March 14: Sacramento, CA
Davis/Sacramento Spring Quarterly
Willard Haynes willard@emeritus.csus.edu 916-929-6112
March 14: Tempe, AZ
Arizona AGA Rating Tournament
William Gundberg bill@azgoclub.org 480-831-5567
March 15: Portland, OR
Sunday Chess and Go Tournament
Peter Freedman pleefreedman1@comcast.net 503-242-4203
Get the latest go events information.
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The mud, in this case, is the second line! This is not necessarily a trick play, but your opponent needs to answer carefully!
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Learn how to deal with this often played invasion. The shape also appears in many similiar positions.
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by John Power, EJ Japan Correspondent
Tuo Wins New Year’s Cup: The CCTV New Year’s Cup is a TV tournament held to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Last year it was upgraded to an international tournament, with a player each being invited from Japan and Korea. Last year it was won by Shi Yue 9P of China. Murakawa Daisuke 7P, who participated because the original invitee from Japan, Iyama Yuta, was too busy with the Kisei title match, took second place after scoring a win over Yi Sedol. Murakawa took part again this year. In the first round, he lost to Tuo Jiaxi 9P (right) of China by half a point. In this irregular knock-out tournament, Tuo advanced to the final, and Murakawa played Kim Jiseok 9P of Korea, who drew a bye in the first round. Kim won this game but lost to Tuo in the final. The prizes are 800,000, 400,000, and 200,000 yuan. Although he lost both games, Murakawa played well (his loss to Tuo was an upset late in the game), and a team in the Chinese B League made him an offer to play on their top board. Click here for Go Game Guru’s report, which includes game records.
Yamashita Catching Up In Kisei Title Match: The fifth game of the 39th Kisei title match was held at the Tokiwa Hotel in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, on February 25 and 26. Playing white, Yamashita won by resignation after 194 moves. This is his second wins after three losses, so he needs just one more win to even the score. The sixth game will be played on March 11 and 12. After both sides set up moyos, Yamashita made a shallow reduction of Black’s bottom moyo with White 16. Iyama made a sharp attack, so Yamashita plunged further into Black’s moyo. After White settled his group, the focus of the game became Black’s attempt to reduce White’s moyo. In the extensive fighting that followed, White broke into Black’s top right moyo and took the lead. Yamashita: ‘Last year I lost the match in the sixth game, so I hope to go further this year.’ Iyama: ‘I made lots of simple mistakes. I hope to play a little more solidly.’
Xie Wins First Game Of Women’s Meijin: The first game of the 27th Women’s Meijin best-of-five title match was held at the Osaka University of Commerce in Higashi (East) Osaka City on March 4. Xie Yimin made a good start in her quest for eight titles in a row; playing white, she beat Suzuki Ayumi 6P by resignation after 248 moves. The second game will be played on March 11.
Takao Makes Good Start In Judan Defense: The first game of the Mori Building 53rd Judan tournament title match, to give it its full name, was played at the same venue as the first Women’s Meijin game though on the following day. The defending champion Takao Shinji, playing white, beat Ida Atsushi 8P (left) by resignation after 198 moves. Takao seized the initiative and avoided letting Ida drag the game into the kind of confused fighting that is Ida’s forte. The second game will be played on March 26. This is the fifth year that the first games of the Women’s Meijin and Judan titles have been played in tandem
China Wins Nong Shim Cup: The third round of the Nong Shim Cup was held in Shanghai at the beginning of
this month. Lian Xiao, the fourth batter for China, finished off the opposition in the third game of this round, so Shi Yue of China didn’t have to play. At the start of the round, Iyama Yuta briefly raised Japan’s hopes with his second win, following his win at the end of the second round, but he fell to Kim Jiseok in his next game.
Results in this round:
Game 11 (March 3). Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) (B) beat Mi Yuting 9P (China) by resig.
Game 12 (March 4). Kim Jiseok 9P (Korea) (B) beat Iyama by 4.5 points.
Game 13 (March 5). Lian Xiao 7P (China) 
beat Kim by resig.
Tomorrow: Korea Makes Good Start In Women’s Tournament; Multiple Tie In Meijin League; Two Young Players Make NHK Cup Final; Promotions; Obituary: Okubo Ichigen
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China Wins Nongshim Cup: Lian Xiao (left) defeated Kim Jiseok in the final round of the 16th Nongshim Cup on March 5. With this victory, Team China takes the Cup back home for another year. Captain Iyama Yuta, who was the last man standing for Team Japan, played against Mi Yuting in the first game of the final round…
– Go Game Guru
New Osaka Camp Website: Maeda Ryo 6P’s 3-week intensive go camp in Osaka, Japan has a new website http://www.osakago.com/; the camp runs June through July 18.
CGA League Registration Deadline Tuesday: Registration for the second session of the Canadian Go Association’s online league play is now open, and will close Tuesday, March 10. Click here for more details and click the “league” tab.
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There is still time to sign up for two of the major youth events of the year: the Redmond Cup and the School Teams Tournament. Registration for the Redmond is due by March 15th, School Teams by March 20th.In the Redmond, preliminary games will be played online and the four finalists will be invited to the 2015 US Go Congress to play the final games. There are two divisions in the Cup; the Junior league for kids 12 and under, and the Senior league for 17 and under. Competitors in both leagues must have an AGA or CGA rank of 1 dan or higher. Players who complete the tournament will be eligible for $400 scholarships to the AGA Go Camp, or $200 scholarships to the US Go Congress, on a first come first served basis, courtesy of the AGF. For more information on the event, read the rules document here. To register click here.
The 2015 School Team Tournament (STT) will be held March 28 and April 4. All matches will be played online, and schools from Canada, the US, and Mexico are all invited. As a new top prize this year, the American Go Foundation is offering full scholarships (tuition + room/board) to the AGA Summer Go Camp. All three members of the top dan and top kyu team will win the scholarships. Prizes will also be awarded in the other divisions, including $75 cash for first place, $50 for 2nd, and $25 for 3rd, as well as medals, and the stylish new AGHS T-Shirt. To register, fill out the form here, by March 20. More information may be found on the AGHS website. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo by Siddhartha Avila: Mexican youth compete in a team tourney.
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Lian Xiao 7p defeated Kim Jiseok 9p in the final round of the 16th Nongshim Cup on March 5, 2015.
With this victory, Team China takes the Cup back home for another year.
Lian Xiao 9 dan (left) and Kim Jiseok 9 dan at the 16th Nongshim Cup
The final round of 16th Nongshim was played from March 3 to 5 in Shanghai, China.
Captain Iyama Yuta 9p, who was the last man standing for Team Japan, played against Mi Yuting 9p in the first game of the final round.
Mi Yuting 9 dan (left) and Iyama Yuta 9 dan at the 16th Nongshim Cup
Mi Yuting made an early mistake, and the game was soon decided.
Iyama’s play in this game was excellent, and there weren’t any chances for Mi to show his strength in that game.
This was Iyama’s 2nd win in this Nongshim Cup, after defeating Park Junghwan 9p at the end of round 2.
Iyama’s next opponent was Kim Jiseok 9p, who was also the captain and anchorman for Team Korea.
Iyama Yuta 9 dan (left) and Kim Jiseok 9 dan at the 16th Nongshim Cup
Iyama took the lead in the fighting at the bottom, and he maintained his lead up to the endgame stage.
However, Kim caught up little by little in the endgame, and when Iyama made a crucial mistake the game was suddenly over.
Kim Jiseok needed to win two more games to bring the Nongshim Cup home to Korea.
His next opponent was Lian Xiao 7p. The game was interesting, with severe fighting in the top left, and Kim took the lead with a fantastic sacrifice strategy on the right side.
However, Kim played too cautiously once he was ahead and made a couple of slack moves later on. Meanwhile, Lian played very well and managed to catch up again.
In the end, Kim went all out, but Lian’s responses were calm and accurate and Kim resigned.
Mi Yuting 9 dan, Lian Xiao 7 dan and Shi Yue 9 dan at the 16th Nongshim Cup presentation
Team China’s captain was Shi Yue 9p, but he didn’t have to play after Lian Xiao defeated Team Korea’s last player.
In this Nongshim Cup, Wang Xi 9p won four games in the 2nd round, and he was China’s most valuable player in this tournament.
This was Team China’s fourth win.
The Nongshim Cup is a team event between China, Japan and Korea.
The sponsor, Nongshim, is a Korean instant noodles company.
The tournament uses a win and continue format, which is common in these team events.
Korea has dominated this event, winning it 11 times. In contrast, Japan has won it only once, while China is slowly catching up with four wins.
The prize money for the Nongshim Cup will be greatly increased in 2016. The current winner’s purse is 200 million Korean Won (about $180,000 USD at the time of writing), but starting with the 17th edition of the tournament, the prize for the winning team will be 500 million Korean Won (approximately $450,000 USD).
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There was an early fight in the top right corner.
White 26 was questionable, and Black 31 was a strong attack.
White 38 was a big mistake, and it became the losing move. White should have attached at 44 instead.
Black 39 and 41 were strong strong responses, and Black 47 was a sharp tesuji which paralyzed White.
White countered with 54, but Black’s responses were perfect up to 81, and the game was practically over at this point.
Iyama’s play afterwards was excellent, and Mi didn’t have any chances to catch up.
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The opening up to White 28 was well balanced between influence and territory.
Whtie 48 to 50 formed a nice combination, and White 58 and 60 were strong counters.
White 82 was a nice tesuji to take sente, and White took the lead with 86.
Black 113 was a sharp invasion, but Black 123 was weak, and White maintained his lead up to White 128.
White 130 was premature, and Black caught up with 149.
White 154 and 170 were small and the game was reversed by a small margin with Black 159 and 171.
White 180 was a misread and it became the final losing move.
Iyama was leading for almost the whole game, but Kim reversed in the endgame.
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The opening up to White 28 was even.
Both White 42 and Black 43 were strong, and the fighting became very complex.
White 56 was severe, but Black fought back with 57 and 59, which were nice responses. Up to Black 79, the game was still even.
Black’s sacrifice strategy, starting with Black 95, was successful. However, Black 111 was slack.
White 120 and 122 were sharp, and Black 125 was another slack move.
White 126 was a big endgame move, and the game became slightly better for White.
White 174 and 180 were a nice combination and Black was in trouble.
Black chose to fight a big ko in the center, but it was too big, and the game was over when White eliminated the ko with 218.
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The second European Pro Qualification tournament will be held this weekend in Pisa, Italy. Two games each round will be broadcast on KGS starting March 6 and running through March 8; look for EGFPro1 and EGFPro2. Top European players will compete; click here for the player field and bios. Last year’s first tournament resulted in the EGF’s two first home grown pros, Ali Jabarin and Pavol Lisy. The tournament is organized by the European Go Federation and supported by CEGO and the Ge Yuhong Go Academy in Beijing. Simultaneously, an open tournament will be held in Pisa; click here for details.
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The Sharon Go Club, which usually meets Monday nights at the Barnes and Noble in Walpole, Massachusetts, met this week at the Panda Express, where local organizer William Luff 4D works. “We had a nice small gathering,” says Luff. Shai Simonson 3D, Julian Sirkin 6K and Joe Chaves 6K joined Luff, and Chun Sun 5D made a surprise appearance as well. “A few games were played and good conversations were shared,” says Luff. “I was working so I could only play a quick blitz game during my 30 minute break. But I was happy to host the club. Everyone enjoyed the food.”
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Britain Go Clear Top of European C League: On February 24th, the UK team won against the Hungarian team, the only other team in the Pandanet Go European Team Championship with six wins. Congratulations to the team for winning all four games to take the top place in the league.
– compiled/edited by Amy Su, based on reports on the BGA website
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Weiqi To Go 