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Michael Redmond 9Ps commentaries — with E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock — on the recent DC Fall Open are now posted on the AGA’s YouTube channel. Originally broadcast live on Twitch on September 8 from the E-Journal’s new broadcast studio at the National Go Center, the commentaries cover all four Board 1 games, and there’s also an interview  with the tournament’s winner, Yuan Zhou.

The commentaries were produced by Nathan Epstein, with special thanks to Keith Arnold, Joel Cahalan, Nate Eagle, Jeff Fitzgerald, Stephen Hu, Gurujeet Khalsa and Gary Smith.

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Iyama makes best 16 in Samsung Cup: The opening round in the 2018 Samsung Cup was held at the Samsung Insurance Campus in Korea on September 4 to 6. (It’s the 23rd cup, but apparently the sponsor is not numbering them that way any more; the full title of the tournament goes Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance World Masters Baduk 2018.) The first round is like a tournament in its own right: the 32 players are split up into eight groups of four, who then play each other. Two wins take you to the next round (whether your score is 2-0 or 2-1) and two losses (0-2 or 1-2) eliminate you.
Japan was represented by Iyama Yuta 9P (right), Shibano Toramaru 7P (left), and Ryu Shikun 9P (right, below). The first two were Japan’s seeded players; Ryu won a seat in the Seniors division of the international qualifying tournament and was playing in the main tournament for the first time since 2001.
In the first game (September 4), Shibano was the only one to pick up a win. He defeated Chen Yaoye 9P of China, who eliminated him from the Bailing Cup (see my previous report). Shibano had white and won by 4.5 points. Iyama Yuta (W) lost to Tang Weixing 9P (China) by resig. and Ryu (W) lost to Li Xiangu 5P (China) by 1.5 points. In the second game, played the next day, Iyama (W) beat Yun Seongshik (left, below), an amateur player from Korea, by resig.; Ryu (B) beat Wu Guangya 6P (China) by resig.; Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) (B) beat Shibano by resig. In the third game (the 6th), Iyama (B) beat Tan Shui 9P (China) by resig.; Gu Zihao 9P (China) (W) beat Shibano by resig.; Li Xiangu (B) beat Ryu by 1.5 points.
Iyama was the only one to make it to the second round, but Shibano and Ryu were by no means disgraced, as scoring even one win at this level is impressive. Actually, Shibano was in what was dubbed the “group of death,” as the other three players (Park, Gu, and Chen) are all past or present world titleholders. Ryu, who at the “advanced” age of 46 qualifies as a senior, was ahead in his third game, but slipped up in the endgame. He was chagrinned to lose twice to the same opponent by the same small margin.
The second round will be played on October 1.

Iyama takes two-game lead in Meijin: The second game of the 43rd Meijin title match was held at the Kakujoro a traditional inn, in Tahara City, Aichi Prefecture, on September 12 and 13. Cho U, the challenger, is know for his skill at fighting kos and he seemed to take the initiative when he connected a ko in the first fight on move 55. However, there was a lot of action still to come: the game extended to 336 moves, making it the second-longest game in a Meijin title match. Both sides made mistakes or errors in judgment, so the lead shifted back and forth. The game was decided when Cho suffered a hallucination on move 253. This was decisive. Iyama (right) won the game by 2.5 points. Iyama: “The result of the ko fight at the beginning was not favorable for me. I thought it would be a drawn-out game, but I was not confident. I didn’t have a clue about some of the things going on and thought I had messed up the game, but I took profit with border moves in the middle game.” Cho: “There were many positions in which I thought the game was easier for me. I got my last chance in the endgame, but I hallucinated and lost about three points. The content was not bad for me, so I will make a fresh start and do my best.” The third game will be played on September 25 and 26.

Ichiriki to challenge for Oza title: The play-off to decide the challenger for the 66thOza title was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on September 13. It was fought between two players younger than the title-holder Iyama Yuta: Ichiriki Ryo 7P (aged 20) and Motoki Katsuya 8P (aged 23). Taking black, Ichiriki won by resignation after 239 moves. He will make his second successive challenge for this title and his fifth challenge overall to Iyama. The first game will be played on October 26.

Tomorrow: Kisei Leagues; Tournament to decide the Kisei challenger; 74th Honinbo League seats; Yamashita-Iyama pairing in Tengen sets new record

“In response to Bill Cobb’s message of the importance to play moves out of our comfort zone (The Empty Board: Philosophical Reflections on Go #10 9/19 EJ),” writes Eric Osman, “I offer the following: A 7d player on kgs alerted me to the concept of Eistellung, which is the propensity we have for solving a problem in life (or on the go board) by using the methods we have learned, even though for this particular problem there’s a better way!”

Robert Jasiek’s new book “Endgame 2 – Values” is now available. The result of two years of work and research, Jasiek says the book “teaches every relevant, basic aspect of endgame evaluation systematically, clearly and in detail.” It explains modern and traditional endgame theories, the microendgame, and the impact of scoring. “We evaluate positions, follow-up positions and moves so that all their values are consistent and related,” says Jasiek. “The theory is well applicable to every endgame position and move, approximates absolute truth and is supported by many examples.” The 260-page book is available in both  printed (EUR 26.50) and PDF (EUR 13.25) formats. Click here for a sample and here to purchase.

There is a new capture go app for Apple devices, designed for the very young.  “I created this app for my six-year-old grandson who was showing interest in my go playing, but was not yet mature enough to understand ko fights, trade-offs, and sacrifice,” says developer Tim Hoel.  The app walks users through rules and basic concepts, all with spoken narration.  Beginners can see examples of how situations play out, and then find solutions themselves. Simple lessons build from there, of which there are several, and then you can play against the computer.  It has three difficulty levels, so players can move up against the machine.  At level three, it is smart enough to occasionally catch even an experienced player.  Level one stays easy enough to keep young kids from getting frustrated.  Lessons can be reviewed at any point, and the rules are printed out in a separate tab as well. As this is capture go, and not regular go, one has to keep playing until one or more stones  are captured.  Passing is not an option, which means you will need to fill in your own eye if there are no other moves. Young players likely won’t make it to this point anytime soon, but when they do, it is arguable they are ready for full go. “Capture Go is a great way to get started because the rules are a little simpler and the goal is easy to understand, but it still teaches a lot about recognizing liberties, contact fights, forcing sequences, and planning ahead,” adds Hoel.  iPhone and iPad users can find the free app in the App Store, there is no Android version. -Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor

Aliens and The Artificial Human: “Just finished watching the final episode of Ancient Aliens Season 13, episode 13,” writes Michael Bacon. “About twenty or so minutes into the program the focus was on Alpha Go vs Lee Sedol, who was called the World Go Champion. The segment, which was a few minutes in length, then moved on to Alpha Zero.” The episode is called “The Artificial Human.”

The Wheel of Time: “Maybe it has been reported before,” writes Peter Freedman, “but, in Robert Jordan’s series ‘The Wheel of Time’, often people enjoy a ‘game of stones’, which appears to be go.”

by William Cobb

A big part of life is experiencing things you have never experienced before: flying in a plane, hiking to a mountain top, being in a snow storm, visiting a country where you don’t speak the language. We think of such things as enriching our lives, making life more interesting, and fun besides. There’s an obvious parallel to this in go: the game has a virtually infinite range of possibilities, but some players seem resistant to getting outside their already familiar circumstances. There are a lot of things that many of us have seldom if ever experienced: playing tenuki in response to an approach move in the opening, knowing what to do when the opponent attaches to a 3-4 point stone, being confident about the best way to continue after the first dozen or so moves, consistently judging the status of small groups accurately, knowing where to invade common positions, etc. In this regard, we’re like people who are perfectly happy to have never seen the ocean or a snow-capped mountain. The world is full of amazing and wonderful things; we’re happy to spend time, money, and energy exploring and becoming familiar with as many of them as we can. We should have the same attitude toward playing go. Just playing won’t get you to a lot of the amazing amount of beauty and fascination the game offers. You’ve got to get outside the familiar patterns you already know. This is why it makes no sense to refuse to read books, take lessons, or study the games of stronger players. There’s a truly amazing world out there. We need to spend some time and effort exploring it and not just stay inside the familiar area we already know. Don’t just buy books—read them. Don’t just look at the results of pro games—play through them. Don’t just play the same opening moves—try some you’ve not used before. You’ll discover that go is even more fun than you thought.
photo by Phil Straus; photo art by Chris Garlock

Demo board wanted: “I’ve been scouring the Internet for one of those old, large, magnetic go boards that can be stood up on an easel,” writes Dirk Knemeyer. “I have learned that they are no longer easily available because the teaching methods in go have largely moved on from these large easels to computers and projectors. It seems likely that there are unused, unwanted magnetic go boards in closets or attics of go clubs around the U.S.” and Knemeyer is interesting in buying one. Reach him at dirk.knemeyer@gmail.com

Gobans & stones for sale: large lot of gobans, standard/undersize/custom boards, agate and Yunzi stones, portable complete sets, all for $300.  Local pickup in West Virginia only, no shipping, near I-81 less than two hours west of the Baltimore and Washington DC beltways.  Email gerratt5@aol.com or call 304-820-3167 and leave message anytime for photos.  Cash, Paypal, or credit/debit card OK.

Go teachers wanted: An Oakton VA family is currently looking for a teacher for a 5-year old beginner; contact Mr. Zhang at zhiyuanz@gmail.com; a Fairfax County, Virginia non-profit weekend Chinese-language school is looking for a go teacher for a class with 6-12 students; contact Ms. Liu at 6yichunzi@gmail.com

Proseguono regolarmente i nostri incontri di studio e gioco.

L’appuntamento è per giovedì 20 settembre 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!

AGA chapters have been accumulating “tons of points” since the launch of the Chapter Reward Points program, reports Steve Colburn. The program operates similarly to an airlines or credit card rewards program; chapters are awarded points when AGA members affiliated with that chapter do things that earn points – sign up as full members of the AGA, play rated games, etc  – which can then be used by chapters to get reimbursed for activities related to the promotion of American go. “For example, if you have 35,000 points, that covers your chapter membership for the year,” Colburn says. Click here for program details, including that the formula for calculating point awards gives a bonus award to small and medium chapters to encourage their growth.  “I hope that your local chapter can benefit from this program,” Colburn added.

Where to score a scoresheet: In response to Glen Hart’s query about “Where to score a scoresheet?”, Jim Hurley sent this link where he’s posted some printable game recording files.

How many Nakayama? “I’m wondering how can I find out how many books Nakayama Noriyuki  wrote in Japanese,” wrote  Kent Olsen recently. Richard Hunter sent along this Japanese Wikipedia link, which includes books and essays Nakayama authored, as well as those he edited or ghost-wrote for others, like Kajiwara and Takemiya.

Connecting to other go players: David in Poughkeepsie recently posted that he’s looking for other nearby go players. “I find one current AGA member in Poughkeepsie and two others lapsed within the last five years,” says AGA Chapters Coordinator Bob Gilman. “If David is willing to share his email address, I would be happy to write to email these individuals, tell them of his interest in playing, and provide his email address to them should they wish to get in touch with him. I am happy to provide such a service to other go players interested in making contact with other players in their area.” Reach Gilman at bobgilman.aga@gmail.com

“During a recent Scrabble game, someone showed me this book,” writes Ted Terpstra.

September 22: Cary, North Carolina
North Carolina State Championship
Paul celmer pcelmer@earthlink.net 919-610-0927

September 22: New York, NY
NYC Go Club — Go Ratings Tournament
Jeffery Reiss toparis00@aol.com 212-475-4977
Philip Nielsen pneilsen@outlook.com

September 29: Palo Alto, CA
South Bay Go Tournament
Michael Kokosenski kokosenski.michael@gmail.com 951-961-1248
Adam Bender abender@gmail.com

September 29: Sacramento, CA
Davis/Sacramento Fall Quarterly
Willard Haynes willard@emeritus.csus.edu 916-929-6112

September 29-30: Toronto, Canada
Toronto Fall Cup 2018
Johnny Lau johnny@torontogoclub.org 416-392-6874

Sepember 30: San Diego, CA
San Diego Go Club Back to School Tournament
Ted Terpstra ted.terpstra@gmail.com 619-384-3454

Get the latest go events information.

The North Carolina State Go Champion will be determined in a day-long tournament on September 22 at Umstead State Park in north Raleigh. Competitors from across the state will vie for the title, with prizes and trophies awarded in multiple divisions. The State Go Champion wins a cash prize along with a trophy. All AGA members are eligible to play. However, to be awarded the title of “North Carolina State Champion” you must be an amateur go player who resides in North Carolina at least 50% of the year. Students are eligible.

PREREGISTRATION IS REQUIRED for first round pairing and an early start. To participate in the first round you must register before 8:00 PM Friday, September 21st. This is an AGA rated tournament; you must be an AGA member to play. Register here.

Sometimes folks send in reports late, sometimes those reports just get lost in the EJ in-box, but eventually we do catch up…

Ethan Wang wins first official AGA state championship in PA: The Penn Go Society had the distinction of holding the first tournament under the new AGA State Championship system. Held April 28-29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, more than 40 players attended the event at the Wharton Center for Student Life. In the Dan division, Chase Fu came in first and Ethan Wang and Yu Liang tied for second. In the Kyu division, Alexander Qi took first and Jino Choung and Evan Springer tied for second. $1000 in cash prizes were distributed.  “The Penn Go Society looks forward to next years state championship and looks forward to seeing other states join this system,” said Benjamin Sauerhaft Coplon.

Tianfu Cup Prelim crosstab posted: The crosstab for the 2018 Tianfu Cup Preliminary is now up, and includes the game records. Thanks to TD Jeff Shaevel, Steve Colburn, Dennis Wheeler and Todd Heidenreich for their work getting this done.

Summer of Outreach in Seattle: July was busy for the Seattle Go Center outreach crew, with events on three weekends.  July 1, players from Seattle Go Center and South Sound Go Club staffed a table at the Seattle Storm women’s professional basketball game during the Storm’s “Japan Night” event, and introduced the game to approximately 50 young sports enthusiasts. The following weekend, July 7 and 8, we were at the two-day “Japan Fair” in Bellevue, WA, where Dave Snow’s collection of Hikaru no Go hangings attracted attention from young adults who were in middle school when HnG was new.

Bart plays go in Cape Town: “While on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa, I was able to stop by the Cape Town Go Club and play a few games,” writes Bart Jacob. “I am on the right side of picture, along with Christian, Sam, Chris and Michael from Cape Town.”

Janice Kim in NM: On September 1, Janice Kim 3p, offered game reviews for players in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. In commenting on game records brought in by local area players, she introduced her overall thoughts about how to play and how to study. She said that she finds players in the US are strong in the opening game but tend to be relatively weak at life and death. She stressed the importance of being able to visualize a sequence in your head. As an exercise, she put up a common joseki on a board, then took it off and asked one of the players to put it up using only black stones. Here’s an example (right). She said that in playing a game she looks for an “I win” move. To find such a move, you must have a good assessment of the overall game status, i.e., you must count. If you judge that you are ahead, the next step is to ask yourself, “How can I possibly lose this game?” and then to take the necessary steps to lock it up. If you judge that you’re behind, “agitate.” You must take risks. “If you lose, it doesn’t matter whether you lose by a half point or twenty.”
- Bob Gilman, Albuquerque Go Club

Kissinger on AI and go: “AlphaGo defeated the world Go champions by making strategically unprecedented moves—moves that humans had not conceived and have not yet successfully learned to overcome,” wrote HENRY A. KISSINGER in “How the Enlightenment Ends” in the June Atlantic. “Are these moves beyond the capacity of the human brain?” Before AI began to play Go, “the game had varied, layered purposes,” Kissinger continues. “A player sought not only to win, but also to learn new strategies potentially applicable to other of life’s dimensions. For its part, by contrast, AI knows only one purpose: to win. It “learns” not conceptually but mathematically, by marginal adjustments to its algorithms. So in learning to win Go by playing it differently than humans do, AI has changed both the game’s nature and its impact. Does this single-minded insistence on prevailing characterize all AI?” And, reflecting on AlphaGo Zero’s mastery of the game on its own, Kissinger wonders “What will be the impact on human cognition generally? What is the role of ethics in this process?”

Avoiding grammatical confusion: “While the style sheet (Your Move/Readers Write: Go or go? 8/20 EJ) may be consistent and logical,” writes former EJ editor Terry Benson, “the reason I continue to capitalize Go and have (most of the time) for nearly 50 years is to distinguish it from the verb and grammatical confusion. Chess, checkers, and backgammon don’t have that problem… or the many puns on the name of our game.”

Makes sense but maybe not sensible: “That public domain games like chess, poker, and backgammon are not capitalized, and therefore Go should not be capitalized either, makes sense,” writes Janice Kim. “Identifying Go as public domain, however, seems less important than identifying it as a game. It may be a specific, overarching concern when the word ‘go’ is in the top 20% of words used in English, has dozens of definitions as different parts of speech, and is used to signify the game only by a small portion of the people who play that game. In the meantime, a look at Merriam Webster online indicates that Go the game is often capitalized, and Wikipedia capitalizes it. These aren’t the definitive guides to proper grammar, but it’s indicative of how widespread and accepted it is to capitalize the word ‘Go’ when referring to the game. Luckily in this case the ease of specifying what one is referring to, is not come by an uncomfortable practice such as using male pronouns arbitrarily or exclusively. It’s nice that we have a word, Go, that can be used universally to signify the game. It makes sense that the E-Journal chooses not to capitalize it, but we can assume that there is little ambiguity for average readers of the E-Journal. Meanwhile, people will probably be capitalizing it in other places, not until Go reaches household popularity with consistent agreed-on grammar usage, but as long as there is a word ‘go’ that means something else.”

Logical but lacks clarity: “In the ‘go’ vs. ‘Go’ debate logic is on the side of the E-Journal’s position in favor of the lower-case spelling,” writes Fred Baldwin. “The name of our favorite board game is a common noun like ‘chess’ and ‘poker,’ not like ‘Risk’ or ‘Monopoly.’ Unfortunately, ‘go’ as a noun is easily confused with one of the most commonly used verbs in English. We should avoid any typographical convention that makes a sentence, a headline or a poster unnecessarily difficult for a reader to understand without having to make extra effort. So I favor ‘Go’ on the grounds that writers and editors should not hesitate to break rules for the sake of clarity. Apparently, the New Yorker, a magazine known for its attention to clear writing, agrees. As a distinguished U.S. jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., once wrote: ‘A page of history is worth a volume of logic.’ Or, as a not especially distinguished U.S. Senator once said: ‘Sometimes a man has to rise above principle.’”

Space Time: “Recently the very succesful PBS series ‘Space Time’ did two episodes on entropy, where they used the game of go to explain how entropy works,” writes Guillermo Molano. You can find the first episode here.
Thanks also to Daniel Gentry, David Kent and Peter St. John for spotting this.

The website for the 2018 Cotsen Open is back up. The tournament is on October 13th-14th; pre-registration will close on Tuesday, October 9th, at 11:59pm. Day-of registration will also be available for $25. Pre-registration comes with benefits, including $20 entry fee and free food truck lunch on both days. As always, everyone who pre-registers and plays in all 5 of their matches has their full entry fee refunded. Also on tap: the Kogi food truck both Saturday and Sunday and Yilun Yang will do his pro game on Sunday.

By Thomas Hsiang

Dr. Chun-Shan Shen, a multi-time US go champion, passed away on September 12 at the age of 86.  Dr. Shen was born in 1932; received his B.S. degree in physics from the National Taiwan University in 1955 and Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Maryland in 1961.  He worked briefly at Princeton University, then NASA, before taking a teaching position at Purdue University.  In 1973 Dr. Shen returned to Taiwan and joined the faculty of Tsinghua University.  In 1988 he became a Minister Without Portfolio in the Taiwanese government.  In 1989 he returned to Tsinghua as the Dean of Science and became Tsinghua’s President in 1994 until his retirement in 1997.

Dr. Shen was well-known for his deep and broad knowledge in many topics.  He famously delivered many lectures bringing astrophysics and space science to the general audience, both in US and in Taiwan.  He was a prolific writer, authoring hundreds of articles on educational policies, politics, and literature, with many deep insights, some of which changed history.  For example, he is credited with suggesting the use of “one country, two systems” policy that eventually peacefully resolved the China-Taiwan and China-Hong Kong quandaries.  Another famous example was how he eased the bloodshed during the 1980 “Formosa Incident”.  That year, a group of Taiwanese took to the street to seek political freedom.  When the protest turned violent, many people were arrested.  Then-president Chiang Ching-Kuo had wanted to severely punish the protestors, including executing a couple of the leaders.  Dr. Shen took upon himself to dissuade Chiang, defending the protestors as patriotic and intelligent young people.  Chiang yielded, bringing a potentially violent episode to a peaceful closure.

Dr. Shen published a number of books, including the three famous autobiographies “Three Chapters of a Floating Life”, “Another Chapter”, and “An ‘After’ Chapter”.  In them he first described the three important parts of his life: science, go and Bridge, and literature; followed by a discussion of his view on the politics in Taiwan; ending with an honest, almost cutting, look into his relationships with the women in his life and a discussion on life and legacy.

During Shen’s earlier life in US, he was among the top go players.  AGA old-timers will remember his many battles with Takao Matsuda in the 1960’s for the “US Honinbo” title, predating the current “US Open Championship”.  His last visit to an AGA event was in 1997, when he came to the Lancaster Congress and won every game he played.  None of them counted because he did not register in the US Open.  Still, he cheerfully crowned himself the “Off-Stage Champion”!

In addition to go, Dr. Shen was a top-notch Bridge player.  He joined the Taiwanese team that won second place in the 1969 and 1970 Bermuda Cup, the only world championship at that time, finishing only to the legendary Italian Blue team.

Most of all, to many who have interacted with him, Chun-Shan was a fun, humorous, honest, and devoted friend.  He was never pretentious, never aloof; his great intellect was never overbearing.  He will be greatly missed.

The 17th World Students Go Oza Championship will be held from Feb 18 to 22, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.  Sixteen students from around the world will come together in Japan to decide the world’s number one student player.  To select the 16 students, an online preliminary round will be held on Pandanet.  Two students from the Americas will be selected; their airfare and accommodations will be covered by the event organizers.  Click here  for details and here for the entry form . The application deadline is Oct 21. Students under the age of 30 and currently enrolled in an American university/college may participate in the preliminary round, irrespective of their nationality.