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“GOAMA”, International Go Newsletter
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26th issue
goama_yang_yang_namt.sgf (goama_yang_yang_namt.sgf)
goama26_new_joseki.pdf (goama26_new_joseki.pdf)

1. New quiz "The world of Japanese Go" with prizes
2. An article "Na Hyun – new Korean star!"
3. World Go news
4. An article "Is it true, that we are getting weaker and weaker with ages?"
5. New joseki, invented in Japan (at the attachment)
6. Commented game between Yang Huiren, 1-dan and Yang Yilun, 7-dan from the North American Masters Tournament (sgf, at the attachment)
7. The most exciting game of the week

Dear friends!
We are glad to present you the 26th issue of the "Goama" newsletter, including:
1. New quiz "The world of Japanese Go" with prizes
2. An article "Na Hyun – new Korean star!"
3. World Go news
4. An article "Is it true, that we are getting weaker and weaker with ages?"
5. New joseki, invented in Japan (at the attachment)
6. Commented game between Yang Huiren, 1-dan and Yang Yilun, 7-dan from the North American Masters Tournament (sgf, at the attachment)
7. The most exciting game of the week

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Quiz "The world of Japanese Go"

Please, send us your answers till October, 21 to qp@omen.ru . There are 3 prizes in total. For the first place: 6-months subscription to http://fuseki.info/ , the online version of BIgo Professional Database, 2-3rd places: 1-month KGS+ membership ( http://www.gokgs.com/kgsPlus.xhtml ).

1. In the middle of 60’s he played more than 100 blitz games against Cho Hunhyun, 9-dan with changing handicap (1 game – 1 stone). Once he even forced Cho to place 3 stones of handicap.
Later he was missing Cho so much, so one day he decided to visit Korea for meeting him. His only luggage was a bottle of sake in the pocket:
A. Sakata Eio
B. Ishida Yoshio
C. Fujisawa Shuko
D. Kajiwara Takeo
E. Kitani Minoru

2. Kobayashi Satoru, 9-dan passed a 1-year disqualification for breaking it by the head of Ryu Shikun, 9-dan:
A. Goban
B. Go bowl
C. Glass of sake
D. Sushi plate
E. Tournament cup during the prize giving ceremony

3. O Meien, 9-dan made this famous mistake during the title match against Cho Sonjin, 9-dan:
A. He played two moves in a row
B. He missed the atari
C. He misread the ladder
D. He took the ko without making a ko threat
E. He did not press the clock and lost the game on time

4. Fujisawa Hosai, 9-dan was a great expert of:
A. Playing mane-Go
B. Inventing new josekis
C. Killing groups
D. Fighting sumo
E. Drinking sake

5. What is the favorite opening of Hane Yasumasa, 9-dan? He even wrote a book about it (not yet translated to English)
A. San-ren-sei
B. Low Chinese opening
C. High Chinese opening
D. Mini-Chinese opening
E. Tengen-based openings

6. Who invented the variation, described at the attachment?
A. Takemiya Masaki
B. Otake Hideo
C. Sonoda Yuichi
D. Saijo Masataka
E. "Tartrate" from KGS

7. Once he lost a very important tournament game to Seo Bongsu, 9-dan because of playing dame, instead of taking the last point. Later Seo, 9-dan won few games more and reached the best achievement is his life:
A. Hikosaka Naoto
B. Rin Kaiho
C. Kobayashi Koichi
D. Kato Masao
E. Honda Kunihisa

8. What is the main reason of unsatisfactory results of Japanese masters on International Go scene, according to Baba Shigeru, 9-dan:
A. The value of komi (5.5 vs 6.5)
B. Busy playing schedule in their homeland
C. They are just weaker than Chinese and Korean players
D. Nihon Kiin is not choosing the strongest masters to represent Japan
E. Cash prizes on International Go area are smaller than in Japan, so top Japanese players are playing domestic tournaments more seriously.


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Na Hyun – new Korean star!

New Lee Changho is coming soon in Korea! Na Hyun! Remember his name. Right now he is only 11 years old, but recently he entered the Insei League of the Korean Baduk Association and easily reached 6-th class (My best achievement was the 5th group, - A.D.). He is one of the youngest inseis in Korean Go history and the youngest one in the current league.
His photo is here: http://www.chosun.com/culture/news/200610/200610090711.html
Few months ago he won the Juniour group of the World Youth Go Championship, showing the perfect score (We have one of his games from WYGC commented on http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/alex/ ).
Seo Musang, 6-dan, the leader of the Insei League told us, that Na has very good chances of becoming professional in 1-2 years. My former teacher Kim Chongsu, 6-dan (one of Na's teachers at Mengin Baduk School) called him genius and noticed that he is the most talented kid he has ever meet. (Kim was the teacher of Park Yeonghun, Park Shiun, Kang Dongyun, Hong Minpyo and other stars, so it means a lot).
Na is playing Go from 5 y.o. and his first teacher was Lee Chonwook, ama 6-dan, who was also the first teacher of Lee Changho.
We wish him a good luck and ... see you soon on pro scene!

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World Go news

Matthew Burrall, 5-dan (16 y.o.) from Davis/Sacramento Go Club and another US Go player called Jan (I am not sure, how to translate his family name from Korean) came to Korea for learning Baduk at Yang Jaeho, 9-dan Baduk School. They will study Baduk in Seoul for 3 months.
http://www.chosun.com/culture/news/200610/200610090715.html

North-Korean Go playing program "Unbyul" (Silver star) won the World Computer Go Championship which was held on October 1 in Japan with the perfect 9 from 9 score.
24 programs from 8 different countries took part in the competition. GnuGo was second (7-2). Indigo from France got the third place (7-2 score too).
According to Kim Chanwu, 4-dan professional (S. Korea) the level of the "Unbyul" is about 5-6 kyu in Korean amateur ranking system. "The program is close to 2-3 dan in the
opening, but is still weak in the middlegame", said Kim, 4-dan
Recently in S.Korea they start working on improving "Unbyul". S.Korean programmers trust, that the joint South-North Korean program will reach the 1-dan level really soon and grow up to 5-dan in next few years.

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Is it true, that we are getting weaker and weaker with ages?

You can see the statistic from the Korean Baduk Scene and make the decision yourself.
10+ y.o. players have the best winning score in Korea during the last 6 years - 63% (W.3859-L.2264)
20+ y.o. players - 58.9%
30+ y.o. players - 50,7%
40+y.o. players -38,3%
50+y.o. players -27, 6%
60+y.o. players - 18,3 %

Few other interesting notes:
8-dan pro is the weakest grade in Korea. 8-dan professionals are winning only 42,4% of their games.
The total score between 1-dan vs 9-dan players is quite close: 120-214 in favour of 9-dan players. In Japan they are still playing on 2-stones handicap.

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The most exciting game of the week

11th Korean GS Caltex Cup, league
2006-10-10: Cho Hanseung 9p (Black) vs. Park Cheongsang 9p (White) B+5.5
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=12706
Cho, 9-dan played an interesting opening by sacrificing 2 groups and creating the moyo instead.

Year 2006 Korean League
2006-10-07: Hong Minpyo 5p (Black) vs. Kim Yeonghwan 8p (White) B+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=12698
My teacher Kim has a powerful playing style. This time he forced his opponent to create 6 separated groups, attack them strongly, but was not able to kill anything :(

8th Chinese Agon Cup, round 2
2006-10-09: Xie He 6p (Black) vs. Hu Yaoyu 8p (White) W+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=12700
Xie He 6-dan lost a promising opening by playing too aggressively

26th Japanese NEC Cup, round 2
2006-10-14: Cho Chikun 9p (Black) vs. Takao Shinji 9p (White) W+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=12739
It's hard to kill Cho's groups, who is the great expert of surviving, but is it necessary to kill them, if you can win the game on territory?

8th Chinese City League A, round 12
2006-10-12: Zhou Ruiyang 4p (Black) vs. Chang Hao 9p (White) W+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=12711
Lot's of ko fights and huge trades

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Dear friends, can you please help us to promote our newsletter by putting the link to http://gogame.info/ and the description of the "Goama" to local Go sites and discussion forums. Thank you!

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Enjoy the newsletter!
The IGN "Goama" editor's team

You are welcome to republish any text material from the IGN "Goama" without commercial purposes: please note the source and put the link to http://gogame.info/.

To obtain republishing rights for commented game records, please contact:
A.Dinerchtein ("breakfast" on KGS), editor-in-chief
E-mail: qp@omen.ru
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