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by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Ueno makes good start in Women’s Kisei: The first game in the 22nd Women’s Kisei title match was held at the Hotel Sunlife Garden in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, on January 17. The defending champion Ueno Asami (W, at left in photo) beat Fujisawa Rina by 2.5 points after a marathon 310 moves. The challenger took the lead in territory early on, but Ueno attacked tenaciously and finally overhauled Fujisawa in the endgame. The second game will be held on January 28.

Xie to challenge for Women’s Meijin: Xie Yimin 6P (left) may be titleless for the first time in over a decade, but you can’t keep her out of the action. In the play-off to decide the challenger for the 31stWomen’s Meijin title, she beat Koyama Terumi 6P by resignation after 179 moves. She will challenge Fujisawa Rina for the title. Koyama, who has won this title four times, was hoping to play in her first title match for 13 years.
Tomorrow: Ishida Yoshio scores 1100th win; 2018 stats and recent promotions

Proseguono regolarmente i nostri incontri di studio e gioco.

L’appuntamento è per giovedì 24 gennaio alle ore 20:30 presso la birreria Keller in località Tre Olmi a Modena in strada Barchetta 411/A.

Trovate la posizione sulla cartina cliccando qui.

Ricordiamo che siamo sempre disponibili a spiegare il gioco a tutti gli interessati, sedetevi con noi e chiedete pure!

Come sempre fate cosa gradita lasciando un commento a questo post per segnalare la vostra presenza o meno. A giovedì!

February 3: Seattle, WA
Seattle Go Center Monthly Ratings Tournament
Mike Malveaux programs@seattlego.org 206-545-1424

Get the latest go events information.

The Southern California Chinese Go Club will host a 2-day, 6-round major tournament February 16-17 in Irvine, California. This will be the sixth consecutive year that Jay Zheng has sponsored this event, formally known as the Southern California Go Championship. The event, which will expand to six rounds, will be held at a venue in Orange County near the John Wayne airport. In addition to cash awards and trophies, snacks and refreshments will be provided to ensure that players have enough energy to play long hours of go. Record turnout of around 100 is expected, including a very competitive Open section. Click here to pre-register by Feb 13.
- Kevin Chao

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Honinbo League: The fourth round of the 74th Honinbo League has been completed. Instead of one player breaking clear, the position has become complicated, with four players sharing the lead. On January 7, Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Anzai Nobuaki 7P by half a point. That improved Yamashita’s score to 2-2, so he is still in the running to win the league (he’s also helped by his number one ranking). Anzai goes to 0-4, so he looks unlikely to retain his league seat. However, the narrow margin shows that he is not being outclassed. In the second game, played on January 10, Yo Seiki 8P (B) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig. Yo and Hane are now both on 3-1. The only undefeated player at this point was Ichiriki Ryo 8P, who was on 3-0. On January 17, he played Shibano Toramaru 7P; taking white, the latter beat him by resignation, so both went to 3-1. On the same day, Kono Rin 9P (W) beat Ko Iso 8P by resignation. Kono improved to 2-2, but Ko went down to 0-4. Ko also looks like losing his place, but being ranked number two gives him a slight advantage over Anzai.

Meijin League: Two games in the second round of the 44thMeijin League were played on January 10. Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Mutsuura Yuta 7P by resig. and Shibano Toramaru 7P (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke 8P by 2.5 points. Two more games were played on January 17, and one of them could have a big effect on the league. Suzuki Shinji 7P (B) beat the favorite, Iyama Yuta, by half a point. In the other game, Son Makoto 7P (W) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resignation. On 2-0, Kono is the provisional leader.

 

 

Judan challenger: Murakawa or Takao: The first semifinal of the 57th Judan tournament was played on December 27, with Takao Shinji 9P (W) beating Yamashita Keigo 9P by 2.5 points. The second was held on January 7. Murakawa Daisuke 8P (W) beat Onishi Ryuhei 4P by resig.
Tomorrow: Ueno makes good start in Women’s Kisei; Xie to challenge for Women’s Meijin

 

The fourth running of the South Central Go Tournament will be held Presidents’ Day weekend — February 16 and 17 — in Dallas Texas. There will be Open and Handicap Sections. Prior events have drawn around 40 players and from several states. Prizes will be awarded in both the Open and Handicap Sections, and the Texas resident who finishes best in the Open Section will become the 2019 Texas State Champion.

Players can register for the tournament on-line; updated information  is available on Facebook, where there’s also a registration button. Send questions about the Texas State Championship to Bart Jacob at bart.jacob@gmail.com. Send general questions about the tournament to bobgilman.aga@gmail.com
photo: at the 2017 tournament

 

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Chen Yaoye wins 1st Tianfu Cup: The semifinals of the 1st Tianfu Cup were held on December 21 and the best-of-three final on December 23, 25, and 26. In one semifinal, Chen Yaoye 9P of China (W) defeated Park Junghwan 9P of Korea by resig. In the other, Shin Jinseo 9P of Korea (B) beat Jiang Weijie 9P of China by resig. In the first game of the final, Chen (W) won by resig.; in the second, Shin (W) won by 2.5 points. In the deciding game, Chen (B) won by resig. Chen, who turned 29 on December 16, won his third international title; Shin missed the chance to take his first. First prize is 2,000,000 yuan (about $292,000).

Iyama makes good start in Kisei: The first game of the 43rd Kisei best-of-seven title match was held at the familiar venue of the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo in Bunkyo Ward on January 10 and 11. It featured a familiar pairing: Yamashita Keigo challenging Iyama Yuta Kisei for the fourth time, including three times in a row from 2014 to 2016. Iyama has held this title for six years in a row; Yamashita (at right in photo, making the first move) has won it five times, including four years in a row. Besides that, Iyama has made one unsuccessful challenge and Yamashita has made unsuccessful challenges to Hane Naoki 9P and Cho U 9P.
Yamashita drew black in the nigiri. Yamashita started out by taking the lead in territory, then fell behind, and then upset Iyama’s lead. However, Yamashita apparently thought he was still behind, so he started a risky fight and perished. He resigned after 172 moves. If he had played more peacefully, he would have had a good chance of winning.
The second game will be played on January 21 and 22.

Tomorrow: League updates; Judan challenger

Si è conclusa la finale del Campionato Italiano 2018, e con 3 vittorie Alessandro Pace si conferma miglior giocatore dell'anno. Complimenti!

by James Sedgwick, president of the Canadian Go Association

CGA summer go camp: We’re now ready to accept registrations. As previously noted the event will take place August 18-23 2019, at Jouvence resort inside Mount Orford national park. Please go to the camp web page for more details and follow instructions to register.  This is going to be a very special event, don’t miss it! 2019 CGA online league about to start: Registration closes for the first session of 2019 this Tuesday January 15th.  36 players are already registered.  As always this is a great chance for some serious games with friends in the Canadian Go community. Upcoming events

• We Go open tournament  : Saturday January 26th, Waterloo Ontario
• We Go children’s competition : Sunday January 27th, Waterloo Ontario
• Montreal Winter cup : Saturday February 23rd
• 9th annual Brock Go tournament : Saturday March 2nd (event web page not yet posted)
• Toronto spring meet : Saturday April 27th

New Go web site: Since gogameguru.com stopped active publishing a couple years back there has been a gap in English language online publishing.  The web site explore baduk has now opened, and it is producing significant content.  There is a book reviewing what it is like to study (as a European) at a Chinese Go school.  And there a a regular sequence of articles being published with game reviews, new variations, etc.  Definitely worth adding this site to your regular browsing!  They are making heavy use of AI analysis, making it possible to produce studies in English that couldn’t have been done before without feedback from top professionals. Yoon-Young Kim 4P reviews top professional games: A couple years the AGA YouTube channel regularly had this sort of review.  But recently they have been focused on the Alphago game reviews, along with some of Michael Redmond’s personal games.  These are wonderful, but its also nice to see top tournament games reviewed.  Yoon-young kim has stepped in to fill some of this gap.  Recent reviews include games from the Tianfu cup, and the Chunlan Cup.  Have a look at her twitch channel, and enjoy!

Michael Redmond 9p, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, takes a break from analyzing the AlphaGo self-played games to review his own recent game against Cho U 9P. This game was played just a few days after Cho U became the Meijin and Redmond — who went into this game with a 2-2 record against Cho — says he can see “how much studying with computer programs has changed Cho’s game.” Cho is “a very precise player,” Redmond says, which makes him very tough in the middle and endgame, but “even top professional players have a hard time assigning exact values to positions in the opening” and “the big change I saw in this game is that Cho seems much more confident in his opening, and knew exactly what the computer values were for the various positions in the opening.” Redmond also shares his own experiences with studying with a go AI.

These videos are made possible by the support of the American Go Association; please consider joining today!

Video produced by Michael Wanek & Andrew Jackson.

download SGF file

 

“I don’t know anything else but Go…However, it doesn’t mean I don’t know about life.” Thus begins “Go with the Flow: How the Great Master of Go Trained His Mind,” the memoirs of Cho Hunhyun, one of the greatest go masters in history, now published in English and available on Amazon. A Korean professional since the age of nine, Cho has won 1,935 matches and amassed 150 professional titles, more than any player in the world. He’s held all of the open tournaments in Korea three times, in 1980, 1982 and 1986, and has won 11 international titles, third most in the world behind Lee Chang-ho (21) and Lee Sedol (15).

A bestseller in Japan and China as well as Korea, “Go with the Flow” breaks new ground for go books. “We in the West now have many books and teachers that can instruct us how to play the game,” writes AGA president Andy Okun, “but few that tell us what it is like to be a top Go player.” Cho “does this with great openness,” Okun continues, “telling us his emotions, his feelings and perceptions, as he goes through the very taxing life necessary to have a chance to be a champion…What emerges is the portrait of a remarkable man, who had a rich, full life and wide-ranging interests, but all concentrated in a sense by the lens of Go. It was a joy to read.”

Cho’s memoir also includes “many episodes about players who earned Cho’s respect,” writes Michael Redmond 9P, “giving us a fascinating collection of stories about the best Go players of the 20th century…This book can be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in Go or Asian culture.”

“The strength to think,” writes Cho, “is the only beacon that helps one get through life. Along the journey, we learn more about ourselves.”

Eight kyu Joseph Chaves went 4-0 to win the Massachusetts Go Association’s annual Winter Handicap Tournament on January 6. A total of 18 players ranging from 6 dan to 13 kyu competed in the tournament at the Boylston Chess Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chaves earned $50 for his first-place finish; tied for second place the following 3-1 players won $10 apiece: YiLin Xu 6d, Benjamin Gunby 3k, Eric Reid 4k, Josh Greene 12k and Albert Brox 13k.
- report/photo by Eva Casey, Tournament Director and Tournament Coordinator of the Massachusetts Go Association. Click here  to see more photos. 
photo: Joseph Chaves and Benjamin Gundy, both 3-0, face off in Round 4

Proseguono regolarmente i nostri incontri di studio e gioco.

L’appuntamento è per giovedì 17 gennaio alle ore 20:30 presso la birreria Keller in località Tre Olmi a Modena in strada Barchetta 411/A.

Trovate la posizione sulla cartina cliccando qui.

Ricordiamo che siamo sempre disponibili a spiegare il gioco a tutti gli interessati, sedetevi con noi e chiedete pure!

Come sempre fate cosa gradita lasciando un commento a questo post per segnalare la vostra presenza o meno. A giovedì!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to study in a Chinese go school? Sinan Djepov of Bulgaria, rated 5d by the European Go Federation, recently spent three months studying go at Ge Yuhong Go Academy in Beijing as part of the CEGO Academic Programme. This program, a collaboration between the EGF and Chinese company CEGO teams up pros from China with teachers from Europe to train young players who will become the next generation of top players.

Djepov recently published a new ebook entitled, Go Studies: A History of Adventure, in which he presents new opening ideas, joseki changes, creative moves, and also his experience of what it is like to study go in a Chinese go school in the 21st century. He has made the ebook available for free. You can download your copy in PDF format from his Explore Baduk website.

The 7th Osaka Go Camp has been announced for June 23 – July 11. Ryo Maeda 6p, long a favorite at the annual U.S. Go Congress, is once again the host and chief organizer.

The camp includes league games in the mornings and teaching programs — in English — with professionals in the afternoons. On days off, there are organized day trips to places like downtown Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, as well as a two-day trip to Ise and Iga. There will also be a friendship tournament with the Ise Go club, and sightseeing includes Ise grand shrine and Ninja museum. A few events will be held at the Kansai-Kiin, where most of the camp’s professionals — including Maeda — are from.

 

January 19: Palo Alto, CA
South Bay Go Tournament
Adam Bender abender@gmail.com

Get the latest go events information.

Michael Redmond 9p, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, continue their popular series with a review of the 26th game of the AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo selfplay games. The 50-game series was published by Deepmind after AlphaGo’s victory over world champion Ke Jie 9p in May 2017.

Black builds a large moyo and White occasionally drops a stone in, and they’re all dead, until they come back to life. “It’s not really clear what White’s trying to do, but eventually all of the dead stones get used a lot, which is the main story of this game” says Redmond. “Thank you so much for continuing this series!” posted Yi Sheng Siow. “I always get a big smile on my face when I see a new one of these pop up!” added Rory Mitchell. “I’m really looking forward to watching it right after I finish cooking supper!”

These videos are made possible by the support of the American Go Association; please consider joining today!

Video produced by Michael Wanek & Andrew Jackson.

download SGF file

 

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Honinbo League: Two players share the lead in the 74th Honinbo League: Hane Naoki 9P, at 42 a veteran, and Ichiriki Ryo, aged 21. Both are on 3-0; they are not slated to play each other until the sixth round, in March. Recent results:
(Nov. 29) Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig.
(Dec. 6) Hane Naoki 9P (B) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P by resig.; Ichiriki Ryo 8P (W) beat Yo Seiki (Yu Chengqi) 8P by resig.
(Dec. 13) Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Anzai Nobuaki 7P by resig.

44th Meijin League: The new Meijin League got off to a start on December 6 with the newest member, previous Meijin Iyama Yuta, taking on one of the league newcomers. The first round has now been completed. Results to date:
(Dec. 6) Iyama Yuta (W) beat Mutsuura Yuta 7P by resig.
(Dec. 13) Yamashita Keigo 9P (B) beat Son Makoto 7P by resig.; Murakawa Daisuke 8P (B) beat Suzuki Shinji 7P by resig.
(Dec. 20) Kono Rin 8P (B) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P by resig. This was Kono’s 800th win.

Fujisawa sets record: Fujisawa Rina (aged 20) set a new record for most wins by a woman player when she beat Suzuki Shinji 7P in Preliminary B of the 58th Judan tournament on December 24. This was her 42nd win in 2018, one more than the record set by Kobayashi Izumi 6P in 2001. Taking black, Fujisawa won by resignation. On the 27th, she won another game, so her final record was 43 wins to 23 losses. She tied for second place in the most-wins list with Ichiriki Ryo 8P, the highest a woman player has ever placed. (I plan to cover 2018 stats in my next report, which will also feature the first game of the Kisei title match.) Fujisawa’s comment: “I’m happy I was able to top my personal best of 40 wins. This year, my form improved in the latter part of the year and I was able to play above my strength.”

Promotion
To 3-dan: Sotoyanagi Sebun (40 wins, as of Dec. 7)

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Iyama defends Tengen, sets new record: The fourth game of the 44th Tengen title match was held at the Hotel New Awaji in Sumoto City, Hyogo Prefecture on December 10. Taking white, Yamashita Keigo 9P won by 2.5 points after 262 moves. Iyama attacked positively in the opening and secured an advantage, but Yamashita launched a do-or-die attack and pulled off an upset. The fifth game, the last big game of the year, was held at the Tokushima Grandvrio Hotel in Tokushima City on December 19. At his peak, Iyama was often able to wrap a match up quickly, reducing the burden on himself of constant title defenses, but this was his third successive match to go the full distance. Yamashita drew black in the nigiri. Once again, Iyama took the lead in the opening, and this time the challenger’s attempt to stage an upset was unsuccessful. Yamashita resigned after 188 moves. After a hectic autumn/winter tournament season, Iyama ended the year in top form. He has now won the Tengen four years in a row, so he can aim at qualifying for the honorary title next year. This was his 43rd top-seven title, putting him in the sole lead ahead of Cho Chikun. It is his 54th title overall and maintains his quintuple crown. No one will bet against his chances of restoring his septuple crown in 2019. Cho Chikun had a comment: “He’s not even half my age. It’s a great honor for me to be overtaken by a fantastic player like Iyama.”

Fujisawa to challenge for Women’s Kisei: The play-off to decide the challenger for the 22nd Women’s Kisei title was held in the Ryusei Studio in the basement of the Nihon Ki-in on December 10, and it featured yet another clash between Fujisawa Rina (right) and Xie Yimin. Taking white, the former won by resignation after 174 moves. This is the only women’s title Fujisawa has never won; in fact, it’s the first time she got past the second round (out of four) in the final knock-out section. The best-of-three title match with Ueno Asami will begin on January 17. Incidentally, this will be the first time Fujisawa (20) will face a younger opponent in a title match (Ueno is 17).

Chunlan Cup: all-Korean final: Korean players are doing their best to push back against the ascendancy of Chinese players in international tournament recently. The semifinals of the 12th Chunlan Cup were held in Zhejiang Province in China on December 17 and 19. Both featured Chinese-Korean pairings and both ended in narrow victories for the Korean side. Park Junghwan 9P (W) beat Ke Jie by half a point and Park Yonghyun 9P (B) beat Dang Yifei 9P by one and a half points. The final is scheduled for June.
Tomorrow: Honinbo League; 44thMeijin League; Fujisawa sets record

La finale del Campionato Italiano di Go si terrà a Roma, presso l'Università La Sapienza, il 15 gennaio pomeriggio e il 19 gennaio mattina e pomeriggio.
La sfida farà parte di un evento più grande, che coinvolge Go, Othello, e Machine Learning: "Il Futuro dei Giochi".
https://www.facebook.com/events/237090853890095/

Le partite verranno trasmesse in streaming sul canale Youtube FIGG e riportate in live sul server KGS.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZOG3VB7SUL4anRt6jdD2Rg

Vi aspettiamo numerosi per partecipare e seguire!
Che vinca il migliore!