Number 120 Autumn 2000 Price £2.50

B R I T I S HGo J O U R N A L

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The cover shows the new colour poster, which is available from the BGA forpromotional uses by clubs. The poster is A4 with two A5 versions printed on theback making it useful for a variety of purposes from advertising your club meetingsin the local library to showing people the way to your tournament venue.Contact Tony Atkins, BGA Secretary, if you wish to make use of the poster.

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UK Tournament Results ~ Tony Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Council House ~ BGA Outreach Activities ~ Alison Bexfield . . . . . . . . . . 5Go Tutor ~ The 3–3 Point ~ edited by Charles Matthews . . . . . . . . . . . . 6In and Around the Cambridge Go Club ~ Tim Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Nakade and Ishi-no-Shita ~ The Basics of Nakade ~ Richard Hunter . . . . . 12Why Do We Make Bad Moves? ~ Part 7 ~ Denis Feldmann . . . . . . . . . . 18Council House ~ Anatomy of a Council Meeting ~ Tony Atkins . . . . . . . . 19A Pair of Problems for Pedants ~ Tim Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Guide to the BGA Web Site ~ The Club List ~ Nick Wedd . . . . . . . . . . . 21Pair Go 2000 ~ The Final ~ Matthew Macfadyen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Triumph of the Proverb ~ The Solution to the Problem from BGJ 119 . . . . . 23Diagonal Openings ~ Part 4 ~ Charles Matthews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24A Brit at the US Congress ~ Paul Barnard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Review ~ Lee Changho’s Novel Plays and Shapes ~ Matthew Macfadyen . . . 28A Problem of Status ~ Simon Goss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28‘L’ Group Article Correction ~ Richard Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Years Ago ~ Tony Atkins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32An Old Man’s Reminiscences ~ Francis Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Bamboo Joints in Semeais ~ How to Count the Liberties ~ Simon Goss . . . . 34Answers to Capturing Race Involving Ko (BGJ 119) ~ Richard Hunter . . . . 40A Pair of Problems for Pedants ~ Solutions ~ Tim Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . 42The Go Ranking System of Bruno Rüger ~ Franco Pratesi . . . . . . . . . . . 44The World Amateur Go Championship in Sendai ~ Charles Matthews . . . . . 46A Royal Postscript to the Guilin Trip ~ T Mark Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49The Prince of Go ~ Roger Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49British Go Championship Survey Revisited ~ Tim Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . 50AGM of the European Go Federation ~ Tony Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51European Go Congress 2000 at Strausberg ~ Francis Roads . . . . . . . . . . 52A Problem of Status ~ Solution ~ Simon Goss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54World Go News ~ Tony Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Small Ads and Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Forthcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59BGA Officials, Postal, e-mail and Web Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60UK Club Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Glossary of Go Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

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BRITISH GO JOURNAL NO 120 AUTUMN 2000 ~ CONTENTS

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UK TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Tony AtkinsBeck in Front36 players took part in the Barlow on 7thMay. This year the Cambridge venue movedto the CB2 Internet Bistro, on Norfolk Streeteast of the centre. The venue was definitelyadequate for a small event such as this, butthe main playing area had be evacuated fortwo hours at lunch time to allow the regularclientele to eat and there were definitelysome shady-looking characters hangingaround outside. The bottom graded playerswere separated out into their own group andPaul Smith organised a novices event duringthe morning. Best results in the top groupwere winner Phil Beck (2 kyu Cambridge)with 5/5, Andrew Spray (11 kyu Cambridge)with 4/5 and Joe Walker (9 kyu Cambridge)and Martin Cook (16 kyu York) both with3/3. As is the Barlow tradition no prizeswere awarded.

Kim’s Game63 players attended the BracknellTournament on 13th May, held for thesecond year running at Woosehill inWokingham. Unfortunately the WansteadPooh Sticks team were not there to defendtheir title, so the top side event was IanMarsh’s Go puzzle; David Denholm(6 kyu High Wycombe) not onlyanswered the Go questions correctlybut folded his answer sheet asrequired to win the puzzle prize.Getting his revenge on the other Mr.Kim for last year was the winner,Seong-June Kim (6 dan Cambridge).He beat Thornton, Moreno and Cannto win; Young Kim went down toMoreno in the first round. The onlyother player on 3/3 was John Rae (9 kyu Internet). All those winningtheir first two games were awardedprizes too: Des Cann (4 dan), JohnFairbairn (2 dan), Simon Butler

(1 dan), Steve Bailey (2 kyu West Surrey),Alexey Nemolovsky (2 kyu Ukraine), PaulJohnstone (8 kyu Twickenham), Steve Smith(12 kyu Winchester) and Simon Jones (18kyu Berks Youth). Nicola Hurden (12 kyuBerks Youth) won the continuous 13x13competition.

Goss-Emma Wins The British Pair Go Championships was heldat a very pleasant hotel in Boars Hill nearOxford on 21st May. The weather was sunnybut a cold wind was apt to blow through themarquee. However the attendance of thetenth championships was a bit disappointingthis time. 20 pairs took part, the top 8playing in the championship section. AsKirsty Healey was ill there was to be a newchampion as Matthew dropped to the handi-cap playing with daughter Lydia. AlsoAlison Bexfield had changed partner to hernew husband Simon, and Sue Paterson hadchanged to Geoff Kaniuk, so the field wasquite open. Maybe surprising as she is only8-kyu and still only 18, the new championwas Emma Marchant playing with her usualpartner Simon Goss (2 dan), also fromBracknell. Pairs winning two out of threewere Natasha Regan/Alex Selby, SallyPrime/Nick Wedd and Jackie Chai/FrancisRoads. Winners in the handicap section were

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Fred Holroyd and Jini Williams, the Best DressedPair, playing Elinor Brooks and France Ellul in theBritish Pair Go Championships

Photo:Tony A

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Fiona Campbell and Jim Edwards fromAylesbury (average 12 kyu). OrganisersElinor Brooks and France Ellul won 2/2. On 2/3 were the Youth Champions NicolaHurden/Shawn Hearn from Brakenhale,Epsom’s Yvonne/Paul Margetts andManchester’s Jill Segerman/Tony Pitchford.Garry White organised a 13x13 event wonby himself in a pair called Giraffes. JiniWilliams, in black dress with silver embell-ishments and Fred Holroyd, in tail-coat withwhite bow tie, were judged as the bestdressed pair and were presented with largefans by Roger and Jill, owners of theFoxcombe Lodge Hotel. Special prizes ofcolourful flowers and windmills for colour-ful costumes went to France Ellul, JackieChai and Lydia and Matthew Macfadyen. All the children, those playing for the firsttime (Annie Hall and Martin Hearn) and theNorwegian Jakobsen family were awardedspecial prizes.

Can Des?The Challenger’s League was held as an all-play-all over four days of the second MayBank Holiday. The venue was the FriendsMeeting House in Walthamstow and localclub Wanstead ran a beginners morning onthe Saturday. The last afternoon, theMonday, is reserved for play-offs (noneneeded this year) and all dayMatthew Macfadyen was on hand toanalyse some of the games, both forthe players and any other playerswho had come along. The finalscores in order were: Des Cann 7,Matthew Cocke 6, Young Kim 5,Alex Selby 3 (beat T.Mark, Johnand Alistair), T.Mark Hall 3 (John,Alistair and David), David Ward 2(Alex and Alistair), John Rickard 1(David) and Alistair Wall 1 (John).So Des Cann will challengeMatthew Macfadyen for the BritishChampion’s title, the games sched-uled for during the MSO in August.

Cann did A recent record of 74 players attended theLeicester Tournament, held as usual at theChurch of the Martyrs, on 10th June. Thisyear after a long absence the trophy turnedup, only to be won for the second yearrunning by Des Cann (4 dan); he beatNiculae Mandache (3 dan) in the final round.Those on 3/3 were Tony Atkins (2 danReading), Richard Thompson (5 kyuLeicester), Natasha Regan (5 kyu Epsom),Matthew Selby (6 kyu Epsom), SatokoTakami (6 kyu Birmingham), MalcolmWalker (8 kyu Worcester) and Chris White(25 kyu Berks Youth). Best team was Epsomwith 83.3 percent. Winner of the 13x13 wasGarry White (14 kyu Berks Youth) with 8wins, and second was Nicola Hurden (12 kyu Berks Youth). The first entry prizewent to Tony Atkins; Garry Beman tried toclaim the prize for 2001 as soon as the 2000award was announced.

Canoe Guo Only nine women attended the Women’sTraining Weekend this year, seeminglybecause of pressure from other events (tenwomen attended Barmouth the followingweekend); no juniors were present this year.However the ever popular Guo Juan wasflown in from the Netherlands especially forthe event which was held in a very delightful

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Jackie Chai and Jill Segerman play in thesunshine of the Ladies Weekend

Photo:Tony A

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location. Matthew Macfadyen and KirstyHealey had just moved from Leamington tothe village of Barford, further down theRiver Avon. In fact the house is right by theAvon with its own landing stage and bridgeto an island, leading up to a weir. This meantcamping, swimming, rowing and canoeingwere available, though for those with hayfever the cows in the fields opposite stirringup the grass seed was not too helpful. Evenso the weekend was almost non-stop Go,despite such distractions as England beatingGermany at football. As usual, Guo’s helpfuladvice encouraged everyone and she showedthat she knew how to canoe. The Eva WilsonGo Ban was won by Natasha Regan.

Matt Finish 52 players attended the 8th Welsh Open inBarmouth on 24th and 25th June. Thedelight of a weekend on the beautiful westWelsh coast, was made even better this yearby some of the best weather for years. Aswell as fish and chips, ice-cream, seagullsand sand there were of course the gamesevenings in the Tal-Y-Don and the fiveround tournament too. Winner as always wasMatthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington),making it eight straight. The next placeswent to Toby Manning (3 dan Leamington),Simon Goss (2 dan Bracknell) and RuudStoelman (2 dan Bradford). On 4/5 were:Richard Moulds (4 kyu Manchester),Natasha Regan (4 kyu Epsom), EmmaMarchant (8 kyu Berks Youth), Gary Beman(10 kyu Leamington), Shawn Hearn (11 kyuBerks Youth) and Stephen Streater (17 kyuEpsom). Both Kirsty Healey (1 danLeamington) and Elinor Brooks (6 kyuSwindon) won 3.5/5.

Bailey’s Comments The first Fuseki Follow-On ExperimentalTournament was hosted on 8th July by SteveBailey at his house in Guildford. The ideawas for up to ten 1 and 2 kyus to play atournament where each game started with aposition from part way through a game

started by two pros, each playing twice asBlack and twice as White. In the end 7players took part in this free entry event andit proved quite interesting. The winner wasJimmy Mao (Bristol) with 4/4, second JackieChai (Bournemouth) and third Wenbo Mao(Bristol).

Is Wuge Huge? 22 players converged on EdinburghUniversity’s Pollock Halls for the 9thScottish Open, the first back in Edinburghafter 3 years in Glasgow. It was held on 15thand 16th July, due to the lack of an availableorganiser on the traditional May weekend.Several met up on the Friday at HowardManning’s house, where there seemed to bemore discussion of the likes of shogi thanactual Go playing. The tournament venueproved to be excellent and the weather waskind also. There was no time to climbadjacent Arthur’s Seat unless you missed around, but post-game analyses tended to takeplace outside. Nine players enjoyed aninexpensive Saturday evening meal, punctu-ated by liar dice, at a nearby Chinese beforerepairing to the Pollock bar. 15 playersattended from outside Scotland, includingAustralian student Wuge (pronounced Woo-gay) Briscoe, entered as 6 dan. FrancisRoads (4 dan) could not beat Wuge, butQuentin Mills (3 dan) was obviously encour-aged by being back on his old student turf ashe beat Wuge (on move 5 according to thelatter), and also beat Francis, to finish with aperfect 6; he claimed the bottle of Aberlouras a reward. Wuge had to settle for 5/6 andFrancis for 4/6, both getting a bottle of wine.Roger Daniel (3 kyu London) also got 4wins and a box of chocolates. DonaldMacLeod was encouraged by his first attemptat directing Go (as opposed to Scrabble);enough to want to do it again next year,though possibly with only 5 rounds, as thisyear, folk started to drift off to catch trainsinstead of playing the last round, followedby a lightning.

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The BGA’s strategy for the year 2000includes a section on outreach. This isperhaps the most important part of our activities, as without new members we willhave no Association in the future.

The objectives I set under this section for theyear included the following:

! expand the youth schools programme! encourage and support local club based

development plans! develop local press coverage of

tournaments;! target MSO 2000; introducing

new people to Go! liaise with other mind sports on

joint publicity

Youth developmentFollowing the successful visit of YukiShigeno in 1999, Simon Goss set up aschools programme. But in order to expandthis he still requires people to contact him toprovide an introduction to suitable schools.Ideally, we need some local Go playing in thearea already for this approach to bear fruit.

Local activities – a new modelI write elsewhere in this journal about theimportance of keeping local clubs going.Although there are large parts of the UKwithout adequate Go coverage, we need tobe realistic about what we can achieve.Local publicity works best where an existingclub is available to welcome prospectivenew members. Therefore I think we shouldfocus our efforts this year on areas withexisting clubs. If we can develop a model toimprove attendance at existing clubs we canlater look at seeding new ones.

Organising publicity for its own sake is diffi-cult. I believe however that we can combineit with the third objective on my list which isto publicise local tournaments.

To this end we are running an experimentalWanstead tournament in October. The idea isthat the tournament itself will be self financ-ing and provide a venue that can also beused for introducing local people to thegame of Go. We will be targeting the localpapers, libraries and newsgroups a fewweeks in advance of the tournament toadvertise the ‘open day’. Many local papersprovide a regular feature on clubs in the areaand we hope that such an event is likely toprovide the stimulus for an article on thelocal Go club, together with publicity for theopen day. The tournament will then providesome news for a follow up article. (On amore practical note, the tournament alsoprovides something of interest during theday for the organisers if no one turns up tothe open day.)

If the day proves a success then we hope itwill provide a model that can be used atother tournaments around the country.Meanwhile, should any tournament organiserwish to follow this model then the BGA willbe happy to assist by providing advice onwhat activities to arrange for the open dayand on how to publicise these.

Targeting the games playing populationWe are also putting significant effort into ouroutreach activities at the Mind SportsOlympiad this year. We will be holdingformal ‘Introduction to Go’ sessions, provid-ing starter Go sets to people attending these,as well as informal teaching throughout theevent. I am grateful to all those who haveoffered to help with the teaching standduring the week. The MSO 2000 provides anopportunity to spread knowledge of Go toother games players, a population who maybe more receptive to the game than thegeneral UK population, whilst also attractingnational media attention.

COUNCIL HOUSE ~ BGA OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

Alison Bexfield – BGA President alison@acjamj.demon.co.uk

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The important lines in theopening are the third andfourth lines. A stone on thesecond line is too close tothe edge and does not takeenough territory. A stone on the fifth line istoo far from the edge,although it is playable incertain situations. Of thethree plays thus madeobvious candidates for start-ing in the corner, here welook at the 3–3 point (theothers being the 4–4 pointand 4–3 point).The play at the 3–3 pointaims solely at making terri-tory. You can approach itfrom the side, as you wouldexpect from the first part ofthe chapter. You can alsopress down on it by playingat the 4–4 point.

The pressing move or‘shoulder-hit’ is shown inDiagram 1.

Up to 6 is a commonsequence and one canexpect something similar toarise. A useful lesson can belearned by comparing it toDiagram 2, where Blackplays first at the 4–4 pointand White invades at 3–3.

The difference made by firstplay with the 3–3 and 4–4points is quite substantial:sente is important. Sente (said ‘sentay’) is akey Japanese Go term. Tohave sente is to hold theinitiative. With it you canchoose your next playfreely. Without it you haveto answer your opponent’splay (gote, said ‘gohtay’).

GO TUTOR ~ THE 3–3 POINT

edited by Charles Matthews charles@sabaki.demon.co.uk

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We will use the environment of the MSO tocontinue building links with other mind sportsto explore ways in which we can developinterest in these types of leisure activity. Thecampaign to gain rights for mind sports toapply for lottery money had a set back withthe appointment of the new Sports Minister.An Early Day motion was in fact tabled,which has the backing of about 40 Membersof Parliament and which refers to a desire toprogress this campaign. We encouragemembers to target their MPs to ensure thatthey add themselves to the backers of thismotion. However progress beyond an EarlyDay motion is likely to be slow.

Women’s Training and Social WeekendKirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyenagain proved excellent hosts for this event,which moved to Barford this year.Attendees were able to enjoy a beautifulriver bank setting, combining teachingfrom Guo Juan with a relaxed tournamentand social activities. As always I cameaway inspired to play better Go. It waspleasing to see so many of the attendeespresent for the Barmouth tournament thefollowing weekend. Natasha Regan wonthe handicap tournament and now holds theprize Go ban for a year.

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Notice how much more scope forfuture development White has inDiagram 1, for example with a playat A which might come immedi-ately, and also the effectiveness ofthe Black wall in Diagram 2. In Diagram 1 Black has no terri-tory and not much influence.However, Black has restricted thesize of White’s potential territoryby taking advantage of the lowposition of the white stone.White could equally have pushedthe other way, playing 3 on theother 4–3 point, and produced aresult pointing in the other direc-tion. Which orientation Whiteshould choose depends on someconsideration of the positions onother parts of the board.

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Go Tutor is based on articles byToby Manning, David Jones, David Mitchell and T.Mark Hall.

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Typical approaches to the3–3 point from the side areshown in Diagrams 3 and 4.Both lines are of the ‘Whiteextends, Black extends’variety – no pincers. Thepincer tactic tends not towork well with the 3–3point. You could say that apincer is an aggressivemove, while the 3–3 pointis a defensive, territorialmove. The use of a pincerhas an inconsistent feel.However, as usual in Go,there are no hard and fastrules. Positions can beconstructed where a pincerwould be an ideal move.

Diagram 5 shows a wholeboard situation. Pleaseconsider: (i) Black to playin the upper left corner; (ii) White to play in theupper right corner; (iii)White to play in the lowerright corner; (iv) White toplay in the lower leftcorner. The answers tothese problems are givenoverleaf.

In summary: The 3–3 pointtakes secure territory with asingle move but this advan-tage is a trade off against alack of developmenttowards the centre.

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BLACK PLAYS IN THEUPPER LEFT CORNER

Black must play the 4–4point. The white stonessitting on the fourth linewould deny Black a properextension after an approachmove. If something likeDiagram 1 resulted Blackwould be happy to build aposition inside White’sframework. Instead Whitemight like to improvise: forexample play as in Diagram6, with a chance to attack.

Black then has a weakgroup, but has invadeddeeply in White’s area, andcannot realistically expectmore. If White had played afourth stone in this corner,Black would have found itmuch harder to invade.The sequence of Diagram 6is not ‘book’, not a setjoseki, but is shown as acase in which home-madeor improvised plays mightbe desirable.

WHITE PLAYS IN THEUPPER RIGHT CORNER

White 1 in Diagram 7combines an extension fromthe three white stones on theright side with an approachto the black stone in thecorner.

In reply Black will probablyplay at 2. If instead Blackplays A then White at Bseems to work well. If itwere Black to play in thiscorner he could play near Cto extend from the cornerstone whilst attacking thethree white stones.

WHITE PLAYS IN THELOWER RIGHT CORNER

Black is strong on the lowerright side. White shouldcome in at the bottom, with1 in Diagram 8. A simplecontinuation is shown (not apincer). It may be temptingfor White to play around A,with the idea of attackingthe three black stones

above. But after Black playsat B there is no good contin-uation for White, and onegets the impression it isWhite who is under attackrather than Black.

WHITE PLAYS IN THELOWER LEFT CORNER

White should play at 1 inDiagram 9, enclosing thecorner and preparing topincer the black stone in themiddle of the lower side.

After White 1, White canpincer at B if Black plays atA. Moving White 1 to thepoint C would allow Blacka good play at D.

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GO TUTOR ~ THE 3-3 POINT

Whole board problem answers

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IntroductionAt recent council meetings we’ve discussedwhat should go into the revised version ofthe BGA Organisers Handbook. We felt thatit would be good to include some example ofthings that some Go clubs do that other clubsmight like to copy. To this end, several of uswere invited to go away and write aboutwhat happens at our local Go club. I wouldlike to point out that these are things thathappen to work for us in Cambridge. Forexample, Cambridge has tried several timesto establish a club ladder without success.This is a bit of a mystery to me. Perhapssomeone from a club with a successfulladder scheme would like to explain howthey make it work.

To start with the broad outline, CambridgeGo Club has about 90 members. It is a jointUniversity and City club. During theUniversity term we meet on Tuesdayevenings one of the colleges. These meetingstend to attract upward of twenty players(perhaps fewer during the summer termbecause of exams), fairly evenly spread fromtotal beginners to dan strength. The othermain meeting is on Thursday evenings in thecoffee bar of the University Centre, thebuilding in which the Trigantius tournamenthas been held in most recent years. If onewas looking to draw a distinction, this ismore of a ‘town’ meeting. Typically thereare ten to fifteen of the stronger playersthere, ranging from about 10 kyu to danlevel. There are also two, more informalmeetings each week; Friday evenings in aninternet cyber-cafe called CB1 on Mill Road.and on Monday evening a few people meetin a pub, the Alexandra Arms.

These are things that we do that I hope youfind interesting: each Tuesday meeting startswith thirty minutes of teaching; the club hasa library of Go books which members can

borrow; on the last Tuesday evening of eachterm we run a fun tournament called theSonoyama Competition; and in order to havereached a membership of 90, it seems thatwe must be doing something right in termsof publicity.

TalksThe talks at the start of each Tuesdaymeeting started as a series of four introduc-tory talks for beginners at the beginning ofthe academic year. Roughly these cover,week 1: the rules; week 2: two eyes equalslife; week 3: ladders and nets; week 4: whatto do at the start of the game. These talksproved popular so they keep going. All itreally needs is someone who is prepared tostand up in front of everyone else and not beafraid of making a fool of themselves. Oftenit is Charles Matthews, I have done it myselfoccasionally too. Of course you don’t end uplooking foolish but that does not stop itbeing quite a scary thing to do.

The way it works is that the club has amagnetic demonstration board, and either wehang it on the wall and all sit round in asemi-circle, or we lay it on a table and allgather round it to make suggestions. Thissecond method works well when we aregoing through somebody’s game. That is oneof the easier ways of getting something totalk about. If someone from the club has justbeen to a tournament then we might gothrough one of the games they played anddiscuss it.

Another easy sort of talk is to go throughsome problems out of a book. Charles has abit of a Japanese Go book-buying habit andoften he will bring one along to the club toshare with us. One of the most memorablewas an entire book full of atari problems.Another was all about positions where thecorrect answer was a two-space extension

IN AND AROUND THE CAMBRIDGE GO CLUB

Tim Hunt t.j.hunt@open.ac.uk

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along the third line – but which two-spaceextension? Experience shows that for thissort of talk you should prepare in advance ashortlist of the problems you plan to use.Of course the best talks are usually the oneswhere someone has prepared something toteach. We have had a run of a few talksabout the various extensions on the side andwhere their weak points are. In a slightlydifferent vein I once tried to demonstratehow easy it is to count to see who is winningduring a game. By having the talks at thestart of the meeting we make it possible forpeople who are not interested to miss thetalks entirely and turn up at 8:00pm whenthe games of Go start.

LibraryI suppose that having a club library largelyspeaks for itself. Physically it is a plastic boxof books that comes along to each Tuesdaymeeting. The library tends to be concen-trated around beginner and intermediatelevel on the theory that anyone who reachesdan level will be obsessed enough to buytheir own copy of the Ishida JosekiDictionary, etc.Getting people to borrow the books is noproblem at all, the tricky part is gettingthem back. For this reason we have ‘clublibrarian’ as a separate post. This turnsout to be a good way to entice newpeople onto the committee; it is not a bigjob and there is the incentive of having acomplete set of the Elementary Go Serieson your book-shelf most of the time. I speak from experience because that ishow I started on the committee. A gooduse for spare club funds, say profit from atournament, is to buy new books. Sort ofre-circulating the cash through the BGAbook shop.SonoyamaOur end of term Sonoyama Competitionsstarted in 1992, and the format has stayedvirtually the same throughout. To start with

some history. Dr Sonoyama used to visit theHitachi Labs in Cambridge from time totime and would look to the Cambridge GoClub to provide some opposition. He gave usa trophy for a club competition. The formatthat has evolved is to play six rounds on13x13 boards with 10 minutes sudden deathtime limits. This fits neatly into an evening,starting at 7:30 and finishing at about10:30pm, just in time to nip down to thecollege bar for last orders.The competition is played with handicaps.The first ten or so events were played withthe BGA recommended handicap system andwere almost all won by dan players. Theshort time limits seem to help the strongerplayers. Then Charles Matthews won threetimes in a row and decided that somethingreally ought to be done so he invented amuch tougher handicap system. The newsystem works very well. For example it hasproduced a three-way tie between a 17 kyu,a 4 kyu (me!) and a 2 dan (I lost that one onthe tie-break), and in the last Sonoyamatournament I had a 10 stone game that I lostby 1 point and an 11 stone game that I wonby 1 point!

! Grade H’cap Komi ! Grade H’cap Komi0 1 6 15 7 61 1 2 16 7 22 2 8 17 8 83 2 4 18 8 44 2 0 19 8 05 3 6 20 9 66 3 2 21 9 27 4 8 22 10 88 4 4 23 10 49 4 0 24 10 0

10 5 6 25 11 611 5 2 26 11 212 6 8 27 12 813 6 4 28 12 414 6 0 29 12 0

The Cambridge 13x13 handicap system

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PublicitySo how has the Cambridge Go Clubmanaged to grow to its present size? It hasbeen a fairly gradual process. I suppose thatto start with Cambridge has a higher thanaverage proportion of the sort of people whotend to join Go clubs. But they won’t jointhe Go club if they don’t know it is there.Good publicity is key. This does not have tobe anything dramatic, in fact persistence isprobably more important.

We have a club web site that has broughtseveral people to the club. We produceposters – a position from a professionalgame and a list of meeting details photo-copied onto paper of a suitably lurid colour.Members are encouraged to take these awayand pin them up on any notice-board theyhave access to. Cambridge library producesa list of things that happen locally and weget ourselves put in there each year.Similarly we get put into the CambridgeEvening News guide section.

One should not overlook the publicity gainedsimply by playing Go in a public place; of course different venues attract differentsorts of people and playing in a noisy,smoky cafe has its disadvantages. Ourmeetings in the University Centre and CB1sometimes arouse interest and occasionallyproduce a new member.

This seems to be a feature of publicity initia-tives. Perhaps 100 people see one of ourposters, 90 of them look straight through it,nine think ‘Oh! a Go club, that looks inter-esting’, and one actually comes along to ameeting and may end up as a member. Youhave to sift through a lot of people beforeyou find someone with the good taste to joina Go club. Let’s try to quantify this: thereare about 70 million people in the countryand 700 members of the BGA, that is 1 in100,000. There are 100,000 people living inCambridge and about 100 members of theCambridge Go Club – 1 in 1000.

We also have a big drive at the start of eachacademic year to recruit the new intake ofstudents. And sometimes there are otherevents at which we can run a stand and giveout leaflets. Finally look out for specialevents which might attract the local press.We aim to get into the paper once a yearwith a decent story. The last attempt wasYuki’s visit.

Once you have persuaded people to comealong to your club the next important thingis to persuade them to come back. It issometimes difficult to remember that noteveryone is as obsessed by Go as oneself.They might be happy just to play once amonth. There are some quite routine thingsto try but they do require someone to makethe effort. Keeping a proper address list ofall members and sending them a newsletterregularly keeps them aware of the club’sexistence. In Cambridge we have six excusesfor a newsletter each year. One at the start ofeach term saying ‘Tuesday meetings arestarting again at …’ and one at the end ofeach term saying ‘The last meeting of theterm is … and by the way this is our compe-tition night.’ To fill up the rest of a sheet ofA4 paper folded in half to make a pamphlet,we give contact details of the committee, afew problems or a game record and membersresults in tournaments they have been to.

Perhaps more important is the human touch.Talk to the people who turn up to your club!Remember their name from one week to thenext (not something I am good at but I cando it if I make the effort. Offer them a lift ifyou are driving to a tournament. Findsuitable opponents for them, even if it meansyou have to wait for a game yourself. Youmay find it a bit of a bore explaining thefundamentals of Go to someone today but ina few years time they may be patientlyexplaining the game to another newcomer.That surely is what we are trying to achieve.

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Nakade is mentioned in severalEnglish Go books, but I think there’sstill room for an easier-to-understandpresentation. Graded Go Problems hasmany fine examples that you can studyduring or after this series but they’rearranged in terms of difficulty ratherthan being intended to teach thetechniques or concepts involved. Lifeand Death by James Davies covers thebasics but it’s tough going for kyuplayers and many British dan playerswho have read it still have an incompletegrasp of the subject. In this series, I hope togive a clear and methodical treatment, alongsimilar lines to my previous series on count-ing liberties.

Three-point eye-spacesA three-point eye-space (Diagram 1A) is thesmallest eye-space that can be divided intotwo separate eyes. If White plays in the

middle with 1 in Diagram 1B, he lives.Black 1 in Diagram 1C, played at the centralpoint of the three-point eye-space (three-point nakade), kills the white group. This isthe starting point for understanding nakade.There are only two possible shapes that athree-space eye can have. The three

surrounded points can be arranged in astraight line, as in Diagram 1A, or in a bentshape as in Diagram 2A. All other three-point eye-shapes are rotations or mirrorimages of these two. Diagrams 2B and 2Cshow how White can live and Black can kill.Thus all the possible three-point eye-spacesare unsettled; life or death depends on whoplays first.

Diagram 3 shows a slightly morecomplicated position, which mightoccur in a real game. The nakade ofBlack 1 is fatal. As Diagram 3ashows, there’s nothing that White cando. Eventually, when all the outsideliberties are filled, Black will be ableto play 1, putting White in atari.

NAKADE AND ISHI-NO-SHITA ~ PART ONE: THE BASICS OF NAKADE

Richard Hunter hunter@gol.com

" 1

1 1

A B C

" 2

1

A

B C

1

" 3

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Diagram 4: A three-point eye-spaceoften arises from the capture of threestones. Here, when the outside libertiesare filled, White will be in atari, so hecaptures the three black stones with 1in Diagram 4a. However, this does notmake White alive. Black 2 kills him.The three black stones in Diagram 4are known as a killing shape or nakadeshape because they lead to nakade.

Four-point eye-spacesDiagram 5: There are two killable four-pointeye-shapes. The square eye-shape on the leftis dead as it stands. White cannot make twoeyes with only a single move. The pyramidshape on the right is unsettled. The centralpoint (A) is the vital point for both sides.

Diagram 6: The three other four-point eye-shapes are all alive as they stand. They’rethe ‘straight four’, the ‘dogleg four’, and the‘bent four’. While the ‘straight three’ isunsettled, all longer straight shapes are aliveprovided the walls are free of defects. Thefour-point eye-shape in the middle of

Diagram 6 doesn’t seem to have a standardname in English. I propose calling it the‘dogleg four’, which I think describes itwell, but if anyone comes up with a bettername, let me or the BGJ editor know as thisshape will appear often in this series.

Diagram 7 shows that Black cannot kill thebent four. If Black plays inside with 1, Whitelives with 2. Similarly, Black 2 would beanswered at White 1.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that allbent-four shapes in the corner are equivalent.For further reading on bent four in thecorner, look at James Davies’ Life and Deathand Richard Bozulich’s Get Strong at Lifeand Death.

13

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A

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There’s a special set of positionscalled ‘bent four in the corner’,which we’ll discuss (briefly) later.This depends on the specialproperties of the corner andrequires both 2–1 points to beinvolved in the eye-shape. That’snot the case in the right corner ofDiagram 6.

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A bent four can be killed if you can contriveto play two moves inside. This could happenif the white group is missing the stone on theright edge. In Diagram 7a, Black 1 threatensto connect out with 2, so White blocks at 2himself. Now Black can play 3, killing thewhite group.

When all the outside liberties are filled.Black will be able to play a third moveinside the white group, putting White inatari. The final result will be three-pointnakade. Another way to play two stonesinside a four-point eye-space is if youropponent does not answer your first move.This could happen if your first move is a kothreat and your opponent ignores it in orderto end the ko.

Five-point eye-spaces

Five-point eye-spaces come in manyarrangements. Most of them are alive; onlytwo are unsettled. The five-point eye inDiagram 8 can be killed by a Black move atA (five-point nakade). Similarly, White can

live by playing A. The shape in Diagram 8 isa four-point square with one extra point.This is the most compact five-point shapeand is known by various names. One name

is the ‘bulky five’. Some people call it thegun shape, because when this shape isinverted, the extra point looks like the barrelof a gun.The other killable five-point eye-space is thecross in Diagram 9. A White play at A makesfour eyes, but a Black play here reducesWhite to only one eye.

Six-point eye-spacesDiagram 10: Only one six-point eye-space isunsettled. This shape is known to many Goplayers as ‘Rabbitty Six’ after James Davies’Life and Death. The Japanese name for it isflower six. You can use any name you likethat helps you to remember it. One name Ifind very useful, which I encountered in a

Japanese book, is ‘cross plus one’. It’s basedon the five-point cross in Diagram 9 withthe addition of one corner point. Everyunsettled eye-shape is constructed by addingone more vacant point to an unsettled eye-space that is one point smaller. Although Ilike to use the name ‘Rabbitty Six’ whendiscussing Go with other players, I find theshape rather hard to visualise. So I justequate the name ‘Rabbitty Six’ with theshape ‘cross plus one’.

" 7a

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3

" 8

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" 9

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AA

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Summary of nakade shapesDiagram 11 summarises the nakade shapes.These are essential shapes that you shouldmemorise. If you can almost fill youropponent’s eye-space with one of theseshapes, then when the outside liberties arefilled, he’ll be in atari and will have tocapture your stones. This will leave anunsettled shape that you can kill with a moveat the central point (marked with a triangle).

Note there’s one killing shape, the squarefour, that when captured leaves an eye-shapethat is dead as it stands, so there’s no needfor you to play back inside. Notice inDiagram 11 how each nakade shape can bemade by adding one stone to one or more ofthe smaller shapes. The four-stone pyramidcan be made by adding a stone to either thestraight-three or the bent-three. The four-stone square can only lead to one five-stoneshape, while the four-stone pyramid can leadto both five-stone nakade shapes.Diagram 12: Here’s some shape recognitionpractice. The white group on the left is dead.The position will end up as four-pointnakade. The four black stones inside White’seye are a nakade shape or killing shape.

When the outside liberty is filled, White willbe in atari. But capturing the black four-stone pyramid will leave a killable shape.With his next move, Black plays inside atthe central point.The white group on the right in diagram 12is alive. The four black stones inside White’seye are not a killing shape. When Whitecaptures this dogleg-four shape, he’ll be leftwith a live eye-shape.

Diagram 13: White has a six-point eye-spacewith three black stones inside it. What’s thestatus of White’s group? To kill White,Black will need to add two more stones toalmost fill White’s eye. Can Black make afive-stone killing shape?Yes, he can. Playing 1 and 3 in Diagram 13amakes a bulky five and White will end updying by five-point nakade. White 2 playselsewhere since adding a stone inside willjust lead to a smaller nakade.Black must be careful not to play 3 inDiagram 13b (overleaf). That isn’t a killingshape. If you’re worried about making amistake like that, then play 3 first inDiagram 13a. Then you can play either ofthe remaining vacant points; neither of them

15

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" 12

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can fail. In practice, however, you don’tneed to play any moves at all. In Diagram13, the white group is dead as it stands andcan be removed at the end of the game. Youonly need to play 1 and 3 in Diagram 13a if the outside black stones get cut and threatened.

Diagram 14: This position is similar toDiagram 13. Black can almost fill White’seye-space with a nakade shape, by addingtwo more stones. The result is the same asDiagram 13a. The key difference herethough is that the position in Diagram 14 isunsettled.

If White plays 1 in Diagram 14a, he lives (inseki). Black can only put White into atari bymaking a non-nakade shape, for examplewith 1 in Diagram 14b.

When White captures with 2 in Diagram 14c,he’s left with a live bent-four eye-space.After playing 1 in Diagram 14a, White mustnot add any more stones inside his own eyeto try and capture the black stones. Thatwould be suicidal, but it’s a misconceptionthat even dan players have been observed tosuffer from.Another common misconception is for Blackto think that he’s killed White in Diagram14a because the three black stones are anakade shape. White is not dead becausehe’s not in atari. When there are two or morevacant liberties, you haven’t ‘almost filled’the eye-space. This is an important concept,so take time to understand it thoroughly.

More shape recognition practiceDiagram 15: Here are two white groups withfive-point eye-spaces containing a blackstraight three. Can Black almost fill White’seye with a killing four-stone shape?

16

" 14

" 14a

1

" 14b

1

" 14c

12

" 15 Dead or alive?

" 13b

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3

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Diagram 16: Bent threes. What is the status of eachwhite group?

Diagram 17: Bent threes with three vacant liberties. Can Black make a five-point nakade?

Diagram 18: Two slightly harder positions to test you. Are these white groups dead or alive?The answers for diagrams 15 to 18 are given on page 43.

" 16 Dead or alive?

" 17 Dead or alive?

" 18 Dead or alive?

SummaryBoth the three-point eye-spacesare unsettled. Two of the four-point eye-spaces are killable; the other three are alive. Two ofthe many five-point eye-spaces are unsettled; the others are alive.Only one six-point eye-space isunsettled; the others are alive.Adding a stone inside your owneye can sometimes prevent youropponent from making a nakadeshape.

ProblemProblem 1 is a typical life anddeath problem taken from a book.Black to play and kill the whitegroup.

The answer to this problem willbe discussed in the next journal.Look at the hint given on page 43if you find it difficult.

Problem 1

THE MONKEY JUMP THE HANDICAP

by Henry Segerman

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When a player tries to make an objectiveassessment of a situation, a whole range ofcharacteristics is revealed:Optimism: ‘I’ve got a winning positionanyway’. This is a common fault in Blackplaying with a handicap, who forgets that ofcourse he has an initial advantage and thatthe problem is not in knowing whether it isbeing maintained but whether it is decreas-ing too fast!Pessimism: ‘I’ll lose anyway if there’s afight’. An interesting variation consists intrying to keep more and more comfortablemargins for error in the middle game for fearof the yose.Too much trust in theory: ‘Is there such athing?’ says F, our rash dan player, ‘He’splayed a ridiculous move, I don’t have tothink hard any more to win.’ Oh yes you do!That play has only cost him a few points –see the series by Ishida in Go World, ‘Whatis the Cost of Bad Moves?’ – and even themost sophisticated theory doesn’t dispensewith counting and analysis.Contempt for one’s opponent: ‘What ismine is mine, what is yours we’ll share.’Some players concentrate on one aspect ofthe game, neglecting and despising the rest.There are the aesthetes, in love with beauti-ful shape. It is as well to remember that thebeauty of Go is subordinate to efficiency –theoretical – and that, ‘In the yose, shapedisappears’ (Lim Yoo Jong).These players get annoyed when theiropponent starts a fight and count any game amoral victory for them if they consider theyhave played more good moves than theiropponent.There are the ‘brilliant’ players, with theirinnumerable tesujis, who find the banal (andwinning) move repugnant. F is at their head,

but, as we have seen, he loses interest in agame as soon as he has played ‘his’ move,and loses it again a few plays later: ‘Likethat, I have the opportunity of playingseveral spectacular moves in each game’. Itmust be said in his defence that his love ofspectacle would almost lead him to give hisopponent the opportunity to prove hisbrilliance too.

There are all sorts of examples of lack oftheoretical balance. There are players whodo not believe in influence (not everyone is aTakemiya); even those who are in love withthe yose – ‘I knew perfectly well that I was30 points behind, but I carried on because Ilike to play the yose out right to the end’ – agenuine confidence from a French playerwho shall be nameless.

In conclusion, one must remember that Go isthe game of balance par excellence; thatwinning by one point is worth as much (or iseven better) than winning by 50 and that,furthermore, the gain from being first to playis unlikely to exceed 5 to 7 points; thatsymmetrical play is there to remind us thatby playing balanced moves one may lose,but probably by little (and have not somepeople, pushing the argument for symmetryto the limit, thought that they could deducethat the only good first move is on the centrepoint, in order not to disturb the initialbalance?); that it is the Chess player whowants the (symbolic) death of his opponent.As for the Go player, he ‘does not wish thedeath of the sinner, but only that he shouldrepent and live’ (on a small scale), toparaphrase Isaiah – the Old Testament is fullof useful moral advice; and that, althoughone plays to win, a draw has always beenconsidered as a good omen, and generallybrings equal happiness to both players!

WHY DO WE MAKE BAD MOVES?PART 7: MORE ON LACK OF OBJECTIVITY

Denis FeldmannTranslated by Brian Timmins and first published in the Revue Française de Go.

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For many years the BGA Council Meetingagenda had a structure that went: Apologies,Accuracy, Happenings, Tournaments,Matters Arising, and then one or two majortopics (such as Youth or European GoCongress) were occasionally added to theend. Most things came up under MattersArising and generally the agenda was notpublished in advance as it was nearly alwaysthe same. For a newcomer to Council thiswas clearly confusing and not a very satis-factory way of doing things. So a newsystem was adopted. At ICL a few yearsbefore, a system had been devised whereprojects were divided up into sections suchas Customer, Quality, Environmental and soon; a natural extension of this was to runmeetings around an agenda with the samestructure.

For the work of the BGA Council thisseemed to give rise to five sections: AAdministration, B Tournaments, C PlayerDevelopment, D Membership Services, EOutreach. Within the appropriate sectionthere is a subsection for each regular BGAactivity and space for extra agenda items tobe added. Gone are the long lists ofoutstanding actions and it is clear that ifthere is something to discuss on the newslet-ter, say, then it is discussed in the newslettersubsection. However as the ABCDE order-ing makes it seem that Outreach is the leastimportant, it is often that the sections aretaken in a different order so that timeconstraints do not mean a squeeze ondiscussing important items towards the endof a typical three hour Council Meeting.

Recently section E has featured discussionson several ways of increasing popularity ofGo. Firstly there is a concern that not somany universities have Go clubs as used to;the suggestion was made that the names ofanyone going up to college (or indeed

already there), who did not have a Go clubto attend, should be put in contact withCouncil so that support can be given in start-ing a new club at that college. Secondlyways at expanding the schools program werelooked at: anyone with a contact at a schoolthat would like a Go-teaching visit shouldcontact the Youth Coordinator. Thirdlysummer time would be a good time to playGo outdoors in a public place, so as to raisevisibility of the game. However with winterrapidly approaching it may be too late tomake such activity this year. If you haveplayed outside in public this summer, or doso in the future, then we would like to seephotographs submitted to the Journal toshow others what they can do. An articleelsewhere expands on the BGA’s currentoutreach strategy.

Under section D a lot of focus is made onfurther improving the excellent levels ofinformation on the BGA Web Pages. Recentnew pages have covered more on the historyof Go in the UK and a page describing theroles of the various BGA Officers and jobholders. Keeping the descriptions of Goservers accurate has also taken a lot of recenteffort. The change of newsletter and journaleditors and analyst in recent months hascome under this section.

Under section C, Council has ratified promo-tions as recommended by the gradingcommittee: Tim Hunt to 2 dan and JohnFairbairn to 3 dan, for instance. It has alsodiscussed grading policy, to try to preventthe UK getting too much out of step withmainland Europe. It must be pointed out thatany dan player, from 1 dan to 7 dan even, ifthey find they are off form, say after manyyears of not playing, then they can entertournaments at a grade lower than theirachieved grade; normally permission issought from the Grading Committee to do

COUNCIL HOUSE ~ ANATOMY OF A COUNCIL MEETING

Tony Atkins ajaxgo@yahoo.co.uk

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this except when it is clear that such a longbreak from Go has affected strength. Thereare currently some 1 dans playing at 1 kyu,and some years ago a 3 dan went down to 2 dan with permission but then got promotedto 4 dan very soon after. Conversely there isthe increasing problem of players of danstrength appearing on the tournament scenewithout going through the BGA promotionsystem. Some of these can simply claimforeign grades but more likely nowadays is aplayer who has got to that strength on theInternet. In these cases it seems sensible toclaim a dan grade unofficially (until theBGA can ratify it from tournament results)but change that unofficial grade if the resultsshow it to be incorrect.Under section B, the two main areas of inter-est have been the organisation of the Go

events at the Mind Sports Olympiad andplans to help organise events at the 2001European in Dublin. Various levels of helpare needed for Dublin – for example a fewhours registering people on the first day,running a side event, helping with the mainevent draw, helping out in the book shop ortyping in games and articles for the journal.We will be trying to get a long list of volun-teers over the winter period. Under A, various things are discussed, suchas finance, constitutional and overseasrelations. The last of these will be helpedalong by the BGA Secretary moving intoEurope as EGF Vice-President. You will findsummary minutes of the EGF AnnualGeneral Meeting on page 51 and also someother articles giving more details on aspectsof current BGA activities.

Last summer a Japanese gentleman calledMr Horiuchi visited Europe, including anumber of clubs and tournaments in thiscountry. Whilst he was in Cambridge he verykindly gave me a number of little pamphletsof Go problems. I was leafing through thecollection of endgame problems when I gotto problem 18 and thought, ‘hang on aminute, that’s just the same as number 17.’After a little bit of flicking pages back andforth I convinced myself that they were infact different problems, and that they dohave different answers.Like all endgame problems the aim is to getevery last possible point by taking fulladvantage of the opponent’s weaknesses,suitable care of ones own weaknesses, andnotice of the difference between points insente and points in gote.Black to play in both cases. The answersappear on page 42.

A PAIR OF PROBLEMS FOR PEDANTS

Tim Hunt t.j.hunt@open.ac.uk

Problem 17

Problem 18

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This is the second of a series of articlesdescribing various pages of the BGA’s website. It describes the Club List. There are twoversions of this on the web site:

www.britgo.org/clublist/clubsmap.html

is suitable for those whose browsers supportframes and graphics, while

www.britgo.org/clublist/clublist.html

is a straight text version.Many years ago, I was planning a week’sholiday travelling around The Netherlands. It was my intention to spend each night in atown or city whose Go club was meeting thatnight. I found this quite difficult to arrange,although I had all the relevant information,because of the difficulty of collating a mapwith the club night information. Therefore Idecided to create such a map for Britain.

The ‘clubsmap’ page on the BGA web sitesupplies such a map. There is a map ofBritain, on which each town or city with aGo club is marked. They are shown incolours which indicate which evening of theweek they meet. Clicking on such a towncauses a description of its club or clubs, withcontact details, etc., to be shown. A versionof this map appeared on the cover of theBGJ in summer 1999.

This club information given on the web siteis, or should be, the same at that whichappears in this Journal as the UK Club List.Moreover the list on the web site alsoincludes links to clubs’ own web sites, wherethese exist. So it is easy to use the map toanswer questions such as ‘what is the nearestclub to Stafford that meets on a Wednesday,and how can I find it?’

Clubs’ own pagesThe BGA encourages Go Clubs to maintaintheir own web pages. A club’s page can givedetails, such a map of how to find it, whichdo not appear on the BGA web site or in the

Journal. It is a good idea to encourage localdirectories to link to a club’s page: OxfordCity and Oxfordshire both have directoriesof local clubs and activities which list mylocal club Oxford City, and the club has hadnew members find out about it by this route.Of course, such pages should be kept up todate whenever there is a change in the club’sdetails.

Usually, some member of a club is able toarrange for the club’s web page to be hostedin their own web space. Then they set it upas they wish, and tell the BGA webmasterabout it so that he can link to it from theclubs list page. Where this is not possible,the BGA can arrange for a club page to behosted. If a club member knows how towrite a web page, they can do so and e-mailit to the BGA webmaster, who will upload itand link to it. If no-one in the club can dothis, but they do know what information theywant on the page, they should send thisinformation to the webmaster, who willcreate the page for them.

Keeping the lists up to dateWhen the details of a club change, the clubsecretary should tell the webmaster about thechanges. The webmaster will pass the infor-mation on to the editor of the Journal, and toother BGA officials who may be concerned.If the club has its own web page, the clubsecretary should also ensure that this is keptup to date.

Every few years, the webmaster tries tocontact all clubs and check that the detailson the web site and in this Journal arecorrect. When I last did this, I was able todelete several ‘dead’ clubs from the listings.Such a check is now under way, so if youare a club secretary, you should havereceived an e-mail, telephone call or letterasking for confirmation of your club details.

GUIDE TO THE BGA WEB SITE ~ THE CLUB LIST

Nick Wedd - BGA Webmaster nick@maproom.co.uk

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This year’s pair go tournament featuredseveral new names and several newwinners from among them. Of theexperienced pairs, Kirsty and I did notreach the first round due to flu andFrancis and Jackie, the Harveys and theBexfields failed to reach round 3 withclean records. In the event, theunbeaten pairs reaching the last roundboth featured rapidly improvingwomen. Emma Marchant was supposedto be busy with her A levels, andNatasha Regan was scarcely a Goplayer at all this time last year.When playing normal Go, with oneplayer on each side of the board, thereis occasionally a problem of schizo-phrenia, where a player has two differ-ent interpretations of what is happen-ing and vacillates between differentstrategies. In pair go this happens allthe time, the best that can usually bemanaged is to have one player acting thereckless impetuous youth while the othertries to steady the ship and keep some kindof control. For this purpose it should help tohave a wide difference in age and experiencebetween the partners.

White: Emma Marchant (8 kyu)Simon Goss (2 dan)

Black: Natasha Regan (5 kyu)Alex Selby (3 dan)

Komi: 5.5 points

Figure 1 (1 – 32)It soon becomes clear that both sides aredividing their resources in this way. White 4and 8 offer fighting chances while 6 and 10quickly cool the fighting areas down. Black 11 and 15 are also good examples ofcooling down plays.

There is something odd, though. On theblack side it is Alex Selby, 3 dan andlooking forward to playing a solid endgame,who is protecting his inexperienced partnerNatasha from fights. But on the White sidethe impetuous youth is Simon Goss, thesenior player at the table by a margin, whilehis partner, Emma, keeps calm and tries toprotect him from trouble.The game continues fairly calmly untilWhite 28, which is definitely trying to stirsomething up. White 30 is not what Simonhad in mind. He wanted to cut at A to breakinto the side, though actually 30 allows somepossibilities of building a live group includ-ing B and C. At the end of this figure thegame is still close.

Figure 2 (33 – 72)White’s plays at 38 and 42 are a bit vague,while 43 carves a definite chunk out of theside. When two white stones are cut off in

PAIR GO 2000 ~ THE FINAL

Matthew Macfadyen matthew@jklmn.demon.co.uk

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Figure 1 (1 – 32)

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the lower right it looks as if White isgoing to have to take an awfullylarge centre to catch up.Alex’s shoulder hit at 59 is meant tobe a balanced play, moving into thecentre while attacking the group onthe right. But somehow the whitestones live in sente, and by patchingup the other side at 68 White movessteadily towards a large territory atthe top.The record stops at 72, but the terri-tories stayed pretty much where theyare at the end of the diagram, withWhite playing the steadier yose andwinning by 7.5 points. The resultshould be regarded as a triumph forsensible Go. Emma and Simonshould be congratulated on a brilliantpiece of teamwork.

3334

35 36

37

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4142

43444546

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48 4950

51

52535455

5657

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596061 62

63

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676869

70

7172

Figure 2 (33 – 72)

The proverb of the title is, of course, ‘Play atthe centre of a symmetrical formation’.Hastening to fulfil the proverb with animmediate symmetrical play results infailure. A little preparation is required.The wedges of 1 and 3 in Diagram 1 arehard to spot because it is difficult to realisethat White gains nothing by capturing eitherof these stones. The power of the proverb isrevealed with 5. After this, White is dead.White A, Black B, White C leaves Blackable to give atari between 2 and 4. If Whitecaptures at A after 3, Black connects at Bwith the same result.

12

34

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AB C

TRIUMPH OF THE PROVERB

The solution to the problem from BGJ 119

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Time in this series for an interlude andan answer to the question ‘why wouldWhite allow Black a diagonal openinganyway?’ Diagram 1 shows a basicidea from pro opening play. White 2 isplayed adjacent to Black 1. Black 3shapes up, perhaps to play a Chinesestyle on the right hand side, White 4 is aresponse to give Black pause for thought.Now Black 3 could of course havebeen in the bottom left corner, for adiagonal opening. Strong players tendto say “ah, a fighting opening” andchange the subject. Mainstream theorydevotes itself to parallel openings:Black’s choice of pattern to make bestuse of the initiative, White’s counter-measures. Playing White 2 as shown,rather than diagonally opposite Black 1,is White’s first chance to get into thegame with a combative plan.So, Black could continue with a diago-nal opening; but if Black is a sanrenseior nirensei or Chinese buff, Black maywell not. If Black 3 is at the 4-4 pointin the lower right, White seems to havelost nothing. When Black 3 is as shown,White 4 is an anti-Chinese strategy.The reasoning is similar to some I putin Nirensei (Part 6) in BGJ 116.There I was talking about sanrensei andwhen to make it. One can, if patientenough, go through the same exercise,looking at White’s various formationson the left and asking whether, inprofessional Go, Black adds a stone inthe middle of the right side at A or B.The fact is that from the elevated stand-point of pros, it would be uncommonfor Black to do so, with White 2 and 4to contend with. The main point is thatWhite’s potential enclosure in the lower leftis very good in the overall position.

Normally a professional game would nowcontinue with Black 5 as an approach play inthe lower left.

DIAGONAL OPENINGS ~ PART 4Charles Matthews charles@sabaki.demon.co.uk

12

3

A B

4

" 1

" 2

56

78

910ABC

DE

11

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I’m fairly certain that I’m not going tobe believed in some quarters. Forexample (a) is this all true? (b) is thisdifference worth worrying about? (c) how easy is it to take advantage, ifBlack’s Chinese now is supposed to bea mistake? and (d) White may havefound a kind of blocking strategy here,but is it good for anything besidesforcing Black to reconsider plans?The answers to (a) and (b) are verymuch as in my Nirensei article. Thosewho play for a living do seem, as thestatistics show, to take notice. Diagram2 shows the start of my game againstMexico at Sendai. White 6 was highlypraised by professionals, though White 8 would have been better at C.On (c), consider what happens if Whitecomes in to the lower right corner withD in Diagram 2. Black’s normal plan isto build up the lower side with E, soWhite 6 is particularly well placed,making that area open-skirted. If yourstones end up on good points after yournatural plan, then the pressure is off tostrive for anything extra.Regarding point (d), Alistair Wall (4 dan)is an aficionado of the Chinese and Iplayed two games against him earlier inthe year that started from Diagram 1.Diagram 3 was at Trigantius. This was avery large-scale game but not I thinkone in which White is very worriedafter White 8.Diagram 4 is what happened when wemet again in the Candidates’. Black 9,giving up the wish to develop on thelargest scale, does seem to be a betteridea. I regret White 10, which is a bitsoft; coming in at A is what I’d play ifgiven my time again. Black’s invasion at 13 is probably premature. However, Alistairwon this game, having lost the first.It is clearly not sufficient to play movessimply to annoy your opponent. It has often

and correctly been said that in amateur Gothe finer points of the opening are usuallydrowned out by later, grosser mistakes. An answer to that is that the contest can startat move 2, if you want it to; and as anamateur one probably does.

5

6

7

8

910

11

12 13

14

" 3

910

11

12

A

13

" 4

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I remember reading, I know not where, abouta venerable Japanese professional – I knownot who, who lamented the fact that in hisold age he had to cut his finger nail since hewas no longer practicing and the stones wereno longer wearing his finger nail away.

Lamenting the fact that due to my ongoingexile here in the US, I had played virtuallyno Go for a couple of years, I resolved toattend the US Congress. I thought I wouldlose everything in sight but it would make afine excuse. I got the necessary spousalblessings, made arrangements, and was soonregistering at the University of Denver.

The University of Denver is in a residentialarea. Clearly it has been there a long time,and the condition of my dorm room and theshowers indicated that it had been a longtime since the place had been refurbished.But I’m ahead of myself already – I wasregistering. I have been to many tournamentsover the years; albeit only in the UK and theIsle of Man. But never have I been handedsheets together with a bag of goodies whenregistering. The bag was nice, as was the pinand the T shirt and the congress guidelooked professional. But the sheets! I foundmy way up to my room, which pleasantlywas in the same building as the playingrooms, opened the door, and got my firstgood laugh of the day. Now I knew whatwas meant by the phrase, ‘You’ll need tomake your bed’. There were a couple ofmattresses, a head end, a foot end, and amattress base in the room. They were notconnected to each other.

I spent the evening soaking up the atmos-phere. Helped by the opening ceremonystarting 20 minutes late, I felt right at home.However, not knowing anyone, I also felt abit like it was my first ever tournament. Butnow I knew what Go players are like, and Ididn’t feel so strangely alone as I did that

day at Wanstead 15 years ago when I reallywas at my first tournament. I knew to just goup to people and ask them if they fancied agame, and not be put off at rejections or oddlooking individuals. I did in fact play a fewself-paired games that first evening, and lostthem all.

Day two saw the appearance of PiersShepperson, the only other Brit competingthis year. He did rather well, winning thelightning tournament. But this is my story!After a late start, I played my first maintournament game. It was over in half anhour. I’d been thrashed by a 7 year oldshodan; Curtis Tang. Well, things could onlyget better. Chastened, I went to my room andread the congress manual. Interesting to notesome of the competitors in the youthprogramme:

Curtis Tang – 7 years old, shodanEric Lui – 11 years old, 4 danRichard Liang – 12 years old, 2 danJonathan Wang – 17 years old, 6 dan.

There were others. The youth programmewas pretty lively, and was largely run byNone Redmond, Michael Redmond’smother. This is probably as near as Englandhas yet come to producing a strong profes-sional at the moment, since None was bornand bred in Birmingham. I understand thatMichael Redmond is currently 8 dan, and islooking good for 9 dan before long.My results steadily improved through theweek, as I scraped the rust off my game. Ittook me much longer before I felt obliged toresign my second game, and my third gamewas actually worth counting. I won myfourth by 21/2 points, although I’d used myfull time and I was in my second period ofbyo yomi. By this time I’d mastered the useof the Ing clocks, and having an electronicvoice count out my time seemed onlyslightly strange. I won my fifth game more

A BRIT AT THE US CONGRESS

Paul Barnard paulbarn@wireweb.net

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convincingly, although we were both inbyo yomi at the end, which was notpretty. He wiped out a large area I hadfondly considered territory, and I killed alarge group of his so that he had toresign. Interesting things happen whenyou have no time to think. My last gamewas actually easy; my opponent seemedto want to create several weak groupswith many stones in them, and let mekill them. All but one of my opponentswere shodans (and yes, I lost to a 1 kyu,but he won 5/6).There were the usual variety of otherevents and the congress was rich inprofessionals – 14 I think. This meantthat professional game analysis wasrelatively easy to obtain, and there werelectures, simultaneous games anddemonstrations a-plenty. Notable was avisit by Sensei Noriyuki Nakayama; hehas been a regular at US congresses formany years, and he delivered an entertaininglecture. The other lecture that stood out tome was one by James Kerwin, in which hewent through the first game of the Honinbothis year. This features the most amazingladder I’ve seen in a real game; none of theaudience could believe it worked, but it did.There were four vendors, which led me tospend a vast sum on a kaya board and slateand shell stones. There were several eventsfor the day off, including white water raftingand suchlike, but I stayed and got mediocreresults in the die hard tournament on thatday. Also notable was the food, but not insuch a nice way… And there was the awardceremony banquet, which was very pleasant,not least because I noted that all the peoplethat beat me in the main tournament wonprizes. And then, suddenly, it was over.It’s interesting how thoughts develop atcongresses. A friend of mine named BarryMarshall has a theory about decisionmaking, which I found myself adapting tothe game of Go over a dinner table. It goessomething like this:

When you choose a move, there are only 2possibilities, that it is right, or it is wrong. If it was right, all well and good. If it waswrong, there are 3 possibilities. First, thatyou notice before your opponent, in whichcase you can fix it. Second, that nobody evernotices, in which case it doesn’t matter.Third, that your opponent notices first. Inthat case, there are two possibilities; firstthat he doesn’t manage to do anything aboutit (maybe you have sente and the error goesaway before he can act), the second is thathe does something about it. In that case,there are two possibilities. First, that he foulsup and your error becomes a good move,and second, that he is successful in punish-ing your error. In that case, there are twopossibilities; first that it wasn’t very signifi-cant anyway, and second that it was. It’sonly in this latter case that it really matters.If you assign equal probabilities to all thesepossibilities, I calculate that it is only 4% ofthe time that it makes any difference whatyou do, which in a 200 move game is 8moves. Now, your only challenge is to figureout which those 8 moves are…

Paul Barnard enjoying a Colorado holiday

Photo:P

aul Barnard

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The title of this book is not particularlyinformative, in fact it is a joseki book whichsays novel things about shapes in particularrather than in general.

The striking difference from any other josekibook in English is that the patterns describedhave all been developed in the last 10 years,each of the 15 chapters analyses a new moveused in top level professional play around1995. The strong emphasis on trendy newlines will inevitably mean that the bookbecomes old fashioned more quickly thansome others, but players who are keen tocatch their opponents in unfamiliar varia-tions will find this book a useful source.

The level of the analysis is high and severalof the lines dismissed as unplayable havebeen used by top 9 dans. For amateurpurposes it would be wise to do a fair bit ofyour own research using the book’s recom-mendations as a starting point. There are alot of reasonable looking alternatives whichdo not get discussed. In any case it will benecessary to form your own views on whichlines you like the result of, since the book isa bit vague about just how good the goodresults are.

Lee Changho is arguably the top playeraround at the moment, but his moves onlyappear in about half of the chapters andseveral of those are rejected as clearly badmoves. The book should be regarded rather

as the product of the Go school of which heis a member than as original pieces of josekiresearch by him alone. This time the bookdoes at least credit the ‘Editorial assistance’of Mr Yun Chong-Su, who I suspect is thereal author.

Sidney Yuan’s translation introduces somenew ideas to Go language. There is still noconsensus as to the most effective Englishtechnical terms for Go shapes and an effec-tive language is still slowly evolving fromthe 1960’s habit of transliterating everythingfrom Japanese (‘de’, ‘te’, and ‘takabasami’for ‘push’ ‘move’ and ‘high pincer’ have alllong disappeared). I am not completelyconvinced by the use of ‘diagonal’ and‘tiger’ as verbs but popular usage will decidewhat survives. At least these terms are easyto understand.

This book is worth buying for anyone whofeels that the Ishida Joseki Dictionary suffersfor being 30 years out of date and whowould like to use more fashionable lineswithout too much of the element of gropingin the dark which inevitably follows fromcopying lines from recent professionalgames. But you will need to do somehomework to introduce these moves intoyour game effectively.

Lee Changho’s novel plays and shapesis published by Yutopian Enterprises.

LEE CHANGHO’S NOVEL PLAYS AND SHAPES

Book review by Matthew Macfadyen matthew@jklmn.demon.co.uk

A PROBLEM OF STATUS

Simon Gosssimon@gosoft.demon.co.ukWhat is the status of this fight? What isbest play for both? A discussion and theanswer are on page 54. Status Problem

#

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‘L’ GROUP ARTICLE CORRECTION

Richard Hunter hunter@gol.com

Simon Goss has spotted an error in my L Group article in BGJ 116 (Diagram 6a).When White plays 1 in Diagram 1 here,Black should not play 4 and allow White to

have a ko. Instead he can connect at 2 in thecorner, which wins unconditionally. Whitecannot approach from the inside and playing3 leaves him a move behind since 4 is atari.Consequently, White must capture the ko inthe corner immediately with 1 in Diagram 1a.This allows Black to retake the ko with 4,putting White in atari. This result is evenworse for White than my original Diagram.It’s an unfavourable approach-move ko forWhite.

The same situation arises in BGJ 117Diagram 12a, where Black has one extraliberty, shown here as Diagram 2, but theresult is different. This time, Black cananswer 1 by making an eye with 2. WhenWhite plays atari with 3, Black can connectat 4 because of the extra liberty. In answer to

White 5, Black fills a liberty with 6 andWhite is dead. This is the correct result. So the extra liberty means that Black winsunconditionally.If White plays 3 in Diagram 2a, Black 4leaves White stuck. White can never putBlack in atari, while Black puts White inatari every time he takes the ko. This is thesame as a type 3 fight where Black has aneye and White doesn’t. The ko is irrelevant.Under Japanese rules, the white stones areunconditionally captured and Black cansimply remove them at the end of the game.

Although it doesn’t excuse me for getting itwrong, I should point out that Diagram 6awas taken from a Japanese book of Goproblems. I am now convinced that theanswer given in the book is wrong. Youwould do well to follow Simon’s exampleand check sequences for yourself. If youdon’t understand something you read ordisagree with the answer, investigate byyourself and ask a strong player about it.

" 1a

1

2

34

" 2a

123

4

" 1

1 23

4" 2

123

45

6

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Internet Go and club attendanceI am pleased to read that Tristan is enjoyinghis Go on the internet (BGJ 119). However I suspect he is someone who is familiar withcomputers. Those who are not, or have anolder machine, may find that connecting isnot as easy as he makes it sound. This hasbeen my experience. However there aremany Go players with expertise who willgive advice if you do have problems tryingto play online.

Whilst I welcome the increase in Go playingthat has come about through the Internet,there is a danger that the local club wherepeople can meet and play face to face willbecome an endangered species. I believe thatclubs are vitally important to the well beingof Go in this country. They are places wherenew players are welcomed and encourageduntil they too are hooked by this fascinatinggame.

Without new players coming up through theranks, the population of UK Go players willresume the decline we saw in past years.Whilst some new players will survive thetests of the Internet, others will be put off bywhat can be an aggressive attitude onlinetowards those who are perceived as merebeginners.

Everyone likes to play games againststronger players or those of a similarstandard but we also need to make time toplay with those weaker than ourselves toredress the balance and ensure that the baseof Go in this country is not eroded. A goodclub organiser will ensure that those attend-ing get a variety of games with both weakerand stronger players.

I challenge those of you who play on theinternet not to forget your local club and topay it the occasional visit. If not, it might notbe there in the future.

Alison BexfieldBGA President

Wondering RoadsCongratulations on your first Journal. If thisstandard is to be maintained, it has trulygone from strength to strength.

One of the BGJ’s best features has alwaysbeen the wealth of material about Go issuesand the people who play Go. This makes itwelcoming for new members, interesting tothose not yet committed to Go, and helps todispel any notion that we are all anorak-wearing nerds. Also welcome is the technicalmaterial for weaker players. Those who wantmore advanced material should not reallylook to the BGJ, but patronise Gerry Mills’excellent BGA Bookshop.

I do wonder about articles such as Comeback when you’re stronger, CharlesMatthews’ personal views on the BritishChampionship system. The publication ofarticles on controversial issues is to beencouraged; the last thing we want is censor-ship of any kind. But I really had to workhard to understand this article. I am familiarboth with the debates which have gone onabout the Championship, and with Charles’views, so after the second attempt I justabout got it.

I then showed it to my wife Judith, whoreads the chatty articles and ignores all thetechnical stuff. ‘Is this some chap who’scross because he always comes fourth insomething, then?’ was her reaction. Judith isnot unintelligent, but she had completelyfailed to understand even what the articlewas about.

So when we have articles of this type, pleasecould they always be written bearing in mindthat some readers will not know thebackground to the issue being dealt with.Maybe we need a couple of introductoryparagraphs: ‘New readers begin here.’

Francis Roads

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Experimental reminiscencesIn BGJ 119, Steve Bailey’s gives notificationof his worthy experimental tournament toinvestigate the effect of the opening on agame of Go by starting all the games withthe fuseki pre-defined from some suitableprofessional game to be chosen by one ofour better dan players.

As part of the Shusai Weekend hosted some20 years ago by Bob Ochser and attended bymany of the stronger English Go players,there was a similar experiment, except thatthis was a Yose Tournament, with all thegames starting from late end-game positions(a different one for each round). Again, thepresumption was that being professionalgames the positions would be fairly close.

As I remember the results varied wildly,with plenty of groups dying and resignationsby both Black and White happening in eachround. The joint winners (triumphing oversuch notables as Matthew MacFadyen, TerryStacey, David Mitchell and Adam Pirani)were Jon Diamond and John Welsh with20.5 IYPs each (‘International YosePoints’… no, I don’t know either).

Perhaps some of those who attended mayalso remember the CommentaryCompetition, where remarks such as ‘veryheavy’, ‘crass’, ‘dreadful’, ‘ghastly’, ‘hacksaway’, ‘uninteresting’, ‘a textbook overplay’and ‘drivelling yose’ were used to describemoves made by Minoru Kitani (9-dan)whilst playing Kato Masao in the latter’sfirst game as a student professional. (Kato,who had received a 4 stone handicap,resigned after move 147.)

Weed (weed@venus.co.uk)

Alt.hardware…Regarding the IGS article (BGJ 119), itshould perhaps be pointed out that you don’t

have to have a PC-style computer to useIGS. If you have an old Macintosh,Archimedes, Amiga, ... lying aroundsomewhere it’s probably possible to connectto IGS with it.

And even if you use a PC you don’t have touse Windows. There’s certainly an IGSclient for Linux and I imagine the same istrue of the BSDs and BeOS.

Adam Atkinson (ghira@mistral.co.uk)

…alt.serverI found Tristan Jones' article, The WonderfulWorld of the IGS, in the last Journal interest-ing. However I fear that readers may bemisled by it and would like to correct somepossible misunderstandings.

Tristan lists four ISPs, and writes as ifsetting up a computer to use one of these is atrivial matter. If this is his own experience,he is either very lucky, or extremely compe-tent. When I last tried to set up my computerto use one of the ISPs which he lists, itsinstall program trashed many of my existingsettings and it took me a day's work to repairthe damage which it had done.

The article rather glosses over the need touse a client program. Some Go serversrequire the user to download, unzip andinstall a client program. This is not a trivialmatter. Some Go servers, such as Yahoo, donot require the use of a client program, andare therefore easier to use.

In fact, about thirty different Go servers areavailable on the Internet. These are listed onthe BGA web site at

http://www.britgo.org/gopcres/play.html

with information about how to connect tothem, etc. Depending on what you arelooking for, one or another of these may bemore suitable.

Nick Wedd BGA Webmaster

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30 Years In the UK at this time the only regulartournament was the British; the first Wessexwas held in Autumn 1970. At the EuropeanGo Congress in Vienna, Jon Diamond wonthree out of six to be placed third and earnpromotion. Winner was Jurgen Mattern, 5dan from Berlin and second was the previouschampion Manfred Wimmer of Austria. John Barrs, Fred Hall and Tony Cooperplayed in the shodan section (Tony failing towin it on tie break) and Mike Digby playedin the 1 – 2 kyu section. Felix Dueball, oneof the first players in Germany, died in theAutumn aged 90.

In Japan the Honinbo was won by Rin Kaihofor the third time; he wiped out Sakata’schallenge. However Sakata was Oza (beatingFujisawa Shuko). Ishida Yoshio beat Ohirato take the Nihon Ki-in Championship (theevent that became the Tengen in 1975). OnTV, Rin won the NHK cup and HashimotoUtaro won the Hayago on Channel 12.

20 YearsThe traditional two tier system of choosingthe Challenger for the British Championship,based on the Honinbo system, was replacedin 1980 by a single 8-round tournament. Itwas held at the IVC on four days around thelate May holiday. 20 players took part, thewinner being Terry Stacey with a clean 8;Frank May was second having lost just one.Adam Pirani won Bracknell, Jim BartyLeicester, Francis Roads at Ipswich andMatthew Macfadyen both the BritishLightning at Wanstead and the Northern.

Matthew also won the EuropeanChampionship in Mali Losinj, Yugoslavia, tobring the title to Britain for the first time. Hewon the play-off against Jurgen Mattern byresignation. Plaudits must go to the EGFexecutive and other players who stepped in

to help run the event when they discoveredthe organiser was quite literally at sea.

British Go Week was held at the end ofOctober. Much media coverage was gainedon local television, radio and press, and theDaily Express children’s page. Various opendays and demonstrations were held. MatthewMacfadyen’s Go week as British Championfeatured a win at the Wessex.

In Japan, Takemiya Masaki won back theHoninbo from Kato after three years,winning 4 – 1. However Kato held on to theTengen beating Yamabe and the Oza beatingIshida. In the Meijin a new name appearedas Cho Chikun beat Otake 4 -1. In Cho’shome of Korea another Cho, Cho Hun-hyunwas winning all the titles, though he let SeoBong-Soo win three of them. In China NieWeiping and Liu Xiaoguang were sharingthe titles. The Japanese Ladies’ HoninboOgawa Tomoko beat Kobayashi Chizu forthe second year running.

10 YearsIn 1990 Bracknell was won by OliverSchmidt (3 dan), Leicester and the Northernby Des Cann, the Women’s World Qualifierby Alison Cross, and Matthew Macfadyenwon Milton Keynes, Shrewsbury and furtherafield the Volga Boat Trip. The eight playerChallenger’s League was won by JohnRickard, though the player to watch for thefuture was young shodan Matthew Cockewho failed to get into the league by only oneplacing in the Candidates’. Another young-ster doing well was Adam Shepherd whowon the Youth Championships, beatingMark Simmons by half a point in their game.

The 34th European was in Vienna and waswon by Rob van Zeijst who only lost onegame to Jurgen Mattern. Zhang Shutai wonthe Fujitsu Grand Prix and Viktor Bogdanovwon the Fujitsu Cup (top European in GrandPrix) and got to play the following year inJapan. The Brussels Tournament was thefirst European tournament to be won by awoman as Guo Juan, the former Chinese

YEARS AGO

Tony Atkins

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Tony Atkins’ historical account of pastBritish Go Congresses prompts me to sharememories of some of the earlier ones. Untilthe first Wessex tournament in 1970, theBritish Congress was the only tournamentthat there was. The explosion in the numberof tournaments since that time perhapsexplains the fact that attendance at theBritish has not kept pace with the increase inthe Go playing population.

In 1968 Oxford Colleges still locked theirgates at 11 pm during the vacation. Myfondest memory of the first BGC is of ourfirst president, John Barrs, plus a few othersincluding myself, climbing into JesusCollege after an evening in the pub.

Tony mentioned that the 1991 BGC atCanterbury was a dress rehearsal for theEuropean Congress there the following year.The same was true of the BGC at Bristol in1969, which was followed by the EGC at thesame venue in 1971. At the 1969 AGM weadopted the Japanese dan and kyu ratings,having used a German numerical systembefore that. (See the article by Franco Pratesion page 44 - Ed)

The ‘Open’ section at the 1970 BGC inCambridge was restricted to dan players andwas for the British Open Championship;there were six entrants. This meant that the 1kyus and below never had a chance to playany dan players at all, which caused somediscontent. As at all the first three BGC’s,the draw for most of us was on handicap,

and worked out in advance, so that youknew soon after you arrived whom youwould be playing and when.

Following the objections raised by the 1 kyus,the Council (then called the Committee)devised the Macmahon system, based on anAmerican club grading scheme. And we gotit wrong! At Leeds in 1971, you moved up aMacmahon grade if you won, as now butyou also moved down a grade if you lost.This effectively divided the tournament intotwo halves, giving each player a parity.

The Macmahon system in more or less itspresent form was introduced at Woodford in1972, an has since spread throughoutEurope, and has been re-imported to theUSA as a tournament system. This tourna-ment had a substantial entry from France, asthe FFG was not yet up and running.

Tony mentioned that seven rounds werefitted in at Alsager in 1975; he forgot tomention that eight were played at Edinburghin 1973. This was a three day event,intended to make the longer journey formany of us more worthwhile. Withhindsight, this might have been worth doingat Ipswich this year, in view of the excep-tional coincidence with a Bank Holiday.

The BBC filmed at Reading in 1974 for theOpen Door programme on Go. This was inthe days of ‘community television’, whichwas supposed to give ordinary viewersaccess to air time. The programme was dulybroadcast, and brought in 3000 enquiries.

AN OLD MAN’S REMINISCENCES

Francis Roads francis@jfroads.demon.co.uk

professional, finished ahead of Schlemper,Lazarev and Zhang.

In Japan Rin Kaiho won the third FujitsuCup beating Nie Weiping of China; he alsowon the China-Japan Tengen. HoweverChina beat Japan in the Super Go Series andChang Hao, aged 13, won the World Amateur.

Cho Chikun fought back from 1 – 3 to winthe Honinbo against Kobayashi Koichi.Koichi was the 1990 Meijin and won theGosei, playing unrelated Kobayashi Satoru;Satoru won the IBM Lightning Go Cup.Women’s Honinbo was Nakazawa Ayako andWomen’s Meijin was Aoki Kikuyo.

#

Sept2000 26/9/00 9:21 pm Page 33

BAMBOO JOINTS IN SEMEAIS ~ HOW TO COUNT THE LIBERTIES

Simon Goss simon@gosoft.demon.co.uk

34

Diagram 1 is the kind of capturing race thatthis article is about. To solve it, you can usethe methods described in Richard Hunter’sseries Counting Liberties, which has beenrunning from BGJ 102 to the present day.But what is going on in the bamboo joints?

To understand this article, you’ll need to befamiliar with the terminology of Richard’sCounting Liberties series and to understandthe six basic types of semeai and the rulesfor assessing their status. If you aren’t famil-iar with these, read at least the CountingLiberties articles in BGJ issues 102 up to107 very soon. They are part of a Goplayer’s core syllabus. The article in BGJ107 ends up with a summary of the six typesof fight, which may be useful to have tohand as you read this.Diagram 1 is a bit too complicated to diveinto right away. Let’s start with Diagram 2.Since neither side has any hope of an eye,and since we can see two inside libertieseven without considering the bamboo joint,

this is clearly a type 2 fight. White is thefavourite, since he has two outside libertiesand Black certainly doesn’t have that many.In a type 2 fight, the favourite counts justone of the inside liberties, so White’s libertycount is 3.What about Black? The point A looks like anoutside liberty for Black, since it’s a vacantpoint in contact with Black’s group and notwith White’s. Similarly, B looks like aninside liberty, being a vacant point in contactwith both groups. The underdog in a type 2fight counts all the inside liberties, so count-ing one outside and three inside liberties forBlack, the liberty count seems to be 4:3 andthe fight settled in Black’s favour. A type 2fight settled in the underdog’s favour is seki,and that is what Diagram 2 must be, yes?No! In Diagram 2 Black is unconditionallydead. White can kill him by playing White A– Black B and then putting Black in atari.But, even playing first, Black cannot avoidit. Diagram 3 shows Black’s most naturalattempt, starting by occupying White’soutside liberties, but he ends up a libertybehind.

White’s push into the bamboo joint ishurting Black, but there is nothing Black cando about it. If he begins by playing at A inDiagram 2, he gets an inside liberty at B andthe liberty count is 3:3, which is unsettled,but then it’s White’s move and White wins.Or if Black begins by playing at B indiagram 2, he gets an outside liberty at A

" 1

" 2

B A

" 3

3 2

1 4

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and again the liberty count is 3:3 with Whiteto play and White wins.What we did wrong was to count two liber-ties for Black in the bamboo joint,assuming that the physical liberties thatwe can see could be interpreted as effec-tive liberties, which would be outside orinside ones depending on which groupsthey were in contact with. The truth isthat this bamboo joint is worth no liber-ties to Black, because White can limit itto zero using the A-B exchange withoutgiving up a move, while Black has to play amove at A or B to get even one liberty. Thus,in Diagram 2, the liberty count is 3:2 inWhite’s favour and Black is dead.In Diagram 4 we have another type 2 fight.This time White is the underdog so hecounts all his inside liberties. Let’s find outhow many there are. Black can kill byplaying at B, giving him three liberties (A, C and one of the inside liberties) against

White’s two inside liberties. White can makeseki by playing A or C. (Black shouldn’tanswer the latter as it leaves him with a kothreat at B).So Diagram 4 is unsettled. We should beable to count an equal number of liberties forboth sides in Diagram 4. Since we are notcounting any for Black in the bamboo joint,he has two liberties, one outside and oneinside. Therefore White also has two. Thebamboo joint doesn’t give him any either.The no-liberty rule applies very widely butnot universally. In the diagrams we’velooked at so far, the bamboo joint is exactly

two spaces long and White is peeping into itfrom both ends. Diagram 5 shows positionsthat lack one or other of these properties.

Both are unsettled, as you can read out foryourself. The three-space joint on the left isworth a liberty to Black. The gap in White’sposition on the right is a weakness thatWhite will need to spend a move covering,and that too is worth a liberty to Black.From now on, we shall restrict ourselves toconsidering ordinary, two-space bamboojoints with peeps at both ends. To get anyfurther, we need to consider what exactly ispeeping into it. In Diagram 6, White ispeeping from the top with an outside stone

and from the bottom with an inside stone.Let’s call this a mixed joint. In Diagram 7,both the peeps are from inside stones andwe’ll call it an inside joint. There are also

" 4

B A

C

" 5

" 6

AB

" 7

AB

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outside joints, in which White’s outsidegroup does all the peeping.Finally, there are two kinds in which one ofthe peeping stones is an invading stoneinside an enemy eye and the other is eitheran outside one or an inside one. Diagram 8is an example.

In this case, A is a very urgent point. If Whiteplays it, his 5 space big eye with one invaderis worth 7 liberties. If Black plays A andWhite replies at B, White’s 4 space big eyewith one invader is worth 4 liberties. Theissues involved with this type of bamboojoint are dealt with in the CountingLiberties: Applications article in BGJ 110,from which Diagram 8 is taken. Please referto BGJ 110 for the details.

Inside and Mixed JointsThese two kinds behave almost the same.The no-liberty rule gives you the statusaccurately in both cases. The only majordifference is that the owner of a mixed jointmay have two options about how to win awinnable fight, while the owner of an insidejoint must accept the less desirable option.Diagrams 6 and 7 illustrate this.Diagram 6 is unsettled, since each side hasthree exclusive liberties (remember, these areoutside plus eye liberties) and there are noinside liberties and none for either side in thebamboo joint. The interesting point is howBlack, playing first, goes about winning. Hecan play White’s outside liberties first or not,as he prefers, but sooner or later he must

play in the bamboo joint. The right choicethere is Black B, which creates an exclusiveliberty and thus kills the white stones. BlackA only gets seki, which is a waste.There is also a right and a wrong way forWhite, playing first, to win Diagram 6. Itdoesn’t matter if he plays exclusive libertiesfirst or not, but sooner or later he will haveto push into the bamboo joint. When he doesso, he should do it from the outside, at A.White B also works but it is wrong. Thereason is that Black will ignore any winningWhite move for now, saving the responsesfor use as ko threats. If the ko is largeenough (admittedly, it would have to behuge in this case), then White may want toignore that threat in order to win the ko. Ifhe does so, his loss after playing B is greaterthan his loss after playing A.Diagram 7 is also unsettled with each sidecounting 2 liberties, but in this case Blackonly gets an inside liberty, whether he playsA or B, so he has to make do with the seki.This is the major difference between insideand mixed bamboo joints. It also applies totype 4 fights (Diagrams 6 and 7 are of type6). Even with mixed joints, it only ariseswhen there are no other inside liberties.Diagram 9 shows what happens when thereare. Black 1 is the right move to try for thekill, but he doesn’t get it because of theinside liberty already present.

The same kind of thing happens yet again atthe threshold between type 1a and type 2fights. On the left of Diagram 10, we havethe mixed joint case of this. Black A makes adisappointing seki, while Black B kills. But

" 8

B A

" 9

41

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on the right, with an inside joint, Black canonly make a seki, wherever he plays.After all these examples. it must begin toseem that the owner of a mixed joint, if heplays in it at all, should always play on theinside of it (B in all the examples). That istrue in fights of type 4 and 6 and on the type1a/type 2 threshold, because in these casesthe purpose of the inside liberty is to protectthe underdog from death. But if you are thefavourite in a fight of type 3 or type 5, it isbetter to play on the outside part of themixed joint.Diagram 11 illustrates this for a type 3 fight.Both sides count 3 liberties, so it’s unsettled.

Black’s best way to win is to play at Aimmediately, creating an inside libertythat does not help White to make seki but isa point of black territory. If Black starts at Bhe gives up that point. If he starts with oneof White’s outside liberties, A is White’ssente and again Black loses a point.Take care not to create an inside liberty ifyou’re the underdog in a type 3 or type 5fight though. Inside liberties count for thefavourite in these fights. If you create one asthe underdog, it’s one liberty worse thanpassing!

0 = 1Diagram 12 shows an amusing pathologicalcase that exists for both mixed and insidejoints. In both positions, the no-liberty rulegives us a count of zero liberties for bothsides. This clearly doesn’t imply a capture,

since the capturing rule works on physicalliberties, not effective liberties. But at least,since both sides get the same effectiveliberty count, we might expect these fights tobe unsettled. Surprisingly, they are bothsettled. On the left, with the mixed joint,White is dead, while on the right, with theinside joint, it’s seki.There’s worse. Diagram 13 is the same asDiagram 12 except that White has beengiven one outside liberty in each fight. Theeffective liberty counts seem to be 0:1, butthese fights are unsettled. Apparently, 0 = 1!

This is not really a problem. It just meansthat when the no-liberty rule leaves eitherside with no liberties at all, you need to besceptical about numbers and do somereading. It’s worth it anyway, since suchpositions can have interesting properties.Diagram 14 (overleaf) shows one such. It isanother 0:0 seki involving inside joints. In this one, White can push into one of the

" 10

B A

" 11

B A

" 12

" 13

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joints as a ko threat. The unusual thing aboutthis ko threat is that Black cannot erase it. Ifhe plays in one of the joints, White captureshim by pushing into the other. Black cannotblock that push because of dame zumari.

Outside JointsDiagram 15 shows a very simple type 3 fightwith an outside bamboo joint. If we applythe no-liberty rule, Black counts the eyeliberty and the inside liberty and Whitecounts only his two outside liberties.

The 2:2 score implies an unsettled fight and,indeed, Black can win it either by playing inthe bamboo joint to make an outside libertyfor himself, or by taking one of White’s.However, in this fight Black has anotheroption: tenuki! The best White can do is topush into the bamboo joint with 2 inDiagram 16. Black cannot answer this byconnecting at 4, but he can tenuki again,defending the remainder of his group with 5when White plays 4. White 2 in Diagram 16is merely an endgame move, worth 4 pointsin gote.What has happened here is that the no libertyrule has told us that the fight is unsettled if Black is planning to save all his stones.

If Black is willing to give up the two stones(the tail), then he can count the vacant pointsin the bamboo joint as outside liberties forthe rest of his group (the body). Let’s callthis strategy shedding the tail.Shedding the tail is more than merely anadvanced technique for you to get a fewextra endgame points or to enable you toignore a ko threat (which is another of itsapplications). Sometimes it is the only wayto survive serious damage in a fight. See ifyou can now read out Diagram 1.Applying the no-liberty rule, we count threeliberties for Black, two exclusive and oneinside liberty that belongs to him as thefavourite in this type 3 fight. White has fouroutside liberties and seems to have won.However, Black can play as in Diagram 17,shedding his tail and winning the rest.

But please be careful. A careless Blackmight have tenukied here, perhaps thinkingsomething like ‘no-liberty rule gives 3:4 andI lose. Shedding the tail gives me two moreliberties, so 5:4 and I’ve already won.’ Thisfellow is headed for tears when White playsDiagram 18.

" 14

" 15

" 16 1, 3 tenuki

1 3

4 25

" 17

35 6 47 1

2

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Shedding the tail is not a mechanical proce-dure of adding two liberties to the firstcount. When you shed your tail, you alsoshed all the liberties in the tail. You also loseany eye shape in the tail, which may causeyou to lose access to inside liberties in thebody. It’s as if the tail had never been.The correct procedure for analysing a fightwith an outside joint is to take twocompletely separate counts: one for thewhole group, applying the no-liberty rule;the other for the body alone, counting twoexternal liberties where the bamboo joint isbut ignoring all liberties and eye shape in thetail. Once you have these two counts, youknow the effect both of saving your tail andof shedding it, and can choose accordingly.

Exercise for the ReaderA bamboo joint differs from a solid connec-tion because it can be threatened once. Sodoes a kosumi. Compare Diagram 19 withDiagram 2. How much of the discussionhere can be translated into positions involving kosumi?

SummaryIf one of the stones peeping into a bamboojoint is an invader in an eye then blocking orpushing into the joint is often urgent since itcan affect the size of the eye. See CountingLiberties: Applications in BGJ 110 for adiscussion.

! For inside and mixed bamboo joints, theno-liberty rule gives an accurate indica-tion of status, except when one side getsa count of zero, when you have to read it.

! Push from the outside into mixed bamboojoints to minimise the potential sacrifice.

! When closing up your mixed bamboojoint in a fight of type 4, type 6 or on theborderline between type 1a and type 2, be careful not to make a seki where youcould kill.

! When closing up your mixed bamboojoint in a fight of type 3 or 5, if you arethe favourite, the outside connection getsone more point of territory. But don’tmake the outside connection if you’re theunderdog!

! When there is an outside bamboo joint,you need two counts: one tells you whathappens if you save the tail, the otherwhat happens if you shed it. Do eachcount separately, as there is no fixedrelationship between one and the other.

" 18 1 tenuki

1

57 6 2

34 8

" 19

AB Thanks to Richard Hunter and

Matthew Macfadyen for advice andideas given before I started writingand for commenting on the first draft.

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COUNTING LIBERTIES ~ ANSWERS TO CAPTURING RACE INVOLVING KO

Richard Hunter hunter@gol.com

40

Diagram 1 shows how the position will endup when the liberties have been filled. Theko in the corner is irrelevant. It makes nodifference who wins and fills it so I’veshown it filled by White here. The problemconcerns the effect of the ko in the middle.

For simplicity, let’s start by considering whatwould happen if there were no ko at all.In Diagram 2, the ko has been eliminated byadding the marked stone. This is now asimple type 5 fight. White is the favourite;

he has a big eye while Black has a smallereye. The result is that Black is uncondition-ally dead. Black can never put White inatari, so Black has no move he can play.White can choose his timing: when all theoutside liberties, all but one inside liberty,and all but one liberty in Black’s eye have

been filled, he can capture the three stones inhis own eye, as shown in Diagram 2a.

The feature of a big eye is that capturing thestones inside leaves at least three liberties.The smallest big eye is a four-point eye-space, which is what we have here. WhenWhite captures the three black stones thatare almost filling it, he’s left with three liber-ties. Since Black has only two liberties (theones that White couldn’t approach), he loses.So what happens when there’s a ko, as inDiagram 1. If White captures with 1 inDiagram 3, Black plays nakade. Next, if

White plays elsewhere, Black can make aseki by adding a second stone inside White’seye with 4 in Diagram 3a. On the otherhand, if White plays on the inside liberty

" 1

" 3 2 at marked stone

1

" 2a 2 at marked stone

1

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with 1 in Diagram 3b, Black 2 puts him inatari. White must win the ko to avoid beingcaptured. Even if White carefully chooseswhen to start this ko, it’s a risky plan, soWhite might opt for the seki. Is this reallythe answer?

The commentator for this professionalgame, Sakakibara Shoji 9-dan, saidthat rather than starting the ko, Whiteshould simply claim that Black isunconditionally dead according to therules. This game was played underJapanese rules. The position is analo-gous to ‘bent four in the corner’.Starting the ko in Diagram 3b isperfectly legal, but not advisable.However, once White has played 1 inDiagram 3b, there’s no going back.Of course, if you encounter a similarposition in one of your games, yourbest course of action will depend onwhat rules you’re playing under.

Under some rules, you might have to playout the position. Tournament directors mightlike to consider how they would handle asituation like this in which White claimsBlack is dead and Black disagrees.Sakakibara said that the players in thisgame, Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan and YodaNorimoto 9-dan, had surely encounteredpositions like this before and were bothquite clear about the status of the corner.What would have happened if Black hadplayed first in this corner when he had thechance? Pushing at 1 in Diagram 4 reducesWhite’s eye to a three-point eye-space.Since that’s not a big eye, the position is atype 6 fight, so the result will be seki.White blocks at 2, forcing Black to playnakade with 3, but then White can takesente. Although White can no longer killBlack, he’s in no danger of dying.Ending in gote would have left Blackbehind in the game, so his strategy was toleave the top-right corner until later.A move here is essentially just a largeendgame move.

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" 3b

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2

3

" 4

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Right answer 17a: Black 1 strikes at the vitalpoint. It is a serious attempt to kill Whiteand so White is forced on to the defensive.

Right answer 17b: As White is forced todefend Black can play sente moves on bothsides and White is reduced to just 6 points (5 points of territory plus 1 prisoner). Black 1 was a clever sacrifice.

Failure 17c: If Black just plays the hane andconnect then it is sente so this is not too bad.However a Black move at A no longerthreatens White at all so White has 7 points.Furthermore, later in the game White will beable to play A in sente and so Black will loseone point on the outside. Overall this resultis two points worse for Black than thecorrect answer.

Failure 17d: Similarly Black can play the1–2 exchange in sente, but then Black Bwould be gote. This means that again Blackonly gets to play one of the two endgamemoves. Since White C would also be gotewe may assume, for the purpose of counting,that the result will be as in Diagram 17e.

Diagram 17e: We can see that the black terri-tory is the same as before but that the whiteterritory is 8 points. Again this is two pointsworse for Black than the correct answer.What about problem 18. Of course exactlythe same sequence works for Black again,but since these are consecutive problems inthe same book that can’t be right.

Failure (we assume, but must confirm) 18a:White ends up with 6 points.

42

A PAIR OF PROBLEMS FOR PEDANTS ~ SOLUTIONS

Tim Hunt t.j.hunt@open.ac.uk

" 17a

1

" 17b

12

3 456

78

" 17c

1 234

A

" 17d

12

BC

" 17e

12

" 18a

12

3 456

78

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Right answer 18b: According to the bookthis is the right answer. White gets reducedto only 4 points. Now why didn’t this workbefore?

Failure (presumably) 17f: Suppose we seewhat happens when we play the samesequence in problem 17. White is reduced to4 points, but then later White will be able toplay the marked exchange in sente so Blackends up losing two points on the outside.Overall this is no better for Black than thecorrect answer. But then again it is no worse.Have we really got to the bottom of this?

Failure (really) 17g: In fact Black has beenguilty of wishful thinking (katte yomi - asRichard Hunter taught us to call it in the lastJournal). In this situation the correct answerto Black 1 is White 2. The result is a totalfailure for Black.

So Black 1 can be refuted. Now why doesn’tthis work in problem 18?

White’s failure 18c: This time the markedblack stone ends up filling a critical Whiteliberty - a disaster for White.I think that these two problems are a beauti-ful illustration of the way that a tiny littlechange in a position can alter the vital point.To become strong Go players we must learnto appreciate these nuances. Endgameproblems are a good training ground in thisrespect because in the endgame everythingcomes down to territory and territory can becounted exactly. Trying to study these subtledifferences in the context of the opening orthe middle game is much much harderbecause it is so difficult to compare theoutcomes of different sequences there.

43

" 18b

12

3 456

7

8

" 17f

12

3 456

7

8

" 17g

123

45

6

" 18c

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67

Nakade Diagram Answers:Diagram 15: The white group on the leftis alive; the one on the right is dead.Diagram 16: The white group on the leftis dead; the one on the right is alive.Diagram 17: The white group on the leftis alive; the one on the right is dead.Diagram 18: Both groups are alive.

Nakade Problem HintThe position should end up as a five-point nakade but the order of moves isimportant. Looking back at Diagrams13 and 14 should help to clarify theobjective.

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Let me begin by acknowledging that myinvestigation on the various ranking systemsadopted by Go players has been stimulatedby Prof. Klaus Heine from Wilhelmshaven.Discussion with him is going on andhopefully further parts will soon appear,after the following historical contribution.

It is well known that Bruno Rüger cared formany aspects of Go, to begin with publish-ing more than a dozen Go books and editingthe Deutsche Go Zeitung from 1920 to 1945.During this long time, he was the main – andoften the only – reference for all theEuropean Go players. For them, among otheractivities, he organised several summerholidays, from which directly derive nothingless than the yearly European Go Congressesof nowadays.

Rather early in his Go activity, Rügerencountered the problem of how to rank theGo players. The starting point for his attemptcame from letters that he received fromJapan by Max Lange, the renowned chessauthor; in particular, Lange provided someinformation on the Japanese system ofseparately ranking the Go masters and thevariously strong players. Thus, the first tableof ‘equivalent’ grades between Japan andEurope can be found in the fundamentalshort article, Ein Vergleich der Spielstärkejapanischer und deutscher Gospieler, (A Comparison of the playing-strength ofJapanese and German Go players) whichBruno Rüger published in DGoZ 1922 No 4,pp. 1-3.

A first comment is needed on the nationsinvolved; actually, the word German used byRüger may be misleading. Go players wereseen by Rüger first of all as subscribers tothe Deutsche Go Zeitung. From the verybeginning this meant both German andAustrian players, together with exceptionalcases from other countries; in a sense, we

might use the term European (maybe betterMitteleuropean) from the beginning.However, most readers of the journal were,if not German, at least German-speaking –other groups of active players hardly existedin Europe, whereas subscriptions from theUSA arrived later on.

In any case, the basis for the new ‘European’ranking system clearly appears as an empiri-cal adjustment of the Japanese grades, introduced for practical reasons, with nomention of any theoretical derivation.

Let us examine in some detail how thesystem has been introduced. There are inJapan nine ranks for masters, separated byone half stone, so that a master of the lowestrank accepts four handicap stones from thetop master. Below we find a large group ofstrong players, who must accept varioushandicaps from the masters. The lower limitof their strength is easy to set because anystrong player must accept less than ninehandicap stones from the master of thelowest rank. Thus Rüger can establish forJapan a list of nine ranks for masters andsixteen for strong players, each separated byone half stone. These ranks he ‘translates’for local players as classes 1 to 25. Here histransformation from Japanese ranks isfinished, because no lower ranks apparentlyexisted for weaker Japanese players.

However, he rightly observes that in Europethe ranks must continue to lower levelsbecause players are much weaker than inJapan. He thus defines new groups ofplayers and gives them corresponding ranks.In particular, he adds another group ofsixteen ranks followed by a final group of nine. In conclusion, Rüger proposes the systemshown in the first part of the Table. First wehave ‘masters’ from 9 down to 1 (namelyuntil four stones handicap) – ‘translated’ for

THE GO RANKING SYSTEM OF BRUNO RÜGER

Franco Pratesi pratesi@dmti.unifi.it

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Europe as classes 1 down to 9. ‘Strongplayers’ follow, divided into sixteen grades(16 highest), namely until eight stoneshandicap, which he names classes 10 downto 25. Then come ‘mid-strong players’ from16 to 1 (again until eight stones handicap);these Rüger calls classes 26 to 41. Finally,come ‘weaker players’ from 9 grade down to1 but here with one stone handicap differ-ence between grades, thus from one to ninehandicap stones. These Rüger calls classes42 to 50.

The ‘European’ Go ranking systemproposed and modified by Bruno Rüger.

In 1922, the assignment of the Germanplayers to the different classes is as follows:Dueball 23, Holz 24, B.Rüger 26, Sprague27, A.Rüger 29, Peters 30, Lindeman 31,John 34, Braune 42, Noack 45 – that is all!There existed other Go players at the timeand even the subscribers to the Journal weresignificantly more but they had not encoun-tered an opportunity to play together, thusestablishing their relative strengths.In the course of time, lists of ranked playerswere published in DGoZ almost every twoyears, with updated values and new entries.Rüger increasingly wishes that all hissubscribers are ranked, but this is not an

easy task. Eventually, in 1942, after havingused for twenty years the same rankingsystem, he decides to list all his subscribers,assigning to the 50th and last rank all thoseunable to provide a reason for a betterassignment.

During WW2, many old players cannot befound any longer and their destiny is notknown, but at the same time, beginners enterthe list of subscribers more than ever before.In the last months of the war, Rüger explic-itly regrets that he suffers from a shortage ofpaper, books and so on, when he verifies thatthe interest in Go is increasing.

It thus occurs that in one of the last issues ofthe journal (DGoZ 1944, pp. 29-30) BrunoRüger is induced to insert a change in hisranking system, which had been working formore than twenty years without any modifi-cation. However, even this only change isnot a remarkable one for the ranks alreadyestablished. It mainly consists in the additionto the existing system of new lower ranksfrom 51 to 60. These are now needed todistinguish the large mass of new enthusiastsof the game – several of them ladies andgirls – evidently of lower strength.

In passing from the old to the new system(see the two parts of the Table) little changeis applied to the ranks of the players previ-ously listed. In particular, the nine strongestgrades are now separated by one third of ahandicap stone – but this hardly affects thelists, because no European had ever enteredthis group. Two groups follow, 10–23 and24–37, both with grades separated by half astone. Then 38–51 (which is somewhat moreextended than the previous 41–50 but notremarkably) and the ‘new’ 52–60 additionallowest group. Rüger clearly states that suchdivision in groups is arbitrary and that forhis final choice he had taken symmetry intoaccount – particularly evident in the samenumber of nine ranks for both the strongestand the weakest players.

Group Name Grade Diff Grades1922

I Master 1/2 stone 1–9II Strong player 1/2 stone 10–25

III Mid-strong player 1/2 stone 26–41IV Weaker player 1 stone 42–50

1944I Master 1/3 stone 1–9

II Strong player 1/2 stone 10–23III Mid-strong player 1/2 stone 24–37IV Weak player 1 stone 38–51V Beginner 1 stone 52–60

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Before the vacuum-packed schedule of theWorld Amateur in Sendai in June, I took myfamily to Japan for a fortnight’s holiday. A miracle of precision planning, though Isay it myself; down to getting Seong-June tofeed the goldfish.I’ll spare you the slide show, but Japan doesguarantee some unusual encounters. Myconversation with the boutique man on themain street of Karuizawa, on how to trimbeards; my daughter falling for a felinerobot from the far future (the cartooncharacter Doraemon) and the subsequentresort to a dictionary in the case of a plasticfigure supplied with mysterious tablets,turning out to be a bath toy on the lines ofthe plastic submarines one used to fill withbaking powder; the ‘Freshness Burger’,‘Domestic Sausage’ and ‘Viking Cowboy’restaurant chains, the last being Korean-style with gas barbecue at each table; thepurchase of a child’s mahjong set, withtypes of sushi for suits; my son playing Für Elise on a Yamaha piano in its naturalliving-room habitat, to plaudits.On the Go front, I met upagain with MatsumotoKatsumi, winner of the firsttwo Trigantius tournaments,and still a strong 4 dan thoughout of practice; and KanetakeSusumu, recent visitor to theCambridge club. I bought fartoo many Go books, having tobribe my children with unspec-ified gifts to stuff their luggagewith old Kido Yearbooks. I was impressed with thenumber of publishers of newGo books, not usually to beseen in my usual and sadlyreceding source at OrientalCity in Colindale.

The event itself had a hotel at Narita Airportas rendezvous. French at breakfast withMadagascar (Jean Rakotondravelo, who hadscanty English). Off at 7 am by coach on theSaturday morning for the long ride north toSendai; little chance to doze after the firststop as Godzilla, dubbed into Japanese, cameon as in-flight entertainment, then a touristvideo suggesting a visit to Ireland, wasted onStephen Flinter next to me. Lunch combinedwith briefing at the Sendai hotel; I’m next toPak of North Korea, so no chat – I explainthe function of the bus pass by means of asketch. The draw gives me Geert Groenen,Dutch 6 dan, who is suspiciously friendly forthe rest of the weekend. A few minutes tofind our luggage and rooms, then bussed to ashopping arcade for friendship games.Sendai, an attractively laid-out modern cityof a million souls, has at least a mile ofundercover shopping, which fills up in theevening with amateur Bob Dylans andfashion-conscious teenagers. Photographedplaying ladies from the Aoba-Kai (translatesas WI), I make the national Asahi Shimbun

THE WORLD AMATEUR GO CHAMPIONSHIP IN SENDAI

Charles Matthews charles@sabaki.demon.co.uk

Photo:C

harles Matthew

s

Britain v Venezuela in the World Amateur at Sendai

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newspaper on Sunday. Go off in the direction ofthe station with SouthAfrica (Paul Edwards) insearch of wrapping paper,Pokemon and dinner, withoverall success.Sunday: AGM of the IGF,Germany oversleeps andsits down in Poland’s placefor the final 10 minutes.Alan Held retires, Armeniaand Lithuania are admitted.We are 55 this year as it is,with one player droppingout for personal reasons(Heiser of Luxembourg).Lunch from stalls set up by the Aoba-Kaioutside the conference centre where we’llplay; I discuss AGJ articles with Bill Cobbof the AGA, here for the parallel symposiumon educational aspects of Go. ‘Serious’friendship match; Takemiya smiles at mygame. I try simultaneous Japanese-Frenchtranslation of one of his public commentariesfor Jean; taxing. Reception: one of thepassport photos we all supplied has been putinto a video presentation, much like a policeparade. Lavish food and drink, Takemiyasings a karaoke version of the Sendai song.Monday. Down to business after two days ofJapanese hospitality at (what I hope is) itsmost overwhelming. My draw is tough but Iget a chance to kill Groenen’s group after heunwisely ignores a ko threat. Pro analysisafterwards makes it look simple but I don’tfind it so, and lose. Afternoon it’s the stony-faced but amiable Chacon of Mexico (4 dan).I win after a good opening and a dog’sbreakfast of a middle game. Sonoda (9 dan)drops in on the post-game analysis. India(Mandish Singh) isn’t struck by Japanesefood, so I find him the first of many teriyakichicken burgers for dinner.

Tuesday: Lose to Chile in the morning, ading-dong battle after an early life-and-deathsetback (once more), then about a third ofthe board a seki by mutual consent, the gamecontinuing through a deep invasion and kofight, and a couple more floating groups,before ending as I lose some key stones. The pots of strawberry jam from breakfastPablo Saez (3 dan) gulped down before westarted were clearly good stuff. At lunch I show the new book with Kim (on shape) toJames Davies and John Power, who areacting as interpreters.

Walk a couple of miles in the blazing sun,only to find second-hand Go books justround the corner. Afternoon game againstVenezuela, baseball cap pulled down overhis eyes – I win by a large margin. MeetKorean pro Nam Chihyung and talk aboutour books; she turns me down for dinner,since she is meeting the North Koreansbehind the scenes. Evening, a good-humoured talk by Tokimoto Hajime 8 dan, in the Kageyama mould of preacher of goodsense. My suggested reduction play islikened to seeing a Picasso for the first time.

Playing Matsumoto Katsumi at his home

Photo:C

harles Matthew

s

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Wednesday. The one that got away, a loss toThailand by half a point after an excitinggame: some spurious early endgame as I liveby the skin of my teeth all over his centreand then carelessly get a second group into ako fight, escaping lizard-style with a tailworth about 20 points dropping off. Mychance of an impressive result here slipsaway. Afternoon: a reasonable win againstSpain from a bad position. Thailand is 4 dan,Pons of Spain 3 dan but with Chile I’d saywe were all much of a strength, at least onmy form of this year. I find some e-mail atlast and send off to Clare and the MindSports site. Looks like Japan (Sakai) willwin as he defeats North Korea. Takemiya,genuine bloke as he seems to be, is stillcommenting in the analysis room on gamesof players around 1 and 2 dan.

Thursday: Slovenia in the morning, Matoh (5 dan). Suffice it to say that various irrita-tions get through to me and I lose quickly. I have time to buy bags from a 100-Yen shopto carry the excess of books. Find a taishaproblem book at the station: first time I hadasked they thought igo no hon or Go bookswas eigo no hon or English books, a verycommon hazard.

Afternoon: I play South Africa and win insome comfort for a 50% score. I have hadWhite for seven games in a row, and havebeen photographed many times that number,but have survived the ordeal. Party time! I realise that the Irohani where we are takenis a drinking joint, all food merely to inducethirst. A caterpillar in the salad is the onlyfault I can find with the week’s hospitality(and the only thing to stop the epicureanRalph Spiegl of Austria in his tracks). Backat the hotel Takemiya gives Donzet (5 dan,France) an ‘even’ game and arranges to loseShigeno-style by two points on the boardwith White after ‘misreading’ a life-and-death problem. A leading European playergives me his name tag and disappears intothe lift with two girls. I am in the party of

about half the participants who go on thefriendship trip to nearby Shiroishi (that is,‘White Stone’; there is a Kuroishi or ‘BlackStone’ on the way back to Tokyo, and theyplay matches), a probably typical small townof 40,000.

Two more packed days. Friday is a subduedstart in the bus. School visits, some go to aKorean school, I’m in Yuki Shigeno’s lotseeing Go taught in a Catholic school. Weplay atari Go with the kids. Then a sakedistillery; the process uses both a rice mashand added grape sugar. Shiroishi Castle,newly reconstructed (local daimyo guessedwrong in the Meiji Restoration) where wesee a 3D samurai film, then onto a samuraihouse, hot baths, reception. Things arelooking up; we can eat before the speeches.The North and South Korean reps arephotographed together, not insignificant inthe scale of things. Long talk with JohnPower about books.

Saturday we do culture: a.m. it’s koto andflute music, tea ceremony, Japanese dance.We teach some Go in return. Afternoon atthe ‘White Cube’, a huge modern buildinglike an inside-out Pompidou Centre. We aresupposed to paint traditional dolls (Chileskips this for a game of shogi, wisely in myview); then an International Pairs friendshipmatch. My pair is in his early nineties; welose too many points in the yose. I meet myold Japanese friend Onishi back at the hotel.

Sunday: wrong kind of mist at the end of thetunnel as the visit to Mt. Zao is cancelled,we spend a low key morning at a recyclingcentre (which mainly exchanges paperbacks)playing the locals and each other. I acquire15 shogi books for Seong-June, bringing ona final packing crisis. Bussed back to Narita,final dinner with the Latin Americans issmoked eel and yakitori from a conveniencestore’s microwave. And so home in a heapafter 23 days, facing yet-unsolved shelvingproblems for my new library.

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In my diary of the trip to China(BGJ 118), I said that JohnFairbairn and I had found someadvertising flyers for ChineseGo sets, which showed a phototaken when the Queen andPrince Philip had visited Chinain 1986. I said that we would tryto find a better photo and deter-mine what happened to the setpresented to the Queen.I have since discovered that thephoto was taken by a Chinesephotographer and it appears thatnone was taken by anyoneaccompanying the Royal party.I have spoken to BuckinghamPalace, who have told me thatthe set was retained by theQueen at Sandringham but,unfortunately, we can’t find outwhether anyone in the Royalfamily knows how to play Go.As you all know, a number ofgames can be played on a Goboard. I’m sure many membersof the BGA would enjoyshowing our Royal Family thefascination of the game of Go.

THE SLAPPING TESUJI

by Henry Segerman

A ROYAL POSTSCRIPT TO THE GUILIN TRIP

T Mark Hall tmark@gogod.demon.co.uk

The Queen receiving a Go set on a visit toChina in 1986 as Prince Philip looks on.

THE PRINCE OF GOThe Prince was in the making, growing up the board of Go, stones fastened to his elbows, in his cot, thrashing to and fro’.His handsome journey through Life, marked by the placing of a stone, so; here and there - a flock in air, meditating on the Rules of Go.“Are they Fair?”, he asked his father, the King!“Are they Just? Just tell me, my Queen,Mother!” But the wisest Go-board on his wall –told him to ask another.So, off he set to find her;and circled all the Land.All his plays were so inspired,because he used one hand!And that started everyone thinking.“For if a young lad can win games - so!!”His Bride, he’s won! His Reign’s begun!He is, it justly can be told – forever –

Prince of Go!!

Roger Daniel

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The BGA Council has asked me to reviewthe current system under which the BritishGo Championship is run. As you probablyknow the design of the current systeminvolved much discussion and this year isthe first year that it has run. The aim of thisreview is to consider how well the currentsystem worked in its first year and how wellit met the current stated objectives of theBritish Go Championship.

Terms of reference for the review

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

To review the operation of the new system inits first year to identify what went well andwhat could be improved.

This should be done by:

! considering whether it met the currentstated objectives for the championship.

! researching the views of BGA membersacross a spectrum of ability but focusingon those who attend tournaments in the UK.

! researching the views of those strongermembers of the BGA who chose not tocompete in this year’s championship.

The focus of this part of the review shouldbe on the current system and how it operatesrather than referring back to past systems.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

Based on the results of the first part of thereview, to recommend small changes in thedetailed implementation of the various stagesof the current system with the aim of bettermeeting the current stated objectives.

This throws up the question ‘what are thecurrent stated objectives of the British GoChampionship?’ These were set out in aarticle by Alison Bexfield on pages 20 - 22of BGJ 117.

Objectives of the ChampionshipTo summarise Alison's article:

The main objective is to determine a BritishChampion:

! …who should be a strong, on form playerwho meets the qualifying requirements.

Secondary objectives include publicity andplayer development:

! promoting the British Championship tobe a high profile event to attract publicity.

! encouraging players to improve by allowing long time limits, and evengames between improving and established players.

Reading the rest of the article it appears tome that there is another objective that is notstated explicitly; namely:

! to be a set of tournaments that are attractive to competitors and which don’tmake excessive demands on players’ time.

So those are the aims, both of the champi-onship and of the review. We have had onechance to see the new system in operation.

How well do you think it meets the stated objectives?

What adjustments do you think might be necessary in the light of a year’s experience?

What went well this year?

What could be improved?

If you have views on this subject please sendyour comments to me.

50

BRITISH GO CHAMPIONSHIP SURVEY REVISITED

Tim Hunt, Championships Organiser t.j.hunt@open.ac.uk

Please note that Tim has recentlymoved to Milton Keynes. His addresscan be found with those of all otherBGA officers on page 60

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AGM OF THE EUROPEAN GO FEDERATION, 2000Tony Atkins tony.atkins@european-go.org

KO BY HENRY SEGERMAN

#

The Annual General Meeting of the Euro-pean Go Federation was held on the eveningof Friday August 4th 2000 at LakesideHotel, Strausberg, Berlin. It started at 18:15and ended the same day. Martin Finke asVice-President took the chair up to theelections as the President, Erik Puyt, wasabsent following the recent birth of his son.25 countries were represented, includingnewly joined members Bosnia and Belarus.There were strong objections to the 1999minutes both by and about Italy. The previ-ous day there had been a three hour meetingto discuss the proposed constitution changes:those that allowed the installation of an EGFAppeals Commission and some smallamendments were passed; those that allowedobservers alongside a sitting member in thesame country were not accepted. The execu-tive will start to plan towards a replacementconstitution in the coming years. A motionfrom France to mediate in the Italian disputewas passed, but the part about the EGFpicking Italian representatives was not.The accounts were passed, but there was bigconcern that the EGF was investing somemoney in stocks rather than bonds. The newexecutive was elected without opposition asPresident Zoran Mutabzija, TreasurerThomas Pfaff, Secretary Matti Siivola, Vice-Presidents Oleg Gavrilov and Tony Atkins.Zoran chaired the rest of the meeting.

The various EGF commissions' reports wereexamined: areas that the executive will lookat are Promotion and Education (maybebetter as two rather than one commission)and the need for a new logo. The new execu-tive is committed to better spreading ofinformation to the member countries and theability to handle e-mail voting should beinvestigated.The European Go Congress in Berlin hadattracted 600 participants and was runningvery well. Plans for the 2001 EGC in Dublinwere presented by the Irish Go Association,including posters and price information,though the discount structure has not beendecided yet. In 2002 the EGC will be atZagreb in Croatia. 2003 was given to St.Petersburg in Russia and surprisingly thecongress will return to Tuchola Poland in2004. The Swedes, Finns and Czechs are allinterested in 2005.Other topics discussed were representationoutside Europe, professional visits, training,Ing Fund proposals and the recent registra-tion of the EGF as a legal entity in theNetherlands. The 2001 European Youth willbe in Poland (03/03/01), Pairs in Bosnia(07/04/01) and the Teams in Russia(17/03/01). Finally the EGF agreed a fundshould be set up to pay for future visits tocongresses by sensei Saijo as he is retiringthis year.

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From the literature I had expected Strausbergto be a Berlin suburb; in fact it is a verypleasant peaceful country town, a good hourfrom the capital by train, and surrounded byforest and lakes. I thought I had bookedgood and early but in order to get a singleroom I had to be in a rather up-market hotel;the alternative had been a room in a militarybarracks. The hotel was described as an‘Englisches Landhaus’. This meant that youhad to pass suits of armour and an oakpanelled staircase etc. before arriving at yourinternational-style hotel room. I quickly hadto brush up my German, which was thelanguage of all 14 TV channels in thisEnglisches Landhaus.

You could hire bicycles, and that was a goodidea, bringing the tournament venue, a highschool, about six minutes away. Strausbergis bike-friendly; everywhere are bike-parksand cycle tracks, and where there aren’t thelatter, it is acceptable for pedestrians andcyclists to share the pavement. So bikes getused a lot, so there are fewer cars, so it isbetter for bikes… How sensible. How un-British.

Registration at the congress took fiveminutes. The Germans had ten computersnetworked together, so they could registerten persons at once. If you have had theexperience of waiting an hour or more toregister after tiring travel, you will realisewhat a boon this was. And the tournamentrounds, including the first, started on time.No, that isn’t a misprint. The rounds startedon time. It can be done. At 10.10 am stoneswere clicking on most boards, and most ofthe Ing clocks had finished saying ‘Blacktime count begin.’ There were just on 500players in the main tournament. Britishtournament directors, please take note.

The total attendance was nearer the 800mark. Partners and families were much in

evidence. There was plenty for the young-sters to do; apart from almost daily Gotournaments, there were sporting and otheractivities. A popular one was frisbee Go. A 9x9 board was marked out on the court-yard grass, and blue and white plastic dinnerplate covers were used as stones. You had tothrow these onto whichever point youwanted, but they had the aerodynamicproperties of frisbees, so some unconven-tional positions resulted. Missing the boardaltogether was a pass. I have to say that theoccasional adult was seen joining in…

There were all the usual side events; A weekend tournament; 9x9, 13x13, rapidGo, lightning, Rengo, Pair Go, professionallessons and commentaries, and some I’veforgotten. I found the most intriguing event afour round 21x21 board tournament. I gotabsolutely thumped at this; it is quite surpris-ingly different from 19x19 Go. As usual,games other than Go got played as well. This year backgammon seemed much inevidence.

The first Wednesday excursion was to thepalace at Potsdam, followed by a visit to aBerlin ethnology museum with a permanentGo exhibition. Having been to Potsdambefore, I passed this up, and spent the dayexploring Strausberg and its countryside onthe bike, and taking a boat out on the lake.Strausberg was in the old East Germany, andis a curious mixture of the old and new. Thecrumbling pavements and buildings that oneassociates with the Communist regime arestill to be seen, and you can find yourselfwalking down Karl Marx Strasse. Andthough they are learning English quickly inthe East, if you speak to someone inGerman, you get answered in that language,which is very different from the West, whereyou get answered in American.

THE EUROPEAN GO CONGRESS 2000 AT STRAUSBERG

Francis Roads francis@jfroads.demon.co.uk

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But also there is evidence of much newdevelopment. A most welcome surprise wasthe standard of the food. The cuisine isperhaps not up to French standards, but theraw materials are excellent. The quality ofthe fresh food in shops was better thananything I can find in my London suburb. Volunteers were called for to spend onenight away from the Englisches Landhaus,which was over-booked because of a visitingparty. Always game for an adventure, I setoff on the bike through dark country lanesfor my one-night stay in a hotel inEggersdorf, a town some five miles away.My luggage was dealt with by room service;it was just myself that I had to get there. It ishard to carry a map in ones head. Yes, Imissed my turning and found myself well onthe way to Berlin. I found the hotel eventu-ally, but what slightly unsettled me was thequestion asked by a German on my return toStrausberg the following day: “Did you seeany of the wild boar?” He wasn’t joking. It isn’t every day that one has the opportu-nity to visit a cucumber museum. Thesecond off-day excursion was to Spreewald,which, as you remember from your schoolgeography, is Germany’s main cucumbergrowing centre. It is alow-lying swampy area,criss-crossed by naturaland man-made channels,and few roads. Motorboats are banned fromthe channels because ofdamage to the banks, sothe main means of bothpublic and private trans-port is the punt. Wewere bundled into twopublic service punts fora tranquil excursion. I didn’t actually seemany cucumbers butthere was a unique styleof architecture, horticul-ture and agriculture

devised to take advantage of the swampyconditions, and now part of a protectedconservation area. At midday we stoppedfor lunch at a restaurant where cucumberswere more or less compulsory, and then tothat museum; more interesting than youmight think.The other highlight of my fortnight was thesong party on the last Friday night. Theclassroom soon filled with a good 50 lustysingers, and we sang non-stop for two and ahalf hours without repeating a song, andleaving out many old favourites. There weremany new contributions to the genre of theGo song, especially from the French contin-gent, and the first Dutch Go song actually inDutch. Most of us understood more or lesswhat it was about. So where were all the Brits? We onlymanaged 20 attendees out of 500; and manyof them managed only a few days or a week.Perhaps they are all saving their vacationtime and money for Dublin next year; I hopethat’s the reason. This was the best organisedlarge scale congress that I have everattended, in Europe, the USA or anywhereelse. Unless you were one of the 20, youmissed a treat.

A punt of players could signal the birth of a new collective noun

Photo:Francis R

oads

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To put the central Black group intoatari, White needs to play A and B inDiagram 1, but a shortage of libertieson both sides prevents him doing soimmediately.

First he must capture the black stonesinside his eyes. When he does so, ineach case Black plays inside the eye asin Diagram 2. Now White finds that hecan still play neither A (Black killswith C) nor B (Black kills with D).

Since White can do nothing but killhimself, Black is in no hurry to doanything at all; but can he capture or isit seki? Diagram 3 shows Black tryingto capture by playing the nakade on theleft. When White replies at 4, Blackmust be careful.

In Diagram 4 he tries to kill everythingand falls into his own trap when Whiteplays atari at 6. Instead of this, Blackmust play as in Diagram 5, capturingWhite’s group on the left while lettinghim live on the right.

The status of the problem position isvery strange: White can die; Black cankill just half of it while letting the otherhalf live. Correct play for White is toleave the position alone. Black shouldalso leave it alone until the dame stage,when he must play the sequence inDiagrams 3 and 5. If he neglects to dothat before the counting, the positionwould stand as seki under Japaneserules.

2 4C 1 A B 3 D

" 2

65

" 5

2 1 4

" 3 Black 3 at the marked point

A B

" 1

56

" 4

A PROBLEM OF STATUS ~ THE SOLUTION

Simon Goss simon@gosoft.demon.co.uk

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May in Europe 59 players attended the second Toyota Tourtournament, held in Bled, Slovenia on 6thand 7th May. Joint winners on 5/6 wereVladimir Danek (6 dan Czech) and TiborPocsai (5 dan Hungary); third on tie-breakwas Gert Schneider (5 dan Austria). 58 players attended the major tournament inBudapest, Hungary, the following weekend.Winner was Tibor Pocsai (5 dan) on 5/5 andsecond was Diana Koszegi (5 dan) on 4/5both local. The Croatian major in Zagreb atthe end of May was attended by 36 playersand won by local Zoran Mutabzija (5 dan),the best on 4/5.

June in Europe The third Toyota Tour tournament was heldat the EGCC in Amstelveen, nearAmsterdam, Netherlands, from the 1st to 4thJune. Four of the 148 players had travelledfrom the UK – Harry Fearnley (2 dan)scoring 4/6. Another 50 players took part inside events, and more still attended for thefirst EGF Referees Workshop which washeld the day before (attended by GeoffKaniuk). Winner of the tournament was DuJingu (the Chinese living in Braunschweig inGermany) with 6/6. Second was Guo Juanwith 5/6 and third was Frank Janssen thebest on 4/6. The only other player to win 6/6was young Kei Shinada (3 kyu) who isliving in Belgium. 115 players took part inHamburg Toyota Tour Tournament and theresult was a repeat of Amsterdam of a weekearlier: Du Jingu won and Guo Juan wassecond with 6/6 and 5/6 again. Stefan Budig(4 dan) only lost to the top two to be third.Fourth was Egbert Rittner (6 dan) and fifthwas Benjamin Teuber (4 dan), also on 4/6. A special youth tournament was arranged for16 children. This win put Du in the lead ofthe TT points table ahead of Danek and Guo.

July in Europe The fifth Toyota Tour event was held as partof a week-long Russian Go Congress inMoscow ending on the 9th July. 119 playerstook part. Alexei Lazarev finished first by 1SOS point ahead of Alexander Dinerstein,both on 5/6. Third was Andrei Kulkov (stillonly 17), fourth Mikhail Galchenko and fifthRoman Gatallin, who beat Dinerstein inround 1.

World Amateur 56 countries attended the 22nd WorldAmateur in Sendai on Japan’s east coast.Britain’s Charles Matthews (3 dan Cam-bridge) was a very creditable 32nd with 4/8.His results were -Netherlands +Mexico -Chile +Venezuela -Thailand +Spain -Slovenia +South Africa. First was SakaiHideyuki of Japan and next places were Pakof DPR Korea, Hong of Korea, Zhao ofChina, Ng of Singapore, Geert Groenen ofNetherlands, David Schoffel of Germanyand Ion Florescu of Romania. Other BGAfriends were Paul Edwards for South Africain 42nd and Stephen Flinter for Ireland (46th).

World YouthThe Ing World Youth Goe Championshipswere held at Pruhonice Village near Praguein the Czech Republic. Korea won both thetitles. The two sections were run as a Swissfollowed by knockout. Junior winner wasKang Dong Yoon who was placed ahead ofthe Chinese and Taiwan players. Hur YoungHo was the senior winner despite losing inthe Swiss to 1 dan pro from China, WangLei, placed second. Third was Lee Kuie-Hanof Taiwan. Top Europeans were Germany’sBenjamin Teuber in fourth and DianaKoszegi in sixth. Many exciting side activi-ties were organised for the children includ-ing trips to the local castle and park.

WORLD GO NEWS

Tony Atkins ajaxgo@yahoo.co.uk

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EuropeanThe HITACHI European Go Congress wasthe 44th and one of the biggest yet. As wellas a large number of Germans from the hostcountry, there were large numbers of visitingJapanese. There were more than a dozenpros there, officially and unofficially: MsHua and Duan Rong from China; Saijo,Nakayama, Muraoka, Baba, Katsura and MsFu from Japan; Chun, Oh, Ms Lee and MsYoon from Korea; Taranu and Pietsch fromEurope. The venue was a red-brick schoolbuilding in the historic small town ofStrausberg, about 25 miles from the centreof Berlin. Mostly the weather was sunny andlarge crowds were seen on the lawn playingGo and other games. The main tournament managed to get 501names on the results list. At the top LeeHyuk took the lead from round 5 and heldon to win with a perfect 10/10, and be theOpen Champion of Europe. AlexanderDinerstein lost only to Lee in round 4 to takethe Champions title. Zhao Pei lost only tothe top two, to show she is the strongestwoman when Guo Juan’s not around, in thirdwith 8/10. On 7/10 were Sumikura Yasuyukiand Kai Naoyuki fromJapan, and Germany’sFranz- Josef Dickhut.T.Mark Hall in 55th andFrancis Roads in 60thwere the top ranked Brits,both winning half theirgames. Mike Cockburnscored 5/9 at 2 kyu, andin the first week NatashaRegan scored 4/5 at 3kyu, and Ian Meikeljohn,Alex and Matthew Selbyall scored 3/5. Sevenplayers lower down won8/10: Russia’s JulijaSolomatina (1 dan),Timour Douguine (1 dan)and Artem Douguine (2 kyu), Poland’s Jerzy

Pomorski (6 kyu), Germany’s Michel Spodeand Michaela Mengeler (both 15 kyu) andFinland’s Timo Lindi (11 kyu). The Weekend Tournament attracted 402players, with the supergroup bar set justbelow 6 dan. Kim Se Hyun (7 dan Korea)won with 5/5. On 4/5 were AlexanderDinerstein (7 dan Russia), Lee Hyuk (7 danKorea) and Du Jingu (7 dan China). ManyJapanese and Germans (naturally) took partbut only seven Brits of whom the best wereBill Streeten (4 kyu) on 3/5 and PaulineBailey who won 4/5 playing at a deflatedgrade of 16 kyu. On 5/5 were Czechs AlexCieply (1 dan) and Marin Jarek (3 kyu),Hungary’s Rita Pocsai (1 kyu), Poland’sMichal Rans (4 kyu), Russia’s ArtemDouguine (2 kyu), Romanian Bogdan AndreiDimitrescu (3 kyu), Germany’s JohannesUlrich (10 kyu), Carsten Kraus (13 kyu) andMichel Spode (15 kyu) and Finland’s TimoLindi (11 kyu).The Rapid was held over 17 rounds in thelate afternoon. The winner was youngAndrei Kulkov (5 dan) from Russia with 14wins. The three players tied for second wereall Dmitris: Surin, Bogatskiy and Ejov.

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Frisbee Go at the European Congress in Strausberg

Photo:Francis R

oads

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Of the 195 players, 5 were Brits; Bill Streetenwas the best with 9 wins. Finland’s TimoLindi continued to do well winning 12/17.

Accommodation was provided in hotels ofvarying standards around the town and couldbe a cycle or tram ride away, or acrossStrausberg’s lake by ferry. Formerly part ofEast Germany the area looked a little lesscared for than in the west, but otherwisethere was little to show for its heritage. Ofcourse Berlin city was the main touristdistraction: Brandenberg Gate, Palaces,Parks, Museums galore. The EthnologicalMuseum in Dahlem district had a specialexhibition of Go Art, complete with livegame and commentary on the first day off.The other day out trip was to Sans-Souci andthe other palaces of Potsdam, all set inbeautiful parkland. Other activities includedparties, kids activities and of course manyside events, all described in a full colourcongress magazine.

US Open The 16th US Go Congress was held atDenver University in Colorado and newswas reported daily in the American Go E-Journal. 238 players from 6 to 87 years and

seven countries took part. Top British hopewas Piers Shepperson who had chosen toplay in the 4 dan section. He won his firstfour games and ended up second in thesection behind young Eric Lui. Eric alsowon the Redmond Cup for Juniors andJonathan Wang won the Senior section.

The main Tournament winner was Ted Ningwho finished ahead of Thomas Hsiang andJong Moon Lee. The latter two also took thetop places in the Ing Cup. The NorthAmerican Masters was won by Jujo Jiang(9p). The Lightning winner was PiersShepperson who beat Ned Phipps in thefinal. The Pair Go was won by young JoeyHung and Gina Shih (7 dan/1 kyu), withJoanne and Ned Phipps in second, DebbieSiemon and Thomas Hsiang in third.

Other events included the crazy Go night,the really hotly contested continuous self-paired event, and a Tag Game, won by ChrisGarlock’s team or Straus, Kierulf andShaevel. An altitude record for games onearth was claimed by Korean pro Mr Soowho played a game at 14,000 feet on Pike’sPeak. Next year the congress is in Baltimore,Maryland from 4th to 12th August.

Saijo sensei was the most popular pro at the European Congress

Photo:Francis R

oads

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Post VacantThe post of Publicity Officer is still vacant.Please contact BGA Secretary Tony Atkins ifyou think you could fulfil this vital role inthe promotion of Go. See BGA Officials onpage 60 for contact details.

Advertisements£100 per page and pro rata. Privately placedsmall ads, not for profit, are free.

e-mail lists mergedukgolist and bgagolist have been merged.Everyone who subscribed to the latter hasbeen added to ukgolist. Please only post toukgolist in future.

SGF files of Journal gamesShortly after the publication of each issue,sgf files of any games published in theJournal will be available on the net at:www.faldera.co.uk/Go/BGJ/BGJ-Index.html

New games analystDes Cann is now running the game analysisservice of the BGA. His contact details canbe found on page 60.

Journal ContributionsPlease send contributions for the WinterJournal as soon as possible and in any caseby 17th November.Copy sent via e-mail is especially welcome.Please supply plain text as all formattinginformation will be discarded.Diagrams can be supplied as mgt or sgf filesfrom any recent Go editing program.Please e-mail your contribution to:

journal@britgo.orgor post to:

David Woodnutt3 Back DriveLillingstone DayrellBuckinghamMK18 5AL

NOTICES

#

© 2000 BGA. Items may be reproducedfor the purpose of promoting Go providedthat all such copies are attributed to theBritish Go Journal. All other rights reserved.Views expressed are not necessarily thoseof the BGA or of the Editor.

SMALL ADS

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Go World 57

Kido Yearbook pre-1966 1968 1978 1985 1987.

Charles Matthewscharles@sabaki.demon.co.uk

PHOTO COMPETITION

Think you’re a bit of a click artist?A prize will be awarded for the most

interesting and unusual photograph witha Go theme submitted between now and

the end of the year. The best pictureswill also be published in the Journal.Send your entries to the Editor at the

$ address below. $

Sept2000 26/9/00 9:22 pm Page 58

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

For the most up to date information on future events, visit the BGA web site at:

www.britgo.org/tournaments

OctoberSaturday 14th:Wanstead. An experimental tournament; 6 round McMahon, 30 minutes time limit, noovertime. Free entry if this is your first everGo tournament.Contact Alison Bexfield 020 8504 6944. Sunday 15th:International Autumn Match at theNippon Club, London. (by invitation only). Contact Simon Bexfield 020 8504 6944. Sunday 29th:Wessex at Marlborough Town Hall. 4 roundMcMahon. 50 Minutes + 30 then 60/5overtime. Entries to Simon Shiu,Tel. 0117 962 8907 (before 9:30pm please).

NovemberSaturday-Sunday 11th-12th:Three Peaks. A 5 round McMahon with 60 minutes time limit plus 20 stones in 5minutes overtime. Held in delightfulsurroundings at the Marton Arms Hotel, alarge country pub, in Thornton-in-Lonsdale,about a mile outside Ingleton.Contact Toby Manning 01926 888 739. Sunday 19th:National Small Board Championshipplayed on 13x13 boards. Organised by theCambridge Junior Chess and Go Club.Contact Paul Smith 01223 563 932. Sunday 26th:Swindon at the Dunbar Club. Contact David King 01793 521 625.

DecemberSaturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd:West Surrey Teach-in (Sat) and WestSurrey Handicap Tournament (Sun). Contact Pauline Bailey 01483 561 027.Sunday 10th:Anglo-Japanese Winter Match at theCLGC, London (by invitation only). Contact Simon Bexfield 020 8504 6944. 29th - January 1st:London Open. This will be the 27th LondonOpen Go Congress. As usual, it will be heldat the Highbury Round House.The London Open Go Congress is a Majortournament in the Toyota Tour and as suchall the Toyota Tour rules apply. You shouldrefer to

www.european-go.org/toyotatour

for the full EGF details, and especially ifyou are 4 dan or stronger.! 1500 euros prize money.! A Go teacher will be on hand to comment

on games for players at 10 kyu or below.! Side events include 9 x 9 and continuous

handicap tournaments.! There will be an Indian meal for those

who wish to celebrate New Year locally.! Limited private accommodation is

available. Please contact us as soon aspossible for this.

Contact Geoff Kaniuk 020 8874 7362.

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% PRESIDENT: Alison Bexfield29 Forest Way, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 0QF(020 8504 6944) alison@acjamj.demon.co.uk

% TREASURER: T. Mark Hall47 Cedars Rd, Clapham, London SW4 0PN(020 7627 0856) tmark@gogod.demon.co.uk

% SECRETARY: Tony Atkins37 Courts Rd, Earley, Reading RG6 7DJ(0118 926 8143) ajaxgo@yahoo.co.uk

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Kathleen TimminsThe Hollies, Wollerton, Market Drayton,Shropshire TF9 3LY(01630 685292) mem@britgo.demon.co.uk

JOURNAL EDITOR: David Woodnutt 3 Back Drive,Lillingstone Dayrell, Buckingham MK18 5AL(01280 860 624) journal@britgo.org

BOOK DISTRIBUTOR: Gerry Mills10 Vine Acre, Monmouth, Gwent NP25 3HW(01600 712 934) bgabooks@btinternet.com

% CHAMPIONSHIPS ORGANISER & TOURNAMENT

COORDINATOR: Tim Hunt 208f North Row,Central Milton Keynes, MK9 3LQ(01908 695 778) t.j.hunt@open.ac.uk

% YOUTH COORDINATOR: Simon Goss4 Butler Road, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6QY(01344 777 963) simon@gosoft.demon.co.uk

WEBMASTER: Nick Wedd37 North Hinksey Village, Oxford OX2 0NA(01865 247 403) nick@maproom.co.uk

PUBLICITY OFFICER: post vacant.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Jill Segerman20 Ivygreen Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy,Manchester M21 9ET(0161 861 8467) jilseg@email.com

ANALYSIS SERVICE: Des Cann402 Holyhead Road Coventry CV5 8LJ(01932 788 426) des@cann.demon.co.uk

ARCHIVIST: Harry Fearnley38 Henley Street, Oxford, OX4 1ES(01865 248 775) archivist@goban.demon.co.uk

GRADING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Jim Clare32–28 Granville Rd, Reading RG30 3QE (0118 950 7319) jim@jaclare.demon.co.uk

% JOURNAL BACK NUMBERS: Steve Bailey49 Stocton Road, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1HD(01483 533 748) sgbailey@iee.org

% Bill Streeten 3 Wellington Court, WellingtonRoad, London E11 2AT (020 8926 6923)

% Chris Dawson21 Eltham Avenue, Cippenham, Slough, SL1 5TQ(01753 676 095) chris_dawson@bigfoot.com

GODRAW PROGRAM/CLGC: Geoff Kaniuk35 Clonmore St, London SW18 8EL(020 8874 7362) geoff@kaniuk.demon.co.uk

NATIONAL TRAINER: Matthew Macfadyen22 Keytes Lane, Barford, Warks. CV35 8EP(01926 624 445) matthew@jklmn.demon.co.uk

AUDITOR: Toby Manning7 Oak Tree Close, Leamington Spa CV32 5YT(01926 888 739) toby@ptmfa.freeserve.co.uk

Useful e-mail and web addresses

e-mail for general BGA enquiries

bga@britgo.demon.co.uk

BGA Web site

http://www.britgo.org

BGA e-mail listssee web site for details of how to enlist

for general and discussion broadcast:

ukgolist@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk

for youth discussion broadcast:

youthgolist@dcs.rhbnc.ac.ukµ

BGA OFFICIALS

% indicates member of BGA Council

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BATH: Paul Christie 01225 428 995p.christie@bath.ac.uk Meets at The RisingSun near Pulteney Bridge, Wed 7.30pm.

BILLERICAY: Guy Footring 01277 623 305guy@Footring.demon.co.uk Meets Mon.

BIRMINGHAM: Kevin Roger 01214 494 181kevin_roger@europe.notes.pw.comMeets various places.

BOLTON: Stephen Gratton 01617 613 465Meets Mon 7.30pm.

BOURNEMOUTH: Neil Cleverly 01202 659 653cleverlyn@poole.siemens.co.uk Meets at 24Cowper Rd, Moordown, Tues 8pm.

BRACKNELL: Clive Hendrie 01344 422 502clive.hendrie@freenet.co.uk Meets at Duke’sHead, Wokingham, Tues 8.30pm.

% BRADFORD: Kunio Kashiwagi 01422 846 634kashiwag@aol.com Meets at Prune ParkTavern, Thornton Wed 7.30pm.

BRIGHTON: Steve Newport 01903 237 767snewport@pavilion.co.ukMeets at The Queen’s Head, oppositeBrighton Station, Tues 8pm.

BRISTOL: Antonio Moreno 01179 422 276Meets at Polish Ex-servicemen’s Club, 50 StPaul’s Road, Clifton, Bristol, Tues 7.30pm.

CAMBRIDGE CHESS & GO CLUB:Paul Smith 01223 563 932andreapaul@andrea-paul.freeserve.co.ukMeets Victoria Road Community Centre,Victoria Road, Fri 6.15 to 7:45pm. Caters forbeginners and children.

% CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY & CITY:Charles Matthews 01223 350 096soc-cugos-contacts@lists.cam.ac.uk Meets atAlexandra Arms Mon 9pm; the ChetwyndRoom, King’s College Tues 7.30pm (term);Coffee Lounge, 3rd floor, The UniversityCentre, Mill Lane Thurs 7.30pm; CB1 (café),32 Mill Road Fri 7.00 to 9pm

CHELTENHAM: David Killen 01242 576 524 (h)Meets various places, Wed 7.30pm.

% CHESTER: Dave Kelly 01244 544 770davekelly@free4all.co.ukMeets at Olde Custom House, Watergate St,Chester, Weds 8.00pm.

DUNDEE: Bruce Primrose 01382 669 564Meets weekly.

DURHAM UNIVERSITY: Paul Callaghan0191 374 7034 p.c.callaghan@durham.ac.uk

% EDINBURGH: Howard Manning 0131 6675260 howard@manning2353.freeserve.co.ukMeets at 4 Bright's Crescent, Edin. EH9,Weds 7.30pm.

% EPSOM DOWNS: Paul Margetts 01372 723 268paul@yuhong.demon.co.uk Meets at 7Ripley Way, Epsom, Surrey KT19 7DB butcheck with Paul first.Tues 7.30 to 11pm.

GLASGOW: John O’Donnell 01413 305 458jtod@dcs.gla.ac.uk Meets term time atResearch Club, Hetherington House, 13 University Gardens, Weds. 7pm.

% HIGH WYCOMBE: Paul Clarke 01494 438 917paul.clarke@eu.citrix.com Meets Weds8.00pm.

% HP (BRISTOL): Andy Seaborne 01179 507 390afs@hplb.hpl.hp.com Meets Wed & Fri noon.Please ring in advance to ensure that playersare available.

% HUDDERSFIELD: Alan Starkey 01484 852 420Meets at the Huddersfield Sports Centre,Tues 7pm.

HULL: Mark Collinson 01482 341 179mark@collinson.karoo.co.ukMeets Sat 7.30pm.

IPSWICH: Vince Suttle 01473 625 111v.suttle@btinternet.com Meets Thurs.evenings in the Brewery Tap, Cliff Road.

ISLE OF MAN: David Phillips 01624 612 294Meets Mon 7.30pm.

% LANCASTER: Adrian Abrahams 0152434656 adrian_abr@lineone.net MeetsWeds. 7.30pm Gregson Community Centre,33 Moorgate.

UK CLUB LIST

% Indicates new information

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LEAMINGTON: Matthew Macfadyen01926 624 445 Meets Thurs 7.30pm.

LEICESTER: Richard Thompson 0116 276 1287jrt@cix.co.uk Meets at 5 Barbara Avenue,LE5 2AD, Thurs 7:45pm.

MAIDENHEAD: Iain Attwell 01628 676 792Meets various places Fri 8pm.

MANCHESTER: Chris Kirkham 01619 039 023chris@cs.man.ac.uk Meets at the SquareAlbert in Albert Square, Thurs 7.30pm.

% MONMOUTH: Gerry Mills 01600 712 934bgabooks@btinternet.comMeets by arrangement.

NEWCASTLE: John Hall 01912 856 786jfhall@avondale.demon.co.ukMeets various places, Weds.

% NORWICH: Keith Osborne 01603 487 433Meets first, third & fifth Weds of month.

OPEN UNIVERSITY & MILTON KEYNES:Fred Holroyd 01908 315 342f.c.holroyd@open.ac.uk Meets 1st Mondayof the month in O.U. Theatre Bar others atWetherspoons, Midsummer BoulevardCentral MK, Mon 7.30pm.

OXFORD CITY: Richard Helyer01608 737 594 Meets at Freud’s Café,Walton Street, Tues & Thurs 6pm. Checkwith Richard that Freud’s is available.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY: Henry Segermanhenry.segerman@st-johns.oxford.ac.ukMeets in Besse 1.1, St Edmund Hall (term only) Weds 7.30 to 11pm.

PORTSMOUTH: Kevin Cole 02392 820 700kevjcole@yahoo.comMeets various places, Sun 1pm.

READING: Jim Clare 01189 507 319 (h)01344 472 972 (w) jim@jaclare.demon.co.ukjim.clare@icl.com (w) Meets at the BreweryTap, Castle St, Mon 6.30 pm.

% S. E. WALES: Paul Brennan 02920 625 955brennanp@uk2.net Meets Chapter ArtsCentre, Market Street, Cardiff. Tues 7:30pm,

ST ALBANS: Alan Thornton 01442 261 945 orRichard Mullens 01707 352 343Meets at The Mermaid Wed 8pm.

SWINDON: David King 01793 521 625Meets at Prince of Wales, Coped HallRoundabout, Wootton Bassett, Wed 7.30pm.

TAUNTON: David Wickham 01984 623 519Meets Tues various places.

TEESSIDE: Gary Quinn 01642 384 303 (w)g.quinn@tees.ac.ukMeets at University of Teesside Wed 4pm.

% WEST CORNWALL: John Culmer01326 573 167 john_culmer@talk21.comMeets Acorn Theatre, Parade Street,Penzance, Mon 8.00pm.

WEST WALES: Jo Hampton 01341 281 336jo@barmouthbay.freeserve.co.ukBaron Allday 01341 280 066 Llys Mynach,Llanaber Rd, Barmouth LL42 1RN.

WEST SURREY: Pauline Bailey 01483 561 027pab27@compuserve.comMeets in Guildford, Mon 7.30 to 10pm.

WINCHESTER: Mike Cobbett 02380 266 710 (h)01962 816 770 (w) mcobbett@bigfoot.comMeets mostly at Black Boy, Wharf Hill, Bar End, Wed 7pm. Check with M. Cobbett.

WORCESTER & MALVERN: Edward Blockley 01905 420 908 MeetsWeds 7.30pm.

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LONDON CLUBSCENTRAL LONDON: Geoff Kaniuk

020 8874 7362 Meets in Daiwa Foundation,Japan House, 13-14 Cornwall Terrace, NW1,Sat 2pm. Please press doorbell marked ‘Go’and wait 3 minutes.

% NIPPON CLUB IGO KAI: K. Tanaka020 8693 7782 gokichi@tanaka.co.uk Meetsat Nippon Club, Samuel House, 6 St AlbansSt, SW1. (near Piccadilly Circus tube)Fri 6.00 to 10.30pm. (Entry to building until9pm). £4 Board Fee All players welcome.

NORTH LONDON: Martin Smith020 8991 5039 martins@dcs.qmw.ac.ukMeets in the Gregory Room, back of ParishChurch, Church Row, Hampstead(near Hampstead tube) Tues 7.30pm.

NORTH WEST LONDON: Keith Rapley 01494 675 066 (h) 020 8562 6614 (w)Meets at Greenford Community Centre,Oldfield Lane (south of A40), GreenfordThurs 7pm.

% SOUTH CENTRAL LONDON: Mark Graves 020 7639 3965 (h) 020 7888 1306 (w)mark.graves@csfb.com Temporarilysuspended.

TWICKENHAM: Neil Hankey 020 8894 1066 (h)Meets Sunday evenings.

WANSTEAD & EAST LONDON: Jeremy Hawdon020 8505 6547 Meets at Wanstead House, 21 The Green, Wanstead E11, Thurs 7.15pm.

YOUTH GO CLUBS

youthgolist@dcs.rhbnc.ac.ukBERKSHIRE YOUTH: Simon Goss 01344 777 963

simon@gosoft.demon.co.ukMeets at St Paul’s Church Hall, HarmanswaterMon 4pm to 7pm.

% BLOXHAM SCHOOL (Oxfordshire): HughAlexander 01295 721 043hughalexander@talk21.com

BRAKENHALE SCHOOL:Emma Marchant 01344 481 908

CAMBRIDGE JUNIORS: Paul Smith01223 563 932 (h) 01908 844 469 (w)paul@mpaul.cix.co.uk

THE DRAGON SCHOOL (Woodstock):Jonathan Reece 01869 331 515 (h)jon.reece@zetnet.co.uk

EVELINE LOWE PRIMARY SCHOOL (London SE1):Charles O’Neill-McAleenan 0207 252 0945

FITZHARRY’S SCHOOL (Abingdon): Nick Wedd01865 247 403 (h)

HAZEL GROVE HIGH SCHOOL (Stockport):John Kilmartin 01663 762 433 (h)

LONGWELL GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL (Bristol):Bob Hitchens 01761 453 496bob@hitchens10.freeserve.co.uk

ST IVES SCHOOL (Cornwall) Ms Alex Maund01736 788 914 (h)alex@st-ives.cornwall.sch.uk

ST NINIAN’S HIGH SCHOOL, Douglas, I.O.M.Steve Watt

ST PAUL’S SCHOOL (Cambridge):Charles Matthews 01223 350 096 (h)charles@sabaki.demon.co.uk

STOWE SCHOOL (Buckingham): Alex Eve 01280 812 979 alex@figleaf.demon.co.uk

WHITEHAVEN SCHOOL: Keith Hudson01946 810 573 keith.jill@lineone.net

Up to date information on UK Go clubsis maintained on the BGA Web Site at:www.britgo.org/clublist/clubsmap.html

Please send any corrections and all newor amended information to Nick Wedd,the BGA Webmaster.See page 60 for all BGA contact details.

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AJI: latent possibilities left in a position

AJI KESHI: a move which destroys one’s ownaji (and is therefore bad)

ATARI: having only one liberty left; stonesare said to be ‘in atari’ when liable tocapture on the next move

BYO YOMI: shortage of time; having to makea move in a given time. Overtime is nowmore widely used in tournament play

DAME: a neutral point; a point of no value toeither player

DAME ZUMARI: shortage of liberties

DANGO: a solid, inefficient mass of stones

FURIKAWARI: a trade of territory or groups

FUSEKI: the opening phase of the game

GETA: a technique that captures one or morestones in a ‘net’, leaving them with twoor more liberties but unable to escape

GOTE: losing the initiative

HANE: a move that ‘bends round’ an enemystone, leaving a cutting point behind

Hamete: a move that complicates the situation but is basically unsound

HASAMI: pincer attack

HOSHI: one of the nine marked points on the board

IKKEN TOBI: a one-space jump

ISHI NO SHITA: playing in the space left aftersome stones have been captured

JIGO: a drawn game

JOSEKI: a standardised sequence of moves,usually in a corner

KAKARI: a move made against a singleenemy stone in a corner

KATTE YOMI: self-centred play; expectinguninspired answers to ‘good’ moves

KEIMA: a knight’s move jump

KIKASHI: a move which creates aji whileforcing a submissive reply

KOMI: a points allowance given to compensate White for playing second

KOSUMI: a diagonal play

MIAI: two points related such that if oneplayer takes one of them, the opponentwill take the other one

MOYO: a potential territory, a framework

NAKADE: an eye-shape that can be reducedto one eye by a play at the vital point

OVERTIME: in tournament play, having toplay a number of stones in a certain timee.g. 20 stones in five minutes

PONNUKI: the diamond shape left behindafter a single stone has been captured

SABAKI: a sequence that produces a light,resilient shape

SAGARI: a descent, extending towards theedge of the board

SAN REN SEI: an opening which consists ofplaying on the three hoshi points alongone side of the board

SEKI: a local stalemate between two or moregroups dependent on the same libertiesfor survival

SEMEAI: a race to capture between twoadjacent groups that cannot both live

SENTE: gaining the initiative; a move thatrequires a reply

SHICHO: a capturing sequence shaped like a ladder

SHIMARI: a corner enclosure of two stones

SHODAN: one dan level

TENGEN: centre point of the board

TENUKI: to abandon the local position andplay elsewhere

TESUJI: a skillful and efficient move in alocal fight

TSUKE: a contact play

YOSE: the endgame

GLOSSARY OF GO TERMS

Sept2000 26/9/00 9:22 pm Page 64

Newly AvailableA Way of Play for the 21st Century –BP01 (£14.00) is a compilation oflectures by Go Seigen on Japanesetelevision. The book is clear and well-presented, with a great deal of interest-ing material concerning the fuseki andearly middle game. However, I found itdifficult to discern a clear theme. The book is Intermediate level.

Kido Year Book for 2000 (in Japanese)– KI00 (£38.00) All about Go profes-sionals and their games. Only threecopies available.

Ranka Year Book for 2000 – RA00(£6.00) An interesting account of Goaround the world with a dozencommented games from the 1999 WorldAmateur Go Championships. Shouldappeal to all levels of players.

Lee Changho's Novel Plays and ShapesY26 (£10.00) The title says it all! Avery stimulating book which examinesa number of moves which one wouldnever think of playing and demonstratestheir effectiveness. If you have anaggressive fighting style, this book willappeal to you. I can only recommendthis book at Advanced level.

The Endgame – G15 (£8.00)

Glass stones (8.5mm) – SLG are againavailable at £24.00.

Go WorldThe price of all issues of Go World hasbeen increased to £4.50, again due tothe strength of the Japanese yen.Existing subscriptions are not affectedbut new subscriptions must be at thisprice per copy.

Price Changes

Katsura folding board – B102 hasnow gone up to £30.00.

Appreciating Famous Games – G25 isreduced to £8.00.

The 3-3 Point – G44 is reduced to £8.00.

Golden Opportunities – Y12 is reducedto £10.00.

No Longer Available

Beyond Forcing Moves – G37

Goods Direct

The BGA Bookshop, with a wide rangeof books, equipment and other items,will be at the Wanstead, Wessex,Swindon and West Surrey tournaments.A limited range of books (and equip-ment by arrangement in advance) willbe available at the Three Peaks tourna-ment. For details, please see the BGAweb site or contact me.

Ordering information

A full price list is available on request.

All prices quoted above include the costof postage and packing.

Please note that credit card facilities arenot available.

Orders, accompanied by cheques madepayable to 'British Go Association',should be sent to:

R. G. Mills, 10 Vine Acre, Monmouth, Gwent NP25 3HW

Telephone: 01600 712 934

bgabooks@btinternet.com

BGA BOOKS

~ THE BEST SOURCE OF GO BOOKS AND EQUIPMENT ~

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