AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association Click here to send this to a friend : http://postsnet.com/r.html?c=280700&r=280161&t=46044451&l=4&g=0&f=85048877 February 2, 2004 In This Edition: U.S. GO NEWS: Ratings Updated, Expanded; Membership Up Slightly; 2004 Youth Go Camp; Hikaru No Go Update; The Great Dan Run?; Fridays With Yuan; Buy Time At Slate & Shell; Redmond Photo Quiz Champ WORLD GO NEWS: Hane One Game Closer To Kisei Title; 7th Women's Kisei All Tied Up; Cho Does It Again And Wins Women's Myeongin; William Brooks Tops British Youth Championships; John Power Reports; European Go Congress 2004 GAME COMMENTARY: Bewitched By A Fox YOUR MOVE: Readers Write BEGINNER'S MIND THE TRAVELING BOARD: Report From Shikoku GO CLASSIFIED CALENDAR OF EVENTS ATTACHED FILES: [only with Games Edition] 2004.02.02 Takemiya-O, Go World #96.sgf; 2004.02.02 Nakayama NS-3.pdf; 2004.02.02 Yutopian, Star Point Joseki Selection.sgf U.S. GO NEWS RATINGS UPDATED, EXPANDED: Updated ratings as of February 1 are now available online and feature dramatically expanded searchability by year, ratings, AGA chapter and state, as well as player name and AGA membership number. The following events were included in this update: Chicago Handicap, IL, December 2003; Seattle Go Center Rating Tournament, WA, December 2003; NOVA Holiday Helper, Arlington, VA, December 2003; Zhu Jiu Jiang GOE Tournament, CA, January 2004; Seattle Go Center Rating Tournament, WA, January 2004; Salem Winter Tournament, OR, January 2004; North American Oza Cup, New York, NY, January 2004; North American Oza Cup, Seattle, WA, January 2004; MGA Winter Handicap Tournament, MA, January 2004. If you played in a tournament that you think should have been included but is not in this list, please contact the tournament organizers and ask them to send us their data. 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/ WORLD GO HANE ONE GAME CLOSER TO KISEI TITLE: In Game Two of the best-of-seven 28th Kisei title match, Hane Naoki 9p defeated current Kisei Yamashita Keigo 9p, by resignation after 206 moves. Hane now leads the match 2:0 after winning Game One in Seattle in mid-January. As reported by John Power at http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp, the game started with the large-avalanche joseki and was closely fought, "... but in the latter part of the game Yamashita played a little slackly and fell behind. He launched a do-or-die attack, but ... was skillfully parried by Hane." Hane and Yamashita battled it out for the Tengen title late last year when Hane successfully defended his title by a score of 3 games to 2. Game three of the Kisei will be played in Kuwana City in Mie Prefecture on February 4th and 5th. Game records can be found at http://www.go4go.net. - reported by Dennis Hardman 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 - Cho U takes sole lead in 29th Meijin league - Kobayashi Izumi, Women's Meiin & Honinbo, and Yamashita Keigo Kisei, won the 10th Ricoh Cup, which is a pairs tournament. - Fourteen-year-old Xie Yimin has set a record for the youngest woman professional in Japan. She will make her debut as a shodan in April. 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. GAME COMMENTARY: Bewitched By A Fox Today's game commentary is a marathon contest between Takamiya Masaki and O Rissei in the 2002 Judan Title Match. The lead changes hands several times in the 311-move game, leaving professional onlookers feeling "as if they had been bewitched by a fox" according to the terrific commentary by Kamimura Kunio, translated for Go World #96 (Autumn 2002) by John Power. The 1.5 point margin is even more astounding when you consider that Takemiya played over 200 moves for five hours in byoyomi. 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 YOUR MOVE: Readers Write THE YEARBOOK ROCKS: "I have just received my much anticipated Go Yearbook," writes Michael Quintero. "It is everything I thought it would be, and more. It is beautifully laid out, the balance of articles, how to's, photos, advertisements, philosophy (Thank you Bill Cobb), the trips to Japan, all wonderfully thought out and done. The CD that comes with it is just as thoughtfully done. In order to savor this tremendous effort I am reading it a bit at a time, sometimes not even a page, just to make it lasts before I re-read it. To further express my appreciation, and support to all of you I have renewed my membership a little early. Well done!" 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." BEGINNER'S MIND by Aria von Elbe 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. THE TRAVELING BOARD: Report From Shikoku by Solomon Smilack 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. GO CLASSIFIED WANTED: Go players in Verde Valley area Arizona; contact perudodudo@yahoo.com (2/2) 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 CALENDAR OF EVENTS February 28: Sacramento, CA David/Sacramento Quarterly Tournament Fred Hopkins 916-548-8068 cfredhop@msn.com 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 GET LISTED & BOOST TURN OUT! Got an upcoming event? Reach over 6,000 readers every week! List your Go event/news In the E Journal: email details to us at MAILTO: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: For a full list of AGA officers, contacts & their email addresses, go to: http://www.usgo.org/org/index.asp#contactinfo Published by the American Go Association Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the E-Journal. Please direct inquiries to journal@usgo.org Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association. 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 mailto:journal@usgo.org ===== This is archived at http://www.hilltopgo.com/agej/2004/2004-02-02.txt The 2004 index page is at http://www.hilltopgo.com/agej/2004/