Play igo/weiqi/baduk, it's fun!
UPPER VALLEY GO CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
*NEW STUFF*
1) Karen is away in the Netherlands this week due to bereavement, we send Karen and her family our sympathies. There will be club meeting on Wednesday (same time, same venue, same awesome company), as well as a Go Meet-up at Borders on Saturday (there may be no reminder, since both Karen and I will be out of town on Friday, but people will be there, so try to make it). On Wednesday, Jing will run a discussion on invasions of corner formations.
2) Upper Valley Go Club Tournament 2006. The UVGC will be holding its first ever American Go Association (AGA) Rating Tournament on Saturday June 24th 2006 (tentative). Mark your calendars! Karen and Jing will be the tournament directors. The venue is likely to be at the Quaker Meeting House (more details to follow). There will be prizes (books on go) and trophies to be won, as well as the title of Upper Valley Go Club Tournament Champion! The tournament will be a 19x19 Handicap Tournament. Rules will be Japanese rules, with a komi of 7.5 points/moku. Time settings will be 45 minutes per player, with an overtime setting of canadian byo-yomi of 30 moves in 10 minutes (http://senseis.xmp.net/?CanadianByoyomi). Handicaps will be determined by rating or rank. Players with AGA ratings should enter at their rating. Self-promotion of 2 stones or FEWER will not be allowed. Players without AGA ratings can enter at whatever rank they deem appropriate. If you are unsure, the tournament directors will give a quick rank assessment prior to the tournament. Registration will be from 9am to 10am.
There will be a tournament registration fee of $5 for all participants. All participants will also be required to have or to sign up for some form of AGA membership. Membership rates are given at https://secure.wui.net/usgo.org/membership/application2.asp. All members of the Upper Valley Go Club are eligible for Limited Membership at $15. If you are not willing to apply for AGA membership, you can still take part in the tournament by providing a Rating Fee of $5 (this is similar to one day membership in the AGA).
In terms of logistics, we have just about everything we need. The only thing that we have a shortage of are clocks. If you have access to chess clocks, please let Jing know (if you have not done so already).
3) American Go Association (AGA) ratings for the MGA Spring Handicap Tournament have been updated. http://www.usgo.org/ratings/RatingsQuery.asp? Very terrible. Jing hopes never to meet Alex in a tournament from now on. Speaking of the MGA tournaments, the MGA Summer Handicap Tournament will be on July 16th. Mark your calendars and try to make it! (Yes! Talking to you! You know who you are...) The rules for the MGA Tournament are similar to ours. In fact, we may have sneakily based our tournament format on theirs.
4) We have started a ladder online for our club's room on KGS. Consider joining, it's a fun way to get good games in. If you are a member of the UVGC and do not have a KGS account yet, shame on you. You can download the client and register at http://kgs.kiseido.com/. It is FREE! Send Jing an e-mail (goclub@plomp.com) if you register so that you can be added to our private room.
http://senseis.xmp.net/?UpperValleyGoClub%2FLadder
5) Please note Guo Juan Workshop Memorial Day Weekend. Guo Juan is a 5-dan professional player from China, who now makes her home in the Netherlands. She runs these workshops twice a year in the Catskills. Details on the workshop are given at: http://brooklyngoclub.org/gc/cgi-bin/disp_topic.iphtml?topic_id=286
There will be a ride down there for people who want to attend. Karen, Alex and Jing will be attending.
6) Attached above are a few sgf files taken from the Stonebase database translated and reorganized by Jing. Stone Capturing Techniques gives a series of examples of various stone capturing methods from simple examples to more advanced ones, covering important topics such as ladders, nets, snapbacks and connect-and-die. The Tempo of Playing Go is actually a set of reading problems that are rather advanced, but give many good examples on the different ways of thinking and reading that are involved in playing good go. Finally, I have included the 4 final ladder problems in the Xuan Xuan Qi Jing (an ancient chinese problem collection). The ancients clearly had more time than we do today.
*PLAYING GO*
1) There will be a MEETING TOMORROW on WEDNESDAY at the HOPKINS CENTER CAFE near the MUSEUM SHOP in Hanover from 2PM to 8PM. Meetings have generally
been divided into two sessions. There is an earlier session from 2PM to 5PM, and a later session from 5PM to 8PM. Everyone is encouraged to stay as long as they can, but showing up at 2PM or 5PM before games start is a good idea. Players playing in AGA tournaments might want to play with a clock for practice.
2) The club HANDICAP TABLE can be found at http://senseis.xmp.net/?UpperValleyGoClub . Beginners are not included and the table are for players 20K and lower. Members are identified by their initials.
3) If anyone has borrowed GO SETS from the UVGC, we would appreciate it greatly if the sets were returned prior to JUNE, when we intend to run an AGA OPEN TOURNAMENT. The club will need all the sets it can get. If you have access to CHESS CLOCKS and are able to lend some to us for the tournament, that would be great! Please e-mail goclub@plomp.com to let us know.
*TEACHING AND LEARNING GO*
1) There will be no study session at the Hop this Saturday. Instead there will be a GO MEET-UP at BORDERS, 285 Plainfield Road, West Lebanon from 2-5pm.
*NEW MEMBERS*
1) Keep up the good attendance!
*PUBLICITY*
1) MEATSPACE PUBLICITY:
A) TOURNAMENT AT THE UPPER VALLEY
See above for updates.
2) CYBERSPACE PUBLICITY:
A) Please continue to E-MAIL me the names of FRIENDS who you think might be interested in go, and I will add them to the list. If you are no longer in the area or would like me to take you off this e-mail list, please reply to this e-mail and let me know.
Regards,
Jing
GENERAL INFORMATION
*Playing Go*
1) Remember to check out the UPPER VALLEY GO CLUB room on KGS (KISEIDO GO SERVER). http://kgs.kiseido.com/.
If you REGISTER A NEW ACCOUNT, please let me know (via e-mail or message on kgs) so that I can give you access to our private UPPER VALLEY GO CLUB room on KGS.
The room can be found in:
Rooms ---> Room List ---> Clubs ---> Upper Valley Go Club
Then click "Join". If you have not told me about your new account, I
cannot give you access to the room.
Current members in the room are:
Anthony Yan ChiralSym
Ed Feustel efeustel
Jeremy Hankins nowan
Jing Wei Lim jwaytogo
Karen Plomp NannyOgg
Mi Shi circadian
Yongqiang Zhang rabbit9
Bert Hallonquist Connect
Jana Kutzschbauch Mikikitty
John Pinkerton (and Jr) weicool/jackmani
Patrick Gillespie gohobo
Sean Padgett Rlibrarian
Alex Henzel teabag
Henry Danaher apemantus
2) Since the UPPER VALLEY GO CLUB is a chapter of the AGA, all our members are eligible for a limited AGA (American Go Association http://www.usgo.org/) membership at $15 per annum. Full membership is $35/annum and there is a youth membership at $10/annum available to those under the age of 22. If you are interested in taking part in AGA
tournaments and getting an American rating, AGA membership is compulsory. This is advised for the stronger players in our club, who feel you are in the 10K and better range, but everyone should feel free to join. Please speak to Jing, Karen or Alex about the benefits of membership if interested. If nothing else, promote the great game of go/baduk/weiqi in the US!
*Teaching and Learning Go*
1) If you are on DGS (DRAGON GO SERVER), please continue to approach jwaytogo, ahenzel, nannyogg, efeustel, ChiralSym or nowan for a game.
Other members are highly encouraged to make use of this resource. DGS is free and relatively easy to use.
http://www.dragongoserver.net/
2) SYLLABI for LESSONS are available if you show up to club and the study sessions. Beginners are all started on the 10 Lesson beginner syllabus
(this is also available online at http://unkx80.netfirms.com/weiqi/howtoplaygo/). If any of the current non-beginner members would like a refresher lesson out of the beginner or
intermediate lesson plan, just let me know.
*Publicity*
1) Meatspace Publicity:
A) A story about the UPPER VALLEY GO CLUB was released in the UPPER VALLEY NEWS. You can read it online at:
http://www.vnews.com/11122005/2719789.htm
Or you can check out a scan of the actual newspaper on Karen's blog at:
http://shodan-challenge.blogspot.com/
2) POSTERS.
C) T-SHIRTS.
http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoApparel
http://www.cafepress.com/artofgo
2) Cyberspace Publicity:
A) Continue to check our WEBSITE at: http://www.feustel.us/GO/ It is updated weekly.
B) Check out our page on Sensei's Library.
http://senseis.xmp.net/?UpperValleyGoClub. It is updated weekly as well.
*Inventory*
Sets are stored in the Hood Museum coat closet next to the museum shop and Shakespeare Alley, which is open daily until 9pm. Anytime you want a game, feel free to take the sets out, but please put them back when you are done.
Also feel free to take the handouts in the closet.
The inventory in the closet includes:
3 Ing's boards (yellow) 19x19 and 13x13 (on reverse side)
1 foldable/non-foldable wood board 19x19
2 sets of Ing's stones (1 set incomplete)
2 sets of plastic stones
3 Ing's clocks
1 regular chess clock
Beginner, intermediate and advanced syllabi for the Upper Valley Go Club
(multiple copies)
10 copies of "Way to Go" published by the AGA
Beginner handouts "How to Play Go" lessons 1-10 (multiple copies)
Posters (multiple copies)
Game recording sheets (multiple copies)
Jing
Updated May 9, 2006