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AGA News!
Updated 8/21, 8P  COAST TO COAST WITH YUNSHEN RUAN 7P PHILLY TOURNEY OFFERS $1,000 TOP PRIZE NYC PLANS ACTIVE FALL SCHEDULE WOODLANDS TO HOST YU PING 6P LABOR DAY WORKSHOP GO ONLINE: Go Videos & Latest Pandanet Cup WORLD GO NEWS: Cho U To Challenge For Meijin; Lee Changho Wins Zhonghuan Cup GO PHOTOS: Go Camp East COAST TO COAST WITH YUNSHEN RUAN 7P: “One of the nicest by-products of having a well organized, exciting and large U.S. Go Congress is that many of the foreign visitors stay and enjoy  our country,” reports American Go Association President Mike Lash. “This year is no exception. Mr. Yunsheng Ruan, the 7 Dan professional sent by the Chinese Weichi Association, began a national tour immediately after this year’s Congress.” After a visit to the New York Go Center organized by AGA Board Chairman Roy Laird (East Coast Clubs Host Pros, 8/13 EJ), Mr. Ruan traveled by train to Rochester, NY, at the invitation of Thomas Hsiang and the Empty Sky Go Club, where club members like David Boyer found “something beautiful in the purity of Ruan Yunsheng's teaching… the Chinese truly love, know and care about this ancient board game.” Next, Mr Ruan flew to Chicago where the Evanston Chapter took him in, and, Lash reports, “he was shown the Windy City’s best spots by a team including Tania Kadakia, John Harriman, Jason Allen and others for several days. No storms or winds limited this stop and he thoroughly enjoyed the Miracle Mile and a great Chinese banquet organized by his hosts.” After the East and the Midwest, the next stop was the West Coast, where the Seattle Go Center’s Jon Boley and crew hosted Mr. Ruan for a few more days as “he experienced one of the strongest American go communities plus a city environment very different from any other he had seen in the U.S.,” Lash reports. “All in all, the AGA chapters and members who supported Mr. Ruan’s excellent adventure deserve a national round of applause for being outstanding Go Ambassadors for the AGA and for American go. This should make the selection process for next year’s China representative a lot more interesting for them. Thanks to all of you for a job well done!” Photos: top right: Yunsheng Ruan in Rochester, NY (photo by David Boyer); left: Ruan in Chicago (photo by John Harriman) Click here http://www.emptysky.org/ruan.html for more photos of the Empty Sky visit. PHILLY TOURNEY OFFERS $1,000 TOP PRIZE: First prize in next month’s tournament in Philadelphia will be $1,000, reports organizer Peter Nassar. Organizers are hoping to attract a strong field, Nassar tells the EJ, and “Beginners are especially welcome, as we will also have a Handicap Division and lots of beginner prizes!” The 3rd Annual Philadelphia Fall Open is set for September 22-23, at the University of Pennsylvania, and is organized by the Penn Go Society. Click here  http://chapters.usgo.org/penngo/pfo2007.html for more information. NYC PLANS ACTIVE FALL SCHEDULE: The New York Go Center is planning a busy fall calendar of events, reports Center President Roy Laird. “The Master Player lecture series is shaping up as an especially valuable resource for players who want to get stronger,” says Laird. Highlights of the schedule include the New York Go Center September Rating Tournament on September 9, Master Class with Dae-yol Kim 7D on September 23, and Young Kwon 7D’s Master Class on October 14. Effective September 1, there are also daily specials, including Tuesday’s Discount Night ( everyone pays $5/$3 student), Wednesday’s Dan night (dan players pay $5/$3 student), Thursday’s Kyu night (kyu players pay 5/$3 student), Friday’s Ladies' Night (Women play for free), Saturday’s Beginners' Day (double-digit kyu players pay 5/$3  student) and Sunday’s Ratings Day (AGA members who play at least one rated pay game 5/$3 student). Check the Center’s website http://www.nygocenter.org/ for latest news.WOODLANDS TO HOST YU PING 6P LABOR DAY WORKSHOP: The Brooklyn Go Club will mark its 19th annual Labor Day go weekend with a visit by Yu Ping 6P of China. Guo Juan returns for another workshop at the Woodlands on Columbus Day. Labor Day activities begin on Friday, August 31 and run through Wednesday, September 5. Click here http://brooklyngoclub.org/gc/cgi-bin/disp_topic.iphtml?topic_id=350 for details. Photo of playing go in the pool at The Woodlands by Marilyn Stern GO ONLINE: Go Videos & Latest Pandanet Cup  This just in: there's a new introductory video on blip.tv, which bills itself as "the world's leading videoblogging and podcasting service." Two videos actually, a two-part series by "Goshawk Heron," a founder of the "Go Center for Second Life" a go club in the Second Life http://secondlife.com/ virtual world. Click here http://blip.tv/file/262606 to view Part I; click here http://blip.tv/file/262688 to view Part II. Let us know what you think! PLUS: the 12th edition of the Worldwide Internet Amateur Go Tournament, the "PANDANET Cup" is now open. This year you can participate in either the Main Championship or in smaller groups open to players within a specific rank range (eg. 10 kyu - 5 kyu). Free; click here http://www.pandanet.co.jp/event/iwag2007/e/ for details. CHO U TO CHALLENGE FOR MEIJIN: With a decisive 7-1 record in the Meijin League, Cho U 9P (l), current Gosei,  has won the right to challenge Takao Shinji 9P for his Meijin title. Yamada Kimio 9P came in second with a score of 5-3. Sakai Hideyuki 7P, the popular former WAGC winner and member of the Kansai Kiin, had a good start with a 4-1 record, but lost his last three games to end up 4-4, as did Yoda Norimoto 9P. The most surprising performance was by Yamashita Keigo 9P and current Kisei. He only won one game, ending with a 1-7 record, which means he has failed to earn a place in next year's League. The three players with the worst records are dropped each year from the League to be replaced by the winners of a complicated series of tournaments the next year. The other two demoted this year are Hikosaka Naoto 9P and Mimura Tomoyasu 9P, with 3-5 and 4-4 records respectively. Sakai and Yoda, with 4-4 records, got to stay because they were ranked higher in the League on the basis of prior performances. Ko Iso 7P, who also was 4-4, was ranked lower than Mimura, but won a playoff game against the latter to decide who would be the third man out. Takao took the Meijin title from Cho last year, spoiling Cho's effort to threepeat.LEE CHANGHO WINS ZHONGHUAN CUP: Lee Changho 9P (r) defeated Park Jungsang 9P on Friday, August 17th, to win the international Zhonghuan Cup for Korea,  maintaining Korea's exclusive hold on this relatively new tournament in its third edition. Lee won all four of his games in this tournament by resignation. In fact the only game in the entire tournament that was not decided by resignation was the semifinal game between Park Jungsang and fellow Korean Park Yeonghun 9P, which was decided by a half point. The tournament includes players from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea and is played in Taipei,  Taiwan. China refuses to participate in this event. GoGameWorld.com reports that the players have two and a half hours of basic time with 5 periods of one minute for byoyomi. All four rounds are played over a six day period.GO PHOTOS: The Go Relay (whichever team is faster plays more stones) at this year’s Youth Go Camp East. Photo courtesy Karen Jordan. | |
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