In This Edition:
BROOKLYN GO CLUB OFFERS T-SHIRTS & GUO JUAN:
The fabled Brooklyn Go Club has
a brand-new t-shirt out, designed by graphic designer (and BGC member) Mike
Samuel, reports organizer J.C. Chetrit. They're $12 each from JC; email him
at jc@brooklyngoclub.org for details.
The BGC is also planning two more workshops with Netherlands-based professional Guo Juan at The Woodlands this year, JC reports, "the weekend after Memorial Day (starting Thursday) and Columbus Day." Find out more at http://www.brooklyngoclub.org/bgc/
NEW LINK FOR HOBOKEN:
The Hoboken (NJ) Go Club has a new homepage link,
reports organizer Larry Russ. Find out all about the Hoboken club (plus see
some pretty cool pictures of go greats Go Seigen, Kitani and Shusai) at
http://personal.stevens.edu/~lruss/HobokenGoClub.htm
GO CLASSIFIEDS WORK!
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CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR:
"Congratulations on the 2003 Go Yearbook!" writes Erwin
Gerstorfer. "As a keen collector of go books and Ukiyo-e related to go, I
like it very much. Out of this appreciation, I would like to point out a
small mistake on Page 16, where you say '(James) Kerwin, the first Westerner
to achieve professional shodan in Japan...' The USA undoubtedly can claim to
have sent the first man to the moon, but please leave the honour of the
first Westerner to achieve professional shodan in Japan to tiny little
Austria," Gerstorfer insists. "Fact is (see e.g. "The Go Player's Almanc
2001"), that Manfred Wimmer was promoted on January 26th, 1978 and James
Kerwin on February 14th, 1978. I know it's only a few days, but sometimes a
few days can make the difference."
TAK CHENG PHOTO CONTEST WINNER:
Beating out the competition by mere minutes,
this week's Photo Contest winner is Tak Cheng, who correctly identified our
homepage photo of students from the Feng Yun go school. Tak also noted that
the photo was from the NYC Oza at the Pennsylvania Hotel and that the yellow
t-shirts sported "an under the stones tsumego on the back." Runners-up: our
very own Joel Turnipseed (so close!), Gordon Ho, Max Peterson and Pete Schumer.
THIS WEEK'S CONTEST: This week we have a bit of a challenge for you: we're looking for the most creative caption for this week's photo. For example, suggests homepage Photo Editor, Laurie Crammond, "Is he playing Black or White?" Check out the photo at http://www.usgo.org/index.asp and then send your suggestion (just one per reader, please!) to us at journal@usgo.org As always, winner gets bragging rights and a $10 go vendor gift certificate.
Tournament highlights: Stage One, held in Beijing in
October, saw two Chinese players, one Korean player, and one Japanese player
eliminated, although Japan's Cho U 9p won two games before being beaten by
Wang Lei 8p of China. In Stage Two in November (Pusan, Korea), Wang Lei
fell, as did Korea's only woman player (and first woman to play in this
event) Pak Chi-eun 4p, to Japan's Kobayashi Koichi, who won a special prize
of ten million Korean won (about $8500 US) for winning three in a row. His
winning streak was ended by Weon Seong-chin 5p of Korea. China was the first
team to be eliminated in Stage Three when their final "bullet", Gu Li 7p,
was beaten by Japan's Kato "Killer" Masao 9p. However, Kato and Rin Kaiho
were no match for Korea's Yi Ch'ang-ho, who has proven virtually unbeatable
in this tournament over the years. The game order, pair-offs, and game
results can be found at igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/news.html. Game records
can be found at http://www.go4go.net.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
KULKOV WINS EUROPEAN TOYOTA-DENSO OZA:
Andrei Kulkov 6 dan defeated his
fellow Russian Alexandre Dinerchtein 1p to win the Toyota-Denso Cup in
Europe. Since three players get to participate in the next stage in Japan,
there was a play-off for third place in which Frank Janssen 6 dan of the
Netherlands defeated Ion Florescu 6 dan of Romania. You can access the game
records at
http://www.go-centre.nl/index.php?page=tournaments/oza/2004/results.html .
LI TOPS IN OXFORD:
Wenhao Li 5 dan was the overall winner in the tournament
in Oxford, England on February 14th, which drew seventy players. The Chinese
player from Cardiff defeated two 5 dans, Young Kim and J. K. Shim, along
with Alistair Wall. Winning all three of their games were Niall Cardin 1 dan
Oxford, David M King 1 kyu Swindon, Elinor Borrks 6 kyu Swindon, and Richard
Scholefield 14 kyu Milton Keynes. William Brooks 2 kyu Cambridge won the 9x9
side event with 3 out of 4. Prizes were sponsored by Hoyles Games Shop.
- from BGA News at http://www.britgo.org/news/enews1.html .
JOHN POWER REPORTS:
Another summary of go journalist John Power's column at
www.nihonkiin.or.jp/topics2004/brandnew-e.htm.
OTHER ASIAN GO NEWS IN BRIEF
(compiled from
igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/news.html):
Today's bonus file is the famous Mirror Game played in 1929 by Go Seigen, 3p and Kitani Minoru, 4p (see Moments In Go History below for full details).
DON'T MISS ANOTHER WEEK OF GAME COMMENTARIES! Join the AGA today for just $30 and get the attached game commentary files next week! Join now at http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp
Remember the good old days when starting a school club just meant getting a few friends together after school, borrowing your favorite teacher's room and only leaving when the janitors came around and you finally realized that it was already 6?
Ever since returning from Seattle, where my dedication to go finally became permanent, I've been working towards establishing a go club at my high school, where chess is already frowned down on as "The Geek Club." Some of my best friends are in the chess club and even they laugh at my go club idea. That hasn't slowed me down but the paperwork has. The constitution and petition have to be passed by the school's Judiciary Council, I have to lay down the club rules and find a sponsor, get a regular meeting schedule started, and after all that, we still have to go through a four month trial period before they'll even recognize us. Well, slap me silly and call me Tsutsui, what have I gotten myself into?!
Like my Hikaru no Go counterpart, I was having trouble getting the word out and explaining to people just what go is, settling finally on "It looks like Othello but is played like four games of chess." Slowly, very slowly, I've got a following and maybe Tsutsui-san would be proud of how many people I've interested, some of whom even already knew what an atari was.
So, with my players and petition, sponsor and constitution, I'm just waiting for the Council to convene. All I need now is enough go equipment for more than twenty people. That's right, more than twenty! The Hikaru no Go fansub CDs I've given my friends have made their way to who knows where, the word's finally gotten out, and I'm suddenly on my way. Let's just hope that this path I'm walking down doesn't suddenly end.
Alright, I'm out. I think my English teacher's asking me about Thoreau or something.
Mirror or mimic go (mane-go in Japanese) is not often played, but it is an intriguing approach. One player imitates the other's plays in the diagonally opposite portion of the board. Black can start by playing on the center point (tengen) and then mimicking White. One would think that this would work in Black's favor for as long as he can continue it. It's also possible for White to be the mimic, but Black can easily disrupt this by playing on the tengen. There have been famous cases of this tactic, and Fujisawa Hosai 9p (1919-1992) was fond of mane-go. One of the most famous games involved Go Seigen. When Go was fifteen and had been in Japan only a short time, he was given an opportunity to play Kitani Minoru, then a twenty year old 4 dan. This was in 1929. Go startled everyone by beginning on the center point and continuing to play mirror go for over sixty moves. It is amusing to speculate about what he and Kitani were thinking. Perhaps Kitani thought it was a joke. No doubt both were concerned at every move as to how to end the mirroring so as to gain an advantage. Go finally deviated at move 65, and Kitani ended up winning by three points. The game record with some comments supplied by Dave Sigaty from Japanese sources is attached. [Sources: Go Review December 1971, gobase.org, and Dave Sigaty's entries in Sensei's Library]
WANTED: Go players in the Dayton, Ohio area. Contact camismyname@msn.com (2/16)
WANTED: Go players in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Contact Alex at alexgenaud@yahoo.com (2/16)
WANTED: Copy of "First Kyu" by Dr. Sung-Hwa Hong. Contact Krstic Dejan at dkrstic@verat.net (2/16)
WANTED: Go players in the Asheville, NC area. Please contact ichliebedeinunderhosen@yahoo.com (2/16)
WANTED: Go players in Verde Valley (Arizona) area; 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)
Got go stuff to sell, swap or want to buy? Do it here and reach nearly 7,000 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
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~transwri/
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
March 13: Chicago, IL
Spring Tournament
Bob Barber 773-467-0423 komoku@earthlink.net
June 24-27: Hackensack, NJ
2004 New Jersey Yang 7p Go Workshop
John Stephenson 201-612-0852 jcs@wingsgoclub.org
http://www.wingsgoclub.org/Yangworkshop.asp
For the European Go Calendar see http://www.european-go.org/TOURNAMENTS/TListbyDate.htm
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