Other

29 Nov 2011 No Comments

34th Australian championship roundup

The National championships were held over the 27-27 November weekend in Canberra at the ANU school of arts building.
The open division results were; Guyu Liu 7D in first place, Xuanyu Zhou 7D in second and Raphael Shin 7D taking third place.
The handicap division was won by Horatio Davies 3k.

We had 18 players competing in the open division, and 6 players in the handicap division.
There were 6 rounds in the open division, while the handicap division played for 5 rounds in a round-robin.
Both divisions were run with time limits of 1 hour + 1 * 30 second byo-yomi.

Mr An Young Gil acted as a referee and provided teaching and reviews in addition to a demonstration review of a top game using the facilities overhead projector.

Photos from the event can be found using the following picasa link

2011 national go championships

by matjet in Other

03 Aug 2011 1 Comment

ACT Championships

The ACT Championships were held last weekend. Somewhat disappointing turnout with only two players from Sydney (we normally have 10 or more—Canberra’s very cold winter this year to blame?) so only 8 players in a 7 round round-robin. But with 3 seventh dans, and 2 fifth dans (one of whom we are going have to promote to 6dan) all games were interesting. Indeed our two Canberra players Xuanyu Zhou 7d and David Ormerod 5d+ defeated both Dae Hahn and Raphael Shin to vie for the top two places in the last round.

ACT 2011 Champion Xuanyu Zhou

Xuanyu a student at ANU, regrettably only for this year, won the deciding game with a very exciting game in which David caught a very big corner in a ko fight but Xuanyu’s ko threat, which seemed obscure, turned out to be real. Raphael Shin took 3rd place. Younggil An came down from Sydney to observe, and we all had a great meal together on Saturday night at one of Canberra’s really good restaurants: so next year we want to see lots of people from interstate, it’s always a fun tournament. Of course we also expect you all here in Canberra in November for the Nationals.

by neville in Australia, Other, Tournaments

26 Jun 2011 No Comments

ACT Championships

July 30, 2011toJuly 31, 2011

The Canberra club will be holding the ACT Championships in the last weekend of July (Saturday 30/Sunday 31). The event is held as usual in conjunction with the ANU Chess Festival, and the venue is the same as last year: the ANU School of Art.

Entry fee is $30 ($20 for students). Players must be AGA members.

Please contact Neville Smythe on 0414517719 or neville.smythe@optusnet.com.au if you are intending to participate or would simply like more information.

by neville in Announcements, Australia, Other, Tournaments Tags: , , ,

06 Apr 2011 No Comments

Gold Coast Go Club starts up

On Sunday the second of April, just a little earlier this week, a dozen go players converged on The Lost City Hotel in Upper Coomera on the Gold Coast, to meet for the first time as the Gold Coast Go Club. Players ranged from Kevin Jiang 5d and Simon Kim 5d, down to Joshua Murray 28k, who we summarily promoted to 20k after a couple of calibration games.

Kevin Jiang 5d and Cronos Chen 3d playing

Kudos to Joshua Murray for volunteering to organise the GCGC. Sam Nakagawa and a couple of other members of the Brisbane Go Club dropped in to teach.

Many beginners, with Amelia Gray teaching one of them

Currently the GCGC is operating as a chapter of the Brisbane Go Club, and meets on the last first Sunday of the month from 2pm until (nominally) 5pm. The venue is go-friendly during quiet periods and serves a decent menu for dinner, and I can report the chairs are much more comfortable than their Brisbane counterparts. A Gold Coast Cup is planned for mid-October this year. If you live within cooee of the Gold Coast, why not drop in for a game? Give Joshua an email on goldcoast@go.org.au, and get him to subscribe you to the mailing list for Gold Coast players, gold-coast-players@go.org.au.

More teaching, this time by Sam Nakagawa

by aguido in Australia, Visiting Tags: , ,

15 Aug 2010 No Comments

Day Two of the 5th Sydney KAC

After yesterday’s dramatic end to Division B (Tring Xu losing the deciding game to Sun Woong Choi 1d, letting him catch up to her and tie for first place on score, SOS and SDS), the kyu players got to have some fun in division C.

As I write this, the third round is about to finish up. When the round started, Tae Sun Min 1k and Lee Kang Hyun 2k were tied for the lead. Sixteen players are competing in C Division, three 1k, three 2k, two 3k (including your humble author, who apparently got promoted when he wasn’t looking) and the rest 4k and under. Notable in the first round was a jigo

Meanwhile, the A Division is finishing up the fifth round. At the start of the round, Bi Jang 7d and Miao Zhao 7d were sharing the lead on four victories and equal SOS and SDS, with Guyu Liu 7d in third.

Update 2:50pm: Third round started early and finished even earlier. Tae Sun Min 1k is in first place after easily crushing his third opponent. Lee Kang Hyun 2k is close behind in second place with three victories and a half a point less SOS. Oh Ryoon Kwon 1k is third, sort of.

Update 6:03 pm: ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! The Sydney KAC Champion is Bi Jang 7d from Korea. Meanwhile in division C Oh Ryoon Kwon 1k has taken first place on four wins, beating Tae Sun Min 1k on SOS, who in turn beat Lee Kang Hyun 2k. Going to go listen to the trophy presentations now…

by aguido in Tournaments, Visiting Tags: , , ,

14 Aug 2010 No Comments

Day One of the 5th Sydney KAC

The fifth Korean Ambassador’s Cup in Sydney started ninety minutes ago. The A division has twenty players (nine 7d, three 6d, and eight 5d) in it, and the first victory of the first round has gone to Hae Taek Choi 6d, who defeated Kang Yong Lee 5d.

Meanwhile, in the B Division there are sixteen players (six 1d, four 2d, five 3d). This is a handicap division, which must make Hak Beom Seo 4d very happy. :) First blood in round one went to young Yelson Qian 1d (Australia’s representative at the recent Children’s Baduk Cup in Korea), defeating the visiting Gilbert Kim 3d. Also competing in this division is Tring Xu 3d, half of this year’s Australian team at the world pair go championships, who defeated Mark Law 1d.

Between them the two top divisions fill the room and then some, so C Division (1k to 9k) will be playing five rounds tomorrow. It’s quite an atmosphere here, what with a sizeable Korean delegation led by Sang-Dae Hahn and at least four professionals on the floor. I’ve counted half a dozen cameras, so there should be some pictures coming up soon, although as befits an intrepid go reporter I’ve left my camera cable behind, so they won’t be mine.

More updates as the weekend goes on…

Update 2:35pm: round 3 of B Division has just started; Tring Xu 3d, Duc Cho 2d, and Changup Son 1d are tied for first place. A Division is still grinding through its second round of games.

Update 6:50pm: the third round of A Division has finished, with Guyu Liu 7d, Miao Zhao 7d and Bi Jang 7d tied on three wins and separated on SOS. Meanwhile, Tring Xu has maintained her lead through to the final round of Division B and is playing out a thrilling endgame against Sun Woong Choi 1d. If she wins the game, she takes first place in the division, if she doesn’t…

by aguido in Tournaments, Visiting Tags: , , ,

08 Aug 2010 No Comments

Teaching evening before Korean Ambassador’s Cup

August 13, 2010
7:00 pmto10:00 pm
7:00 pmto10:00 pm

An Younggil 8p sends word: the two Korean visiting professionals in Sydney will hold a teaching evening on Friday the thirteenth of August, the day before before the fifth Korean Ambassador’s Cup this weekend. Kickoff is at seven at the Young Go Academy; cost is $30. Details in the flyer posted on the AGA web pages.

by aguido in Announcements, Visiting Tags: , , ,

03 Aug 2010 No Comments

IgoLocal vs the tyranny of distance

If you are somewhere far, far away from a go club, and yet you want to find people to play with across an actual goban, then look at the IgoLocal site. The concept is: you tell it who and where you are, and it gives you a map with nearby players and groups of players, plus the tools to reach them and challenge them to a game. The author operates on the idea that there a lot more go players around than you’d think. Seems ideal for Australia, New Zealand, and the rest of Oceania. Go ahead and have a stickybeak.

by aguido in Other, Visiting Tags:

14 Jul 2010 13 Comments

Young Go Academy opens in Sydney

Local professional An Younggil has just opened the Young Go Academy in Strathfield, Sydney. He sends through this report:

“Last Sunday was the opening day for of the new club. There was a friendship match between Korean and Chinese go players in Sydney as the opening event. Participants are 3d to 7d and each dan has three or four players each team. The team members are 17 each, and there were two rounds in the afternoon.

On the first round, Chinese team won by 10 to 7, and after the round, there was a review between Rain Jang and Miao Zhao. Rain beat Miao, and he came to Australia three weeks ago, and he seems to be the strongest amateur player in Australia I think. Kyung-Min Yu reviewed the game in fluent Chinese; he’s a 6p Korean player and has lived in Taiwan about 5 years before coming here. After the short review, the second round had begun and the Chinese team won by 11 to 6. Finally, the friendship match ended with the result Chinese won by 21:13. There were three foreigners in the Korean team (Norman Wildburger 5d, Ciaran Pearson 5d and Barry Jay 3d) although actually, we count as foreigners too. They won 5 games and one lost, and they also seemed to enjoy the time so much. There were many other go players who came to watch the games and the new venue.

After the event, the players and watchers were all coming for dinner together and people enjoyed the Korean style of buffet. There was also raffle time for some concert tickets, and the Chinese took all five. The event was so successful and I really thank the visitors including players. :-) As the Australian government is letting me stay here longer for Go, I hope to contribute something with Go and this is the first step to do it properly. By the way, the new club will be opened every single day from 2pm to 10pm.”

The YGA has An Younggil 8p, Kyung-Min Yu 6p (come here from five years in Taiwan teaching go), and Rain Jang 7d (fresh from a year in Seattle) as teachers, and seems to be exciting a lot of interest. Here are some photos of the open day tournament:

by aguido in Club updates, Events, Other, Tournaments, Visiting Tags: , , ,

30 May 2010 No Comments

Xi ‘an vs Brisbane Friendly Match 2010

In May 2010, BGC plans came to fruition when a party of players from the Xi ‘an Weichi Association visited Brisbane for a friendly team match. Larry Wen and I had visited Xi ‘an in 2009 and extended the invitation at that time. The Xi ‘an group of nine amateur players was led by their President, Professor Zhou, a 3 dan player.  They were accompanied by Miss Meng 1P in the position of coach.

On Friday 28th May we hosted a banquet dinner for our guests, attended by members of the Mainland Chinese Society of Queensland (MCSQ) and Q001 (Brisbane Chinese societies), a consular representative, and a brief visit by the Deputy Mayor of Brisbane, Mr. Graham Quirk. Following Chinese custom the conviviality was helped along by numerous toasts, although sparingly partaken of by Australian drivers. One of the visitors turned out to have a wonderful singing voice, and treated us to a Chinese song in an impromptu performance.

On Saturday 29th May a team go match was organised at a local church. We had invited David He 7D of Sydney, and Billy Sun 6D of Melbourne to participate with the Brisbane side in a well – judged move designed to bring home the teams Cup. It was a great pleasure for us to renew our acquaintance with these two gentlemen. As it turned out, David He was well known to the Xi ‘an visitors as well so friendships were renewed, and not much was said about ring – ins. We played a round in the morning and then another round after lunch.

Top Board in Rd. 2

David He vs Li Gangyi in Round 2

 

 The match was played with one hour each and no byo – yomi. All games were even which resulted in some mismatches but after all, it was a friendly match. Hopefully the Brisbane players have learned a few things from their more experienced opponents.

There was often animated discussion after the games were over, with some moves being replayed, sometimes even leading to a reversal of the result! Too bad, though, as only the original result counts.

When the battles were over and the dust had cleared, Xi ‘an emerged the winner by 12 – 6.

Presentation Ceremeony

Presentation Ceremony

 

Professor Zhou , here seen with John Hardy (L) and Larry Wen (R) in front of the beautiful wall hanging which the visitors presented to the BGC, hoisted the winner’s cup. Brisbane vowed to get that cup back in a return match next year in Xi ‘an. Xi ‘an offered to import some players from Beijing to ensure that it stays in China :)

After the presentations, everyone enjoyed an Aussie BBQ hosted by the MCSQ – and importantly, prepared and cooked by them! Mark Bell and I sat with our feet up and would not have called the King our uncle.

We continued into the evening with friendly go, and not a few fourexes, plus some powerful liquor contributed by the guests for any who dared. It was a great way to finish the day, and already plans were afoot to make that return match a reality.

Group shot

Group shot

 

Thank you, Xi ‘an go players, for honouring us by visiting our home town, and we will surely meet you again next year in China.

Have a safe trip home.

by John Hardy in Other, Team matches, Visiting

16 May 2010 1 Comment

Go/Baduk in Korea

Hi all!

For those of you who do not know me my name is James Kaaden. I am writing as I am currently living in Seoul, Korea studying Go at Yu Chang’hyuk’s Baduk Dojang. This school has around 30 or so students ranging from small children (who are still really strong!) up to Yongguseng (insei). I have been studying over here for two months now and I will be staying for another four.

If anyone is interested in studying in Korea or has any questions about study regime etc, I would be delighted to answer. You can either post comments here or email me at james.kaaden@gmail.com, whichever you prefer! I will do my best to answer any question quickly and with sufficient detail.

Over the next few months I will be trying to post some interesting things I have learnt over here. Whether I find interesting life and death problems or learn new joseki that have not yet published, I would be excited to share them with you all. It is always fun to learn, but it is just as much fun sharing new things ^^.

by kaaden in Life, Other, Visiting Tags: , , ,

10 May 2010 2 Comments

2010 New South Wales Championships

June 12, 2010 9:00 amtoJune 13, 2010 7:00 pm

This is just a reminder that the 2010 New South Wales Go Championships are in Sydney on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of June. This year they’ll be run by An Young Gil 8p, Sydney’s resident professional, assisted by Robert Vadas and a stalwart band of other volunteers from the city’s go clubs. Players from out of state are welcome.

Venue and other details will be announced closer to the date. Contact anyoungkil@gmail.com or ravadas@yahoo.com to preregister or ask questions.

by aguido in Announcements, Other, Tournaments Tags: , ,

24 Apr 2010 No Comments

2010 Queensland championship photos

After the 2010 QLD championships in February, We have photo collections from 3 players.

Rodney(grauniad): also:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/r_topor/4336443087/

Matthew(matjetius):

John(jackoheart1):

After the original journal report, i posted a request for photos on the ausgo mailing list which included the two known photo collections at that time (Rodney and Matthew).

by matjet in Photos, Tournaments

21 Mar 2010 1 Comment

World Pair Go Tournament features 3 Aussies beating other.

Its worth noting that the World Pair Go Cup in Hangzhou officially begins tomorrow, where Australian is represented by Cathy Zhang and Yiming Guo. Its a four round elimination tournament, and the detailed matchups are available here. Ironically, our first match-up happens to be against Joanne Missingham, Brisbane born, and alas, representing Taiwan is the tournament. The match-up should at least be fun to watch. It’ll be broadcasted live today at 11am Australian time on IGS. So if you’ve got Sunday morning spare, log-in, at least one Aussie is guaranteed to win.

by Mile Gu in Life, Opinion, Tournaments, World Championships Tags: , , , ,

13 Mar 2010 4 Comments

Match-up against a 9 dan Pro at the Nihon ki-in

With my extended stay in Tokyo, I was lucky enough to schedule a trip to the Nihon ki-in, the Japanese go association. Naturally, the first thing I wanted to do (other than well, cleaning out the English section of their book store) was to play a game against one of their professionals.

Despite the surprise that absolutely no one there spoke English, whereby appointment was made by various comical gestures, I succeeded in setting up a match with Nakamura Hidehito (中村秀仁), a 9 dan professional! I have played against 6p’s before, but never anyone higher.

With a 3 stone handicap, which is reasonably standard for a 9p to give a 6 dan, I was prepared for evisceration. It is then, with great, and pleasant surprise that I somehow managed to win! It certainly wasn’t easy, I was slowly, but steadily losing ground the entire game. But with a 3 stone advantage, I was able to lose ground slow enough to survive to the endgame with a 15 point advantage, forcing Nakamura Hidehito to resign.

Despite speaking no English, Nakamura Hidehito was able to convey the major mistakes I made in the game. I attach the game here, with the variations he presented. Hopefully it’ll be useful!

Black 22: The result is not joseki, but according to Nakamura, quite even. In a handicap game, that means good for me :).
Black 27: Should be more aggressive, at B.
White 48: Not joseki…. I didn’t know how to respond.
Black 49: The cut at D6 would have been better, resulting variation shown in SGF.
Black 91: A mistake I shouldn’t have made, but it wasn’t a major mistake.
Black 95: A good attack, if Black had wasted one move defending corner, it would be just what Nakamura wanted.
Black 147: Game winning move. White was hoping for black to make a mistake here and reduce the middle. With the center secure and all groups solid, white has little chance to reverse the 3 handicap advantage from now on.

by Mile Gu in Analysis, Visiting

12 Mar 2010 1 Comment

Student Oza Results

The student OZA is over, and what an experience it has been! The participants in the tournament was truly exceptional, with a runner up the World Amateur Championships, and half the contestants at the level on 9 dans on KGS. I always expected the contestants to be challenging, before the level of the participants exceeded even my elevated expectations. So the final results!

1. Meng Xiao Long (China Male)
2. Yutae Seo (Korean Male)
3. Lai Yu Cheng (Taiwan Male)
4. Yamamoto Takunori (Japan Male #1)
5. Lin Hungbing (Taiwan Female)
6. Taniguchi Yuhei (Japan Male #2)
7. Lee Sunah (Korean Female)
8. Artem Kachanskyov (Ukraine)
9. Wang Zhuo (China Female)
10. Gabriel Benmergui (Argentina)
11. Zhang Xiang (Singapore)
12. Nuttakrit (Thailand)
13. Sekine Riko (Japan Female)
14. Mile Gu (New Zealand)
15. Garcil Emil (Mexico)
16. Anna Prokopova (Czech Republic)

So, China takes first place, followed by Korea. No real surprise! Artem did well as the ‘Champion of KGS and the western world’ by getting into the top half of the board. While it may not sound that impressive to get 8th out of 16th, such a feat is certainly not easy amidst such fierce competition!

I did managed achieve the goal that I always joke about, not get last :). My only regret is that I did not get to play Sekine, Nuttakrit or Garcil in competition, they would have made interesting matches. 4 games is just too short!

I have to thank the all students go society of Japan, who did a remarkable job organizing everything. They made sure everyone had fun, despite that many spoke very little English.  All of the organizers were in fact Igo players themselves, including some, such that the female champion of Japan, who could have done quite well the competition themselves. I was quite impressed with how faithfully they recorded each game. When one poor girl (pictured) made a mistake recording a move at wrong point, she spent the entire lunch time copying the kifu to fix her mistake.

by Mile Gu in Other, Tournaments Tags:

07 Mar 2010 1 Comment

Visit by President of Chinese Weiqi Association

Mr. Wang Runan 8P, President of the Chinese Weiqi Association, is visiting Australia. This is a historic event indeed – Mr. Wang is the highest ranking go official ever to visit Australia.

The party arrived in Melbourne on 2nd March 2010, and then flew to Brisbane on the 3rd. We held a welcome banquet for them, with local dignitaries and BGC members.

Mr. Wang with leaders of the Brisbane Chinese community

Before dinner there was friendly go with the visitors, who were all strong players.  Each visitor received a small gift, and we presented a special gift of a boomerang, signed by BGC members, to Mr. Wang.

Presentation to Mr. Wang Runan 8P by John and Larry

 

We all enjoyed a delicious dinner, and afterwards there was more go, until the restaurant kicked us out at 9.00pm. They just can’t understand, it seems.

On Thursday the 4th March, the visitors enjoyed a day out, and in the evening BGC hosted a BBQ. Thank heavens we were able to give them one fair dinkum Aussie meal on their trip. Four of the visitors brought their wives, who had to put up with the go players. The ladies kindly helped with the BBQ preparation, we can call them part of the BGC team.

Honorary BGC team members

 

What would a day be without go? Of course we again played social go with the visitors.

Jeremy won this six stone game against Mr. Wang

 

Everyone had a marvellous time. Mr. Wang is a warm, enthusiastic and friendly person – he even speaks excellent Japanese, which certainly helped me with communication. We dare to hope that this party will visit us again some time.

There are many people who must be thanked for their efforts in bringing this event to fruition. Bill Sun (Melbourne) and David He (Sydney) looked after the southern cities. David was responsible for the travel arrangements and put in a huge amount of effort on that. Larry Wen conceived and drove the idea to a successful conclusion and made most of the Brisbane arrangements. Brisbane members Erli Qiu and Kevin Jiang helped out with donations to help cover expenses (the AGA also contributed). BGC President Mark Bell did s sterling job behind the BBQ.

We consider this to be a highly succesful event which may lead to more exchanges between Australia and China.

For more pictures of this event -

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/jackoheart1/WangRunanVisitMarch2010#

by John Hardy in Events, Visiting

01 Mar 2010 No Comments

Head of Chinese Go Association visits Brisbane

March 3, 2010
6:00 pmto9:00 pm
March 4, 2010
6:00 pmto9:00 pm

On Wednesday evening this week (3 March), members of the Brisbane Go Club will host a banquet with guest of honour Wang Runan 8p, the current chairman of the Chinese Weiqi Association, who is visiting several cities in eastern Australia. The venue is the Rasa Malaysia Chinese Restaurant, Underwood. Please RSVP to John Hardy at the AGA before turning up, as a cover charge does apply; dinner starts at six, go probably around eight.

All else being equal, there will also be a less formal barbeque on Thursday evening, and more go, at St Mark’s Lutheran Church, Mount Gravatt. As this event is free, please RSVP to Larry Wen at the AGA beforehand so they can lay on enough food. The BBQ starts at half past five for six o’clock, and go will happen after that.

Further events on Wang Runan’s visit to Australia are being coordinated by David He in Sydney, and Billy Sun in Melbourne. Please contact them for more information as to what’s happening in your city, and do feel free to tell us!

by aguido in Announcements, Visiting Tags: , ,

28 Feb 2010 2 Comments

Student OZA Coverage

As  many of you are aware, I’ll be heading off to Tokyo to represent Oceania  in the 2010 World Student OZA. The list of participants has been announced on the official website:

Participation player
Japan Takunori Yamamoto Reiko Sekine *
China XiaoLong Meng Zhuo Wang *
Chinese Taipei Yucheng Lai Hongbing Lin
Korea Yutae Seo Sunah Lee *
Other Asian Thailand Nuttakrit Taechaamnuayvit
Singapore Zhang Xiang
Europe Ukraine Artem Kachanovsky
Czech Republic Jan Simara Anna Prokov *
North, Central &
South America		 Argentina Gabrirl Benmergui
Mexico Garcia Emil
Oceania New Zealand Mile Gu
* = Woman

Competition will take place on the 3rd and 4th of March. Needless to say, its going to be some very tough matches, the Argentina rep, for example, is the well known Danigabi 6d on KGS. I’ll try to do some live blogging while I’m there, so stay tuned!

by Mile Gu in Events, Photos, Tournaments

21 Feb 2010 No Comments

QUGS go raffle

February 24, 2010
9:00 amto3:00 pm

If you’re going to be around the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus on Wednesday the 24th, drop by the Queensland University Gaming Society stall, where they will be raffling off a Hikaru no Go-themed beginners go set and various other gaming gear, to kick off first semester. They usually run a weekly go session on campus during semester. More go players of all strengths always welcome…

by aguido in Announcements, Other Tags: , , , ,

21 Feb 2010 No Comments

MU-SPGO Beginners Night I/2010

March 5, 2010
4:00 pmto7:00 pm

The Melbourne University Students Playing Go collective are kicking off first semester with their traditional Beginners’ Night from 4pm on Friday the fifth of March. If you’re around Melbourne Uni then, RSVP via Facebook or just turn up. Here are some pictures of last year’s beginners night.

by aguido in Announcements, Club updates Tags: , ,

29 Nov 2009 No Comments

Australia sponsors gift to World Pair Go Association stalwarts

On November 15, Neville Smythe attended the closing ceremony of the 20th World Pair Go Championship in Tokyo. IGF vice-president Thomas Hsiang presented Mr Taki Hisao (inventor of pair go) and Mrs Taki Hiroko (major force behind the Japanese Pair Go Association), with a plaque “with appreciation from the World Pair Go community” but specifically signed by the American Go Association, the European Go Federation, the Ibero-American Go Federation, the Canadian Go Association and the Australian Go Association.

Mr and Mrs Taki presented with a plaque of appreciation

The Australian Go Association by prior invitation contributed substantially to the cost of the plaque, in “deep appreciation of (their) pioneering effort and leadership in the development of pair go”. Mrs Taki was reported to be very happy indeed.

by aguido in Other, Visiting, World Championships Tags: , , , ,

13 Nov 2009 No Comments

Visit to Sydney Weichi Club

During my recent Sydney holiday, I visited the Sydney Weichi Club (SWC), which meets Sundays from about 2pm (although there were people there well before that). The venue is the Campsie RSL Club in Anglo Road. Obviously there are many benefits of this meeting place – parking, full bar facilities, and a quiet place to play as it is upstairs away from the main public areas.

I was accompanied by Hong Zheng 9P, a professional player from Beijing who has been visiting Sydney for a few months. In the group photo you can see him to my right (can you guess which one is me?).  The attendance is pretty high, as you can see, although players come and go throughout the afternoon. There were three former Australian champions there at one time or another, and plenty of other strong players as well, so it is the place to go for a tough game.

I don’t know much about the management of the SWC, but I did meet Ming Xu (to my left in group photo) who is one of the leading lights. Thanks to him they organise a very popular weekend tournament from time to time.

The members enjoy the game play, but they have also taken the art of the post mortem to a new level. Sometimes the discussions get VERY animated, and attract crowds as in the second photo. This also leads to stones from different sets often being mixed together – Chinese flat bottomed ones, Japanese style, little ones – there is no discrimination in the go bowls.

I have been assured that all players are welcome to attend, and to find out more about it I’d suggest just to go along one Sunday and introduce yourself. Alternatively you can check the details on the AGA website.

 

DSC00441

John Hardy with members of the SWC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSC00444

An exciting game draws a crowd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by John Hardy in Visiting

11 Nov 2009 No Comments

Spring Edition out!

It’s that time again; we have just published our third issue. Feel free to head over to our Print Edition page and download away.

If you’d like to start recieving these quarterly journals in the mail, and hold nice shiny paper in your hand, please email me (Amelia) with your postal address and other relevant details (like, perhaps, your name) and subscribe. $25 a year, including postage anywhere in Australia. Unfortunately, at the moment we are not mailing these printed versions outside of Australia. I apologise for any inconvenience.

Still, the digital copy here on our website is completely free and available to anyone anywhere in the world! Enjoy.

by Amelia in Issues

07 Nov 2009 1 Comment

Visit to Sydney Baduk Club

At the end of October I visited a few Sydney go clubs, including the Sydney Baduk Club (SBC), located at 19 Railway Pde. Eastwood. It is extremely easy to find and to visit, being situated directly across from the Eastwood railway station.

The SBC is in the heart of the Korean community, and is surrounded by many Korean restaurants. On the other side of the rail line is a Chinese community, with a great choice of chinese restaurants. In other words, the SBC would be a magnet for go lovers and foodies alike.

By now, many of Australia’s go players have at least heard of Younggil An 8P, the friendly Korean professional player who is trying to make a life for himself in Australia. Younggil is the “master” of the SBC, where he also offers go lessons to young and old. There’s a $10 attendance fee, but there are special arrangements for regular players.

The main meeting is on Saturday from about 2.00pm until late, but when keen players like the well – known amateur Hae Taek Choi come to town, it might be open all night. Players can get tea, coffee, or soft drinks to keep up the fluid intake.

If you are in Sydney, head over to Eastwood sometime for a game or three. To find out more about the SBC, contact is through the AGA website.

 DSC00439

by John Hardy in Visiting Tags: ,

14 Oct 2009 1 Comment

Weekly Go at UQ

About 6 people turned up for the UQ meeting this week including two stalwart QUGS members.
James the younger vs Jonathan and Horatio vs Claire were the going matches when I arrived.
james and jonathon at UQ

Horatio and James and I looked at the joseki of the week variations.
Horatio at UQ

by matjet in Club updates, Life, Meetings Tags: ,

14 Oct 2009 No Comments

Pictures from Melbourne

Photos from the 2009 Nationals have been appearing online.

Here are the albums that i have found so far.
John Hardy
Matthew Crossman
Shamim Khan general
Shamim Khan – prize winners
Shamim Khan – general – players
spgo on facebook

If you have photos from the Nationals, please upload them and tell us about it!

by matjet in Photos, Tournaments

24 Sep 2009 1 Comment

Photos from the ACT Championships

Neville Smythe has posted some photos from the 2009 ACT Championships on Picasa. If you have any photos around from an Australian or New Zealand tournament, please upload them to Picasa or Flickr and share with the community, or mail them to us, who will do it for you. :)

by aguido in Photos, Tournaments Tags: , ,

16 Aug 2009 No Comments

Second Printable Issue

That right folks, our second issue, Winter 2009, is finished and awaiting your reading pleasure over on the Print Edition page. It’s in .pdf format, and is a convenient 1.3mb.

If there are errors in any of the information there, please let us know – we’re trying to deliver as accurate a collection of information as we can. Also, if you’d like to contribute something for our next issue, please feel free to leave a comment, or contact us at amelia@go.org.au.

by Amelia in Issues

10 Aug 2009 6 Comments

Report from the Fourth Korean Ambassador’s Cup

The Australian Korean Ambassador’s Cup championship, qualifying tournament for selection of the Australian Representative to the 4th Korean Prime Minister’s Cup to be held in Korea in October, was held on Saturday August 8. This is a 1-day event, with 5 rounds packed into an exciting day for the 42 participants, ranging from 7 dan players in Section A to kyu players and beginners in Section C.

Two of the strongest players at the 2009 Korean Ambassador's Cup in Sydney

Two of the strongest players at the 2009 Korean Ambassador's Cup in Sydney

Organised by the Sydney Korean Baduk Association, the venue was as usual the Shilla Restaurant in Campsie and included a delicious Korean lunch. Our “pro-in-residence”, Younggil An 6p, was in attendance and provided commentaries for the players as well as helping with the organisation. Younggil has been living in Sydney for the last year, and is hugely popular with everyone who has benefitted from his generous and lucid commentaries and teaching games — I am comforted by his style of commenting along the lines of “Yes, that’s a way to play; another way might be …” instead of the put-down “What! You can’t play that ridiculous move!. You should play…” (Younggil will be coming to the Nationals in Melbourne, October 3-4, so come along and meet him.)

Play at the Korean Ambassador's Cup, 2009

Play at the Korean Ambassador's Cup, 2009

Section A had a major upset in round 1, with 5 dan Joseph Choi defeating Yiming Guo 7d by 1.5 points. By the end if round 4, it was looking good for Miao Zhao (2008 AGA Champion) on 4 wins; the other strong contenders Guyu Liu (winner of both the the Sydney and ACT 2009 Championships) and David He (2009 Australian WAGC representative) were on 3 wins. But the final round produced two very exciting games, with Guyu Liu defeating Miao Zhao, and Yiming defeating David He in an upset. In the end Yiming, Guyu and Miao each had 4 wins, the same SoS, and only 1 point of difference in SoDoS in each case to determine the top 3 places. Yiming becomes our representative for the KPMC.

The winners at the 2009 Korean Ambassador's Cup in Sydney - and friends

The winners at the 2009 Korean Ambassador's Cup in Sydney - and friends

by neville in Photos, Tournaments Tags: , ,

08 Aug 2009 2 Comments

Friendly go at GenCon

September 20, 2009
1:00 pmto4:00 pm

A few of us will be holding a friendly go afternoon at Gen Con Australia, a rather large gaming convention on 18-20 September, 2009 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. We’ll be in the gaming area on Sunday afternoon from 1pm to 4pm, playing random go and teaching all comers. If you’d like a game or you’re at the convention anyhow, feel free to drop in.

Next year, if this idea holds water, we might actually take up their offer to hold a tournament there. Watch this space.

by aguido in Announcements, Events, Life Tags: , ,

26 Jul 2009 No Comments

MU-SPGO beginners’ night

July 29, 2009
4:00 pmto7:00 pm

The Melbourne University Students Playing Go club are holding their biannual beginners night on 29th July in the Graham Cornish Room at Union House. If you’re on campus, or even if you’re not, come down from 4pm-7pm, be sociable, learn some go. See the entry on their blog for more details, or contact shamim@go.org.au.

by aguido in Announcements, Club updates, Events Tags: , ,

28 Jun 2009 No Comments

Date Claimers

Just a reminder of the three Australian tournaments in the last half of 2009:

  • The ACT Go Championship will be held at the Australian National University by the Canberra Go Club on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of July (last weekend of the inter-semester recess) as part of the 17th ANU Chess Festival. Neville Smythe posted the formal announcement to AusGo, and the Journal has a previous post with all the details up. The Chess Festival page also seems to list a “Go Exhibition” on Friday the twenty-fourth, at Garema Place, Civic. Does anyone know any more about this?
  • The 4th Korean Ambassador’s Cup in Sydney will be held at Sila Restaurant (161 Beamish Street, Campsie, phone 9718 1029) by the Sydney Ki-Won on Saturday the eighth of August. This is a one-day tournament and the open division will determine the Australian representative in the Korean Prime Minister’s Cup.
  • The 32nd Australian Championships will be held at the University of Melbourne by the MU-SPGO and Melbourne Go Lovers clubs on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh of September third and fourth of October (the first second weekend of mid-semester break). Six rounds of go in two days, with the open division deciding the Australian Champion, plus a BBQ lunch and a bonus AGA annual general meeting. I am entirely certain there will be a blog post very soon from the tournament announcers.

Also there’s the Brisbane Christmas pair go tournament coming up in December, and the ongoing Australia Room Friendly Series – Brisbane v Sydney fixture has better-than-even odds of happening in early July.

by aguido in On KGS, Other, Tournaments

25 Jun 2009 No Comments

Australasian Go Forum is up and running

The Melbourne Go Lovers club asked for a discussion forum so that go players in Victoria could find one another. Normally I’d leave this kind of thing to GoDiscussions, but frankly I got bored waiting for their answer to my request for an AGA subforum, so now there is discussion.go.org.au.

It runs bbPress, and uses the same user accounts as the AGJ blog; that is, if you have a login there, you have the same login (and password) here, and vice versa, register wherever you feel like. The forum administrator is James Kaaden of MGL, one of the team behind the 2009 Australian National Championships.

Drop in and post something?

by aguido in Meta Tags: , , ,

10 Jun 2009 No Comments

Bits and pieces

  • Some of the Perth go players will be meeting on the first Sunday of every month at Clive Hunt’s place from the fifth of July. Play starts from two in the afternoon, more details closer to the date. If you want to RSVP, contact Clive at clivehunt@bigpond.com or 0415-619046.
  • The NSW State Championships have just finished. Does anybody have any kifu or anecdotes or photos from the tournament they would like to share? Send them in and we’ll blog ‘em.
  • The Australia Room Friendly Series on KGS has its second fixture on Sunday the fifth of July 2009: Sydney vs Brisbane. Both cities have the core of a team, although Sydney’s is at this point stronger. If you want to play, contact David Mitchell (Sydney) or Horatio Davis (Brisbane). If you’re in Melbourne or Adelaide and want to join in the fun, put a team together and scribble down a claim to a month on the SL wiki page. Currently Adelaide leads the table with two points, with Brisbane in second place on half a point. All other cities are equal last on zero points. :)
  • The biennial Toyota and Denso Cup World Go Oza, including the Brisbane qualifying tournament has been cancelled as the sponsors aren’t going to support it any more. Rumours have been going around for several days on various forums; the Australian Go Association has just been formally notified. The fifth tournament was going to be next year. If you have any suggestions for what to replace it with, please do tell the AGA…

by aguido in On KGS, Other, World Championships Tags: , , , ,

08 Jun 2009 No Comments

New South Wales Go Championships report

The NSW Go Championships was played in at the Sydney Go Club rooms in Surrey Hills on the weekend of 6 – 7 June 2009. Twenty players entered the dan division – a massive 82 dan aggregate! Fifteen players from the Chinese go community boosted the numbers, and Guyu Liu 7 dan was first with 6-0, while Miao Zhao 7 dan was second with 5-1.

The kyu division was not so blessed, with four entrants including tournament director Robert Vadas playing as 1 dan. Only four rounds were played due to one withdrawal, and Robert was first with 4-0, while Guo Liang Xu 1 kyu was second.

The event ran smoothly under Robert’s guiding hand. Lunches were provided for participants. Popular professional Younggil An 6P provided commentaries on some of the key games, adding to the overall fun and excitement.

A young lady who did well was Cuiying Xu Tring 2 dan (2-4), the only female and also the youngest participant at about 14 years. We remember her from one of the early Toyota Cups, still barely able to reach across the board. Another young entrant Edwin Tang 2 dan (2-4) also did well. It is just so great to see young players joining in and chasing the older ones.

For those interested, full results will be available on the AGA website very soon. Thanks to Robert Vadas for organising the event, and to all participants who made this such a memorable occasion.

by John Hardy in Tournaments, Visiting Tags: , ,

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