February 2, 2004
In This Edition:
Tournament data for rating should be submitted by e-mail to ratings@usgo.org. The next scheduled ratings update will be March 1. Check out the latest ratings now at http://www.usgo.org/ratings/default.asp
MEMBERSHIP UP SLIGHTLY:
Membership in the American Go Association nudged up
slightly in December, reaching 1,970, yet another new record and the 20th
consecutive month of growth for the AGA. A slight decline in full members
was more than offset by an increase in sponsors and limited members.
2004 YOUTH GO CAMP:
The 2004 Go Camp is coming! Kids who are interested in
go won't want to miss this great event. "Last year, we had a barbeque feast
at the beach, played mini golf, hiked on a beautiful mountain, and of
course, improved our go skills," reports organizer James Chien. "Everyone
also got reacquainted with old friends and met new ones from all over the
country." James invites youngsters to join the fun this year at Mills
College in Oakland, CA from 7/3 - 7/10 for a fun and learning experience.
Visit http://www.usgo.org/gocamp/index.asp for more details.
HIKARU NO GO UPDATE:
Special correspondent Joel Sanet reports that Hikaru no
Go returned to TV Tokyo in January with the North Star Cup Special in which
Hikaru fights to qualify for the Japanese team to be sent to the
international event for pros 18 years old and younger. "In the climactic
game," Joel reports, "the first move by his opponent is tengen. Hikaru comes
up with an equally interesting reply. (No, not the one in Nakayama's book.)
No doubt there will be a sequel chronicling the tournament itself."
THE GREAT DAN RUN?
In regards to Joel Turnipseed's column (HARD TIMES AT THE
GOBAN 1/26/04) I would like to officially enter the race for Shodan by this
year U.S. Go Congress!" writes Thomas Watson. "I started playing go on
September 6, 2003 and am currently 9k KGS, playing 5K AGA even and winning.
I was with the Grand Rapids Bunch at the recent Chicago tourney and met
Joel, and hope we both make it! It would be great to make a list of the
Shodan Showdown and publish it to see who makes it officially.
FRIDAYS WITH YUAN:
Yuan Zhou, 7 dan, continues his regular first Friday
teaching sessions at the Greater Washington Go Club this coming Friday,
February 6 at 8:30P in the basement of the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church, 9601
Cedar Lane, Bethesda. Bring game records to participate ($5), or observe
for free. Don't have a game? Come early (official opening time 7:00) to play
and record a game.
- Haskell Small, haskellsmall@starpower.net
BUY TIME AT SLATE & SHELL:
Slate & Shell now carries the Duel Timer clocks
which are able to handle both Asian and Canadian byo-yomi. Crafted from a
solid block of walnut, the clocks match up well with good quality sets,
reports S&S's Bill Cobb. Available at http://www.slateandshell.com
REDMOND PHOTO QUIZ CHAMP:
None Redmond (pro Michael Redmond's mother)
correctly identified last week's mystery Photo Page players as MING JIU
JIANG, who won the western Toyota/Denso Ozo in Seattle, and FENG YUN, who
won it in New York; both will represent North America at the Oza in Japan.
Honorable mentions go to Robert McGuigan, Kevin Chang (who suggested "Feng
Yun is smiling because many of her students won awards in their respective
divisions) and Ethan Baldridge. THIS WEEK'S PHOTO QUIZ: Be the first to tell
us where and when this week's AGA Homepage Photo was taken and you'll be
this week's winner of a $25 gift certificate at the go vendor of your
choice. Check it out now at http://www.usgo.org/
7TH WOMEN'S KISEI ALL TIED UP:
On the 22nd of January, the 7th Women's Kisei
title match between title holder Chinen Kaori 3p, and challenger, Mannami
Kana 2p, got started with a surprise 3.5 point win by Mannami (White). The
second game, which took place on the 30th, saw Chinen (White) battle back to
win by 4.5 points. Chinen has been a go professional since 1993, and held
the Women's Honinbo title from 1997 to 1999 and the Kisei title in 2000 and
2001. Twenty-year-old Mannami is well known to go fans in Japan as the MC of
the NHK Cup. The third and decisive game will be held on February 6th in
Ichigaya, Japan.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
CHO DOES IT AGAIN AND WINS WOMEN'S MYEONGIN:
Amazing teen professional Cho
Hye-yeon 4p, has dethroned Rui Naiwei 9p in yet another major Korean women's
title match. Cho, who played White, forced a resignation after 288 moves to
make it 2:0 in this best-of-three title match and to win the Myeongin
(Meijin). Cho is also the current Women's Kuksu after wresting that title
from Naiwei in late 2003. Cho was just awarded the 'Best Female Player
Prize' by the Korean Go Association and seems to have replaced Naiwei as the
top Korean women's professional player. Game records can be found at
htpp://www.go4go.net.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
WILLIAM BROOKS TOPS BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS:
A record 51 children
participated in the British Youth Championships in Birmingham on February
2nd. Overall winner was William Brooks 2 kyu of Cambridge. Under 18 winner
was Chao Gao 7 kyu of Bloxham, under 16 William Brooks 2 kyu of Cambridge,
under 14 Paul Blockley 13 kyu of Worcester, under 12 Costas Televantos 26
kyu of Aston, and under 10 Ken Dackombe 22 kyu of Bromley. In a
demonstration game without komi, 12 year old Li Shen 5 dan beat British
Champion Matthew Macfadyen 6 dan by 3 points. Top at puzzle solving was
Antony Keen 30 kyu of High Wycombe.
- from BGA News http://www.britgo.org
JOHN POWER REPORTS:
Go journalist John Power provides several interesting
updates in his column at the Nihon Ki-in web site,
http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp
EUROPEAN GO CONGRESS 2004:
It's not too early to start planning for the
European Go Congress, which will be in Poland in 2004, July 24th to August
7th. Get all the details at http://egc2004.go.art.pl/index.php?lang=en
CORRECTION:
Last week's EJ report that "Yu Chae-hyeong 6p resigned to Choi
Ch'eol-han 5p after only 121 moves in the first game of the best-of-three
15th Kiseong (Kisei) title match" (CHOI WINS FIRST KISEI GAME, 1/26/04) was
half-right. As Mace Li correctly points out, "This game seems not to be a
title match, but a challenger decision match. After the best-of-3 match, the
winner will challenge current Kiseong title holder, Lee Changho." Li, who
manages the comprehensive go web site Go4Go.net, knows his stuff; we thank
him for the correction and apologize for the error.
This game commentary is used with permission. Go World is an excellent quarterly go magazine with commented pro games and additional instructional material aimed at a broad range of players. Subscriptions can be obtained from http://www.kiseido.com. Readers who miss having a quarterly go magazine should check it out.
This week's bonus files are another installment of Nakayama Noriyuki's "What's Wrong With That Move?" series (originally published in the American Go Journal), and a joseki sequence taken from Star Point Joseki, volume 3 of the Nihon Kiin's New Quick Study Series, edited by Kawamoto Naboru, translated by Robert Terry, and published by Yutopian. The book contains a thorough survey of 4-4 and 3-3 point joseki. You can buy it at http://www.yutopian.com
Get the weekly game commentaries! Join the AGA today at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp
YEARBOOK ERRATA 1:
"I received the copy of the 2003 Yearbook today and as in
the original E journal report, you show Jie Li 'successfully defending his
title'", writes Ulo Tamm. "Jie Li was not the US Open champion in 2002, Mr.
Jung Hoon Lee was. PS: Nice Journal and a good way of reducing the cost of
publishing."
YEARBOOK ERRATA 2:
"Great job on the Yearbook," writes 2002 Chicago Congress
Director Bob Barber. "Just the tiniest nit to pick: on page 77, there's a
picture of some conspirators at the 2002 Congress. I have a vague
recollection that that Congress was in Chicago, not Denver."
Why is it that when you're doing something for the first time your insides churn until you think they've turned into soup? Maybe that's why my first tournament felt like a roller coaster Ride of Doom.
As a newly-minted 18k beginner I just wanted to play good solid games and try my best at the Toyota/Denso Oza Tournament in Seattle. Unable to think of much else besides where I was supposed to go, Table 37 was the only thing I looked for on the sheet of paper on the tables next to the goban. I didn't even bother to look at who I was playing against, though from the 60 or so people gathered in the room, I assumed he would be at least 20 years my senior; as a teenager this was pretty much a given.
But it wasn't the age difference that was turning my insides out. After nine months playing at the Miami Go Club, this is one challenge I've managed to overcome. Not without a struggle, however: at first, I was quite afraid of the club's older players' experience, despite the supposed leveling effect of 9-stone handicaps. As much as I hate to admit my fear, it's true. Over time, though, I've learned to not worry about the opponent and just focus on the game.
Playing in my first tournament, though, was something completely new and different. In my familiar club setting, people I know tell me why, when and how my moves are bad. Although my stomach had managed to tie itself into a knot, I had to walk across Route 5 to get to the board for my match, which gave my nerves time to calm down. No sooner had the jitters subsided when my first opponent whipped out his PDA to record the game. Somehow I found this a bit distressing and though I would like to blame it for my resignation, one of the lessons I learned at my first tournament is that "only weak players make excuses."
So, no excuses, plain and simple he was just better than me, and I'm
okay with that. As for my other five opponents, they were all better than me
too. Good thing I didn't go to Seattle to win this tournament; in fact, I
went to see the Kisei game and hadn't even planned to compete. But I did go
to Seattle to learn, and I did learn, which is enough for me. For now.
- 15-year-old Aria von Elbe is a 10th-grader in Miami, Florida.
After half a year in a remote area of Japan, my go playing has found a routine. Yokoyama sensei allows me to invite myself to his house every couple weeks, and my handicap against him has shrunk from five stones to four. Though he is in his late sixties and earned his 4 dan certificate decades ago, he still studies regularly. He also introduced me to a group of old men that play in the cape town nearby. There are six or seven players, all at least twice my age, and on any given Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday they get together for a few hours of light play. Though my game has improved, I still need a handicap between two and seven stones to get an even result with any of them.
While I am not playing every day, as I had hoped to, I find that two or three days per week is enough. I actually find a lot of other opportunities to play, study, and even teach. On Sunday morning NHK television airs a recent tournament match, and on other days I can study from books. During a 3 day conference for foreign English teachers, armed with copies of Karl Baker's "The Way to Go," I taught several people how to play the capture game. I also played a game with the Kouchou sensei (principal) of one of my schools. The stones were quite old, and I was lucky not to cut myself on them and even luckier that the Kouchou sensei's game was not as sharp as they were or I would have been slaughtered. Afterwards the Kyoutou sensei (vice principal) solicited a future game with me, and the Kouchou sensei promised to bring his own set for future games. As the Kouchou sensei put the ancient stones back on the shelf, they seemed to sense that their time had come and they slipped from his hands to meet their noisy end on the tile floor.
In general, Japanese people are surprised that I play go and even more amazed when I tell them that I learned how to play from the internet. But getting away from the internet has been a boon for me. Not only does it allow me to interact more with Japanese people, but the go board is a bridge that covers the language gap. I find the same satisfaction with sports: the rules of the game provide a basis for mutual understanding. Language ability, if it exists, serves to enrich that understanding. One of the things that drives me to study more Japanese is a desire to better understand Yokoyama sensei's lessons. And the reverse is also true: I have learned a lot of new vocabulary while playing go that I can use in my communication with Japanese friends and coworkers. I still miss playing online, but only because my online rank was a way of measuring my progress. When all is said and done, the rank is just a number -- the personal connections that I am making are much more important.
WANTED: K 12 teachers who want to start a school go club, add go to their classroom activities, or explore the concept of using go to integrate math, social studies and language arts. Join the Scholastic Go Project on our Blackboard website. Free. Contact Anton Ninno at aninno@cnyric.org (2/2)
WANTED: Looking for "Enclosure Josekis" by Takemiya Masaki. Please e-mail price and condition to rberger6@nyc.rr.com (2/2)
WANTED: Go players in the Clemson/Anderson/Greenville area of South Carolina. Contact joshuac@clemson.edu (1/23)
WANTED: Teacher for a beginner in the Nassau County area of Long Island (This is negotiable. I can travel to Brooklyn, Queens, and farther out on Long Island if necessary), New York, that I can meet face to face with, that isn't busy on nights or weekends. Email Yan at yan99_2000@yahoo.com (1/23)
WANTED: Looking to buy copies of "The Breakthrough to Shodan" by Miyamoto Naoki and "Strategic Concepts of Go" by Nagahara. Email Bong Joon Yoon at yoon@binghamton.edu (1/15)
WANTED: Go players in Clarksville, Indiana/Louisville, Kentucky interested in starting a go club. ChrsGilkey@aol.com (1/15)
Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach more than 6,000 Go players worldwide every week at Go Classified! Send to us at journal@usgo.org
February 28: Charlotte, NC
2004 Carolina's Open Tournament
Wayne Hansen 704-536-4805 whansen319@yahoo.com
February 28: Tacoma, WA
Roy Hayashi Memorial Go Tournament
Mike Malveaux 253-906-0095 mikem@hilltopgo.com
http://www.hilltopgo.com/ev/rhm2004/
February 28 & 29: Princeton, NJ
New Jersey Open
Rick Mott 609-466-1602 rickmott@alumni.princeton.edu
March 7: Sunnyvale, CA
8th Jujo Jiang Cup Youth Goe Tournament
Mingjiu Jiang 650-969-2857 mingjiuj@hotmail.com
June 24-27: Hackensack, NJ
2004 New Jersey Yang 7p Go Workshop
John Stephenson 201-612-0852 jcs@wingsgoclub.org
http://www.wingsgoclub.org
For the European Go Calendar see http://www.european-go.org/TOURNAMENTS/TListbyDate.htm
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