RUBIN & KIM TIE FOR TOPS IN SEATTLE: Two-dans Barna Rubin and Paul Kim tied for top honors in last weekend's Mid-Winter Tournament in Seattle, WA, reports Jon Boley of the Seattle Go Center, where the annual event drew 36 players. In the Kyu section Daniel Capwell 2k came in first with Frank Brown 11k in second; both Daniel and Frank went undefeated. "Shodan challenger Adam Bloom finally lost a rated game at the Seattle Go Center," notes Boley. "After several unblemished rating tournaments, Adam went 2-2 as a 3k, certainly within striking distance of shodan by this year's Go Congress."
N.A. FUJITSU KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND: This year's Fujitsu qualifying tournament will be held on the IGS, beginning this weekend. A field of 12 players will vie to represent North America in the World Fujitsu Tournament; professionals Hui Ren Yang, last year's winner, and Jujo Jiang are joined by 10 of the strongest amateur players in the United States and Canada. The first round will be held tomorrow, Saturday 1/22 at 1P EST on IGS; the second round will be held on Sunday 1/23 at 1P EST. Pairings for the tournament can be seen at http://www.seattlegocenter.org/fujitsu
BROOKLYN GO CLUB TONIGHT: Tonight's meeting of the Brooklyn (NY) Go Club will be hosted by Sylvia Borget at her Upper West Side apartment: 65 W 90th (25A); 212-877-7766. jc@brooklyngoclub.org
SLATE & SHELL OPEN TOMORROW: The Slate & Shell Open will be held tomorrow, January 22 in Richmond, VA. Every participant gets an Slate & Shell life and death book; prizes are selected S&S books. Plus, win all your games and get a hard-back copy of Yilun Yang's Fundamental Principles of Go.
Info/details, contact William Cobb at 804-740-2191 or wmscobb@comcast.net
REDMOND WINS ANOTHER: Michael Redmond 9P has defeated Atsushi Tsuruyama 5P by 7.5 points, playing White in the Preliminary A Tournament of the 44th Judan in Japan.
RUI NAIWEI WINS JEONGGANJANG CUP FOR CHINESE: In a very exciting finish to the 3rd Jeongganjang Cup, Rui Naiwei 9P saved the day for the Chinese team, defeating Park Jieun 5P of Korea in the final match on January 20th. This tournament involved three teams of five women pros each from Korea, China, and Japan. The Chinese team got off to a good start when Ye Gui 5P defeated five opponents in a row in the early stages. Then Xu Ying 5P of China finished off the Japanese team by
defeating their last member, Kobayashi Izumi 6P, who didn't win a single game. At that point the Chinese still had two players in reserve, Zhang Xian 8P and the "Iron Lady" Rui Naiwei 9P. The last Korean player, Park Jieun managed to defeat Xu Ying, but in the final match, Rui Naiwei finished her off, winning with Black by resignation and making the Chinese very happy. You can download the games at http://www.go4go.net/english/bytournament2.jsp?&id=70 .
GAME COMMENTARY: A Fighter Revealed & A Whole-Board Problem
Today's dramatic game commentary will keep you riveted as Yamashita Keigo Kisei and Hane Naoki Tengen slug it out in Game 3 of last year's 28th Kisei title match, played in Kuwana City, Japan, February 4-5, 2004. The detailed commentary by Nakano Hironari 9P is adapted from the Yomiuri Newspaper and translated by John Power. "Hane showed that a revision in the general image of him was called for," says Nakano Hironari 9P. "He has been known for his balanced style and has not been renowned as a fighter. However, he met every challenge Yamashita threw at him in this game and proved that he can handle a fight better than most." Today's game is used by permission from Go World #102. Go World is a quarterly English language go magazine with commented pro games, pro news, and instructional
material. It is available from www.kiseido.com
This week's bonus problem is A Whole Board Problem, from Go Review, V, 12 (December 1965). Black already has enough territory: What is his best policy in this situation?
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
GO REVIEW: Dictionary of Modern Fuseki
Published by Kiseido, http://www.kiseido.com/
Reviewed by Phil Waldron 6d
The phrase "opening dictionary" brings to mind massive chess tomes filled with a maze of variations for every conceivable opening. While hardly at that level, the nearly 300 pages of this book do provide some
systematic analysis of several modern openings, including the mini-Chinese, full Chinese and Kobayashi fusekis. Each of the book's 59 sections a position from the very early (5-10 moves) of a common opening and provides roughly a dozen diagrams discussing possible variations. Although this cannot hope to provide an exhaustive analysis of an entire opening, it does cover the major branches. Because the analysis deals with the early stages of the game, it is hardly definitive. Variations where one player gets blown away in 20 moves are not shown. "Black has better prospects" is a typical judgment, and considerable playing strength is required to convert such an advantage into a win. For this reason the book will be most useful to dan-level players. Kyu players will likely have to grow into the book as their openings improve, although seeing a discussion of why some opening variations are not played by pros is bound to help. Given the scarcity of high-level opening theory available in English and the complete absence of any analysis of several modern openings, this book should be a welcome addition to any shelf. While unlikely to have anyone playing perfect openings by the next Go Congress, this book is very well written and I highly recommend it.
GO REVIEW: Dictionary of Modern Fuseki
Published by Kiseido, http://www.kiseido.com/
Reviewed by Phil Waldron 6d
The phrase "opening dictionary" brings to mind massive chess tomes filled with a maze of variations for every conceivable opening. While hardly at that level, the nearly 300 pages of this book do provide some
systematic analysis of several modern openings, including the mini-Chinese, full Chinese and Kobayashi fusekis. Each of the book's 59 sections a position from the very early (5-10 moves) of a common opening and provides roughly a dozen diagrams discussing possible variations. Although this cannot hope to provide an exhaustive analysis of an entire opening, it does cover the major branches. Because the analysis deals with the early stages of the game, it is hardly definitive. Variations where one player gets blown away in 20 moves are not shown. "Black has better prospects" is a typical judgment, and considerable playing strength is required to convert such an advantage into a win. For this reason the book will be most useful to dan-level players. Kyu players will likely have to grow into the book as their openings improve, although seeing a discussion of why some opening variations are not played by pros is bound to help. Given the scarcity of high-level opening theory available in English and the complete absence of any analysis of several modern openings, this book should be a welcome addition to any shelf. While unlikely to have anyone playing perfect openings by the next Go Congress, this book is very well written and I highly recommend it.
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