With go growing more and more popular in Russia, game organizers held a press conference October 22 in Moscow on the eve of the 21st edition of the Cup of the Ambassador of Japan, the oldest go tournament in the country. New clubs are opening up, the number of players is increasing and notable international competitions are taking place, the organizers reported. Russia will host the 60th Polymetal European Go Congress next year in Saint-Petersburg.

In another major development, the National non-Olympic Sports Committee and the Russian Go Federation signed an official contract assuring the Committee’s support for developing this intellectual sport in Russia. Moreover, go is officially included in the list of sports by the Ministry of Sports of Russian Federation.

“The number of Russian athletes taking part in international go competitions grew by 70% since 2012,” said Boris Grishin, deputy director for the Summer Athletics Development department at the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. “Go is successfully developing in Russia and the results of which are noted by our European colleagues,” said Maxim Volkov, the president of the Russian Go Federation.
– Ludmila Nemchinova

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The American Go Association will hold online playoffs for a North American rep to the 2015 Li Min Cup.  The playoffs will be held the weekend of November 14-15; the Li Min Cup will be held from November 27th to December 3rd in Hangzhou, China. The American Go Association is looking for one player to represent North America. The Li Min tournament will be a single-knockout format; food and accommodation will be provided and players will also be provided with 10,000 RMB as travel allowance.

Online playoff eligibility: Players must be born after January 1, 1992 and have US or Canadian citizenship. US players must have 1 year continuous membership in AGA and have been resident in the US for 6 of the last 12 months. Players must be able to play in the online selection games.

Due to the last minute nature of this invitation, players must either have China visa already or be able to obtain one in time to play in the tournament on November 27.

Interested players must email cherry.shen@usgo.org by this coming Monday, November 9th.

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Another big crowd turned out online Tuesday night to watch Myungwan Kim 9p provide live streaming commentary for the second round in the Samsung Cup semifinal match between Ke Jie and Lee Sedol. Kim’s in-depth analysis of the game — anchored by E-Journal broadcaster Andrew Jackson 4d — was closely followed by nearly 150 players on the AGA’s YouTube channel despite extending beyond midnight on the East Coast. “I love the sound the commentary makes as it sails way over my head,” said Cement12293. “We’re living in the future: live pro go commentary in English!” said joby morey. The game was also broadcast on KGS.

At presstime late Tuesday night, Kim’s feeling was that Lee Sedol would win by a small margin, evening the match at 1-1. If Lee does win, a deciding game will be held Wednesday night (US time), and Kim will return for another live commentary on the AGA’s official YouTube channel and official Twitch channel, as well as on KGS, beginning at 7:30PM PST (10:30p EST).

Note: if the second-round game record is not included now, check back, as we’ll add it soon.

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Ichiriki Ryo 7p, the first player from team Japan, won three games in the first round of the 17th Nongshim Cup, played October 20-23 in Chongqing, China. Ichiriki Ryo defeated Baek Chanhee 1p, Fan Yunruo 4p and Min Sangyoun 4p consecutively, an impressive performance and hopeful news for team Japan. Even though Ichiriki (right) lost to Wu Guangya 6p in the fourth game, he’s already done very well for Japan. Ichiriki was also the first player to step up to the plate at the 16th Nongshim Cup in 2014, where he defeated Byun Sangil 4p and lost to Tuo Jiaxi 9p. Over the last decade or so, Team Japan sometimes struggled in the Nongshim Cup. However, they’re off to an excellent start this year, due to Ichiriki’s excellent performance.
– Go Game Guru; click here for their complete report. 

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The French Team Championships took place October 24-25 in Lans-en Vercors, near Grenoble, France. Would the defending champions, Grenoble 1, maintain their title by defeating the 13 challengers? Grenoble 1 had added Motoki Noguchi — who was unavailable last year — to their squad as a replacement for Denis Karadaban, who is studying in Korea. Logically they were in an excellent position to keep their title, their mean rank of 6 dan being three ranks above their nearest rivals. We note however, the increase in the number of teams with a mean rank of 2 to 3 dan, presented serious challengers for the podium places in Rennes, Lyon, Jussieu, Grenoble 2 and 3.

The first round passed without surprise for the strongest teams. In the closest matches Lyon bested La Rochelle and Toulouse beat Antony. In the second round, the surprises began. Suddenly, Grenoble 1 lost on boards 3 and 4, Toru Imamura-Cornuejols (4d) and Simon Billouet (4d) lost respectively to Louis Meckes (1d) and Robin Chauvin (1k), so  Lyon grabbed a draw. Similarly between Toulouse 1 and Rennes 1, Benjamin Papazoglou (5d) lost to Li Haohan (3d) and Fabien Masson (1d) to Xavier Bonnefond (1k). Thus the top 2 seeds, the reigning champions and vice champions, got off to a rotten start. It was Grenoble 2 who took the lead in as they disposed of Jussieu – would they manage to upstage their club mates Grenoble 1? 

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The registration deadline for the Young Lions Tournament is this Saturday, Nov. 7th.  “All youth under age 18 are encouraged to play,” says AGHS President Yunxuan Li,  “Young Lions is one of the longest running youth tournaments in the US, and draws many strong players each year.”  There will be 4 rounds in the tournament. The first round starts at 1pm EST, and the second at 4pm EST on November 14th. The third and fourth rounds will follow the same schedule on November 15. “Great cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to the top finishers of each division. This year, we will also be live broadcasting some of the Young Lions game on Twitch and YouTube. The deadline to sign up is right around the corner, so stop waiting and sign up now,’ adds Li.  To register,  click here.

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Myungwan Kim 9p will provide live streaming commentary again Tuesday night for the second round in the Samsung Cup semifinal match between Ke Jie and Lee Sedol. Along with E-Journal broadcaster Andrew Jackson, Kim commented Game 1 on Monday night, attracting an audience of over 100. Tuesday night’s stream will be on the AGA’s official YouTube channel and official Twitch channel, as well as on KGS, beginning at 7:30PM PST (10:30p EST).

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Andy Liu 1p defeated Ha Yoniru 6p by 2.5 points Monday afternoon in Osaka in the third and final round of the professional preliminary of the Kansai Kiin’s 12th Sankei Cup (see below for game record).  Liu defeated Imayi Kazuhiro 6p by resignation in his first game and won against Takashima Yougo 1p by a half point in his second game.  The EJ will provide details about the main tournament as soon as possible.  Fellow AGA pro Gansheng Shi 1p of Canada lost in his first round, as did two European Go Federation pros, Mateusz Surma 1p and Ali Jabarin 1p. Liu and Shi also played an exchange match with young Kansai Kiin pros, with Liu winning his game against Shintani Yousuki 1p, for an overall 4-0 record for this trip. “I am overjoyed at Andy’s wins and very proud of both our players for their gallant representation of the US and Canadian go communities in Japan,” said AGA President Andy Okun.  All the games were broadcast on Pandanet.   liu (b) v ha 1-2015-11-01.  Photos of Liu and Ha courtesy of Kansai Kiin.

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When the NOVA Go Club held its annual Pumpkin Classic Tourney this year the pumpkins given out as prizes before Halloween were paid for with Chapter Rewards points. In the same time period, the Space Coast Area Go Association and the San Diego Go Club both enjoyed pizza after their tourneys.

New and renewing memberships and rated games earn rewards points for chapters and the points earned can be found here. Points can be used for lots more than pumpkins and pizza including annual chapter dues. Check out the details here on how points are earned and how to redeem them with a simple email.
– Gurujeet Khalsa

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Two weeks ago the latest Pandanet AGA City League started. One of the changes this year is the addition of video commentary for the rounds. In the first round xhu98 goes over some of the C League matches. The games were reviewed live on Twitch and later posted to YouTube.  Click on the image on the right to watch two hours of reviews from these matches. In two weeks Nick Sibicky or Andrew Jackson will cover the next round.
–  Steve Colburn

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