On May 2nd, the Austin Go Club held it’s ” ‘May’ you win ” tournament. Sixteen players participated and were observed by Yi Kou, a former pro from China currently living in Austin, who provided post game discussions.

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by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Otake awarded decoration: The go world has been honored with the award of a decoration in the spring honors list to Otake Hideo 9P. The decoration is the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. (that’s the Wikipedia translation; the Japanese name is just five characters and reads kyokujitsu-chuu-jushou.) Otake is the 23rd go player to be honored (it’s actually his second decoration). His award, which is the sixth-highest, is the same one given to Takagawa Shukaku, Go Seigen, and Fujisawa Shuko. Besides winning 48 titles, including four Meijin titles and the Fujitsu Cup, Otake served as chairman of the board of directors of the  Nihon Ki-in from December 2008 to June 2012. He is now a counselor to the Nihon Ki-in.

Yamashita reaches Gosei final: Although his recent Kisei challenge faltered at the final hurdle, Yamashita (left) is making his presence felt on the tournament scene this year. In the semifinal of the 40th Gosei tournament, held on April 30, Yamashita beat Murakawa Daisuke Oza by resignation. His opponent in the play-off to decide the challenger to Iyama Yuta will be the winner of the semifinal between Kono Rin 9P and Shida Tatsuya 7P. If Yamashita becomes the challenger the start of the match might overlap his Honinbo title match with Iyama.

Correction: I jumped to a wrong conclusion about Iyama Yuta in the Judan article in my previous report. He never held the record for fastest to win a top-seven title. Before Ida’s six years, the record was held by Ryu Shikun 9P, who won the Tengen title after six years eight months as a pro.  Yamashita is third, winning the Gosei after seven years four months, and Iyama (seven years six months) is fourth. Rounding out the top five is Ishida Yoshio, who won the Honinbo title after eight years two months.

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Online registration is now open for the 42nd Maryland Open, scheduled for May 23-24 in Catonsville, Maryland. One of the biggest East Coast tournaments, it will be held at “the same great location, the Catonsville Senior Center,” reports organizer Keith Arnold. Click here to register.
photo: at the 2012 Maryland Open; photo by John Pinkerton

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Nearly two dozen players ranging in age from single digits to the 70′s attended Jennie Shen’s weekend workshop in Portland, OR the weekend of April 18-19, including four children, a high schooler, three college students, and Haskell Small all the way from Washington, DC. Small, who organized the first US Go Congress, was in town for the opening performance of one of his compositions in Portland.  Thanks to Bill Corry, food, Glen Peters, equipment beast of burden, Peter Drake for hosting us at Lewis and Clark College, and most of all, Jennie Shen our excellent teacher and good friend.
– Peter Freedman

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The three American Go Association (AGA) regional Board of Director seats are up for election this year. The current terms of office expire this September. Nominations, including self-nominations may be made by full members for the region in which the member resides and must be received by June 15, 2015. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.

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Registration has topped 600 for the European Go Congress, scheduled for July 25-August 8 in Liberec, Czech Republic. The Congress will be held at Babylon, a hotel and entertainment complex, consisting of 4-star hotel, large conference halls, 10 restaurants and bars, a famous aquapark and many other facilities; click here for a cool promo video and find out more about the 2-week event on Facebook.

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Speed Ratings: “I stopped by the Hopkins Go Tournament on April 17, and I checked my rating a few days later and found that the tournament had already been rated!” writes Keith Arnold. “I am not sure who to praise on the AGA end, but good job by the first time tournament organizers in getting their data in so quickly.  Makes me wish I had played.” photo (left) by Ning-Yuan Ernest Wang

Next Generation: “Thanks for all the work you put in to publishing the E-Journal every day,” writes Steve Schmeiser. “I recently showed my son my goban and stones and he had a lot of fun placing the stones on the board and hearing them ‘thunk.’  He is also a great kibitzer!  I thought the other members might enjoy this photo of the next generation of go players.”

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The Hopkins Go Club resumed its annual tournament on April 19, after a several-year hiatus. Now called the Blue Jay Spring Cup, the tournament drew 16 participants for the 3-round event, which was topped by Eric Lui 8d, who was undefeated. The other three-game winner was Ning-Yuan Ernest Wang 11k.
photo: Eric Lui (left), playing Saki Fujita 5d; photo by Ning-Yuan Ernest Wang

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Ireland: The 6th Galway tournament, played 4/25-4/26 in Galway, Ireland, was won by Philippe Renaut 2d. In second place trailed Geoffrey Crespino 3k and third was Piotr Gawron 6k. Result table.

Turkey:The 2nd Cukurova University Go Tournament, played 4/25-4/26 in Adana, in booming go country Turkey, was won by Eren Kurter 2d. Second came Hakki Burak Guner 1d and third was Ilyas Tanguler 1d. In total 57 players participated. Result table.

Norway: The Oslo Open, played from 4/25-4/26 in Oslo, Norway, was won by Paal Sannes 3d. In second place finished Oystein Vestgaarden 3d and third was Severin Hanevik 2d. Result table.

Germany: The 3rd Herkules Cup, played 4/25-4/26 in Kassel, Germany, was won by Hinnerk Stach 2d. Second came Gerd Mex 1d and third was Naichun Guo 1d. Result table.

Poland: In Rzeszów, Poland, freshly promoted 1 dan professional Mateusz Surma (right) organised the Rzeszów GO OPEN tournament. It took place on Saturday the 25th and was won by Mateusz himself. Second came Maciej Lubinski 1d and third was Piotr Dyszczyk 3k. Result table. In the B-group of the same tournament Szymon Pietrucha 20k was the victor, with Ilona Wrobel 18k trailing in second place Michal Dudkiewicz 17k ending 3rd. B group results.

Russia: Several tournaments took place in Russia recently, of which the Moscow Championship was the biggest with 48 participants. It was played 4/25-4/26 in Moscow, Russia and was won by   by Andrej Kashaev 5d. Second came Anton Chernykh 4d and third was young talent Vjacheslav Kajmin 4d (left). Result table.

On the same weekend 26 kids participated in the Championship of Cheljabinsk Under 12, which took place in Cheljabinsk, and was won by Mikhail Podbolotov 11k. Second came Kristina Adrjushchenko 15k and Gleb Polovinkin 15k finished in third place. Result table.

On Saturday 4/25 two other Russian tournaments took place in the cities of Moscow and Perm.
In Moscow, the Be Ready for Go #2 tournament, played was won by Sofia Sgibneva 20k. Second came Grigorij Moreckij 20k and third was Julia Sgibneva 20k. Result table.

In the city of Perm the Dancing Dragon tournament was won by Artemij Pishchalnikov 7k, second came Sergej Korolev 2k and third was Pavel Makarov 2d. Result table.

Slovenia: The Vladimir Omejc Memorial, played 4/24-4/26 in Bled, Slovenia, saw many dan players. It was won by Dominik Boviz 4d. Second came Leon Matoh 5d and third was Gregor Butala 5d.Result table.
– Kim Ouweleen, based on reports from EuroGoTV

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Go Barely Mentioned in “Full” History of Board Games Post: “Go is mentioned twice in The Full History of Board Games,” writes reader Uri Feigin. “I would expect it to be detailed much more but…”

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