While Bellevue is just across Lake Washington from the Seattle Go Center, during rush hours it can be 60 minutes away.  This makes it hard for Bellevue players to come to weekday events at the Seattle Go Center.  In February, the Go Center  started  meet-ups at the Crossroads Bellevue Shopping Center, which is close to the Microsoft campus, and about 12 miles east of the Go Center.  The Thursday group meets from 5:30 to 8:30 in the “Game Lane” of the mall, and has 12 – 18 players coming, both dan and kyu level.  There is a Saturday group as well, meeting at the same place and time, which had five players the last time they met. “We have tried to do this before on the East Side, but we never got a large enough group to keep it going,” reports Manager Brian Allen.  This time, thanks to support from Crossroads Bellevue and Uncle’s Games at the shopping center, and dedicated volunteer Thane W., they are able to get a large enough group on Thursdays that everybody can find a game.  “Now we are hoping that we can also build up Saturdays.” Most of the publicity was done with the Go Center’s e-mail list, which has about 450 addresses.  Photo: Sonny Cho 6d answering question at Crossroads.  Photo/Report by Brian Allen.

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Last week’s quiz asked about which bit of New York Go history is referenced by one of these shows: “Hong Kong Phooey”, “Underdog”, “Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The answer is “Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales”: Chumley was the name of Tennessee Tuxedo’s walrus sidekick. (click here for this week’s quiz)

The New York go history connection is Lee Chumley, a Greenwich Village resident who had been a soldier, artist, writer and covered wagon driver, and who played a pivotal role in New York go history when he founded his speakeasy in 1922. Chumley’s, frequented by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, E.E. Cummings, John Steinbeck and Dylan Thomas, became a bohemian incubator of the AGA, which held its early meetings on Monday evenings at the bar.

A report in the January 13th 1934 issue of The New Yorker describes the go scene at Chumley’s, including some of its early practitioners, including Edward Lasker, Karl Davis Robinson and Fritz Kastilan, and observing with The New Yorker’s usual wit that “The Public Library has two books on Go. One hasn’t been taken out since 1916 and the other has never been taken out. Mr. Robinson, of the Chumley group, is writing another one now, but he doesn’t quite know why.” Chumley’s and the AGA Monday night club can be seen in this 1942 photo in Life magazine; Edward Lasker, on the left at the third board from the bottom, was one of the earliest proponents of go in the U.S.

By 1951, meetings had moved to the Marshal Chess Club, but Chumley’s would be a must stop for the attendees of the U.S. Congress this August except that it’s been closed since 2007 for repairs. It was slated to reopen this year, but according to a report in The New York Times last February, local residents are attempting to block the reopening, claiming, ironically, that there are too many bars in the neighborhood to open a “new” one. By the way, Chumley’s is also the originator of the term “86” used in the restaurant business to indicate that something — or someone — should be thrown out. Chumley used it as a means to alert his patrons that a police raid was coming — based on tips usually provided by the police themselves — and customers should exit through the door on 86 Bedford.

Although no one chose the correct answer, the fault doubtless lies with poor wording and editing at our end, and we hope you have enjoyed this trip down New York’s go memory lane. Please send us any memories you have of the place and we will try to preserve this piece of go history.

This Week’s Quiz: Who said this? “The rules of go are so elegant, organic and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they almost certainly play go.” Was it Albert Einstein, John Nash or Edward Lasker? Click here to submit your answer.

We look seeing all of you at the 41st Maryland Open this weekend in Baltimore. While not as old as Chumley’s, the Gilbert W. Rosenthal Memorial Baltimore Go Club is one of the AGA’s oldest chapters, and has sponsored the Maryland Open go tournament for many years. See you this weekend!
– the editors; photos courtesy Life and the New York Times (Librado Romero)

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What’s a typical day at the AGA Go Camp like? Joe, age 12, writes “I studied everyday with my friends and my teacher, and I had a lot of good times with them. We played games with each other, learned new go problems, joseki, and fuseki, and played in fun tournaments each day. When I left camp, I was sad because I would miss all my new friends, but when I came back home, I was happy because I was beating everyone and showing that I improved.”

Yuga, age 8, writes, “I learned go from morning until evening, and that was my first time studying go for so long. I spent time with a great teacher and lots of new friends, and we played go and talked about go. It made me want to play more and improve more. I learned so much from Mr. Yilun Yang. I learned new josekis. I tried them on KGS, and I feel like my territory is safer than before. I also learned crazy moves that are really good to confuse your opponent. I tried them when I played stronger players, and I won the games!”

Mulan, age 8, sums up everyone’s feelings nicely: “I’m glad I came to the Go Camp because I got to learn new things and learn from players that were stronger than me. It was fun to make new friends and meet up with old friends from the Go Congress and other tournaments.”

Yilun Yang will be joining the Go Camp again this summer as its professional teacher. The camp itself is the week before the Go Congress,  at YMCA Camp Kresge in White Haven, PA, about 2 hours outside of New York City. Youth who played in the NAKC or the Redmond Cup are eligible for a $400 scholarship, and need-based scholarships of up to $250 are available. For more information on the latest camp-related news, and to download the registration forms, please visit the camp website at http://ift.tt/1hDfhh4 or e-mail Amanda Miller at agagocampeast@gmail.com. – Story and photo by Amanda Miller, Go Camp Director. Photo: Campers at the Pair Go Tournament.

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The Jinhua Sports Adminstration, in Zhejiang, China, has agreed to sponsor a friendship match between American teenagers and their Chinese counterparts in Jinhua city.  The match is tentatively planned for late July or early August, and is being organized by Katherine Zhang. The Americans would need to pay their own airfare to China, but after that, all expenses will be covered. Teens can choose where they want to stay,  either with a host family, or in a hotel.  Jinhua Sports will also organize a sight seeing trip in the area. “I think it’s a great opportunity to build  communications between young go players in these two countries. They can share experiences,  and compare and contrast the teaching methods of each country,” said Zhang.  Interested parties should e-mail Zhang, at katherineysz@yahoo.com,  for more information. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo: The Temple of renowned Taoist Master Huang Da Xian, in Jinhua.  Photo courtesy TripAdvisor.com

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May 24-25: Baltimore, MD
41st Maryland Open
Keith Arnold hlime81@comcast.net 410-788-3520

May 25: Toledo, OH
Toledo Area GO Association Tourney
Jeff w. Head jeff.head@rocketmail.com 419-360-4636

Get the latest go events information.

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The Evanston Go Club taught go on May 17 and 18 to over a hundred enthusiastic attendees at Anime Central (ACen), the largest annual anime convention in the midwest. “We taught non-stop for 13 hours on Friday, and 11 hours on Saturday,” reported tired but happy club president Mark Rubenstein. The two-day event ended with a 9×9 tournament for beginners, with 20 participants. Everyone who participated received a 9×9 starter set and a copy of The Way To Go.

“This is our favorite event of the year!” said Rubenstein. “This is our 10th year at ACen, and it was a blast! Most people stay for perhaps an hour. We teach them the basics, and they play a few games. There’s a lot to do at ACen, and go is a very small part of it. But some of them can’t get enough go, and spend the better part of the weekend with us!”

“Last year there were 25,000 attendees at ACen, and everyone gets along.” said Rubenstein. “I’ve never seen any kind of tension or altercation in all these years. These kids all accept and enjoy each others’ passions and differences without judgement. The world at large could learn a lot from them.”

Rubenstein extended “special thanks to the tireless Lee Huynh for his enthusiastic help all weekend.” Visit the club’s website for more photos.
– photos courtesy Mark Rubenstein

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The Chinese School at Chapel Hill Team won the 2014 Team Tournament and Changlong Wu 7d once again topped the Individual Competition in the 2014 Carolina Spring Go Tournament. The 11th annual tournament, held in Raleigh on May 11th, was organized by the Cary Go Club and the Chinese-American Friendship Association of North Carolina, and attracted over 20 go players with a wide range of ages. Owen Chen directed.

As expected, the team competition generated a lot of excitement, with youth players eagerly checking the scoreboard during the breaks between rounds. In the end, the defending champion, the team from the Chinese School at Chapel Hill, won the title with all members winning their individual competition sections. “That this year’s team, comprised of Andrew Zhang, Colin Zhang and their teacher Changlong Wu, were completely different people from those of last year’s team demonstrated the depth of the pool of go talent at the Chinese School of Chapel Hill,” reports Feng Ye of the Cary Go Club.

In the individual competition, Changlong Wu 7d, the highest-ranked player, defended his championship with a perfect score of 4-0, without much surprise. “We were happy to see a new face to AGA, Mr. Hanbo Zhang,” adds Feng Ye. “He took second place by beating two five-dans and one four-dan, losing only to Wu.”

Besides being on the winning team, Andrew Zhang 9k won Section A (9k-1d) with a score of 3-1. Alvin Chen 10k won Section B (15k-10k) with a score of 3-1, and the runner up in this section is Steven Manning 11k, with the same score of 3-1. Another member of team competition winning team, Colin Zhang 17k, topped Section C (30k-16k) with a perfect score of 4-0. Alex Kuang 16k won the 2^nd place in this section.
photo:  the Chinese School at Chapel Hill team, with TD Owen Chen at right

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