News / Articles

8 DAYS & COUNTING: With just over a week to go, over 460 have registered for this year's U.S. Go Congress in Tacoma, WA. Highlights of the annual events include the U.S. Open, the Self-Paired Handicap Tournament and North American Ing Cup competitive eve nts, as well as lectures and simuls with professional go players and dozens of other events and activities. The competitive field is obviously the strongest and largest of the year, but which rank has the most players? Tell us which dan and which kyu rank has the most players at the Congress and you could win a $10 go vendor gift certificate! Send your best guess to us at journal@usgo.org and we'll select a winner at random from among the correct answers. See who's signed up, get more details on the Congr ess and register at http://www.usgo.org/congress/index.asp

YODA RETAINS GOSEI: Yoda Norimoto 9P successfully defended his Gosei title against Yuki Satoshi 9P, completing a three game sweep on Tuesday. Details in Monday's edition.
  
EUROPEAN GO CONGRESS UNDERWAY: The European Go Congress is off and running in Prague, the Czech Republic. In the main tournament, with 633 participants, Alexandre Dinerchtein 1P of Russia holds a slim lead on the basis of tie breaks over Catalin Taranu 5 P of Romania. Both have three wins. Up-to-date details on Monday.

FENG YUN WORKSHOP: Feng Yun 9P will give a workshop in Germantown, MD over the Labor Day weekend. Slate & Shell is sponsoring the workshop. Which will consist of lectures and game analysis September 2-4. Space is limited and reservations will be accepte d on a first-come, first served basis. The cost is $150 for adults, $135 for children under 18. For info/reservations, email Gordon Fraser at Gordon.fraser@ctipc.com

MANUEL WINS ALERT READER: Paul Manuel of ??, ?? is this week's Alert Reader winner, winning a $10 go vendor gift certificates for spotting our Alert hidden in last week's game commentary. Winners are drawn at random from those who correctly report the Al erts. Keep a sharp eye out in all our game attachments; you could be a winner too!

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GAME COMMENTARY: A Thrilling Tightrope Walk
        Today's game commentary is a thrilling tightrope walk by two of America's top amateurs, with terrific commentary by Maeda Ryo 6P, the Japanese pro who's visiting the United States and who will be at the upco ming U.S. Go Congress in Tacoma, WA. Thomas Hsiang 7d and Yuan Zhou 7d battle for the upper hand in this Preliminary Round Robin game from the 2005 Masters Tournament, which goes down to a whisker-thin 1-point margin.
         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 p latforms at Jan van der Steen's http://gobase.org/sgfeditors.html

US GO CONGRESS PREVIEW: 2005 Ing Cup Player Profiles, Part 2
        This week we present the second in a series of profiles of players in the North American Ing Cup. Held each year at the U.S. Go Congress, the Ing features 16 of the strongest amateur players in North America battling it out for cash prizes and bragging rights for one of the top U.S. titles. In addition to the strong field, the Ing offers something of an endurance challenge to the players, who also compete each morning in the U.S. Open, another top U.S. title . The E-Journal plans to provide expanded coverage of the Ing this year, with updates, photos and games posted online as well as in the EJ.
        JIN CHEN 6d has been playing go for twelve of his eighteen years. He lives in Riverview, MI, where he just graduated from high school, and his hobbies include soccer and video games. He'll be a sophomore at the University of Michigan this Fall. He has won both the 1d and 4d divisions at the US Open. "My favorite thing about go is the infinite variations and the infinitely varying values each stone can have."
        JIE LI 9d started playing go at the age of 11 in his native China. Now 24 and a college student in San Diego, Jie is perhaps the winningest amateur title-holder in the United States, with multiple wins in th e U.S Open, Ing Cup, Texas Open, Cotsen Open, Toyota Oza and Tokyo Semitsu. His other interests include reading, traveling, teaching "and playing anonymously on the Internet." Adds Jie, "Go is very hard. The more I learn about it, the less I know."
        I-HAN LUI 7d is 48 years old and has played go for 30 years. A software engineer, Lui lives in Howard County, near Baltimore, Maryland. I-Han has won several titles, including the NJ Open, Maryland Open, Mid -Atlantic, Cherry Blossom and Eastern Championship. "Besides playing go, I love reading, classical music, and traveling." I-Han says his favorite thing about go is "Winning, of course, especially winning a game from behind."
        ERIC LUI 7d is 16 years old and has been playing go for 11 years. He lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, where he's a high school student and a go teacher at the Chinese Language School of Columbia. Eric has w on the New Jersey Open, Nova Cherry Blossom tournaments, the Redmond Cup as well as Children's Handicap Tournaments at the Congress in 2003 and 2004. Eric finished 2nd at the 2005 Maryland Open. His hobbies include the violin (he is a member of the Maryla nd All-State Orchestra), sports, reading, and painting.
        YUAN ZHOU 7d lives in Germantown, MD where he's Client Relations Manager for Institutional Shareholder Services. The 30-year-old has been playing go since the age of 6, when he was taught by his father in Ch ina, where he also received professional training at (go school and city name). Yuan has won 23 titles, including the 1992 Eastern Open, the 2004 Ing Redmond Cup, the 2001 Korean Baduk Eastern Open, the 1994 and 2002 Maryland Opens, the 1990 and 2000 Mid Atlantic Opens, the 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2001 New Jersey Opens, the 1992 and 1993 Nova Cherry Blossom tournaments, the 1999 Nova Congress Tune Up, 1993 Nova Pumpkin Classic, 2000 and 2002 Pennsylvania Opens, 1998 Philadelphia Open, 1993 and 1995 Universit y of Maryland Opens, 2004 US Pair Go and the 2003 and 2004 Virginia Opens. Yuan's interests include go history and go people, reading, movies and tennis. Yuan holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of MD . His favorite thing about go is "endless learning through go."

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