“We just finished our ‘Learn to Play Go’ presentation at Sedgwick Elementary School, in Cupertino, CA, reports Wenguang Wang.  ”Yanping Zao and I presented go to four classes of third-graders in four 30-minute sessions (over 90 kids total).  Since we have done this every year for Sedgewick’s Annual Discovery Day, most of the kids in third grade or higher have been exposed to go.  During the event, we talked about some fun facts of go, taught them the rules, and everybody played a few 9×9 games.  Most kids loved the game and many were interested to visit our Santa Clara Youth Go Club to have more fun playing go,” adds Wang. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo by Yanping Zhao: Wang teaching students at Sedgwick Elementary.

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“The AGA Go Camp is excited to announce that Yilun Yang 7P will be joining us for the summer of 2014,” reports Camp Director Nano Rivera. Yang became a professional at the age of 14 in 1973. He has trained many notable players, including Rui Naiwei (9P), Chang Hao (9P), and Hua Zueming (7P). He is an excellent and experienced teacher, who has been teaching in the United States since 1986. Mr. Yang is also the author of many popular Go books, such as the Fundamental Principles of Go, Life and Death by the Numbers, and Life and Death in Chinese Characters. “Myself and co-director Amanda Miller  welcome all campers to join us for a week of go-playing and fun. If you’re a go player between the ages of 8 and 18 and would like an opportunity to study go for a week with a professional teacher, then the AGA East Go Camp is for you,” says Rivera.

Anyone who participated in the NAKC or the Redmond Cup is eligible to receive $400 off the price of the Go Camp. If you did not play in either tournament, but still need financial assistance, AGF scholarships are available here.  Please visit the Go Camp Website for general information, pictures from past camps, and news regarding this year’s upcoming Go Camp, which is scheduled for August 3-9. If you have any questions about the camp, please don’t hesitate to contact the directors at  agagocampeast@gmail.com! – Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo by Amanda Miller: Yang teaching at last year’s Go Camp.

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The Seattle Go Center provided 15 volunteers to teach go at Sakura-Con, Seattle’s big festival of Japanese anime, manga and games.  Working in shifts, the volunteers kept the Go Center room open for 15 hours a day on Friday and Saturday, April 18-19.  On Sunday, they ran a 13×13 tournament.  The Go Center does not have an official teaching style, but most teachers follow Bill Camp’s advice from the 2013 Go Congress Teacher’s Workshop to “never answer a question that hasn’t been asked”, trying not to swamp new players with too much information.  In the late afternoon and early evening of Saturday, the room was completely full, and the enthused teachers were explaining the game in their own words.  As I was waiting for my students to play, I heard Dan Top declare, “In a situation like this, I just try to keep my stones together.  I don’t want any of my stones going down into the basement alone.” – photo of Dan Top and report by Brian Allen.

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April 26: Middlebury, VT
Vermont Spring Go Tournament
Peter Schumer schumer@middlebury.edu 802-388-3934

April 26: Minneapolis, MN
TCGO Spring 2014 AGA Rated Games Day
Aaron Broege 612-384-8789

April 26-27: Portland, OR
Ming Jiu Weekend Workshop
Peter Freedman peter.freedman@comcast.net 503-242-4203

Get the latest go events information.

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Twenty-six players participated in Syracuse’s 7th Annual Salt City Go Tournament this past Saturday, with Jason Bates 2d (front left) winning the A division by tie-break ahead of Tim Aylsworth and Wayne Nelson; all three had identical 3-1 records and received cash prizes. Yan-Yeung Luk won all four of his games to clinch the B division, beating out Meg Houston and Ava Zurita, while Cross Bianchi swept his games in the C division, finishing one win ahead of Ryan Iffert and Kelvin Cheng. Theo Eckert-Budis 14k was the winner of the annual cake problem prize. Five C division players are first-year students in the weiqi class taught at the CNY Chinese School — the youngest of these was 8-year-old Liya Luk 16k, who finished with a 2-2 record. The oldest tournament participant was again 96-year-old Milton Sack 15k, who won both of the games he played. “Special thanks to Slate and Shell for greatly discounting its new books for use as prizes at the tournament,” says Syracuse Go Club organizer Richard Moseson. At right: this year’s problem cake: black to move. 

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FOR SALE: Antique go board (20 years?): $700 OBO; click here for more photos; contact stagnaroangelo@hotmail.com 

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You Know, Like Grover Cleveland*: The fun of last week’s quiz is that there are more Honinbo heads than people. Quiz vet Reinhold Burger explains: “Thanks for this; I learned something. I knew that Shuei had stepped aside for Shuho, resuming the leadership after Shuho’s death. But I had not realized that Shugen had done the same for Shuei. So you have the symmetrical-looking sequence: Shugen, Shuei, Shuho, Shuei, Shugen. Interesting :)” Peter Schumer also cautioned that, while as heir Shusaku is often referred to as Honinbo, he died before he took over the house. So the seven of you who chose 19 different heads, as opposed to the total of 21 were correct. As for the anonymous person who chose 57, that was, of course, the number of “known Communists in the US State Department” according to a classic film. Congrats to Peter Schumer of Middlebury, VT, our randomly selected winner from among those submitting the correct answer.

This Week’s Quiz: The AGA will be qualifying one more new professional this year. This weekend one player will qualify for the AGA Pro Qualifier (to be held later this year) at the first Washington Open Baduk Championship (click here to register) and another next month at the 41st Maryland Open (click here to register). Pictured is your quizmaster congratulating Andy Liu for winning a spot in the first qualifier in 2012, which he went on to win. So our question this week is how many all time “Western” pros will our new pro be joining? To qualify, in addition to the AGA’s three pros, you must be (or have been) a pro born outside of the traditional Asian go nations, and certified as a pro by a national organization. Is the answer 12, 13, 14 or 15 Western professionals? Put your list in the comments (in case we missed someone) and feel free to include your response to my bonus quiz “57 communists” movie reference.
photo by Gurujeet Khalsa

* Cleveland served as 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897).

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Next weekend’s Washington Open Baduk Championship has been selected as a qualifier for this year’s AGA Pro Qualification Tournament; top boards will be broadcast on KGS by the EJ (email journal@usgo.org if you’re interested in being on the broadcasting team). The two-day event in Northern Virginia includes pro lectures and an unrated rapid tournament. The first Washington Open Baduk Championship will be held in Vienna, VA on April 26-27, with a top prize of at least $1,200 and cash prizes for every section. Myungwan Kim 9P (right) and Sohyun Park 3P will give lectures for both dan and kyu players on Saturday night, followed by a rapid tournament, and the professionals will do game reviews and simuls on Sunday afternoon. The tournament will be held at the Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center (1952 Gallows Road, Suite 330) in Vienna, VA and is sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the Korean Cultural Center – DC, and Scorpion Sport Inc. in L.A. It is co-hosted by the Korean Amateur Baduk Association (KABA) and the American Go Association (AGA), and organized by the NOVA Go Club, the Baltimore Go Club, and the Korean-American Go Association. There’s no entry fee but AGA membership is required and lunch is free. Click here to register. NOTE TO VISITORS: Organizers have negotiated a discounted rate with Extended Stay America (8281 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, Fairfax VA 22031), 4.5 miles from the playing site; call 703-204-0088 and ask for the NOVA Go Club rate, or email MRD@extendedstay.com.
– photo by Chris Garlock 

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