The Go Quiz Returns!

by Keith Arnold, HKA
I am delighted to have been asked to return as AGA Quizmaster and look forward to bringing you a whole new batch of weekly brain-teasers that will test your knowledge of the go world and its fascinating history. I will be ably assisted by quiz veteran Phil Waldron 6 dan and Daniel Chou 6 dan; if you notice clever questions of a new style, they will deserve the credit, while all errors (and unfortunate puns) will remain my responsibility.  Please remember to submit your answers on or before Thursday each week. Let the games begin!

Since we’re in a self-referential mood, let’s make our first effort close to home: How many books are in Keith Arnold’s go library?  For the purpose of this question, all languages are allowed, including duplicates as long as they are materially different (translations, revised editions with different covers) as opposed to the deranged “doubles” of an obsessed collector.  Our E-Journal editor – who interviewed me at my home some years ago — will be as surprised as I am that the number of go books finally exceeds my voluminous collection of books regarding the War Between the States. Is the number 600-700, 700-800, 800-900 or more than 900?  Click here to make your guess and, as always, feel free to include your comments, rude or otherwise, as we do award extra points for clever responses. photo: Arnold at the 2012 US Go Congress; photo by Phil Straus

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New In Print: Classic Handicap Books; SmartGo Says “Oui”

Classic Handicap Books: Whether giving or getting stones, two new translations of classic handicap go books will come in handy. Go master Guo Bailing’s “Sanzi Pu” (Three-Stone Games) and “Sizi Pu” (Four-Stone Games, Part 1 & Part 2 have just been translated by Ruoshi Sun and published on Amazon’s Create Space. The books contains hundreds of diagrams from Guo’s research on three- and four-stone handicap games. In Guo’s own words, “It is the author’s intention to elucidate the countless variations and let people realize that they all follow the basic principles.” Both books were recently added to the AGA’s “New and Noteworthy” page where you’ll find information and links to hundreds of go books both new and old.

SmartGo Says “Oui”: Meanwhile, SmartGo Books is branching out into other languages. After releasing books in Japanese, Spanish, and German, SmartGo Books recently added two books in French: “Comment ne pas jouer au go” is the French translation of “How Not to Play Go” by Yuan Zhou (Slate & Shell), translated by Micaël Bérubé. Also, “Black to Play! – Train the Basics of Go” by Gunnar Dickfeld (Board N’Stones) now includes both French and Spanish translations. Click here for more information on SmartGo Books or here for information in French. Also just added to the SmartGo Books line-up: John Fairbairn’s “New Ways in Go: A complete translation of Honinbo Shuho’s classic Hoen Shinpo”.

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Go Spotting: Go Kaizen; CSM’s Good Reads; Go in Shanghai Factor?

Go Kaizen: The lifehacker website uses Juha Nieminen’s photo of a go board to illustrate a post on how to “Practice your personal Kaizen”. The Japanese management strategy called Kaizen roughly translates to “continuous slow improvement” and Jason Thomas uses the concept here to as “an ideal approach to improve one’s personal workflow.” Thanks to Lisa Garlock for passing this along.

CSM’s Good Reads: Go is mentioned in the Christian Science Monitor’s January 25 Good Reads column. In the section on “Lessons in an ancient war game,” Managing Editor Marshall Ingwerson says that “Games can be a reflection of how people see the world. If the Western world, reared on chess, wants to understand the Chinese worldview, one way is to understand the strategies of Go.” Thanks to David Saunders for sending this in.

Go in Shanghai Factor? The cover of Charles McCarry’s 2013 espionage thriller “The Shanghai Factor” features a go board, reports Dave Bogie. “I’ve lightly skimmed the book at my library and found no go analogies, references or game descriptions. Maybe other E-Journal readers know more about the story.”

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Research Offers a New Look at Go Players’ Brains

A research collaboration in Seoul has revealed new information about the cognitive requirements of playing go and the effects that it may have on the brain. A team compared a group of expert go players with a group of beginners and published the results in the journal “Frontiers in Human Neuroscience”. The work revealed several differences between the brains of the beginner and the expert. The experts had increased volume in certain areas of the brain, decreased volume in others, greater interconnectivity between certain regions and differences in the overall brain structure. A correlation between the magnitude of the effect and the number of years of go training suggests that these differences are not simply the result of a predisposition of these people to continue playing go. Rather, the difference in brain structure can be explained by the the fact that the brain rewires itself to meet new skill requirements. This phenomenon, known as neuroplasticity, has been observed before in chess players. The areas of the brain in which the experts outmatched the novices are associated with visuospatial processing and emotional regulation in decision making, among others. This suggests that these skills are important in go. Thus, it appears that long-term go training can enhance these and other skills and can indeed be used as a tool for brain development. The complete article is available here. The literature search section links to many other fascinating studies as well. There are several related articles. Click here for one that discusses similar specific physical changes in the brain and reaches similar conclusions. The EJ covered this article at length in 2010 here.
– Ben Gale, Korean Correspondent for the E-Journal

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EuroGoTV Update: Romania, Netherlands, Hungary

Romania: Constantin Ghioc 5d bested Lucretiu Calota 5d at the National Veteran Championship in Bucuresti on January 26 while Liviu Oprisan 4d placed third. Netherlands: Also on January 26, the Dutch Female Championship finished in Amstelveen with Marika Dubiel 2d (left) in first, Mirjam Visscher 4k in second, and Annemarie de Putter 2k in third. Hungary: Dominik Boviz 4d led group 1 in the Kondor Dragon Cup on January 26 in Budapest. Behind him were Robert Csizmadia 1d and Attila Teby 1k.

– Annalia Linnan,  based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news; photo courtesy of EuroGoTV

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Go Commentary: Lee Sedol vs Gu Li – Jubango – Game 1

This was the first game of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango, played between Gu Li 9p and Lee Sedol 9p on January 26, 2014.

Lee Sedol jubango game 1 300x320 picture

Lee Sedol 9 dan plays the first game of his jubango with Gu Li.

This event will almost certainly be the most popular and exciting match of 2014.

Top two

These two players have been the top two in the world over the last 10 years, and their head to head record before the match stood at 17-1-16 in Gu Li’s favor (with one draw).

Among those 34 official games, there have already been many exciting and spectacular contests between these two players.

Gu Li and Lee Sedol in good form

Even though they both lost in the finals of international matches in 2013, They both took domestic titles just before starting this match in 2014.

Gu Li jubango game 1 picture

Gu Li 9 dan has been making serious preparations for this match and recently won the Longxing Cup in China.

Internationally, in 2013, Gu Li was defeated by Mi Yuting 9p in the 1st MLily Cup final and Lee Sedol was defeated by Chen Yaoye 9p and Tang Weixing 9p in the 9th Chunlan Cup and 2013 Samsung Cup finals respectively.

However, in January 2014, in China, Gu Li won the 5th Longxing tournament, defeating Li Zhe 6p in the final. Meanwhile, in Korea, Lee Sedol won the 32nd KBS Cup, defeating Park Junghwan 9p.

Closely matched

It’s very hard to guess who will win this jubango, but it’s surely a special gift for Go fans to be able to watch these two play a series of high quality games together.

A Go book about this match

Over the last few years, many readers have emailed us and suggested that we should publish a Go book of my game commentaries.

We’ve been too busy to do so up until now, but this match is special, so we’ve decided that our first Go book will be about Lee Sedol and Gu Li’s jubango.

In order to make the book special, we’ll add extended discussion on the opening of each game and modern fuseki, as well as extra variations to make the games understandable to players of all levels. So the book will contain even more commentary than you usually see in my game commentaries on our website.

Help us to make the book as good as possible!

Please help us to make our first Go book as good as possible. There are several ways you can help us to improve the commentary below:

  1. Ask questions about the game – if anything is unclear, please let us know so we can explain better!
  2. Point out any typos or other mistakes – our first draft is below, because this is going to be a book, even small mistakes need to be fixed.
  3. Help us come up with a great name! The first thing we came up with was Inimitable: Gu Li vs Lee Sedol – unfortunately, we think it sounds too much like Invincible. Your suggestions are most welcome and if we choose to use the name you come up with, I’ll send you a signed copy of the first edition.
  4. Tell your friends and ask them to help too.

We appreciate all your help and hope that we’ll be able to make a great book together. Here’s the official page for the Lee Sedol vs Gu Li Go book.

Now let’s have a look at the game!

Commented game record

Lee Sedol vs Gu Li – Game 1

[Embedded SGF File]

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School Teams Tournament Set for March

The annual School Teams Tournament is set for March 22 and 29 this year. Run by the American Go Honor Society (AGHS), and co-sponsored by the AGA and the AGF, the event is the largest annual youth competition in North America, drawing players from dozens of schools across the continent.  All K-12 schools and organized learning institutions (such as Chinese language schools) in Canada, the US and Mexico, can register teams consisting of three players. Each school is allowed a maximum of three teams. This year, all teams that complete their matches will also receive an entry prize (regardless of their score in the event).  Teams can choose between a full set of Hikaru no Go manga (23 volumes), two classic go books from Slate and Shell (Fundamental Principles of Go, and Master Play), or a $50 gift certificate to the go vendor of their choice (due to customs fees, not all gifts may be available for Mexico and Canada).  For more details visit the AGHS website. The event is “a good opportunity to see which school club is the best in North America and a chance for young players to communicate,” says AGHS Promotion head Yunxuan Li, “our recent champions in 2012 and 2013 are High Land Park High School and Albert Einstein High School. Will we see the returning of a defending champ or the rise of a new champion?” Rules for the event are here, to register, click here. – Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Double click on the image to enlarge it to full size.

 

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This Week’s Go Calendar: Alhambra, Minneapolis, Simsbury, Tempe

February 8-9: Alhambra, CA
Dado 2014 Southern California Go Championship
Kevin Chao ocgoclub@aaace.us ocgoclub@yahoo.com 949-466-1479

February 8: Minneapolis, MN
2014 TCGO Winter Open
Aaron Broege aaron.broege@gmail.com 612-384-8789

February 8: Simsbury, CT
Simsbury Open Scholastic Go Championship
Michael Scudder michael.j.scudder@gmail.com 860-294-1983

February 8: Tempe, AZ
2014 Phoenix Chinese Week Go Open
Quan Li qb081449@gmail.com 602-326-7556
Bill Gundberg bill@azgoclub.org 480-831-5567

Get the latest go events information.

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