AGA Membership

American Go Foundation

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 06:32:50 GMT

Untitled document

American Go Foundation

30 December 2010

Dear Current and Past Members of the American Go Association,

This is a special moment in the history of the American Go Foundation
for two reasons. First, we're on the move! As I write this, our trove
of go equipment - bought with donations from hundreds of go players-
has just made a cross country journey from its long time home in an
old, three story building in Pennsylvania to a modern distribution
facility in Colorado. We are looking forward to more shipments of
imported boards and stones and to the prospect of receiving a donation
of 1000 more copies of the Hikaru no Go series. We need loading docks,
flexible storage space, inventory control, full-time service, and a
web ordering interface to properly handle our hundreds of programs;
and we found a fulfillment company that can handle us with no overall
increase in monthly cost.

Secondly, January would have been the 100th birthday of our founder,
Roger White. He looked forward to the day we would professionalize our
operation and he would be very proud of what American support has done
for go. The AGF continues to import and distribute equipment to schools
and community centers (http://agfgo.org/schools.html), seed libraries
with sets of the Hikaru-no-Go manga, support the US Go Camps, maintain
an active kids website (https://tigersmouth.org) and recognize a
Teacher of the Year. We added support for kids attending the US Go
Congress, a web store for teachers, two college scholarship awards for
successful teenage organizers, and increased funding for the Redmond
Cup (http://www.usgo.org/tournaments/Redmond/) and the School Team
Tournament (http://www.usgo.org/tournaments/TeamChamp/).

Take a look at the AGF Newsletter Sensei (http://agfgo.org/AGFNews.htm)
to see how our outreach is building the base of go.

In honor of Roger's centennial and in recognition of the AGF's move to a
new level, we are asking for support from all go players. Here is what
our programs have to say:

"Thank you for your assistance. We went from 15 students to over 60
signing up. I have students come up every day asking if there is room
yet. Some even tried sneaking into the club after school. We appreciate
any assistance you can provide in growing our club and in enriching our
students' lives and education."

"I created a graphic novels section in our library. Hikaru-no-go fits
perfectly. I know those books will fly off the shelves."

"I would like to thank your foundation for making a significant amount
of my hopes and dreams possible from the day I decided to run the club
at school. I believe this foundation has given me the resources and
confidence to organize and lead; but more importantly the passion of the
AGF continues to feed my ambitions."

"Last year we introduced Go to more than 50 folks. This is not bad for
being a small town in the middle of Montana. I am hoping to make Go more
of a common phrase around these parts not unlike the word gopher. ;-)"

These stories are only possible if American players like you follow
Roger's example and support the game. Please, give whatever you can.
We are doing much and can do more. Every dollar helps the kids.
(And is tax deductible)

The easiest way to donate is at http://www.usgo.org/agf/donation.html
with your credit card or PayPal account. Or mail us a check with the
form below.

Either way, THANKS!

Terry Benson
President

terrybenson@nyc.rr.com

PS: Current AGF donors, please excuse us if this is a second request.
Thanks if you've already given.

PPS: A special thank you to those who use your company matching program
to double your gift.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

                           AGF Donation Form

There are two ways to donate:

ONLINE at http://www.usgo.org/agf/donation.html.
Use a credit card or login to your PayPal account.

Or MAIL your check payable to:

American Go Foundation

211 West 106th St. Apt. 3C
New York, NY 10025

Please include this form:

* * * * *

Name _____________________________

I want to help youth go with $ ________________

Please direct my contribution:

_______ to the AGF General Fund

_______ to Go Camp / Go Congress Scholarships

Address ___________________________

        ___________________________

City    ______________________________

State   _____   Zip __________

Email   _____________________________

Phone   _______________

Please send future requests:

__ by email   __ by postal mail   __ by both mail and email

__ Please remove me from your mailing list

Check here ___ to receive Sensei, the AGF Newsletter, by email;
or see it at http://agfgo.org/AGFNews.htm

For those who give $100 or more:

__ Thanks for sending an AGF pin.

__ No thanks, I don't need a pin.

Suggestions/comments ________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Contribution Levels:

Donor (to $99), Supporter ($100-$249), Organizer ($250-$499),
        Promoter ($500-$999), Go Angel ($1000 or more)

               THANKS FOR HELPING GO!!!

The AGF does not share its donor list or contact information with any
other charity or organization. Names of donors may be published from
time to time on the AGF website or in fund raising literature.
Please indicate with your donation if you wish to be excluded from
listings. You will receive written acknowledgment of your donation.

The AGF is a 501(c)3 charitable foundation and contributions are fully
tax deductible. See our website at http://AGFgo.org.

Annual Report for 2010

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:31:31 GMT

Untitled document AGA Annual Report for FY2010

President's Report - Allan Abramson

O Introduction

As an organization of volunteers, we all know that the AGA lives on the generous donations of time and energy of people who could be doing something else.

Once again, I would like to recognize our Board of Directors, Chris Kirschner, who continues to do everything he can to help the AGA, Phil Waldron, who took the new position of Vice President for Ratings and who rapidly developed the new ratings system, without as much as a hiccup for our members, Paul Barchilon, whose passion for our youth remains outstanding, Thomas Hsiang, who continues to be the gift that never stops giving for the AGA, Sam Zimmerman, who handles the membership database with grace and good cheer, Chris Garlock, for innovations with the E-Journal, Steve Colburn, who maintained steady progress with the web site, and Arnold Eudell, who runs a smooth elections process.

New names like Andy Okun, who took the position of lead fund-raiser, Jonathan Bresler, who took over as Vice President for Ratings, and who feeds the ratings system with your tournament reports, and Edward (Zhiyuan) Zhang, who recently stepped up to the Tournament Coordinator's position (with the assistance of Oren Laskin), also deserve mention. All of the AGA team, both old regulars and new hands, deserve our appreciation.

O Membership

Once again we are seeing erosion in our membership numbers, and I invite everyone to submit suggestions on how we could grow substantially in the next year. Internet marketing is an area I would like to explore... Sometimes it seems to be true that "all I want to do is play go," but if people do not step up to find new members, even that will become harder. Keith Arnold has agreed to ask his committee to work on a strategy for membership growth, so the next year could bring us new ideas.

Yes, the new membership cards finally arrived! Thanks to Sam Zimmerman for coordinatiing the distribution. Remember that these are intended as permanent cards (replacement fee for lost cards will be $5), and as such will not have your expiration date on them. To find your expiration date, just search for yourself in the ratings system online.

O Funding

The Board approved AGA funding for our major tournaments, especially those for youth. The amount is nearly $8,000 from our reserves, underlining the need to find sponsors and donors. Of note is AGA funding for the Master's tournament this year (in lieu of Ing funding), but the Master's next year will have to be supported by external sources.

O Tournaments

We had an interesting experience with the first Strong Players' Online Tournament (SPOT1), with many strong players participating, and our first experiment with webcams for each player, to come closer to a face-to-face experience. We plan to hold a Women's Handicap online tournament (WHOT1) and a Members' Handicap online tournament (MHOT1) in the next year. Suggestions for other online events would be welcome.

O Tournament software

We have one new tournament pairing system submitted so far this year, and it will continue to be worked on. Additional submittals would be welcome.

O Volunteers

We still have some key positions vacant, and applications are encouraged. These include: Executive Vice President, VP - Operations, and Volunteer Coordinator. Note that I would like to move toward volunteer teams, to share the load and to expand the new ideas, so even if a position is filled, volunteering to join the team is possible. Some of the areas needing more people still include: (1) programming a computerized system to issue rank certificates to members when they reach new levels; (2) developing and managing an AGA online store; (3) running a training program for tournament directors; (4) developing a mentoring program for lower kyu players; (5) developing outreach programs for minorities and disabled; and (6) fund-raising!

International Activities - Thomas Hsiang, VP for International Affairs

In May 2010, I attended the 31st Board Meeting and General Meeting of the International Go Federation, held in parallel with the 31st World Amateur Go Championship at Hangzhou, China. Below is a report of the important issues discussed in these meetings.

The IGF Board Meeting was attended by these Directors: Hideo Otake, president of IGF and President of Nihon Kiin; Zhenming Chang, President-elect of IGF and President of China Citic Group; Siming Liu, Executive Director-elect of IGF and President of the China Qiyuan; Thomas Hsiang, VP of IGF and VP of AGA; Eduardo Lopez, VP of IGF; Martin Stiassny, President of European Go Federation; Korsak Chairasmisak, President of Thai Go Association and World Chinese Weiqi Association; Ichiro Tanioka, President of Osaka University of Commerce; Neville Smythe, Vice President of the Australian Go Association; Mr. Heo, proxy for Han Sang-yul, VP of IGF and Executive Secretary of the Korean Baduk Association; Maria Dolores Puerta, President of Venezuelan Go Association; and Viktor Bogdanov, VP of Russian Go Federation. The staff members attending were Ei Kanda, IGF Office Manager, and Yuki Shigeno, IGF Secretary General. Attending as Advisor to the Board was Mrs. Hiroko Taki, VP of World Pair Go Association.

The first business was the election of the new President, Mr. Chang. Four Vice Presidents were elected, Mr. Hsiang, Mr. Han, and Mr. Lopez, and Mr. Otake. Australia and Thailand were elected as auditors. All Directors were re-elected for two years, except Bogdanov and Puerta will have one year remaining on their terms. Yuki Shigeno was re-appointed as Secretary General.

Revision of IGF Statutes

Director Ichiro Tanioka reported an update of the IGF Statutes that would increase the Director count to 12 and the VP count to 4, including three at-large Directors with no country restrictions. The official language of IGF is now changed to English. These changes were approved by the General Meeting.

New structure and support for IGF

IGF's Secretary General Yuki Shigeno reported the new three-country support structure of IGF is now in operation. China will take over the first two-year presidency of IGF, with annual budget contribution of US$90,000; Korea and Japan will assume two of the VP positions and contribute US$30,000 each year to the IGF budget. In 2012 Japan will take over the presidency, followed by Korea in 2014.

International tournaments
This year the 31st World Amateur Go Championship was sponsored for the first time by a non-Japanese host. The City of Hangzhou, with its deep cultural roots and beautiful scenery, provided an excellent venue for this historical occasion. For 2011, Shimane on the North Coast of Japan's Honshu Island will be host, followed by China again in 2012. (Thomas Hsiang was the US representative this year).

The International Amateur Pair Go Championship celebrated its 20th anniversary November 14 and 15, 2009, at Iidabashi, Tokyo. (Yinli Wang and Yuan Zhou represented US). In addition, a special commemorative event, run in the format of a "World Cup" of pair go, was held in March, 2010 at Hangzhou. This pro-am mixed tournament included the strongest pairs world-wide. (Representing North America were Yun Feng and Jie Li).

The 7th World Student Oza, with the new sponsor of NKB, Inc., a Japanese advertising company and the sponsor of JPGA and IGS, was held in October, 2009. (Jie Li represented US and placed second, the highest a US player has achieved in any international tournaments).

The 2010 Asian Games has announced the inclusion of Go as a competition item. IGF is working with the Asian Go Federation and the Chinese Weiqi Association to coordinate the Go event.

For other tournaments, the 4th Korean Prime Minister Cup was held in October, 2009; the Hi Seoul World Businessman Baduk Fair, the Hangzhou World City-Team tournament, and the Children's Team Tournament (Thailand) all continued at their traditional times.

(Additional information on international tournaments not related to IGF:
Jie Li was the North American representative at the 2010 Fujitsu Cup.

In an important success of international diplomacy, the AGA won over the right to select the North American representative to the Chunlan Cup. A selection tournament for the 8th Cup was held in February, 2010, and won by Mingjiu Jiang.)

SportAccord, IMSA, and mind sport events

The 2010 SportAccord Convention was held in Dubai in April. This is the annual meeting of SportAccord (previously known as GAISF, the General Association of International Sports Federations, of which IGF is a member) that provides a forum for international federations to interact with each other and to organize international tournaments. For Go, most important is our engagement with IMSA (the International Mind Sports Association) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) during the week.

This year, IMSA was particularly busy, with six meetings held over nearly twenty hours during the week. Some of the major items for these meetings were: (1) approval of International Poker Federation as a provisional member; (2) hearing the proposed plans by West Nally (a marketing company based in London) and Dentsu (a media company based in Tokyo) to market mind sports, including the 2nd World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) planned for 2012 in Manchester, UK, and the 3rd WMSG planned for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (3) discussion with Hein Verbruggen (SportAccord President) and his associates their plans for holding an "elite mind sports event" in 2011 in Nanjing, China; and (4) discussion with IOC representatives about their plans for mind sports and anti-doping.

(IGF has started its official in-competition anti-doping testing program with this year's WAGC. The top five finishers plus one randomly selected player were tested. The out-of-competition testing was suspended, pending WADA decision on the suitability of this type of testing for mind sports).

The new Executive Director, Mr. Siming Liu, gave a report on the preparation of the 2010 Asian Games. He told us that a brand new $35M Guangzhou Qiyuan has been built as the venue for the Go and Chess events. Go will include three medals: men team, women team, and pair competition. Chinese Rules will be used; an international referee team is being assembled and trained. In addition, a five-member international arbiter team will be organized to supervise the event. Thomas Hsiang will be the Western representative on this team.

Miscellaneous
The IGF Ranka-online team now collaborates with the AGA e-journal team to cover the WAGC news. This year, five Ranka members and two e-journal members (Chris Garlock and John Pinkerton) were in Hangzhou. The news was updated several times daily on the Ranka web page.

New potential IGF members have emerged from Côte-d'Ivoire and Pakistan. The new support of IGF hopefully will allow it to expand promotion in such areas that previously had very little Go activities.

The European Go Federation was admitted as a new Association Member of IGF.

Communications - Chris Garlock, VP, Communications

In April of this year the American Go E-Journal celebrated its 10th anniversary by taking a giant step forward using the latest online technologies to automatically feed reports posted on the AGA website into the E-Journal. In addition to significantly streamlining the E-Journal and website news production process, this means that the timeliness of our reports has been dramatically enhanced.

This was most strikingly illustrated in the expanded reports from the World Amateur Go Championships (WAGC) in China, as well as in the ongoing editions of the E-Journal, which is now available as both a briefer daily feed as well as the usual weekly edition. Another aspect of the new technology -- we're using WordPress for the website and MailChimp for the E-Journal -- is that the Member's Edition game commentaries are now available both in an online format playable without an .sgf reader or as downloadable .sgf files. This conversion took several months of hard and painstaking work and special thanks are due to Josh Simmons for his patience, creativity and problem-solving skills.

The E-Journal, website and American Go Yearbook continue to provide comprehensive, cutting-edge and timely coverage of the world go scene. Our network of contributors spans the globe and continues to expand, enhanced by the new social networking tools we adopted this year. This included a first-ever special 20-page full-color PDF report compiling all the WAGC reports and photos, with hotlinks to every game commentary published by the E-Journal, which was distributed to AGA members immediately following the WAGC.

With 13,000 readers, the E-Journal continues to function as a valuable service to AGA members who receive the special Member's Only content each week and as an entry point for future members, hundreds of whom join the AGA each time we run a promotional effort. As noted in both the 2008 and 2009 reports, such regular semi-annual promotions like the December and early Spring Yearbook offers which help retain existing members and recruit new members out of the ever-larger pool of non-members who sign up for the free edition of the E-Journal are clearly effective and we once again strongly recommend that the E-Journal and Membership staff work together to regularize the schedule in 2010-2011.

While the volume and timeliness of the E-Journal and website have increased in the past year, we've also continued to provide the wall-to-wall coverage of the annual U.S. Go Congress, the World Amateur Go Championships (WAGC) and major events like the Cotsen and New Jersey Open. A record 39-person EJ team helped cover the 25th annual U.S. Go Congress last year, broadcasting top boards at the U.S. Open and the North American Ing Masters, including simulcasts of live pro commentaries, as well as daily E-Journal reports and a live video feed via EuroGoTV-US. Between the local audience at the Congress and the online audience, viewership surpassed 1,000 for several of the games. The E-Journal team again provided nightly live simulcasts of North American Ing Masters top-board games with pro commentary by the legendary Takemiya Masaki and others, and also added live pro commentaries in the morning, drawing large crowds on KGS. And at this year's WAGC, we again teamed up with the Ranka team to provide extensive reporting from this high-profile event, which was held for the first time in China. This team effort not only strengthened the E-Journal-Ranka staff ties, but was a major AGA-IGF collaboration, and plans are already in motion for covering the 2011 WAGC together in Japan. Another significant byproduct of the EJ's WAGC coverage was the recruitment of Michael Redmond 9P as a regular commentator on current top pro games for the E-Journal.

The seventh annual American Go Yearbook continued the design changes instituted in the 2008 edition, including a photo Year in Review section and replacing the Scoreboard tournament winner reports with a smaller, more user-friendly collection of event photos from across the country over the course of the year. As noted previously, while the Yearbook continues to be extremely popular with AGA members who count it as one of the few tangible benefits of membership the significant expense in both staff time and organizational financial support suggest that we review the option of electronic distribution, taking into consideration the Yearbook's added function as the annual historical record of the organization.

Finally, a few notes on finances and volunteers. The website, E-Journal and Yearbook have been functioning on essentially flat budgets for the last few years, as the organization has confronted the loss of Ing funds and the impact of the global financial crisis on our membership. We are proud to be able to do more with less, but this is not a bottomless well. The AGA's publications lead the English-language go world by far in both quality and reach, thanks to the investment of resources by the AGA and thousands upon thousands of hours of almost entirely volunteer time by an extensive team of contributors. The website, E-Journal and Yearbook make valuable contributions to the spread and development of go here in the United States as well as around the world, and constitute a priceless investment in the game by the AGA, its leadership, members and our volunteers. While we must continue to maximize the effectiveness of the AGA's financial investment, we must work just as assiduously to recognize and reward the investment of time and effort by our volunteers and contributors, without whom there would be no website, E-Journal or Yearbook.

EJ/WEBSITE VOLUNTEERS/CONTRIBUTORS: Managing Editor: Chris Garlock; Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb; Website Editors: Mark Proctor, Jake Edge, Roger Schrag, Edward Zhang, Gurujeet Khalsa; Games Editor: Myron Souris; Professionals: Michael Redmond 9P; Yilun Yang 7P; Alexandr Dinerchtein 3P. Contributors: Paul Barchilon (Youth Editor); Lawrence Ku (U.S. West Coast Reporter); Brian Allen (U.S. West Coast Photographer); Keith Arnold (Go Quiz); Peter Dijkema (Dutch/European Correspondent); Marilena Bara (Romania/European Correspondent); Ian Davis (Ireland Correspondent); Jens Henker (Korea Correspondent); Nicholas Roussos (Cyprus Correspondent); Horatio Davis (Australia/New Zealand Correspondent); Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Zeijst; Roy Laird; Peter Shotwell; Translations: Bob McGuigan (Japan); Formatting: Adam Wright

YEARBOOK VOLUNTEERS/CONTRIBUTORS: Managing Editor: Chris Garlock; Assistant Editor: William S. Cobb; Associate Editors: Paul Barchilon, Terry Benson, Roy Laird, John Pinkerton; Contributing Professionals: Feng Yun 9P, Yilun Yang 7P, Guo Juan 5P, Alexander Dinerchtein 3P, Fan Hui 2P, James Kerwin 1P, Jie Li 7d; Correspondents: Marilena Bara (Romania), Peter Dijekma (Europe), Kazunari Furuyama (Japan), Jens Henker (Korea), Lawrence Ku (US Youth; Design: Chris Garlock; Production: Doyle Printing; Database Manager: Sam Zimmerman

EJ GO CONGRESS TEAM (2009): Special thanks to the professionals who gave so generously of their insights: Takemiya Masaki 9P, Feng Yun 9P, Nakano Yasuhiro 9P, Myeong-Wan Kim 8P, Sasaki Tadashi 8P, Maeda Ryo 6P, Guo Juan 5P, Lee Haijin 3P, Yang Shuang 2P, James Kerwin 1P, and translators Yoshi Sawada and Richard Dolen. Our core team worked incredible hours and overcame every glitch with aplomb and good humor: Akane Negishi (KGS admin), Steve Colburn (IT support, crosstabs and spirit coordination), John Pinkerton (Team Coordinator/photographer), Chris Burg (recorder, US Open/NAIM), Matt Luce (recorder, US Open/NAIM), Max Peterson (recorder, US Open/NAIM), Solomon Smilack (recorder, US Open/NAIM), Todd Blatt (simulcasts). Paul Barchilon coordinated our youth coverage, Phil Straus did photos and Photoshop magic, and our reporting team included Andrew Jackson, Laura Kolb and Lee Hunyh, while Gurujeet Khalsa handled website updates. Game recorders were: Brady Daniels, Calvin Lee, Daniel Poore, David Weimer, Frank Brown, Gordon Castanza, Huck Bennett, Jim Hlavka, Kenneth Elliott, Lawrence Ku, Matt Bengtson, Stephen Allen, Tom Bahun. Thanks also to Congress Director Todd Heidenreich and his Congress team, who gave the EJ Team their full support.

Youth Activities - Paul Barchilon, Youth Coordinator

This has been a difficult year for the AGA in terms of budgets, but I am pleased to report that the President and the Board have both maintained strong support for our many youth activities, despite the loss of Ing funding. The American Go Foundation also stepped in to provide additional funding for both the Redmond Cup and the School Teams Tournament, and we were able to continue both events without having to cut their budgets.

Our community also benefited tremendously from a new, and extremely generous, private donor, Winston Jen. Jen donated a treasure trove of Hikaru no Go graphic novels, a full 200 sets of all 17 volumes, and a large collection of Anime DVDs to be used as prizes for youth tournaments, both here at the Congress and year round. The Hikaru donation has enabled us to help start youth go clubs at libraries and schools all around the country, and the response has been extremely positive. Jen also made a direct donation to help both the Redmond and the School Teams Tournament.

The AGA has continued our close collaboration with the American Go Honor Society (AGHS), who are running many youth tournaments online. Their flagship event, the School Teams Tourney, drew over 300 youth this year, continuing to break records. Perhaps the most exciting part about the AGHS is that they are organized and run almost entirely by teenagers. This new generation of leaders is learning critical skills early, and we can look forward to their involvement in running the AGA in the future. In addition to their tournaments, they also ran a USYGC qualifier for the AGA, and we can expect more collaborations like this in the future.

Our partnership with the AGF has also been fertile this year, and joint resources have launched many new clubs all across the country. Most notably, the AGF used their infrastructure of school programs to distribute Hikaru no Go to locations where it could do the most good, and they continued to manage and run the AGA College Matching Program, which was launched last year to help new college programs form.

The AGF is honoring Marjorie Su Co Hey as Teacher of the Year for 2010. Hey has been a tireless promoter of youth Go for over a decade, often running up to 5 programs a week, at elementary schools, libraries, and anywhere they will let her. She has a special ability to enchant and engage children, and seems to never tire of sharing Go with beginners of all ages. She is living proof that one does not need to be a strong player to teach Go, in fact, often the opposite is true. A double digit kyu player herself, she is able to introduce the game to beginners without going over their head - a mistake dan level players often make. Hey will share her tips for success in a round table for Go teachers at the Congress, anyone who is interested in youth Go is invited to attend. Check your schedule for date and location.

In all our many successes for youth this year, there were also less than successful events. The United States Youth Go Championship has been problematic every year, and this year has convinced me that we need to make major changes. I have worked very hard to promote and grow this event for four years, but it is time to face the facts. We simply do not have enough distribution of youth players nationally to hold regional qualifiers, and in the locations that we do have, youth are intimidated by the strong field and are not entering the event. This year we tried to help the situation by offering national titles in Single Digit Kyu and Double Digit Kyu brackets. This did help us out online, where we were able to attract 42 youth to the competition, but did not increase regional participation.

For next year, we have decided to hold the entire tournament online. This will greatly simplify the structure of the event, and allow us to focus on what we can do well instead of struggling to stage regional events that no one is attending. We also lost our West coast Go Camp this year, although we have two organizers set to run next year's. The East coast Go Camp also struggled, losing Feng Yun as the primary teacher, and getting off to a late start. Jennie Shen 2p stepped up to help out though, and 15 young players registered. Overall, Go Camps have not proved economically viable, and we may reassess the situation for next year.

Webmasters Report - Steve Colburn

Most of the changes to the AGA website were regular updates and corrections that our users and volunteers found. Much of what has been worked on has been in areas not visible on the front of the website

Our largest notable change was in conjunction with the E-Journal. The news was changed to an RSS feed from wordpress hosted by the AGA's server. This allows the E-Journal to post more regularly throughout the week. This is used in conjunction with a new email platform, MailChimp, to send out the weekly E-Journal. The weekly Journals can also be sent out daily as a user option.

We have started working on a new web based membership database. I found a programmer who had the expertise with making complex web applications. We gathered all information from Sam Zimmerman and started to develop the application. Development has included sitting down with Sam for numerous hours to go over all aspects of the database's inner workings. The new database will be able to do all aspects of the job online as well as providing a more robust membership application and a way to integrate the database into other parts of the site. The Board of Directors approved funds to pay our programmer $3,000 for the work (at a very low hourly rate). The database is expected to be completed by August 2010 (Estimate as of end of June).

Last year the Board of Directors also approved advertisements on the web site. The initial offer we received fell through but we received another offer, which is active today. I have worked with one vendor since November of 2009 to implement the ads on the site. Today on the bottom of each page you will see nine links which we are getting paid $300 per month for running. Since adding the links to the site we have had two more offers for advertisements on the site. This is welcome additional income for the AGA.

Andy Okun and I have also prepared a document to send to potential sponsors of the AGA. This document will provide sponsors a brief overview of the AGA, its goals and sponsorship levels. Andy Okun was also named as the head of the AGA's fund-raising efforts. We are hopeful this approach will help us find new sponsors in the coming year.

We have started looking for an upgrade to the entire site in the last few months. We have created a template for use once a suitable Content Management System is found. As of June 2010 no system has been found.

We have implemented an AGA Wiki at http://wiki.usgo.org. This has provided a central place for much information with regards to tournaments, rules. ratings, AGA Go Database, and congress information. This is an open wiki to easily write down and share information. This will help future volunteers easily obtain information needed to their position.

Special thanks to Josh Simmons for all of his programming support throughout the last year.

Budget - Summary by Allan Abramson

This has been another difficult year for the budget. Continuing our conservative approach, the planned budget for 2011 has expenses reduced by about 9%, or $9,000.

Income:

Membership income was down over $9,000, underlining the need for greater collect effort in seeking renewals and new members in the coming years. Interest income also remains very low, given current economic conditions.

On the plus side was a generous $2,000 donation by Winston Jen, for youth activities, and a new contract for text link ads on our web site, which will bring in $3,600.

Expenses:

We plan to switch to Google Docs this year, which will save an estimated $1,500.

The Board continues to support some tournaments, with an emphasis on youth. Allocations from reserves for tournaments is about $8,000.

Funds for marketing and promotion of Go have been eliminated for 2011, forcing us to be more creative in internet advertising.

Funds for tournaments, such as the Master's and online tournaments, will have to come from donors and sponsors in 2011.

Overall, hard choices had to be made, and everyone involved cooperated in the decision-making process. Once the final budget is approved by the Board, we will post it online.

Member's Memo #4

Mon, 31 May 2010 23:26:12 GMT

Untitled document

Hi, Everyone,

Attached is Member's Memo #4.

Best regards,

Allan

American Go E-Journal Volume 11, #20: May 1, 2010

Sat, 01 May 2010 11:32:13 GMT

Untitled document

AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL
World Go News from The American Go Association

May 1, 2010; Volume 11, #20

Jie Li To Comment Live in SPOT1 Top Board
New Daily EJournal To Launch
Member Bonus: see attached for game comments by Kim 9P on Yixian Zhou 7D vs Michael Chen 7D

JIE LI TO COMMENT LIVE ON ON SPOT1 TOP BOARD: Four-time US Open Champion Jie Li 7D will provide live commentary on the key game between top seeds Myungwan Kim 9P and Yongfei Ge 7D -- both two-time US Open winners themselves -- in the Sweet 16 round of the Strong Players Online Tournament (SPOT1) at 1p this Saturday, May 1 on KGS. Ge lost to Kim at the 2009 US Go Congress and tells the E-Journal “I will try my best. To me, Kim is best at endgame, and I will try to make it complicated in mid-game.” Ge, who works as a software architect, spent some time studying go every day to prepare for his 2007 U.S. Open win after his first Open win in 2001. Over 500 watched Kim’s game on KGS last Saturday, and our sources say that he’s studying hard as well. Five of top eight seeds are in SPOT1’s upper half, while two are in the lower half due to first round upsets. Click here for the complete Sweet 16 matchups. An innovation of SPOT1 is the use of web cameras, enabling the players to see each other on Skype, which “was proposed by the sponsor of SPOT1, AGA President Allan Abramson,” reports TD Zhiyuan “Edward” Zhang. Players describe the web camera play as both “close to face-to-face playing” and “more formal than regular online games.” While it makes some “feel nervous but excited” the players also says it’s an “interesting experience” that “feels real.”

NEW DAILY EJOURNAL TO LAUNCH: The weekly American Go E-Journal launches daily publication, beginning Monday, to provide more timely go news updates from around the world. Brief clickable stories will link to complete reports with photos on the AGA's website, which can also now be quickly and easily searched by categories like U.S., world or European go news, as well as go classified ads, go books, software and hardware, and the go calendar. "With an increasing volume of reports from a worldwide network of go correspondents and sources, the daily E-Journal will enable our more than 14,000 readers to stay on top the latest go news without being overwhelmed," says AGA President Allan Abramson. Members will continue to receive special members-only content.

Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
Website Editor: Gurujeet Khalsa
Games Editor: Myron Souris
Professionals: Yilun Yang 7P; Alexandr Dinerchtein 3P; Fan Hui 2P
Contributors: Paul Barchilon (Youth Editor); Lawrence Ku (U.S. West Coast Reporter); Brian Allen (U.S. West Coast Photographer); Keith Arnold (Go Quiz); Peter Dijkema (Dutch/European Correspondent); Marilena Bara (Romania/European Correspondent); Ian Davis (Ireland Correspondent); Jens Henker (Korea Correspondent); Nicholas Roussos (Cyprus Correspondent); Horatio Davis (Australia/New Zealand Correspondent).
Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Zeijst; Roy Laird; Peter Shotwell
Translations: Bob McGuigan (Japan)
Formatting: Adam Wright

Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the E-Journal. Please direct inquiries to journal@usgo.org
Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association

American Go E-Journal Volume 11, #19: April 26, 2010

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:41:39 GMT

Untitled document

AMERICAN GO E-JOURNAL
World Go News from The American Go Association

April 26, 2010; Volume 11, #19

SPOT1 Down To Sweet Sixteen Players
Lee Sedol Up 2-0 In BC Card Cup
Chen Yaoye Wins Tianyuan, Again
Chong Tops Chi Tourney; Zhou & Yang Win Youth
Harwit And Zhang Top Boulder USYGC
Seattle Go Center Blossoms At Festival
Price, Wynn, Young & Houston Top Syracuse Tourney
Tang, Dolev & Qu Top NorCal Tourney
Suzuki Ayumi 5P Makes LG Cup Semi-Finals
Godiscussions Users Move To New Forum
Hal Small Hosts Sasaki 8p At DC Workshop
EUROPEAN NEWS BRIEFS: Euro Go Congress Sign-Up Passes 300; Two Amsterdam Tournaments; European Go Database Reaches 500,000 Games; Kachanovskyj Wins Ukrainian Championship Youth Division; OGP Beats Pogo For Finnish Team Championship; Perez New Sevilla Champion; 18-Kyu Libront Sweeps In Bydgoszcz; Fanti Edges Out Minieri To Win In Faenza, Soletti Under House Arrest; Dickhut Wins Baduk Botschafter Cup In Berlin; Shiksin Wins In Moscow, Oglobin In Kirov; Karlsruhe Increases Lead In German Team Leagues; Pace Grabs Grappa In Italy; Ankara Update
GO QUIZ: Decisively Fundamental
GO CLASSIFIED
MEMBER'S EDITION BONUS CONTENT: Yuan Zhou 7D analyzes a game between two 4-kyus in today's game commentary (attached).
Non-members: join the American Go Association and get all this great content with every EJ! It's all just a click away!

SPOT1 DOWN TO SWEET SIXTEEN PLAYERS: Thirty two top players battled it out on KGS over the weekend to make the Sweet Sixteen in the inaugural N.A. Strong Players Online Tournament (SPOT1). Over 500 watched Myungwan Kim 9P(CA) play Hugh Zhang 6d (CA) Saturday, with Kim notching his latest victory in a 14-game winning streak in AGA tourneys. Also making the Sweet Sixteen - to be played next Saturday, May 1 - were Yongfei Ge 7D, Yuan Zhou 7D, Yue Zhang 7D, Curtis Tang 7D, Xinyu Tu 7D, Changlong Wu, Yinli Wang 6D, Eric Lui 7D, Jie Liang 7D, Calvin Sun 7D, Sarah Yu 6D, Jung Lee 7D, Jianing Gan 6D and Hugh Zhang 6D. The final slot will be filled by the winner of Monday's Zhaonian 'Michael' Chen- Yixian Zhou game. Saturday's "main event" will undoubtedly be the face-off between Yongfei Ge and Myungwan Kim, both two-time U.S. Open Champions. Saturday's winners proceed to Sunday's Elite 8 round and winners there qualify for the Final 4 round. Spot1 is sponsored by the American Go Association; a total of $1,500 in prizes will go to the top three players - $1,000 for champion, $400 for runner up, and $100 for third place. Click here for complete results and pairings.
- Zhiyuan "Edward" Zhang, Tournament Director; photo: Yinli Wang 6D (IN) and Sarah Yu 6D (ON), undefeated in the SPOT1 First Round, finished on top of Teams C and G entering the Sweet 16 round

LEE SEDOL UP 2-0 IN BC CARD CUP: Lee Sedol 9P blanked Chang Hao 9P over the weekend in the two rounds of the BC Card Cup, winning both games by resignation. Sedol has been on an amazing winning streak since his return to professional play in January, and it would come as no surprise to anyone if he swept this year's BC Card Cup. Game three of the best-of-5 game series will be played on April 27th.
- JustPlayGo

CHEN YAOYE WINS TIANYUAN, AGAIN: It was déjà vu all over again as Chen Yaoye (l) 9P defeated Gu Li 9P by resignation in the third and final round of the 24th Tianyuan (Tengen) title match on Friday, April 23, winning the title 2-1 and retaining it for the second straight year. He defeated Gu Li in last year's Tianyuan.
- JustPlayGo

CHONG TOPS CHI TOURNEY; ZHOU & YANG WIN YOUTH: Chong Lee 6D topped the Chicago Spring Tournament Saturday, while Will Zhou 7D won the Senior Youth Tournament and Haisong Yang 5k the Junior Youth. "After 60 tournaments in the same venue, we took a chance and moved to the new Chicago Go Center for the 61st," reports longtime tournament director Bob Barber. "By moving to the suburbs, we lost some people, and gained some others. Everybody was very impressed with the Center, which is the best thing to happen to go in Chicago in 30 years." There were 34 players. Click here for the full winner's report. Photo: Will Zhou 7D (l) vs. Daniel 10k; Haisong Yang (l) vs. Henry Zhou 13k; photo by Mark Rubenstein

HARWIT AND ZHANG TOP BOULDER USYGC: Nathan Harwit 3d and Luke Zhang 1d topped their divisions at the Boulder, CO, United States Youth Go Championship (USYGC) this past Saturday, April 24. Harwit, age 12, beat his twin brother Matthew to take the regional title. The boys have alternated as champion for the past four years, and this is their first year in the Senior Division. Nine-year-old Luke Zhang 1d took top honors in the Junior Division. Six-year-old Robin Luo 7k, also made a strong showing, winning a special trophy in the under 12 division. Winners Report: 1st: Nathan Harwit 3d; 2nd: Luke Zhang 1d; 3rd: Matthew Harwit 4d; 4th: Erwen Yu 13k; Special Under 12: Robin Luo 7k; Newcomers Award: Lenny Den 18k.
- Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor; photo: Prize winners relax after their matches at the Boulder USYGC. From left to right: Erwen Yu, Luke Zhang, Robin Luo, Lenny Den; photo by Dave Weiss

SEATTLE GO CENTER BLOSSOMS AT FESTIVAL: The Seattle Go Center participated in the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival April 16-18, doing outreach to festival attendees all three days. “In the mornings we had time for a few 13×13 games among our volunteers, but on Saturday and Sunday afternoon it got very busy” reports Center Manager Brian Allen. The AGA-rated Cherry Blossom Tournament on Saturday April 17 “was a little bit larger than last year,” Allen reports, with 18 players. Ben Hakala won the Dan Section, Abe Taylor the First Kyu Section, Frank Brown the Second Kyu Section, and Job Betcher the Third Kyu Section. Job went on to win the Children’s 13×13 Handicapped the next day. Owen Gow placed 2nd, and Jordon Betcher placed 3rd in the youth tournament.
- photo by Brian Allen; volunteers Bill Thompson (l) and Sam Wilhide at the Cherry Blossom Festival

PRICE, WYNN, YOUNG & HOUSTON TOP SYRACUSE TOURNEY: Four players with identical 4-0 records topped the three divisions of the Salt City Go Tournament, held April 17 in Syracuse, NY. Gus Price 7d (at right, in photo) took the $200 top prize in the A division, while Peter Wynn 4k took first in B. Dan Young 18k and Meg Houston 29k, both playing in their first AGA tournament, tied atop the C division. 12-year old Yao Zhou 6d (left, playing Price) took the second-place $75 prize with a 3-1 record.
- Richard Moseson

TANG, DOLEV & QU TOP NORCAL TOURNEY: David Tang 2d led the dan division with a 3-0 result at the Bay Area Go Players Association's monthly ratings tournament in Palo Alto, CA, on April 10. Kfir Dolev 5k (r) and Larry Qu 6k each went 4-0 to top the kyu division. Anthony Chiang 2d earned an honorable mention for completing a whopping ten games, a dan division record. "Our flexible tournament format lets people play as many or as few official games as they like," explains tournament organizer Roger Schrag. Twenty-nine adults and children played, ranging from 24k to 5d, with eight of the 29 playing in their first tournament ever.

SUZUKI AYUMI 5P MAKES LG CUP SEMI-FINALS: Japan's Suzuki Ayumi (r) 5P made an impressive run in the LG Cup qualifying preliminaries, making it to the semifinals before being defeated by Korea's Heo Yeongho 7P on April 22. Earlier, she had defeated China's Gu Lingyi 5P in the second round and Korea's Moon Myeonggeun 9P in the third.
- based on reports on JustPlayGo

GODISCUSSIONS USERS MOVE TO NEW FORUM: Two grassroots efforts to replace the popular GoDiscussions.com forum - which has been plagued with technical issues in recent months - have resulted in a new home for go fans to discuss go topics online. When the GoDiscussions users decided on Wednesday to move to the new Life in 19×19 Forums Shodan Imports owner Chuck Thomas redirected all traffic from igodojo.org to Life in 19×19 Forums. "Let's get on with the endless arguments, pedantic nitpicking and good old fashioned grumpiness!"said "user CarlJung."
- Dennis Wheeler

HAL SMALL HOSTS SASAKI 8P AT DC WORKSHOP: Washington go organizer Hal Small is hosting a special 2-day workshop with Japanese professional Tadashi Sasaki 8P on May 15-16. "Those of you who attended last year's U.S. Go Congress already know that Sasaki-sensei is a fabulous teacher as well as a delightful person," says Small, "but what may come as a pleasant surprise is that this workshop will be free!" Small reports that the workshop is "a gift to the local DC area go community by the organizers of the past Go Congresses held in the DC area," and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, with preference given to DC-area players. Space is limited; contact Small soon if you would like to attend: haskell@haskellsmall.com

EUROPEAN NEWS BRIEFS: EURO GO CONGRESS SIGN-UP PASSES 300; TWO AMSTERDAM TOURNAMENTS: Sign-up for the European Go Congress - July 24 - August 8 in Tampere, Finland - has passed 300, including two Americans (Boris Bernadsky from Manhattan and Paul Bensen of Coral Gables FL). Two upcoming tournaments of note in Amsterdam are the free blitz tournament on April 29, May 1-2 and the 39th annual Amsterdam International Go Tournament, a major event in the Pandanet Go European Cup series, and will be held May 13-16. EUROPEAN GO DATABASE REACHES 500,000 GAMES EGD; the European Go Database, recently broke through the half-million game mark. It now lists 5,571 tournaments and 26,338 players. KACHANOVSKYJ WINS UKRAINIAN CHAMPIONSHIP YOUTH DIVISION: Artem Kachanovskyj 6d went undefeated in six rounds to win the Youth (under 25) division of the Ukrainian Championship, which was held April 16-18 in Kiev. OGP BEATS POGO FOR FINNISH TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: In the decisive fourth round, OGP defeated PoGo 3-1 to take first place in the Finnish Team Championship, held April 17-18 in Espoo, Finland. PEREZ NEW SEVILLA CHAMPION: Orestes Pérez 5k of Madrid became the lucky thirteenth Champion of Sevilla last weekend, sweeping all six rounds of the April 17-18 handicap tournament. Hakuba Kuwano 3d won the silver cup and local Luis Salgado 8k took bronze. 18-KYU LIBRONT SWEEPS IN BYDGOSZCZ: Local player Dawid Libront 18k became a club hero after a clean sweep of the full handicap tournament in Bydgoszcz, Poland held on Sunday, April 18. FANTI EDGES OUT MINIERI TO WIN IN FAENZA, SOLETTI UNDER HOUSE ARREST: Mirco Fanti 2k of Bologna earned an extremely close victory in the Primo Torneo A Faenza on Saturday, April 17 in Faenza, Italy. In other Italian go news, Javaness reports that Gionata Soletti, long-time FIGG (Italian Go Federation) Secretary - and organizer of two European Go Congresses - is under house arrest. Javaness cites Italian newspaper reports detailing allegations about Soletti's financial involvement with a politician who has pleaded guilty. DICKHUT WINS BADUK BOTSCHAFTER CUP IN BERLIN: Franz-Josef Dickhut 6d (l) went undefeated to win the Baduk Botschafter (Ambassador's) Cup held April 17 in Berlin, qualifying to participate in the Korea Prime Minister Cup later this year. SHIKSIN WINS IN MOSCOW, OGLOBIN IN KIROV: Reigning Russian Champion Ilya Shiksin 7d of Kazan won all five rounds at the Spring Youth Festival April 17-18 in Moscow. KARLSRUHE INCREASES LEAD IN GERMAN TEAM LEAGUES: Karlruhe increased their lead over runners-up Hamburg Hebsacker on April 15 in the penultimate round of the German Bundesliga (Team League). Hebsacker won on only one board of four, just enough to keep their hopes alive for a miracle next month. PACE GRABS GRAPPA IN ITALY; ANKARA UPDATE: Alessandro Pace 1k topped a field of 51 on March 27-28 at Yama no Kaze in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. Davide Minieri 3d took the silver. Full results from the Hacettepe University tournament in Ankara, Turkey, held in the same weekend, are now available.
- Peter Dijkema, EJ European Correspondent, reporting on EuroGoTV

GO QUIZ: Decisively Fundamental
A decisive 56% of you chose Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go as your favorite book, over Invincible (31%) and The Treasure Chest Enigma (13%). Many of you praised Kageyama's book both for its usefulness and its humor. Ilona Cripien thanked Felix Heisel for his recent German translation and its successful transportation of the wit of the original. Several of the Invincible fans pointed out that recent efforts by John Fairbairn - Kamakura and Final Summit - are "just as good". Brian Kirby suggested he might have chosen Treasure Chest, "if he could get ahold of it", while Nathan Schmitz commented "My most treasured wedding present. Thanks Keith" Sorry Brian, I happen to know you are already married. As for me, Invincible gets the nod, and I agree that the Fairbairn ten-game match series will be able to stand well beside it. For studying I must endorse my teacher Mr. Yang's books, Fundamental Principles and the Workshop Series. I also was surprised only one person mentioned James Davies excellent books - Life and Death, Tesuji and Attack and Defense.
37th ANYONE? Now that I have your attention I make my shameless plug for the 37th Maryland Open on May 29-30 in Baltimore. Please click here and register if you can make it and see if Daniel Chou can defend his title against Jie Li, Eric Lui and others. THIS WEEK’S QUIZ: The Maryland Champion this year will join Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi and Kato Masao....How? Click here to submit your answer.
- Keith Arnold

GO CLASSIFIED: SELL IT, BUY IT OR TRADE IT HERE with over 14,000 go-players worldwide! Classified ads are FREE and run for 4 weeks; email your ad to us now at journal@usgo.org

STUDENTS WANTED: Yuan Zhou 7d is currently accepting new students. He offers private lessons, group lessons in person or on the internet. If you are interested in becoming Yuan Zhou's student and/or taking lessons from him - especially if your rank is 9k and above - and if you are a serious go player who wants to learn, improve and enjoy go, contact him at yuan.zhou@zhouyuan.com or check out his website for more information. (4/26)
BOOK WANTED: Looking to buy a cheap copy of the Kiseido book "A Dictionary Of Modern Fuseki, The Korean Style". Contact soromon@gmail.com (4/26)
GO BOOKS FOR SALE: I am in charge of a huge library of books belonging to R.E. Mayo, who played go and taught students. I also have some books in Japanese that are not listed. It is my hope to sell some or all of these books to organizations or individuals who will continue to use and play the game. Arlene O. Consiglio aconsig@sbcglobal.net (4/26)
PLAYERS WANTED, Sewell, NJ: New club opening up at Gloucester County College, hopefully meeting on Wednesdays 2p. All ranks welcome. Club has many beginners and welcomes all ranks, even more newcomers. Good environment, and nice people. Come and join. E-mail if interested: darksensazn@gmail.com (4/19)
BOARDS FOR SALE: Five 9×9/13×13 reversible boards, ?" thick. Will give them all up for $5 plus shipping. Contact ai3131@yahoo.com for details. (4/12)
STUDENTS WANTED, Fremont, CA: Joey Hung AGA 8d offers KGS online Go lesson. Fast improvement, personalize lessons, long term lessons discount. Click here or email egogames@yahoo.com, 650-387-9422. (4/5)
PLAYERS WANTED: Worcester, MA: Looking for players in the worcester/ central Massachusetts area to start a go club in the area. Anybody interested should Email me at Ryan.Horner7@gmail.com (4/5)
FREE LEAGUE SOFTWARE: The software for the BGA league http://league.britgo.org is written in PHP and Perl and uses a MySQL database. It's available free of charge under the terms of the GNU GPL v3. Contact John Collins jmc@xisl.com for more information. (3/29)
PLAYERS WANTED: Ames, IA: The Cyclone Go Club is looking for more players and welcomes everyone, from beginners to pros. The club meets on Saturdays at 2 p.m. in the Jischke Honors Building on the Iowa State University Campus. Click here for more information. (3/29)
FOR SALE: One pair of Keyaki bowls, never used, in original box and packaging. Very nice. $100 plus shipping for the pair, photos available upon request. Email limulus@pacbell.net (3/29)
STUDENTS WANTED: The Atsumi Go School is looking for new students to teach over KGS. AGS offers private lessons, offline comments and a brand new service, study groups. Study groups hold weekly sessions with prepared material to study, play and learn for only $25/month. Limited space! For more information on schedules, prices, services, teachers and contact information, click here. (3/29)

Published by the American Go Association
Managing Editor: Chris Garlock
Assistant Editor: Bill Cobb
Website Editor: Gurujeet Khalsa
Games Editor: Myron Souris
Professionals: Yilun Yang 7P; Alexandr Dinerchtein 3P; Fan Hui 2P
Contributors: Paul Barchilon (Youth Editor); Lawrence Ku (U.S. West Coast Reporter); Brian Allen (U.S. West Coast Photographer); Keith Arnold (Go Quiz); Peter Dijkema (Dutch/European Correspondent); Marilena Bara (Romania/European Correspondent); Ian Davis (Ireland Correspondent); Jens Henker (Korea Correspondent); Nicholas Roussos (Cyprus Correspondent); Horatio Davis (Australia/New Zealand Correspondent).
Columnists: James Kerwin 1P; Kazunari Furuyama; Rob van Zeijst; Roy Laird; Peter Shotwell
Translations: Bob McGuigan (Japan)
Formatting: Adam Wright

Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source. PLEASE NOTE that commented game record files MAY NOT BE published, re-distributed, or made available on the web without the explicit written permission of the Editor of the E-Journal. Please direct inquiries to journal@usgo.org
Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the American Go Association