American Go E-Journal
March 3, 2018
E-Journal photographer Phil Straus recently found this photo in his archives and we asked readers if they could identify the runners and the year and location of the U.S. Congress. First, the answers. The runners (l-r) were: Eric Osman,…
June 29, 2014
Last week’s Quiz was inspired by EJ reader Vernon Leighton who thought he spotted an error in a May 13 Wired article on go . “It said that Michael Redmond (far right) was the first American go professional and that James Kerwin (near…
June 17, 2014
“I spotted what I think is an error in the Wired article ( Wired Magazine on “The Mystery of Go, the Ancient Game That Computers Still Can’t Win” 5/13 EJ) ,” writes Vernon Leighton. “It said that Michael Redmond was the first American…
May 29, 2014
The go problem on this year's US Go Congress logo is from a collection of classic Chinese problems and like most such problems it has a name. Is it: The Warrior Escapes ; An Ambush of Five Stones ; or A Pearl Emerging from the Sea ?…
May 27, 2014
The vast majority of you (84%, or 38 out of 45) correctly chose Edward Lasker as the source of the quote "The rules of go are so elegant, organic and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they…
May 22, 2014
This Week’s Quiz: Who said this? “The rules of go are so elegant, organic and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they almost certainly play go.” Was it Albert Einstein, John Nash or Edward…
May 20, 2014
Last week’s quiz asked about which bit of New York Go history is referenced by one of these shows: “Hong Kong Phooey”, “Underdog”, “Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The answer is “Tennessee Tuxedo and…
May 13, 2014
The answer to this week's quiz is not in the title of the four cartoons listed in this week's quiz; actually, the title of our piece of New York Go history, is referenced in one of these shows: "Hong Kong Phooey", "Underdog", "Tennessee…
May 12, 2014
LICENSE TO FILL the US Open Field. Respondents were evenly split between Tacoma '05, Lancaster '07, and Washington '09 but Lancaster is the correct response with 379 players in the US Open field, second was Washington with 364. Lisa…
May 3, 2014
Meet Me In St Louis? No, there are no current plans for a Congress in St. Louis, just your film buff quizmaster's way of introducing the unanimous answer to this week's quiz. Everyone got the link between four Congress cities and…
April 27, 2014
Quizmaster Learns Something: Half of you came up with 15, the correct answer, although Steve Burrall insists there are 16, but only listed 13 in his comments. Here's Grant Kerr's list, in a rare moment of only almost correctness, in…
April 20, 2014
You Know, Like Grover Cleveland*: The fun of last week's quiz is that there are more Honinbo heads than people. Quiz vet Reinhold Burger explains: "Thanks for this; I learned something. I knew that Shuei had stepped aside for Shuho,…
April 13, 2014
Camel Redux: First of all, your quizmaster would like to thank E-Journal readers for welcoming us back. Our recent poll column on the best Western cultural reference to go was incredibly popular, as evidenced by the many follow up…
April 4, 2014
Last week’s quiz: Before turning to the poll results, here’s my personal all-time favorite go reference. This Camel ad from the late 1970s should have worked. It was certainly popular, often featured on the back covers of numerous…
April 2, 2014
For this week's quiz , in celebration of go’s prominent role on MTV’s Teen Wolf, as covered in several recent E-Journal reports, let’s hear from you on what you think is the best Western cultural reference to go. Please limit answers to…
March 30, 2014
THE LITTLE RED BOOK: For many, this volume of the Elementary Go Series (available from Kiseido and SmartGoBooks ) was the book they were waiting for - the book that taught the West how to fight. Rarely a day goes by without someone…
March 22, 2014
We have not seen him for a while, but there was a time when Chuck Robbins of Lancaster PA was everywhere, running tournaments, Congresses, workshops and holding offices in the AGA and AGF. His 1126 rated games are the clear leader in…
March 16, 2014
Last Week’s Quiz: Only one of you picked 1973 as the year of earliest New Jersey Open attendance in the field two weeks ago. Jeff Rohlfs (right) was working at Bell Labs when he attended the event held at his work location. The longtime…
March 8, 2014
Lee Sedol did not need this kiss for luck from his daughter before the first game of his historic jubango with Gu Li, but perhaps it carried over to the second, where he was fortunate to come from behind. Five out of six of you who…
February 28, 2014
While our teacher question was pending, Gu Li dropped the second game of the jubango. All but the most diehard Lee fans should start rooting for Gu Li, since we want as many of the ten games as possible played. Eight of 20 of you…
February 23, 2014
"Go Seigen is my favorite player!" comments Albert Yen on last week's quiz, which asked who was the only player to defeat Go in a jubango match. Longtime quiz players may recall that your quizmaster considers him the greatest player of…
February 16, 2014
Thank you for all of your pleased remarks about the return of the quiz. Unfortunately, your faith in my book collection was misplaced, as the number of unique books is "only" around 750. Although this was enough to prompt Joel…
February 8, 2014
by Keith Arnold, HKA I am delighted to have been asked to return as AGA Quizmaster and look forward to bringing you a whole new batch of weekly brain-teasers that will test your knowledge of the go world and its fascinating history. I…
November 18, 2012
Wayne B. Nelson didn’t even need komi to win our photo caption contest. His entry – “I should've started learning this game when I was little” – topped the runner-up, Solomon Smilack’s “Cross cut? I think I’ll try crawling instead”…
May 25, 2010
Eleven out of fourteen of you guessed that it was go writer John Fairbairn who came to dinner recently. For those who do not know, his name does in fact "rhyme" with "bair" sounding the same as "fair." John has translated many books for…
May 17, 2010
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN': With plans for next year's Los Angeles Congress well underway, California will join Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington as states that have held three Go Congresses. Most of you knew that Washington (Seattle,…
May 10, 2010
Last week's "simple" multiple choice fooled most of you: Kato Masao (r) not only won the Honinbo, but won it several times, the last time in 2002 at age 55. The Kisei title is the only one he's never won. THIS WEEK'S QUIZ: CONGRESS…
May 3, 2010
Folks found this one tough, with just four realizing that this year’s 37th Maryland Open Champion would join 37th Honinbo Cho Chikun, 37th Judan Kobayashi Koichi and 37th Oza Kato Masao as winners of the 37th version of the their…
February 22, 2010
Noriyuki Nakayama 6P, who died last week (EJ Special Edition 2/19) was famous for creating original ladder problems, including a series with the black stones in the shape of the oriental zodiac signs. The attached problem is for the…
November 2, 2009
Can you find a pro’s mistakes? That’s the challenge in Go4Go’s new "Best professional game review contest." Choose from two games – the complicated O Meien vs. Iguchi Toyohide or the more peaceful Kodama Kunio vs. Tokimoto Hajime – and…