Nearly 100 Pair Go Promotion Partners and other guests gathered in Tokyo, Japan on October 24 to kick off a weekend-long celebration of the 25th International Amateur Pair Go Championships. Hisao and Hiroko Taki hosted a fabulous dinner at the Hotel Okura to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Japan Pair Go Association and the Pair Go tournament. Mr. Taki is the inventor of Pair Go and the founder of the Japan Pair Go Association of which Mrs. Taki (right) is the current managing director. They held the formal dinner to thank everyone for their continuing efforts to promote Pair Go around the world. The Hotel Okura is a hotel established by and named for Kishichiro Okura, one of the founding patrons of the Nihon Ki-in.

Tournament action got started on Saturday morning at the Hotel Metropolitan Edmont with the drawing of the opening round pairings for the 32 pairs representing 21 countries and territories. The US pair, Yiwen (April) Ye and Daehyuk (Daniel) Ko, drew a difficult first round matchup and fell to one of the strong Japanese pairs.

Two special events occurred on Saturday afternoon. The first was the traditional annual Goodwill Game, a popular single-round Pair Go event allowing the attending professionals, Pair Go Promotion Partners and other invited guests an opportunity to enjoy a Pair Go game during the weekend. The participants in the Goodwill Game are encouraged to wear traditional national costumes (right), which makes the atmosphere of these friendly matches even more enjoyable.

The second was a special Pair Go match between professional players from Japan, Korea, and China. At the end of this one-round event, Hsieh Yi Min, 6 Dan and Yuta Iyama, 9P from Japan defeated Lee Hajin, 3P and Cho Hoon-Hyun, 9P from Korea. In the second match Zhang Xuan, 9P and Chang Hao, 9P from China defeated Izumi Kobayashi, 6P and Chang Hsu, 9P from Japan

Sunday was another very busy day with three separate tournaments occurring simultaneously. The 32 pairs involved in the main Pair Go Championship had a long day with Rounds 2 through 5 this day. In the end, the final match pitted Lin Hsiao-Tung and Lai Yu-Cheng from Chinese Taipei against Kim Sooyoung and Jeon Junhak from Korea, with the pair from Korea winning the championship. Including their loss in the first round, along with a loss to Hong Kong China, and wins against Switzerland, Thailand, and Serbia, April Ye and Daniel Ko (below) finished 3-2 for the tournament, earning a 16th place finish for the United States.

In addition to the main tournament, the first World Students Pair Go Championship was held. This tournament matched eight pairs representing Japan, China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Thailand. At the end of three rounds, the final match saw Kim Hyun-Ah and Park Moon-Kyo from Korea defeat Hu Shih-Yun and Chan Yi-Tien from Chinese Taipei for the championship. The organizers from the Japan Pair Go Association and the World Pair Go Association plan on expanding this tournament to include pairs from additional countries around the world.

Finally, a four-round open handicap tournament was held, attracting 129 pairs divided into three different sections.
– report/photos by Todd Heidenreich, longtime director of the US Pair Go Championships.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1z21UAy

Romania: The 8th Shodan Trophy finished on October 25 in Bucuresti with Iulian Lungu 1d (left) in first, Tiberiu Barbu 2k in second, and Francisc Budai 2k in third. Switzerland: Lorenz Trippel 2d took the Coupe Patrice Gosteli in La Chaux-de-Fonds on October 26 while Dominik Mueller 3k came in second and Felicien Mazille 1d placed third. Belgium: Also on October 26, Vladimir Danek 5d bested Kim Ouweleen 4d at The Brussels 2014. Olivier Drouot 3d was third.
– Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news; photo courtesy of EuroGoTV

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1E0XydI

This oil painting depicting a go game between a young Korean girl and an older western man is featured in an October 31 ArtNet News report about North Korea’s Mansudae Art Studio. Perhaps the world’s biggest art factory, “It employs around 4,000 laborers of which under a quarter are artists who mostly graduated from the Pyongyang University of Fine Arts. The studio churns out propaganda for the Kim family leadership, producing everything from trinkets to murals and gigantic Soviet-style monuments.” This piece, entitled “Confrontation” is by Kim Hyon Myong.

Thanks to David Fruchtenicht for passing this along.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1t8aWX8

download SGF file

As a special free bonus for all E-Journal readers, Yilun Yang’s recent Cotsen demo game commentary appears here. Full AGA members get exciting commentaries like this every week. The game commentaries alone are worth the price of AGA membership . For youth memberships the deal is even better, just $10 a year! To sign up for the members edition, register with the AGA here .

White: Yigang Hua 8P
Black: Yilun Yang 7P
Commentary: Yilun Yang 7P
Game editor: Myron Souris
Published in the November 4, 2014 edition of the American Go E-Journal.

In this Cotsen demo game between strong pros, Yilun Yang 7P provides a detailed but clear fuseki analysis that players of all strengths can grasp. And stronger players will find Yilun Yang’s explanation of the middlegame’s attack and defense ideas especially insightful.

Yilun Yang 7P is one of the most popular go teachers in the US. You can reach him at yly_go@yahoo.com.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1yT4RmV

The Young Lions Tournament, hosted by the American Go Honor Society (AGHS), will take place on November 22 and 23 in the AGHS Tournaments Room on KGS. The first round will begin at 1 pm EST, and the second round at 4 pm EST. The second day will follow the same schedule. “This tournament is one of the biggest youth go events in America,” says AGHS Promotion Head Amy Su, “young go players will fight tooth and claw to emerge on top, will you be the one to lead the pride this year?” Anyone 18 or under may participate, and there will be prizes for the winners in multiple categories.  Visit the official Young Lions website for more information, to register fill out this form. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor

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

November 8: San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Go Fall Tournament
Jay Chan jay@bayareago.org 909-618-8749
Steve Burrall sburrall@comcast.net 916-688-2858

November 9: Burlington, VT
Three Dragons Emerge from the River Go Tournament
David Felcan dfelcan@yahoo.com 802-860-9587

Get the latest go events information.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/10jlmwu

In the game Destiny once you hit Level 5 you can buy “Snakeline 4.5 gauntlets,” which are “tough, menacing, and I swear- make you unbeatable at Go.” Thanks to Michael Albert for passing this along, though he doesn’t say whether the gauntlets have actually made his go invincible.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1o9ZFdd

Once again, go is providing insights into US/China diplomacy. In the recent US policy of “rebalancing toward Asia,” Michael Spangler, writing in the Summer 2014 issue of Parameters, the US Army War College quarterly, suggests that “Another way to look at this is to imagine a Chinese game of weiqi, the popular Asian game of black-and-white pieces in which two opposing players strive to surround the other. China’s July 2012 establishment of Sansha City on Paracel Island seized by force from Vietnam in 1974 was the precursor of its new weiqi games with the Philippines and Japan.” In “Rebalancing the Rebalance,” Spangler, a visiting fellow at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA, adds that “It is key that Manila’s talks not give Beijing any preponderant advantage by isolating or leveraging the Philippines against other disputants. In other words, this weiqi-like diplomatic negotiation can be completed as China’s future negotiation partners consult with each other.”
Thanks to Don Travis, a historian at the War College, and a new go player at the Carlisle Go Club.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1DKZ03N

Students at the Feng Yun Go School got a special treat last month when Kwon Kapyong 8P paid a visit. “Among other accomplishments, Mr. Kwon was Lee Sedol’s teacher,” reports Paul Matthews on the school’s website. “In fact, almost 20% of all Korean professional players were taught in his school.” Matthews reports that Feng Yun 9P “had a long talk with Mr. Kwon, and offered to help in his efforts to promote go in the United States.” They also discussed differences between teaching young students in Korea and in the United States. Parents in east Asian countries are willing to support their child in putting a lot of time into go study because there are more professional career opportunities there, American parents want to use go as an educational tool to train critical and logical thinking, problem solving, concentration, and good learning habits. The October 3 visit included a friendship match between six of Mr. Kwon’s students and the Parsippany students. Accompanying Mr. Kwon were Kim Young Ran, CEO of the Kwonkapyong International Baduk Academy, Joseph Sung, translator, and Kim Dae Yol, a very strong amateur player and go club entrepreneur in New Jersey.
photo: Kwon Kapyong 8p, Feng Yun 9p, and Joseph Shun are standing; Kim Dae Yol and one of Mr. Kwon’s stronger students are seated in the foreground.Click here to see more photos by Paul Matthews

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