March 8, 2004
In This Edition:
GO WORLD CELEBRATES 100:
Kiseido has just published the 100th issue of its magazine
its magazine Go World. To celebrate this milestone, Kiseido is running
a special sale. From February 20 to April 30, Kiseido is having sale
prices on English-language go books and high quality stones and boards
(including kaya!). See http://www.kiseido.com/go_books.htm and
http://www.kiseido.com/go_equipment.htm for more information.
SCHAUMBURG UPDATE:
The Schaumburg (IL) Go Club has been meeting
regularly on Thursdays from 6-9P at the Caribou Coffee Shop,
1183 N Roselle Rd, in Hoffman Estates, IL. More information at:
http://thereader.sytes.net/schaumburg-go/index.html
PACIFIC GO MONTHLY:
West Coast players have a great resource in the
very nicely done Pacific Go Monthly, created by Bob O'Malley:
http://home.comcastnet/~rtomalley/Pacific.GO.Monthly/ .
HIKARU NO GO NOVEL DUE OUT:
"According to the latest issue of Previews
magazine, the first Hikaru no Go graphic novel is set for release next
May," reports Joel Sanet. "At 192 pages for $7.95, those of you who
have had trouble getting your kids interested in go may consider it a
good investment in your child's future. Hey, it worked in Japan,
didn't it?"
MINI-YEARBOOK AVAILABLE:
The mini-Yearbook is now available! The 12-page version of the full 91-page 2003 Yearbook is now available to AGA
chapters. It's perfect for that club regular who needs a little more
convincing to finally join the AGA! Email szimmerman@wareunl.com for
copies.
MEMBERSHIP REPORT:
Membership edged up again last month, hitting yet
another new record high of 1,978, just shy of the 2,000 mark. Full
membership was also up, clocking in at 1,519.
LINK TO US! Use any of five attractive banners at http://www.usgo.org/images/banners.asp to link from your site to ours! Thanks to Jeff Shaevel for creating these links years ago, now available once more. Got an idea for a link? Send it in and we just might put it up too!BARBER WINS PHOTO CONTEST:
Drinks stand abandoned
Hazy light blurs the room's edge
Go, interrupted
CH'ANG-HO AND CH'EOL-HAN DEADLOCKED IN KUKSU:
Rising star Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 6p,
determined to prove he is the number one Korean player,
employed complex ko fighting to come back in Game Four of the best-of-
five 47th Kuksu and forced Ch'ang-ho to resign, tying the match at 2:2.
Game Five is yet to be scheduled because both players are also battling
it out in the 15th Kiseong (see below). If Ch'eol-han, who is the
current Chunwon title holder, can win the next game, he will prevent
Ch'ang-ho from winning his fourth Kuksu in a row and his ninth overall.
While the Kuksu has been dominated by Ch'ang-ho over the last decade,
Ch'eol-han has been recently ranked the number one Korean go
professional according to gobase.com. Game records can be found at
http://www.go4go.net.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
CH'ANG-HO TEACHES YOUNGSTER A LESSON:
In Game One of the 15th Kiseong
title match, Yi (Lee) Ch'ang-ho 9p reminded 18-year-old Ch'oe
Ch'eol-han 6p that it is not easy to break through the "buddha wall".
Ch'ang-ho played black and defeated Ch'eol-han by resignation after
209 moves. As reported last week, Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 6p
defeated Yu Chae-hyeong 6p nearly two weeks ago, in a game that left nearly half
the board empty (only 131 moves!), in Game Three of the best-of-three
15th Kiseong challenger decision match to advance to the Kiseong title
match. The Kiseong is sponsored by World Daily News / Hyundae Motors.
Game records can be found at http://www.go4go.net.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
OTHER ASIAN GO NEWS IN BRIEF (compiled from igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/news.html)
MEN (AND WOMEN) OF IRON, STONES OF GLASS:
The Second Annual Takapotku
Open Tournament got underway this past weekend in Helsinki, Finland
with strong amateur players from Finland and other parts of Europe
attending. As stated on the official web site (takapotku.suomigo.net),
"Takapotku is a very ambitious Go tournament... the goal to be the
biggest in Nordic countries... possibly [the] biggest in Northern
Europe, rivaling only the big tournaments of Central Europe." The
Takapotku gives players a chance to collect European Cup points as well
as prize money for the five best finishers. The Takapotku also provides
various "side" events for attendees including a self-paired lightning
tournament, public commentaries of games, workshops, and more. At press-
time, tournament results were not available; we hope to report on
results next week.
- reported by Dennis Hardman
Today's bonus file is the latest lesson from "Kaz" Furuyama, this week on "How to Invade a Moyo."
We're also pleased to offer three life and death problems from tsumego master Yilun Yang; look for the solutions next week!
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
I have a dream. In this dream, I'm sitting in the go club here in Japan. It is a twenty-tatami room, which is much more space than the five or six regular members really need. The glass windows are closed because the weather is chilly, but afternoon light is still coming through the white paper of the shoji. I'm sitting on two cushions and I'm facing Kubo-san. Kubo ponders for an extra moment, then puts a white stone into my secure territory. With a merciless scowl, I raise a black stone into the air and bring it down directly upon the white one. The clamshell is crushed beneath the power of my black stone, and flaming white fragments go flying in all directions like a firework, burning up in the air before they reach the tatami floor. It's very satisfying, but for the time being it is only a fantasy. In my real world, I am incapable of finding the proper response to Kubo's overplays.
Kubo is the youngest of the old men that come to the play go in the cape-town every weekend. He has less gray hair than the other men and noticeably fewer wrinkles on his square-ish face. He doesn't fidget with the stones as some of the men tend to do. He is energetic and has a very aggressive style. I like him, but his moves drive me absolutely bonkers. Even his standard opening: he gives me a four- stone handicap and always begins by using a knight's move to approach the two corners nearest him. After I make my extensions away from the approach stones, he places a stone on the star point between his approach stones. This is how he likes to start, and I've been trying desperately to escape the routine. I make sure not to force his approach stones into pillars, because that would make his position perfect. I use a pincer or a cap instead (depending on my mood), and my whole-board plans generally work well. I usually carry a large advantage into the endgame, and it is then that Kubo terrorizes me. It never fails. Just when I think I have a victory secured, his eyes focus through his glasses like laser beams and he drops a scorching white stone into one of my positions. As I fumble with the invasion, my group dies or has to fight a ko in order to survive. Kubo wrests victory from me either way.
I feel insulted by Kubo's invasions because I know that they are unsound, but I am more frustrated with myself for being unable to respond properly. As such moves usually come very late in the game, I'm tired and I want to finish quickly. I am usually too absorbed to see that the tea-lady has come by, so my cups of ocha go cold before I notice them. The single white stone unsettles my thoughts -- it is as if Kubo has flung it into the pathways of my mind. I've gone back to studying tsume-go problems so I can improve my ability to read such situations without becoming confused. I've talked to Yokoyama-sensei about it, and he confirms the fact that Kubo is strong mostly by virtue of his aggression. Kubo's moves aren't really sound, says Yokoyama, but they provide opportunities for me to make mistakes. Yokoyama suggests that I try to play at a slower pace, as I do when we play during our occasional weekday lessons. This may work. But it would also be spectacular to scowl, crush the invading stone into flaming pieces, and then sweep the white dust into the lid of my bowl as agehama.
Things can get awfully slow on the banks of the Big River here in southern Minnesota during our long winters. At the Winona Go Club, when a win was decided by a ko, Reggie, who, if not a certified Doctor of Optimism, then is at least certifiable, opined that the game must have had a lot of issues, being ko-dependent. Later, Paul suggested that someone who was fanatical about double ko's ought to be called a kokonut.
From there, stones and espresso were spilled in the rush for the dictionary. One person offered that when your sensei tells you to start as many ko's as possible, you begin to work on ko-mission. Dave and Takuya, our ko-stars, explained that you need to triangulate in order to find the ko-signs on the board. Bob snapped back that you need to ko-ordinate first to rank them. Jenni wanted to co-opt this sad tail of ko puns into an alliterative affirmation that go reminds us to cooperate, never coerce, and comingle with other cultures and coexist in peace. Jim hoped that both strands of this craziness would become coterminal. Finally to this sentiment, our high-schoolers Anthony and an unnamed co-conspirator, added the coda, "Well, like, ko-duh!"
So if you see the barges drifting by, the magnolia trees blooming, and it hardly ever gets to forty below, you'll know you're in southern Minnesota.
EDITOR'S NOTE: please direct all komplaints and kompliments to Vernon at VLeighton@winona.edu
WANTED: Materials showing steps in traditional go stone manufacture. Needed for children's classes and outreach programs. Would like a shell and piece of slate with holes from stone blank removal and possibly some unshaped blanks as well. A few sample finished stones would also be appreciated. Willing to compensate. Any leads on proper contacts would be very helpful. Please e-mail johneckelkamp@yahoo.com (3/8/04)
WANTED: Logo for the new Cyprus Go Association: http://cyprus.european-go.org Contact Nicholas Roussos at roussos@alum.rit.edu (3/8/04)
AVAILABLE: Cornel Burzo, a top European 6dan player is now teaching online on IGS. For details check out http://www.golessons.com or contact him via email at cornelburzo@yahoo.com (3/1)
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 27: Denver, CO
Rocky Mountain Spring Go Tournament
Eric Wainwright 303-626-0103 ewainwright@crystalball.com
March 27: Arlington, VA
Cherry Blossom Tournament
Allan Abramson 703-684-7676 mediate8@worldnet.att.net
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 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 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#contactinfoPublished by the American Go Association
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