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Black to play.  Both sides must find a clever move for optimal play.
Published in the January 14, 2014 edition of the American Go E-Journal.

This bonus tsumego is just one example of the material, including pro game commentaries, available to Member’s Edition subscribers.  Click here for more on how you can sign up today.

Michael Redmond 9P shares with the E-Journal some of his own tsumego compositions.  For these more challenging problems, dan players can test their reading speed and accuracy, while kyu players can play through the solutions to learn ideas and techniques.  The solution will appear in a few days.

Michael based this problem on a very similar position that arose around move 63 of the just completed 1st game of the Kisei championship match in Spain. Click here to see the game record.

via American Go E-Journal http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/01/michael-redmonds-kisei-bonus-tsumego/

The AGA is launching a new event for young players, the North American Kyu Championships (NAKC), to be held on KGS, on Saturday Feb. 15.  The event will replace the USYGC, which had been tied into the Ing Foundation’s World Youth Goe Cup.  The NAKC will  welcome kids who live in both Canada and Mexico to compete with their counterparts in the US.  Dan level players will be able to compete in the Redmond Cup (including players from Canada and Mexico).  Youth who compete in either event will also be eligible for $400 scholarships to the AGA Go Camp, or $200 scholarships to the US Go Congress, courtesy of the AGF, on a first come first served basis.

Brackets in the NAKC will be divided by rank, with a new bracket formed approximately every 5 ranks or so depending on the range of participants. Within brackets, all games will be played even. Depending on the number of entrants in a given bracket, there will be either 3 or 4 rounds. There will be a trophy for the best Junior player (under 13) and the best Senior (under 18) in each bracket. Jr. and Sr. level youth will compete together.  Registration is now open for both the NAKC and the Redmond Cup, and more information can be found on the AGA webpage for youth events.  The deadline for the NAKC is Feb. 11th. to register, click here.  For Redmond Cup registration, click here.  The AGA is no longer involved with the Ing Foundation’s private tournament for youth.  AGA members who wish to play in Ing events can find information on the Ing Foundation’s website here. –Story and Photo by Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Kyu players competing at a tournament in Colorado.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1dqEtJF

January 18: Cupertino, CA
Northern California Ing Cup
Ernest Brown indagoe49@yahoo.com 415-606-7641
Mike Bull bull@lmi.net 510-220-0760

January 18: San Diego, CA
2014 San Diego Go Championship
Ted Terpstra ted.terpstra@gmail.com 619-384-3454

Get the latest go events information.

via American Go E-Journal http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/01/this-weeks-go-calendar-cupertino-and-san-diego/

Iyama Yuta 9P (left) defeated Yamashita Keigo 9P by half a point in the first game of the 38th Kisei title match, which was  hosted in Alcalá de Henares by the Nam Ban Madrid Go Club on January 11-12, in accordance with the tradition that this title’s first game is played outside Japan. In the postgame analysis, Yamashiro Hiroshi 9p (Referee and Vice President of the Nihon Ki-in), Osawa Narumi 4P (game recorder) and Makihata Taeko 3p (game recorder) watched.
– report/photo by Harry van der Krogt, European Go Cultural Centre

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1hfBWRR

More than half a century ago, a small gift changed Terry Benson’s life. His parents bought him a go set at a mall bookstore in 1960. “It was a flimsy, cardboard set with small, flat bottom, plastic stones and a 1949 AGA rule book,” says Benson. “As plain as a game could be. But it was the best gift ever!” Now Benson, President of the American Go Foundation (AGF), is urging go players to also give the gift of go. “Think about what a little go set can do or what the first set or the first experience with go meant to you,” says Benson. Contributions help the AGF work with go organizers to spread the game. “The number of children that the AGF can reach is only limited by the gifts we receive from players who value go,” says Benson. “We need your help to find the next kid who could become an organizer, a champion, the parent of a go fan, or a lifelong player.” AGF projects this year alone include teaching teachers at a dozen schools in LA, where over 300 kids are now learning the game. “Jay Jayaraman in Memphis has started First Capture Go programs through The Confucius Institute at 18 schools with more signing on,” adds Benson. “Peter Freedman and 2011 AGF Teacher of the Year Fritz Balwit have a half-dozen programs in Portland with a chess and go hybrid model,” and the AGF sent more than 100 free Starter Sets to schools and libraries throughout the US that are starting go programs. Another 119 sets of the complete Hikaru no Go manga have been added to libraries and community centers, many of which now sport go clubs or teaching programs run by youth librarians with equipment from the AGF. The AGF also supported the Teacher Workshop at the 2013 Go Congress,  provided $3,000 to help the US Go Camp this year in Pennsylvania and another $7,000 for kids coming to the Go Congress, as well as awarded a $1,000 2012 AGF College Scholarship to go organizer Joey Phoon and a $1,500 earmarked donation covered online teaching games for kids who had never experienced professional training. “We’re doing what we can but we need you to keep the game going,” says Benson. “What we can do depends on you.” Click here for details on how to contribute.

via American Go E-Journal http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/01/the-best-gift-ever/

Live Korean go matches with commentary, game reviews and lessons are now available 24/7 through KorTV on Apple TV. KorTV — an Internet television network designed to provide free live Korean IPTV — provides HD quality live Korean go streaming services for $2.99 a month. KorTV also provides baduk (as go is known in Korea) VODs, such as lessons for various levels from beginner to professional and hour-long world matches and Korean leagues. The live broadcasting is in Korean, but some VOD have English subtitles or dubbing. Note: this is a separate service from Baduk TV English — the partnership between Baduk TV and Go Game Guru. 

via American Go E-Journal http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/01/baduk-tv-now-available-on-apple-tv/

Following lively debate on British go community subscription list Gotalk (see British Open Not So Open, Eurogotv 12/30/13), the British Go Association (BGA) has now reviewed its decision to limit entry to the British Open and British Lightning this year to members of the BGA or other national go organization (see footnote to British Open Taking Entries, EJ 12/29/13). Instead non-members will be subject to a £5 surcharge, payable upon attendance. The events form part of the British Go Congress 2014 which, as reported, will be held at the English south coast resort of Bognor Regis, February 28 – March 3, alongside the European Youth Go Championship. Click here to enter.

Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal

via American Go E-Journal http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/01/british-open-now-welcomes-all-comers/

“It was our great pleasure and honor” to play in the recent Zhugang Cup World Weiqi Team Championship (Korea Wins New International Tournament 1/3 EJ), reports Mingming (Stephanie) Yin 1P (at right). Yin, along with MingJiu Jiang 7P (at left) and Zhaonian (Michael) Chen 6D (bottom right) represented the U.S. at the event in Guangzhou, China, where strong players from around the world gathered in teams of three to compete for a total prize pot of over 5,000,000 RMB ($825,000 USD). “After three rounds of heavy competition among unseeded teams, the US team was successfully able to defeat opponents in the qualification sessions and gain entry into the ranked session,” Yin says. “There, we went up against five teams, all of which had a line-up of world-class competitors.” In the first round, the US played China’s seeded team with Shi Yue 9P, Zhou RuiYang 9P, and Chen YaoYe 9P. In the third round, they played Japan’s Wild Card Team with Takemiya Masaki 9P, Kobayashi Koichi 9P and Cho Chikun 9P, and in the fifth round, the US played Korea’s Wild Card Team with Cho Hun-hyeon 9P, Yoo Chang-hyuk 9P and Lee Chang-ho 9P. “We lost to these incredibly strong teams but finished the tournament with a 2-3 record because of 3-0 wins against the Canadian and Czech Republic teams. To our surprise, we were presented with a Zhugang Cup World Team Go Championship ‘Outstanding Contribution Award.”
photos courtesy Mingming (Stephanie) Yin 

via American Go E-Journal http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/01/report-from-the-zhugang-cup-world-weiqi-team-championship/