News / Articles

JIE LI WINS 2004 ING CUP: In late-breaking news, Jie Li has won the 2004 North American Amateur Ing Cup, defeating Yongfei Ge in the Wednesday night final round. Look for full final round results tomorrow, as well as game commentary on the Li-Ge game.
In Tuesday night92s 3rd round, Jie Li defeated Jong Moon Lee, Yongfei Ge beat Jung Hoon Lee, Curtis Tang won over Yuan Zhou, Lianzhou Yu defeated Jon Boley, Joey Hung beat Edward Kim, Thomas Hsiang won over Xenos Khan, I-Han Lui defeated his son, Eric Lui, and Richard Liang beat Jin Chen.
       The crowd watching was so thick that the tournament coordinator Joe Carl had to regulate the number of observers in the playing area. At one point so many people were crowding in on the players that Carl, trying to give them some breathing room, accidentally stopped Curtis Tang from returning to his table, which was jammed with Curtis92 fans. 93But I92m playing,94 young Curtis protested, and was allowed to return to his game against Yuan Zhou.

CHEN TOPS DIE-HARD: Zhaonian Chen 6d took top honors in today92s Die Hard tournament with a perfect 4-0 score. Ninety-seven players participated in the tournament for hard-core go players while the rest of the Congress attendees took advantage of the traditional midweek day off to visit nearby tourist attractions, go shopping, or just rest up for the second half of the weeklong U.S. Go Congress.
Second place in the A Division was up-and-coming Juan Pablo Quizon 4d, a high-school student from the Metro Washington area who92s been burning his way through the dan ranks this year. In the B Division, Jason Gu 2d won first place while Anders Kierulf 3d took second. Steve Barbieri 1K placed first in the C Division and Yoshitomo Nakata 1k won second place. First place in the D Division was Rick Mott 4k and Roland Crowl 5k won second. Jeffrey Vogel 11k won first place in the E Division, while Chris Sira 14k took second.

PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING: Guo Juan On The One-Space Jump
93In a pincer joseki, a one-space jump in response to the pincer takes no territory, so it needs to be played for another reason,94 Guo Juan 5P said in her Tuesday lecture. 93Often one jumps out in preparation for getting an attack going.94 Added Guo: 93If you have a moyo, try not to have any weak groups, otherwise your opponent can attack the weak group and walk right through your moyo in the process.94
- reported by Mike LePore

GAME COMMENTARY: Flexibility, Deep Reading and Fighting Spirit
Yilun Yang 7P once again demonstrates his flexible approach and deep reading skills in today92s commentary on his third-round AGA/ING Pro Tournament game yesterday (Tuesday) against Mingjiu Jiang 7P, who shows off some pretty incredible fighting spirit. Jiang unleashes a sharp attack midgame against an eyeless Yang group that seems to have no chance to live or escape; after this fierce battle, Jiang launches another severe attack and after seeming to abandon the second group, Yang goes back and commences a rescue operation that92ll have you on the edge of your seat. But that92s not all, folks, after this second epic struggle, Jiang sets about destroying Yang92s big corner, sparking a long and complex struggle where neither player has any margin for error.
Our bonus file is Tuesday92s third-round game between Jie Li 7d and Yuan Zhou 7d.
To view the attached .sgf file(s), simply save the file(s) to your computer and then open using an .sgf reader such as Many Faces of Go or SmartGo. Readers who need .sgf readers can get them for most platforms at Jan van der Steen‘s http://gobase.org /sgfeditors.html

BEGINNER92S MIND: The Impatience Of The Double-Digit Kyu Player
By Aria von Elbe
       Immersed in this week of on-stop go, I92ve been wondering what it means to be a good go player Do you have to have a high rank? Do you have to be a pro? As an 18 kyu, I often daydream about what it‘s like to be a 3 dan like my sensei, or even a pro, but I always end up laughing at myself. If I want to get there it92s obvious I have to work, but what‘s not so clear is just how long it will take to get there.
       People tell me “It only takes a year of intense study to get to single-digit kyu,” or “You could make shodan by January if you wanted it enough, you just have to get your priorities straight.” But with my upcoming junior year in high school packed with studying for AP and honors classes, not to mention the impending SATs, go will most likely be relegated to Thursday nights at the club.
       It‘s not like I don‘t want to study. Quite the contrary; I came to this Congress with the plan of learning all I could, not just to have a fun time. Why else would I have stayed at the hotel on the day off today so that I could get some of the stronger players to play some teaching games? And that92s why I was bold enough to ask a Japanese pro to be my partner for Pair Go Thursday night. With all the games that I‘ve been playing and watching, there‘s got to be some improvement in there somewhere, right?
       I92m trying to accept my slow progress: I may be far down on the ladder, but I‘m okay with that. I keep on trying and now I92m not losing all my games anymore, so I must be getting better. But how long until I break out of the double-digit kyu ranks? And then how long until I make it to shodan? Probably not anytime soon, but I guess I can handle that. After all, they say go takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. I think that‘s a good thing.

IN THE KNOW ABOUT GO: We92re happy to provide our full Member92s Edition to our non-member readers this week as a special promotion; we hope you enjoy the coverage, features and game commentaries. Reader and member support enable us to provide comprehensive weekly go news, reviews and more year-round and we hope you92ll consider joining today by clicking here now: http://www.usgo.o rg/org/application.asp

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