tried to learn go knows it can be extremely daunting to learn in such a challenging environment. As a result the club had stayed small and insular for over 25 years. I was one of the few who persevered and became a regular member. I remember the first time Bob talked to me. I had been coming for a couple of months and I guess he figured he should find out about me. Quite suddenly, at the end of a game with another player, Bob turned to me and said, 'Ira tells me I have to play you" (Ira was another dan player in our club). This was the first of what would be many games, and eventually Bob sort of took me on as his informal pupil. He was endlessly creative and would do fun things like letting me have fewer handicap stones but agreeing to answer any question I asked. He would still usually win though, as I found I had to ask the right questions.
Bob had so much fun teaching me that he decided to start a go study group for new players. He would talk to any new players right off the bat and get their e-mail address. One of our students laughingly referred to the group as "Go!Bob!Go!" and the name stuck. Over the next couple of years the group met biweekly or monthly and came to include over fifty players. We went over game records and played "team go", where all the people on a team openly discussed what they thought were the best moves. Bob was always there to tell us if we were completely off-base or that so-and-so had the right idea. Bob always said that it was the quality of the discussion itself that was the most influential on our growth. A great number of the new players stuck with the game because they had other people close to their level to play with and instruction and support from a 3-dan with a brilliant mind. Our small go club of about 12 regular players blossomed into a much larger group and at times we have had over thirty people playing at once, with many more coming occasionally.
When Bob learned he had cancer he didn't know how long he would have, but he knew he wanted to keep the club going. Although we met less frequently, Bob continued to hold sessions even as he was undergoing chemotherapy. He became too weak to go to go club, but I would come over to his house and he would play me or go over my game records if he wasn't up to playing. We kept adjusting the handicap to try to compensate for his level of impairment but somehow, as usual, he almost always won. Just two weeks before he died he decided to throw an impromptu Go!Bob!Go! session and pancake breakfast at his house. After an initial round of activities he said he needed a little break and went to take a nap. After he didn't come back for a while we all decided to let him know that it was OK and we would be going. He surprised us all by rallying and ended up playing a three-way simultaneous game against teams of players. I think he won two out of three of them.
I introduced Hikaru no Go to Bob and his kids and they all became addicts. After he died, his nine year old daughter Caitlin told me that she wants to reach shodan. I told her I would come to play with her and her younger brother and that when she grew up she would be able to find Bob in her games just like Hikaru found Sai in his. We have some of Bob's game records in his Palm Pilot and I look forward to being able to share them with the kids when they are at the right level.
Here is what I take from Bob's last lesson: none of us know how long we have to be here. The future of go rests with all the new players out there, so all of you dan players, welcome new players and start a study group for them. Share your knowledge and love of go and it will spread very far indeed. Set aside June 14th as a go holiday and throw a go party for Bob. Reach out to new players and always remember how much one person can achieve.
KATO & CHO TIED AT 2-2 IN HONINBO:
After Kato Kensei (Masao) Honinbo
defeated Cho U 8 dan in the third game of the Honinbo Title Match in Japan
to take a 2-1 lead in the best of seven contest, he lost the fourth game in
this best of seven title match with Cho U 8 dan, bringing the score to a 2-2
tie. Kato won the third round with Black by resignation in this battle of
the generations (Kato is more than 30 years older than Cho, who is still in
his twenties). Black has won all four games in the match by resignation. You
can see the game records at
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/life/hobby/igo03/03/index.html
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/life/hobby/igo03/04/index.html
REDMOND NOTCHES 1ST WIN IN LG CUP:
Michael Redmond 9 dan, representing North
America, won his first game in the LG Cup, against O Meien 9 dan of Japan,
but lost in the second round to Won Seongjin 5 dan of Korea. Alexandre
Dinerchtein 1 dan, representing Europe, also won his first round game
against an established Japanese pro, O Rissei 9 dan. Dinerchtein followed
Redmond in losing to a Korean in the second round, Cho Hanseung 5 dan. The
quarter finals will have six Korean and two Chinese players. You can
download the games at http://www.kyoto.zaq.ne.jp/momoyama/news/5lg/8lg.html
.
One of the Kiseido's "Elementary Go" series, "Tesuji" is divided into 16 chapters, each consisting of several sections focusing on one tesuji or technique. At the end of each section, there are several questions to answer and at the end of each chapter there are review questions on the whole. The final chapter poses a series of challenging problems, all with answers and some with more than one variation. The book is very easy to follow, with clear diagrams covering more than 50 tesuji. While some are fairly easy, some are very challenging. I read this book when I was 14k, and there are chapters where I can answer all of their questions, but there are a few chapters where I only can answer half of the questions. "Tesuji" will improve your strength by at least one to two stones if you are a low or middle kyu player, although players of all strengths will benefit from reading it.
Available at http://www.kiseido.com/
WANTED: Gifted, dedicated volunteers to help with exciting, ground-breaking
html E-Journal project. (6/9)
Chris Garlock, journal@usgo.org
WANTED: Will trade go lessons for English lessons; Philadelphia (36th &
Powelton Ave):
Dayong Yu, yuxiao1970@hotmail.com (6/2)
WANTED: Copy of "All about Thickness" by Ishida Yoshio and "The Power of
the Star-Point" by Takagawa Shukaku in any condition.
weiqi@earthlink.net (posted 5/19)
WANTED: Students, 30k - 2d. IGS 5d offers online lessons.
http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/icarii (posted 5/19)
WANTED: Plans for building go boards. BardKile@cs.com
P Kile (posted 5/12)
"BAYTOWN, TX. Looking for people in the area to start up a go club in the Houston Bay Area, since the Houston Club is a little too far away. Please email Carey at gilgamesh@binary-fusion.com if you are interested."
LAS VEGAS, NV: Trying to drum up club interest here: contact Ray Kukol at rkukol@lvcm.com (6/16)
NANTUCKET, MA. Eager 9-kyu who will be on Nantucket all summer is looking for other eager players who might be there for a few face-to-face games. Please contact Andy at aokun@glowwormpub.com (6/2)
IOWA: I am a go player stuck in Ames, Iowa with apparently no other go players. Anyone out there want to play? Email: Kirk Moloney at kmoloney@mchsi.com (6/2)
ALABAMA: amateur Go player looking for someone to play with locally in the Birmingham area. Email Ro at lasro@earthlink.net (6/2)
ALASKA: I have known about go for over 20 years but playing just the last four and am looking for players in Alaska, particularly the Anchorage area. Ed Sawyer, eddieballgame@yahoo.com (posted 5/12)
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
June 28: Richmond, VA
VA Open
William Cobb 800-653-7640 wmscobb@attbi.com
June 28: Austin, TX
Pre Congress Ratings Rally
Jeff Shaevel jeff@shaevel.com 512-733-0027
July 5-6: Orlando, FL
1st Annual Florida State Go Championships
Brian J. Olive 407-595-8405 oliveb@ocps.k12.fl.us
July 12: Shaker Heights, OH
4 Round AGA Rated Tournament
Harold Lloyd 216-382-0752 hlloyd@core.com
July 12,19,26: Piscataway NJ
AGA rated games
GoLesson@yahoo.com
July 13: Boston, MA
MGA Summer Handicap Tournament
(Skip Ascheim Memorial)
Don Wiener 617-734-6316 donwiener@earthlink.net
July 19/20: San Francisco, CA
Northern California Open Tournament
Danny Swarzman 415-221-7194 ncal@stowlake.com
July 19: Arlington, VA
NOVA Congress Tune-Up
Allan Abramson 703-684-7676 mediate8@worldnet.att.net
July 19-August 2: St. Petersburg, Russia
47th European Go Congress
egc2003@mail.wplus.net
August 2-10: Houston, TX
U.S. GO CONGRESS
http://www.houstongoclub.org/USGC2003/intro.html
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
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