Из Американского Го журнала:
Есть важные новости, связанные с новыми турнирами.
By Thomas Hsiang 8d
The 2006 World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) was held May 28-31 at "Huis Ten Bosch", a Dutch-style resort near the city of Sasebo, the second largest city in Japan's Nagasaki Prefecture. A total of 68 countries participated, making it the largest WAGC event ever.
Joey Hung 8d of Fremont, CA, represented US and came away with a hard-fought 6th place. Joey cruised through his first five rounds, losing only to the 13-year old prodigy from Hong Kong, Nai-san Chan, before running into the Finnish 5 dan, Vesa Laatikainen. Trailing from the very beginning, Joey fell further behind in the mid-game, but then launched a fierce fight-back in the last stage of the game. The game turned in his favor during the final 20 moves, when his opponent made the final mistake; the 1/2-point win assured Joey that he would be a prize-winner as a top-ten finisher.
The traditional Asada Fighting Spirit Award went to Laatikainen, a consensus choice who defeated Russia, Hong Kong, and Brazil's Alexandre de Souza, another former insei, in addition to his heroic showing against Joey.
Two new special prizes were offered this year by the governor of Nagasaki prefecture and the mayor of Sasebo. They were given to the oldest player, Mladen Smud from Croatia, and Panama's Edgar Escobar who managed to keep smiling despite being winless for two years in a row.
Preceding the WAGC, the International Go Federation (IGF) held its annual Board Meeting and General Meeting on May 26. As an IGF Director, I participated in both meetings.
The biggest news at IGF this year was the progress in the planning of the "Intellympiad" event. As reported last year, IGF has joined force with bridge, chess, and draughts (checkers) in forming the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) with the specific missions to run an Olympic-style mind-sports event. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) earlier this year agreed to allow us to use the term "Intellympiad", and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) agreed to sanction this event. The current plan is to hold the first Intellympiad in Beijing in 2008, immediately after the summer Olympics and the Paralympics. At the IGF meeting, China, Japan, and Korea all promised to strongly support this event; AGA and EGF will also be active participants.
In separate news, Kansai Kiin sent its international director, 6-dan Fujiwara Katsuya (who visited the US Go Congress the past two years) to IGF with the blue print of a new international amateur youth tournament. After much discussion, IGF agreed to take up running this event which will be its third tournament after WAGC and International Pair-Go. Much of the detail of this tournament is still in the planning. So far we only know for sure that it will be a team event, with two 3-player teams
from each of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Europe, and North America; there will be two age tiers of competition, 15 and 18; the tournament will "emphasize cultural exchange and friendship, not competition"; and the event will be held in July or August each year, starting in 2007.
The 2006 WAGC concluded on the evening of May 31. The hosts, generous and gracious as always, once again outdid themselves in hospitality. Quite properly, there were fireworks at the dock outside the tournament site shortly after the closing ceremony: there is much to look forward to in the future of international go.
Александр Динерштейн,
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