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AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL: News from the American Go Association

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June 2, 2003

In This Edition:
U.S. GO NEWS: Membership, Readership Up Again; Ratings Updated WORLD GO NEWS: SARS Forces Chinese Go Online; Yoda To Challenge For Gosei; Cho U Evens Honinbo Title; Yu Changhyeok Takes First Round In Paewang; Koszegi Wins First Toyota-Pandanet European Go Tour Event GAME COMMENTARY: Jiang v. Redmond PLUS Yang Problems THE EMPTY BOARD: Playing Handicap GO CLUBS: Baltimore, MD; Highland Park/Charles River, NJ GO CLASSIFIED
SCOREBOARD: Amherst, MA
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
U.S. GO NEWS

MEMBERSHIP, READERSHIP UP AGAIN: Membership in the American Go Association jumped again last month and now stands at 1,733, yet another all-time high and the eleventh straight month of increases. Full membership is now 1,414, also a new record. E-Journal readership continues to rise steadily, as well, with nearly 6,000 subscribers.

RATINGS UPDATED: Updated ratings for tournaments reported through the end of May are posted at http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689515&u=http://www.usgo.org/ratings.asp&g=0&f=84689517 The following events were included in this update: MGA Spring Handicap, Boston, MA, April 2003; Houston Spring Tournament, TX, April 2003; Texas Spring Self-Pair Tournament, Houston, TX, April 2003; Cotsen Tournament, Los Angeles, CA, May 2003; Rocky Mountain Open, Denver, CO, May 2003; Dearborn Go Tournament, MI, May 2003; Empty Sky Spring Tournament, Rochester, NY, May 2003; Maryland Open, Baltimore, MD, May 2003. 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 July 1.
- Paul Matthews


WORLD GO NEWS

SARS FORCES CHINESE GO ONLINE: Because of the SARS problem, the tournament among the members of the Chinese National Team of professional players, who are supported by the government and represent China in International tournaments, has been conducted over the Internet, even though (or perhaps because) they all live in Beijing. There were nine rounds. Kong Jie 7 dan and Wang Xi 4 dan tied for first place with an 8-1 record. The well known and highly successful Chang Hao 9 dan only managed a score of 5-4 and finished in 12th place out of 14 players.
- reported by Yuan Zhou

YODA TO CHALLENGE FOR GOSEI: Yoda Norimoto 9P has defeated Akiyama Jiro 8P to become the challenger for the Gosei title in Japan. Yoda, the current Meijin, has had a lot of success in recent years. Akiyama is another of the rising young stars, still in his twenties. Yoda won by 2.5 points with White. The current Gosei title holder is Kobayashi Koichi 9P. The title match will be a best-of-five contest.

CHO U EVENS HONINBO TITLE: Cho U 8P, the youthful challenger, has won the second game in the Honinbo title match against Kato Kensei (Masao) 9P, his senior by 33 years. Cho forced a resignation, playing the black stones. This evens the match at one each. The third of seven rounds will be played on June 2nd in Hokkaido. You can see the game record at http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689511&u=http://www.mainichi.co.jp/life/hobby/igo03/02/index.html&g=0&f=84689517 .

YU CHANGHYEOK TAKES FIRST ROUND IN PAEWANG: Yu Changhyeok 9P has won the first game in the five game title match of the Paewang Tournament in Korea against the redoubtable Yi Changho 9P. Yu has won many titles, both Korean and international, though not as many as Yi, of course. You can download the game record at http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689510&u=http://www.kyoto.zaq.ne.jp/momoyama/news/kr/pw/pw.html&g=0&f=84689517 .

KOSZEGI WINS FIRST TOYOTA-PANDANET EUROPEAN GO TOUR EVENT: Local student Diana Koszegi, 5 dan, won the first tournament of the new Toyota-PandaNet European Go Tour, held in Budapest, Hungary. The field of 62 players included lots of local Hungarians, as well as a group of Croatians and Yugoslavs. Second on 4 wins was Radek Nechanicky (6 dan Czechia) and third was the best of those with 3 wins: Tibor Pocsai (6 dan Hungary).
- from the BGA News site: http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689506&u=http://66.39.78.200/news/enews2.html&g=0&f=84689517


GAME COMMENTARY: Jiang v. Redmond PLUS Yang Problems

Today's commented game is the second round of the 2003 LG Cup North American Qualifier, sponsored by the American Go Association and played on IGS ON April 26. Mingjiu Jiang, 7P takes White and Michael Redmond, 9P plays Black. The commentary is by Liping Huang 5 dan. In the first round, Jiang defeated Feng Yun 9p. By winning this game Redmond becomes the North American representative in the LG Cup, which is scheduled to begin later this Summer.

PLUS: As usual the first week of the month, Yilun Yang 7P has put together three original life and death puzzles, ranging from beginner to intermediate and advanced. Look for the solutions next week!

GET THE WEEKLY GAME COMMENTARIES & original life and death problems for just $20 a year! Sign up today for the Games Edition at http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689513&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/application.asp&g=0&f=84689517 and start receiving your game files next week!


THE EMPTY BOARD: Playing Handicap
By William Cobb
Self-Paired tournaments don't seem to be very popular. Due to the randomness of who's available when you finish a game at such tournaments, many of the games are high handicap, and perhaps people are reluctant to play high handicap games when their ratings can be affected. Interestingly, the dislike of high handicap games seems to come from both sides. The weaker player feels intimidated by someone who is six or more ranks stronger, and the stronger player is leery of being bested by someone so much weaker. High handicap games are challenging because they require a different strategy from even games. White must try to create as many complications as possible, at the cost of being thin and unsettled everywhere, and Black must strive to play solidly and attack weak white stones at every opportunity. In theory, this means that White has to work a lot harder than Black, but of course White is a lot stronger, so it evens out. Actually, a high handicap game is an interesting chall! enge for White and can be an exhilarating ride on the wild side. If Black perseveres and wins; well, it's always nice to see a weak player getting stronger. Starting off way ahead and being confronted by all those unfamiliar and unexpected plays is a novel experience for Black, and once you get a taste of the pleasure of watching a weak white group struggle to survive when you've got stones on every side, you relish such games. Even if you lose, it's amazing to see what a strong player can do in difficult situations. High handicap is a lot of fun. You should go to self-paired tournaments just to enjoy another dimension of go. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers wishing to test Bill's suggestion can do so this weekend at the Lancaster Self Paired; see Calendar below for details)
Past columns are archived at http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689512&u=http://www.slateandshell.com/billcobb.asp&g=0&f=84689517

GO CLUBS: Baltimore, MD; Highland Park/Charles River, NJ

Baltimore, MD: A small new go club serving northern Baltimore and beyond is now meeting
weekly at the home of Jim Pickett. The club meets at 8P on different nights, as determined at each
meeting, at 801 Cedarcroft Rd. Baltimore, MD.). If you would like to be informed of upcoming meeting nights call 410-433-5257 or email

Highland Park/Charles River, NJ: Last week the Highland Park and Charles River go clubs began a SuperGo match on KGS and IGS; the schedule and results can be found at:
http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689508&u=http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~xyhuang/&g=0&f=84689517


GO CLASSIFIED

WANTED: Will trade go lessons for English lessons; Philadelphia (36th & Powelton Ave): Dayong Yu, yuxiao1970@hotmail.com

WANTED: Copy of "All about Thickness" by Ishida Yoshio and "The Power of the Star-Point" by Takagawa Shukaku in any condition.
weiqi@earthlink.net (posted 5/19)

WANTED: Plans for building go boards. BardKile@cs.com
P Kile (posted 5/12)

WANTED: Students, 30k - 2d. IGS 5d offers online lessons.
http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689507&u=http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/icarii&g=0&f=84689517 (posted 5/19)


GO PLAYERS

NANTUCKET, MA. Eager 9 kyu who will be on Nantucket all summer is looking for other eager players who might be there for a few face to face games. Please contact Andy at aokun@glowwormpub.com (6/2)

IOWA: I am a go player stuck in Ames, Iowa with apparently no other go players. Anyone out there want to play? Email: Kirk Moloney at kmoloney@mchsi.com (6/2)

ALABAMA: amateur Go player looking for someone to play with locally in the Birmingham area. Email Ro at lasro@earthlink.net (6/2)

ALASKA: I have known about go for over 20 years but playing just the last four and am looking for players in Alaska, particularly the Anchorage area. Ed Sawyer, eddieballgame@yahoo.com (posted 5/12)

MAINE: New go player; IGo computer version not enough,. Would like to find a Maine player (Greater Augusta area) to play/learn from. Email Bill at wchellis@gwi.net (posted 5/6)

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SCOREBOARD: Amherst, MA
Amherst, MA
Western Massachusetts Go Tournament
April 27, 2003
TD: Matt Noonan
18 players
17 rated games
2k and up: Andreu Cabré (3 0); 3k 9k: Nathan Curtis (4 0); 10k and down: Ross Duncan (3 1)


CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 6: Bethesda, MD
Lessons with Yuan Zhou at GWGC
Haskell Small 202-244-4764 haskellsmall@starpower.net

June 7: Lancaster, PA
Lancaster Self Paired
Sam Zimmerman 717-892-1249 szimmerman@wareunl.com

June 14: Chicago, IL
One Nation Under Go
Bob Barber 773-467-0423 komoku@earthlink.net

June 16: Hoboken, NJ
Feng Yun lecture, Hoboken Go Club
lruss@stevens tech.edu

June 28: Richmond, VA
VA Open
William Cobb 800-653-7640 wmscobb@attbi.com

August 2-10: Houston, TX
U.S. GO CONGRESS http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689509&u=http://www.houstongoclub.org/USGC2003/intro.html&g=0&f=84689517


NOTE: this listing is not all-inclusive, featuring only upcoming tournaments in the next month or events which require early registration. For a complete U.S. listings, go to
For the European Go Calendar see


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Ratings are on the web! Check the website; for the full list.

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AGA CONTACT LIST:
For a full list of AGA officers, contacts & their email addresses, go
to: http://gm14.com/r.html?c=205593&r=205177&t=88498618&l=1&d=84689514&u=http://www.usgo.org/org/index.asp#contactinfo&g=0&f=84689517

Published by the American Go Association
Text material published in " AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL" may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that attached files, including game records, MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the Journal.

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

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