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“GOAMA”, International Go Newsletter
Go back

48th issue
goama48.sgf (goama48.sgf)
EYGC1.jpg (EYGC1.jpg)
EYGC2.jpg (EYGC2.jpg)

1. Michail Emelyanov, "Goama" expert: "Impressions from the EYGC 2007 by the eyes of a Russian Go teacher"
2. An interview with Zhou Junxun, 9-dan
3. World Go news
4. Ask an expert corner
5. Commented game from the Go4Go collection. Famous KGS games: "joeker" vs "kuroinu", 2004
6. New photos (links)
7. The most exciting game of the week (links)
8. Gifts for our readers!

Dear friends!
We are glad to present you the 48th issue of the "Goama" newsletter, including:
1. Michail Emelyanov, "Goama" expert: "Impressions from the EYGC 2007 by the eyes of a Russian Go teacher"
2. An interview with Zhou Junxun, 9-dan
3. World Go news
4. Ask an expert corner
5. Commented game from the Go4Go collection. Famous KGS games: "joeker" vs "kuroinu", 2004
6. New photos (links)
7. The most exciting game of the week (links)
8. Gifts for our readers!

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Michail Emelyanov
Impressions from the European Youth Go Championship 2007 by the eyes of a Russian Go teacher


On my first venture into Europe for a Go tournament, I expected to see many new and interesting things. My expectations were completely fulfilled.

Having learned that the European children's competition 2007 would take place in Holland, the Voshozhdenie school has decided to direct there the children's command. However we did not manage take along all children we have. Why? Children who are trained at our school are trained not only in a board game. In short, classes at the Voshozhdenie school develop the child’s attention, perception and thinking. For example, the school pays close attention to recording games and reviewing them afterwards. Our school teaches how to win and lose the games, taking useful things from the each case.

Voshozhdenie is not a common Go club, so pupils of our school study not only to play and win their games. Children study to think and make the decisions, to write down the games, to analyze and comprehend them. Certainly, we are concerned with more than the techniques of the game.

As a result we have not dared to take the youngest pupils of the school to the tournament, and Artem Vasenin (11 years old) was the only member of our team. Artem has attended our school since Summer 2006. He has visited China four times, studying there at the professional Chinese Weiqi school in Harbin with Mr Wu Guonshi, who is a good friend of Voshozhdenie school. For Artem it was the first tournament in his life. He worried a lot, taking the responsibility for our school and Russia, which he would represent in the tournament.

Artem played in the bottom group (up to 12 years of age) with an 18-kyu rating and won six games from six. Having begun tournament anxiously, in the last round he overcome a player from the Ukraine with a rating of 14-kyu, which was very pleasant and unexpected for us.

At our school children do not have ratings at all. We use another system of estimating learning efficiency. What is it possible to tell about the boy with an 18-kyu rating? In my opinion, it is possible to tell only, that he plays with a rating of 18-kyu. Is he strong or weak? If we compare him with a 10-kyu he is weak, and if we compare him with a 35-kyu he is strong. You may agree with us, that such estimation is narrow and is not so clear. Where this such thinking be applied except in Go?

For me kyu is more likely a level of consciousness than a rating. Having risen step by step during the tournament Artem has grown from 18-kyu up to 14-kyu. What does it mean for the school and for Artem? We saw the development of the consciousness and abilities of the child!

It is possible to tell that with confidence because Artem wrote down all games, while many of his partners did not record their games at all. However, Artem wrote down games not so well and it is one of subjects of school analysis. Why cannot the child, playing with an equal opponent, examine the board and fix the game in a record form? It demands judgment. In my opinion, to teach a child to write down a game accurately right up to the end is a great achievement! Without the game record you cannot replay the game and examine the child’s way of thinking during the game.

What I have seen in the Europe? I have seen many people with open minds, children for whom Go is new and fascinating. They like to be engaged by Go. Their eyes burn! However, it seems, in Europe they still regard Go as exotic. Such an attitude makes it harder to develop Go around the continent and use it in real life.

The organization of the tournament was perfect! A remarkable place: the resort Zandvoort on the coast of the North Sea, with small houses with a fireplace, and the cleanest air. It was a real change from Moscow. The Dutch Go Association has worked hard, and this should be acknowledged.

What has surprised me in the Europe? I was surprised with the approach to Go mainly from a position of sports and board games. At our school and in our Federation we divide Go into game and not game, that is "Strategic Go". Sports, in our opinion, is only a small part of Go. The assumption of Voshozhdenie school is that there is still another part of Go, which lies outside of a board. For example, it is found in the development of consciousness and thinking in a person.

Why do we think so? Is it possible to study Go successfully, seeing only a board and stones? Where is the growth and development? What can we achieve by playing Go? Perhaps, it is necessary to look on Go not only as on exotic board game from Asia, but also as a method of developing thinking. What is the meaning of this method, does it have strong and weak points? I thought a lot about it, seeing the open minds and a susceptibility of the European children. I am grateful to the European Go community that this environment forced me to ponder these questions in my article

Another question exciting me was why in Russia we may see the growth and development of the ideas of Voshozhdenie school, while in the rest of Europe, it seems, we cannot find any similar movement. I could not explain to myself why fewer and fewer children go to such a remarkable event as EYGC 2007. In fact there were times when the European children’s tournaments attracted between 500 or 700 people.

Thinking about these questions, I remembered the idea of tournament, which was conceived by Konstantin Voznikov, the honorable President of the Crimean Go Federation, one of founders of Go in USSR.

Konstantin Voznikov said that a tournament is a not only a demonstrative performance in sports, but also a competition. What is the idea of the competition? I think it lies in aspiring to be the first, but not by defeating others. Here we might recall the knightly tournaments of medieval Europe. They gave birth to many remarkable traditions. Perhaps we could learn something useful from these traditions?

The format of the tournament as a demonstrative performance can become a breakthrough! Voshozhdenie school already has modest, but interesting experience of organizing such tournaments in Russia.

Imagine it! It is possible to run a tournament as an interschool meeting at which our children could play with each other not only for rating, but also for the sake of joint dialogue and development. Heads of schools would share the experience, not only sporting, but also educational. In fact the principal idea of demonstrative performance is that there are those who participate in a tournament and show their skills, and there are those who appreciate them.

Maybe sometimes it’s better to look on - more usefully and more deeply – than to participate in the process? Supervision gives ideas for judgment and reflection.

Such impressions came to my mind when we walked on the deserted, silent streets of Zandvoort.

Is it possible to take the motto: "Develop the person by means of Go", in addition to the already available: "Develop Go among the people"?


Acknowledgements:
I wish to thank the German fans and teachers who bought the books of Voshozhdenie school, issued in 2005 and 2006.
I thank Peter Zandveld for his kind help.
I thank Frank Janssen and other referees for their excellent refereeing.
I wish to thank Martin Finke for the invitations, sent out in time.
I thank all organizers who helped with the tournament (unfortunately, I cannot find their names).
I thank the European Go teachers for that they bring up such remarkable children!

Michail Emelyanov, the leading instructor of the Voshozhdenie school, team leader at EYGC 2007.

More gratitudes from the leader of the Voshozhdenie school Igor Grishin:

To Rustam Sahabutdinov, that his pupil Sasha Kozelskih is polite and affable.
To Valery Shikshin - for kindliness and openness.
To Jury Solovyev - for his analysis.
To Oleg Gavrilov – for his help and useful advice.
To Victor Shevchyuk - not only because he is a pleasant person, but also because his children do not refuse to play with others, even weaker opponents.
To Michail Emelyanov - for good neighbourship.



We attached 2 photos from this tournament.
1. EYGC1 – Artem Vasenin
2. EYGC2 – Igor Grishin (left) and Michail Emelyanov

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An interview with Zhou Junxun, 9-dan

The final match of the 11th LG cup will start on March 19 in Seoul. The players are Hu Yaoyu, 8-dan from China and Zhou Junxun, 9-dan from Taiwan.

- What is the meaning of this match for you?
- It was the main dream of my life!
- What do you think about your chances of winning the match?
- I have about 48% of winning
- What is your private score with Hu Yaoyu, 8-dan?
- As well as I remember, we played twice and we have one-one score
- What can you tell us about your opponent?
- Hu Yaoyu, 8-dan is very strong and he has a good fighting spirit. It’s always hard to beat him
- How did you prepare for the match?
- I tried to keep my common schedule. I slept well and eat well. I did not make anything special. I printed Hu Yaoyu’s games and replayed them
- What are the main problems of Go in Taiwan?
- We have fewer tournaments than in Korea or Japan and our prizes are much smaller
- How do you think, who are the top 3 professionals in the world?
- Lee Changho, Lee Sedol … and it will be nice, if I can be a third one someday
- Who are the most difficult opponents for you in Taiwan?
- Lin Zhihan, Chen Seuyen and Yoo Kyeongmin. They are very strong.

Have a good match!

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World Go news

My former teacher Yang Keon, 7-dan opened a Go school in Seoul. About 15 years ago he was one of the strongest Korean junior players together with Kim Seungjun, 9-dan and Choi Myeonghun, 9-dan. Yang Keon, 7-dan told, that he is still trying to take the title and
that he will study hard together with his students.
You may see few photos from his school here:
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509367&gdiv=1

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Ask an expert corner

Piotr Wysocki asked a question about the commented game of tartrate in the previous issue:

Question : "I don't see it - from move 208: g4 k2 l1 k4 k3 j3 l3 l5 h3 j4 j2 l4 k1
and although Black has sente it seems the game is favourable for White.
Am I not seeing something? What's wrong with my sequence?"

Answer: I checked it again and made a conclusion that B was winning by 1.5 points. It was no-komi game. Tartrate is still undefeatable in even games on KGS!
Alexander Dinerchtein

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Commented game from the Go4Go collection

Famous KGS games: "joeker" vs "kuroinu", 2004

We took this game from the collection of the commented games on Go4Go. If you like to receive more commented games, you can subscribe the service here:
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/alex/
The price of the yearly subscription (500 games: Pro, KGS, Top European and US tournaments) is $50 only. There is also a 6-months plan available.

In our collection we have the commented games of all KGS heroes: Tartrate, Zend, fondle, dinner, sariyu, Pretender, Mfer, yukisuke, roln111, vic1000, GEKO, Weems, mymy, maru16, redrose, kirara, joeker, kevin83 and other KGS stars.
You may even learn the history of KGS by replaying these games!

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New photos

http://youchanghyuk.com/news/viewpage.asp?pagec=1&seq=8157&gubun=all
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509326&gdiv=1
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509327&gdiv=1
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509331&gdiv=1
Korean Kuksu titlematch. Lee Changho vs Yun Junsang

http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509343&gdiv=2&frpg=MN
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509334&gdiv=2
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509352&gdiv=2
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509357&gdiv=2
http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509361&gdiv=2
5th Female Jeongganjang Cup

http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/homenews_view.asp?gul_no=509319&gdiv=1
The opening ceremoney of the 4th Korean King of Kings tournament

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The most exciting game of the week

1st Chinese Female Xinren Wang, loser section semi-final
2007-02-09: Cao Youyin 2p (Black) vs. Wang Xiangyun 1p (White) B+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=14245
Nice tesuji - Black 31 and an interesting capturing race in the early opening

54th Japanese NHK Cup, semi-final
2007-03-11: Yoda Norimoto 9p (Black) vs. Cho Chikun 9p (White) W+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=14255
Yoda, 9-dan lost a big fish, he captured some time ago

32nd Japanese Kisei, preliminary
2007-03-15: Takemiya Masaki 9p (Black) vs. Nakamura Shinya 8p (White) W+4.5
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=14307
Powerful moyo invasions by Nakamura

11th Korean Fresh Best 10, league B
2007-03-14: Kim Sooyong 1p (Black) vs. Lee Jaeung 5p (White) B+R
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=14302
Huge group, killed by Kim Sooyong

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Gifts for our readers!
Arkadij Bogatsij ("BAM0" on KGS) decided to offer a 10% discount for Goama readers, applying for the Premium version of the Fuseki.info account.
http://fuseki.info/ is an online version of the Bigo Assistant Profi software. It has 48 803 pro games inside (3 282 games in Demo version)
It's possible to view and study games according to players names, dates, fusekis and josekis.
You may use your discount by entering the coupon code "Goama", while upgrading the demo account to premium one.
It’s a great database! Highly recommended by "Goama" experts!

You can also get a 10% discount for ordering Go (or other board games) books or equipment from http://www.thetradingcentre.co.uk/
Just enter the coupon code "Goama"!

Contact us, please, if you have your own Go shop or products and would like to set a special discount for "Goama" readers.

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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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