| Catalin Taranu against computer Mogo |
 On 22nd May 2009, Catalin Taranu and computer Mogo faced for the second time for a 9×9 board series. Last year, Catalin won by 2-1, all games won by white!
The komi was the same, 7.5 points and the time limit 30 minutes. This time, the organisers from Rennes proposed a 4 games series. MoGo was developed by the french National research institute in Data processing and Automatics (INRIA). More info here: http://www.espace-sciences.org/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?STNAV=STRU04&RUBNAV=&CODE=52957396&LANGUE=0&RH=ACCUEIL This time Catalin won by 3-1 after leading with 3-0, so we can say he improvised in the last game Game 1 (SGF file) |
Catalin Taranu against computer Mogo
May 22, 2009 by baduk4allThe chinese players are doing just fine in the 14th LG Cup 2009
May 22, 2009 by baduk4all Five chinese and three koreans qualified in the third round of the LG Cup. The last two japanese players lost by resign in the second round, but they lost to Gu Li and Lee Changho, so we can say they did well.
Gu Li won by resign against Hane Naoki (SGF file) In the first round there were only four games which got counted. In the second round, only one out of eight games was counted. So we can see how “active” the games were so far. The third round will be played on 7th November 2009 in Korea. The pairings are (as seen in the image): Gu Li – Pia Wenyao |
14th LG Cup, round 1 – Lee Sedol lost to Kong Jie and Chang Hao lost to Heo Heo Yeongho!
May 22, 2009 by baduk4allBig surprise in the first round of the 14th LG Cup. Lee Sedol lost to chinese Kong Jie by 2.5 points after a peacefull game.
Here’s the game: (SGF file)
In other games:
Iyama Yuta (B) won by resign against korean Yun Junsang (SGF file)
Hane Naoki (B) won by resign against Park Jungsang (SGF file)
Kang Yootaek (W) won by resign against Cho Chikun (SGF file)
Choi Cheolhan (W) won by resign against Ding Wei (SGF file)
Gu Li (B) won by resign against Mok Jinseok (SGF file)
Lee Changho (W) won by resign against Tuo Jiaxi (SGF file)
Heo Heo Yeongho (B) won by resign against Chang Hao (SGF file)
Qiu Jun (B) won by resign against Kang Dongyun (SGF file)
Won Sungjin (W) won by 6.5 points against Yamashita Keigo (SGF file)
How to beat a professional Go player
May 22, 2009 by baduk4allIt was a quick friendly game, but the result is still impressive. Cornel Burzo managed to beat Doi Makoto, professional 8 DAN player from Nihon Ki-in!
Cornel managed to win because he fight back all the time and wasn’t impressed that he was playing a high ranked PRO player. He played with attitude. (SGF file)
Doi Makoto was born on 1st October 1954 in Tokyo, Japan. He’s graduate of the Economics Department of Aoyama Gakuin University and he became quasi-professional 1 dan in 1974. His former name is Katagiri Makoto.
Some results: winner, 3rd Annual Kisei Tournament, 2 Dan Section, 1978. Second Place, Second Section, 1978 Oteai. Fourth Place, First Section, 1990 Oteai. 1993 record: 8 wins, 13 losses.
He went to Europe in 1981 and spent 100 days there teaching. Lives in Tokyo, Japan.
10th Nongshim Cup
May 22, 2009 by baduk4allThe first stage was played in october 2008 in Beijing and was dominated by the chinese player Tuo Jiaxi who beat Heo Yeongho, Yun Junsang (Korea), Yamashita Keigo, Kono Rin (Japan).
The second stage (november 2009) was Kang Dongyun’s “moment”. He said that he brought one suit for every day so he intends to wear them all. And so he did 
One after another, Tuo Jiaxi, Piao Wenyao, Qiu Jun (China), Yamada Kimio, Hane Naoki (Japan) lost to Kang. However, in the last round of the second stage, Takao Shinji from Japan managed to beat the young korean.
The third stage started in February 2009 in Shanghai. Chang Hao beat Takao by resign (SGF file).
Here’s a video from their game: http://vimeo.com/3254467?pg=embed&sec=3254467. How can the pro’s play with so many photographers around?!
Next, Chang Hao lost to Lee Sedol in a one sided game. Lee’s “lately” good form is still at max. (SGF file)
The last round was won be Lee in a spectacular game against Gu Li from China. (SGF file)
The pro’s analysing the game in real time were amused by Lee’s opening http://media.cyberoro.com/photo/200902/090219-nong-03.jpg
How to get strong at Go (baduk, weiqi)
May 22, 2009 by baduk4allIf you play one game, you can’t quit anymore… It’s almost like smoking
If you like the game of Go you’ll want to get stronger. But without a guide you can have hard times trying to grasp concepts, shapes, tesuji…
If you have enough spare time, take it slowly, step by step, while playing lots of games. If your time is limited, go to your local go club and ask the stronger players to review your games. If you don’t have stronger players in your club (or no club at all) consider taking some online Go lessons.
The way to improve:
- Play many games (as fast as you can until you reach 10 kyu)
- Don’t mind strategy too much in the beggining, concentrate on fighting
- Study fundamentals – especially tsume-go (life and death problems) and tesuji
- Replay your own games – choose the losses rather then the wins
- Replay professional games – after you get stronger then 5 kyu
How to teach Go to beginners – Part 1
May 22, 2009 by baduk4allThis article is the written version of a video recorded at Saijo Club in Bucharest. The explanations belong to Catalin Taranu 5P.
The first thing you need to remember as a teacher before keeping a lesson is that you have to give the informations in a positive, relaxed and friendly manner. Who saw Saijo Sensei once, knows what i’m talking about.
When we enter the room, we must forget all our personal problems and take a friendly attitude because the first impression (first course) is very important. Based on this, the students will decide if they want to have anything in common with Go in the future.
As a first conclusion, the students will decide to attempt a second course based on the teacher and his/her way of teaching. That’s why we should never use expressions like “I told you so” or “you don’t know anything”
Ideally, a teacher should start the first courses with a story about Go, to warm up the students (who know stories like these, please post them here, thank you). A little story preferred by Saijo Sensei is about ko and infinity and sounds like this:
A fairy comes down from the skies once at every 100 years and lands gently on a stone, her kimono barely touching the stone. Ko means the time it takes to erode that stone for good.
That would be all before switching to the board. But let’s remember how we were as beginners, how little we knew and how un-clear was everything. Now that we know how a stone in Atari looks like, let’s not get mad on a student that doesn’t get it quickly. “I told you ten times how this Atari thing is” won’t make good to anybody. Nor would any other remark that would put pressure on a student. Remeber that the memorising process is based a lot on repetition.
Another important thing is to try to involve all the students during the course and to encourage them permanently even if their moves are bad. Also, don’t give away too many informations, it will confuse them. It’s best to let them discover the solutions by themselves. We’ll see later in the article how to do that.
Switching to the technical part of the first course, we need to explain the rules. Catalin follows Saijo Sensei’s theory and says that there are only two rules in Go: capturing stones and surrounding territory. This is for simplicity and because these are the main rules, the rest are just being derived from them.
Capturing stones. Many beginners have problems with the liberties thinking that the diagonals are liberties as well. A very simple explanation is “a stone has as many liberties as the lines that goes out of it” and we show the example from the first image. That should make it clear that if we have a stone on the first line it will have 3 liberties while a stone in the corner will have only two liberties. We will continue by capturing all these stones and remove them from the board.
Then we will show them a group made of two stones and we’ll be surprised to hear that the group has more than six liberties. It is important that everyone goes by the demostration table to put stones on it until it’s clear how the liberties thing is. Even if the first stundent will say “ten liberties”, we’ll say “it’s good (we have to encourage them permanently), the stones are captured, but there are a few unnecessary stones, let’s see who else wants to try”. It is important for them to discover the correct answer by themselves and we have to be patient to achieve that. We should keep asking them to come to the demonstration board and put them to capture more complicated groups and we should wait every time for the correct answer.
The teacher will have to explain the suicide rule when a good time comes. “Because A doesn’t have any liberties, it has to be taken of the board, that’s why it’s forbidden by rules to suicide”. It all depends on how long the courses will last and the students age (if we have plenty of time, we should switch directly to Atari Go without explaining the suicide rule, allowing the students to discover it).
The next step is Atari Go, “who captures the first stone, wins”. We can start with an empty board or with a cross-cut. Then we can go to “who captures three stones wins”. Chances are that now someone will ask about the suicide (a positive feedback for the teacher).
This would be the first part of introducing Go – capturing stones. Ideally, the students should be allowed to play as many Atari Go as they can to assimilate the informations received so far. But it all depends on how much time we have on our hands.
Conclusion for the first part: some stories/legends about Go, perhaps something about the Asian Go scene, continental scene and about Go in our country. Then we should explain the capturing rule (by asking them to come to the demonstration board) and then let them play Atari Go.
http://baduk4all.com/article.aspx?id_article=1
Best Go, Baduk, Weiqi players in the world
March 6, 2009 by baduk4all
Honinbo Sansa founder and first head of the house Honinbo.
Honinbo Dosaku fourth head of the house Honinbo. One of the greatest players of all time, and the first Kisei (go saint); an important influence on go theory.
Honinbo Jowa was dubbed Kisei (go sage), played the famous “Blood Vomiting Game” with Akaboshi Intetsu.
Honinbo Shusaku greatest player of the 19th century – the “golden age” of go.
Honinbo Shusai the last inheritor of “Honinbo” title, and founder of the Nihon-Kiin.
Kensaku Segoewas famous for bringing and teaching Go Seigen and Cho Hunhyun in Japan.
Go Seigen (Wu Qingyuan in Chinese), is considered the greatest player of the 20th century.
Kitani Minoru great friend and rival to Go Seigen. Go and Kitani were the vanguard of the Shin-fuseki or “New Opening”, a great advance in go theory
Sakata Eio “Razor Sakata”, the “Master of myoushu” (brilliant move) former longtime holder of most championship titles with 64.
Rin Kaiho was one of Go Seigen’s students. Known for winning many titles at a young age.
Kato Masao Master of attack style.
Yoda Norimoto has one of the best track records in international tournaments for Japan
Ishida Yoshio youngest ever Honinbo winner and one of the strongest players of the 1970s. TV commentator.
Takemiya Masaki famous for his ‘cosmic style’, aiming for territory in the center of the board rather than the sides
Kobayashi Koichi third most titles in Japan with 55.
Cho Hunhyun was the second strongest player in the world in 2000, after his former pupil Lee Changho.
Cho Chikun (Cho Chihun in Korean) among the best players of the last century – passed Sakata in late 2002 for most titles with 66.
O Rissei one of the first Taiwanese Go players to become a professional in Japan.
O Meien famous for his “Meien-isms”, a special way of opening a game.
Rui Naiwei first woman to attain rank of 9-dan
Michael Redmond first non-Asian (American) to attain rank of 9-dan. TV commentator.
Catalin Taranu highest pro rank amongst european players.
Naoki Hane in 2002, Hane broke the record for fastest promotion to 9 dan in Nihon Ki-in history.
Nie Weiping challenged for many top international titles in the late 1980s.
Ma Xiaochun top player in China during the 1990s.
Chang Hao second best player in China in 2009.
Gu Li best weiqi player in China in 2009.
Lee Changho is considered one of the strongest players in the world.
Yamashita Keigo
Cho U in 2003, Cho U broke the record for fastest promotion to 9 dan in Nihon Ki-in history.
Lee Sedol In 2003 “Yi Se-tol” became the youngest 9-dan pro in history. He is considered one of the top few players in the world in 2009.
Alexandre Dinerchtein the first russian player to become a pro.
More at http://www.baduk4all.com
Baduk4all
January 15, 2009 by baduk4allBaduk for all has been launched!
The purpose of this website is to create a large database of games and situations, ranked and categorised, mostly commented, free to every GO player around the world.
We want to achieve that by involving you, the GO player.
Register and GO ahead, read the blogs, forums and interviews, browse the files and tournament informations and post your own.
Check it out baduk4all.com
