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White: anon 6d
Black: Albert Yen
Commentary: Albert Yen 7d
Game Editor: Myron Souris
Published in the September 22, 2020 edition of the American Go E-Journal

In this online game Albert Yen plays against a Pandanet 6 dan. The overall fighting isn’t very complicated, but Albert says, “the two local battles have many underlying variations that both players had to consider.”

For players who now review using computer analysis, Albert describes a goal for this commentary: “I will put an emphasis on how to best interpret AI win rate. Often times both players’ win rate drop in consecutive moves during local fights, but that doesn’t mean the exchanges are necessarily bad. It simply shows that there’s an urgent move on the board that both sides are missing, so the moves may be correct locally but bad globally.”

Albert Yen is an 8 dan player from Chicago. He first started playing go at the age of five after watching Hikaru no Go on television, and became 6 dan in Taiwan when he was 7. Albert continued to compete in America after he moved to Chicago in fifth grade and studied under Jiang Mingjiu 7p. To date, he has made several showings in national and international tournaments, including winning representation to the World Youth Goe Championship in 2014, 1st place in the Redmond Cup in 2015, and 4th place at the 2019 World Amateur Go Championship. Albert is currently a second year undergraduate student in UIC’s GPPA BA/MD program in Chicago. Outside of go, Albert enjoys running and ping pong.

The deadline for the registration for the NY Go League is coming up at the beginning of October, and the New York Go Honor Society (NYGHS) encourages anyone that wants to continue playing organized games to enter. As in previous leagues, the only eligibility requirement is that players have a stable rank from any national association, or on any Go server. Click here to view our rules and regulations, and click here to register. 

This League will be a two-month long round robin tournament, with each division having 8-10 players, after previously being held over only one month. “With many places starting to reopen, it is becoming hard for participants to sustain multiple games per week,” says Toranosuke Ozawa, co-president of the NYGHS. “Now it will be one per week, if not slightly less over the two months.” Players are grouped based on rank, or their performance in previous iterations of the league, with the prize for the winner being a 50% discount for a New York IG Adult trial class (kids are eligible as well). “We hope that the community will be able to use this league as an opportunity to play lots of matches and further their experience with the game!”

The first North American Youth Open took place on September 5th, 2020 in the AGA Tournament Room on KGS. Hosted by the New York Go Association and sponsored by the American Go Foundation, the North American Youth Open is one of the highest-class youth Go tournament in North America. Over 100 youth players registered and competed for the highest honor and over $1,000 in prizes.

After 4 rounds of competition, award winners for the eight divisions were as follows:
Division A (4D and above) – 1st place: Michael Sato; 2nd place tie: Ben Gong & Frederick Bao
Division B (1D to 3D) – 1st place: Zixuan Gao; 2nd place: Ethan Whitman; 3rd Place: Katherine Xie 
Division C (3K to 1K): – 1st place: Derek Zhou; 2nd place: Alan Yang; 3rd Place: Steve Ling 
Division D (6K to 4K): – 1st place: Frank Wang; 2nd place: Chenhui Zhang; 3rd Place: Jason Yang 
Division E (10K to 7K): – 1st place: Manny Jauregui; 2nd place: Jamie Tan; 3rd Place: Daniel Luo
Division F (14K to 12K): – 1st place:Matthew Wang; 2nd place: Lucas Yang; 3rd Place: Lucia Moscola
Division G (19K to 15K): – 1st place: Enzo Aozono-Araldi; 2nd place: Caleb Tan; 3rd Place: Avik Hardy
Division H (25K to 20K) – 1st place: Yiting Liu; 2nd place: Eric Wang; 3rd Place: Enzo Moscola

Registration is now open for the 2020 Latin American Online Go Congress, which will run October 3-11. Players from all countries are invited to participate in the Congress, which will include six different tournaments, all free. In addition,  Mateusz Surma 2P will be offering workshops, game analysis and live commentary. As with the U.S. e-Go Congress there will also be live transmissions of many of the activities, including a master class by Fernando Aguilar (7 Dan) on Go & Decision-making.  

All relevant information can be found at the Congress website – although it’s in Spanish, organizers say that “we reckon that the Google Translate that is provided is, if not ideal, good enough! – and you can also email (in English) virtual2020@fedibergo.org.

This week’s live Sunday night game commentary by Michael Redmond 9P will feature a hot-off-the-board game between Ke Jie and Xie Ke at the 9th ING Cup. “The game was well fought,” says Redmond. Tune in at 8p EDT this Sunday, September 20 on the AGA’s Twitch channel.
Meanwhile, check out all the videos available on the AGA’s YouTube channel, including the AlphaGo vs AlphaGo selfplay series, Redmond’s Reviews and AlphaGo vs. The World.

Do you like supporting go? Do you use Amazon for ordering those necessary items for back to school and quarantining yourself? You’re half way to becoming a donating hero. Head on over to Amazon Smile and set your charity to “US GO FOUNDATION, dba American Go Foundation”. There are browser extensions (Chrome – Firefox) that will help redirect you to always support the Smile Program. Most purchases give back to this program and support Go in the US. Sign up today!

by Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister

On September 9 a young man traveled to Japan from Seattle, intending to stay for one year. That man was James Davies, and I think he has been there ever since, producing many of the true classics of Western Go literature including “Life and Death” and “Tesuji”.

A changing of the guard was noted when Sakata lost to Otake in the final game of the Meijin league. This loss dropped Sakata from the league. This same year saw Takagawa dropped from the Honinbo League after more than 20 years as the title holder or member of the league.

The European Go Congress ended on September 13 in Vienna, with Jurgen Mattern of Germany winning the European Championship.

A certain S. Horowitz of the USA was staying in Tokyo and working as an assistant editor of Go Review, according to Go Review.

But the dominant topic of the month was the the struggle for the Meijin title between Rin Meijin and challenger Shuko. Rin looks quite pleased to even the score with a win in the second game played September 7 and 8. That’s the back of the late Go Seigen’s head in the foreground. Rin won again in the third game, played on the 15th and 16th, but Shuko evened the score at 2-2 with a win in game 4 on September 24-25. We will see who wins next month.

Ryo Maeda 6P reports that his new online Osaka Go School has opened with 25 students, 10 of whom are Americans, with levels ranging from 15k to 6d. “I hope to have more students in the future!” says Maeda. “Our setup allows even busy people to participate.” The once-per-week league games are flexible, and allow the opponents to collectively decide date and time. Teachers at the school are Maeda himself, Ting Li 1P, and Francis Meyer 1P. Visit the Osaka Go School website for more information and to register.

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Published in the September 15, 2020 edition of the American Go E-Journal.

In this game between 1 kyu and 1 dan players, Kaz asks and answers a large number of common and practical questions through the first part of the game.

A longtime contributor to the American Go E-Journal, former insei Kazunari Furuyama has returned with his popular EJ column, now in sgf files and re-named “Lessons with Kaz”. Visit his newly improved website, including the advice column and example problems. Kaz also has room for offline teaching.

Michael Redmond 9P returns with a new live game commentary this Sunday, September 13 at 8P EDT on the AGA’s Twitch channel. The game will be another one from the archives, played in 1951 between Go Seigen and Yamabe Toshiro.

Not as well-known as Go Seigen, Toshiro was one of the Three Crows (together with Fujisawa Hideyuki and Suzuki Keizo). He challenged for the 1959 Oza, 1965 Honinbo and 1980 Tengen titles, and became editor of the Gendai Joseki Jiten, a notable joseki dictionary. He is also remembered for playing the longest recorded professional game, 411 moves, against Hoshino Toshi in the 1950 Oteai.

In related news, Redmond’s AlphaGo vs AlphaGo series now runs through Game 42, posted on September 4, and the AlphaGo vs The World series just added Game 31, Li Qincheng 9p (W) vs. AlphaGo Master (B). “Watched them all,” says Mario Krenn. “Absolutely stunning!”

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Black to play. The correct direction to attack?
Published in the September 9, 2020 edition of the American Go E-Journal.

Yilun Yang 7P is one of the most popular go teachers in the US. You can reach him at yly_go@yahoo.com.

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Commentary: Guo Juan 5P
Game Editor: Myron Souris
Published in the September 8, 2020 edition of the American Go E-Journal

This month Guo Juan 5P has two DDK games from the Brooklyn Go Club. Guo Juan gives this background: “Visiting this Brooklyn club a long time ago, I loved their way of having fun with their go evenings. Each member takes a turn to host the club evening in their home with great food. At this difficult time they meet in the park – how fun!”

Guo Juan 5P is a popular go teacher based in Amsterdam. Check out her online go school, featuring recorded lectures and problems presented in a Spaced Repetition System. Here you will learn and remember correct play. And there’s a one month free trial!

Andrew Okun reports that Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s book This is How You Lose the Time War and its inclusion of Go features in a new tor.com article called All Is Fair in Love & Go: Strategy Gaming in This is How You Lose the Time War. In the article, author Em Nordling states that “Go, in the context of Time War, is time travel. It isn’t just the 19×19 coordinate options that lend the game its complexity (though the 3^361×0.012 = 2.1×10^170 potential moves don’t hurt), but the positionality, the contingency. With the meaning of each move changing over time, its narrative is not linear. Where most strategy games unfold with the grace of a plotted story, Go moves map like a messy history, where meaning is made only in hindsight, where brilliance can turn obsolete and banality groundbreaking.” The book was first featured in Go Spotting by Adam Anaya in June of this year.

Tyler Keithley, president of the Southwest Missouri Go Club, reports that the second episode of The History of Home Narrated by Nick Offerman includes a mention of Go at 48:27 in a transition between explaining the historical importance of board games and the modern pastime of playing video games, and is again mentioned by Twitch streamer Sonja Reid (OMGITSFIREFOXX) around 50 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode.

“We’re very excited to announce the formation of the Womxn’s Online Go Club, a women-led chapter of the AGA,” says founder Samantha Fede. “Our goal is to provide a supportive and friendly place for women to play go online without hostility or harassment.” Inspired by the success of the e-Go Congress in bringing together Go players from around the country as well as various clubs’ successes in continuing their social club feel through video chat meetings after suspension of in-person play, Fede reached out to Lisa Scott and together they contacted women from around the country with the proposal of forming a club.

The club held its first meeting on Thursday, 8/27. A total of 11 Go players ranging from 1d to 10k, including the club leadership and players who joined through word of mouth, got together on a video call and played games on KGS. Players were from all around the country, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey. “We are actively recruiting members to join the club!” says Fede. “Players who do not identify as a woman or a girl, particularly those who do not feel welcome in cis-men dominated spaces, are also welcome, as long as they are committed to the goals of the club.” The club meets weekly, alternating between Thursday and Saturday nights at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT. Players of all levels including beginners are welcome. To join or learn more, click here to go to our website or email us at womxnsonlinegoclub@gmail.com.

The AGA is regularly asked for new chapters around the country. These are the newly registered chapters from August 2020:

Luther College Go Club – Contact me if you are interested in joining the Luther College Go Club. We’ll start having meetings once I find a location within Luther College and have a few members interested in joining. We will be meeting in person with a social distancing protocol if possible. – Contact Amey Shedinger

Womxn’s Online Go Club – Online. Email us for more information! All are welcome. – Contact Samantha Fede

Members should check their information from time to time. If you are not receiving the EJ make sure your email is up to date. Chapters can always update their current chapter through the AGA Membership Manager if they have changed.

As reported before the e-Go Congress the Web Team has been working to upgrade the AGAGD to take over for the old Ratings pages. They have been working hard to make sure all of the information has been copied over and enhanced. In the last month we have heard from various Chapter heads and many others with ideas for updates. In addition to the existing features we have added the following recently: Paginated listing for tournaments and all player ratings, header icons to better help sort tables, rating and renewal due for quick searches, tournaments now show date rated. There are still some in-progress upgrades on the system. We are always looking for help, this is an open source project and any interest programmers can contact the volunteer coordinator or webmaster.

The Ratings pages will redirect to the AGAGD starting September 13th.

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Commentary: Yuan Zhou 7d
Game editors: Bill Cobb, Myron Souris
Published in the September 1, 2020 edition of the American Go E-Journal.

In this dan level game with no komi, Yuan Zhou gives practical and easy to understand examples for planning for a ko, using thickness, and playing useful sente plays.

Yuan Zhou 7 dan is one of the strongest players in the US. He has won many titles. Zhou is also a popular teacher, lecturer, and author. He lives in Germantown, MD, and can be reached at yuan.zhou@zhouyuan.com . This commentary is typical for Zhou, who has published several books, including such thorough commentaries of pro games at Slate & Shell (www.slateandshell.com).

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Black to play. Black lacks eye space, but White has weak stones.
Published in the September 1, 2020 edition of the American Go E-Journal.

Yilun Yang 7P is one of the most popular go teachers in the US. You can reach him at yly_go@yahoo.com.

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Kataoka wins 1100 games
A win former titleholder Kataoka Satoshi 9P picked up on July 23 was his 1100th in the 48 years three months of his career (12th fastest). He is the 16th player to reach this mark and the 14th at the Nihon Ki-in. The landmark win came against Fujisawa Kazunari 8P in Preliminary B of the 46th Gosei tournament. His 1000th win came against the same opponent. He has suffered 598 losses and had 4 jigo, giving him a winning percentage of 64.8, which is ninth best.

Sumire’s progress
In my previous report (Aug. 4), I reported on the start of “Sumire’s Oro Challenge,” four three-game matches with Korean players arranged by the Cyber Oro, server, which runs the Nihon Ki-in’s home page. Things started badly when Sumire was unable to pick up a win against Korea’s number two woman player Kim Chaeyoung. However, taking black, she won the second game in her series with Suh (also spelled Seo) Neung-uk 9P. Taking black, she won by 3.5 points. This is no mean achievement, as Suh (aged 62) is no journeyman 9-dan; unfortunately for him, when he was at his peak, Korean go was dominated by Cho Hunhyun and Suh Bongso; he took second place in 13 tournaments. The games with Sumire were played on July 17 and 18. Suh had the lead in the second game, but Sumire pulled off an upset. Sumire had the lead in the third game, but this time she was the one to suffer an upset.

Today (writing on August 16), brief details of the remaining two matches were finally published (the go press shuts down for O-bon in midsummer; this is a kind of All Souls’ Day; dead relatives are said to return to visit their relatives; in an ordinary year, millions of people would return to their ancestral homes and visit the family graveyard). The report is very brief: Sumire lost 0-3 to Suh Bongsu, but picked up a win against Jeong Yujin 1P.

The final result was one-sided, but, as usual with these special projects, Sumire was ridiculously outmatched. In that context, she deserves to be commended for her win against the 9-dan. Playing the legendary Suh Bongsu is also an honour shared by none of her contemporaries in Japan. Incidentally, Sumire has now played nine games against five 9-dans and won two of them. Just to recap: besides the games described above, she beat Baba Shigeru 9P on November 28 last year, lost to Hane Yasumasa 9P on January 16 this year, and lost to Sakaguchi Ryuzo 9P on February 24 this year.

A Sumire brand has appeared. A major sauce manufacturer created “Sumire-chan’s Barbecued Meat Sauce” (“chan” in an affectionate title used for young children) and distributed it free to participants in a go festival held at the Umeda Go Club in Osaka on July 19, 26, August 2 and 9. It was also sold for 300 yen a bottle. As far as I know, it is not being generally distributed.

Promotion
To 6-dan: Kawai Shoji (90 wins)