March 1, 2004
In This Edition:
Winners: 1st: Ke Huang 8d; equal 2nd-5th-place winners: Carson
Tu 7d, Yuan Zhou 7d, Zhaonian Chen 6d, Weiyuan Yang 7d.
Other winners:
5 game winners: Ethan Baldridge 6k, Jared Beck 7k, Nicholas Trieu 23k,
Daniel Zhu 24k;
4 game winners: Yong Chen 6d, Xiaoying Huang 5d, Xue
Han 5d, Mawshien Chen 3d, Peng Li 2d, Ronghao Chen 1d, Dinghao Wu 1d,
Yuchen Feng 3k, Lionel Zhang 3k, Sam Zimmerman 4k, Nelson Hua 7k,
Scott Agnew 11k, Aquinas Hobor 14k, Kevin Wang 15k, Guo An Zhang 21k;
3 of 4 game winners: Ximeng Tian 16k.
Organized by the Princeton Go Society; TDs: Rick Mott, Paul Matthews.
CHANGLONG WU TOPS IN CHARLOTTE:
Changlong Wu took top honors in the
February 28 tournament in Charlotte, NC. Eighteen people braved the
snow and bad roads to play, reports Tournament Director Wayne Hansen.
Winners: Group A: 1st: Changlong Wu; 2nd: Haijang Peng;
Group B:
1st: Peter Armenia; 2nd: Adam Bridges;
Group C: 1st: Fred Argenio;
2nd: Greg McCall;
Group D: 1st: Scott Ellis.
Also receiving prizes for
playing the most games were Josh Coker, Scott Ellis and Rodney Keaton.
EDWARD KIM WINS HAYASHI MEMORIAL:
Edward Kim won the Open section at
a tournament February 28 to commemorate Roy Hayashi, the beloved go
elder who passed away last summer. "We're honored that the Tacoma go
community has asked us to host this tournament in remembrance of a man
whose passion for life was seen in his love of go," said Tyler Sellon,
President of the University of Puget Sound Go Club, which hosted 34
players from the Tacoma Go Club and from all over western Washington
and Oregon. Although the tournament was delayed an hour by computer
glitches, Mike Malveaux reports that "Once things were underway, Jeff
Horn executed his TD duties with aplomb, especially since he also
played so no odd players would have to take a bye."
WINNERS: 3 games: Edward Kim 6d, Frank Brown 11k, Robert Solovay
23k, Dennis Wheeler 17k.
2 games: Ma Dong 6d, Om Ki 3d, Scott Arnold 1d,
Richard Bustamante 1d, Tyler Sellon 3k, Mike Malveaux 7k, Luke Allen 9k,
Greg Hatayama 13k, Gordon Castaza 20k, Gio Bailo 19k, Jeff Boscole 2k,
Duane Kanz 3k.
Full results will be posted at in a few days at
http://www.hilltopgo.com/ev/rhm2004/
Cash prizes from the Hayashi family and tournament entry fees were presented by Roy's grand daughter, Masumi, along with go sets, books, Hikaru no Go trinkets, and go themed bumper stickers. "Thanks to Jon Boley of the Seattle Go Center for the loan of clocks and go sets!" adds Malveaux. "Thanks to all the PNW go players who made the journey and helped us honor Roy's memory in the way he would have loved so much." For details about Roy's life, see http://www.seattlegocenter.org/RoyHayashi.html
ING INVITATIONAL SEEKS NEW TALENT:
A new tournament will qualify a top-level
player for this year's Ing Invitational. The Ing Redmond Cup will be held
over the internet and the winner will be awarded a place in the Ing
Invitational at this years U.S. Go Congress in Rochester, NY. Entrants must
be 5d or stronger in the CGA or
AGA, a citizen of the US, Canada or Mexico,
and under the age of 31. Registration is open until March 15th; register
on-line at http://www.seattlegocenter.org/ingredmond
.
YANG HACKENSACK WORKSHOP SET FOR JUNE:
The 2004 NJ Yang 7p Go Workshop is
set for June 24-27, in Hackensack, New Jersey. Go author and teacher Yang
Yi Lun "has an uncanny knack to help players of all rankings, is able to
pull profound lessons out of amateur games of any level, and will show you
through an amazing analysis of your own games," promises organizer John
Stephenson. "His style is both gentle and insightful, with advice expressed
through clear and immediately applicable concepts, sprinkled with a sense
of humor. Yet at the same time, it's intense. Attending this workshop will
deepen your game and dramatically add to your enjoyment of go." Find out
more and register at http://www.wingsgoclub.org/YangWorkshop2004.asp
PROVING GO IS HARDER:
Last week Online Go columnist Roy Laird asked about
measuring the relative difficulty of go compared to other games. "Here is
the math I've used to support this argument myself when comparing the two
games," responds Rick Mott, who has worked closely with AGA ratings
Statistician Paul Matthews over the years. "According to 'Inside the AGA
Rating System' (download from http://www.usgo.org/resources/downloads/aga-rating.pdf),
when Player A is one stone stronger than Player B, Player A will win
five out of every six even games. Ratings in the AGA database run roughly
from 40 to +9, with no ratings between 1 and 1, so the number of stacked
"5 out of 6" win probability levels of playing strength in go is about 47.
Beginners are more variable, and we have less data below 30 kyu, so the
system may overestimate the spread among beginners to some degree. But even
if a true beginner starts at 30K instead of 40K, there are still nearly
forty degrees of difficulty.
"To derive a comparable number of levels for chess, look at the US Chess Federation's algorithm at http://math.bu.edu/people/mg/ratings/rs/node5.html . From the formula for WE (winning expectancy), we find that if chess player A beats chess player B five out of six times, their ratings differ by 280 points. Since chess ratings top out near 2800, there are 10 such levels. The USCF compresses the top of the scale to keep the strongest players' ratings from increasing without bound, so perhaps there a few more levels in chess that it might appear at first glance. Still, by one specific measure of complexity, the playing strength spectrum in go appears to be about the cube of that in chess."
NO TIME IN "24" FOR GO?
"Last week on Fox's '24', hero Jack Bauer breaks
into a disreputable Los Angeles club in search of a terrorist," reports a
sharp-eyed Keith Arnold. "He finds the terrorist and interrogates him in a
room where a go game has just been interrupted. No clear shots of the board
position -- we will have to wait for the DVD to be certain -- but in one of
Jack's classic moments of frustration he snarls 'We don't have time for
this!' and swipes his hand over the board, scattering the stones." The next
episode of "24" won't be shown for a couple of weeks but "Jack is still in
the room so we may see more of the board" says Keith hopefully.
RYSDAM WINS PHOTO CONTEST:
Congratulations to David Rysdam, who was first
out of the gate with pro Ishida Yoshio's nickname "The Computer" (for his
legendary endgame skills) in last week's Photo Contest. Runners Up: S. G.
Fawthrop, Roy Schmidt, Tak Cheng, Robert McGuigan, Yuan Zhou, Larry Russ
and Steve Bretherick. Extra points to James Bonomo, who sent along a link
to GoBase's interesting write-up on Ishida:
http://gobase.org/information/players/?pp=Ishida%20Yoshio
NEXT WEEK'S CONTEST: Best caption wins this week's contest: check out the
photo at http://www.usgo.org and email us your caption suggestion at
journal@usgo.org
"Increasing our membership is the major challenge for all of us," Abramson says. "For the clubs, over the next year we need to talk about more and more coordinated tournaments. In the long run, we need to find sponsors to provide money dedicated to getting pros around the circuits to various clubs, with associated local publicity efforts. We need to work better with the pros to help support and benefit them and the AGA. We have more pros in the USA now, which I think makes this a possible goal.
"I would like to see us focus on clubs, kids, and growth. An important tool for this is paying more attention to our internet presence. The AGA site should be a portal to the world of go, a one-stop shopping place for information about go. We should have an AGA server for all members, and use it to promote our pros, provide instant ratings information, conduct on-line tournaments, and much much more.
Commenting on the E-Journal's role in the go community, Abramson says
"The E-Journal is fabulous, combining news of the international scene with
advertising for tournaments all over, musings on the world of go, a trading
post, game reviews and book reviews. As it expands, the interest in it
expands to a 'must read!' It has a bright future -- we need to keep adding
to the E-Journal."
- Interview by Joe Carl; edited by Chris Garlock
JP MORGAN CHASE TO SPONSOR MAJOR GO TOURNAMENT:
As reported at
www.gogameworld.com, American financial company JP Morgan Chase & Co. will
sponsor the 1st JP Morgan Chase Cup World Go Championship starting in
September in Taipei, China. The first two rounds will be held on September
14th through the 19th, and the semi-final and final rounds will take place
in December. This invitational event pits 16 players against each other in
a single elimination format that allows 3 hours each side and a 6.5 point
komi. Players include 3 each from China, Japan, and Korea, 5 from Taipei
China, and 2 special guests, all vying for 2 million Taiwan dollars (about
$60,000 US). The special guests for this year have already been announced --
Honinbo Cho U 9p and Pak Chi eun 4p (winner of the 2nd Jeongganjang Cup
Women's Go Championship) but next year they will be replaced with this
year's champion and runner up.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
CH'ANG HO ONE CLOSER TO 9TH KUKSU TITLE:
Korean go great Yi (Lee) Ch'ang ho
9p, current Kuksu and Kiseong title holder, decisively won Game Three of
the best of five 47th Kuksu by 9.5 points against rising star Ch'oe Ch'eol
han 6p. This relatively bloody battle (25 prisoners taken by Yi and 16 by
Ch'oe) ended after 285 moves, putting the overall standing at 2:1 in favor
of Ch'ang ho. If Ch'eol han, who is the current Chunwon title holder, can
battle back in the next two games, he will prevent Ch'ang ho from winning
his fourth Kuksu in a row and his ninth overall. The Kuksu has been
dominated by Ch'ang ho over the last decade. Game records can be found at
www.go4go.net.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
CHO'E CAN'T GET ENOUGH:
In a game that left nearly half the board empty
(only 131 moves!), Ch'oe Ch'eol han 6p defeated Yu Chae hyeong 6p in game
three of the best of three 15th Kiseong challenger decision match to
advance to the Kiseong title match against, you guessed it, Yi (Lee)
Ch'ang ho. The first game of the title match was scheduled for February
27th. The Kiseong is sponsored by Korea's World Daily News / Hyundae Motors.
Cho'e is now the number one Korean go professional according to gobase.com.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
SERVER V. SERVER IN KGS-DASHN FRIENDSHIP MATCH:
KGS played a friendship
match with the DASHN go server on February 29. Up to 100 games with up to
100 people from each server were set to be played, with half of the games
played on each server. The match was refereed by Alexandre Dinerstein 1p.
http://breakfast.go4go.net/?id=8 for more information
OTHER ASIAN GO NEWS IN BRIEF (compiled from igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/news.html)
In today's bonus file, Nakayama Noriyuki takes a look at improper moves that look like joseki and shows how to take advantage of them. The feature, "What's Wrong With That Move?" originally ran in the American Go Journal.
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
Geometry, Computer Science, Biology, Spanish, English, US History: my school courses, and this week, my exams. February is always the busiest month of the entire year, with exam review and the school musical making that a written-in-stone fact that's forced me to forego playing go for two long weeks.
I swear, if Diet Coke isn't the death of me ("It causes cancer!" according to my friends), then school definitely will be. It seems like my teachers have only just realized that we have exams at the end of every trimester and decided to subject us to test upon test and assignment upon assignment to prove it. Tie that in with musical practice which made me miss classes for an entire week and I'm officially going to die during exams. But between Internet go and my school's "laptops for all" policy you'd think I'd at least have some time to play those people I met in Seattle. Think again.
But I haven't let the enforced layoff get me down. I've still had some time to go online and review the latest game from the Kisei or review a few problems here and there. And it's not like I've just let my club sit in limbo. The Constitution and Petition have been handed in: 23 (!) people in all, and they weren't forced to join (though I did start to think about it) and they all know go! I'll even have enough supplies, thanks to the AGA and a certain kind soul.
School club and Miami Club, music and exams. I just keep telling
myself "only 3 more months", and then I'll be able to finally sit down and
study a subject I really care about.
-15-year-old Aria von Elbe is a 10th-grader in Miami, Florida.
Go programs have improved slowly but steadily in the last several years. I recently played two of the leading programs, Go++ and Many Faces of Go (version 11) to catch up with the state of the art.
Go++, by Mick Reiss, offers 5 levels of strength, and handicaps through 9 stones. As a former go programmer myself, I love being able to look at the computer's view of the world -- what it thinks is alive, dead, weak, strong, territory, and so forth. The lack of these features was a little disappointing for me. Go++'s interface is somewhat spartan, but what it lacks in features, it makes up for in raw strength. The first time I played it at 13 stones [Calibration note: I handicap as a US 7d], it kept tenuki-ing, and I was wrapping up large scale captures of stones it had abandoned, smugly thinking how at least I'd commend it for taking the initiative. But interspersed with what seemed to be dazed capering and wild swings were some devastating K.O. punches. Suddenly, I noticed I was in trouble. Go++ actually killed a huge group of mine. That is a rare experience in a high handicap game, especially against a computer. I estimate Go++'s strength at a solid 7 or 8 kyu.
Many Faces of Go, by David Fotland, has a richer set of features. It has a more attractively rendered board, it will display its view of group strength and territory, has an on-line tutorial, and even provides hints and explanations for its moves, which may be particularly useful for learners. For all this refinement, and its price tag at more than double that of Go++, MFOG is not quite as strong as Go++, perhaps 8 or 9 kyu.
These programs are fun to play, and would make great opponents for kyu players. I recommend them both. Go++ costs $39.95 and is available from http://www.goplusplus.com/, and Many Faces of Go costs $89.95, and is available from http://www.smart-games.com/retail.html.
WANTED: Go players in the Warren/Detroit area of Michigan. Contact jkolasa@ameritech.net (3/1)
WANTED: Go players in the Ventura County, California area (Ventura/Oxnard/Camario/Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Port Hueneme/etc.) Contact David Whiteside at dewhiteside@earthlink.net (2/23)
WANTED: Looking for old go trash; old boards, game records, broken equipment, books (any language), newspapers, magazines. If you have anything to sell or give up to a youth player striving to learn more, email samuraipanda5@hotmail.com (2/23)
WANTED: Looking for a portable Go set; email Snyder4410@hotamil.com (2/23)
WANTED: Go Reviews; older complete years, 60's & 70's. Send info on condition and price to flynp1@comcast.net (2/23)
WANTED: 1993 Ranka Year Book. Contact Clay@Smith.name (2/23)
WANTED: Go players in Raleigh, NC. The Wolf Go Club is a new registered student organization at NC State University and part of the Triangle Go Group. We meet Thursday nights in the Talley Student Center and welcome both students and non students to join us. For more information contact laroyce@ncsu.edu (2/23)
AVAILABLE: Anyone is interested in lessons with an igs 5dan, contact icarii@zoominternet.net to schedule a free evaluation lesson, (2/23)
WANTED: Old issues of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean magazines. Also wanted: old books of game collections. Contact Gordon Fraser at gordon@wui.net (2/16)
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)
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! Listing are free and run 4 weeks; send to us at journal@usgo.org
March 7: Sunnyvale, CA
8th Jujo Jiang Cup Youth Goe Tournament
Mingjiu Jiang 650-969-2857 mingjiuj@hotmail.com
March 13: Chicago, IL
Learn the Jack Benny
Bob Barber 773-467-0423 komoku@earthlink.net
March 27: Denver, CO
Rocky Mountain Spring Go Tournament
Eric Wainwright 303-626-0103 ewainwright@crystalball.com
April 3: Raleigh, NC
The Spring Fuseki Tournament
Troy Hurteau 919-515-3318 jthurtea@unity.ncsu.edu
http://people.engr.ncsu.edu/jthurtea/springtournament/
April 10 & 11: San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Go Club Spring Tournament
Steve Burrall 916-688-2858 sburrall@comcast.net
(away 2/19-3/1; please be patient for reply)
April 17 & 18: Toronto, ON, CANADA
Victoria Education Centre Toronto Open
Frank Monks 416-591-6414 pmonks@look.ca
http://www.go-canada.org/
April 17 & 18: College Park, MD
2004 John Groesch Memorial Tournament
Steve Mount 301-405-6934 smount@umd.edu
April 24: Middlebury, VT
Spring Tournament
Peter Schumer 802-388-3934 schumer@middlebury.edu
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.Published by the American Go AssociationGET 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
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